Ven, Terra, and Aqua.

"Come in." He said.

Ventus came into the room carrying a bundle of spare clothes under his arm. He looked slightly different as he had the same pants and shirt as last night along with the piece of metal on his shoulder, but with some more clothed added in. On his feet he wore armored versions of a type of shoe that he had seen often during his time in Twilight Town. Over his shirt he wore armor covering his mid section which in turn was covered by a grey and white vest with a single button closed. Above that was a jacket that somewhat looked like the one he had in Twilight Town, but he had one side white with a black outline and the other black with a white outline. Around the jackets color it was red and pleated. To complete the look he had an inverted colored wristband of what Roxas once wore and 2 crisscrossing black straps over his chest with the same unknown sigil on both Ava's and Eraqus's Keyblades in the center.

'Okay with the number of similarities between Ventus and I is starting to get horrifying.' Thought Roxas. He couldn't help the shudder that crept up his spine from that thought.

"Mourning Roxas." Ventus said as he put the clothes on the foot of his bed.

"Mourning Ventus." He said. "What is the clothes on the bed for?"

"Ven."

"What did you say?" Roxas asked. Ventus just shook his head with a smile.

"I would like for you to call me Ven. Everyone I know except for Master calls me by it. I was going to ask you that last night, but Master took you here before I had a chance to. So please call me Ven." He said. Roxas looked at him for a second before returning the smile.

"You got it, Ven."

Ventus or now as he preferred to be called Ven beamed in happiness. He finally got Roxas to call him that, but he also remembered the other blondes question.

"I almost forgot. Master thought that since you came here unintentionally that you must've forgotten to bring in extra clothes. So since we look alike I figured that I might as well give you some spare clothes that I had since we should have the same sizes." Ven said gestureing to the clothes on the bed.

"Thanks." Roxas said grateful for this. Sure he knew how to was the Organization uniform as Vexen himself had made them so they are easily washable, but not that easy to destroy. He made them that way after he kept destroying his coat in his lab long before Roxas had joined the group. But it was nice to have another pair of clothes to change into. Plus he didn't travel through time with anything else but his uniform and his Keyblades. He was going to have to find a chest or a Moogle Shop sooner or later for any other supplies.

"No problem." Ven said as he left the room to allow Roxas to get changed.

A few minutes later he heard a knock on the door and went back in to see Roxas.

The only thing that wasn't part of Roxas's original uniform in the bed was the shoes, which he kept wore two color pants like he did in Twilight Town except that legs were not beige or connected by buttons. Instead they were white until around shins were the rest of it was grey except for around the ankles was black. Along with this was a simple black shirt with a white trim around the collar and on the center of the shirt was a grey x sigil exactly like the one he had on his zipper in Twilight Town. It kind of reminded him of the shirt that he last saw Sora wearing and chose it. As for the jacket he chose a white version of what Ven was wearing.

"You know that really looks good on you." Ven said. Then an idea hit him and he started to chuckle."Its just like looking at a mirror."

Roxas looked in confusion until he knew what was going on.

"Well with either one of us in a room I don't think we'll ever need a mirror ever again" With that the both of them laughed at that for a minute until Roxas noticed something.

"Hey Ven I've been meaning to ask what is it on your shoulder? It looks like armor." Roxas asked. The apprentice in question continued to laugh for a few more seconds before he stopped.

"Oh, it is actually armor." Ven said simply.

"Really. Isn't uncomfortable to wear? I saw that you had it on when you were in bed. Don't you ever take it off?" Roxas inquired.

"Yeah a bit, I don't take it off except when I need to change clothes. I haven't used it yet as it is not at a part of my training, but soon it'll be!" The young apprentice said with excitement at the last part. Roxas could only chuckle at that until he realized something.

"Wait is the armor apart of Keyblade training?" He said. Ven broke out of his excitement at that.

"Yes It is actually. Master Eraqus did say that you were manly self taught and what knowledge you had was from a horrid instructor." He said bitterly. He heard the tone his Master used while mentioning his Roxas's teacher and knew that he wasn't a good man.

The Nobody paused at that. He wondered what Eraqus said about him, before Ven decided to speak up again.

"If your wondering about what he said about you don't worry about it. All Master did say was what I know about your teacher, that you are from a world called Twilight Town, that you have some knowledge of the Keyblade, and that you were thinking about starting a new life. Master also said that anything else was up to you to explain as it is your own past." Ven said curious about Roxas.

'Looks like I'm going to have some explaining to do.' Roxas thought. He would have to thank the man later as he had respected that his past was his to share, even if it was a fabrication. He felt a little bad about lying to Ven, but who would believe him if he said that he came from the future or Kingdom Hearts forbide a what a Nobody was.

'Maybe in the future...' He trailed on in his thoughts before he shook them off. Maybe he would if he stuck around with him for a while, but he truly didn't have anywhere to go for the next 10 years if his math was correct as he didn't really know what happened except that the Heartless outbreak occurred about the same time Kairi was found on Destiny Islands.

Plus Ava's Corridor of Ages would only take him to a time were a past version of him existed. Since Sora was a little kid he could understand, but Ava had mentioned that someone else had the exact same connection with him. At first he thought it was an impossibility, but now he knew that the person was probably Ven. The way they were similar was too scary to phantom. Still he had to wonder how he and Sora were connected, but for now he might as well ask Ven about the other's here.

After all he hadn't meet them and was surprised they weren't here with the other blonde.

"So who are the other apprentices Ven, I don't see them with you?" Roxas asked. His eyes widened in realization that he never said anything about his friends.

"Oh right I have never told you about Terra and Aqua! They should be here any minute now as they should be finishing up their current training session right now." Ven said with his eyes lighting up in excitement. The Nobody could only chuckle at the sight. After he calmed down a little the young apprentice countiued.

"They are my best friends and have been apprentices to Eraqus for longer then I have." He said. Roxas could only node as he figured that Ven had less experience as he said about that he hasn't learned to use his armor yet.

"Oh I almost forgot!" The young apprentice said, startling the Nobody out of his musings. "Tomorrow they are taking the Mark of Mastery exam!"

'Isn't that the same exam that Eraqus mentioned last night.' Roxas tried to recall the info last night. It was a bit hazy as he still had the images of Ava's memory playing in the back of his mind. 'Oh right he did.'

"So is one of them going to become a Keyblade Master tomorrow?" He asked.

"Not really. It could be either one of them, both of them, or none of them than succeed in their exam. The process of the exam varies from Master to Master, so I don't really know so we won't know the result till tomorrow after the exam." Ven said. Roxas nodded at that. So the exam was unknown to the students until it was time to be conducted.

Still one thing bothered him though.

"What is that sigil on your chest? I keep seeing it on Keyblade wielders, so what does it mean?"The Nobody asked. Ven looked at his sigil and just shrugged.

"I don't really know either, but it has been a representation for Keyblade wielders from the Land of Departure for generations." He answered.

"That makes sense." Roxas simply said. He saw that Ava had it on her Keyblade and if it were true that she was from far into the past, then maybe she was a part of the tradition or even part of the source.

"He really does look like exactly like Ven." They heard a male voice said.

"If Master hadn't told us about that, we could have mistaken that Ven had a twin." Said a female voice.

"They might as well be." The male voice said back.

Both Roxas and Ven looked to see that they didn't notice the door had opened and that there was two other occupants who Roxas guessed were Terra and Aqua.

Terra was a tall man that looked to be about 19 or 20 if Roxas had to guess. His had spiky brown hair that framed his face in bangs and blue eyes. He had on a black, high-collared shirt that was showing off his muscular frame with the same cross-crossing straps as Ven, but they were red and much lower on his chest. As well as his sigil was gold and located on his obi-sash like belt. His wore a hakama like Eraqus except the they were dark gray at the top and the rest was tan with black and orange armor boots. Unlike Ven his armor only covers with his right arm with a golden ornate crest on his shoulder, altering segments sections of dark grey and dark red armor that reached the bottom of his hand, a black gauntlet with some dark red armor included, and a black fingerless glove.

Roxas didn't know why, but just by looking at him reminded him of Xemnas for some reason. So he turned his attention to the final of Eraqus's apprentices.

Aqua was a young woman close to Terra's age if he had to guess with short blue hair and blue eyes. She was wearing a black high-collar halter top with pink straps criss-crossing over her chest with a silver sigil in the center like Ven's. Along with that she wore a black corset with white laces, black shorts, black stockings, and 2 stripes of blue cloth tied to her waist by a white strip of cloth. She had white bell sleeves with tan fingerless gloves with small segmented pieces of armor on them.

"So you're the Terra and Aqua that I've been hearing about from Ven." Roxas said getting their attention.

"Really now." Terra said as fixed Ventus a look that caused the young boy to sweat. "So what did he say about us?"

"Nothing much, but that you two are his best friends." The Nobody said simply. This caused Ven to breath a sigh of relief.

'That was close.' He thought. He thought that Terra as going to get him for a sec.

"Well that does sound like something Ven would say."Terra said as he now fixed his gaze on the other blonde. "So you're Roxas. I heard that you got the drop on Ven." He said the last part jokingly.

"Well it wasn't that hard, he was asleep." Roxas said causing the older apprentices to chuckle a bit and the boy in question to pout.

"What took you guys so long?" Ven asked in a huff.

"We had just finished training when Master told us to meet Roxas and wait in this room until he comes back." Aqua said

"What do you mean by that?" Roxas asked. He along with Ven were curious about why he would ask them to stay in this room.

"Master Eraqus wants us to stay here with you while he comes up with which one of us will face you." Terra answered. "He also said that it shouldn't belong for him to make a decision. So we only have to wait for awhile."

"Ah, I see." Roxas replied back. It made sense to him.

"What do you mean by that?" But not for Ven.

"Ven did you forget? Master said that one of us will spar with Roxas to determine his what he worked on." Aqua answered for Ventus who looked a little sheepish as he did actually forget. But then she did get a thoughtful expression. "Although there is something Master did not mention?"

"What is it then?" The youngest apprentice asked.

Roxas, however knew what it was.

"He never said anything about what would happen after the spar. I tried to ask last night, but I had collapsed from exhaustion before I could."

This seemed to answer that question, but only caused a new one.

"So what does that mean for you after the spar?" Terra asked. Everyone in the room pondered what was Eraqus planning for after the spar. Ven suddenly turned excited.

"Maybe you could stay here at the Land of Departure!" He exclaimed, getting everyone's attention. "Roxas could stay here to finish his training with Master afterwords."

"You have a point Ven, but you forgot to think of a few things." Terra said immediately after, causing Ven's mood to deflate.

"What do you mean by that?" He asked.

"Eraqus could take me back home." Roxas said "Or send me to some either world entirely. He could not train me at all. It could be any of them, but any of us can't be sure of what he will do. Your Master is wary of me anyway."

The apprentices all shared a look before they turned back to him.

"I guess your right." Said Ven with his voice sounding a bit downcast.

"Of course he is." Terra said crossing his arms and shaking his head. "Master hasn't let his guard down at all today, because he is an outsider and we don't even know that much about him."

"He can't join us unless he has Master's approval Ven." Aqua added in with a frown. "We would not know until after the spar."

"I know..." Ven said sighing. "It's just that it would be a good idea. for someone else to join us or someone to temporarily with and preferably someone my own age. Even if just for a little bit..." His voice trailed off at this before he faced Roxas with his mood somewhat changed. "By the way are you 16?"

Roxas just shook his head and placed a hand on Ven's shoulder.

"Sorry, but I'm 15 Ven. Still I'm thankful for you caring about what happens, but we will see what happens after the spar." Roxas said smiling a bit to reassure the other blonde. He could also understand why Ven would want to be around someone close to his age. As everyone but Zexion was physically in their early 20's at the youngest. Well except for X-.

'Okay I really need to figure out what I can't seem to remember.' He thought. It was really starting to bug him as he kept tying to figure out what he had forgotten.

"Thanks." Ven said with his mood brightening a little. Roxas nodded and removed his hand from his shoulder. "It's just that it would be nice to hang around or spar with someone else other then Terra or Aqua after a while."

Roxas could once again only nod in understanding at that, when a large hand clamped down on Ventus's shoulder.

"Is that how you really feel Ven?" A voice said in what the Nobody could guess was mock hurt. The boy in question turned pale and turned his head to face the speaker.

"Well I'm sorry for us being so boring to you." Terra continued with a smirk that chilled Ven's spine. "Then we should just train harder next time."

"No!" The youngest apprentice said as he bolted from Terra's grip. "You and Aqua aren't boring, it's just that it can be kind of dull just doing the same thing after a while!" He continued.

The oldest apprentice just smiled at that.

"Don't worry I can understand." Terra said easing Ven who had calmed down. "I can also agree that training with you can get kind of dull sometimes."

Ven could only splutter as Terra and Aqua laughed at his reaction while Roxas couldn't help but chuckle at the scene in front of him. After a minute of laughing they all calmed down.

"Still even if Master accepts Roxas, he might want to go back to his world." Terra said.

"He's right Ven." Aqua said agreeing with Terra. "You shouldn't keep him from his home or the people who care about him back in his world."

"...Actually I have nothing left for me back home..."

All three apprentices blinked at that and turned to face the Nobody.

"What do you mean by that?" Ven asked with the other two giving him worrying glances. Roxas could only sigh at that.

"I have no one back in my world." He said with his voice turning sour. "I only had my friend Axel. I have only known him for a year, but overtime we became best friends...no that isn't it at all."

"Roxas?" Ven asked worriedly. The apprentices noticed that the blonde in question had a melancholic expression on his face and that he was lightly clutching his fists. All three of them wondered what was going on in his head.

Roxas was trying to piece together of what he thought of Axel. At first it was simply best friends, but as he kept thinking about it he began to think of the interactions of what he has seen of the apprentices so far. They were all best friends with each other, but as he kept thinking about it he could tell that they shared a deeper connection. Something now that he was beginning to see was actually similar to his and Axel's during his last days before he left the Organization.

That not only were they best friends, but also as siblings.

He should have realized it a lot earlier, but now it was too late. The Axel he knew was dead and now he was wiped from existence along with his timeline.

'Maybe I can fix that in this timeline.' He thought gaining a little hope. But he knew it wouldn't be the same.

That wasn't going to stop him though.

Roxas noticed the worried looks of Terra, Aqua, and Ven were staring at him and decided to continue.

"Sorry about that, it still is a little hard to talk about it." He said with a small smile, but his tone was a little wistful. "Not only was he my best friend, but also the closest person I could consider a brother. But he was killed by my master shortly after I had left him. I have accepted that I can never seen him again, but it still hurts a bit to talk about it. He would want me to move on as he knew I would never forget him just like he wanted." He finished with a small chuckle.

It was the truth, but if he was going to move on from erasing the previous timeline this would be the first step. Still he looked over at the apprentices to see their reactions.

Terra was silent and stone faced, but had worry and understanding etched on his face. Ven and Aqua looked sad, but shared also had a similar look to Terra.

'Now I understand what Master was saying. Anyone would want to start a new life after something like that happening to them.' Terra thought. He and Aqua were filled in on the same information as Ventus, but they didn't think anything like this. By the way Roxas was talking about his made with Axel was similar to the bond that he shared with Aqua and Ven. He couldn't think of what would happen if he lost either one of them if they were killed, but whoever did that would pay.

Unaware to any of the occupants in the room a wisp of darkness flickered around his fingers, but it was gone as soon as it appeared.

"I'm sorry Roxas..." Ven said sadly for him.

"It's alright Ven, I already told you that I've mostly come to terms with it. Besides his killer is gone as well. I have no one back in my world, so I'm going to start a new life somewhere else." Roxas said. That raised the spirits of the other apprentices, but there was one thing they noticed.

"Did you say that you had no one else back in your home world?" Aqua asked. Terra and Ven noticed an aura starting to form around her and the two shared a look.

'Oh no.'

Both of them tried to warn Roxas, but it was too late.

"Yes. I had no one else back home. I've been taking care of myself since I was born..." Roxas trailed off. While he had the Organization back then it might as well be true.

"You Just doomed yourself." Terra said blankly.

"You might want to run now Roxas." Ven added in as the two of them tried to get as far away as possible from him.

Before Roxas could process what they said he heard his bones cracking under pressure and a dark aura took over the room as he felt the breath leave his body.

Eraqus was about to enter the room when he left a familiar aura.

'Not again!' He thought shivering.

He had been a victim of that once, but it had scarred him for life.

Plus it nearly threw out his back as well.

Eraqus decided to take a small walk and figured it would be better for his students to deal with the issue.

'Poor Roxas. Hopefully Terra and Ventus can calm her down.' He thought again.

Eraqus never wished what was going to happen to Roxas on anyone for fear of Aqua breaking their back.

'This is just as bad as the Leech Grave! I think she just cracked a rib!'

Those were the thoughts of a struggling Roxas. He was trying to get out of the death grip that was Aqua. She had tears streaming from her eyes and an aura that threatened pain as well as despair for someone. Terra and Ven were hugging the walls to stay away from her oppressive aura.

"Poor Roxas! You had to take care of yourself for nearly 15 years without any family or friends!? Who would do such a thing!? When I meet them I'm going to..." Aqua wailed out before she began to mutter out threats that although Roxas could barley hear didn't wish on anyone.

Except for Saïx, he deserved at least a third of the threats that she muttered.

Still he could see that Ven was terrified and Terra was trying his best to maintain his calm. The Nobody decided to hopefully to clear things up.

"I exaggerated a bit, I only meant for about a year as I have no memories before I was 14 and I meant my former master that day and Axel later. Besides I was under Axel's care for a good portion of the year if that helps. Right?" Roxas said in a pleading tone between breathes. "So can you please let me go?" He felt Aqua's grip loosen up around him and let out a sigh of relief.

'I do not want to be squeezed to death. Already came close to it with that blasted Heartless.' He thought

'He really is a lot like Ven/myself.' Was the collective thoughts of Eraqus's apprentices. Not only did they looked alike and sound alike, but they were entirely different people except they both had their memory stolen away from them by something out of their control. But at the thought of that Aqua's face developed a sadder expression.

"Roxas...you have just dug your own grave." Ven said simply.

"Why?" He said meekly as he didn't notice what Aqua was about to do.

"You have just messed up. Big time."

Before he could even think Roxas suddenly found himself being smothered to death as Aqua proceeded to hug him so tight he felt his spin beginning to crack. He couldn't breath as she was pressing his head so tight against her chest that he couldn't breath. The sight of the Nobody struggling to break free from her comforting hug of death would have been comical if Aqua didn't look so sad for her victim.

Roxas could not believe that after getting a new life he was going to be smothered to death. It was not the worst way to go though.

For a Nobody it was for them to eventually burn out what remains of their will and fade away from existence alone without anyone ever caring what happened.

It was depressing as hell to think about and as frightening as it sounded. It was a common fate among the elder Dusks and something that all the Organization was afraid of of happening to them even Xemnas.

Still Ven couldn't help but chuckle at the sight before he was hopped on the head by Terra.

'I've had enough of this' He thought.

"Aqua enough you are going to kill him at this rate. You have already broken enough pillows and our ribs a few times by doing this." Terra said firmly.

Aqua proceeded to let Roxas go. He then took in a deep breath of air as his lungs were practically empty empty at this point.

"Sorry." Aqua said a bit sad that she nearly squeezed the life out of him.

"It's okay." Roxas said before he faced Terra, but he couldn't help but wince in pain as he might have a few cracked ribs. "Thank you Terra. You have no idea how painful that was!"

Terra chuckled at his reaction while Aqua proceeded to cast Curaga on him.

"You would actually be surprised by how painful her hugs can be when she gets like that." He said ignoring the annoyed glare the bluenette sent his way. "While she is like a sister to me and Ven, she can be a real mother hen sometimes." He finished with a grin.

"Well someone has to be around here." She said with her glare fading away. All four of them proceeded to laugh at the interaction before Aqua was done mending his ribs.

"Thanks Aqua."

"No problem."

"That is good to hear." A fifth voice said as a new presence entered the room. "I would hope that Roxas would be in the best condition to test his abilities."

"Master!" All three apprentices chorused out as he entered the room.

"Roxas It is time for your spar. You will follow us out to the courtyard of the castle to begin." Eraqus said. Roxas could only nod at that. As they all proceeded to exit the room Ven decided to speak up.

"Master if you don't mind me asking, but who will Roxas be facing?" He asked. Eraqus stopped at the doorway and turned to face his student.

"I was going to reveal who it would be at the courtyard, but if you all insist." The Keyblade Master said seeing his apprentices nodding continued."I have chosen Terra to face Roxas." The young man in question looked surprised for a moment before he regained his composure.

"It would be a honor Master." Terra said. With a nod Eraqus proceeded to lead them all out of the room. As they were going to exit the room Roxas grabbed Ven's shoulder.

"Hey Ven do you mind if I ask you what the date is?" He asked.

"Um sure, but why do you need to know that?" Ven asked confused.

"Simple I know that on some worlds time runs faster or slower there. So I'm just checking incase there is a major difference." Roxas said.

"Okay I can understand that." Ven said. "The date is June 28, 200X. Is it any different from Twilight Town?"

"Not really. Thank you Ven." Roxas said. Ven nodded before he left the room to catch up with his friends, leaving the Nobody alone.

"So I'm about 12 years into the past then." Roxas said looking up at the ceiling.

So that would mean that Sora was 4 years old right now as it was a year before Kairi was transported to Destiny Islands when her world fell to darkness. So once again he found himself in a situation were he didn't know anything that was going on.

'But for now I should catch up to the others.' Roxas thought. He began to run to catch up to the others.

He closed the door leaving the room in empty except for his Organization coat lying on the bed.

(Chapter 10 end)