Familiar.

Familiar but not pleasant.

Displaced. Cold. Hot. Numb.

Dizzy. Endless circles. Rough lurches.

Going through time had parallels to a Dive from the real world to the Dream world.

Rachel desperately tried to grasp for whatever she could in a futile attempt to slow or halt her descent through time. Futile, yes, she knew that. But logic is panics' prey and there was plenty of panic.

Though just as soon as the awful experience began it came to a sudden halt. And not a sudden comfortable halt either. More like a whump! actually. The ground must have felt particularly friendly and rushed up to say hello with unnecessary gusto.

Rachel wheezed and heaved for what felt like hours. The drop left no time for reacting and getting the wind knocked out of you is an experience no one looks back on fondly. After remaining fetal until she felt better (only for about four minutes) Rachel propped herself up and looked around.

Rocks. Flat land. Distant trees. Boulders. A nearby rise of stone. Nothing at all that gave away where or *gulp* when she was. For all she knew this was the site of her home in Radiant Garden long before the city was ever built. Instinctively she wanted to call out the names of her friends. Her surviving logic won-out declaring it was a fruitless endeavor. She'd been displaced in Time. No one would hear her. For all she knew the great grandparents of her friends wouldn't have even been able to hear her. Wait, she looked around. Displaced in Time and apparently location. Sure, very little was truly impossible but it did seem unlikely the tropical island she'd come from would look like this even a thousand years ago.

"Okay…okay. Don't panic. Stay calm. This isn't permanent. She said as much. Think it through. Think it through. Ayomi was too tightly wound to have lied. But you have no idea how long you'll be here, wherever here is. The longer you're here the more chance you risk causing a ripple effect. Even if this isn't your timeline you might just mess up someone elses. Whoo-boy. I do not like this. Do nothing. Touch nothing. Talk to no one. Boulder. That's a nice boulder. I will just sit here. Sit right here and wait. No life-altering events came about by sitting."

"What in the world are you talking about?"

A deep voice from behind nearly made Rachel leap out of her skin. Without moving from her Indian-style pose on the rock she'd claimed she turned in the direction of the voice.

A dark-dressed male figure stood only about twenty feet away. A black helmet made features impossible to determine but it was clear he was looking right at her. However the second she got an eyeful Rachel sat up straight and looked to the sky, taking special care not to turn again.

"Sorry. I'm not supposed to talk to people. If this is your rock I'm sorry but I'll be using it for a while."

That outfit looked familiar somehow.

"How did you do that? You just appeared over there unaided by any form of vessel."

"All I can say is, I don't know and it wasn't my idea." He saw the whole thing and didn't offer to help as I was curled up wheezing like an asthmatic seal? Rude much?

"Whatever."

Rachel heard him take a few steps away. Didn't seem the friendliest but that was the least of her worries.

A new sound made her look down. A small, twitchy, dark blue thing had appeared near the base of her rock. At first she tensed, thinking it was a Heartless. Only the thing was literally wearing the answer all over its face. She didn't recognize the symbol on its body but it wasn't a Heartless, Nobody or Dream Eater. Its red eyes didn't blink. Inch by twitchy inch it got closer. Though it was hard to tell if it was in fact looking at her because it seemed incapable of keeping its head in the same direction for more than a few seconds. Its increasing proximity made her uncomfortable.

Rachel slowly stood up when the thing started to climb the rock. Out of the corner of her eye she could see the young man hadn't gone far and was watching. Just as her foot inched backward in preparation to punt the thing to the sun she considered something that would be worth asking.

"You know what this is?"

"Yes."

"Is it friendly?"

"No."

"Narrows it down. Thanks. Ignore what I'm about to do.

Rachel called her Keyblade to her hand. She didn't want to show too much in an unknown time but she also wanted this thing to go away. Holding the handle in both hands she raised the blade high over her right shoulder.

"How-?"

"FORE!" She swung Tiger Woods style and the little blue thing got an impromptu flying lesson. "And stay away! Whoa!"

With unexpected speed the figure had moved from his place to nearly occupying hers. Most alarming of all was the Keyblade he held out offensively at her.

"Who are you and how do you have a Keyblade? Tell me!" He demanded.

"Easy! All I can tell you is I'm in a very precarious situ-."

"Yes, you are. The number of keybearers is not high. I would know of you and I don't. It would be in your best interest to tell me how you got a Keyblade."

Dang that outfit looked really familiar somehow!

"I can't tell you! I'm sorry but bad things might happen if I say or do too much here."

"Bad things are going to happen if you don't answer me."

"Okay, first off, that's rude. Second, you don't know my circumstances. I don't know why another key bearer surprises you but-."

Rachel froze. Something didn't feel right. She didn't feel right. Uncomfortable but, again, not unfamiliar. Time was opening again. Was she being sent back? Hopefully. But would the minutes be the same in her present? Well, technically future but also-GYAH! Confusing and frustrating! The Time feeling was getting worse. A hazy copper and white glow began emanating from her.

"What are you doing?" The boy asked rudely.

"It's not me!"

He didn't have time to reply before well, time hurled her back to her own, grrrr! Time! Dang that was as uncomfortable as before. Well, whomever that guy was he probably would forever count that as a very odd day.

The strange swirling mass of colors and shapes around her began to funnel. The furthest point, though rapidly approaching, became clearer and clearer as a patch of sand, ground brush and trees. Then,

WHUMP!

Everything came to a stop much faster than Rachel anticipated. Thankfully the ground was soft.

"Rachel, MOVE!"

Riku's shout startled her but she'd gotten winded just enough again her brain was having trouble concentrating.

"Move!"

This time it was Riku and Maui yelling. Rachel tried to stand up quickly. The danger was even faster.

A cackling giggle. Rachel turned around. As she did she realized immediately it was too late. Ayomi had already cast her spell again and there was nothing she could do to avoid it.


Title Translation: Taken