Skipping around in a field of flowers was a little girl with black hair and green eyes and her friend whom she called "sister" Yuffie. They were busy playing a game of ninja tag that Yuffie was a master of. "Catch me if you can!" she would yell as she jumped into one of the sparse trees and therefore eluded Aulive yet again.
"No fair!" shouted Aulive as she tried, desperately, to jump up to the lowest branch of the tree. Being short, she never reached it and would sit in a patch of grass, pouting. The sun to the west had steadily begun to fall behind the grand castle that she called home. It would be dark soon and her father liked her home before dark.
Yuffie, as always, hopped down after Aulive and sat beside her, brown eyes focused on the different colors that spilled across the evening sky. "Beat ya again!" she said triumphantly, a smile on her face.
Aulive normally didn't respond, but a flicker in the sky made her green eyes widen in surprise. "Did you see that, Yuffie?" she asked, all of her bad feelings gone, "It was a shooting star! Didja see it? Did ya?" She jumped up to her feet and clasped her hands together as she made a wish. "I wish I could win every game," she whispered to the star.
The sun sank below the horizon and darkness spread across the home that they called Radiant Garden, and radiant it was. Aulive never minded the dark much; only her great father feared it so. Yuffie hopped up to her feet and extended a hand to Aulive. "C'mon! You're dad's gonna be worried soon. Let's go, Aulive."
"Okay," Aulive responded, just as on any other evening. "Bye-bye, star!" She was in good spirits and happily followed her friend Yuffie to the castle.
At the front gate of the castle, Aulive waved good-bye to Yuffie and skipped inside her home. She wanted to tell her father the exciting news of seeing a falling star and thus went on a grand adventure to find him. It was often a long, treacherous journey into the basement of the castle because there was often an assistant or two that would scold her and send her back to her room. But not tonight, she was on a mission.
Winding through the various hallways and rooms, she found her father—and his apprentice—arguing in his study. She crouched down to the keyhole and peered through at the tall, white haired man she knew as Xeahnort.
"But what about my experiments? We're making so much progress!" Xeahnort shouted at his master, Ansem.
"I don't care how much progress you've make. Tampering with darkness in the heart is a dangerous thing!" retorted Aulive's father. "I won't give you my permission to continue. You'll stop this nonsense at once." Aulive saw the flustered form of Xeahnort turned toward the door and she backed away in fear.
There came a sigh from beyond the door. "You will regret this decision, Ansem, until the day you die. I'll make sure of it." The door opened then—too fast! Aulive couldn't find anywhere to hide, so sat there, her eyes wide. Xeahnort stopped in his tracks and closed the door behind him before she could react. Turning about, he finally noticed the little girl staring at him from her position on the floor. A cruel smile played across his lips. "Hello, Aulive…" He stared at her with his strange orange eyes.
"H-hello," Aulive responded. Getting to her feet, she brushed the dust off her pretty yellow sundress. "I need to speak to my father," she stated with as much force as she could muster.
An amused, but surprised look came over Xeahnort's face. "Why, of course, my lady. But may I ask you a favor?"
Aulive turned her foot inward, bit her lip, and curled a lock of hair between her fingers. "I don't know," she dragged out, "what do you need help with?"
Xeahnort knelt down before her so he may look her in the eye and asked, "I need help with a little experiment concerning hearts. Would you be interested?"
Aulive thought back to the conversation he had just had with her father and laced her fingers together behind her back. "I have to ask my daddy first. And if you'll excuse me, I want to tell him something very important." Her finger had come out to wave at Xeahnort's nose.
"Very well," Xeahnort sighed. "Go and see your father and come back with an answer."
"Okay," Aulive responded as she skipped around him, opening the door that led to her father's circular office. "Daddy!" she proclaimed. His attention was directed at her and she ran up to him, her arms wrapping around him in a hug. "I saw the most awesome thing today!"
The haggard man sighed and helped her sit on his knee. "What is it, sweetest?"
"Nope, nope, nope," she said, shaking her head, "you have to guess, guess, guess." It was an old game of theirs and this one she usually won.
"Daddy doesn't have time right now, sweetest, please just tell me," he answered, tired of her little games for once.
Crestfallen, Aulive replied, "Oh-kay… but it was amazing! I saw… I saw a shooting star! Me and Yuffie were playing ninja tag and I lost, like always, but then we sat down and watched the dun set and I saw it. I saw the star fly by and I made a wish because it was my star and I had to come tell you!"
Ansem the Wise sighed and gently pushed her off his lap. "I'm happy for you. Don't let anyone take away your wishes, okay? Now off with you to bed. I have work to do." The news unnerved him, but he didn't put much thought into it.
Aulive, who had been so excited, felt as if she was simply being dismissed and, thus, walked out of the office, closing the door behind her. Xeahnort was there, a smirk causing the light to fall across his face strangely. Aulive didn't see him at first, nor heard him as he crept behind her and clapped his hand over her mouth. She tried giving a scream, but it was useless. "Now, my dearest Aulive," Xeahnort crooned, his voice dripping with sarcasm, "I require your assistance and I cannot wait for you to say yes."
Aulive was sobbing now, the tears flowing freely down her cheeks. This was obviously no game and she was frightened. Xeahnort had always frightened her and now she was so terrified she couldn't even move. Silently, Xeahnort dragged her down the hallway into the darkness of his own laboratory.