I think we need to get together and have a, um, I guess it would be a meeting?

[Sora's not good at this leadership thing, okay?]

We need to figure out a way to get out of here and stop Xemnas, for good.

So, you’re the lot that wants to find a way outta here. Funny, it looks to me like you don’t.

Yep. Settling into those bogus homes of yours, I’d say you’d just about given up. And here I thought you’d have a little more fight in you, all things considered. Guess you don’t care as much about your friends as they thought. I mean, just look how long they’ve been waiting for you to come home. After this long, can’t say I’d wanna wait for you either.

But, hey, that works for me. With you all here, that just means one less thing in our way. All according to plan; I should have known he’d be right about you.

Ugh! [a small sound of frustration ensues] I've been cooped up for way too long. Oh, well. At least I'm out now.

[a low, dark chuckle, and those who know NiGHTS will realize this is not her normal laugh] I think I've got a lot to catch up on. What's happened since I've been gone? Did anyone miss me?

Most importantly, does anyone want to play a game?

[There's a snapshot picture of a strange place. To Riku, it's a picture of a mishmash of the Wonderland he knew and a twisted, slightly eerie version. It's possible not everyone sees what he does, however...]

Got good news and bad news. The bad news is I didn't find a way out yet. The good news is I did find a new floor. Wonderland. ...But this isn't exactly how I remember it. Parts of it seem messed up for some reason. ...This could be a bad sign regarding the darkness outside Castle oblivion, not sure.

I know I must not be the only one around here who's bored~ I'll tell you all a little story, and maybe you'll forget about your boredom for just a little while. ♥

Once upon a time, long ago and far away, there lived a witch. This little witch fell in love, as many humans do. However, this witch fell in love with a demon--a king, in fact. This witch believed that everyone had love, even demons. So the demon king and the witch were married, and they loved each other very much. For a time, they were happy.

And then they had a son. ♥

Now, the witch wanted her son to grow up to be loving and good, so she always scolded him when he acted badly. And one day he got very sick. So sick that he was going to die! The boy's parents were worried, and nobody could find a cure for him. The witch knew how, though, and even though the demon king tried to stop her, the witch loved her son so much she was willing to go through with it anyway: sacrificing her life for his.

So the witch died, and the boy was saved by her love.

But then demon boy decided that love was why his mother had died, and so he stopped believing in love.

Poor Laharl, so convinced his mother died because of love that he rejected it entirely. It makes what she did entirely pointless, doesn't it? ♥