Author's Quickie: I want to apologize for not putting up the next chapter of Project Trinity as I had promised; I stumbled into a huge writer's block and I can't seem to get out of it. As a small measure of redemption, I wrote this to satiate your hungers for a while. It's semi-AU, and includes some things that I think Kingdom Hearts should have included [such as more explanations]. I will try to finish Chapter seven as soon as possible.

Disclaimer: Read it and weep. No ownership.

Astray

Prelude: Forgotten

"Hello. I'm sorry, but can you help me? I'm looking for someone." The voice came from underneath a black-cloaked figure, who appeared to be of medium height. Although the voice was muffled, there was something that sounded awfully suspicious, as if something wasn't normal.

Cid glanced at the stranger sitting across the bar table warily, searching for a word to put his finger on. Traverse Town was very seedy nowadays. Never could tell what wackos were roaming the streets. But, then again, there had been a lot of homeless refugees wandering around lately. Perhaps the stranger was looking for one of them. "Yeah?" he said finally. "What's the guy look like?"

"Well, it's a man...about twenty-one to twenty-two years old, I guess...blue eyes...he's... a powerful warrior, and he carries a strange sword around." The stranger answered in what seemed a strained voice. "I haven't seen him for so long, so I don't know if he's changed or not..."

It was definitely getting fisher by the minute, Cid decided. He knew some people who would have fit the stranger's description, but... "I'm sorry, sir, but I'm afraid that I have no idea who you're talking about," he lied casually. "There's so many people in and out my bar these days that I can't remember."

The figure nodded and stood up. "Thank you. I'm sorry to have bothered you." Cid watched as the stranger went out the doors, not realizing until he saw a flash of pink cloth underneath the bottom of the cloak what had been bothering him.

The stranger was a woman.

* * *

The doors swung open a minute or so after the strange woman in the cloak had left, and Cid looked up expectantly, hoping at the very least to apologize to her. Instead, a man with shoulder-length brown hair met his gaze with a sardonic grin.

"Leon," Cid greeted, waving a hand at one of the nearby empty seats. It was getting pretty late, but some faithful patrons were still lounging around, far beyond the point of drunkenness.

"Hey Cid. How's business?" Leon answered, grabbing a metal bar stool and promptly sitting down on it.

Cid grinned wryly; Leon was an easy guy to talk to, even though it took quite a while to break down his tough-guy shell. "Business? It's a hell-hole. But enough about that. What have you been up to?"

The young brown-haired man shrugged and picked up a glass of water that Cid handed to him, who knew that Leon declined any alcoholic beverage. "This and that," Leon said elusively. "I found an underground passage in the sewers in District Two. I'm thinking about making that a temporary abode. It's pretty secluded."

"Secluded is good, right?" Cid chuckled, busying himself with wiping off the bar counter.

A grimace crossed Leon's face. "Yes. I've been busy lately with some street thugs hanging around. They seem to think they own the place."

Cid growled and shook his head. "They been bothering you, kid? I swear, Traverse Town's getting worse by the second."

Leon shrugged again. "Traverse Town's a place where refugees are landing the most. Remember," he recollected, a faint smile on his face, "how you picked me off the streets a few months back?"

"Yeah. How could I forget?" Cid grinned at the not too-distant memory. To be sure, Leon wasn't one of the regular bums that fell into the street; he fought back. Cid could tell the minute he saw him. "You tried to attack me with that strange sword of yours."

His friend gave a faint smile that didn't nearly reach his lips. He never really smiled; a sarcastic grin or a semi-smile that bordered on sorrow was the closest anyone saw him get. "Yes. My gunblade."

"Your...gunblade..." Cid repeated thoughtfully. It was a long shot, but... "Hey, Leon," he said shortly, knowing it would cause an inevitable amount of pain to ask him so, "Didn't you tell me you were looking for a girl you used to know?"

Pain was so clearly marked in Leon's eyes, the tentative smile disappearing instantly, and Cid immediately felt guilty for bringing the subject up. "Yes," he answered hollowly, "I am. Her name's Rinoa."

"Rinoa, huh?" Cid stroked the slight stubble on his chin thoughtfully.

Leon glanced at him with more than a touch of curiosity. "Why?"

"...A girl came in here; said she was looking for a young man with a strange sword," Cid explained. Leon's head snapped up in riveting attention, his gaze intensely focused. "You came immediately to my mind, but I wasn't sure if I should tell her anything. So she left."

Leon jumped up from the seat, a new hope rekindled in his blue eyes. "When did she leave?" he asked quickly, already halfway across the room.

"Just a few minutes before. She was wearing a black cloak; you can probably still catch up with her in the streets. Hurry, Leon. Don't miss your chance." Cid waved him away, urging him to go.

Leon turned and opened the door, gratitude in his look as he turned to say goodbye. "Thanks, Cid. I'll never forget it."

With that, the heavy oak door swung closed, leaving Cid to stare worriedly after his trailing shadow.

* * *

"Hey, you!" a man surrounded by a group of street thugs called. When she made no reply, instead bringing her cloak closer around her body, the gang of men ran to catch up with her. What an idiot she was, she thought to herself bitterly, walking around in the streets at such a time. "Yeah, you! We're talking to you, buddy!"

One of them grabbed her arm and yanked her around roughly. "Don't you know when to stop when you're called?" he hissed at her, his breath reeking of stink. She recoiled in disgust and futilely tried to disentangle herself from his fearfully strong grip.

"Do you want to die?" one of the others said dangerously, whipping out a pocketknife. "Give us your money, buddy, unless you want your throat cut."

She didn't dare answer; her voice might give her away too easily. Evidently the men took her silence as a rebuttal and advanced threateningly. Fighting a hysterical urge to scream, she scratched the man who had been holding her arm in the face as an act of desperation. The man yelped in surprise and jumped back, raising a hand to his face and letting go of her arm.

The other members of the gang ran over to her assist the man she had attacked, allowing her to gain a momentary advantage. She ran. "HEY! It's a girl!" the man yelled, realizing that no man would scratch--and scratch quite so hard, either. After the slight shock had worn away, they pursued her with new vengeance.

Running was making her breathless, and the adrenaline mixed with the taste of fear on her tongue. Could she scream? Who would hear her? Throwing a terrified look behind her, she saw that the thugs were gaining on her. Quickly, without looking beforehand, she turned the corner and found herself at a dead end.

Her eyes widened in horror as she cursed her bad luck, twisting around to run back out. The shadows of the men at the entrance to the dead end made her skitter to an abrupt stop, and she cried out in frustration, "No!"

They were leering at her; the greasy grins showed their crooked yellow teeth as they flexed their muscles and cracked their knuckles, approaching her with an easy haughtiness. She cringed, flattening herself against the wall and closing her eyes.

"No!!" The sound of a metal blade striking against the wall drew her attention and she immediately opened her eyes. A fourth figure had joined the others, but it seemed that he was fighting them; the shadows were too dense in the dead end. Squinting, she could make out that the flash of silver was actually a strangely-shaped sword in the man's hand. Her heart leaped.

After the street thugs had seen that they clearly were outmatched, they scampered away as fast as they could run without another look behind them. Checking his irresolute anger at Traverse Town petty criminals, Leon turned to the girl, who stared at him with a mixture of fear and wonder.

Dumbfounded, he stared back.

It was not Rinoa.

* * *

Ending Notes: Yipe. My birthday sucked, just to let you know. --;