Chapter Three: Power

Before Ventus met Naminé in Castle Oblivion, he wondered if his heart shattering might cause him problems. At first, he brushed it off, figuring that if he could move around without a lot of trouble it couldn't be too bad, right? But when he started patrolling the area for heartless he could feel it, all the commands he once had at his disposal had deteriorated. Sure he had some of the basics, but a lot of his better moves had been forgotten. Well, sometimes the best way to learn again was to jump right in. And so...
"Wind!" A small tornado began to toss around the group of Darkballs, while the pair of armored heartless stood their ground, tanking the damage with their shields. He tossed his keyblade out at the floating heartless, hitting most of them, but two of them managed to teleport right behind them. He dived away from their biting jaws, only to come face to face with the Defenders, the faces on their shields gathering frost at the mouths. As the pair of heartless tried to smother him with frost, he rolled and took the chance to attack one of them from the side.

And then he felt his power reach a Fever Pitch inside. He began slashing away, his quick attacks now becoming a blur, and within a few moments the Defender fell. As its partner charged at Ventus, he rolled away, and after a few more strikes, brought his keyblade to the ground, creating a small blast of light where it struck. The light burned away the armored heartless. Leaving only the two floating Darkballs. Focusing, he took aim, and unleashed a salvo of flame, which homed in and destroyed the two remaining heartless.

"Well, that takes care of that. Better head back" As he was walking to the hotel, he mentally he went over the battle. Eraqus taught him that one would grow as they fought, gaining insight into their own power and abilities through that of their enemies. Though he was starting from scratch, it was a bit easier, probably since he had trained in this before. Even with his heart broken, the memories of that power were still etched inside. In any case, he could think it over some more when he had some quiet time with Naminé.

Granted, he had checked up on Namine quite a bit during his patrols. Mostly to make sure a Heartless hadn't snuck in. Fortunately, they were lucky enough not to notice her for now. Or at the very least, he was providing a decent enough distraction. In any case, just as before when he made it back to the hotel room, he looked to see if she was alright. And again, she was sitting on the bed, drawing. "Ah, you're back. You don't need to keep checking up on me you know."

"Nah, it's okay. Besides, I need to take a break from this anyway." He made sure to leave his keyblade in the corner, making it less easy for the heartless to find them. He began to look at her sketchpad. "Hey, is that where we first got here?"

She nodded. "I wanted to have a way to remember some of the things I've seen."

He grinned. "I bet it'd look great with some color."

"I'd like to, but I'm not sure there's any place around here that sells crayons, or colored pencils."

"Yeah…" Most of the Town was concerned with trying to take shelter from the Heartless. Hard to get art supplies when the main focus is to survive. "Anyway, I ought to get a little more practice in before we leave this world."

She looked up from the notepad. "We're leaving? Where?"

He began rubbing his head in thought "Well...um...not quite sure about that actually. I'm not sure where they've gone."

"They?"

"My friends. Terra and Aqua. We all trained together to become keyblade masters."

Naminé's eyes went wide "There are a lot more keyblade wielders than I thought there were."

"Well, keyblades and stuff like other worlds are supposed to be secret. People aren't supposed to really know about us…" Then he noticed Naminé starting to fidget. "I mean...it's not a huge problem if you know already! Just...don't go telling everyone."

She relaxed and nodded. "Of course. So, what happened to you three to get separated?"

"We were fighting to stop a man called Xehanort from trying to make this χ-Blade, and start a war with it." Naminé tilted her head in confusion. "Right, the pronunciation is kinda weird, it's not Key like a door key but this ancient letter, sounds like Chi, Kye?"

Immediately her face lit up in recognition, "Oh, I think I remember that letter. It symbolizes endings. Then what happened to you in the fight, how did you end up in Castle Oblivion?"

"I...got hurt real bad, Aqua must have left me in the castle to recover. I know she went out to find Terra, and then she'd come to get me." He frowned, "But that means something happened to him, that and I'm not sure how long it's been since Aqua left." Not to mention, he had no idea what happened to Master Eraqus.

"So you want to try and find them?" She looked away, "It might be easier if you left me. Again, you've already done a lot."

Ventus' response was immediate. "No way. I told you before, I'm not leaving a friend when they need help."

Despite his reassurances, Naminé still frowned, "I just...wish I could do more to help you."

And then he was reminded of all the times Terra and Aqua went off, and he wanted to do something to make their training easier.

So he began to think, and then he realized "You mentioned having a power right?" Naminé nodded. "Well, maybe there's a way we can use that power to help?"

"My power..?" How could her power help? How could she even begin to explain her powers to him? Would Ventus even trust her if she told him about her powers? Even if her view into his memories was too hazy for her to really affect, he might not believe it. He might grow afraid of her, believing that his friendship was manufactured by the witch of memories. 'Even if they trusted you at first, the truth of what you are would only drive them away', Marluxia's endless lectures still lingered in her mind.

But, he called her a friend without hesitation, right? Was willing to trust her, help her. Let her keep her secrets. Perhaps, it was alright to take a chance. So she took a deep breath, and began to explain.

"I have power over Sora's memories, as well as those of people connected to him. I can see them...and if I want, I can change them."

Now it was Ventus' turn to go wide eyed. "Changing memories?"

She shook her head. "It's not simple. Each memory is tied to another, like links in a chain. If I tried to change something too fast or make a change too impossible, it'd just come undone. But with enough time and effort, I can make someone's memories unrecognizable."

A pause, and then the inevitable question. "Hey...can you see into my memories?"

"No...not a lot of them. The most I get is...vague impressions, and as far back as when you woke up."

Silence filled the air.

"I'm not sure I believe it."

The gnawing sensation began eating away inside her. He distrusted her. This was it, this was how she'd lose her first…

"I mean, you probably could read memories fine, but changing them? That's a little far fetched"

…

She was tempted to let him go on believing that. It'd make things easier.

But her first friend ought to know the truth.

"If...I changed your memory, just for a moment...would you believe me?"

Ventus shrugged. "Sure, I guess, just don't change something too important. Okay?"

She nodded, "Very well. Ventus, you remember when you woke up, right?"

"Sure! I was in the middle of this round room, in a throne. I was calling out for Sora, and you were right there, calming me down. After that I…"

...

"Wait...but...didn't I meet you in that…"

And in a blink, the contradiction reverted his memory back into the truth. "No way...For a moment...It was as real as..."

"As if it actually happened." She finished. And again, Naminé waited.

And then Ventus chuckled, "Well I guess it's good that we're getting you away from the Organization, right?"

She released the breath she was holding, "So...you trust me?"

"Of course! You didn't want to use those powers on Sora, right? You wanted to leave. So I'm pretty sure you're trying to do the right thing with them!"

"Yes...yes, you're right." It was such a simple reason. But she felt it lift the weight bearing down on her since she learned of Marluxia's plan.

"Anything else you can do?" Ventus continued.

"Well…" If she was being this frank, she might as well describe everything. "If I reach in, I can create a card based on a memory. I tried it once, copying some of the details of a world Sora visited into a card. With it, I could change a part of Castle Oblivion into that world."

"That's pretty neat." Ventus rubbed his chin in thought. "But I'm not sure how much that would help, it might cause problems if we change part of a world."
"The other thing they were discussing were turning abilities of his into cards. They wanted to rebuild him as a fighter into something more their liking, so they wanted me to make him forget everything he learned, putting that power into cards, and then leaving him to rebuild that power in a way they could control."

"Forgetting abilities…Wait!" Ventus snapped his fingers. "Naminé, what if I forget one of my skills!"

Naminé stared at the boy for a moment. "I'm...not sure that's a good idea."

"No! Let me explain! The way I was taught to use a keyblade, was to take inspiration from the enemies I fight, and incorporate their moves into my fighting style. I have a memory of a lot of techniques. But I don't use all of them at one time!"

"So you can forget them without any problems, then I could change them into something I could use?" It was a crazy idea, but if it gave her the chance to help him, "I'll try it.".

"Alright, let me see...this one?" And then she saw it, a chain from his memories that had detached itself and began to vanish. She reached out, and in a flash of light was holding a card with an image of Ventus' keyblade. "Hey! I think it worked!"

Naminé smiled, then turned it over in her hand. "So...how do I use it?"

Just then, the whirling of coalescing darkness brought forth Heartless, having finally detected the Keyblade wielder. Namine took the card and held it forward, hoping whatever power lie within would shield her. In a flash a shimmering figure sprung forth from the card, Wayward Wind in hand, and struck the Wizard leading the Soldiers. As the mirage attacked the magical heartless, Ventus recalled his own blade, and made quick work of the handful of soldiers. As the boy finished off the rest of the entourage, the figment Naminé summoned vanished, leaving the wizard free to attack. And also free to be attacked by Ventus, as a few more strikes had the Heartless expire, releasing its heart.

Again, she saw it, a free memory, though she realized this was not a techniqued discarded, it was one yet to be learned. She grasped it before it made contact, and was left with a card showing the image of ice. "This must be...magic?" Holding it out before her, a blast of ice shot forward, covering a spot on the wall with cold.

Ventus grinned. "That's pretty good! I bet we can find more cards out in town as we fight heartless. Want to come with?" He gestured to the door leading outside towards the alleyway.

Naminé looked at the cards in her hand. At the power she could wield. While the attack a moment ago was shocking, having a chance to participate in the fight and help win...

Was this...excitement?

Whatever that emotion or sensation was, she wanted more. So…

"Alright, I'll go with you."