Chapter Text
She woke to the sound of bells. Huge resonant things that reverberated right through her chest cavity as they announced the hour on the hour.
Sable did not know these bells.
Forcing awareness past the easy sense of basking warmth, violet eyes opened, only to snap shut again as the bright light burned. Raising a hand to block the worst of it, she tried a second time with a bit more success. She blinked up at a sky painted with the bright colors of early evening.
Reluctantly, Sable sat up, breaking through the last traces of that drowsy warmth. With a large yawn, she stretched out to try and ease away sleep-induced stiffness.
She shivered, as a stray breeze tickled bare skin and belatedly realized she was distressingly underdressed. Rather than her usual – and much preferred – layers, she was wearing only a thin undershirt and sweatpants. Pale fingers drifted up to trace the rough scar tissue crossing over the bare skin above her collar, Sable suddenly felt horribly exposed. Practically naked, in fact. She needed a shirt. Preferably one with a turtleneck.
But first: where was she?
The short answer was ‘a clock tower’. She’d apparently been asleep on a walkway surrounded by a low wall, high above ground level. Below the wall was the giant clock face while overhead were the brass bells that had awoken her.
Peering over the low wall, Sable saw an unfamiliar skyline of buildings awash in the golden light of the setting sun. Further out, beyond the city limits, she could just make out the shine of light reflecting off a vast body of water. Upon noticing that, she realized there was the faint tang of salt on the evening air.
This was bad. This was very, very bad. Her city was a landlocked desert, days away from any bodies of salt water!
How had she gotten there? The last thing she remembered was walking down the street, intent on visiting the park. Had she been abducted? She must have! But then why dump her up here rather than…many other awful options to be had?
Was this a prank?
Taking a steadying breath, Sable leaned back on her heels and checked her pockets. With any luck, they hadn’t taken her wallet. Fishing around the surprisingly deep pockets of the sweat pants, Sable froze.
That wasn’t her wallet.
Very carefully, she pulled out what looked like a handmade suede leather pouch. Dark in color, it had a thorny red sigil embroidered on the side that Sable recognized as the mark of the Emblem Heartless. It was identical, in fact, to the same emblem that had been on her own now missing wallet.
(Sable had bought that wallet from a novelty shop a few years prior.)
Tugging the drawstrings loose, she found a leather cardcase sitting near the top of the pouch. Fishing it out, Sable flipped it open. Inside the flap was a clear plastic window holding an ID card with her legal name, age, and other bits of standard information IDs tended to have, but all in an unfamiliar layout.
It was a completely new ID that she didn’t remember getting.
Slipping the cardcase back into the pouch and pulling the drawstrings tight, Sable froze again, staring intently at the pouch. On a second look, the stitchwork seemed oddly familiar…
Dark brows furrowing in thought, Sable glanced up at the hanging bronze bells. Then looked back out over the city awash in twilight’s light. Suspicious now, she deliberately braced her hands against the low wall of the ledge before leaning over to peer down for a closer look at the clock face. A moment later, just as deliberately, she slowly leaned back and carefully stepped away.
Leaning against the building wall behind her, Sable slid down with a muffled thump. Almost numb, she teased open the pouch and fished the ID case out for a second look. This time she noticed a few important details that she’d completely overlooked at first glance.
“Twilight Town.” She breathed, reading the card. “I’m in Twilight Town.”
That couldn’t be possible. It was a video game-
Forcing herself to stop, Sable waited until her racing heart had calmed down and focused on taking deep, even breaths until it had. Where she was didn’t actually matter just then. What did matter was: what did she have, and what did she need?
She took a closer look at the pouch to see what else was in there besides an implausible ID. Violet eyes blinked once then shut completely as she tried to stave off the sudden headache.
(It was like looking at a 3D Escher painting without warning. Ouch…)
At least she didn’t have to worry about funds. There was plenty of cash stuffed into the pouch. Munny with a ‘u’. All of it had been tetris’d away nice and neat in the brain-breaking hammerspace most video games favored and which gamers took for granted. Sable would have to count it out properly, but only after she was someplace a bit more secure.
Another breeze tickled her skin and made her shiver.
So, to sum up: she had the minimal clothes on her back, a possibly valid ID card, and funds to get pretty much anything else. Next on the acquisition list would be shelter. The canvas of golds overhead had noticeably more navy blue mixed in than when Sable had first woken up and she had no interest in spending the night out in the open.
Maybe there was a motel or something she could stay in…Wait. She had an ID. Was there a residence listed? It wouldn’t be any stranger than having a brand-new ID card she hadn’t applied for.
For a third time, Sable looked over the little piece of laminated plastic. There was indeed an address attached to her name, complete with an apartment number: X-H11
Yeah.
That pun? Definitely a joke at her expense. It was just…so much more elaborate than Sable could have imagined.
Shivering again, Sable rubbed at her exposed upper arms to try and tease back in the warmth from earlier. It was distinctly chillier out than it had been even a few minutes ago. It was time to go.
Climbing back to her feet, Sable sneezed as a random cross-breeze carried an out-of-place whiff of earthy herbs. Weird, but not important. Now how to get down from the clock tower…
Oh.
The walkway wrapped around the top of the tower. There was a doorway with stairs just around the corner. That made things considerably simpler. Sable didn’t want to try freestyling down the side of the tower just yet- Her head snapped up. The air above the ornate spire remained clear, even of shadows as sun still shown directly on it. The smaller bronze bell hanging beneath it just kept shining innocently.
But…
Sable could have sworn she’d just seen a shadow. A person-shaped shadow.
Fine hairs of her neck prickling, Sable massaged the hollow of her throat as she ducked into the tower and started down the stairs.
There might well have been someone standing on that spire, and that worried her.
———
———
17 Tram Common was a set of apartment buildings a street or so away from the tram line that gave the area its name, pretty much out of sight during any gameplay. Fortunately, once Sable noticed the various building numbers and started following them sequentially, it was simple enough to find.
Now she just had to find her specific apartment. Not quite so easy as she wasn’t sure how the building was laid out. So, she detoured to the front office, instead.
“Hey, you’re back.” The receptionist greeted her. “Feeling any better?”
A little nonplussed, Sable approached the man as she answered. “Found a sunny spot and took a nap.” As she did that regularly, it probably wasn’t even a lie. “Couldn’t remember where I was when I woke up.”
That got a wince. “Oh yeah, post-nap amnesia. That’s no fun.” He gave a her a concerned once-over. “Need help getting to your apartment?”
“Please.” She admitted, feeling her cheeks burn a bit. “Not sure my memories are reliable at the moment.”
(Also completely true, if drastically understating her situation.)
“I gotcha.” Getting up, the man stepped out from behind the service desk. “Right this way.” She followed him towards the apartments proper. “So…are you feeling any better?” At her confused look, he elaborated. “When you came in this morning…I dunno, something seemed off. I thought you might be sick.”
“A bit nervous.” Sable allowed. “New to the area, and all. But…I’ll be alright.”
“Well, if you need anything, feel free to ask.” Reaching an apartment door with numbers matching those listed on her suspect ID, the man shook her head. “Have a good evening.”
Sable watched him go before fishing the key out of her pocket and letting herself into her new apartment. Once the door clicked shut behind her, she leaned against it and let out a rattled breath. That had been more nerve-wracking than it should have been. Her heart was still drumming against her ribcage. Less now, as she inhaled the familiar scent of desert monsoon and found herself relaxing automatically.
(She should be more concerned. It was a brand-new apartment, it shouldn’t have a familiar scent!)
Getting her composure back together, Sable surveyed her new home. It wasn’t especially large, just a bedroom, bathroom, and a living area with a small kitchenette attached. The space was already occupied with vaguely familiar furniture.
Frowning, Sable started a more thorough check.
The fridge was already stocked—though not with much—and the dresser in the bedroom was filled with neatly-folded clothes that were also familiar.
Stepping back out into the living area, she finally spotted the official-looking papers stacked neatly on the coffee table. Feeling her frown deepen, Sable scooped up the papers and began leafing through them.
According to the lease agreement the rent and basic utilities had already been covered for the foreseeable future, so at least she didn’t have to worry about that anytime soon. That meant shelter wasn’t going to be an issue, leaving her free to focus on other concerns.
Like the signature on the last page of the lease.
That was not her signature! Her full legal name, yes, but whoever had signed for her was clearly right-handed. That neat cursive lacked the distinctive slant of a southpaw like Sable. Or any other unique flourish that could potentially identify the writer, for that matter. In fact, it was as textbook perfect as writing could be without being a computer font…
Oh. Shoot.
Was she in Ansem’s virtual Twilight Town? Was she stuck in a simulation of an apartment with her memories modified like Roxas’ had been?
That would explain why she didn’t remember arriving… No. Wait. Whoever had done this had put a lot of effort into it. From fooling the receptionist into thinking Sable had applied to an apartment to going to the trouble of getting her a legal ID as well as funds enough to leave her set for some time. Even the apartment itself was modeled after the layout of the one she’d grown up in and the furniture was all the same.
(The furniture was literally the same, she remembered causing some of those stains! Those clothes in the dresser had been her clothes, and the books on the shelves were her books!)
Roxas had just woken up in the simulation thinking he’d always lived there. Sable just had apparent short-term memory loss. Besides, she didn’t think Ansem would remember little details like the smell of her apartment.
(On that note, she’d need to top off the diffuser. Was there any more hydrosol?)
All in all, it was enough to suggest that her being there was a significant enough investment that Sable probably didn’t have to worry about being deleted any time soon.
Hopefully.
(Yeah, that wasn’t really going to help her rest any easier.)
Flipping through the papers again revealed nothing but the lease. No hints of any kind to answer her questions, not so much as a post-it hidden between the pages.
How annoying.
Now that her initial adrenaline-fueled panic had ebbed, Sable felt tired. Numb. She hadn’t felt anything that strongly in quite some time. Not since before…
Anyway.
Even parkour didn’t stir up that kind of rush. Adrenaline, yes, but it lacked the emotional component to really make an impact. Ordinarily an emotional crash of the current scale would have led to her turning in early to sleep it off. The issue was that her mind was still too wired-up to allow it, thoughts and theories zipping this way and that like frantic hummingbirds.
Odds were it would be a few hours before she settled enough to do more than just toss and turn in bed.
Rubbing her eyes with a sigh, Sable got up, slipped the papers into a folder left conveniently lying on the coffee table and hid them behind the books on the bookshelf.
(Because the first place anyone else would think to look would be the drawers of her writing desk.)
That done, Sable wandered into the kitchenette. Her stomach was still churning enough that even the thought of eating made her queasy, but she wouldn’t be getting any other answers that night so she’d be better off doing something constructive. Fixing enough meals for the next week so that all she had to do was toss one in the toaster oven would be one less thing to worry about.
Taking a closer look through the cabinets revealed mostly bare shelves. Save for the handful of spices that Sable preferred for her meals.
Interesting, in the ironic way.
Opening the fridge next, Sable pulled out a package of raw chicken tenderloin and had to stop a moment to eye the packaging. She distinctly remembered buying that exact package from the grocery store some days prior. She didn’t think Twilight Town had a Frys.
(More evidence that her own belongings had been relocated wholesale. Who’d even do that?)
Once the prep work was done and Sable was waiting for it all to cook, she leaned back against the counter. Thinking. She should be more concerned than she was. Staying in a suspiciously convenient apartment after being yanked out of her home territory was far from the brightest idea. What Sable should have done was gotten a hotel or something with her available funds.
Anything except hole up in the one place clearly set up by her apparent kidnapper!
But she just…didn’t care. Didn’t have the energy to care, and the apartment felt like home. Someone had gone out of their way to make it feel as much. To tailor it to give her (what felt like) a Safe Place to retreat to.
(That was a lot of consideration and effort for a ‘simple’ snatch-and-grab.)
Sable was… kind of curious to see where it all was going. In the meantime, she had a few concerns to see to. Top of the list being to find out whether or not she was in the real Twilight Town.
After that?
She’d see how it went.
———