Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Snow White.

A/N: I wanted to post this chapter as commemoration to Snow White Sorrow FINALLY being released on Friday! WOOHOO! But I took that entire day and ended up finishing the book at almost 3 in the morning! Then I just got lazy. And I've had a monster headache all day but I figured I put off one of the most important chapters long enough.

Chapter 7 – The Seven… Dwarves?


-Aqua-

In the few days since leaving Oblivion, Terra and Aqua had really gotten to know each other. Terra told Aqua that while he had an unbreakable roof over his head and good meals every day, he didn't care for castle life.

It was boring. Rules were enforced almost everywhere, but Terra never followed them, and he therefore got yelled at. Then, he would glare at the servants telling him to clean up or straighten up and they would shut up. Anger was a powerful thing in that castle, Aqua noted. The only thing that had kept Terra sane in that prison was being able to learn to wield various weapons, including bows and arrows, knives, axes, and his best weapon was the sword.

After Aqua told him about her life, he admitted he liked her life better. Yes, Aqua didn't really know how to fight, other than a few moves with a knife that Terra taught her, and had a decent shot with a bow and arrow, having had to hunt sometimes when she and her grandmother needed meat. Aqua would always keep the animals' pelts and sell them in town while also selling some of the meat or trading for other needed materials.

But despite a life of making ends meet, Terra thought Aqua's life was far better. She wasn't trapped behind the walls of a fortress like he had been and if it hadn't been for the Queen, Aqua would still be in Oblivion. But despite that, Aqua was glad she had met Terra. He was so solemn and angry, but he opened up with her and Terra said he was glad to have met her. He'd said that she was the first truly good person, other than his friends Cloud and Tifa, that he'd ever met.

Getting around and setting up camp was easy with the two of them. Terra would pitch the tent and hunt while Aqua would build fires and gather any herbs or any berries and vegetables they could eat. They each tended to their own horses, feedings, grooming, and making sure their physical and mental health was in order.

Anyway, after a few days of riding and establishing their routines, at high noon, they'd ridden a good distance, but Aqua was pretty sure Terra had diverted from their intended path that Cloud had marked for them.

"Terra, where are we going?" she asked.

"Cloud marked a point on the map," Terra explained. "It's for a good spot to do some hunting. I'd like to get us some extra meat for the night."

Aqua nodded. "Okay. Sounds good. And while we do that, we can give Gaia and Cobalt a break. They've been working pretty hard."

Terra nodded as an answer. They had been pushing their horses hard over the last few days. And Gaia was nowhere near a good mountain climber. Terra had taken her everywhere with him on his journeys, but if they had ever crossed mountains, which was very rare, they took a mountain path, which they weren't taking. To keep the soldiers off their path though, Terra and Aqua decided to stay in the forests out of sight.

Ten minutes later, they had tethered their horses to a set of trees with some good grass for the horses to munch on, and also close to a pool of fresh water to drink. After taking a drink themselves, Terra and Aqua armed themselves, Aqua with a bow and quiver, Terra with a hunting knife, and set out on their hunt.

They bundled a total of four quail and one fat rabbit, a good catch. The quail would be for lunch and the rabbit for dinner that night.

But as they made their way back to their campsite, Aqua couldn't shake off the feeling they were being followed. Once or twice, she was almost certain she heard an extra set of footsteps, or even voices.

"Do you hear something?" she finally asked Terra, drawing an arrow and loading it into her bow.

"I'm not really sure," Terra said. "One second it's there, the next it isn't. But just the same," he set his knife to be ready at a second's notice, "keep your eyes and ears open.

Aqua nodded, but of course, despite being the granddaughter of a woman with outstanding perception, she wasn't prepared when something yanked her upside down by her ankle.

-Terra-

"Whoa!" Aqua said. Terra turned to see what was wrong, only to make a bad step and be swept off his feet and turned upside down, dropping his knife, and hanging by a rope attached to his ankle. He managed to turn enough that he saw Aqua in the same predicament, all her arrows had fallen from her quiver and her bow lay next to them.

"What the…?" he said.

"I have no idea," Aqua answered, shaking her head vigorously.

"Hey!" a voice yelled. It sounded like an annoyed boy.

"Why are people in our traps?" another said, again a male.

"Are you two okay?" asked a third, a girl's voice this time.

"Get out of my traps!" the first voice yelled.

Terra and Aqua's attention was directed towards where they had entered the patch of trees and saw four boys and three girls, one of whom was wearing a hood up.

One boy, who had the angriest possible look on his face, had spiky black hair and eerie golden eyes (eyes of darkness), and skin paler than a ghost's. He was dressed in mostly black, which was the color of his pants, vest, and boots, only his shirt was a different color, a maroonish red to be specific. A knife, crusty with what looked like dried blood, was in his right hand.

The tallest boy had pale skin and long ethereal silvery hair. His eyes were a light cyan color and he was looking between the black-haired boy and Terra and Aqua. While gazing at the captives, he seemed to be admiring the rope work that had tied them up. He wore a black shirt under a yellow vest with navy pants and dark brown boots.

Then there were the other two boys, who appeared to be twins. They had the exact same face, windswept golden hair, and sky blue eyes. In Terra's opinion, they actually looked like mini-Clouds. The only difference was their clothes. One of them wore a white vest with a black shirt, pants, and boots. The other boy was dressed almost exactly the same, but with a white shirt and half-black, half-white vest.

As for the girls, the two of them had the exact same face. The same, cute, cherub-like face with clear blue eyes. They were as pale as the black-haired angry boy, but each was dressed differently.

The brownish-red(1) haired girl was dressed in a white blouse with a light purple corset vest and dark blue pants and brown boots. A light purple and pink bag with a yellow star dangling from the strap was slung across her body.

The other girl had the palest blonde hair Terra had ever seen. She was dressed in a white shirt and pants, accompanied by her pale blue corset vest and the ankle boots her pants were tucked into. A white bag was slung across her body and embroidered with yellow stars on it.

The last person, another girl, who looked like a cross of the twins and black-haired boy. She had the same blue eyes as the twins, but the pale skin of the black-haired boy and his black hair as well. She had a black hooded coat on, with the hood pulled up on her head, but her cute little face and black bangs were poking out. She also had black pants and boots on.

The red-haired and blonde girls walked up to Terra and Aqua first, followed by the twin boys.

"Why are two people in my animal traps?" the black-haired boy demanded.

"Would you calm down, bro?" one of the blonde twins said, the one with the white vest. "It was an accident. Not like they meant to get caught.

"She's so pretty!" the red-haired girl said. Aqua blushed.

"I've never seen blue hair before," the blonde girl said, actually picking at a lock of Aqua's hair, which she'd cut that morning to keep it out of her face on their journey.

"Alright, who the heck are all of you?" Terra asked.

"Oops, sorry about that," the silver-haired boy said. "We're just some travelers looking for the rebels. Our town was attacked by the Queen's army about a week ago. We've been on the run looking for the rebels ever since."

"Not what he meant, pretty boy," the black-haired boy said. "He wanted our names."

The 'pretty boy' scowled in response. "Quit being a jerk, Vanitas."

'Vanitas' scoffed. "I'm the leader. I'm in charge, Riku."

"Shut up, the both of you," one of the blonde twins said, the one with the black vest.

The other blonde boy stepped forward. "We apologize for our older brother's childish behavior. I'm Ven, and my twin over there is Roxas." Then he pointed at his older brother, who wore the white vest. "And you've already been introduced to Vanitas and Riku."

The black haired girl approached shyly as she said, "I'm Xion. Ven, Roxas, and Vanitas are my older brothers."

"Nice to meet you," Aqua said. "And you two?" She directed her question at the other two girls.

"I'm Kairi," the red-haired girl said. Then, she pointed at the blonde girl. "Naminé here is my sister."

"Alright," Terra said. "Now that we're all acquainted… would you mind GETTING US DOWN FROM HERE?!" While he raised his voice a little, he wasn't completely shouting at the seven misfits, but Terra really wanted to get down as all the blood was really rushing to his head and creating a bad headache.

Vanitas simply snapped his fingers and pointed at the two still hanging by their ankles. Everyone just looked at him with an expression that said, "What? You have two hands, do it yourself."

It took Vanitas ten seconds to realize no one was going to move at the snap of his fingers. He sighed and said, "Alright, Roxas, Ven, get the bluebird down. Riku, help me with the ox."

Ox and Bluebird? Terra facepalmed at that.

"They have names, Vanitas," Kairi said. "Be polite."

This time his companions complied. Roxas tossed a knife up at Aqua's ropes and they immediately severed. His twin had already helped Aqua lift her abdomen into a horizontal position so only her legs hit the ground. Riku helped Terra do the same while Vanitas tossed another knife up at his ropes.

"Well, as Kairi mentioned, you two have names," Vanitas said, catching his knife with no effort at all. "Care to enlighten us."

"I'm Aqua Blue," the blue-haired maiden introduced. "Please call me Aqua. And this is—"

"Xemnas," Terra interrupted as his feet touched the ground.

Aqua turned to him with a confused look on her face, Terra simply shook his head in response. "Xemnas" was an alias he'd created years ago, an anagram of his father's name with the letter 'X' added. He had always wanted to change his name. In fact, he would've left and changed his name years ago probably, if only he'd thought to actually defy his mother before.

"Weird name," Vanitas commented. "OOF!" Xion had stepped on his foot.

"Shut up," she hissed.

I like her, Terra thought.

Terra and Aqua grabbed their meat and led the seven trappers to their horses to make lunch. After stopping by the seven's former campsite to get their belongings, Vanitas managed to hurl a knife into a nest of quail, killing one and Aqua shot down a few with Ven and Riku's assistance. Now there was meat for everyone at lunch time.

An hour later, there was plenty of hot, juicy meat going around and stories being exchanged.

Terra and Aqua told their story to the seven and they told their story as well. Their village had been attacked by a branch of the Queen's army about three weeks ago (Terra knew they were telling the truth, he'd seen this invasion force leave the castle). The destruction had been crazy and the group had gone looking for the rebels seeking shelter for the girls. The boys all planned to join in their army.

"We're actually headed that way ourselves," Aqua told them. "Why don't we all join up and go there together?"

Vanitas started to comment, "Why should we—ugh!" Riku had elbowed him in the gut.

"Shut up, Vanitas," he said.

"Count us in," Xion said.


(1)- In KH2, Kairi's hair looks reddish-brown to me. That's why I put that.

The chapter title is just a joke. They aren't actually dwarves, they're just replacing the dwarves.

Also, I was describing Xion kind of based off some of her hooded appearances in the 358/2 Days manga where her face is exposed.

I am so sorry this chapter took a while. I'm having a hard time with this. Trying to write, read, play games, and kill that ANNOYING writer's block of mine.

And I would like to credit TerraForceXIII, for giving me the 'rename Terra as Xemnas' plot. I thought it worked well enough and would like to thank him for it.

Please let me know what you think of this chapter. And the Seven "Dwarves" that we got here. HAHAHA!

One final thing, if anyone sees any grammar mistakes, please point them out to me. I looked at the earlier chapters and found some. Please let me know when you see them.