Volume 12
Chapters
Chapter 51: The One You Can Trust
Story
Chapter 47: Mirage Arena
Lea and Rei train in the Mirage Arena, which generates different scenarios based off of world cards. Lea learns more about the keyblade, and Rei learns how to utilize her full power.
Chapter 48: Jealousy
After a day of training, Rei visits Lea in his bedroom. She asks about Roxas' life as part of the organization and how she still feels strange about Sora. Lea tells her how he's come to terms with Roxas, and no matter how much he wishes to see him again, Sora is his friend too. He tells her that becoming friends with Sora doesn't mean she cares any less about Roxas.
Rei returns to her room where she finds Lius, but he says he's not there to fight. Rei dismisses him, determined to figure out what he really wants. He asks her about the things still bothering her, and wonders if she would leave this world if she had the chance. It's a similar offer he gave to Riko. He hands her a Twilight Town world card, telling her it's a sample of her memories from "that time". He then disappears. Knowing it's against better judgement, Rei goes to the main console of the Mirage Arena and decides to load up the world card. The portal appears, and she enters.
Chapter 49: Temptation
The chapter opens with a fake memory of how Rei and Roxas meet.
Lea and the others wake up, unable to find Rei. Seeing that the world card was loaded, Lea decides to go check it out. When he enters, he finds himself in a white room with a large table, chairs, and drawings across the walls. At the foot of the table, Rei is asleep. Lea attempts to wake her up, but she doesn't respond. Suddenly he hears a familiar voice and sees Data Naminé before him. She says she's not the real one, but rather a failsafe that the real one had put in. She explains how Rei asked Naminé to add memories with her and Roxas, similar to what she herself did with Sora in Castle Oblivion. Now, Rei's consciousness is simultaneously experiencing all those memories and is being consumed by them.
In order to awaken her, Lea has to try and trigger her original memories through the weakest link: the last six days of summer vacation. They coincide directly with her real memories and have been left unfinished. In these versions of the memory, Axel wouldn't have existed. If Lea is able to recreate the events that happened in the real world, it could help awaken Rei. Lea sighs at the irony, once again having to tell a person their whole life is a lie. Naminé tells him that there's one person that he can trust, but she warns him that he needs to focus on the mission or he'll be lost too. Lea promises not to mess up a second time and enters the memory.
Chapter 50: Bring Her Back
Rei is in her bedroom. Realizing it's now daytime, she turns away and tries to go back to sleep. She is suddenly awoken by a giant flop on her bed. Roxas teases her for sleeping in as she beats him with a pillow. They talk about how it's time to meet up with the gang and how they're looking forward to the beach.
Lea is watching over the town confused on how to start. Without DiZ and Riku's interference, he should be able to do what he wants. Suddenly, he is surrounded by dusks. Naminé tells him that since he entered her memories, the nobodies must've been drawn out. Because Lea was a nobody at the time, he's able to control them, making his job a lot easier.
Roxas and Rei arrive at the Usual Spot, but they are panicking due to their stolen photo. Rei gets a sinking feeling, and tells everyone she needs to check on something. Roxas tells the group that he'll go after Rei as the rest of them split up to find the real thief. Rei immediately makes her way to the mansion, unsure why she felt the need to go there. At the mansion gates, she is suddenly surrounded by nobodies. Upon seeing them, her head begins to hurt, and she is rendered useless. Before she passes out, she sees Roxas run towards her, a bright light shining in his hands.
When she wakes up, Roxas is carrying her back into town. He asks if she’s okay, and she nods her head. She asks about what happened, and he tells her he found her on the ground. She pushes further, but Roxas assures her that nothing else happened.
The next day, Rei is unsettled by the nightmares she’s been having. The group decides to go to the beach to celebrate their last few days of summer vacation, and thye work a few jobs around town to earn enough munny. Rei holds onto the pouch, but before they reach the station, Rei is attacked by nobodies and the pouch is stolen from her.
The next day, Roxas tries getting Rei out of bed, but she says she wants to stay in, disappointed by the events from yesterday. Roxas tells her that he’ll check up on her later. Outside of the usual spot, Lea is looking for Rei, the nobodies still only bringing him photos. Suddenly a skateboard is thrown at him. He cuts it apart with his chackrams and turns around to see the person who threw it at him. To his surprise, he sees a keyblade pointed directly at him, Roxas confronting him as the cause of all the monsters.
Chapter 51: The One You Can Trust
Lea takes Roxas up to the clocktower, and catches him up on what is happening. He explains nobodies, and how they were friends in the other world. Data Roxas is curious to hear about his other self, and the other side of Rei that he has no idea about. Lea tells Roxas that the real Rei is asleep in the other world, and that he has to try to wake her up through the Data Rei here. He asks him to at least wait until the struggle tournament since they’ve been looking forward to it all summer. Then they will tell Rei the truth.
It’s the day of the Struggle Tournament, and Rei is nervous since it’s her first time entering. Roxas sees Lea watching the tournament from the rooftops, and gets embarrassed when he cheers for him with the rest of the crowd. Roxas wins his match against Hayner, and Rei is up next. Her opponent steps up wearing a black coat. Lea senses the danger, and his fears are confirmed when Lius appears to him. The hooded figure reveals themselves as Rin, and Rei is suddenly on the ground, paralyzed by the memories flooding back to her. Lea calls out to Roxas, warning him that it’s dangerous. Roxas summons his keyblade and steps in front of Rei to protect her. Lea summons his chakrams to fight Lius, but he advises against it, saying the versions of Rei and Roxas down there don’t know how to fight a real battle. Lius disappears, and Lea quickly makes his way to the sandlot to help fight against Rin.
References
Original Characters
Rei • Lius • Rin The Forsaken
Kingdom Hearts Characters
Lea • Roxas • Naminé • Hayner • Pence • Olette
Locations
Mirage Arena • Simulated Twilight Town