Patrick held his daughter's hand tightly as he glanced up at the castle's empty entryway. It was a place he had visited often with his daughter, Aria, for one of his oldest friends resided here: Eraqus.

He smiled at the brief memory of meeting the young keyblade wielder in his own journey. It had been pure accident; him searching for magic in the land and Eraqus keeping the balance between the light and dark. Friendship had bloomed between the two and it was enough for him to keep coming back once Eraqus had become a Master and settled down with his own pupils. And once Aria, his sweet little Aria, had been born he had taken her as much as he could to see Eraqus. It was a plus for her to hang around people that spoiled her rotten.

"Daddy?" A little girl's voice sounded from his side.

The young man's smile fell a bit as he stared down at his daughter. Her chestnut hair was tied with pale yellow ribbons into two pigtails. Her wide-innocent blue eyes stared up at him with a hint of fear and he scooped her up into his arms. "It's going to be okay, my little wind. We just need to find Eraqus, okay?"

He kissed the top of Aria's head and started to walk into the castle. The sound of his boots echoed solemnly around them, and the hem of his worn out brown cloak dragged against the floor. He jiggled Aria in his arms slightly, causing her to giggle, and put her down once he got to the Audience Chamber.

Brushing his fingers against her forest green dress and brown sandals, he knelt down and told her, "I...Aria...I need you to promise me that you'll behave and keep quiet, okay? We aren't here to play today. Something bad is going on and...there is no other way." He muttered the last part to himself, shame and annoyance welling up in him.

"I promise, daddy." She said sweetly as she smiled up at him. Mommy used to say that her smiles could cheer anyone up.

"Good girl," Patrick said brushing a finger along her cheek lovingly. Glancing up, he told her, "Stay here and I'll be back, okay?"

"Okay, daddy." Aria said seriously. She didn't know why her daddy was as stuffy as mommy called it when he locked himself into his special room that no one was allowed in. She wasn't even sure where her mommy was. Daddy had only said that some bad men had made mommy sleep for a while. But she didn't want to add to her daddy's worry and did as she was told.

Patrick kissed her head and walked into the Chamber Audience. He blew out a sharp breath that he didn't know he had been holding, and looked about carefully before he landed on the person he had come here for. Something must have alerted Eraqus to his presence because his grey eyes widened at him slightly before he let out a small smile. "Patrick. You've come back."

Patrick strode forward until there was very little space between them before answering, "Yes, Eraqus, I have come back. I needed to come back for Aria's sake. They have found me. Have found her. She is not safe with me. This is the only place I can think of that is safe."

Eraqus' eyes widened and he asked, "They have found you? And what do you plan on doing? Leaving Aria here? I would do anything for you, my friend, but your daughter...she would not thrive here."

A grimace came to his features and he sighed softly, "I know she will not thrive here. That they might find her here. I plan on buying you the time to get her somewhere safe. Can you do that for me, Eraqus? Can you get my daughter to a safe place?"

Eraqus opened his mouth to answer when there was a bang. The two men glanced at each other before running out. Patrick tore his gaze around, searching around frantically for Aria, only to find her clinging to a shaken looking Ventus.

Patrick smiled slightly at the sight. Aria had always looked up to Ventus to play games with and just have fun. He didn't know how many times he had caught the two running around, playing with old wooden keyblades, and just acting like children.

Getting lost into the pleasant memory, Patrick only realized that Eraqus had his keyblade out once he heard shouting from them all. The smile wiping off of his face, his eyes frantically looking for his daughter, and he felt the blood rush out of his when he saw the scene before him. For some reason, Eraqus had his keyblade out and looked like he was about attack Ventus. Confusion mixed in with the fear and anxiety as he took note of Ventus holding Aria close to him.

He tore off to get in between them. He had no clue on the sudden turn of Eraqus but his daughter was in the middle of it. He wouldn't let her get hurt because of something unknown when she was already in so much danger to begin with. Letting one of his hands glow with light, he dove in front of them at the same time Terra came out of nowhere. The barrier was up and there was two sounding clashes as the keyblades slammed into it. He grunted at the force, digging in his feet in more to ground the impact, just as he snapped at Ventus, "Ventus! Get her someplace safe and keep her there!"

Aria whimpered slightly and curled into Ven more. Her breathing hitched at the fighting and watched it all in confusion. Fear jolted her as her daddy entered the fray and tried to calm Eraqus and Terra down. But then she shrank low into Ven at the darkness that surrounded him.

It scared her. The darkness wasn't nice and she whimpered only more loudly and buried her face into Ven's chest. Next thing she knew there was wind and darkness, her legs lifted off the ground only to be brought up close to something hard and warm, and then she was flying to the darkness with Ven.

When she woke up, she was all alone on a small island and didn't remember much of what happened. Whimpering softly in fear, Aria figured out that she was curled up and covered with a big cloth underneath a palm tree with two small shadows standing over her. Peering up to get a better look, she realized that in front of her were two boys looking down at her in return.

The three of them stared at each other in surprise before the spiky brown haired boy ran off at his friends words, "Sora, I think you should go and get your dad back here."

This now left Aria staring wide-eyes up at the odd hair coloured boy. She had never seen someone so young, who looked to be around her age at least, with silver hair. The only silver haired people she could hazily remember was grandpa and grandma before mommy said they died. But there was something else about this kid that made her wary of him.

Terra standing over them. Blackness moving around him, covering his light, as Aria whimpered and reached for Ven. Then a blast of wind and she was flying back through a portal.

Her eyes instantly tore open as she noticed the boy moving towards her. In that moment, the silvered haired boy turned taller, older, and with longer hair. His clothes were a mixture of the colours he wore now… the only thing was that he had the same darkness surrounding him as Terra had. Aria scrambled back with a scream of fear. Sand was kicked everywhere as Aria tried to get away from this boy. This boy who felt like Terra had in that moment. She burst out crying when she realized there was nowhere she could go as the boy stared at her.

"Riku? What was Sora saying about a-," the older voice cut off.

Next thing Aria knew, the sand was shifting in front of her, and there were kind words being spoken, "Hello there. Are you hurt?"

Aria hiccuped as she wiped at her tears and snotty nose and peered at the watery image of a blurry grown up. "Owwy," she muttered, hiccuping again as she moved her arm the wrong way, and giving her eyes one last rub. Kneeling in front of her was an older man. He had the same brown hair and blue eyes as one of the boys. He reached out a hand to touch her, only for Aria flinch and lean away from him.

His eyes softened even as he frowned briefly. He blew out a breath, glancing between an anxious looking Sora, a worried Riku who was trying not show it, and the young girl who looked like someone had beaten her up. Understanding what he should do, he smiled softly and introduced himself, "I'm Ren. This is Sora and Riku. What's your name?"

Hiccuping again, Aria glanced between the three with her eyes lingering on Sora's. He had a heart like Ven. Bright and comforting. It made her relax enough to mumble out, "Ar - Aria."

"Aria," Ren repeated softly. "That's a beautiful name, Aria. Do you know where your parents are?"

That brought a terrible pain to chest, enough for her to clutch at it tightly, as she let out cry. Tears burned in the back of her eyes and fell down sloppily on her cheeks. "Gone. Dad-daddy said mommy was...then daddy….then Ven...I have no one."

Ren's eyes widened at that before sliding slightly behind her to the abandoned makeshift blanket that had been on Aria. He chewed his lip thoughtfully before gently reaching out to the scared child. She was light when he picked her up and he frowned at her whimper of pain. Turning to the boys, he apologized, "Sorry boys, but there's no time for you two to play here on the island today. We need to take Aria here to the hospital and figure out what to do with her."

There was similar answers back as Ren carried her back to the boat that would take them to the mainland. She struggled lightly but gave up when she realized that Ren wasn't going to let her go. Blinking at the spot where Ven had left her, she whispered sullenly, "I...I wanna...go….home."