AN: There were a few mistakes that have been fixed in chapter one. One of those being a typo that made Rinoa's name Riona. Also a Disclaimer has been added which I forgot to add when it was submitted. Thanks for all the feedback and favorites it was a nice surprise for only submitting my first chapter. I am glad to have you aboard and look forward to all of the feedback to come!

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom hearts, or any of the Final Fantasy characters. I do not own Eliora, but she does belong to my best friend who has given me permission to use her in my story.

Chapter Two:

I lived on Radiant Garden for a long time. The days that followed my mysterious arrival soon melted away into weeks. The weeks all melded into months, the months soon became years and before I knew it over six years had flown by. I spent my days helping Aerith with her flower shop in the market outside of the castle. I did everything I could to stay away from the castle actually. Something about it gave me an eerie feeling. I hated the walls, the smell, and Ansem always put me on edge. He disturbed me to the point that in my long stay there I had only seen him twice.

My nights were spent hanging out with Aerith's friends. Cloud and Tifa, Yuffie, Squall, and Rinoa. We were like a big family we ate meals together most nights. Sometimes Cid would come join us too, although he kept pretty busy between his mechanic shop and being called up to the castle to work on the machinery. Squall and Cloud had even taught me a little bit about sparring. Everything was peaceful.

I came home after running my last delivery of the day. My legs were tired from riding my bike around town, I trudged up the road to mine and Aerith's house. Turns out I never found anywhere else to stay and Aerith was more than happy to have me. I opened the door to see everyone sitting in the living room.

"Welcome home!" Aerith said excitedly. I smiled despite being as tired as I was.

"To what do I owe the honor of such a full house?" I asked dropping my bag by the front door.

"Well," started Aerith in her air filled voice. "We were thinking..."

"You were six years old when you got here weren't you?" asked Squall. I nodded in reply.

"Yeah. What of it?" I slumped on the couch next to Yuffie who rustled my hair. It wasn't often we talked about my arrival.

"Well," started Aerith again. "That means..."

"You have been here for six years right?" asked Cloud. I thought for a moment.

"I guess you're right." I agreed.

"That means..." Aerith started again, shooting Cloud a look.

"Do we got to spell it out for you kid?" Yuffie joked. Some would be disoriented by all of them butting in on the conversation but I was quite used to it.

"Let her finish guys!" Tifa said sternly. She waved for Aerith to finish once the room was silent.

"You have officially been here longer than your last home. Now we know that this will never take the place of the world you lost, but we are glad that you have decided to stay with us so long." She stepped aside of the coffee table to present a cake. It was so beautifully decorated and I knew that Aerith had to have done it herself. I could recognize her loopy handwriting across the cake.

"Welcome Home Zaria!" it said. A more sentimental person probably would have cried. Even I felt like crying. This was the sweetest thing anyone had ever tried to do for me and I was touched. Instead I just flashed them all a goofy smile.

"Thanks guys, it means a lot."

"Don't get all mushy on us." Rinoa said through her sweet smile.

We spent the rest of the night hanging out and eating cake. Soon my eyes were drooping and I decided to go upstairs.

"Sorry to be a party pooper, but I'm going to bed." I said rising to my feet.

"Night," rang a chorus of voices from below. I made my way up to my room. I changed into some comfortable clothes for sleeping and then plopped on the bed. My day had lasted longer than I would have liked and I was exhausted.

I couldn't remember much of anything about my old world, or even my house. I remembered my parents a little, but I'm ashamed to admit that I tried not to think about them. I couldn't remember much other than that night. Even when I felt close to remembering some cherished childhood memory it all came to a screeching halt as I was plagued with their dying screams.

I had a family now, even if it was a little unorthodox. I had actual memories of them, I knew them more than I knew my dead parents. I had let go a long time ago. It made me feel guilty to finally realize that this was more my home than my old world ever was.

I caught my reflection in the mirror across the room as I fluffed my pillows. I was not the same girl that landed here over six years ago. My almost platinum blonde hair that I wore most of my childhood had aged right along with me. The color had turned darker, almost brown, but not quite. I was in desperate need of a hair cut, my bangs were too long and fell limply in my eyes. Aggravated I pulled them back. My face had thinned out. I was no longer the cute pudgy faced girl that arrived on their doorsteps. My eyes, now visible since I was holding my bangs back were a nice emerald color.

I stood to look at myself a little more closely in the mirror. You couldn't tell through the bagginess of my sleepwear but I had a rather nice figure too. It wasn't perfect, I don't think any girl would ever say that they were. But my tummy had flattened out, I was starting to mature in places that made me seem a little more womanly. My legs were a little too thick for my liking. They were solid as a rock though. The muscle is what made them so thick. I suppose you couldn't help but have hearty thighs if you rode your bike all day for a living.

I was a totally different person than I was six years ago. That world was gone, and the person that lived there was gone as well. I reached into the pocket of my pajama pants to find my locket. I sighed in defeat. The thing never failed to find me, like a parasite you just couldn't get rid of. I tried throwing it away, burying it, even selling the damn thing. Within minutes it would just be back in my pocket. It was a constant reminder of the world I had lost and the guilt I felt for not showing my friends the magic it contained.

I rarely opened the locket, scared of the transformation that happened when I did. I often wondered if my traumatized child brained had imagined it. I had once accidentally opened the locket inside my pocket once. The key sliced my pants all to hell. It was pretty hard to explain that one to Aerith.

Hesitantly, I opened the small locket. Instantly it shot into the key like weapon. What was this thing? Why did I feel the need to protect it like I did, to keep it hidden.

I had thought of going to Ansem once or twice, to show him what it could do, but I always thought better of it. What if he wanted to experiment on it? What if he wanted to experiment on me? I didn't know him well enough to know if that was the case, but the place gave me the creeps. That's all I needed to know. Finally tired of lying in bed and contemplating the past I pulled the covers over my head and made myself fall asleep.

I rose the next morning like I always did. My internal alarm clock had long ago set itself to wake me up early in the morning. I could smell breakfast being cooked downstairs. So I hauled myself out of bed and dressed in my uniform for work. I donned the short skirt that Aerith had made all of her employees. It tied with a bow behind my waist. I pulled on my tights underneath it, because to be honest I have never been much of a skirt person anyway and riding a bike in a mini skirt was no small task. I also pulled on my tennis shoes that I wore almost every day, much to Aerith's disappointment. She was always trying to dress me up in something girly and sweet, and that just wasn't who I was. I always felt odd and exposed when I stuff like that. I pulled on a tank top, my collared over-shirt and then finally my apron. I quickly pulled a brush through my tangled hair and trotted down the stairs.

I sat at the table right as Aerith sat a plate down in front of me. Despite her only being a few years my senior she had taken over the motherly role quite nicely. She had always taken care of me, giving me a place to stay, food to eat, and a job. She never seemed to mind, and was probably the nicest person I knew

"Good morning!" she cheerfully greeted me. I smiled in response picking up my fork and shoving her delicious cooking down my throat.

"Morning'.." I managed through my mouth full of food. We ate our breakfast and chatted like we did every morning. Nothing about this day said it was going to be any different from the others. Aerith looked up at the clock and stood. I followed suit knowing that it was time for work. We walked down the streets of Radiant Garden together. The weather never seemed to change here. It was always warm and sunny, it was almost like some sort of paradise. Other than the ominous castle in the distance, everything here just made me feel at home.

We got to the shop only minutes after leaving, waiting at the door was another co-worker.

"Hey Eli." I greeted. She smiled at me, her golden eyes almost gleaming.

"Hello," she replied. Eli stood at the door, her uniform in perfect form as usual. I don't think the skirt was much her thing either. Outside of work she always dressed sort of earthy. Tan pants and green shirts, the earth tones made her eyes shine even more. Her shoulder length blonde hair matched her sunny nature. She seemed at home in the sunlight. Her real name was Eliora but I didn't know anyone who called her that. She was shy when she first came to town, but she made her share of friends anyway. One of her closest friends was Braig, one of Ansem's apprentices, they had gotten engaged a year or so ago.

It was a slow day at the shop, with no special orders or deliveries to be made. Most of the day we lazed about, prepping some flowers and tending the garden out back. There was really nothing else to be done.

"Why don't you girls go pick us up some lunch," Aerith said to us when hours of boredom had started to make our tummy rumble. She handed me and Eli both a small handful of munny, and with that we headed into town in search of something yummy to eat.

I had always felt a weird connection with Eli, even if we didn't spend all the time together that me and Aerith and the others did. She was also an outsider, someone who had come to Radiant Garden by some other means. She came to town about two years after I did, she lived in an orphanage a long ways out of town for a long time before that. There was some talk about sending me there when they found me, if Aerith hadn't agreed to take me I'm sure that is where I would have ended up.

She worked hard, and was thankful for the job that Aerith had given her. She didn't even hesitate when she showed up on the shop steps. We have been working together for a long time and I had grown quite fond of her. We placed our order at a small diner in town and took a seat at one of the outdoor tables while we waited for it to be completed.

"I'm surprised you aren't out with Braig." I teased flipping one of the munnies in the air and catching it. Eli quickly lost her happy smile which until now I had no reason to suspect it of being fake.

"What's wrong?" I asked, straightening in my chair at her sudden change in demeanor.

"I haven't seen him in a while. I've been really worried." I'm sure I looked confused at this.

"How long has it been?" I asked.

"It's been a few weeks at least," She continued to look down at the table.

"How do you go a few weeks without hearing from your fiance'?" I inquired.

"I don't know, something doesn't feel right." Eli almost shuttered as she said it. I continued to look at her, confused and worried.

"I'm sure he will turn up, he has probably just been really busy," I offered trying to stay cheerful.

"It's not just Braig." Her voice was becoming darker and sadder by the minute. "Everything today just feels... off. I can't shake this feeling like something terrible is going to happen."

"Have another one of your dreams?" I reached out to touch her hand, to try and be comforting. She looked up at me and tried to smile. Eli was special in a lot of ways. I don't just mean that she was a nice girl, she was different. She was always having dreams, strange ones that even after having them explained to me I just never quite understood them. I always thought she should be some sort of therapist or something. She always knew what to say to make the situation better. It sucked that I didn't have her knack for tackling human emotion. I don't think I was making this any better.

"Just a feeling," she finally replied

"Everyone feels like that sometimes, try not to let it bother you." We sat in silence for a while, it was obvious I hadn't made her feel any better. "Hey! Why don't you go look for him?" I asked. "The shop is dead today, there is nothing better you need to be doing."

"Are you sure?" I could see it in her eyes that she wanted to go, that pure will power was all that was keeping her here.

"Of course! If we get any orders I will be enough to help Aerith. Go, and let me know tomorrow if you find him. I'm sure everything is going to be fine." I ended my little rant with an encouraging smile. She quickly stood, she didn't look as optimistic as I was.

"Thank you." I could tell how grateful she was as she shot off to go look for him.

I waited around for the food and made my way back to Aerith's shop. We ate our food and waited for orders to come in as I told her what was going on with Eliora.

"Poor dear, I knew she had seemed a little off the last few days. I hope everything is alright." Aerith was as sympathetic as always. Sometimes I thought she was a little too kind. How she kept herself from being taken advantage of was beyond me.

The rest of the day was uneventful, we cleaned up, I ran what little orders we did have, and then we walked home. The gang was busy I guess, they never came by. Instead me and Aerith ate dinner alone and I went up to bed.

What Eli said continued to run through my head.

"I can't shake this feeling that something bad is going to happen."

I don't know if her saying it only made me more aware to my own feelings, or if it just made me a little on the paranoid side, but I had felt anxious since she left the cafe', I hoped she found Braig and that everything was alright. She had always been such a sweet girl, like a distant older sister to me. Braig had always seemed to make her happy, I would feel terrible if something happened to him. She would be devastated, I think.

It took me forever to get to sleep. My brain whirled with thoughts all over the spectrum. The harder I tried to calm my mind, the more active it became. After what felt like hours I was finally able to get to sleep.

It must have only been an hour after I passed out that Aerith came bolting into my room. The door slammed open and I shot up in surprise. It was very unlike Aerith to not only be awake at this hour, but to come in without knocking.

"Whas' ammatter?" I slurred through my drool. As I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes I could see the panic on Aerith's face and my heart started pounding.

"You have to get up! Now!" I obeyed without hesitation.

"What's going on?" I asked, attempting to pull on my clothes.

"No time for that, come on." She grabbed my hand and almost ripped me from my room. I was having trouble keeping up as she pulled me down the stairs and out the door. I was in awe at the world around me.

It was happening again. The demons, with their yellow eyes rose and fell against the earth like the tide. Screams and yells were all around me and for a moment I felt like I was having a nightmare, some sort of bizarre flash back.

"Don't just stand there! We have to get to the others!" Aerith's shouting pulled me back to reality and I jogged after her. I felt like my head was swirling, like I couldn't focus on any one thing. I kept looking around and thinking. 'This is my fault, I caused this.' Somewhere I knew this wasn't the case, but after losing two worlds to the heartless you start to think that maybe something with you is at fault.

"Where are we going?" I shouted over the commotion.

"Cid's! The other said we were going to meet up there." I stopped running.

"Are we leaving?" I knew Cid had been working on a ship, one that could travel between worlds supposedly. Was it ready? Could it really fly us to safety?

"We don't have a choice." She reached for my hand again and we started running through the streets.

It was awful, people were being consumed all around me, falling. The only thing that kept us from being overcome ourselves was pure luck. People I knew, people I saw everyday were falling around me. It was worse this time because I had a memory of every one. Each face twisted in terror I had once seen smiling at me as I rode my bike past. Then it hit me and I pulled my hand from Aerith's. She twirled around to see what was the matter.

"I have to find Eliora." I could tell Aerith agreed but fear and desperation held her face.

"I don't know if we have time, we need to go, they won't wait forever."

"Go ahead of me!" I told her waving her on. "Try and stall them." I didn't wait for her to argue with me. I took off at a full sprint towards Eli's house. The lights were all out, I knew she lived alone, did she even know what was going on? I banged on the door with my fist, no one answered, I shook the doorknob but it was locked. I took a deep breath, wondering on what to do. Then in a moment of madness I braced myself, and punched the window as hard as I could. It cracked, and my hand vibrated from the force, it was cut, bleeding in places. I inhaled and held it as I took one more swing at the window. It broke the rest of the way. Hopefully Eli would forgive me.

I climbed in through the window calling her name. No one answered. Her room was untouched, the bed still made from the morning before. She never came home after going to look for Braig. I started to panic then. I couldn't leave her in all this madness but at this point, she might already be gone. She might have been at the castle, I know that Braig spends a lot of this time up there. One of Ansem's workers sometimes gave her a hard time, could she have ran into him on her way to find her fiance?

I didn't have time to look for her properly, and it pained me to do so, but I had to get to Cid's. I yelled her name as I traversed the alleyways between her house and Cid's garage. No one answered. I teared up at the thought of losing anyone else to these monsters.

"Help!" someone screamed over the ruckus. Hoping it was my friend, I rushed toward the screams as they increased with intensity. A young girl was cornered by the beasts, she was probably a few years younger than me, her scared face stared at me from the darkness.

I didn't know what to do, my heart was racing, but I had to do something. I knew that much. It was almost instinct, I reached into my pocket and thumbed my locket open. The blade formed instantly in my hands.

"Hey!" I screamed trying to get the monsters attention, but it wasn't necessary, once I drew the blade all eyes were on me.

"Oh man," I muttered under my breath and desperately hoped that what little sparring lessons I had wouldn't fail me now.

I felt clumsy with the weapon in my hands. It was heavy and I was not very good at wielding it. I had never tried. It was enough though. The monsters flinched as the blade struck through their shadowy bodies. I carved a path to the girl and took her hand. She was baffled, but took it anyway. I drug her from the alley toward Cid's. If I couldn't save Eli, I would save anyone I could.

We were closing in on the garage. I could see it off in the distance. It seemed everything was going to be okay. As if to spite me, a large rumbling filled the air. I looked up dumbly trying to find it's source. Parts of the building above started to crack and break.

"Run!" I told the girl. She tried her best to keep up, but I wasn't fast enough. A large piece of rubble fell and landed on my leg. I screamed out, sure that my leg had broken under the impact. The girl pulled on me frantically which only made me cry out harder.

"Go." I told her, gritting my teeth in pain. "Get to the garage up the road." She stared at me for a moment and then took off in that direction. She only lasted moments before a hoard of the beasts pulled her to the ground and she was nothing. Just like that she was gone. I screamed for her, cried for her. I cried out Eli's name, Aerith's, hoping that anyone would hear me.

Squall came into view as I was giving up hope. I yelled for him as he passed in front of me, he was like an angel in that moment. He turned to look at me, relief falling over his serious face.

"Damn it Zaria," He growled and with my help he was able to push the chuck of building off of my leg. "Can you walk?" I shook my head, tears still falling down my cheeks. He picked me up bridal style, I buried my face in his chest and sobbed. He said nothing, only jogged with me in his arms to the garage.

"Oh thank god!" That was Aerith as we entered the hanger.

"On the ship guys, if we wait any longer we ain't getting out of here!" Cid called.

The rest is a haze, we boarded the ship. I dozed in and out in Aerith's lap as she stroked my hair. The face of the girl haunted me as I relived her death, her heart floating to the void. I could hear her cries ringing in my ears as I fell into a restless slumber.