Chapter 2

(Dawn's PoV)

I frantically swung at the dark creatures that swiped at me, but due to my weapon being a simple wooden sword…. a TOY, to put it bluntly… I didn't have much luck. As I scanned the island, I saw that it was all but completely engulfed in the unsettling darkness from which the creatures were rising. I didn't completely understand what was going on, but I DID know that I had to find my sisters; Ember especially. Destiny; despite only being thirteen, was pretty good about keeping a cool head, and she and Sienna could both hold their own in a fight when they had to. Ember on the other hand, wasn't much with physical combat, and she wasn't good at keeping calm in an emergency; not when she was by herself. I hadn't been searching long before I spotted her standing on the small island where the paopu tree grew. Riku was beside her, and he was talking to Sora, who was standing on the bridge. I ran towards them to see what was happening, but I stopped dead in my tracks when I heard Riku say,

"I'm not afraid of the darkness." Oh, this was bad. This was very, VERY bad! The darkness began to wind itself around Riku and Ember, and Ember's eyes seemed to have a look of emptiness in them. Shaking myself out of my daze, I ran across the bridge to try and stop them, but I got there too late. The darkness had swept my sister and one of my best friends away. I turned to Sora.

"I don't suppose you know what's going on around here?" I asked. He shook his head.

"Your guess is as good as mine, Dawn. Hey, I don't suppose you know where Kairi and the other girls are?" I shook my head.

"No. I was kind of hoping Destiny and Kairi would be with you, but no such luck. As for Sienna, I think she might be looking for everyone to try and keep them together." I said. Sora looked around as the dark creatures began to close in on us.

"We've gotta find Kairi and your other sisters. Wherever Riku and Ember are, as long as they're together, they'll be fine. Come on!" he said, running ahead of me. I nodded and followed him. When I caught up to him, I noticed him fighting off the creatures with what looked like a giant key. Needless to say I was a little surprised, not to mention confused.

"Sora, what is THAT thing?" I asked.

"It's called a keyblade, I guess. It just appeared in my hand after Riku and Ember disappeared." Sora replied. At that moment I made a mental note to be sure to find out what was going on the moment opportunity allowed it.

(Sienna's PoV)

When I opened my eyes, I was no longer on Destiny Island. I was in a hotel room bed.

"So you're awake." I gasped softly and turned to see a girl with short dark hair about Riku and Dawn's age; or possibly MY age. (I'm seventeen) I couldn't tell for sure though.

"Where am I?" I asked her.

"In the hotel in Traverse Town. How are you feeling?" she said. I exhaled.

"Confused. A little sore, too. But I'm in one piece, which is more than I can say for my home…the island I grew up on was attacked by these dark creatures. I was looking for my sisters and our three best friends when I was hit by…something, and blacked out. Oh! My name is Sienna, by the way." I said. The girl smiled at me.

"It's nice to meet you, Sienna. I'm Yuffie. The creatures that attacked your island are called Heartless. And, well…" as Yuffie explained everything she could, I listened to every detail. When she was done speaking, I felt an uncomfortable knot in my stomach.

"So my sisters…and my friends….there's a possibility that they could be…"I trailed off, unable to bring myself to say what I was thinking.

"Unfortunately, yes. But if you look around town, there's a slight chance you could find them. Like Yuffie said earlier, Traverse Town is a place where people seek refuge after their home worlds have been swallowed up by the heartless. There's a slight chance your friends might've ended up here just like everyone else. Just…don't get your hopes up too high." At the sound of a male voice, I turned to see a guy with shaggy brown hair and a scar across his nose. Yuffie shot him a glare.

"Jeez Leon, if you're trying to make her feel better, you're doing a lousy job!" She said. Then, turning to me, she added,

"Sorry, Sienna. Don't listen to HIM. I'm sure you'll find your sisters and friends." I smiled gratefully at her.

"Thanks Yuffie, but…your friend has a point. I don't think I should automatically assume they're here, but I can't just assume they're NOT here, either. All I can do is look for them." I said. Leon seemed slightly surprised I didn't get offended by what he said, but he didn't really say anything else to me other than I should look for my friends in the First District.

(Dawn's PoV)

I walked out of the alley I had woken up in to take a quick peek around the town I was in. There were a few peopled outside, and visible in the square were an Item shop and an Accessory shop. In front of those was an odd looking mail box and to the left of where I was standing there was what looked like a little restaurant-like area. To my right there were a couple of street lamps, (beneath one of which was a boy who resembled my friend Tidus a little bit) and a pair of large doors with a sign above them that read "Third District". Stepping up onto the steps that led to the shops, I looked around to see that there was another set of doors. The sign above them said "Second District". So obviously, I was in the First District. Deciding I had looked around enough, I went back to the alley where Sora still laid unconscious and tried to wake him.

"Sora. Sora, wake up." For a minute, he didn't move. Then, he slowly opened his eyes and sat up.

"Where…where are we?" he asked as I helped him to his feet. I shook my head.

"I'm not sure, Sora. I took a quick look around, but I haven't spoken to anyone yet because I wanted to wait for you to wake up." I replied. Sora thanked me for waiting and we made our way out of the alley and into the center of the town. When I asked a boy about our age where we were, (the boy who resembled Tidus) and he told us this place was called "Traverse Town" and it was meant to be a safe haven for those whose homes had fallen victim to the darkness. I thanked him for the information and pulled Sora along.

"Dawn? Sora? Is that you?" Sora and I gasped and turned to see Sienna walking out of the accessory shop. Relieved, we ran over to her.

"Sienna, thank goodness you're alright!" I said, hugging her. She laughed softly and hugged me back before turning to hug Sora, too.

"I was worried about you guys, too. I don't suppose you happened to see Riku, Kairi, Ember, or Destiny around, have you?" Sora and I shook our heads.

"No. We were actually kind of hoping that at least ONE of them was with you." Sora said. Sienna gave us an apologetic look and shook her head.

"No. You two are the only ones I've been able to find so far. I'm sure you know already that this is Traverse Town. Luckily, I've been able to find out a little about the Heartless." Sora and I gave her a blank stare and she sighed.

"Sorry. Uhm…maybe I should take you to see Leon and Yuffie and have them explain it to you. But first, there're still a couple things I need from the accessory shop, now that I've found you two. Come on. I'll introduce you to Cid." She said, motioning for us to follow her into the accessory shop.

(Sienna's PoV)

"Hey, Cid. Sorry to bug you again so soon, but I found my sister Dawn and our friend Sora, and I need to buy a couple things for them, too." I said. Cid turned to face me.

"Well, I'll see what I can do." As Cid helped Dawn and Sora pick some things out, I counted how much munny I had left from when I was fighting heartless in the second district. (For some reason, when you defeated them, heartless dropped munny, though I don't know how THAT one works…) Unfortunatly, I only had a hundred and fifty munny, and that was only enough to buy one item.

"Guys, I'll be back. I've gotta go to the second district for a second." Cid gave me a questioning look.

"Second district? What do you wanna go there for? It's crawling with Heartless at this time of night." He said. I smirked and picked up my wooden katana.

"I know. That's the point. For some weird reason, when you defeat them, the heartless drop munny sometimes. I mean, I know I COULD get a job or something here instead, but something tells me the way I choose to make munny is the most efficient for me."

(Dawn's PoV)

"What do you think she meant by that?" Cid asked as my sister left. I sighed and shook my head.

"Honestly Cid, I have no….Gaahh!" I cried out in pain and dropped to my knees, my head in my hands. This is how the first vision of the day (if there was more than one) always started out; not only for me, but for my sisters, too. Before the images, there was always a headache. The four of us all had different types of visions. Destiny had Future Sight, Ember had Present Sight, Sienna had "Cupid Sight"; which was basically only Future Sight, Couples Edition, and I had Past Sight. As you could guess, my visions weren't as frequent as the others' were, and unless it was important, we never told each other our visions. (Of course, Sienna NEVER told us hers, for fear of changing fate or whatever) This time, my vision was of my mother talking to a man with blonde hair.

"The answer is NO, Mister Shinra."

"But Ophelia, think of what we could accomplish by-" Mother wouldn't let the man finish.

"I said no and I meant it. What you did to my husband, you are NOT going to do to my children, too. I have had a vision. And as it is…someday I will have to take my kids and leave Midgar because of you." She snapped.

"Ophelia, what are you talking about?" the man asked. Mother sighed. Her silvery green eyes held a slight hint of exhaustion within them.

"Shinra…you are well aware that although I was adopted at a young age, my biological family has always possessed…the Five Sights, yes?" the man nodded and Mother continued.

"Well, I possess Future Sight, and in my vision, I saw my husband, surrounded by flames and the blood of the people he once trusted on his blade. In his eyes…there was no longer love or light, only a deep hatred for everything and everyone before him. That's why I must-"

The vision ended there and I looked up to see Cid and Sora staring down at me with concern. They'd managed to get me up onto the sofa, and Sora helped me to slowly sit up.

"What happened? You okay kid?" Cid asked. I shook off my dizziness and nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just had a vision, that's all. The first one of the day always starts out like that…IF there's more than one in the same day, at least." I said.

"What'd you see this time?" Sora asked me. I sighed and stood up.

"Well, I saw enough to know that my father didn't really get lost at sea." I replied, stretching out. I then looked up at the clock on the wall.

"Come on Sora, let's go ask around a bit. Maybe we could find out a little about where Riku and the others are." I said. We told Cid we'd be back a little later and we were about to leave the shop when Cid stopped us a moment.

"Hold on. Dawn, you don't have a weapon, right?" he asked. I shook my head and he took what looked liked a short sword from behind his counter.

"Here, you can use this, at least until you find a better weapon." He said. I took it from him and examined it. The sheath was of the toughest leather I'd ever seen and the blade was VERY sharp. I thanked him and he said,

"Don't mention it, kid. You two just be careful, and if you two or Sienna need anything, don't hesitate to ask me, got it?" we nodded and thanked him again before leaving the accessory shop. But surprisingly enough, when we got out there, everyone had gone indoors. At first, I wondered why, but then I saw that somehow, some heartless had managed to get into the first district. I drew my new weapon and Sora readied his keyblade. As soon as they saw us they ambushed us. I managed to destroy some of the smaller ones, but unfortunately there were others protected by a little bit of armor, and I had to leave those to Sora and the keyblade. We'd barely managed to defeat them, and I figured now we could relax, but…

"They'll come at you out of nowhere." At the sound of a man's voice, Sora and I turned to see a guy with long brown hair and a scar across his face.

"Who are you?" The man ignored Sora and continued talking.

"And they'll keep on coming at you, as long as you continue to wield the keyblade. But…why? Why would it choose a kid like you?" Sora and I glared at the guy. What was his problem?

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" Sora demanded.

"…Never mind. Now, let's see that keyblade." I glared at the man and Sora took on a fighting stance.

"What? There's no way you're getting this!" he said defiantly. I turned to him.

"Sora, what are you doing? Don't pretend like you still have energy to fight, you idiot! I can tell you're just as exhausted as I am!" I warned. He didn't look at me when he replied,

"Relax. I can take this guy!" the man readied his own weapon; which looked like a cross between a gun and a sword.

"Alright, have it your way, then." He said.

(Sienna's PoV)

I'd gathered at least 500 munny before deciding to call it quits and head back to the first district…then again, I didn't have much choice, since during my last battle with the heartless, they broke; yes, BROKE my katana. But when I got back to the first district, Dawn was on the verge of collapsing from exhaustion, Sora was unconscious, and Leon and Yuffie were there. As I walked up, I heard Yuffie say,

"Hey you found it. Nice going, Leon."

"Yeah, but it looks like things are worse than we thought. A lot worse." Leon replied.

"What's going on over here?" I demanded. Dawn glared at Leon.

"This creep just attacked Sora out of nowhere! We didn't even do anything!" she said. I turned to Leon.

"Is this true? Leon, you'd better have a good excuse for this!" I warned. Leon looked down at my weapon.

"No offense, but you couldn't really do much to me with a broken weapon. Get your friends and bring them to the hotel. I'll explain everything once we're there." He said. I sighed in annoyance and helped Dawn to her feet before picking Sora up off the ground.

"Fine, but like I said, this had better be a good reason." I said again.

(Sora's PoV)

"Come on, Lazy Bum. Wake up." Huh? I sat up and shook my head, trying to clear my head a little as I opened my eyes. When I turned, Kairi was standing beside the bed I was in.

"You okay?" she asked. I nodded.

"I guess…" I said. I mean, I was still sore from fighting that guy, but…

"Those creatures that attacked you are after the keyblade. But…it's your heart they really want, because you wield the keyblade." Even though I was confused by how Kairi even KNEW what she just told me, I said,

"I'm so glad that you're okay, Kairi." She gave me a confused look and put her hands on her hips.

"Kairi? Who are you talking about? I'm the great ninja Yuffie." She said. Just then, my head cleared and I could see that it really wasn't Kairi, but a girl with short dark hair.

(Dawn's PoV)

I glared over at Leon as Yuffie turned to him and said,

"I think you might've over done it, Squall."

"That's Leon." He corrected her impatiently. Sora looked around the room and spotted his weapon.

"…The keyblade…" he murmured. Yuffie nodded.

"Yeah…We had to get it away from you to shake off those creatures. It turns out, THAT'S how they were tracking you." She explained.

"It was the only way to conceal your heart from them, but it won't work for long." Leon added. I blinked in realization.

"Oh! So THAT'S why you were wailing on Sora so hard?" Sora shot me a slight glare, and Leon nodded silently at me before turning back to Sora, picking up the keyblade as he did so.

"Still….hard to believe that you of all people are the chosen one." He said, swinging the keyblade to the right. I gasped as it disappeared, only to reappear in Sora's hand. Sienna frowned at him.

"Leon, Sora has more potential than you give him credit for." She said in Sora's defense. Leon sighed.

"Well, I guess beggars can't be choosers." He said. Sora glared at Leon.

"Why don't you start making sense? What's going on around here?" he demanded.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

(Reg PoV)

"Okay, you know that there are many other worlds, besides your castle and this town, right?" the brunette woman asked. Donald Duck and his companion Goofy both nodded.

"Yeah." Donald said.

"But they're supposed to be a secret." Goofy added. The woman nodded.

"They've been secret because they've never been connected…until now. When the Heartless came, everything changed." She explained.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"The Heartless?" Sora asked. Yuffie and Sienna both nodded.

"The creatures that attacked us." Sienna explained.

"You remember?" Yuffie asked. Sora nodded.

"Those without hearts." Leon added.

"The darkness in people's hearts…that's what attracts them." Yuffie said.

"And there is darkness within every heart." Leon said solemnly. Dawn and Sienna exchanged glances.

"Hey, have you guys heard of someone named Ansem?" Yuffie asked.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Ansem?" Goofy asked. Aerith nodded.

"He was studying the heartless. He recorded all of his findings into a very detailed report." She explained.

"Gawrsh, uh, can we see it?" Goofy asked. Aerith shook her head gravely.

"It's pages are scattered everywhere." She replied.

"Scattered?" Donald exclaimed in disbelief.

"To many worlds." Aerith said. Goofy smacked his fist into his palm thoughtfully.

"Oh! Then maybe the king went to find 'em." He said. Donald nodded in agreement, as did Aerith.

"Those were my thoughts exactly." She said.

"We gotta go find him, quick!"

"Wait! First we need that "key"!" Donald reminded Goofy. Aerith nodded.

"That's right, the keyblade."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"So…this is the key?" Sora held the keyblade up, as though to better examine it. Yuffie nodded.

"Exactly." She said.

"The heartless have great fear of the keyblade. That's why they'll keep coming after you, no matter what." Leon said.

"Wait, I didn't ask for this." Sora protested. Dawn put a hand on his shoulder to comfort him. Yuffie looked up at the ceiling a moment before turning to face Sora again.

"The keyblade chooses its master. And it chose you." She said lightly. Leon leaned against the door and waved his hand in an uncaring motion.

"So, tough luck." He said. Sienna shot him a glare.

"How did all of this happen? I remember being in my room…" realization hit Sora and he bolted up to his feet.

"Wait a minute! What happened to our home? Our island? Riku…Kairi…and Ember and Destiny…?"

"You know what? I really don't know…" Leon said, looking away. Sienna glared at him once more, but raised and eyebrow when he said,

"Oh yeah, I just remembered…" he then went over to the wardrobe on the other side of the room and opened it, pulling out a large suitcase.

"Sienna, you're the oldest, right? Out of you and your sisters, I mean?" he asked her.

(Sienna's PoV)

I crossed my arms, but nodded.

"Yeah, so?" I asked. I then let out a small grunt as Leon shoved the suitcase into my arms.

"Here. Yevon wanted you to have this if you and the others ever ended up here." He said. Dawn and I both froze, gaping at him. I was so shocked that I nearly dropped the suitcase.

"You…you knew our brother?" Dawn asked quietly. Leon nodded.

"He's a good friend of mine. I haven't seen him face to face in two years or so, but he keeps in contact every now and then. He's on a journey to put an end to the heartless." He explained. Exhaling, I opened the suitcase.

"THIS…was YEVON'S?" I asked in disbelief, holding up the blue and silver gunblade. Leon nodded.

"And now it's yours." I looked down and shyly thanked Leon.

"…Don't mention it. Alright, now pay attention. Using a gunblade isn't as hard as it looks. All you have to do is…"

(Dawn's PoV)

As Leon taught Sienna how to use her new gunblade, I smirked and turned to Yuffie.

"So, how much you wanna bet they're going to end up together?" I whispered jokingly. She giggled softly and nodded.

"I wouldn't doubt it." She whispered back.

"What are you two whispering about over there?" Leon asked impatiently.

"Nothing, nothing." We replied hastily. Then, to distract Leon from questioning what we were talking about, Yuffie said,

"By the way, where's Aerith?" Leon sighed.

"She should be in the other room by now with the other visitors." He replied.

"Who's Aerith?" I asked. Yuffie turned to me.

"She's a friend of ours." She explained. Catching a glimpse of something out of the corner of her eye, the ninja girl gasped and turned to face the opposite wall.

"Leon!" she exclaimed. I gasped and backed away from the heartless that appeared in the room. Leon's head shot in our direction and he readied his gunblade.

"Yuffie, go warn Aerith!" he told her. Yuffie nodded and ran out of the room to warn their other friend.

"Alright, let's go." I sighed as Leon jumped out of one of the windows and into the alleyway. Sienna, Sora and I followed suit through the same broken window that Leon had jumped out of.

"What's the plan, Leon?" Sienna asked. Leon turned to us.

"Don't bother with the small fries. Find the leader. I'll draw off the others." He said. The rest of us nodded and broke off from Leon to make our way to the center of the district. We hadn't been running long before we more or less wound up meeting two more….uhm…somethings. One was a talking duck, the other was a talking dog. Of course, after the heartless, we weren't really all that surprised. But we didn't have time for introductions, because we were in the center of the third district, and a whole lot of heartless appeared. As I turned around, I saw a wall rise up and block the way out of the district. We were trapped.

(Sienna's PoV)

I growled under my breath and readied my gunblade as a giant heartless appeared. This was gonna be tough; since we had to fight a bunch of smaller heartless besides.

(Dawn's PoV)

The good news was, we beat the heartless. The BAD news was… Donald (the duck) and Goofy (the dog) only had room for three in their gummy ship at the moment, and until they could get it modified to fit me and my sister, we had to stay in Traverse Town.

"But I can't leave them here." Sora protested.

"Sora, you should go with them, especially if you want to find your friends." Leon said. Sora turned to us for approval. Sienna and I smiled at him and nodded.

"Leon's right, "Mr. Keybearer." We'll be fine. Who knows? Maybe Riku or one of the others will show up here." She said semi-jokingly.

"Sora…just promise you'll come back to us in one piece." I said. He smiled at us and nodded. As I watched Sora walk out the town gates with Donald and Goofy, I sighed. Well, may as well get to know the locals and explore the town a little more while we waited, right? Of course, I kind of had to wonder how that would go.

(A/N: lol next chapter, we get to see how it goes when Sienna tries to spend a little quality time with Leon. I wonder who will drive who crazy first? And I wonder if Dawn will finally find the man with the red hair? Dun dun dun! You'll just have to wait and see! ^o^)