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“Sora!” Kairi shouted, running up to the two beside the Paopu Tree, “It’s a note for you!” she told him, holding up a bottle with a note rolled up in it, the King’s symbol visible through the glass.

“It’s from the King! Open it up!” Riku said, as Sora took the bottle, and unrolled the letter, “What does it say?” he asked, looking over Sora’s shoulder with Kairi.

“Hey Everyone,

Something’s happening. A couple stars have blinked out, and one of them had a New Keyblader on it. She got off fine, and if I’m right should land on your world really soon. She’ll need Roxas. Riku, I’m going to need you to get her to Midgar. Sora, it might be a good idea to let her have some of your Keychains. She’ll need all the help she can get. Kairi, get your sleeping bag out. She’ll need to rest up for a while after what she’s been through. I’d try looking near the Keyhole.

Mickey. ” Sora read.

“I’ll go check the Secret Place.” Riku said.

“I’ll come with you.” Sora nodded.

“I’ll go get the guest room set up.” Kairi said.

And then they split. Kairi ran towards the boats, Riku dived under the ferns that led to the Secret Place, Sora right behind him, just in time to see it.

A rippling portal of darkness opened, and out fell a girl with red hair, mostly hidden under a blue hat. Riku ran to catch her.

Aya seemed shell shocked, “This has all got to be a dream…” she mumbled, seemingly not even aware of Riku and Sora’s presence, “Alex… I couldn’t do anything to save her… and Misa’s missing…” she finally looking up when Riku talked.

“This isn’t a dream. I’m Riku. Who are Alex and Misa? What happened?” Riku asked gently, though he could probably already guess.

“Alex and Misa are my friends. We all live…” she paused. Live wasn’t the right word anymore, “… lived on Dauphin Island. We’d gone out to the beach because today was the last day of school, but on the way back we got attacked.” She didn’t want to say the word Heartless. Something felt like, as long as she didn’t say it, she could wake up and everything would be normal again, “Alex slipped, and when I got them off her she was half gone in a portal… She wanted Misa and me to come with her but I was too scared… Then Misa disappeared and I had to go because the other portal was almost gone.” Aya slipped out of Riku’s arms, which she realized were supporting her, and let herself sit down on the ground, “I’m Aya.” She added, as if her name was an afterthought. Finally something donned on her.

Sora stepped up to the introductions, “I’m Sora, and this is Riku. Kairi’s on the mainland, but you’ll be sleeping at her house, so you’ll meet her tonight.” He said, “Wanna come with, or are you going to sleep in here?” he asked, sarcastically as he held out a hand to help Aya up.

“I think I’ll follow you.” Aya said, taking Sora’s hand and getting zapped, letting go, “Ow! Static Shock!” she said, flopping down to the ground again.

Sora gasped, doubling over. His shadow split in two and beside him in his Organization Cloak, Roxas dropped down by Sora, both of them on their knees from pain.

Aya gasped, not understanding what she’d done. Her eyes were wide with shock and fear, before the both of them stood up and looked at each other.

“… Roxas.” Sora whispered.

“… Sora. What just happened?” Roxas asked, looking down at his hands.

Sora stared into his other half’s electric blue eyes, before reaching out and cautiously touching Roxas’s face as though he though the blonde would explode. “I don’t know…” he admitted. Instead of Roxas being absorbed back into Sora’s body, though, he just stood still.

“The letter.” Riku said, “The King said she’d need Roxas.” Riku nodded.

Roxas looked over at Riku, “Hello, Riku.” He said, with a brief nod.

“It’s been a while since we saw each other, hasn’t it, Roxas?” Riku said with a smirk, before looking up at the one place where sunlight could enter the cave and realized, “It’s getting late. Let’s get back to the Mainland. Aya? You’ll be staying with Kairi until you leave.”

“What?! No! I’m NOT staying at Kairi’s!!” Aya said, glaring up at Riku.

“You have two options. You sleep at Kairi’s, or you sleep here on the cave floor.” Riku said, glaring back.

“Fine.” Aya mumbled, before something finally sunk into her mind, “Wait… What happened to my World?! My Island?! Alex! Misa…” she said.

Sora sort of gave a half-laugh, “You sound like I did when I first found out…” he whispered, “Your world is gone. You can ask the King about exactly what happened to it if you meet him.” He told Aya, louder.

Riku, seeing Aya’s unwillingness to move of her own accord, sighed. He picked her up bridal style, causing a blush to appear on Aya’s face unbidden, “You’ll need to stay here for a few days. The King wants me to send you to Midgar, and I’m going to need to get this portal right, or you might end up a world or two away from Midgar stranded.” He told her.

“A few days?!” she demanded, “What am I supposed to do, just sit around and WAIT?!” she asked.

“Well, I hardly want you to leave this Island unprepared…” Sora said, turning around and walking backwards so he could face Aya, “So I’m going to be training you. By the time you leave, you should know at least the basic on how to fight, and maybe know a couple abilities.

“Oh…” she mumbled, feeling like a total idiot for thinking Sora and Riku would make her sit on her hands and wait while she could be doing something.



The next morning, Aya was sure she had been dreaming… until she heard Kairi’s voice open the door, “Come on! Sora’s going to teach you how to fight today!” she said, a little too brightly for Aya.

Aya felt around her, refusing to open her eyes, and threw the pillow in the direction of the voice. “Go away!” she complained.

After Riku and Sora finally dragging her out of bed a half-hour later, they arrived on Destiny Island, and her and Sora were facing each other, Aya near the Paopu Tree, and Sora on the other side of the small piece of the island.

“Alright. The best way to learn how to fight well is have a match!” Sora told her, summoning his Kingdom Key, and waiting for Aya, who just looked at him with a scathing look before he realized, “You… don’t know how to summon yours yet, do you?” Sora asked.

“How would I know how to summon one? The closest to a Keyblade I’ve ever had is Alex letting me hold the one she ordered online.” She asked.

“Point taken.” Sora nodded.

Riku, who was sitting with Kairi watching on the bridge, spoke up, “Feel your power inside you, and call it out.” He instructed, “If that doesn’t work, try dredging up the emotions you had when you summoned it on Dauphin Island.”

“You make it sound SO easy.” Aya muttered.

“Once you do it a couple of times, it is.” Sora told her, waiting.

“Alright…” she mumbled, not believing anything about what Riku had told her to do sounded easy. She tried the first way to begin with, but after about a minute of trying to concentrate on her power and Epic Failing, she gave up and went to the second way. ‘What was I feeling when Alex was attacked?’ she asked herself. The Answer was easy. Anger and Fear. In that one moment, she had been angry at the Heartless and afraid for Alex. Suddenly, she felt a weight in her right hand, and she opened her eyes, getting to study her key more thoroughly for the first time. Where Sora’s was Yellow, hers was Pitch Black, and where Sora’s was Silver Gray, hers was Purple. Replacing the Mickey Head on the Keychain was what she recognized easily as a Charm that Alex had on her Bracelet, Shaped like Tinkerbell, It’s wings made of Onyx and Set in Silver.

“The more you summon it, the easier it’ll be.” Sora told Aya, “Now, let’s start!” he said, running towards Aya. This continued far past noon, with all the Islanders helping. Finally, at sundown, Aya was confronting Sora, Roxas, Kairi, Riku, Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka together. The three in front of her were Sora, Roxas, and Riku. Wakka and Selphie were on either side of her, and Tidus were behind her. Kairi was going to start as the referee until someone got out.

“You don’t necessarily have to win this one, Aya.” Roxas said, “You’ve already beat me at about 15% of my strength, which is a large accomplishment already for someone who just got their Keyblade yesterday…” he said.

“You beat Selphie, Wakka, and Tidus separately, and in a 3 against 1 match, which I actually did before I even left the Island…” Sora added.

“And the same goes for me and Sora and 5% power, and Kairi at full power.” Riku said.

“I lost twice as much as I won, though…” Aya mumbled, very glad for Sora’s Healing Spell.

“Still, let’s do this before we go back.” Riku said, “It’ll be One hit outs for us, to even things up.” He told everyone.

Aya stayed where she was, As Selphie swung her jump rope and Wakka threw his blitzball. Aya timed it well, and swung her Keyblade like a bat, Hitting Selphie with the Blitzball before it rolled off the Island, forcing Wakka to run down and get it before he could continue. “Selphie out!” Kairi said, trading places with her, and running at Aya with her Keyblade in hand. Aya easily blocked Kairi’s keyblade, but got a whack from Tidus behind her. She winced, pushing Kairi away, and making her stumble, and spinning around, attacking Tidus and getting him after a couple of blocks from his stick.
She only turned away from him when Selphie called out, “Tidus out!” then Kairi and Wakka were at her. She tried using the same trick on Kairi, batting Wakka’s ball at her, but it got batted back, and to divert it, she let it bounce off her Keyblade, and it Hit Wakka. “Wakka out!” She made quick work of Kairi, and turned to the remaining 3 when Selphie called “Kairi out!” At this point she was out of breath and not looking forward to having to fend off Riku, Roxas, and Sora. Roxas and Sora ran at her first. She dodged Sora’s Keyblade, and blocked Roxas’s. She pushed Roxas back to jump away from Sora. The Riku was there. Bringing her keyblade up, she blocked The Way to Dawn a split second before it would have impacted. Throwing him off, he hit the Paopu tree behind him. Running at Sora, she blocked his Keyblade and kicked his shin. Sora hadn’t been expecting this, but accepted that it would be a fair move in any fight as Selphie called, “Sora out!” Then, Roxas and Riku got the bright idea of teaming up, running at her from opposite sides. They each threw their Keyblades, Aya gasped as she ducked too late, and got hit in the Chest with Oathkeeper, and in the Back with the Way to Dawn. The two Keyblades disappeared, returning to their owners. Aya dropped to her knees, and when she looked up again, Roxas and Riku had their Keyblades both pointed at her, “I told you I couldn’t win this one.” She said, with a small sigh.

“Oh come on. You got 5 out of 7. Your really good for a Beginner, Aya, and you can only get better.” Riku said, letting Way to Dawn disappear, he held out a hand to help her up. “Of course, if Me, Sora, or Roxas had been had been using all our power we’d have creamed you in less than a minute.” He said with a smirk.

Aya took his hand, and smirked back, “You just wait. One day I’ll come back and take all three of you on at once at full power.” She told him, pulling herself up, “And win.” She added.

Sora yawned, as the sun was beginning to set, “Come on. We need to get home.” He said, jumping down from the Paopu Tree.

Riku stared at Sora and nodded, before turning his attention back to Aya and saw the sad look on her face, “Just two more days, Aya.” He said, smiling.


“Why are you being so nice to me, Riku?” she asked, as she sat watching him row back towards the Town.

“If you must know… I feel sorry for you. You’re going to go through a lot of suffering and hardships in this journey. You might lose sight of what’s really right for a while. And even when everything goes back to normal… even when you’re back home… things will never be the same.” He said, as he stopped, letting Aya out first.

Aya sighed, “… Thanks, Riku.” She said.



That day, training ended and her mission was simple: get 10 hits on Sora while he was using 50% of his strength. So far the score was Sora: 0 bruises Aya: 5. Aya ran at Sora, finally getting a single hit on his before being hit back.

“9 more to go!” Riku reminded her from the sidelines.

“Don’t remind me!” Aya complained, though she was in a lighter mood how that she’d gotten one hit on Sora. She jumped back as Sora swung his Keyblade down. 3 hours later (at Noon) and after many breaks, she’d finally finished.

“Alright! Now it’s time for your reward!” he said, throwing her a bottle of water.

“Water?” she asked, scathingly as she opened it and took a long drink.

“No.” Sora said, laughing, “Come here.” He told her, digging in his pockets he took out handfuls of Keychains, and let them lay on the ground in one massive heap, “You get to pick 5.” He told her.

“Okay!” she said, picking out 5 she like (and realizing in the process that he’d left Oathkeeper, Oblivion, and Ultima out of the pile).


Sora nodded, not objecting to her choices, “Let go into town. Twilight Town isn’t the only place with Sea-Salt Ice Cream.” He said, laughing as he got up.

“Alright!” she nodded.

Riku jumped down, “I should be able to send you to Midgar tomorrow morning. Get some rest tonight.” He told her, crossing his arms.

“Aren’t you coming with us, Riku?” Sora asked.

“I figured I’d get a note to the King telling him Aya’s here safe.” He said, “And I’m going to need to rest to do this tomorrow. I’ve never sent anyone to Midgar before.”

“Well… alright.” Sora said, sighing, “Hey, Roxas!” he called up to the blonde, who was sitting on top of a tree, “Sea Salt Ice Cream! Come on!” he called out.

Roxas slid down the tree, “Lead the way, cap’n!” he said, doing a over emphasized salute.



Aya had been up for an hour now, just staring at the celing. She was leaving today for Midgar. What did she need to go to Midgar for? Wait. No. What did her and Roxas need to go to Midgar for? Just as she was starting to ponder this, someone tapped on the door, “You awake?” Riku asked, peering in.

“Yeah.” Aya nodded quietly.

“You ready?” he asked next, opening the door all the way.

“Also yeah.” She sat up, stretching. Getting up, she followed Riku to his boat. Over the 3 days she’d been there, she’d basically told Riku, Sora, and Roxas her life story. How Alex had lived on Dauphin all her life, and how she had moved there when she was 5. How Alex had told her about how Misa had been found washed up on the Beach the year before Aya got there, and how Alex’s foster mom had adopted Misa (making Alex have a total of 3 Sisters, and 4 Brothers). And finally, she had told them about the Kingdom Hearts video games, but she couldn’t stop thinking about Alex, “Riku…” she started, when Riku had started to Row, “… If I’m suppose to be the Keybearer… then you don’t think Alex would…” she trailed off, not wanting to even say it out loud.

“From everything you’ve told us, I doubt Alex would side with the darkness of her own will…” Riku told her, thinking, ‘If she gets possessed, that’s a whole different matter, though.’

“Did I mention she has a sort of a fetish for the bad guys in Anime, and she has a Shirt that says ‘Come to the Dark Side, We have Cookies.’ With all the Organization 13 Members on it?” she asked.

Riku blinked, before he laughed…


“The cookies are a lie, and I still don’t feel like she’d be the type.” He said.

Aya smiled. This made her feel better. As they stepped out onto the dock, she saw that Sora, Kairi, and Roxas were waiting for her.

“Okay, truth be told you’re probably there for a Gummi Ship, so look for Cid. He’ll help you there. And if you end up needing to stay the night, or ever need to rest somewhere, the Yuffie always has a spare room.” Sora said.

“And this is from Me, Riku, and Sora.” Kairi said, holding out a shopping bag.



“Here’s me and Sora’s numbers. There’s a phone in all Gummi Ships. If you get lost or need help, call us.” Riku said.

“And I’m coming with, so I figures I didn’t need to get you anything.” Roxas said, before a quick nudged in the ribs from Sora made him smile, “I’m joking, Sora!” he said, reaching in his back and pulling out an identical one, “I notice how little your backpack held, so I get you an I.S.P!” he said.

“… Internet Service Provider?” Aya asked, confused.

“Infinite Storage Pack! Or just a bag…” he said, shrugging, “Very small outside, very very large inside.” He said, “How else do you think we were able to keep 99 of every item at once?” he asked, shrugging.

“Thanks, everyone!” Aya said, smiling as she put her things in the bag that Roxas had given her, as well as her backpack, which was slung across her shoulder.

“Come on. It’ll be easier for me to control a portal if it’s still daylight.” Riku told them, crossing his arms.

“It’s 11 AM. We have plenty of time.” Roxas said, waving the comment off.

“No. Riku’s right.” Aya said, gently, “The sooner I leave, the sooner I’ll find Alex and Misa. So I’m ready when you are, Riku!”

“Alright then.” He nodded, holding one hand out, a oval appeared in front of Aya, and another in front of Roxas, “We’ll call if we see Alex or Misa.” He told Aya, right before she stepped through the portal.

“Come back safe, Roxas!” Sora said, as the Blonde stepped through the second portal.

Aya had the oddest sensation that she was drowning in Jello as she slipped through the portal, landing safely with Roxas in Midgar.

=====

Okay, incase you didn’t catch it at the beginning of the Chapter, I am placing this at the very end of KH2. Sora and Riku just finished talking, and Kairi ran up with a note in a bottle from the King. (Heroes just never get a break, do they? XP)

Also, the "+ __ dead puppies" will be a recurring joke throughout this story (as well as a joke in YGOTAS). Think of it as part of the way to get the secret ending. If, at the end of the game, you have 101 dead puppies, and do some other things, you get the ending! xD (so watch for the other 90 puppies throughout the story)