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Aerith: This World…

The church was quiet, but far from empty. In the front of it sat a flower girl wearing a long pink dress. Aerith smiled at the children around her, waiting intently. She wasn't just a flower girl, but she was also a mage, one of those few people with the natural gift for magic.

"Alright, so, what do you want to hear about?" Aerith asked, and a few of the children shouted aloud various story names. "Takezo Kensei and the Dragon," "The Four Warriors,"(1) and "Rapunzel" were among those said. But one boy shouted out loudly: "Tell us about the keyblade war!"

Aerith's eyes widened. "Are you sure? That isn't exactly a story meant for children." But most of the children shouted out agreement with him. It made sense. While yes, most of them had heard a little bit about it from their parents, they didn't know much about it. So it made sense that they wanted to hear about it. Aerith sighed. "Alright. I'll tell it. Do you want me to tell it, or show it?" She had the magical ability to manifest her magic into an false-solid (an illusionary) form, in order to show the story far more easily. As she expected, they wanted it to be shown.

"Very well. Now then," Aerith said, letting her magic flow with her words. "Once upon a time, five hundred years at least before now, there lived a man, the master of the mystical sword, called a keyblade. This man's name was Kaji, formally referred to as…"

Master Kaji stood on top of the hill, bent down on one knee. His blond hair, reaching his neck, blew into his eyes, blue as the sky. He said nothing as he watched, the clouds overhead growing darker by the minute. He couldn't have been older than eighteen, and yet his eyes spoke of great experience in his life.

"Kaji-kun?" said a delicate but firm voice. Kaji turned, and smiled. There stood his greatest friend, Blaze. In her right hand she held the Inverse Kingdom Key.

"Blaze-chan, it's good to see you. I hope you are well," Kaji said, kissing her on the cheek.

Blaze smiled. "I'm very well, thank you. The others are preparing for the battle ahead," she reported. "Zaon remains, as always, stubborn that this is a lost cause, but Byrn has it handled, I think."

"Gotta love that damn mouse," Kaji said with a grimace(2). Blaze laughed. "Love it when you laugh. What of Peter Pan? Is he still arguing with Genie?"

"They have put their differences aside, with a little assistance from myself." Blaze brushed a lock of her bright red hair away from her face. "As well as Kida. She is powerful. Then again, she is an Atlantean, after all."

Kaji grunted in agreement. "I still think that this is a poor choice."

"What are you talking--" Blaze realized what he was talking about. "Right, going to the world between worlds. Castle Memory."

"Why should the three of us have to go fight him alone?" Kaji asked. "Anything could happen. So what if I have the Kingdom Key, you have the Inverse, and Byrn has the Twilight Keyblade, Xantos could very well be twice as powerful as the three of us, combined!" Blaze put her hand on his shoulder. "I'm serious! We should go with the others, fight the army of Remnants!" Remnants were the physical manifestations of deceased souls, that wouldn't move on(3). "Then all of us can fight Xantos, together!" He shied away from her attempt at a kiss. "I'm going to my tent. Wake me in the morning, my love."

---

Kaji held Blaze in his arms. "Please, no, don't give up on me, Blaze, don't give up on me!"

She smiled faintly, despite the bloody wound in her stomach. "Kaji…I love you. I finally said it. Now I can rest. Please, do not mourn me or Byrn." Salty tears fell down Kaji's face. "Please, Kaji…let me go…" And with that, Blaze died.

"No," Kaji said, shaking. He set Blaze's body down, and summoned his keyblade back to his hand. "YOU WILL PAY, XANTOS!!!" He drew his sword back, and ran at the Remnant of Lord Xantos, and attacked him with every fiber of his being.

And in the end, Kaji, and the Warders, won. But at a horrible cost for themselves, and the future.

Aerith took a breath. "And that's where that part of the story ends."

"What would have happened if Blaze and Byrn Mouse hadn't died?" the boy who had suggested the story first asked.

Aerith shrugged. "There's no way to tell. Maybe none of this would be happening. Maybe we would be safe, or maybe things would be worse."

"Maybe the pizza plate wouldn't be there!" a little girl shouted out. Aerith smiled faintly.

"Yes, maybe we could see the sky, Marlene," Aerith said. "But we can keep on imagining it all though the night. You all need to be getting home. Your parents will be worried." The children left the church slowly, muttering to themselves. Aerith's face fell. "We can keep on imagining, but it won't change a thing." She sighed, and turned around to care for her flowers.

There was a creaking noise on the wood. Aerith turned, and gasped. A man stood in the entryway of the church. His leg was clawed, and he was limping horribly. He was probably somewhere around fifty years old. "Please, help me. A heartless got me, please, help."

Aerith quickly ran over to him, and helped him sit down in one of the pews. "This will only take a minute." He hands started to glow, as she healed his wound.

"You've got your own magic?" the man asked curiously. When the wound was healed over, leaving only scratches in his pant leg, Aerith nodded, and said "Yes, I do." A moment later, she froze, as a keyblade appeared next to her neck.

"Stand up slowly, Miss Gainsborough," said a man behind her. The other man that she had healed took a pouch of money from the Warder behind her. He looked at her, regret clear in his eyes. He probably had a family at home, starving. Aerith didn't blame him, for using an injury as a way of getting bread on the table, at least for a little while.

Aerith stood up, keeping the palms of her hands out. "The prison?"

"Most definitely," said the Warder. "Just keep moving, miss."

(1) Also known as Final Fantasy I

(2) As could be guess, this Lord Byrn Mouse is the ancestor of Mickey Mouse.

(3) To have an idea of what they're like, imagine the Hollows from Bleach, only less difficult to defeat, and none of that purifying business.

This is the beginning of a fic I thought of, inspired by a picture on DeviantArt. It's an AU, and one that's very different...and there's no messed-up pairings, unless you consider TerraxAqua a messed-up pairing :D

I'm aware that this chapter could be considered plot-dumping, but I had to establish how the heck this happened. And essentially, in the true Kingdom Hearts timeline, originally, Byrn and Blaze did not die, because they didn't fight Lord Xantos at Castle Memory (later known as Castle Oblivion). Everything went all hunky-dory, and whatever. But, I'm ranting, I should let the story speak for me. This is basically just a prologue of sorts. The true story starts next chapter, about two months after this chapter. Reviews are truly appreciated, to whoever might read this!

And I promise that the other chapters after this will have much more story, and much less Author's Notes!