When Ari, the Wiseman's daughter, found out that her father had disappeared, she went on a search for him. Her research soon lead her to a group called Organization XII and a world called The World that Never Was. Ari realized that to find her father, she must travel to this world. But without a gummi ship she was forced to resort to magic. Being one who knows little of magic, she studied hard to find a way to get to the world. Finally she found a spell of light that would take her there. Ari tried it and succeed, but the exertion proved to be too strenuous on her. She blacked out.
Ari awoke in a strange dark city. She couldn't remember anything. She found that she couldn't even remember her name. Disoriented and scared she begins to wander the street.
A member of the organization, called Roxas, was walking through the streets, thinking, when he saw Ari roaming about. He assumed that she was a nobody and walked calmly over to her, asking for her name. Ari says nothing, scared, wet, and cold. A little annoyed he tries again.
"What's your name?" Ari says nothing and Roxas mistakes her reluctance as a personal offence. Angry, he grabs her by the throat and pins her to the wall of a building, her legs dangling off the ground.

"Roxas," She says, the name popping into her mind like it was her own. Do I know him?
"How do you know me? Who are you?" When she didn't answer again he tightened his grip and Ari began to choke.
"Put her down," An unidentified voice called out. Roxas and Ari both turn their heads to see a boy with silver hair in a black, organization cloak and a blindfold.
"Not until she tells who she is." Roxas replied.
"How can she speak when she can't breathe? Can't you see she's frightened?." The boy retorted.
"Nobodies can't be frightened. They all put on this show at first, try to be clever."
"She's not a nobody, put her down."
"Who are you?" Roxas asked suddenly aware that this boy isn't from the organization.
"Someone from the dark." The silver-haired boy answers cryptically. Roxas releases Ari and she crumples to the ground. Roxas walks past the boy and contemplates if he is friend or foe. As Ari coughed and breathed grateful breaths, her memories flowed slowly back to her. The silver-haired boy helps Ari to her feet and asks if she's alright. Still out of breath, Ari replies with a quick nod. The stranger pats her shoulder once and leaves her side. He walks over to Roxas and the two boys begin to fight. An overwhelming urge to assist the silver-hair boy comes over Ari but she resists it, knowing that this isn't her fight.
Suddenly heartless appear all around Ari and she pulls out her two swords, grinning and itching for a fight. With all her memories intact, Ari fights with the agility and grace of one who's trained for years.
After long time, Ari defeats the last heartless and notices that it's quiet. She looks around and sees the silver-haired boy, lying a only a few yards away. She rushes to his side and notices that he is injured and bleeding. He's conscious.
"Who are you?" He groans.
"I'm Ari." She said tearing off a piece of her shirt to wrap around a cut on his arm. He flinches slightly at her touch. "It's alright, I'm trying to help. I want to thank you for saving me back there." She continues to wrap his arm.
"It was no problem." He said humbly. She tightened the makeshift bandage and he cried out. Ari wondered what his name was. She had always had the gift of telling what a person's name was by their features. But since he was blindfolded, she could not tell. She started to take the blindfold off but he stopped her.
"Please," He said with sadness in his voice. Impulsively she leans down and kisses him.
"I'm sorry," She says abruptly breaking the kiss and flushing.
"It's . . . alright." A faint smile plays upon Ari's lips but she quickly hides it.
"We should get somewhere indoors. Can you walk?"
"Yeah."
She helped him into an old building, where she cleaned the rest of his wounds. The boy assumed a brooding silence while she did, and said nothing. Ari wanted to know more about him but was unwilling to press him for further information. She felt guilty because she thought that she was the reason he and that other boy started a fight. To her surprise, the silver-haired stranger broke the silence.
"So what brings you, Ari, to desolate world?" He asks.
"I'm looking for my father, who disappeared from my world a couple years ago. Perhaps you know of him, his name is Ansem, Ansem the Wise." The boy propped himself onto his elbows and furrowed his brow. "What? So you do know him?'
"Ari your father is dead. He - or rather his heartless was destroyed by a friend of mine. He was going to hand the world over to darkness. I am . . . sorry." Ari shook her head in disbelief.
"No . . . no, no! He was a good man! He only wanted to protect his people. He'd never-" she couldn't finish; she buried her face in her hands and cried. Ari was only partly aware of arms encircling her.
"I'm sorry," He whispered in her ear and then left her alone. Ari cried herself to sleep.

Ari was asleep when she felt something soft brush against her cheek. Lips? She sleepily opened her eyes and a cloaked figure heading out the door. He looked taller than before.
"Wait!" He stopped and turned around to look at her, his hood clouding his face. "Where are you going?"
"I have to go . . . complete a mission."
"It's just I don't know your name. I haven't even seen your eyes and eyes play a big role in telling someone's name."
"You tell what someone's name is just by looking at them? How?" She had captured his curiosity for a moment.
"Let's just say I'm good with names."
"I have to go; I've tarried here to long." He began to leave again.
"If I knew your name I could find you again and tell you more about names."
"Riku."
"Farewell then, Riku, until we meet again." She grinned.
"Goodbye, Ari, daughter of Ansem the Wise." And so he was gone