Disclaimer: Almost absolutely nothing about this story belongs to me in any way, shape, or form. The idea came from a friend of mine who shared with me the basis for it. That's about all for the disclaimer.

Xamusel: First of all, a word of warning to all of you who are reading this story I'm telling. I won't be purely going the same style as a typical Kingdom Hearts story, nor will I be going the same style as a typical Nanoha story. This is purely because, as this is a story that crosses over between the two story types, it's meant to merge them together to form a Newtype of story…

*just now notices the pun*

Okay, what does it say about me that I tend to think about Gundam more often than not these days? At the very least, I should try to make sure that no more puns come up in these author notes from here on out.

Let's see, what's next…? Oh, right! I'm currently in the process of working on a crossover between Nanoha and a fusion between MS Girls and the Universal Century. Here's hoping I can finish that story well enough too.

Oh, one last thing, guys. This story will feature yuri and straight pairings. There would be more to say on that front, but it was deleted, since… issues.

Alright, guys… shall we begin, then?

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Lyrical Hearts
by Xamusel

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Chapter 0: Maidens Shouldn't be Underestimated

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Midori-ya

Uminari City

Non-Administered World Number 97 (AKA Earth)

1115 Japan Time, March 15th, 2009

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Takamachi Shiro was currently making pastries for the customers of his recently opened store after being cleared from the hospital. He was a black haired, angular faced, and brown eyed man, wearing a white apron over a burgundy shirt and tan slacks, who was known in the bodyguard business as the Blooded Guard Devil due to his high success rate of ending opponents and keeping his charge safe and sound. Sure, baking pastries wasn't an exciting job like his previous occupation, but it was safer, and he preferred to stay safe. Of course, since he was recovering from the strenuous activities of being a bodyguard, he needed to take it somewhat easy on himself… hence why he was doing something like making pastries.

'Well, it certainly beats putting my life on the line multiple times in a day,' Shiro thought, even as he worked on finishing the cake he was creating at the moment. 'Then again, I'm sort of concerned that I don't know what happened to some of my friends, especially someone who I saw as a daughter… how is she doing?' When he was about to grab the plate the cake was on and put it on display for the customers to see if they wanted it, the front door chime chose that moment to sound.

Shiro paused in mid-motion, to decide which to do? Then with a shrug, he decides to see to the customer first. Walking over to the front of the store, he proclaimed as he did so, "Welcome to the Midori-ya! How may we help… you…? Momoko, why did you enter through the front door?"

Takamachi Momoko, a brunette with amethyst eyes, in a cream-colored sweater and a pink shirt and skirt, walked up to the counter before she said, "I have something to do, so I'll be late coming back to the shop." She took out a pad and a pen from her purse, saying when she was done, "Do you know if we have what we need for here? Do we need to get anything to tide us over at all? I'm thinking of doing some shopping to make sure we have everything we need for a few days at least."

Shiro put a hand to his chin, before he spoke to his wife, "You know, we do need to get more sugar, as well as some other sweeteners for the pastries. If it wouldn't trouble you to get them, I'll supply you a list of what we need here and how much we need of it."

"Alright, Shiro," Momoko said, a sweet smile on her lips and eyes closed. "I'll wait here for your end of the list." Opening her eyes again, she handed Shiro her pen and pad. "Please make sure that everything we need is on the list."

Shiro nodded, a slight sigh escaping his mouth. "Yes, Momoko," he said, walking with the pen and pad to the back of the shop. As he made his way to check the stock and figuring the date of the next delivery and how many days that is off, his thoughts were interrupted when he heard a strange noise coming from nearby. The sound was as if someone was actively using a matter-antimatter engine, which is not a so pleasant thought, in the general vicinity. 'Strange… what was that?' he thought.

Going out the back door to investigate, Shiro saw that the different trash bins looked like they had been thrown onto their sides and their contents scattered all over the ground by the same violent action. When he moved to put one back up, he heard what sounded like a groan from one of the dumpsters in the immediate area.

Carefully putting the one trash bin right side up, Shiro began a cautious and careful investigation to find the source. There were eight dumpsters, one of them toppled over, but mercifully empty. After checking the two to his immediate left, he started back for the ones that had been on his right when he heard a light bang on one of four dumpsters further across from him and further to the left.

Carefully, he approached the nearest one, with its lid open. A cat jumped out suddenly, looking frazzled, meowed in a way that would have made him laugh if not for how the situation might be serious, and then it bolted. Looking down inside, he could tell it wasn't this one. Then a loud bang echoed from the next one that made him jump a good seven or eight centimeters into the air.

"What the…?!" he asked out loud, before he went to the dumpster in question, finding it closed for some reason.

With calm, and a readiness he thought he wouldn't need anymore, Shiro slowly began opening the dumpster.

Inside, he found a woman with medium-length blue hair that was parted to her left, blue eyes that were slowly opening back up, and a slender figure with a decent bosom, wearing what looked like a black sleeveless one-piece tunic, with the legs cut off just below her hips, with thigh-high black stockings. She had white forearm-length fingerless gloves, silver-and-black boots, and a white sash around her waist with a blue skirt extending down from the sash on all sides except her front. There was some white stitching on the sides of her tunic, and what seemed like a purple strap crossing over her chest.

While not exactly what he was expecting, it was close enough to what he was expecting. A person.

It only took the milliseconds for Shiro to process and realize something was very, very, very wrong with this situation before he acted. "Miss? Are you alright?" he asked the mystery woman. "Nod if you're alright, shake your head if not."

The woman nodded, before she asked, "Where… where am I? And who are you?"

"You're in Uminari City," Shiro answered, raising an eyebrow. "As for my name, it's Takamachi Shiro. I take it you're not from around this neck of the woods?"

The woman shook her head. "I don't think you'd know where I came from," she said,

"Try me," Shiro said, getting her attention. "I've seen plenty of strange things happen in my life until now."

"Like…?"

"Well, there was this one time I faced off against a Nekoshou that was trying to hit on my lesbian cousin, who was a known transvestite," Shiro admitted. "Apparently, Nekoshou are a dying race, and this particular one wanted to have babies from my cousin, thinking she was a guy… let's just say, once I threw the fight and properly explained that my cousin was cross-dressing, that Cat spirit was quick to bug me for children!"

"Uh…"

"Then there's the time that I had to go through a whole army of fox spirits who were between me and a client I had, which came because I accidentally left him unprotected while I went to the restroom, and I barely got him out of there with his life and his dignity intact," Shiro continued. "It's weird, because the man was under an aphrodisiac that would've made him bang the nearest lady and her friends, and he wouldn't have been able to live after the steamy session was done due to how much fluid he'd have lost by then… I had to knock him unconscious to keep him alive."

"That sounds like—"

"This one's a doozy, though," Shiro rambled, so engrossed with his stories that he didn't let the woman continue. "One of my nieces had a nasty case of disappearing. She was walking home from school one day, preparing to train in the sword under my sister, when she was purported to have gone through a dead end alleyway and not come back out. To this day, nobody knows where she could've gone, since there were no doors on either building from the alleyway."

"Where was that disappearance?"

Shiro paused in his narrative for a bit. "I believe it was Nishinomiya," he said at last, his eyes scrunched while thinking back on the day. "My niece was named Mikami Mizuki—"

A gasp came from the woman, before she exclaimed, "Uncle Shiro?!"

That caught Shiro off-guard. "Why are you calling me 'Uncle Shiro' all of a sudden?" he questioned. "Do I know you from somewhere that would make sense?"

"It's me, uncle!" the woman insisted. "I'm your missing niece, Mizuki!"

Shiro, looking dubiously at the woman, said, "Prove it. Tell me something only Mizuki, or anyone from the Fuwa clan 12 years ago or earlier, would know."

"I remember that you had an affair with a shady woman, who responded to the name of Kaori, who gave birth to your son, my cousin Kyouya, and robbed you blind shortly afterwards—"

Shiro's eyes widened in shock. "Mizuki?!" he exclaimed, before he remembered she was in the dumpster. Pulling her out, he demanded, "Where have you been the last 12 years?! Your family was worried sick over your disappearance! You were even reported as dead!"

"Well…" Mizuki started, before she glanced to her right. "There's someone else here."

Glancing to his left, Shiro found out who was watching the preceding events. "Momoko, what are you doing?" he asked.

Momoko looked sheepish, before she answered, "W-Well, I was about to ask who the woman was, but that was taken care of already." Walking over to the two next to the dumpster, she asked Mizuki, concern tinging her voice, "So, what happened when you were abducted by who or whatever it was?"

Mizuki glanced downward for a bit. "Honestly," she admitted, "I don't think I should say anything on the subject right now… who knows who could be eavesdropping?"

Momoko, after a few moments of pondering, turned to face Shiro and asked, "Do you mind if I take her home and find out what she went through?"

Shiro waved his hand. "It's alright," he answered as a stench wafted up to his nose. "Although… you might want to give her a bath soon."

Momoko turned to face Mizuki. "Please, follow me," she said, motioning her head to the direction of the car, before she led her niece there.

#

Takamachi Residence

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Momoko finished driving Mizuki to the house, which took about half an hour because of the traffic in the business district of Uminari, before the two of them exited the car and arrived in front of the Takamachi household. When they walked into the house, she pointed toward the direction of the bath, before asking, "Do you remember how to take a bath in traditional style?"

Mizuki looked at Momoko for a brief time, before looking at the bathroom. "It's been quite a while since I last had a bath in traditional style, auntie," she answered. "I'll need some help on this one…"

Momoko nodded in understanding. "Well, it'll take some getting used to, I can assure you," she said. "Now, I'll be there momentarily to help you, Mizuki, since I'm sure you need an extra change of clothes for when you get out of the bath." With that, she walked off to get a spare outfit for her niece, leaving her to go to the bathroom.

#

Forty-five minutes later…

#

After the bath, which Mizuki decided to take longer than normal simply because she had literally forgotten just how good a long, hot soak could feel. She had to be showed how to take a proper bath again, though it wasn't hard to remember once she went through the motions. Now, though, she is wearing an old pair of gym pants and a bluish-gray shirt as she walked around the house having been told to get some rest and relax now that she was back. Since she had landed in a dumpster of all things, she had needed the bath, but what she had been up to prior… That is what made her in need of some rest. She was built far too tough to take any injury from landing in a dumpster. And it wouldn't be the first time that happened either. Not everything she did was in nice, wide open areas afterall.

But, now in fresh clothes, she decided it would be a good idea to explore the house, unsure of what things were that a normal native would take for granted.

First off, she decided to investigate the living room TV, to see what she should watch. When she turned it on, she saw that it was playing a TV movie… wait, were those men kissing?! She quickly turned it off and proceeded to leave the room.

The second thing she did was look for the kitchen in the house. It might have been a while since she had last made something to eat from a normal kitchen, but it shouldn't be so hard as to require a fire extinguisher, right?

Once she found the kitchen, she looked in the refrigerator and found some eggs and milk. Reaching inside the fridge, she got a couple eggs to make herself some scrambled eggs, plus the milk to make them fluffy. After placing the required materials on the counter, she closed the fridge and looked for the materials needed to whisk the eggs and milk together.

After a few minutes of looking around, she finally had the metal bowl to whisk the eggs in, as well as a fork to whisk with. Cracking the eggs and putting the yolks in, she added the milk to the concoction second, before she started whisking away. It took a couple minutes from the start to do so, but she finally finished doing what she needed to.

The next step was to put the concoction in a frying pan, which she got out and put on top of the stove… although there was a step she feared she forgot. Eventually, she remembered that she needed to turn the stovetop on, so she turned on the spot she needed. At that point, she put the eggs in the frying pan, and started stirring with a spatula.

It was about half a minute into stirring that she smelled the first sign that she had made a mistake… a disgusting smoky stench. All of a sudden, the second sign things were wrong made itself known, as the whole house became engulfed with noise that threatened to burst her ears! Then the final sign that something was wrong happened… the eggs ignited and turned into flame!

Momoko couldn't have arrived any sooner to fix that fiasco.

#

1245 Japan Time…

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"Let that be a lesson, Mizuki," Momoko lectured sternly. "Next time you're making eggs of any variant other than an Eggs Benedict, remember the oil in the pan, unless it's specifically a non-stick pan."

Mizuki looked down at her feet, while tears were trying to escape her eyes. She had taken cooking classes earlier in life, but it seemed that this was proof that she was never meant to be in the kitchen at all.

Momoko's facial expression, which, while not stone hard, was stern for the purposes of the lesson, softened up considerably as she saw what her niece was going through. Without any warning, she pulled Mizuki into a hug, surprising the younger woman. "Don't worry, Mizuki," she said. "I know what it's like to make mistakes like this. Let your anguish out… you need this."

Mizuki proceeded to cry her heart out onto her aunt's shoulder at that moment. While she was crying, Momoko proceeded to rub her back, in order to get the sadness out of Mizuki's system.

A couple minutes of crying later, Mizuki's tearing stopped, and—

"Mom, who's the other woman with you?"

—a young man's voice began to speak up.

Momoko looked at her son, who was the speaker, and said, "Kyouya, this is your older cousin Mizuki. I understand it's been a long time since you last saw her, but—"

"Auntie," Mizuki said, "he was only two years old when I went missing. I'm sure he wouldn't remember me."

Kyouya, wearing a gray shirt with a logo for a TV show that Mizuki wouldn't have heard of before and a pair of jeans, looked at her intently for a few moments. "How did you go missing, exactly?" he asked, trying to get some clear idea what was going on.

Mizuki turned her attention completely to Kyouya, walking forward to him somewhat as she said, "I was walking home from school in Nishinomiya, about to pass by an alleyway between two apartment buildings that was a dead-end alleyway, when I saw something out of the ordinary. Being a little girl who knew nothing of the subject at the time, I decided to investigate, which led to my disappearance. I had walked into what was called the Corridor of Darkness and locked myself inside from that end." Seeing the confused looks on her aunt and younger cousin's faces, she clarified, "It's a dark place, where people who aren't properly shielded are meant to become one with the Darkness, and the only way out of it would be by means of these pillar-like doors that would deposit you in a random location. I was lucky to be evicted from there and found by a swordsman."

Kyouya's interest seemed to pique at the last part. "You're a swordswoman?" he asked. "What rank are you?"

Mizuki shook her head. "I don't think it would apply here, Kyouya," she said. "My Master wasn't one to use ranks for his students. He was the Master, and the students were labeled as Apprentices until they passed the final test, in which case they were fellow Masters."

'Even so,' she added in thought, 'ever since I was seven, I have missed this world I called home. Does that mean I want to undo my days as an apprentice under Master Eraqus? No, it doesn't, even if it might seem that way.' With a sigh, she thought, 'Great… Aqua, you have really got to get out more, explore the different worlds out there. Why was I unable to go out more, exactly? I think it had to do with my apprenticeship, if I'm not mistaken.'

Mizuki—er, sorry, Aqua—then began contemplating her assigned mission. She had to make sure she found Terra, hopefully before things started going straight to Hell, but that was proving to be incredibly difficult. While she knew that Terra was somewhere in the multiverse, she didn't know where at, specifically. The last she realized, she was about on her way to the Land of Departure again, when, all of a sudden, she found herself crashlanded back in her home world!

Granted, she didn't exactly leave home on bad terms, but she didn't know how to react to the fact that she was home after so long. Even so, she wasn't sure she should be home, since it seemed like her family was all but dead… everyone but her uncle, who seemed to take his wife's surname, and his children. There was hardly anyone to let her dig her roots in for, even if she wanted to get married eventually, and her duties as a Keyblade Master trumped everything else at this point… she needed to properly pass the baton to the next generation, she realized that, but who—?

Suddenly, Aqua felt a bright Light in the area of the property. 'What the… who has the sheer potential for Magic and for the Keyblade as that?' she thought. Before she could spread her senses outward, to find the source of the Light, however…

"Hell-o~! Earth to Mizuki," Kyouya declared, waving a hand in front of her face.

Blinking rapidly for a couple seconds, Aqua asked, "Y-Yes? How may I help you?"

"I was asking if you wanted to spar with me in the dojo," Kyouya answered, "to see how good you are with a blade." Leaning into her face, he asked, "Are you alright, Mizuki? You weren't focused on our conversation just now, so I thought—"

"I'm alright, really!" Aqua denied, laughing it off. "So, a spar, right? I'd love to, really, but…"

"But…?" Kyouya inquired.

"I sensed something in the immediate area that I need to check up on," Aqua answered. "If you don't mind, I'd better go take care of that, Kyouya."

"Are you sure, Mizuki?" Momoko asked, causing the two teens to look at her. "I mean, if you are going to spar Kyouya, you'd need some extra rest, since you did crash land in a dumpster while showing up here…"

Kyouya did a doubletake at Mizuki when he heard that. "You crash landed in a dumpster?!" he asked incredulously.

"Yes, yes, laugh it up while you can," Aqua said, somewhat sour about the whole incident. "Still, I don't see what's wrong with a simple spar, auntie."

Kyouya chuckled at that, with Aqua looking at him. "Oh, believe me," he said, "I won't be going easy on you just because it's a spar. I hope you're alright with that much… and the use of bokken without armor."

Aqua nodded at that. "I've dealt with worse," she said, leaving out what worse she dealt with. "Still, I need to check up on what I sensed, so I'll be back in a bit." With that, she walked towards the area where she believed the Light was, before she stopped in front of a clearly occupied restroom. Waiting for a few seconds, she turned back and walked over to Kyouya, asking, "So… which way to the dojo?"

Kyouya raised an eyebrow for a bit. "You stopped yourself… why?" he asked.

"I didn't want to disturb whoever was in the restroom."

#

An hour and a half later…

#

The sparring teens were both huffing and puffing, the fight having concluded slightly earlier. The fact was that Aqua was quite clearly able to best Kyouya, but not without some difficulty. Still, with all said and done, Aqua was able to get a good read on her cousin's fighting style and how it could use some work.

"Say, Kyouya," Aqua began, after recovering her breath.

"Yes, Mizuki?" Kyouya replied after recovering his breath.

"You wouldn't happen to know about a Mikami Miyuki, would you?" Aqua asked. "I mean, since she's my little sister, I have to make sure she's alright…"

"Ah," Kyouya replied. "Dad adopted her, so she goes by Takamachi Miyuki now."

"Really?!" Aqua asked, her tone fitting her surprise at the news. After a while, her face shifted to a thinking position as she continued to ask, "What happened?"

Kyouya's face turned slightly downcast. "Terrorists attacked a large family gathering," he said. "Miyuki was the only child there who survived. Your mother swore to get revenge, so she let dad take care of Miyuki while she went to go after the terrorists, as dad and I were the only ones who didn't make it to the massacre."

Aqua's own expression shifted to that of shock for a few seconds when she heard that. "Did the terrorists get away with it all this time?" she eventually asked, her face darkening slightly.

"They did," Kyouya replied. "There haven't been any leads towards bringing them in."

Aqua shook in barely suppressed rage. Before she could do something she was likely to regret—

"Big brother?" a little girl's voice came in through the open door of the dojo. "Mother wanted me to tell you Miss Tsukimura's waiting… for… you… who's the big sister?"

"Ah, Nanoha," Kyouya said, smiling as he turned towards the brown-haired girl at the door. "This is our cousin, Mizuki."

Aqua looked at Nanoha and felt her eyes widen involuntarily. The sheer amount of Light shining off of the little girl… it was astounding! "Um, Kyouya?" she asked. "When was Nanoha born?"

"Umm… about four years ago, I think," Kyouya replied after a moment. "Why?"

Aqua opened her mouth to speak, before she realized that she had no idea where she was going with that. Drooping her head, she said, "Never mind."

"Umm…" Nanoha, wearing an orange jacket and a tan skirt, said, stepping into the room. "I… it's nice to meet you, Miss Mizuki."

"Likewise," Aqua said, walking over and bending down to Nanoha's level so she could ruffle her hair. "How about we say things about each other that we like?"

Nanoha nodded, a small smile on her face. "Well… I… I like your hair, Miss Mizuki," she said. "It… it really matches your eyes…"

Aqua blinked her eyes owlishly, before a smile graced her features. "I'm glad to hear that, Nanoha," she said. "I like your hair, too. It really feels silky."

"Th… thank you, Miss Mizuki…" Nanoha replied, blushing slightly.

Kyouya, at that moment, took a look at his phone's clock and felt his eyes widen involuntarily. "Uh-oh…" he said, shocked. "I guess I'll have to get going, Mizuki. I'm late for something right now…"

Aqua turned to face Kyouya and said, "Have fun, Kyouya."

"I hope to," Kyouya said, before he walked fastly out of the dojo.

"He's meeting with Tsukimura Shinobu," Nanoha told Aqua after Kyouya had left. "They like each other a lot."

Aqua nodded in understanding. "I thought that's what it was about," she said. "Now that I understand, how about we continue talking about things?"

"Sure," Nanoha replied.

#

Over an hour later…

#

"So your name right now is Aqua?" Nanoha asked.

"Y-Yeah," Aqua answered. "I don't know how soon until I can inform the others of my current name, but I hope to soon."

"It's a very pretty name," Nanoha said with a smile.

Aqua nodded, a small blush on her face. "Well…" she started, unsure of where to go from there. Eventually, she decided to say, "I can feel something coming off of you in waves, Nanoha."

"Ummm… you can?" she asked.

Nodding, Aqua thought about how to explain what it was she was feeling. "I can feel that there's a very distinct, bright light coming off of you," she said at last. "Not only that, but you have a huge potential for the magical arts as well. That's about what I determined at present."

"R… really?" Nanoha asked. "Me… using magic?"

Aqua nodded, before she produced her Keyblade from thin air in her right hand, startling Nanoha a fair bit. "Um… oops," she said. "I didn't mean to scare you, Nanoha."

"I… it's fine…" Nanoha said. "It's… actually quite pretty…"

Aqua blinked in surprise, before she chuckled. "I've never heard anyone call a Keyblade 'pretty' before," she admitted. "Still, if you wish to have control over your magical potential, I'd recommend that you take this."

Nanoha nodded, before walking up towards Aqua and the weapon she was holding.

"In your hand, take this Key," Aqua said to Nanoha, reciting the words as if by ritual, holding the weapon out hilt-first towards the four-year-old girl. "So long as you have the makings, then through this simple act of taking, its wielder you shall one day be. And you will find me, friend—no ocean will contain you then. No more borders around, or below, or above, so long as you champion the ones you love."

There was a brief pulse of light from the hilt as Nanoha grasped the key-shaped weapon, but apart from that, nothing happened, even as Aqua released her own grip on the weapon.

Aqua nodded, before she said, "I hereby declare you to be a Keyblade Apprentice, Nanoha. Please, be careful from here on out."

"Th… thank you, Miss Aqua…" she said, even as Aqua took her Keyblade back. She knew Nanoha would awaken her own Keyblade in time.

#

Meanwhile

Superintendent's office of the Time Space Administration Bureau

Administrated World Number 1 (Mid-Childa)

Roughly the same time as what happened in Uminari City

#

A man who looked to be in his declining years, with blood red eyes and semi-prominent facial hair around his fanged mouth, was typing away on his computer, getting ready to deploy orders to some of the TSAB's best soldiers to promote them to better positions, when he felt something… change. Deciding it was time to investigate, he pulled out a small dagger that looked like it was made out of gems and focused his magical energy into it, allowing him to look at alternate versions of the various worlds in the sphere of influence of the TSAB. What he saw was… well, not quite enough to make him gape in shock, but that would've been a tough thing to do.

"Well, that's interesting," he said out loud after a moment to clear his head. "Here's hoping that this change doesn't threaten the work I put into keeping the TSAB afloat, or that Presea Testarossa doesn't try anything for a long while in comparison."

At that moment, a woman's voice sounded over the intercom. "Superintendent Schweinorg, your 3 o'clock showed up," she said.

Turning on his intercom, the Superintendent said, "Thank you, Grace. Please inform Mister Hibiki that I'll be right out." With that, he put away his dagger, heading for the door to see an eternally Lost Boy.

#

Meanwhile (again)

Thousands of worlds away

#

Presea Testarossa, a nearly middle aged(?) woman with lavender hair and purple eyes in what was a purple and black magic-canceling outfit called a Barrier Jacket that showed off a fair amount of skin between her breasts, around her navel, and at her hips and thighs, was standing in front of a computer terminal, typing away at it as information filtered through the screen, a scowl on her face. None of her plans to bring her daughter back to life were going right! It seemed that, at this rate, she'd have to resort to using a clone to collect a bunch of Lost Logia and bring her daughter back that way!

Finally, she pounded the computer she was working on, her anger reaching its limit. "All this work was for nothing!" she yelled in rage. "I don't have time to waste any longer! I have to bring my daughter back to life!"

At that moment, an old man walked up behind her, asking her, "What's wrong, madam? Did you not know that there's a way to revive your daughter here in this very castle?"

Turning to face the old man, Presea snarled out, "Who the bloody hell are you?!" At that point, she got a good look at the man, who looked like a stereotypical elderly wizard, with a beard reaching down a few inches from his chin, from some backwater world, wearing a deep blue wizard's hat with golden crescent moons and stars, as well as a deep blue robe with some lighter blue stripes going down the front… even though that was all she got out of the situation, her mind was too clouded to see the old wizard was too powerful for her to face, even with her conditional SS-ranked spells. "And why are you even here, you old backwater wizard?!"

The wizard pointed at himself and said, "My name, madam, is Yen Sid. As for why I'm here, I was invited by the owner of the castle you snuck into, to help give his students a lecture. You just happened to be along the path for some reason." Pointing at Presea, he asked, "What's your name and the name of your daughter?"

Presea brought up her staff as if in self-defense, pointing it at Yen Sid. "As if you can get that information out of me so easily, you old geezer!" she cried out. "I don't know what sort of magic you'd try doing with my head, but you won't be able to get anything out of—"

"What's going on, here?!" a somewhat younger man called out from the doorway. "Who is that woman, and why is there a little girl in a suspended animation tube near her?!"

Both Presea and Yen Sid turned to face a middle-aged man in a periwinkle lab coat, holding the hand of a little boy about seven years of age, who was in a white lab coat… even if the little boy's lab coat had the sleeves rolled back. The middle-aged man had slicked back long blonde hair, a goatee, and a short moustache on his face. He also had orange eyes that were slightly peaceful, although one could tell he was annoyed by looking in the eyes, too. As a final distinction, he wore under the lab coat a dark grey vest, white collared shirt, and a violet ascot, as well as black pants and shoes… plus a variant of a red sweater wrapped over his shoulders.

The little boy, however, had sky blue hair that went over his right eye, although the left eye looked like a light shade of aqua. He also wore a black, V-neck shirt with a white collar under his lab coat, as well blue pants and navy blue shoes… and he was eating ice cream with his free hand.

Before Presea could open her mouth to answer, Yen Sid answered, "This woman, Presea Testarossa, wants to bring her daughter Alicia back to life, but is not in any sane state of mind to raise her properly."

Presea turned to face Yen Sid and demanded, "How did you know that?! I never said anything!" It was then that she finally registered the last part of what he said. "And what do you mean, I'm not in any sane state of mind to raise my daughter?!"

Before anyone could say anything, the boy let go of the middle-aged man's hand and placed his palm in Presea's direction, chanting one word that caused her to faint as the effects took in.

"Esuna."

#

Five hours later…

#

It was with a groan that Presea woke up from the fainting spell. The first thing she noticed upon waking was that she was out of her Barrier Jacket and in a sleeping gown. The second thing she noticed was that the bed she was in was too royal for her standards. The third and final thing she noticed was…

"Ienzo, I know what you were thinking, but what if she doesn't wake up?" a middle-aged man asked someone.

"Master Ansem," a young boy, possibly Ienzo, said, "I know that she was possessed. If Esuna doesn't work, then nothing short of killing her and then bringing her back to life will."

"Even though we used up the last of our Phoenix Downs to bring the child back to life?" the first speaker, this 'Master Ansem', countered.

…she was not alone.

Opening her eyes while facing her left, the first thing she saw was a vaguely familiar head of blonde with red eyes, wearing a sky-blue dress with a white line running down the front. When the little girl, as her instincts told her she was, noticed her eyes opening, she gasped out loud and turned to face someone at the foot of the bed. "Onii-sama!" she called out. "Mom's awake!"

"…what?" Presea asked out loud. "Do I even have… children…?" At that point, she felt an overload of information hit her head. "What… the…?" she gasped out, once the information overload had subsided. "Alicia? Is that you?"

"Glad to see you're awake, madam," an elderly voice said to her from her right. Turning to face the owner, she saw an old man with an archaic wizard's look that seemed to fit the image of a wise advisor, even if he didn't have a mustache to go with his other and long facial hair. With the elderly man was a somewhat younger man with a goatee and mustache, as well as slightly peaceful orange eyes, who was giving her an appraising look. "My name, in case you have forgotten, is Yen Sid. With me is Ansem the Wise, ruler of this part of reality, and one of his students, Ienzo Lacrimona. We were having a rather… difficult conversation before you blacked out, and it was for the better that it happened, due to what we discovered was in your blood."

"My… blood?" Presea asked, confused at that.

"Tell me," Ansem the Wise spoke up, getting her attention. "Were you working with a chemical known by the atomic number of 468?"

Presea furrowed her eyebrows for a short bit, before she started thinking back on the incident. "I… was, actually," she answered. "I was given a deadline for a prototype energy generator, and said deadline was in a few days at most, so I was forced to hurry it up by my superiors…"

"Said energy generator was for a chemical that, by rights, produces a poisonous insanity substance when used as an explosive force," Ansem spoke up in a lecturing tone. "Anyone who wasn't killed by the blast would've been made completely insane, as their life was slowly stolen from them each and every day! You're lucky that the life stolen from you was only 25 seconds a day."

Ienzo, who had remained silent and on Presea's left, coughed into his hand. "I checked your physical age with a special ability I have," he said. "Do you know how old you are now?"

"I'm 28," Presea answered immediately, turning to face Ienzo.

Ienzo shook his head. "Not according to this," he said, producing a hand mirror to show Presea her face. "Calendar-wise, you're almost fifty. Physically… well, not even close."

Presea looked at the face on the other side of the reflection. She blinked when it did… and it was the face of someone who was legitimately 70. "You're kidding, right?" she asked Ienzo.

Ienzo gave a stare that simply asked, 'do I look like I'm kidding'?

Alicia looked at Presea and asked, "Mom, when were you going to give me a little sister?"

Presea turned to face Alicia and said, "W-Well… soon, I hope, Alicia. I need to figure some things out about that…"

Ansem coughed into his hand and said, "I hope you don't plan on going out with anyone, Miss Testarossa, what with your physical age being too old to date anyone…"

At that point, a bright flash of light erupted from around Presea. When the flash subsided, her body was much, much, much younger than 70… by 42 years.

"Well, color me impressed, Ienzo," Ansem said, pride entering his voice. "I didn't know your healing magic could do that."

Ienzo, looking around confused, asked, "Was that me?" After seeing everyone look at him pointedly, he sighed. "Yeah, I didn't know, either."

Presea looked around again. "Um, what do I do now?" she asked.

Before anyone could stop her, Alicia asked, "Mom, how about giving me a perfect little sister that I can help take care of?"

Everyone's attention went to Alicia at that, eyes wide and mouths agape, before Ansem the Wise chuckled wholeheartedly. "I suppose your daughter has a good point, miss Testarossa," he said. "You might want to humor her soon."

Presea was about to retort to that, but she stopped herself. She thought about it, and the benefits outweighed the drawbacks by far. "Okay, I suppose I should give you a little sister," she said to Alicia. "Who knows? She could be a slightly younger you."

Alicia couldn't cheer loud enough at that rate.

#

Xamusel: FINALLY! It's been almost a month since this story was started! I started writing this on the ninth of June… guess how difficult it was to keep on track for this?

Now, this is normally the part where I'd say something about my plans for the future, but I don't know how to best go about that part. If I knew what to say, well, I'd say it here.

By the way, guess who showed up near the end? Here's a hint: a Magic shares his middle name as one of its titles.

Well, onto other matters… I am also in the process of writing out a multi-cross between the Nasuverse and what is commonly labeled as X-overs. I don't have all the details written out for that, much like I don't have all the details written for this, either.

Now… here's the one guy who talked me into writing this story. Here's Takeshi Yamato!

#

Takeshi Yamato: I'm not gonna give notes like this after every chapter, so I'll do my best to say all I need to say.

I don't know too much about the KH series except what I read from fanfics and Wikis - I tried playing the first KH game several years ago, renting it from Blockbuster, and while I enjoyed the first couple of introductory stages, when it got to the point where I got to choose a world to go to next, my choices were Olympus Colosseum (Might have been interesting to try, if I had been able to get past the first room), Alice in Wonderland (one of the weirdest Disney Movies ever) and Tarzan (Great music, mediocre movie, and some of the in-game arrival circumstances just made me go NOPE). So, I turned the game back in to Blockbuster, and swore to never touch the games again with a 10-foot pole. That said, I found fanfiction of the series intriguing, and most of my knowledge of the series comes from them. If I find my interest piqued by a particular character or topic, I'll look up the KH Wiki for info.

I find KH a bit more bearable when it's crossed over with other stories. It was sakurademonalchemist's 'Memories of Nobody' (pretty good crossover with Harry Potter) that first got my muse into a KH Mood. I wanted to see someone do a crossover between KH and MGLN where Nanoha got a Keyblade, and Engineer4Ever's 'The Light in One's Heart' gave me the idea to use Aqua and the Keyblade Inheritance Ceremony. That said, I knew I wouldn't be able to do much with the story, myself, given how all my KH knowledge is second-hand, and likely incomplete, so I offered the idea to Xamusel here, to either give a try himself or to pass on to someone else. Obviously, he's decided to give it a try, and I'm tagging along for the ride to serve as an advisor/beta reader - it's about all I can do. I've also shared the idea with sakurademonalchemist, who's trying it out under the title 'Divine Heart' (Currently it's just part of her KH Drabbles, but hopefully she can go full-length with it). Though if anyone else wants to try this idea, feel free - just let me know that you're doing it, and what the title of your attempt is, so I can read it myself.

That's about all from me. I hope you all enjoy. :D

#

Xamusel: Well… this chapter had to go through the wringer a bit to get up to a more professional standard. Sorry to those who actually liked the older version, but, when you try getting someone who aspires to be like Edgar Allen Poe on the scene to help revise things, you get this. So, I hope this improves the chapter considerably.

Also, please note that Presea, in this version of events, is meant to be somewhat like her INNOCENT counterpart. I say "somewhat" because, as I still need to read that manga, I can't make any guarantees on her being exactly like her INNOCENT counterpart from here on out. I'll get back to you all on that subject when I have the time to go through the manga.

Now, then, what else…? *thinks for a few seconds* Well, other than the fact that I couldn't think of a more appropriate replacement for "onii-sama", I can't think of what else to say.

Until next time. Keep on Braving!
-Xamusel