Castle Oblivion

First Appearance: KINGDOM HEARTS CHAIN OF MEMORIES (2004)

A new world has appeared in the journal even though its contents have been erased, along with the memories of Data Sora; Mickey decides to enter the data world once more to explore the new, mysterious world. Data Sora is in the alleyway in Traverse Town in a drowsy state; Pluto licks the boy's cheek, waking him up before bounding away with Sora hot on his trail but as soon as Sora rounds the corner, he bumps into Mickey, who tells him that in this very world, in this very alleyway, Sora's journey started on a fateful day and that Mickey was in fact there as well - the time for the truth has come. With Data Sora's memories having just been erased, he is confused, but Mickey eases his uncertainty when he tells Sora that he wants to employ him to help him with the solving of the words "Their hurting will be mended when you return to end it." It is Mickey's strange familiarity that gives Sora the confidence he needs to agree to help the King and - with his Keyblade and powers in tow - they open up a new Keyhole to Castle Oblivion.

At Castle Oblivion - a place where to find is to lose and to lose is to find - Sora is seemingly alone, but there is a strangely familiar hooded figure before him who claims to be "Nobody". He throws Sora a card with a picture of Destiny Islands; this card will allow Sora to move closer to his 'sleeping truth'. Sora uses it and relocates to a white room with Bugs inside, where once again the hooded figure is waiting; the figure tells Sora that in this castle, the cards create illusions and mentions that Sora helped fix a notebook - this, of course, confuses the boy but the figure tells him that he will meet people he should remember and that in the meantime, he should do whatever he feels like since 'something that was not in the notebook will happen' if he does so. After this, the figure leaves and one of Sora's friends - Selphie - appears in the corner of the room. Events entail which include Sora searching for Wakka, destroying Bugs and rescuing Tidus from a block, before the world returns to normal. Of course, Sora cannot remember much of what he's just done due to the castle's nature, but the figure insists that he go forward and presents Sora with new cards. These cards are Traverse Town, Wonderland, Olympus Coliseum, Agrabah and Hollow Bastion; but before Sora moves on, the figure warns that the people he will meet in these worlds won't be familiar, so he can be horrible to them if he wants because he will forget all about it. True to his nature, Sora says that he would still feel the regret and the pain of being horrible to them even if he forgot who they were, at which point the figure comments that Sora is 'beginning to understand torment' before disappearing and leaving Sora to traverse the worlds.

Sora travels through each of them in turn and at the end of each, he forgets what he has just done; sometimes the hooded figure intervenes and comments on the pain that Sora feels from forgetting the people he's just met. After completing Olympus Coliseum, the hooded figure is especially malicious and jeers that Sora is truly naïve; in Castle Oblivion, where to lose is to find, Sora is losing his memories and gaining pain and that he will never be free from his torment if he continues to think that holding on to his pain for the sake of his friends will allow him to regain his memories - ultimately, it will cast his heart into darkness. Sora is angry at the figure for attempting to lead his heart into darkness but can only carry on. After Agrabah, Sora feels the usual pain of forgetting and understands that he needs to get rid of the torment to free himself from the clutches of darkness. Thankfully, not all hope is lost as a white light shines and Mickey's voice comes from it; he is on his way with Donald and Goofy who are valuable friends of Sora's who he can't quite seem to remember. After the apparition ends, Sora only has one more world left: Hollow Bastion, where Maleficent and Pete are causing the usual trouble. After this world is completed, Sora is revisited by the hooded figure.

With the cards all used, everyone Sora has met is now forgotten, and according to the figure, Sora should let go of the torment to save his heart from darkness. However, Sora is everlastingly loyal, and he declares that he'd rather fall into darkness by finding a way to get rid of his pain than forget his friends completely; after all, the pain is his only link to the things he's forgotten. At the concept of hurt being the only link, the hooded figure becomes enraged and summons two Keyblades, and unleashes an attack on Sora, saying "It's time you learned what real hurt feels like!" The battle is unlike any other Sora has faced but the enemy is eventually worn down, at which point he questions Sora mockingly about why he won't destroy him. Sora is not one to rise to pressure, and when he makes no move against the figure, the figure announces himself as merely data and sure, destroying data must have no significance; but Sora contests that, saying the hooded figure's attacks hurt a lot and that the figure showed him real pain - pain that was more than physical, but rooted deeply inside him. Sora says that it's like their hearts are connected somehow and that because of this, he will gladly take the figure's pain for him. It is these kind words that break the figure's resolve, and after admitting that he can never beat Sora, gives him the Truth Card. Earning this card is like a rite of passage since it means one understands torment - a rite of passage that the figure guarded zealously. Now with his role over, the figure returns to a place he belongs - Sora. The two merge, and Sora is bombarded with memories of a 'summer vacation' - a summer vacation that belonged to the hooded figure, Roxas.

Now there is only one thing left to do: find out the truth once and for all. Sora is joined by a late Mickey and together they enter the final door which leads to the Pod Room at the Twilight Town mansion; in front of the pod is Naminé. Naminé is very familiar with Sora but to Sora, Naminé is a stranger, at which point Mickey explains that at one point, the real Sora lost his memories and Naminé was the one to restore them. This is a gracious act, but Naminé confesses her guilt and owns up to everything: it is her who is the cause of the corruption in the journal because while she was fixing Sora's memories, she stumbled across a memory piece lying in Sora's heart, one that wasn't his own but belonging to someone connected to Sora. It is an extremely precious and dangerous memory because it is made of intense torment. If they were to meddle with it, it could break, so Naminé left the message in the journal - "Their hurting will be mended when you return to end it," - so that everyone would work together to get through the torment to come to the aid of the person whose memory this was, a person in torment. In order to really understand torment and to withstand it, Naminé placed the memory in the journal, causing the Bugs; it took a lot of hard work, but Sora was the one to ultimately achieve that - sometimes, there is pain that won't leave so you must accept it but if it is too intense, you connect your heart with another and the pain becomes divided by two linked people, less of a burden. Here, Sora says they'll accept the torment, and he touches a ball of light; memories flow through him and he sees Roxas, Axel, Naminé and Xion - these are all people who are waiting to be freed. Naminé mentions that DiZ hid something inside the real Sora, a sort of 'key' to save everyone. From this, images of Terra, Aqua and Ventus appear - they are all connected to the truth of the Keyblade whose torment Sora might be able to understand.

These three Keyblade wielders seem familiar to Sora for the most part, but in fact Naminé says he has only met two, but the third who he hasn't met shares a very special bond with him. According to Naminé, they will need to be awakened soon and the only one capable of doing so is the real Sora, so the real Sora will need to be told about them and the connection he has with them - a connection which Data Sora says is the 'key'. After being thanked by Sora, Naminé disappears, before the scene draws to a close. It reopens with Mickey at his desk in the real world at Disney castle, writing a letter that he will send to the real Sora. The letter talks of the memories slumbering inside Sora and about the truth of the Keyblade that is in the hearts of Sora, Riku and Kairi. Though all the journeys so far have been arduous, Mickey says that they are a warm-up for the next journey, a journey in which Sora must relieve the sadness of all connected to him, and sends the boy off on another journey to free everybody from torment.