---Chapter Seven: Both Sides of the Story----

What if they don't like me? Insecurity began to bubble, though she knew there was no just cause for it. Their voices had been kind, and she sensed no obscene amounts of darkness within the building; just the usual tidbits that plagued everything. Shuffling noises could be heard, and with much more vigor than was required, someone from inside swung open the door. Berri blinked hard against the swarm of light particles that surged out of the now open doorway. The girl smiled nervously, raising one hand in hello while her eyes adjusted their focus.

"So there is somebody home. I am sorry if I interrupted anything, but, this was the only place that seemed to have people in it," she smiled, eyes flickering to the people inside.

"Hey, no problem. Come in," the boy that had opened the door, now that she could see him, was waving her into the room.

Berri stepped casually inside, and turned to close the door, but found the brown-haired stranger had already beaten her to it. There were seven bodies or so scattered about the small space, each one at their own personalized area, and busily working on something. Or, at least, they had been until she had arrived. Now the many pairs of eyes were focused on her expectantly.

"Thanks, uhm," her attention turned to the boy, whose brown hair had been spiked up at odd angles. Riku's hints led her to believe that this rather..spunky character must have been Sora, "my name is Analise, by the way."

"I'm Sora, and this is Donald, and Goofy," he pointed to each person respectively, a bright twinkle in his sky-blue eyes, "And that over there's Cid, then Leon, Aerith, and Yuffie."

She noted Sora's appearance was rather extravagant compared to her own clothing; it was a black outfit primarily, but with reds blues and yellows scattered about all over. Still, as Riku had promised, he seemed very charming. The goofy grin he had assumed did remind her somewhat of her own, and explained part of her silver-haired friend's confusion. Donald, much to her surprise, seemed to be a giant duck. Rather than acting rudely she gave him a particularly kind smile, wondering if it was due to some fairytale curse, or if giant ducks were the norm in some other worlds. Goofy she fell in love with immediately. Of course, she had no idea what he was, but the adorable creature was just radiating sweetness.

When Goofy was introduced, he chuckled with an odd, hiccuping sort of sound, and waved right to her, "Hullo Analise."

"Hi, Goofy, it's nice to meet you."

Cid seemed rather gruff, and at first she thought he had been gnawing on a cigarette. A brief sigh of relief escaped her when he removed it to bark a rough, "howdy," and she saw that it was, in fact, a toothpick.

Leon seemed less inclined to speek, but did dip his head in a nodded hello.

Despite the many personalities that had already made themselves apparent, nothing had quite prepared her for Aerith and Yuffie. The two girls were practically opposites in their greetings, as Aerith had produced a sweet, melodic voice, and Yuffie a loud and overzealous hello, but the light they gave off was eerily similar. It occured to me that the two of them were more intuitive than they appeared, though it was obvious Aerith was more of an observer than Yuffie.

"Wow," Berri grinned, letting one end of her staff tap against the ground, "you all seem..very nice. But, I hope you don't mind me asking," she paused, stepping forward into the room a bit, "Why are all the other buildings so empty?"

Leon, assuming what I took to be the leader's position stepped away from the wall he had been leaning against, and unfolded his arms. He strode forward, belts tinking against each other's metal fastenings. Her attention drove straight to the scar on his face, but he did not seem to notice when he answered, "This world was ransacked by the heartless. Everyone is either missing, or they've left for somewhere safer. We're working to restore the city, and to see if we can't get them to return."

"Oh, really?" the others nodded in agreement, and the girl sighed dreamily, "Well, you must be doing a pretty good job of it, then. I didn't see a single heartless or nobody passing through here."

"You know about the nobodies?" Sora piped in, crystallic eyes widening with shock. It was obvious he thought it rare information, but even his prying gaze was not offensive to her. He seemed genuinely surprised, not suspicious.

"Oh, yeah. I kind of..eavesdropped on somebody," she sheepishly laughed, ruffling the back of her own spiky hair, "they were pretty tall, dressed in all black, with big hoods?" Her free hand moved to make motions of a general height, and the size of the hood, hoping that they would recognize her description as Organization Thirteen. If not, Riku would certainly be concerned.

Sora turned to Goofy, and then Donald, the three of them nodding in unison, "It must have been members of the Organization. What else did they say, Analise?"

She feigned deep thought, chewing on her lip to add a curious effect. It had never been a strongpoint of hers to lie, but acting was a particular talent. Her eyes opened, brighter, when she proceeded with her fake eye-witness account, "They mentioned something about a person named "Roxas," and someone with a strong heart that had a special weapon. I'm pretty sure they called it a keyblade. Quite frankly they didn't seem too happy."

Cid huffed, crunching down on his toothpick again while attempting to resettle the goggles he wore across his forehead, "It wouldn't surprise me if those ruffians weren't too happy. Our boy Sora here's been givin them lot's a' trouble."

Sora grinned shyly, folding his arms securely behind his head, "Just doin' my duty," he announced before lowering his arms again, and leaning closer to inspect Berri's green eyes, "Say, how did you get here anyway?"

"Wha?" She scrunched her nose, brows pulling together, and then shifted her expression into a dismayed frown, "There was a bit of trouble at my hometown. When I woke up everything had gone up in flames. I followed those guys, the ones you said were part of an Organization, but I guess I must have fainted. I found myself down by that stone wall not too long ago."

Leon interrupted the interogation to chide her for wreckless behavior, but beneath the cool and stoic tone, she detected a hint of concern, and general kindness in aiding a stranger, "You need to understand that this organization, Organization Thirteen, is a group of dangerous nobodies. They have powers that normal human beings cannot posess; magic that even some of us can't use. Be warned; they are like the heartless in the sense that they do not have hearts, but more dangerous because they can make you believe they still do. Don't drop your guard around them."

"I won't, I promise. And thank you very much for the warning," the man nodded, resuming his post leaning against the wall, and Berri turned a more passionate gaze on Sora, Donald and Goofy. It was her turn for an important question; "Hey..you haven't seen anyone by the name of Krysta, have you? Or Zee, or Danielle? or even Skylar?"

Donald frowned, or at least, she thought he was frowning, and for the first time decided to speak, "No, sorry." The voice caught her off guard, but she found that it was a genuine response.

Goofy shook his head, confirming the same, and Sora gave her a weak smile before adding, "No, we haven't. I'm real sorry."

Berri sighed, the equivelant of a defeated pout settling onto her face. "It's okay; thanks you guys. I'm sure they're around."

Sora grinned, giving her a generous pat on the shoulder, "That's the spirit. Speaking of missing people, have you seen a boy named Riku? He's kinda tall, with silver hair, and eyes almost the same color as yours," Sora gestured the height as she had before, and then leaned forward expectantly, "with a bit of an attitude problem, too."

She could not keep herself from laughing, and while guilt threatened to grab hold of her, her heart crooned that all would be well. The occupants of the little house spun swifly away from the computer screen Cid had been working away on in order to hear her response. For the briefest of seconds, she thought Sora was on the verge of tears, and so could not help saying, "I think I have met someone that fits that description, actually. He may have been the one that saved my neck back home, but I don't recall any bad attitude, just a little sarcasm."

"Really?!" Sora practically gasped, unable to control himself. He stepped closer, hands flying in wild gestures while he posed impossible to answer questions, "Where did you see him? Is he okay? Did he look hurt? Was the King with him?" the last question hovered on the edge of his tongue, threatening to die before it was asked, but the over exagerrated boy finally managed to spit it out, "Was he looking for me?"

"Well, " the girl hesitated, but found she could not avoid easing his concerns, "In order, I saw him back where I live out in the woods just before you reach the hill at the back of my house, I am not sure what you mean by okay, but he did not seem too upset. I can't say he was hurt, but after he helped me out he did seem rather tired; I pointed him in the direction of an inn, but I have to say he came across as a little stubborn, so I don't think he took the advice. I never saw any king, but he did mention a similarity between my hair, and one of his friend's hairdos, so judging by this, " Berri smiled reassuringly, tugging on one tuft of Sora's spikes, "I can only assume he was talking about you."

Her words heartened him, and the smile in his eyes afterward was the stuff of legends. They all sat around, Berri in particular having to pay close attention to her name. It had ocurred to her before entering the house that using her full first name as opposed to a nickname would provide privacy in the future should she and Riku require it. As the evening wore on, a certain chill began to seep through the walls and beneath the door, but she had barely felt it. Her mind and body were too engrossed in the conversations circling around the room. She discovered that while Sora had once heard the name "Roxas" when an organization member attempted to address him, he was unaware of who the person actually was. The girl was surprised to find that he had assumed it was a form of mental intimidation, and still believed so even after her account of hearing the name again. At times during their inquiries, she thought him a bit too naive, a bit too unsuspecting, and then realized with a grin that she was the exact same way. Sora even took her out under the stars on one occasion to test her skills with the staff. Despite all of her embarrassment at knowing that somewhere, lurking beyond the shadows, Riku was watching her epic failure at weaponry, she could not conceal her awe at discovering that Sora was the keyblade weilder. Over the course of an hour and a half she managed to alter her gymnastics training into a form of unconventional, but very effective self-defense. The Keyblade Weilder nodded his approval, chuckled, and dragged her back inside.

"You learn fast!"

"Ha, thanks, Sora."

"So, are you really travelling all by yourself?" he pursed his lips, quite an amusing sight to her, but said nothing more while waiting for a reply.

"Yes, I guess I am. I really don't mind, though, it won't keep me from visiting people. I came to talk to you guys, right?"

"Yeah, I guess you did," the boy plopped down in a little wooden chair, ignoring the ricketing sounds, "I know it's hard setting off without knowing where all your friends are..Riku and I went through a lot of trouble to find our friend Kairi, but when we finally did, I lost both of them all over again.."

Donald and Goofy frowned, hovering closer to their friend. The duck gave the boy a pat on the shoulder, "Aw, don't worry, Sora."

"Yeah," chimed Goofy, "Kairi's back home, remember? And, uh, we saw Riku go with the King, right? They must be okay!"

She smiled at the two before turning back to Sora, "I'm sure they're right. Based on what you've told me so far there isn't a person alive that can take you three down."

"Yeah, you guys are right," Sora grinned, a lop-sided smile, "I bet Kairi's waitin' for both of us, and you know what? I can't wait to show Riku how strong I've gotten; I bet I'll finally be able to beat him in spar!

Berri laughed heartily, probably more loudly than was needed. God, Riku..I hope you're hearing this.