Ashley looked up at the bright, blue sky, the sun beating down on her lightly tanned skin. She was laying on the sand, her hands behind her head, blissfully daydreaming, she sat up and looked around, she was on her play island. She looked over to the dock to see Sora standing there, hands behind his head, his signature goofy grin plastered across it. She looked towards the waterfall to see Kairi kneeling by the pond, playing with the water and the fish inside it. She then looked over to the paopou tree, there leaned against its branch, was Riku. She stood up and walked over to Sora.
"Hey Sora" she called out as she neared her friend. Sora turned around, dropped his hands to his sides and smiled at her
"What are you so afraid of?" Sora's asked, his eyes filled with curiosity. Ashley was slightly taken a back by the question but when she realised that Sora was waiting for an answer, she thought carefully.
"I guess losing the people and things that are closest to me" she finally admitted after thinking of her answer. Sora smiled and then vanished. This shook Ashley "Sora?" She asked and looked towards the places where Kairi and Riku were, they were still in their positions where she had seen them. "What is this?" She asked herself "could it be another dream?" She shrugged off the idea and walked towards Kairi.
Ashley called out her name and Kairi did the same thing that Sora did but the question was different.
"What do you want out of life?" Kairi asked, her soft, blue eyes patiently waiting for the answer. Ashley again pondered her answer.
"To see new worlds and to become strong enough to protect my friends and family" she answered feeling proud of that promise she had made with Riku a couple of days ago. Kairi smiled again and vanished the same way that Sora did. Now Ashley was beginning to think that this was a dream. She saw Riku still leaned against the trunk of the paopou tree and walked over to him.
Again, she called out his name as she came to a stop in front of him, Riku looked up at her and asked
"What's most important to you?" Ashley didn't have long to think of her answer
"Why you, Sora and Kairi. You guys are my best friends and have become a part of my heart. You give me the power to be who I want to be" she admitted. Her eyes gazing into Riku's gently. But like Sora and Kairi, he faded into nothing, along with the rest of the world until Ashley was standing on the stained-glass platform that she had stood on a few nights prior
"Such intriguing answers" a familiar voice called out "You care about your friends so much that you are willing to do anything to protect them?" The voice asked her. Ashley stood her ground
"Yes! I will protect them like they'll protect me, no matter what happens, I will not be afraid to fight the shadows to protect them" she announced, her left hand clutching the heart pendant around her neck. In the darkness, she could hear a slight chuckle.
"Very good. I can see why she chose you after all" the voice said "you have proven yourself worthy. All that's left to do is walk through this door and the power you were bestowed when you were a kid will be unlocked. You only need to reach out and grasp it with both hands" the voice called out as a very ornate, white door appeared in front of her. Ashley took a tentative step forward before placing her hand on the door handle and pulling it towards her. The light emitting from the door as it opened was so bright that Ashley had to shield her eyes from it. But she took a step forward anyway through the door. Then everything went dark again.
The blonde girl gasped awake and sat up suddenly. Her eyes taking their time to adjust to the morning's light pouring through her bedroom window. She rubbed her eyes slowly and began to wake up, reflecting on the dream she just had. "Another dream of that place. Of my friends. But why ask me those questions?" She muttered to herself. Her eyes gazed around her room to see nothing had changed. Her heart necklace lay on her bedside table, in the little box it had come in, the blue and purple gem sparkling in the sunlight. Ashley couldn't help but smile at it. Riku had only given it to her a couple of days ago but it felt like she was always meant to have worn it. She jumped out of bed, grabbed her clothes and towel and went to the bathroom to get ready for the day. They had just finished the design of the raft and today the four of them were going to start building it.
She emerged from the bathroom twenty minutes later wearing her white t-shirt and yellow skater skirt, her hair parted the usual way with the black headband keeping her fringe out of her eyes. She reached her bedroom to grab her necklace and clasped it around her neck. She held it gently in her hand as she looked out of the window, seeing Sora and Riku walk up to her door. "A promise to protect the people closest to me" she whispered as she smiled, grabbed her new bag, her good luck charm dangling from one of the straps and headed downstairs to greet her friends. Kairi emerged from her room about 10 minutes later. Ashley grabbed a couple of apples from the fruit bowl in the kitchen and tossed them at her friends. She took a bite into the juicy, sweet fruit as they walked to the docks. Excited for the next few days where they would construct the raft. All thoughts about her dream were pushed aside as the four friends spent the day gathering the materials from around the play island and constructed the raft by the little obstacle course that had been built by someone a log time ago. Their other friends, Selphie, Tidus and Wakka never ventured to this area which made it the perfect hiding spot for their raft because if those three caught wind of what they were doing, they would probably tell the grown ups or beg to come along with them. The sun was beginning to set as the four friends finished the base of the raft and walked towards the other side of the island to their favourite spot. Ashley reaches the door connecting the two parts of the island when she stopped. A voice was telling her to go back to the raft.
"Something wrong Ash?" Sora asked looking back at the blonde girl. Ashley just smiled.
"I'm fine. I think I might've left my notebook over by the raft. I'll catch up with you" she lied quickly. Her friends smiled, believing the lie and walking through the door. Ashley sighed, turned and walked towards the raft. 'Why did I decide to come back?' She thought as the memories of her dream started to drift into her mind yet again 'could this have to do with the dreams I've been having?' She asked herself yet again until she reached the raft. 'The power within me? I just need to reach out and grasp it with my hand?' She kept asking these questions but was unsure what it meant. She closed her eyes, her left hand grasped the pendant around her neck gently as she began to hold out her right hand "A promise to protect the ones closest to me" she whispered as she felt a weird sensation course through her body and her hand clasped around something that appeared out of thin air. She opened her eyes to see that she was holding a giant key. The blade was awash with colours of pink and purple in a tie-dye style. The teeth of the key looked like a crown with hearts accenting the points of the crown. The hilt was a light red colour and formed a heart around the guard. The keychain dangling from the guard had a purple heart at the end of it. A calm voice whispered to Ashley 'Love's promise.' Ashley held the weapon out, looking at the entirety of her new weapon, she did a few wrist movements to get a feel of the blades balance. She even got into her own fighting stance, facing sideways, her right arm which held her sword up in front of her and her left hand held back by her chest. She then dismissed it and summoned it a few times, just like the girl did 9 years ago when she handed the power to Ashley. After a few minutes of excitedly waving it around, dismissing it and summoning her blade. She let it disappear and ran towards her friends. She stopped at the door, remembering the promise she made to that girl 'You can't tell anyone about this. Otherwise the magic won't work' Ashley held the pendant. "Don't worry. I won't tell anyone about this" she whispered and went to join her friends.