(A/N: Okay, before you read the re-write of chapter one or the chapter that follows, please note i didn't have KH1 at the time i edited them, and i had to describe Traverse Town and Destiny Islands from memory. I didn't revise anything yet because i wanted to re-post and see if anyone advised me to play the game...which i just got the other day...and fix up the descriptions)

Chapter 1

(Dawn's PoV)

I tucked a strand of my shoulder length lavender hair behind my ear and sighed.

"If you're looking for Ember, she's hiding from you, Riku." I said, not turning to face the platinum haired boy my age. Said fifteen year old male sighed and sat next to me in the sand, his blue-green eyes full of a mixture of worry for my sister and slight irritation towards her.

"She really is mad at me, huh?" he asked. I rolled my sea foam green eyes.

{Duh! You're the first guy she ever loved and you told her you're leaving Destiny Islands, you idiot.} I thought. But, knowing this would both irritate Riku and give him information Ember wouldn't appreciate him having, I said,

"You know…I wouldn't really put it that way. She's hurt that you're leaving the islands, and sometimes, angry is the only way she knows how to act when she doesn't want to express how she's really feeling. She doesn't want you to see her cry, and that's why she's hiding in the seaside sha….oops." I winced, realizing my mistake. Riku all but jumped up.

"She's crying?" his voice was full of worry as he dashed towards the seaside shack.

"Riku, I wouldn't do that if I were…nevermind." I sighed and laid on my back in the sand. Ember hated it when anyone saw or heard her cry. She wouldn't even let me, Destiny, or Sienna come comfort her when she was like this. I just hoped this wouldn't end TOO badly…..Riku, Ember, I apologize to both of you in advance for whatever happens….

(Ember's PoV)

My long violet hair covered my face, hiding the tears that fell from my ice blue eyes. Why? Why did Riku, Sora, and Kairi have to leave? Riku, you jerk! I never even got the chance to tell you that I….

My eyes widened in shock and I let out a small squeak when I felt a pair of strong arms wrap around me from behind.

"Ember, please don't cry. Please. This doesn't have to be goodbye, you know. You could…you could come with us if you wanted to. I bet Sora and Kairi would be happy to have you along." R-Riku? I pulled out of his embrace and wiped my tears away before turning to him.

"Riku, you know I can't do that. If you, Sora, and Kairi want to know what lies beyond our home, that's great, but…I have NO interest whatsoever in what's out there. I'm sorry, but…I can't. I can't go with you." I said sadly. Riku put his hands gently on my shoulders.

"Ember…please. I know you're scared, but…I'll protect you, just like always. I promised I'd always keep you safe, right?" I looked into Riku's eyes, and I felt butterflies in my stomach. His eyes seemed to be pleading with me to go with him and the others. But…I was still afraid. Finally, I said,

"…How long until you leave?"

"Three days." He replied. I gave him a soft smile.

"I'll…I'll think about it okay?" I said. Riku smiled and nodded, hugging me. My heart skipped a beat and I pulled away from him.

"R-Riku," I stammered, "there's something I've….wanted to tell you for a long time now. I-"

"Riku! Ember! You wanna come swimming?" I turned to face the spiky haired brunette. Way to ruin the moment, Sora…

"Yeah, we're coming…" I said, shoving him out of the shack. Riku shot Sora a slight glare of annoyance and followed me. As I exited the shack I looked around the island. To the left of me was the tree house, where all of us (that would include Sora, Riku, Kairi, Dawn, our older sister Sienna and myself) would camp out sometimes in the summer. Inside, we had stored two boxes of our things, including sleeping bags, lanterns, flashlights, snacks, and such. I think we even had a couple board games and a deck of cards up there that we'd bought when we were in elementary school, but I couldn't remember. To my right was the shack that led to the other side of the island, where Riku and Sora would often compete…for Kairi's attention. Next to that little divide was a smaller shack; the one I was hiding from Riku in. Across from the seaside shack and the divide was a bridge leading to a smaller island where a single tree grew; the paopu tree. I smiled sadly at the memory of how many nights I would spend sitting there by that tree…wishing the one I love would return my feelings. But…

"Ember!" Sora's voice and a small "thunk" sound broke me out of my thoughts. I frowned as I looked down. Someone (most likely Sora or Dawn…probably Dawn) had taken knocked a coconut out of one of the many trees scattered around the island and threw it at my feet to get my attention. I picked it up and looked over at my friends, raising an eyebrow.

"Who threw it?" I inquired. Sora instantly pointed at Dawn, not willing to give her a chance to pin the blame on him; when he and I both knew he didn't do it in the first place. I sighed and looked around.

"Where's Destiny?" I asked. I winced inwardly when Sora's face took on a sad expression. I had nearly forgotten….she didn't hang out with us when he and Kairi were around. Dawn nodded her head towards the treehouse.

"She's up there by herself reading; like she always does when we're not using it." She told me with a sigh. I too, sighed. What was my little sister's problem, anyway? She'd been acting weird for a few years now...and I mean weird even for a Goth. ….Okay, she wasn't COMPLETELY Goth personality wise (though she took on a moody disposition when Sora and Kairi were around), she mostly just liked to dress in dark clothes. Although she HAD been writing some really sad love poetry…but that was beside the point….trying to get off the subject and cheer Sora up (since it was my fault he was all sad now) I said,

"Race you guys to the water!" I got a head start as soon as the words left my mouth, but before I could get all the way in, Riku picked me up, causing me to squeak in surprise. The others were already in the water, and smirking knowingly at what Riku was going to do. It didn't take me long to catch on, and I began to shake my head in protest.

"R-Riku, don't you even THINK about i-AH!" I gave a startled cry as he dropped me into the cold water. When I surfaced, I glared at him furiously.

"You jerk!" I huffed. He just laughed along with the others, since he knew I wasn't REALLY mad about it. I gave a mock scoff and splashed him. This started a major water fight between the whole group that was there. (it was only me, Sora, Riku, Dawn, and Kairi. As was mentioned, Destiny doesn't hang out with us when Sora and Kairi are around. Tidus and Wakka decided to practice their blitz ball moves on the main island, and I think Selphie said something about having to help her mom with some stuff today.) All of us were completely soaked by the time the sun went down, and as we got in our boats and headed for home, I realized I never DID tell Riku that I loved him. Oh well. I always had tomorrow, right?

-the next day…-

(Dawn's PoV)

I gave a growl of annoyance and got up on the dock.

"This is why I didn't want to tell you anymore after the first time. I knew you'd make fun of me." I stated bluntly, turning to walk away.

(Sienna's PoV)

I stood up out of the boat and dashed after my younger sister, my shoulder length neon pink hair flowed behind me as I did so.

"Alright, alright. I'm sorry. Come on, Dawn, I didn't mean anything by it, I was kidding. I want to hear about the dream. Please?" Dawn sighed and turned around.

"If you tease me again, I'm not telling you any more of my dreams. Got it?" she said. I nodded and we went and walked up onto the small deck north of the dock and left across from the treehouse. It wasn't long before we were joined by our little sisters, Ember and Destiny. Destiny twirled a strand of her dark blue side-ponytail and gave us a look of curiosity. I was somewhat surprised. The little Goth hardly ever came out of her cave; aka the tree house (or when the tree house was unavailable, the seaside shack)

"What's up guys?" she asked. I looked up at her and Ember.

"Dawn had another dream of the red haired man. I want to see if details will give me a vision of whether or not they'll ever actually meet." I said.

(Dawn's PoV)

I sighed as Destiny and Ember sat down, too.

"Okay, first of all, you can't force your visions of love any more than I could see the Past, Destiny could see the Future, or Ember could see the Present on command. Our visions don't work like that. Second, I don't see why you guys want to hear so much about my dreams anyway. They're really not THAT interesting." I said. Destiny and Ember both smiled at me and shook their heads.

"Well…you just always look so happy when you talk about him. Besides, if you didn't want us to ask about every dream from then on, you shouldn't have told us the FIRST one." Ember said with a giggle. I rolled my eyes and sighed.

"Alright, alright, anyway, last night…." And so, I wound up telling them what happened in my dream, from when he and I walked into the white room to when he gave me….that strange warning.

"Don't fall in love with me." He had said. And when I asked him what he meant, he'd only confused me more when he replied,

"Because a Nobody who doesn't have a heart can't love a Somebody who has one." When I finished telling my sisters about my dream, they all exhaled.

"Wow. What do you suppose he meant by that?" Destiny asked. I shook my head.

"I don't know." I said. Ember frowned at me.

"Well at least now I know that HE'S the reason you're thinking about leaving, too." She said with a huff. I shook my head and sighed.

"Don't tell me you're STILL scared to leave?" I asked in disbelief. Ember frowned at me, and was about to say something, but at the sound of a certain someone calling her name, she scurried and hid behind me. The rest of us waved at Riku in greeting as he approached.

"Hey, Riku. What's up?" Sienna greeted casually.

(Ember's PoV)

Riku's gaze fell on me, and stayed there as he said,

"I want to talk to Ember alone for a minute." My cheeks burned crimson as Riku took me by the wrist and dragged me out of earshot of my sisters.

"Alright, I know you said you'd think about it, but…what can I do to get you to come with us?" I was slightly taken by surprise by how Riku was acting. He was acting very…differently, over the past couple days.

"Riku, what…what's gotten into you?" I asked, backing away slightly. Riku gave me a funny look.

"What do you mean?" he asked. I sighed.

"Well…don't take this the wrong way, but you're acting…weird?" I said hesitantly. He crossed his arms.

"What do you mean by that?" he demanded.

"Well it's just…you're never usually this concerned by the decisions I make."

"What are you talking about? Come on, I've never broken my promise to protect you before have I?"

"Not unless Kairi's around." I instantly regretted that last heated comment when I saw how angry it had made Riku. Keeping his voice calmer than the look in his eyes revealed that he was, he said,

"What are you saying? That I care more about Kairi than I do you?"

"Yes, Riku, that is EXACTLY what I'm saying!" I snapped back.

"Gah! Could you BE any more CLUELESS?" Riku growled in agitation.

"WHAT are you talking about NOW?" I asked in exasperation. Riku sighed angrily and turned around.

"Nothing. Just forget I said anything." He snapped. I sighed and managed to calm myself a little before saying,

"Look, I said I'd THINK about going with you guys. I'll let you know what my decision is when I've made it." Without waiting for Riku to say anything else, I left him standing there as I returned to my sisters. For the rest of the day, I avoided Riku completely. It wasn't fair! I didn't want him and the others to go, but I wasn't trying to make THEM stay. So why was HE trying to pressure ME into leaving? Stupid jerk! And what did he mean when he called me clueless? If anyone was clueless, it was HIM! Even though everyone else had gone home to the main island for the day, I stayed behind. I needed to be alone so I could clear my head. I had every reason to hate the thought of leaving. Though, I didn't want to think about that right now.

"Hey, mind if I join you?" I looked up in surprise.

"I thought you went home already?" I asked. Sora shrugged and plopped down next to me in the sand.

"I was going to, but then I saw that your boat is still here. Selphie said she, Tidus, and Wakka tried to wait for you, but you told them to go on ahead. Riku uh….told me about the fight you guys had. You wanna talk about it, Ember?" he asked. I sighed.

"It's just…Riku gets me SO mad sometimes! When we were little, he and I were really close. He…he made a promise that he would always be there to protect me. But then…SHE shows up and he seems to all but forget about that. He spends more time with her than he does me. And all of a sudden he starts bringing up that stupid childhood promise to get me to go with you guys? Get real! And then he's got the nerve to call ME clueless, when HE'S the clueless one? Come on!" I ranted. Sora sighed and put an arm around my shoulder to calm me down.

"Ember…come on. Are you listening to yourself? Look, I heard you and Riku talking yesterday, and I heard everything. You know as well as I do that he's never broken his promise to you. Out of ALL of us, who was the first person to be there to console you when your mom was in the hospital and you were worried about her?"

"….Riku."

"And who was the only person who would go with you to her grave when it was pouring down rain and you wanted to go see her?"

"….Riku."

"And who was the person who came and visited you EVERY day when you got sick; who always took care of you when you got hurt?"

"…Riku."

"And who ALWAYS makes sure to look for you so he can spend time with you before the day is out?"

"…Riku."

"And who's the person you always call out for when you're lonely or scared?"

"….You can stop any time now, Sora." I muttered. Sora tugged at my bangs.

"Say it." He said.

"Ow. Don't pull my hair. …Fine. Riku. There, happy now?" I grumbled.

"Not quite. Ember, Riku cares about you a lot. And it's understandable that you're scared about leaving; as well as worried about me, him, and Kairi, but would it be so bad if you came with us?" I sighed and looked down. Maybe Sora was right, maybe I was overreacting. And to be honest, it wasn't Riku's fault he spent more time with Kairi than me when the days started off. It was because I was so afraid of having to see him look at her the way I look at him, so I avoided hanging out with him, Sora, and Kairi most of the time. But…I was being ridiculous. Sighing, I looked up at him and smiled.

"Alright, you win. I'll go with you guys." I said. Sora grinned and stood, helping me to my feet before dusting the sand off of his clothes. As I did the same, he said,

"I can't wait to tell Riku. So, you ready to head back?" I nodded.

(Destiny's PoV)

Later on in the evening, around dinner time, my grandmother told me Sora was on the phone. My chest tightened and I clenched my fist. I fought back the urge to say: "Tell him to go call Kairi instead and leave me alone!" but since that would reveal too much of why I didn't hang out with the others anymore, I said,

"Tell him I'm tired and I went to bed early." My grandmother gave me a slightly worried look, but she did as I asked her and told him I was unavailable when she hung up the phone, she said,

"Destiny, Sora sounded awfully sad. You should talk to him." I just went up to my room without another word, turned on my music and turned the volume up so no one could hear me crying.

(Sienna's PoV)

I sighed and looked up from studying at my desk. Sora must have called asking for Destiny again. That was the only time she ever slammed her bedroom door and blasted her Linkin Park music so loud it could wake the dead. And she always locked her bedroom door, so Dawn, Ember, and I could never get in there to talk to her. So basically, the only thing to do was let her vent it out alone and hope she was in a better mood by tomorrow.