Back again on the space highway, the two girls considered all the options open to them.  The older girl had been filled in on what it would take--according to Merlin--to bring Demyx back.  

"What are we looking for first?  His Somebody body or Nobody body?"

"Dude, you just said "body" four times in one sentence!"

"Let's be serious, Tyme," growled Lea.

"Yeah, yeah.  Well, it might be a little easier to find his Somebody corpse first.  I just have no clue where to start looking for it," the younger girl waved her hand and looked at her map.  Her friend merely shrugged, it made no difference to her.

There were several options available to them, but it was just a matter of guess-and-check to see how they panned out.  The two of them could attempt to persuade Hades or one of the Fates at Olympus Coliseum for knowledge, they could go to Agrabah and seek the help of a genie (and some more treasure), or there was always the possibility of braving the unknown and attempting to find Demyx's home world.

"Did he ever tell you where he came from, or his real name, or something like that?" Tyme asked.

Lea sighed and looked down, trying to recall any of the desired details.

"His name was Edym, I'm almost certain.  And he made it sound like he was from pretty far away..."

"No big clues, then?"

" 'Fraid not.  He kept all of his personal past to a minimum, and I never saw anything in his room to give him away."

Tyme was suddenly struck by a brilliant idea.  "There's got to be records somewhere.  I heard some guy kept records on all this Nobody and Organization XIII stuff-"

"Ansem the Wise?"

Tyme snapped her fingers.  "That's the guy."

"Isn't he dead?"

"Yeah, but his little reports aren't.  His home world--what was it called?  Hall... Hee-haw... Haul oats..."

Lea rolled her eyes.  "Hollow Bastion?"

"Yeah.  Now where exactly...Aha!" she pointed at its place on her map.  "Good thing it's not too far.  We might get a lead there."

The older girl shrugged.  "I hope so, but you never know."




The girls disembarked on a purplish hill, making sure their landing site was far enough away so as not to arouse suspicion.  Obviously the Restoration Committee here was hard at work, for noticeable repairs on the castle were already completed.  Most of the masonry and piping was back to its formal glory.

Lea and Tyme grunted and tripped their way down to a level path, then across an empty valley with the same hue as the hill.  The sky overhead was fading into sunset, the normal blue replaced to a subdued pink.

“Have we been here before?”

“Once or twice.  I remember jumping those freaky-looking birds at the shopping district.  And their uncle or something had some ice cream up for sale.”

“Oh yeah.  It was kind of addictive.”

“We gotta get some more before we leave.”

“Of course.”  

The cobble-stoned main road to the castle was surprisingly deserted.  Hearing no sounds of construction, they surmised that either work was over for the day or it was a local holiday.  No matter what the reason, it was a stroke of luck.

They almost missed the entrance they were looking for, it being hidden behind a jutting platform that rather resembled a balcony.  Tyme leapt over the rail and landed gracefully before it.  Lea was not impressed, close behind her.

“You could have just used the stairs.”

Instead of the expected wide room, the two began to navigate a series of maze-like tunnels.  Complete with dead ends and seemingly going around in circles, it wasn’t long before they started to realize the hopelessness of the situation.  Lea slid down the nearest wall until she was sitting firmly on the floor.

“We don’t even know what we’re looking for, and now we’re lost!”

Not about to be swept away by her feelings, Tyme calmly reassessed their remaining alternatives.  They could try to find the exit, or grope around--they were going only by the light from the sun, and it was fading fast--until they found some other door or entrance.

“The second one then,” she said, suddenly confidently, and marched forward.

“What?” Lea called after her, reluctantly rising to her feet at again.

“Just talking to myself again, you know,”

“Ah,” the redhead nodded sagely.  It wasn’t the first time.



Through sheer determination--and possibly insanity--Tyme found exactly what she was looking for almost an hour later.  A long, narrow hallway led them to a door nearly seven feet tall, of a yellow-white color.  She grabbed the small handle and it swung open.

Inside it was pitch black, the two girls hitting their shins on tables or bumping into bookcases in their mini-quest for a light switch.  Finally finding one, Lea flooded the room with light and they took it all in.

The room wasn’t exactly large, but it had exactly what they needed.  A central bookcase stood against one wall, with several smaller ones scattered across the room.  There were a few tables, many maps and globes, and even some weird painting propped up against a chair.  No doubt the perfect place for a resident scientist and historian.

Both began poring over journals and textbooks grabbed at random, tossing some over their shoulder merely by seeing the title or reading a few lines and then putting them down in disgust.    

“Anything yet?” Lea finally asked.

“Nope,” Tyme shook her head in failure.

But they still persisted--they weren’t going to give up now, of all times--until they hit the “jackpot.”  A whole shelf was dedicated to just the topic they needed.  Nobodies, the process of becoming one, and documented cases.  Barely looking through the contents, they jammed as many as they could in their bags, one or two in their pockets.

“Are we ready to go?” asked the older girl.

“Let’s go get some ice cream.”



A little less than an hour later, the girls were safely in their Gummi Ship, licking bars of Sea Salt Ice cream and unloading their pilfered literature.  Lea held on to the most promising one and began to flip through the chapters as Tyme started the ship.

“Chapter 24: A Look Into the Nobody Process.  When darkness invades one’s heart, the being will-” the redhead began whispering the words to herself.  The other girl grabbed a book at random, which proved providential for the both of them.  It was small and slightly faded, no more than a small stack of paper with a flimsy green cover.  She turned to the title page.

“Personal Diary of the Apprentice Xehanort.  Geez, couldn’t he have come up with a better name?”

“Hand it here,” Lea said, flinging her book across the cabin.  “I’ll read, and you fly.”

“But where do we go?”

“You know, I think you actually had something with that Olympus Coliseum idea,”

“Really?”

“Yeah, really.  Now let’s go.”

Tyme saluted and they began their ascension.  Lea smoothed the page in her hand and cleared her throat.

“Day 1, June 28th--My master has ordered that I keep careful record of my days with him.” the girl read aloud as they journeyed forth once again.