Chapter VIII - How does the past haunt us?

Vibrant colors hit my retina as I slowly let my eyes flutter open. I wanted to puke from the sudden fall I had just experienced, the sudden panic attack beforehand, and all the stress from my Mark of Mastery, which since I didn't know was real, made me think I was actually dying.

And now that I was calmed down and not in immediate danger I could actually start to think about it. I was weak and stupid. I accepted death so easily like that. Let myself be defeated like that because of my fear of the dark. Worse, I would have let that world and any and all others fall into darkness, be destroyed, die, whatever the phrase you'd want to use, because of that fear.

I closed my eyes and sighed heavily, trying to let this sinking failure slide off my shoulders. Instead, it doubled down and weighed my eyes shut.

"Oh, you're finally awake!" A soft, feminine voice spoke. Her voice was barely above a whisper. That airy voice made me realize I had a headache too, not from aggravating it, no, but because her voice helped my headache.

What.

There was no one, absolutely no one in any world who could do that for anybody. Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration, but you weren't supposed to be able to help a headache from just a singular four– three-word sentence.

…Moving on.

The sandbags on my eyes catapulted to the back of my mind as I snapped my eyelids open to look at the girl whose lap I seemed to be resting my head on. How had I not noticed that?

She brushed the hair out of my face and I took note of hers, a bob cut of ebony black hair that was held back mostly by a red bow. Her brown eyes stared into my own (e/c) ones. Her red lips curled into a beautiful, shining smile completed by teeth that were brighter and whiter than mine, and I brush the recommended three times a day.

I lifted myself up with the help of the nice stranger. I held my head, wow, did I hit my head on the way down or something? I doubt even Curaga could fix this.

She moved my hand away from my head gently, her own hand taking its place as she examined me for injury. When she removed her hand there was dried blood on her finger pads. I looked down at her dress, there was dried blood there too.

It took my hazy brain a moment to realize that, oh, that was my dried blood. It took another moment and my keyblade popped into my hand to realize I needed to cast Curaga on myself.

But I was so hazy I couldn't remember how to do it. I frowned and felt the tears building up in my eyes. I felt like an idiot.

"Is that magic?" The girl not much older than me asked. I looked at her, nodding. I didn't feel like I should trust myself to talk yet.

She noticed my downcast expression and frowned. It didn't look natural on her face and something inside me welled up saying to get her to smile again, that I shouldn't let her frown for any reason, especially because of me.

That didn't sit right with me, but the majority of my hazy self agreed with that sentiment so I didn't question it further for fear of hurting myself.

So I smiled and stuck out my hand, mumbling my name to her and trying to tell her I'm okay. I failed though, my words slurred after I muttered out my name.

The older girl smiled sadly at me, standing up. I felt bad, her dress was covered in blood, grime, mud, and dirt.

It's just now that I noticed that we were in the middle of a sprawling forest. All around us were greens and browns, sometimes yellows, along with whatever color of the animals around. The sun shone down on us, but it wasn't hot, a little breezy, actually, which made me think it was around spring.

I looked up at her, but the sun caught my eyes and irritated my entire being. I moaned and recoiled away as the uncomfortable shiver went up my spine, then the pain that spiked in my head appeared and angered my headache.

Tears fell from my eyes as the feeling, and I stilled my movements. Closing my eyes to prevent that feeling again.

There was silence for a few moments before I heard the crunch of dirt and then felt myself being carefully and slowly picked up. My legs looping over one struggling arm and the other having not much more luck with my torso. I looped my arms around her neck.

"I'm Snow White," She struggled out between breaths as she tried to move us. I would have gotten up to walk on my own, but I couldn't manage to open my eyes again. I was placed on the back of some animal, its back was lean and small-framed, maybe a deer? I wasn't sure.

"Don't worry, I'll help you, (Y/n)," Her voice was full of worry for me. But there was something else, a reassuring determination.

I murmured into the animal's back for a while, until it stopped and I was brought down onto a bed too small for even my below average height.

And then I fell asleep.

When I woke up, Snow fed me something and I noticed the makeshift bandages on my head. I felt better but quickly went back to sleep as she shushed me, singing me lullabies for comfort.

꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂

I stretched out my arms, feeling much better. My head injury still hurt really bad, but it was nothing compared to earlier. I summoned my keyblade easily.

Casting the familiar healing spell I took off the bandages and touched my head, nothing. The blood and dirt that muddied my hair were even gone. Did Snow wash it out for me? Wow, she's really kind. Blood takes forever to wash out.

I hopped out of bed, dizzy but other than that, nothing. I smiled, I'm brand new!

I walked down the stairs from the large room I was in, leaving behind the tiny beds surrounded by the bigger ones to find snow White downstairs in this tiny cottage, near the seeming cauldron over the fire she was in the old-timey kitchen. A pie crust in what I could only assume was what medieval people used for pie tins before tinfoil came around.

"Snow? What are you making?" I asked as I sat down on a chair in the kitchen, despite being healed I was still a bit dizzy.

"You're okay! I'm so glad!" She exclaimed, clapping her hands together. The flour stuck to them hung in the air for a moment.

I nodded, "Yes, I am. Thank you."

She smiled, "It's no problem at all to help someone in need."

"Can I do something to help you? Pay you back for your kindness."

She shook her head, "You don't need to do that."

"I don't need to, but I want to. So please, anything." I could hold off the test Kingdom Hearts gave to me until this was done, I needed to honor the teachings of my master and of my parents, who all told me to respect kindness. Besides, Kingdom Heart's test was thrown on me anyway. So it could wait until I was ready for it.

She thought for a moment, mumbling, "Mm, I do need more apples for my pie." I got up from my chair.

"Then I'll go get you those apples!" I exclaimed, happy to do even something small to help the girl who'd done so much for me.

"No! You can't!" She hurriedly rushed over to me.

I tilted my head, "Why not?"

She seemed hesitant, "Even with your magic you shouldn't go anywhere near them. Evil creatures appeared in the apple orchard and made all the apples rot. And the city's too far away."

I paused, realizing what she'd just said, "Evil creatures?"

She nodded her head repeatedly, "Yes, they had weird features, very scary to look at. Beaty yellow eyes, claws, weird colors too. I tried to make friends with them and they tried to attack me!"

"I have to go, don't worry Snow. I'll go get you those apples!" I rushed straight out of her cottage. I heard her protests back in the cottage, but I picked a direction and started down that path.

Apples started to fill the trees as I ran, which was a good thing, but they were all rotten and falling to the ground, the life sucked out of them. Snow saw this as a bad thing, I saw this as a sign of bogs, which was a part of the test Kingdom Hearts gave to me.

I hit a clearing, seeing the gray little creatures called Bogs, with zippers running over their bodies to the center of their chest, where a heart symbol lay, were there also. Climbing up trees and casting magic on the apples, rotting them. Some just threw the apples down and I saw one bite into one, shredding it. Another tossed it down one's mouth like a game of bean toss, and it swallowed the apple whole.

I summoned my keyblade, not seeing the normal golden blade with the silver handle, instead seeing one made out of wood, rubies, and diamonds littered the base of the blade. I shot out some ice magic to knock one of them to the ground.

"Areoga!" I cast the wind spell, watching the Bogs crowd together because of the wind's strength.

"Wateraga!" Using Firaga would've ignited the forest, at least this way any trees that get hit will just end up getting some lunch. The water combined with the wind to create a water tornado.

The Bogs were drenched in water, drowning in the current of an advanced spell like this one. But all of them managed to break away from my combination of wind and water. One tried to jump on me, as a heartless would do, but without hesitation, I cut it down with the low-reaching blade. Doves flew into the sky. With new confidence, I disposed of the rest of them. Watching as beautiful doves soared into this world's woodland sky.

"That was incredible, you did it! You got rid of the creatures!" I turned to the amazed voice, surprised to see an out-of-breath Snow White.

"Snow, why didn't you stay in the cottage?" I asked her.

She shook her head, "I was worried for you. I didn't want something bad to happen to you," she explained to me.

I smiled, "Well, I'm alright. And," I turned away from her, picking an apple from the tree, "It seems like you'll be able to make your pie after all."

We smiled together, picking two more unaffected apples and heading back to her home.

"Would you like to help me bake the pie?" She asked, on the way to her home. "I don't think I'll be able to finish it alone, even with the help of my animal friends. For your hard work, you'll get a slice of course–"

"Snow, I'm happy to help you. Even without the reward." I told her, watching her smile expand. Something deep within my heart told me to keep that smile and Snow White safe. I don't mind listening to that part.

"Thank you, you're the best friend I could ask for." I paused for a second, processing that. A friend. I had been called a friend by her.

I've never had a friend, Denzel was my brother and Marlene was his friend, Max was Goofy's child, someone to hand out with on a fun day even though he was so much older. Goofy and Donald along with Mickey were too old. Obviously Dad and Papa and Master couldn't be my friends either.

So I've never really made friends. Papa once said I hold the idea of friendship up as a valued thing that takes work to achieve, like him. But that had also prevented me from calling anyone a friend.

Even now, I'd only known Snow for two hours, so could I really consider her a friend? I'm not sure about that. Maybe an acquaintance.

"Your welcome, Snow. Now, let's go make the best pie you've ever seen!" I hyped us both up as we entered the cabin.

"First, we make the dough." Snow did this part with help from her animal friends. I added ingredients as the birds took spoons and stirred as fast and hard as their wings and beaks would allow.

Snow told me that the dough had to harden a bit before we could use it, so I cast Blizzard to create some ice to place the dough around. Snow was thankful and in awe of it. It made me blush and fidget as she complimented my magic. She's a very sweet girl. And the first person outside of my family or keyblade wielders to compliment my magic. Well, except Donald. He complimented me just once, a year ago. But that wasn't the same.

Snow started to make the filling, leaving me to heat up the pie pan, place the little butter she had into it, and watch it heat up over the fireplace. She performed all these cool steps that I got to help with after I set up the pan. It was very difficult, but after a few tries with helpful tips and Snow to guide me at certain parts I was able to do it.

And then we were baking the pie. We sat down and talked until it was done, laughing and snuggling with the animals. Talking about life and those bogs and promising to meet again.

And then the pie was done.

She cut the pie into eight perfect slices, not a single one was bigger than the other or smaller than the next. Picture perfect, like on a cooking show.

She handed a slice to me on a plate, a wooden fork to eat it with. But didn't get one for herself. Was she not a sweets person? I mean, she seemed to be full of sugar, but who didn't like pie?

"Snow, aren't you going to have some?"

"Oh, no. This recipe only makes eight servings and this pie is for my friends, I can't eat any."

I frowned, but she worked so hard to make this. I held up my plate, "So you wanna share?"

She blinked, putting a hand to her chest. "You want to share with me?" She asked, almost surprised I would offer.

I nodded, "Of course."

And we continued to talk and laugh, eating together like I assumed friends would. The warmth in my heart began to increase with every joke and bite of pie.

The atmosphere felt like one of love and acceptance, and I felt like I could never leave. This was absolute perfection.

But sadly, all good things come to an end. And the pie was no exception, barely even crumbs left on the plate. And it was time for me to leave. I had to continue on with my test, I told her, I had to go help more people and track down more bogs. As right as this felt, it must not have been the right place.

"Thank you for a great time, Snow."

"Thank you, (Y/n), for helping me so much. I hope we can continue to be the best of friends." I hugged her, wrapping my arms around her waist as she did the same.

When we let go, I took a step back from her. But my foot didn't connect with the floor, instead I dropped straight through it, and like I had just fallen into the ocean the world around me rippled and became dark.

꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂

Lightly I drifted down the abyss to softly land on a platform, looking around it was made of stained glass, lit up by the light above. The platform was all types of blues and had an inner circle with the colors of the animals depicted displayed on it, shaping out a star. There were stars all over the platform. In the middle was an image of a flying heart. The faces of the animals went in a star shape, Unicorn, Bear, Wolf, Leopard, and Snake. Their colors were red, cyan, pink, brown, and dark blue.

A voice spoke to me, and the animals' faces lifted from the platform. "The Heart that guides you… What form does it take?"

I reached out to the Wolf, choosing the union of the Vulpes.

As soon as I did darkness filled the platform and overtook me, but a blade appeared in my hand and with a blinding light the darkness went away.

My keyblade, my light.

꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂

There was a large heartless and a wielder battling by the pond in the park. The white, curly-haired wielder dispatched the heartless quickly. But as soon as the heartless disappeared he dropped to the ground.

"Are you okay?" I ran up to him, crouching down to help him up.

"I'm okay." He told me, I still helped him stand up.

"Thanks."

We both smiled at each other.

"No problem. As long as you're okay."

He chuckled awkwardly, "I guess taking that thing on by myself was a little silly."

I shook my head, "No, you did it, didn't you? That means you could handle it. You don't look harmed, you're just a bit tired. You can't expect not to be after battling heartless." I giggled.

"Thanks. Oh, uh," He shifted, holding out his hand for me, "I'm Ephmera, of Unicornis."

"(Y/n) of Vulpes." I shook his hand.

꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂

I exited the portal, walking over to sit on the fountain in the middle of the town square, which was really a circle.

"Nice job," Chirithy said. It's sewn on style eyes staring straight at me.

"I know, gathering lux seems pretty hard lately, hasn't it?" It asked me, I nodded, still trying to catch my breath from that last mission.

"I guess I'm getting too weak for this, huh?" I joked, feeling exactly as I said. Was I out of practice? Did I need new medals? Were the ones I have too low level?

"No. It's just how it is. All the unions are really going at it hard with gathering it right now." Chirithy reassured me. I sighed, it helped.

"I wonder why we're competing?" An unfamiliar voice asked us, we turned towards a girl hopping out of a portal of light.

She had straight black hair and brown eyes. I jumped off the fountain and walked to her portal. She posed a good question, why were we fighting? It just didn't make sense.

"All the unions share the same goal: Protect the light."

"But we've found ourselves wanting to rise above the others, to gather more light than the others." She continued on, "At some point our goal changed, didn't it?"

"It isn't right." She finished.

Chirithy bounced over to her as I started to talk, "Yeah, you're right. It isn't right at all." I thought of Ephmera, and how he'd disappeared.

"Who are you?" Chirithy asked. She smiled and approached me, sitting down on the fountain. I did the same.

"I'm Skuld. You're (Y/n), aren't you? Nice to meet you." She reached out her hand to me. I took it.

"Nice to meet you too, Skuld."

꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂

Walking down the streets of Daybreak town always made me feel surrounded. Surrounded by love and friends. It gave me a warm, content feeling. I was serene walking alone with my own thoughts.

And I really was alone. It was the middle of the afternoon which meant most wielders were inside getting rest for their nighttime quests, or they were out, doing their daytime quests.

I entered the plaza, sauntering around. Jumping on the water fountain and walking among the rim. Laughing to myself as I almost fell into the water below, getting some water on my sneakers.

I jumped off the fountain, surprised at what was lying on the floor in front of me. How had I not seen him?

There was a blond boy lying on the ground in front of me. Wearing a short-sleeved jacket and two-toned sweatpants. I rushed over to him, "Hey, hey, are you okay?!" I stuttered out, shaking him to see if I could wake him up.

The boy groaned, groggily opening his bright, baby blue eyes. When he blinked I saw his face in full, he looked to be a year younger than me. Was he a new wielder? That's great, a new friend!

"Who are you?" I let him sit up, "Where are we?"

So he was a new wielder. But if that is so, then where is his union leader?

I smiled at him, trying to reassure him he was okay and safe, "I'm (Y/n), and this is Daybreak town." I helped him up.

"Am I allowed to know your name?" I asked him gently. If he didn't want to share that was okay, but I needed to call him something.

"Oh! Yeah, my name's Ventus. Oh, eh, you can call me Ven." He stuttered out, embarrassed. I laughed.

"Well, okay then, Ven Ven." I tested his nickname out, it works, and it's cute. I like it.

"I don't see your union leader around, so I'll lead you around okay? I'll give you a tour while we try to find them, okay?" I told him, still with a smile on my face.

"Sure, that sounds fine." He was looking around, clearly overwhelmed. My smile grew more, a year ago, I was like that too.

"Do you happen to remember what union you're a part of?" Even though I have friends from other unions, like Ephermer and Skuld, I couldn't help but hope Ventus was a part of the Vulpes Union. Just so we could work together and I could help him out.

He plays with his wristband, shaking his head.

"Well, that's okay, we'll just ask Chirithy!" I called on my own, petting the dream eater as it appeared.

Ventus' Chirithy popped up in his arms, he seemed surprised but immediately went to cuddle and play with the creature. The Chirithy leaned into his affections.

"Chirithy," Ventus' Chirithy turned to look at me as its owner-pet its head softly, "Do you know which union Ven belongs to?"

"He joined the Leopardos union this morning." It purred as Ventus scratched behind its ear. I chuckled, doing the same to my Chirithy who tried to act like it didn't like the attention I was giving it.

My Chirithy got mad at me for scratching behind their ear, embarrassed in front of their new friend, and poofed away. What a tsundere. Ven's Chirithy turned to him, "It's really nice to meet you, Chirithy, let's work together well in the future!" Ventus told his dream eater.

His Chirithy agreed and then poofed away, probably going to hang out with mine as they intermingled and made friends. Wherever they did that.

I grabbed Ventus' hand, "Then, Ven Ven, let's go. I'll give you the lay of the land in no time!"

꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂

The world froze, rippling like water before turning into a green stained glass version of Snow White herself.

The sky was dark, light shining down on the platform from an unknown place. Snow White was on the giant green platform along with her friends that I'd never gotten to see, and yet still somehow feel like I know. Woodland critters also littered the giant stained glass station.

Had I done it? Was that it? What was even going on? Why give me such a confusing test?! And what was with those scenes? Were those memories? But it was me. And I've never done those things, met those people. I wasn't old enough to have done or said those things either, that other (Y/n) was at least a couple years older than me.

My keyblade summoned itself to my hand, except it was still the wooden one from before. Not much to look at except the minecart and a couple of jews littered around the base of the blade.

I looked around, there was nothing to clue me in to do anything. I take a step forward onto the center of the platform. Standing in the middle of the light. It started to grow before it became blinding. I covered my eyes.

After the light had faded, I looked around, seeing darkness congregate at two points opposite to me. I stilled, blade still in my hands. Having no more time to think about those impossible 'memories.' Those had to be bogs.

And then the darkness shifted up, forming and shaping like liquid from nothing but the puddles, creating two figures. Thoiuiuugh they had no qualities or colors, I could make out the shaping of them, the details etched into the darkness that made up creases of clothes or armor, a mask or hair.

Something that reassured me was that twisted symbol on both their chests, one that looked exactly like the bogs from earlier. Which made me think I could do this, I could fight them and win. They weren't real, they weren't heartless or people, they were bogs.

I gasped, looking closer as I studied them. They looked just like that wielder from when I was four, and that masked boy from the island before that! Why did the bogs take those forms?!

The keyblade in my hand shone in response to theirs, mine returning back to normal before theirs both morphed into the same blades, bigger and better versions of my previous weapon.

It was definitely the real keyblade, not a construction of darkness because it had vibrant, shining colors. It was full of and scattered with jewels, a shining iron minecart on its hilt as it literally glowed with a golden sheen.

I prepared myself for a fight, on the inside thinking about how unfair this was. But I guess that's what a test is.

The one that looked like one of Eraqus' students, Ventus, charged at me with the keyblade backhanded. I blocked him with Reflectaga and swiped at him when he bounced off my shield. I did decent damage for how light my blade was. But if I whacked him like this it'd take forever to win. I threw fire his way just in time to barely dodge the other one, who had launched into the air to fling fire at me.

I had dodged his attack firing back thunder to knock him down mid-air. His partner caught him and I took the chance to punish their teamwork with Aeroga's area of effect damage.

The student, Ventus, clone thing threw some Ice at me. Catching my foot and freezing me to the spot. I cried out in distress as his partner staggered me as I blocked his frontal assault. Being free of the ice but having taken some heavy damage.

I huff, curing myself and cursing as my mana was close to needing to recharge. I threw some water at the boys as they tried to chuck fire at me again. My mana finally depleting and slowly recharging.

I tried taking on the masked one with just my keyblade and no magic, but he was too strong physically for me to be able to handle him without some massive blowback. It also didn't help that his partner was super fast too.

When my mana was done recharging, I had been hit many more times than I would have liked.

I cast thunderaga to slow them down as I healed myself, casting Blizzardaga and Ballonara to keep up the barrage.

One of them, the student, staggered and I hit him repeatedly, Feeling adrenaline flow through my veins as I wished to finish this fight.

I screamed as I felt something come down upon me, forcing me face-first into the floor. I looked up, his unstaggered partner had gotten me. The student stood up, and with heartless like eyes that unnerved me stared me down.

I gripped my golden blade tighter as he wound up an attack. Casting Thunderaga as my mana depleted again and watching him burst into doves. The masked boy hit me across the back with his blade, ripping right through my skin before kicking me away.

I screamed in pain as the wound began to feel more agitated against my shirt and the force of my landing. My wrist hurt too, I fell on it during the landing. But I couldn't give up. Something just told me I was close, so very close.

I got up, rushing at him trying to ignore the pain on my back and freehand. We kept getting hits on each other. One time I think I saw a bird wing come out of the masked boy's wounds. I bled as he hit me, gooey liquid staining the battlefield.

But every time we locked swords he would win due to his heavier blade, knocking me to the ground, staggering me enough to add more wounds to my body.

And even though I had lost blood and my wounds seemed dire, I barely felt pain, I was calm and focused. My mana regenerated and I fired wateraga at him, watching him stagger.

I pushed magic into my legs and cast Aeroga, making it congregate around my sword and pushing it right into his mask. He staggered again and I knew, this was it, one more hit, and I'll have won.

I went for one last swipe, watching as he brought his bejeweled blade down to counter me. All I could feel at that moment was the overwhelming urge not to lose.

I headbutt him, watching as he burst into doves as blood flowed down from my forehead. It hurt, adrenaline running from my veins as I collapsed. I cast Curaga as more blood found its way to the floor.

I felt myself relax as the magic washed over me, repairing my body's tissues and restoring my blood. I sighed, healing magic, what would I do without you?

Clapping sounded from the distance and I turned around, rushing to my feet and almost tripping as Kingdom Hearts came into view. This time she wasn't me from when I was five, she was me now.

I cringed, "Do you have to look like, that?" I asked her.

She smiled creepily, it was unhinged and inhuman. "I can change if you want."

Her face morphed to look more boyish, hair changing and becoming spikier. Eyes turning the same shade of blue as the sky, as Sora's eyes. Because she looked like Sora.

After not seeing my brother for six years, it brought a tear to my eye. I was comforted by this form.

Kingdom Hearts frowned. The clapping long stopped when they transformed.

"This is the time, one heart, one answer. What shall it be?"

Stunned, I thought about it for a moment. Thinking of all and every question I'd like answered. But, there's been one on my mind since the beginning of this test. One I need to be answered.

"Mickey and Master, they said there have been keyblade wielders before me who have wielded this blade," I brought up the silver-hilted beauty, "I want to know about them. Who were they? What happened to them?"

Kingdom Hearts furrowed his eyes, "That's two questions." They sighed.

"Fine, I'll answer it as you wish. Long ago Mickey had a brother, his name was Oswald. That blade corrupted him and he fell to darkness, Mickey struck him down." I gasped, Mickey had to do that? To his own brother!

"The second was a disciple of Yen Sid, Hoshi Suisei, he died sacrificing himself long before darkness could corrupt him."

Mickey had a brother? And, Suisei? That was mother's last name. Is that how she knew what a keyblade was?

Boredly, Kingdom Hearts stared at me. What? Was he waiting for a reaction?

"It's time for you to journey to your next heart." He told me.

"Wait–" I reached out toward him before the world went black again.

This was weird.

The world around me was tinted pink, a cottage made out of stone and pink wood stood alone, some farmland around it. The bushes and trees were pink too, leaves were red, but not dead, just naturally that color.

But it wasn't the world around me that was weird, it was the situation.

There was a blond girl, with blue eyes staring down at me. She was massive, so massive she'd gotten herself trapped within the house that couldn't fit her. She asked for my help. Her face appeared through the front window as her arms came out of the side windows, her legs broke out of the doors on the bottom level.

"Uh, yeah, sure," I scratched the back of my head, feeling awkward. "I'll, I'll help you, uhhh,"

"Alice."

"(Y/n)."

"I'll go look for something to help you now then, Alice?" I didn't know what to do.

"There should be a bottle of shrinking potion left somewhere around here! I know I had some but it's not in my pocket! I must've dropped it!" She exclaimed, near tears.

I started looking around, shuffling through every bush and clomp of dirt. I couldn't find anything.

"Looking for something?" A voice asked me teasingly. I looked around, seeing a man sitting on the fence. He was dressed eccentrically, in green and yellow. He had crazy white hair. A vial was being toyed with in his hand

"Yes, thank you!" I went to take it from his hand.

"Ah ah," He lifted it away from me, "First you have to solve my riddles."

"Riddles?" I asked, baffled.

"Yes, riddles!"

"But Alice is in–"

"FIRST RIDDLE,"

"Okay…" I gave up, exasperated by this place and its people.

"What can go through glass without breaking it?" The older man asked, a smirk presenting itself on his face.

"Light," I answered immediately.

"It can't be touched and can't be felt. It can't be seen, or heard, or smelt. It lies behind stars and under hills, and any empty holes it fills. It comes early and follows after, ends life, and kills laughter. What is it?"

"Darkness." This one wasn't too much harder either.

"I exist where there is light, but direct sunlight kills me, what am I?"

This one was a little harder, but I still got it. "A shadow."

"What is dark and made out of light?"

"A shadow," I answered again.

The old man got up and started to dance, "Correct, correct, correct, correct!" He let go of the vial and I had to dive to catch it before it dropped and shattered.

"You did it, you answered my riddles!"

"Haha, yeah… I'm gonna go now…"

"Ta ta!"

I got the heck away from him without another word, passing by a rabbit dressed in clothing freaking out about the house on the way back to Alice. This place is crazy and I need to get out of here.

"Alice! I got the shrinking potion!" I yelled, holding it up for her to see.

Through the window, I could see her smile, "Great! Could you come bring it to me so that I may drink it?"

"Sure! Wha? Hey!" The vial was snactched from my hand by a bog. I summoned my keyblade, and this time it was pink and purple with heart and spades decorating it.

More surrounded me, trying to pounce. They were gone with a simple thunderaga spell. I once again had to dive to get the vial before it shattered.

I carefully brought the shrinking potion to Alice, having to climb up the debris of the building, letting her drink the simple liquid. She shrunk and I slid down the building. Once I touched the ground I was falling.

Down, down, down. This time I accepted it.

꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂

"You want to live next to me?" I asked Ventus, surprised. Sure, my apartment complex was unique in the way multiple wielders from different unions lived there, instead of everyone being from the same union and party, but I would have thought with how new Ventus was to Daybreak town he'd want familiarity, make friends with people from his own union like everyone else.

Awkwardly, he explained to me, "Yeah, you were the first person to help me out and my oldest friend–"

"Only friend, which is why–"

"Why I'd feel more comfortable next to you."

Speechless, all I could think to do was hug him, "Alright then, get ready to be my neighbor Ven Ven, cause I'll make you sit down to watch movies every day if I can!' I was smiling ear to ear as I pressed my head into his shoulder, squeezing him in a bone-crushing hug.

He laughed, it sounded comfortable and felt safe. "Alright then, I'll look forward to it!"

꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂

"You know, at this point, we should probably just have a door connecting our apartments or something," I sighed, pushing popcorn into my mouth and trying not to let the large bucket of steaming popcorn fall onto my lap. Again.

"We could do that, I'm sure we both have the money saved up somewhere to afford a door," Ven played along with my joke, chuckling from the kitchen. I heard the microwave beep and the sound of the canned soda dinging against each other.

I locked eyes with him as he came out of my kitchen with even more popcorn and sodas. He stopped after setting the stuff down.

"Wait, like really? You're serious?"

"Yeah! Let's get a secret door for ourselves!"

"But will they allow that?"

"It's better than always having to get off the couch to open the door for you," He hit me with a pillow.

"Shut up."

I laughed at his face, which was contorted to try to stop his laughter and appear offended at the same time. He joined in my laughter before we started cuddling on the floor, inside of our fort of pillows and blankets.

꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂

"You have a lot of darkness surrounding your heart, Ven," I said sadly as I looked over him. His heart was pure, lighter than I've ever seen anyone have, but it didn't change the fact that the darkness was literally suffocating him.

He gripped his chest, gasping out a breath. "I, I don't know how it got there. But it hurts, (Y/n), can you fix it?" He looked near tears.

Speechless, I crouched down to meet Ven's eyes, holding back my own tears, "Yeah, I'm gonna try Ven, don't worry. I would never leave you suffering."

He smiled, nodding, "Thank you."

"Anything for my best friend, right?"

"Right."

꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂

This time the platform had Alice on it, the stained glass was tinted purple. I couldn't focus on anything but those scenes that played out in my head, the last one was so somber… Like more was going on than I know.

All I know is, that those memories, whoever they belong to, are important. And there sure is a lot of them, I clutched my head, overwhelmed. Like, a year's worth of memories seems to come into my head at a time. I already feel older than I am.

Strangely, it reminded me of when I was little, like when I was four or five?

So, so strange.

Another foe appeared, this one was tall, really tall. Inhumanly tall. It had spiky hair and seemed to wear a long coat, it had a real keyblade like the last ones did. The difference between mine and It's was that It's was golden. The platform became surrounded in fire.

꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂

When I finished the fight, I was exhausted and burned in several places. Curaga fixed me right up though.

"Your question?" Kingdom Hearts asked, this time looking exactly like an older version of me. It seems like she liked to change her form often, or maybe she was messing with me.

"Who is that girl? The other me?"

"You answered your own question."

"What's with the memories? Why are they important?" I urged.

"I don't answer questions that will eventually be given answers."

Growing frustrated, I asked, "Who's Ventus? When was this? Why're you showing me this? Why am I important? Why are you giving me this test? What do you mean by guardian?!" I shouted.

I got no response, so I took a breath and asked some more questions, trying to get the confusion and anger out.

"Is she why I have the keyblade? What about my fear of the dark? What about my summoning the keyblade early? Why'd Ventus there? What was with the shadow riddles and the girls' hearts?!"

Again, no answers. I had started to cry.

So I asked one last question, "When I was a kid, I saw a flash of something, a memory that didn't belong to me as something bad was happening. Was that her? Was I, like that, as a kid because of that other me?"

"That's two questions, but I'll allow it." Kingdom Hearts shrugged.

"That memory did belong to someone else. And all I'm doing is unearthing memories already inside of you. But yes, they've always been there, which made you, 'like that.'" Kingdom Hearts quoted me.

Then she waved her hand, "Alright. We're done here, goodbye."

"Wait, not againnnnnnn!" I screamed as I plummeted down into the abyss once more.