Hallo! (German)

Chapter 6: Old Friend

(OMG a chapter name with more than one word!)

It wasn't until Riku and Xion actually began cleaning that he saw how harsh the punishment was. Cleaning the castle was needless to say, exhausting. Cleaning one hallway took atleast an hour to do. After dusting of statues, wiping off fountains and vacuuming rugs, he was beat.

"Wow," Riku said, collapsing on a bench in one of the castle courtyards. He had just finished polishing a moogle fountain. "I..." he gasped for breath, "didn't know...this would be...so tiring."

"Don't worry," Xion smiled at him. "I'm sure we'll be finished by the end of the..." her smiled dropped when she realized how much left they had to do, "...year."

They both groaned but perked up at the sound of a familiar female voice.

"Paopu juice anyone?"

Stella stood about ten feet from them holding a silver tray in her hands. On the tray were two tall glasses filled with the yellow beverage.

"Thanks," the two teens said before finishing the drink in seconds. When Stella put the tray to her side Riku notice a rather large diamond ring on her left hand.

"You're engaged?"

"Oh! Yes, yes I am" Stella assured Riku. As she blushed at the thought of her fiancee', a tap on her shoulder from the said man brought her back to reality. "Hey what's going on here?"

"Hey Noct, what's up?" Xion waved. "Stella introduce him!"

"Oh um, sorry. Riku this Noctis Lucis Caelum, My fiancee'. You two have actually never met. "

"So, this is the famous Riku. Everyone's in town has been talking about you." Noctis then put an arm around Stella, which made her face even more red. "Your friends especially. They want to throw a party once they see you."

"Actually Noctis, thats not a good idea," Xion interrupted. "You remember what happened last ti-"

"Forget it." Noctis immediately rejected the idea of a party when he remembered his house almost going on fire because of a certain pyromaniac. He smiled at Stella and kissed her on the cheek, which turned her face into an even deeper crimson. She playfully shoved him off. "By the way Riku, some of your friends are here if you want to meet them."

He flinched, surprised. "Um sure, I'd like that."

"Riku don't worry." Xion put her hand on his shoulder. "I know this is kind of overwhelming but they're great people. I promise."

It seemed like Xion's smile was the only thing in this place that got him to really calm down so far. He melted on the inside when she smiled. Wait...Come on Riku! Snap out of it!

Riku snapped back to reality when he heard Noctis' voice.

"But right now, you guys have more cleaning to do." Riku and Xion groaned again.

"Well we'll see you two later" Stella waved as she and Noctis prepared to leave.

"Where are you guys off to?" Riku smirked.

"To be alone" Noctis answered as the two walked off, holding hands. Riku just stared at them in disbelief. Even though they were only in the courtyard a few minutes, he could tell the engaged couple were really close. He had never met two people so in love with one another.

"Riku, are you okay?" Xion asked, noticing his puzzled expression. He shook his head to collect himself.

"Yeah I'm fine."

"Good," she smiled at him for the millionth time, "because I need you to go clean the Keyblade room." She shoved a bucket, mop, broom and sponge in his hands. "I'm gonna go clean the chapel. To get to the Keyblade room go through that gate-" she pointed to the silver gate at the front of the courtyard "-and turn left. The room should be on the fifth door to your left. Got it?"

"Um yeah, thanks Xion I'll see you later."

"See ya." The two then went their seperate ways.

XXX

Riku opened the door to the Keyblade room and got another surprise.

When Xion said 'Keyblade room', he thought it would just be room with a few keyblades. But his jaw was about to hit the floor with what he saw.

Hundreds of keyblades hung on the lavender walls surrounding him. They were each turned horizontally and had their names underneath them. Some of them were on stands sitting on shelves. In the center of the room was Terra, hugging what appeared to be a girl with blue hair.

Riku blushed. "Um...am I interrupting something?"

Aqua released Terra and gasped. Her already teary eyes filled with happiness. "OH MY GOSH! RIKU!"

Aqua ran up and hugged the silver hair teen, who began losing oxygen from how tightly she was hugging him. Terra noticed this and told Aqua to stop. She only squeezed Riku harder.

"Help me," Riku said in barely a wisper. His face began to turn blue.

"Aqua let him go! He can't breathe!"

She finally released him and wiped the tears off her face. "I'm sorry, it's just...oh my gosh I can't believe it's really you! Stella was right! You do look like your old self!"

"Uh...who are you?"

Aqua composed herself by taking deep breaths. Once she finally calmed down she wiped the remaining tears off her face. "That's right your amnesia. I guess I have to re-introduce myself. My name is Aqua. I used to be like a big sister to you."

"Uh nice to...meet you again Aqua."

She looked back at Terra with a worried look on her face. "Terra, is there any way Master Yensid can restore his memory? What about Namine'?"

"Not until we find out how he lost it" he replied, then gave Riku a smirk. "Let me guess, you need to clean the room."

"Uh yeah."

"I'll cut you some slack since your still kinda new here. You can just go ahead to the library. Besides-" He walked over to them and put his arm around Aqua, "-we kind of want some alone time."

Riku laughed. That's what he expected. "Okay, but before I go would you mind telling me why there are so many keyblades here?"

Terra and Aqua's smiles immediately disappeared from their faces, and tears began to form in Aqua's eyes again. She pulled Terra's arm off of her and walked over to a floral keyblade on the back wall. She picked it up and raised it above her head triumphantly. She sadly smiled at the keyblade, which her mother called Pixie Petal.

"These keyblades are those of the masters who fell during the invasion. Xehanort sent them here." She walked over to Riku and held out the keyblade to him. He dropped the cleaning materials and took the precious item in his hands. He couldn't believe how dead the weapon felt; it was light, hollow and powerless, unlike his keyblade which surged with magic.

"This was my mother's" Aqua hugged herself as a painful memory surged through her mind.

(Flashback)

Radiant Garden: Town Square

8 years ago

Ten year old Aqua was picking flowers in the Town Square. She felt it was a well deserved reward for herself after cleaning so much all day. She looked at the surroundings of her new home and smiled. Her new home, Radiant Garden, couldn't have looked more beautiful. The castle, the fountains, the greenery and her favorite part: the flowers.

Picking flowers was Aqua's favorite activity, next to playing with Terra of course. Before Twilight Town was destroyed, she and her mother Iris picked flowers every day. Next to being a keyblade master, Iris was also a florist and botanist. She had gotten Aqua interested in studying all kinds of flora, so the young girl grew up wanting to be like her beloved mother.

There were dozens of types of flowers in the Central Square; roses, lilies, daphadils, cornflower , poppies, chrysanthemums, honeysuckle, you name it. It was Aqua's favorite area in the whole world. She had already picked six daisies, and was going for her seventh when she felt a strong wind that pushed her to the ground.

Other people in the area were also pushed around by the strong winds. It baffled everyone, since there were never any major changes in weather in their world.

"What in the world?"

"The hell is going on?"

"HELP!"

Out of nowhere, about thirty above Aqua, a dark portal began to form in midair. The young girl's eyes widened, fearing the worst. She then felt a strong pair of arms pick her up and carry her from the square. Once Aqua and her father, Amarylis, got far enough from the portal, they looked back at it in fear of what would come from it.

In a microsecond, hundreds of keyblades flew out ot the dark corridor and surged through the air. They moved at lightning speed, breaking windows of people's house and slaming into walls. Citizens scrambled to safety by running into their houses to avoid being hit. After about five minutes of keyblades flying everywhere, they stopped in midair and fell to the ground.

People peeped out of their houses to see the weapons lying all over the ground. Amarylis and Aqua walked out from their hiding place to see the mess throughout the square. While Amarylis examined the broken windows and chipped roof tiles, Aqua walked over to a familiar item lying on one of the flower beds. As she got closer to the item her eyes began to water. Her mother's Pixie Petal keyblade reminded her of the desceased Iris and how much she missed her.

Aqua picked up Pixie Petal by handle and began to cry. She was soon joined by others who picked up their own dead loved one's keyblades. Amarylis saw his daughter in pain and looked to the sky furious. Just when the people were starting to become happy again Xehanort had to slap them in the face with...'this'.

Aqua hugged the keyblade tightly as if she were hugging her mother. She looked down at flower bed which Pixie Petal landed on. The daisies were all destroyed. Along with what was left of her childhood innocence.

(End of Flashback)

"Today was her birthday."

Riku stared at Aqua as she ran out of the room crying.

"Aqua wait!" Terra reached out his hand to stop his girlfriend from leaving, but she was too quick. He sighed and looked at Riku, who was dumbfounded by what just happened.

"I'm sorry. She's always emotional on this day. It was kind of a bad time for you to meet her." He rubbed his forehead with concern. "Um, like I said just go ahead to the library. Just go back to the lift stop, stop on the second floor and enter the Entrance Hall. The library will be on the door to your right."

"Thanks," Riku said as he gave Terra the Pixie Petal. "Tell Aqua it was nice to meet her. I actually did get a big sister vibe off of her."

The prince smirked as he began to walk out of the room. "That's good to hear. Who knows maybe by the time you meet all your friends you might get some of your memory back." By the time he was done with the sentence he had left the room.

After about another minute of examining the hundreds of keyblades, Riku gathered the cleaning supplies and headed off to the library.