Prologue: A Secret Story

I wonder what we will do today, Riku thought as he tied his boat securely to the dock. The bright summer sun was shining fiercely, and not a cloud dotted the sky. A calm breeze came in from the ocean, cooling the air and carrying a salty scent with it. Riku raised himself onto the dock, tilted his head back and let the cooling breeze blow through his long silver hair, listening to the sound of the calm lapping waves. He noticed that Kairi and Sora's boats were already there, and he left the docks to meet them.

Ever since coming back from their adventures, Sora, Riku, and Kairi had met up every day at the secret cave near the waterfall to strengthen their ties with one another, reviving their strong relationship from almost a year before. Although originally Sora and Kairi's hideout that none of the other islanders knew about, the two didn't hesitate to share the cave with Riku. The trio had recently been hanging out there more than ever; now that school had been out for the past two months, Sora, Kairi, and Riku were even more desperate to find things to do – training, small adventures…anything! Riku walked along the shoreline, his hands in his pockets. Sora's still trying to keep himself busy, Riku thought, quietly laughing inside. But who am I to blame him? I miss all of the action too…and my friends, he said to himself, his mind drifting back to their earlier travels with King Mickey and the others.

They had long since returned to their own world, and Sora, Riku, and Kairi were all forced to begin an easy life without their journeys. Riku paused, looking out towards the sea. This is such a small world, and it hasn't changed a bit, Riku reflected inwardly, thinking of how little excitement happened around the islands. A few times Riku and Sora had talked about leaving and finding another adventure, but now that the worlds were at peace, their services with the keyblade were no longer needed. Instead, they were needed at home, and that is where they agreed to stay.

How long has it been? Riku asked himself, trying to remember how long ago he and Sora had returned to the islands and finished their journeys. About…ten months already? he reasoned, adding up the time in his head. Riku chuckled silently, staring out at the sparkling waters. It seems as if only yesterday we were fighting the Organization, he thought, remembering all of the excitement they had had. I wonder…when our next adventure will begin… Riku thought as he continued on towards their meeting place.

Something made Riku stop in his tracks. Wait a minute…something's not right, he thought, smelling the air. He could sense something he hadn't in a while; a strong darkness. Its scent was interweaved in the salty wind; the hairs on Riku's neck stood on edge as a result. He scanned the area, looking for what might be the cause of the stench. His ears found the origin of the odor faster than his eyes did, for he quickly caught the gentle thud of quiet footsteps. Sensing their direction, he glanced over towards the adjoining island and caught a glimpse of a figure shrouded in black.

Who…wait, is that? Instantly Riku was on his guard; he knew he would never forget the telltale attire of the Nobodies. A black coat…Organization XIII? he thought to himself. No, it can't be… Riku thought, remembering that they had defeated all of the members of Organization XIII. How could any of them still be alive?

But…the scent… There was no disguising the smell of darkness of which Riku was quick at detecting. On swift but silent feet, Riku ran to the bridge and with a high leap grabbed the edge of the wooden bridge and vaulted himself upon it, skillfully landing from his front flip. For a moment he was stunned. I have never done that before; but then again, I've never really tried. Focusing on the opposition, he gained a firm ready stance and faced the mysterious figure.

The cloaked stranger had heard Riku as he had landed on the bridge and turned from the water to face him. "I was hoping to go…unhindered," the character said, her voice reflecting her slight annoyance at Riku's arrival. Riku studied her carefully; if she was a member of the Organization, he surely hadn't met her before. She was tall and well-built, her mesomorph frame evident in the fit of her cloak. But he couldn't identify her by her voice or body build, and she kept her hood pulled over her face to keep from being identified.

Nothing beneath the secretive woman's hood could be seen since Riku wasn't close enough to study her more thoroughly. Nor did he want to be closer to someone who was most likely a powerful enemy. "Who are you?" he asked, becoming watchful of any sudden moves this disguised stranger might make. She did not seem as if preparing to attack, but when facing someone from the Organization – or even just someone with a darkness so pungent – one should be ready for anything.

The shrouded woman did not answer right away, but answered Riku's question after a brief pause. "No one you'd remember…" she said, shaking her head almost as if in a state of sad denial. After another slight silence she continued, "…but perhaps someone you have forgotten." As she said this, she raised her right arm and pointed at Riku, seeming disapproving at his apparent forgetfulness.

"What do you mean?" Riku asked; the vague reference was lost on him. He was rather confident that they had never met, but he could not tell without seeing her face, which still lay hidden beneath her hood. She refused to remove her disguise so he could positively distinguish if he knew her or not; the only visible scrap of possible identification was a small symbol that was engraved into her coat high on the left arm. No one that Riku had seen in the Organization had the mark, and it definitely was not the Nobody symbol. The symbol meant nothing to Riku, and he again gave his full attention to the figure, who had again begun to speak.

The stranger had seemed to bypass the question. She pulled her hand back slightly, and a small sigh reached Riku's ears. "But that is behind us, and beside the point," she said, waving the same hand over her shoulder as if pushing away the memories. "I didn't come here to oppose the keyblade warriors," she said, her arms comfortably hanging at her sides.

This was why Riku had thought she had come; why else would anyone who worked for the Organization come here? The world was so full of light, and therefore darkness did not find it as a suitable refuge. "Well, why did you come?" he asked imperatively with a slight threatening air in his voice, trying to appear bigger than this enemy. Although it seemed that fighting Riku wasn't on her agenda, he didn't want the worlds or his friends to be put in danger.

The concealed figure looked away from Riku to the palm tree on her left, the one Riku liked to sit on and watch the sunset with Sora and Kairi. Riku eyed her warily, cautious of her every move. She didn't seem to have any intention of attacking at the moment, though. "I came for those," she said, pointing up at the tree's crown.

"A Paupu fruit?" Riku said, surprised. Indeed, the shrouded figure was pointing to the ripe, golden star-shaped fruit at the top of the tree. This amazed Riku; if Nobodies didn't have hearts, then why would one want a fruit said to connect them. Is she really even a Nobody? "But, why would –"

Riku did not complete his thought. The shadowy stranger suddenly jumped high into the air, catching Riku off-guard. He pulled out his keyblade, prepared for combat, but the unidentified (assumed) combatant clearly did not intend to attack. She had leaped towards the palm tree and ricocheted off of the misshapen trunk, gaining enough height to reach on of the star-shaped fruits. Grabbing one, she skillfully back flipped off the trunk near the tree's crown and landed gracefully in the same position she had been moments ago, this time with a Paupu fruit in her left hand.

The cloaked figure stared at the fruit, her fingers rubbing over its smooth surface as she spoke. "The legend of it," the bizarre character said, answering Riku's unfinished question. The unwelcome visitor turned her eyes from the fruit upward, staring at Riku. "If two people share one of these fruits, their destinies become intertwined," she said, motioning towards the fruit in her hand.

"Intertwined. Linked together, much like the heart," she continued, resting her right hand over her own chest while her left arm hung down. She looked up again at Riku from her upheld hand, resuming her explanatory speech. "And just like the heart, it may be able to be altered for an opposite reaction. I hope to test this theory in my research." The cryptic outsider stood with her arms at her sides, satisfied with her little speech.

"Hearts…" Riku said slowly as if interpreting the significance of her words. Well, she really enjoys speaking in riddles, he thought. But then again, some of the other members did, too. He put away the "Way to Dawn" keyblade but still stood ready for attack, now next to certain that this mysterious person was a Nobody. His evidence was her character; she wore the cloak and also treated hearts like they were objects. But, we defeated the entire Organization, Riku thought to himself. Is it possible she was never part of their ranks? And what does she mean by 'research'? He decided to ask some of his questions aloud; the first one that come to mind was the first one that left his mouth. "They can be altered?" he asked, referring to her last comment on the heart.

The cloaked figure shook her head not as if denying it, but instead as if either ashamed or amused at Riku's lack of knowledge on the subject. Riku could not tell which emotion she felt, if any at all. She sighed before answering, "You of all people should know this, Riku." Riku was momentarily stunned, he hadn't told the stranger his name, yet she knew it.

"Hearts can be altered by the light and darkness," the expressive researcher explained, holding up her hands as she spoke of the light and darkness, the left hand with the Paupu fruit and her right empty outstretched representing each respectively. "Links between them can be created," she continued, holding out her right hand, her left resting at her side. In her upraised hand with a small flash of light appeared an illusion of a heart similar to those the emblem Heartless released. "…or cut," she continued after briefly pausing. She expressed her words by crushing the illusion and slicing her upraised hand through the air as if a knife severing a connection. She is certainly illustrative, Riku thought to himself.

That seemed to be the only thing Riku could clearly pick up from her explanation; the account, taking a mere seconds, was so planned out it almost seemed as if it were rehearsed. He didn't understand how he should know what her words meant and took the extravagance of the demonstration as a clear sign of how little she believed he understood about the subject compared to her knowledge. Yes, he had fallen to his own darkness once, but that was due to the choices he made, not a heart alteration. But, could it be that my heart actually was altered? he thought silently before again questioning the puzzling adversary. "What are you saying? And how do you know my name?" Riku demanded, gaining more and more questions for her by the minute and hoping for the opportunity to ask them all.

"Still in the dark." Again the cloaked person shook her head; Riku detected her quiet chuckle of amusement this time. "I'm afraid that you will have to learn the hard way," she continued, mysteriously. "But I must also tell you this. As the heart can be altered, so too can the mind," she said, pointing to her own head. "You saw how Kairi's altered mind slowly began to restore itself, so you could also recover what you've lost," she outstretched her hand as she continued as if offering Riku a piece of himself.

"What I've lost?" Riku asked, confused. He didn't feel as if he had lost anything, memories or feelings. At Castle Oblivion, Namine had told Riku that his memories were unaltered. So why would she hint that he had lost some of his? "What –" he began, wanting to ask what she was referring to. Suddenly he remembered her other comment, and its importance overpowered his previous question. "You know Kairi?" he asked, bewildered.

"Knew…" the cloaked woman responded; Riku thought he detected a note of assumed sadness in her tone. "Ask her…about her past," she said, pointing her empty hand to the waterfall near which their meeting place was located. "Maybe she'll remember." She turned again to face Riku but did not make any motion to approach him. However, he decided that this little charade had gone on long enough and moved closer to her, steadily but wary.

At the stranger's recent revelations, Riku connected that she must have been a part of Kairi's past before coming to the islands. Kairi had told him that she remembered some things, but only a little – so little they still couldn't tell what world she was from. So how was he supposed to ask her if she knew someone he could not describe? "Who are you?" he asked, standing his ground, now only a few yards from the shrouded figure, and materializing his keyblade, taking up his ready stance.

Now that Riku was closer to her, he could detect slight facial features; the bottom half of her face was slightly distinguishable beneath her hood. Her lips which were in a set line, showing no hint of the sadness, joy, or annoyance that had been implied during their conversation. However, he didn't have enough time to study her carefully or even see anything of importance with which he could describe her to Kairi or Sora; her eyes, hair and even nose were concealed. Seeming to think that Riku was too close for her comfort, the unknown antagonist began walking backwards slowly. "You shall find out…soon," she said, seeming to stare him down as her steps led her closer to the water.

A path of darkness opened behind her, and she walked back into it, her last sentence ringing in Riku's ears. Is the Organization not truly defeated? The thought frightened him that they may still be at large, planning another scheme. "Hey, wait!" Riku yelled, running after her. But despite his speed, the corridor of darkness disappeared before he reached it, leaving the world the way it had been only momentary minutes before.

Everything was the same – the beach, the ocean, the breeze; but despite the warm sunshine, Riku shuddered, on edge about this mysterious cloaked person. Who was that? Is the Organization back? An opposite reaction? Are we about to go on another journey? Riku withdrew his keyblade and let these thoughts swirl in his mind for a brief time.

Assured that the nameless figure would not return, Riku turned and headed off towards the secret place, resolving to tell neither Sora nor Kairi of the confusing encounter. If the mysterious girl was truly a part of Kairi's past, could remembering her possibly change Kairi as she had hinted? Memories had once changed Sora, and this time Namine wouldn't be here to help. Although he thought this unlikely, Riku didn't want to take the chance.

It wasn't long before Riku's suspicions were confirmed; only six weeks later he and Sora were summoned back by the king to show Master Yen Sid the Mark of Mastery and prepare for their greatest challenge yet: the return of Master Xehanort.

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