A/N: Sorry, this is out a day later than I planned. I was hoping some new people would review my story. I wonder how many people read but don't review? It's probably quite a few... hey that rhymed!

Disclaimer: Grr... do I really have to write one for EVERY chapter? This sucks. I hate disclaimers. Well... I don't own anything but my character. Oh... and the purty sword I give her.

Chapter 4. The Heartblade.

Herzophia groaned softly and opened her eyes. She sat up and took in her surroundings. Wherever she was, it was nighttime. She turned her head to look to the side and winced as her neck seared with pain. She began wondering WHY she was in so much pain, when she remembered. The dream... but, it was just a dream, wasn't it? She continued to survey the area. She was lying in the Third District of Traverse Town, in the abandoned house, but she hadn't gotten that far, so she had no idea where she was. She stood up and walked to the door, eager to leave the cobweb-filled, dusty house.

No sooner did she walk out the door than about 5 shadows appeared. She spun around, looking for a safe area, and saw the doors to the Second District. She ran madly towards them and slammed her body against them. The door opened and she stumbled through. Fortunately, the shadows didn't follow. Now she was in an alley, and could only go one direction, so she headed that way. The alley led to a large plaza, with a fountain on one side, and another wall on the other. She walked into the plaza.

When she reached the middle of the plaza, she was surrounded by what must have been twenty shadows. She couldn't just run away from these, as there was no way to get out that was near enough. There was nothing to do but fight.

The shadows closed in on her, and she ran madly at the one nearest to her. She delivered strong kick to it, and it disappeared. Well, at least she could get rid of them. There were still nineteen left, however. Eight of said shadows jumped onto her back, scratching her and biting her, causing her to cry out in pain. She used the same thing she did on the shadow in her dream, slamming her back down onto the pavement, killing 6 out of the 8. She punched a seventh one hard into the ground, and kicked the eighth one into a wall.

The remaining eleven shadows all swarmed on her, pinning her to the ground. She couldn't move. If she didn't get rid of them fast, she would lose her heart to them, and become one of them herself. A shadow scratched scratched her back badly, leaving three very deep and very bloody gouges just below her shoulderblades. She screamed loudly.

Suddenly, she heard someone let out a war cry, and the weight on her back disappeared. Two strong hands helped her into a sitting position.

"Are you okay?" A boy's voice asked, concerned. He sounded familiar. "These scratches are bad, drink this." A bottle was thrusted into her hands. She opened her eyes- they had been shut before because she was in pain- and looked at it, confused. "Go on," the boy laughed, "it won't kill you." She rose the bottle to her mouth and drank. It tasted AWFUL. She resisted the urge to spit it back out and swallowed.

Herzophia turned to look at the person who helped her, and very nearly dropped the bottle. "Y- you're..." She stammered. She was in such shock that she couldn't speak right.

The boy had impossibly spiky brown hair, and blue eyes. He was wearing a red shirt under a black and white, zip up hooded t-shirt, poofy red shorts, and large yellow shoes. A necklace in the shape of a crown hung from his neck. He laughed again. "I'm Sora." He smiled. "You're pretty lucky I found you, otherwise you may have ended up like that guy I saw a few minutes ago." Now he frowned. "It was awful..."

As he was talking, Herzophia tried to sort things out. So Kingdom Hearts WAS real? This was almost too much to handle. She shook her head slightly to clear it. No use in whining. First she had better find out where she was. "Sora?" She interrupted his tale of how the man lost his heart.

Sora blinked, a little startled that she actually spoke, then said, "what?"

"Where are we?"

Sora chuckled, and stood up. "This is Traverse Town." He held out a hand to help her. She took his hand and he pulled her up from the ground. "So, I take it you're not from here?" She shook her head. "Neither am I. My world was taken by the Heartless, as well as yours, I'm guessing."

Herzophia nodded. Then, out of nowhere, a thought came. 'I should get a weapon... then maybe I won't be forced to play the role of a damsel in distress...' "Hey, Sora..."  she asked hesitantly. He looked at her. "Do you know... where I can find... like... a-" She thought about her dream. "A sword?" She finished.

'A sword?' Sora thought. "Why do you need a sword?"

Herzophia frowned, slightly angry about how thick he was. "Well, Sora," she said hotly, voicing her thoughts earlier. "I'm not the kind of person that likes to play the role of a damsel in distress!" She got angrier when he laughed. She poked him in the ribs, hard.

"Ow, hey- what was that for?" He said between laughs.

"Why do you think this is funny?!"

He shook his head, still chuckling. "Nothing, it's just the way you said it." She frowned at him and he shook his head again. "Come on, I'll take you to the Items Shop."

He lead her up a flight of stairs and to a pair of double doors. He shoved them open and walked through. "Where we just were was the Second District," Sora said while they walked down another flight of stairs, "now we're in the First District, where the Accessory and Items shops are." They walked down to another large plaza, and over to a building with a large neon sign that read 'ITEMS.' Sora opened the door and they walked in.

The Items Shop wasn't very big. There weren't many distinguishing items around. The first thing Herzophia noticed as she walked in was three ducklings. One was wearing a blue t-shirt and baseball cap, another a red version of the first, and a third was wearing green. "Hey, Huey, Dewey, and Louie," said Sora. The ducks waved in greeting.

"Hello, Sora, what can we do for you today?" Asked one, the one in green. "Need some potion? An Ether, maybe?"

Sora shook his head. "Actually, we were looking to see if you had a sword," he answered, and nodded towards Herzophia. "She was looking to buy one."

Herzophia blinked, and realized something. She tugged on Sora's sleeve to get his attention. "Sora!" she said in a low voice. "I can't pay for this! I don't have any munny!" Sora gave her a shocked look.

"Hey, you know what, could you put that on hold?" He asked the duck in green as he was heading off to the storeroom. The duck nodded, and Sora led Herzophia back out of the Items Shop.

When they got out, Herzophia looked at him, slightly puzzled. She expected him to be angry, and was even more puzzled when he talked to her in a happy tone. "Well, I guess we'll just have to go earn you some munny, then. Come on." They walked into the Second District again. "All we have to do is get rid of some Heartless to get money. I found out a little bit before I met you," he explained.

They walked over near the hotel, and three shadows appeared, blocking their way. Sora took out what appeared to be a large key, and obliterated one of them. He picked up the munny that the Heartless had dropped. He turned around to see Herzophia deliver an amazing punch to one of the remaining two, smashing it, and send the third flying into a wall. "Wow, that was amazing, er-" He had never gotten her name.

She looked confused for a moment, then realized what he was getting to. "My name is Herzophia." She said.

Sora whistled. "Herzophia... that's quite a long name." She shrugged. "Mind if I call you by a nickname? Like... Zophi, or Zia, maybe?"

Herzophia shrugged again. No one had ever bothered to call her by a nickname before. "You can call me Zophi, I guess." She replied.

Sora grinned his classic grin, and pointed to the munny on the ground. "There's some munny, Zophi." He said. She picked it up and put it in the pocket of her sweatpants. "Come on, let's go to the Gizmo Shop. What you have isn't enough to buy a sword yet. How much do you have?"

Herzophia took the munny out of her pocket and counted it. "I have about... 20 munny." She answered. "How much more will I need?"

Sora thought for a minute. "About fifteen times what you already have." Then he added hastily as she looked shocked, and slightly angry, "weapons cost a lot, you know!" And he began to walk towards the Gizmo Shop.

Herzophia sighed and followed him. They walked up to a pair of double doors with stained glass windows. Sora opened one of the doors and walked in, forgetting to hold the door. Herzophia almost smacked right into it, but held out her hand in time to hold it open. 'Stupid boy...' She thought angrily, and walked into the shop. Sora had already begun to beat up the shadows that were appearing. Herzophia watched as a shadow leapt at his back. He didn't see it! She ran forward and kicked the little monster hard, killing it before it ripped Sora's back open. She bent down to pick up the munny it had dropped, and noticed that more shadows were appearing. She pocketed the munny and turned to face them. She and Sora made quick work of the Heartless. After they had defeated the swarms of shadows that had been attacking them, Herzophia picked up all the munny on the ground.

"How much do you have?" Sora inquired.

Herzophia took all the munny she had gotten out of her pocket and counted it. "Two hundred and sixty-seven munny." She replied.

Sora grinned. "That's good. I can lend you the rest. Let's go."

Herzophia stood up and followed him out of the Gizmo Shop, back to the First District, and back to the Items Shop.

"Ah, you're back!" Quacked the green-clad duckling. "We have the perfect sword for her! And I think it looks pretty cool, too!" He picked up a sword from the counter, and handed it to Herzophia. She looked at it in awe, marveling at how light it was, despite how heavy it looked.

Its blade was strange. It was kind of like Sora's Keyblade, but the end kind of looked like a heart rather than a key. The blade was silver. The hilt of the sword was just like any other hilt, but the things on the side were rounded and came to a point at the end... another heart shape, and it was a light purple. Herzophia thought it was beautiful. She grasped the hilt with her right hand and gave it an experimental swing. When it went through the air it made a soft whistling noise. She also heart a small jingling noise, and looked at the hilt again. A keychain in the shape of a heart hung off the hilt.

Sora watched as she tested the new sword. It was definitely good. "How much is it?" He asked the duck in green.

"Three hundred." Replied the duckling.

Herzophia heard the amount, and took what she had out of her pocket. She handed the munny to the duck. The duck counted the money and turned to Sora. "She doesn't appear to have any more munny... would you care to pay the remaining thirty three?" Sora nodded, took the money out of his pocket, and gave it to the duck.

"Wow..." breathed Herzophia. The blade was perfect. "Thanks a lot, Sora..."

Sora grinned at Herzophia. "Glad ya like it, Zophi. Come on, let's go."

The pair of teenagers walked out of the Items Shop. "Hey, let's go to the Accessory Shop," suggested Sora, "there's someone you should meet there." Herzophia nodded, and let Sora lead the way to the Accessory Shop.

Sora greeted the shopkeeper. "Hey Gramps!" He called.

"Didn't I tell you not to call me gramps?" Asked the shopkeeper.

Sora chuckled. "Zophi," he said, turning to Herzophia, "this is Cid." Then he turned to the shopkeeper. "Cid, this is Zophi. I found her pinned under a bunch of Heartless a little while ago. She says her world was taken over as well."

"Is that so?" Asked Cid. "Well, hello there, Zophi." Then he appeared to be thinking. "Pinned under Heartless, you say?" He took something out from behind the counter and threw it to Herzophia. It was a charm in the shape of a heart within a circle on a thin chain. "Wear this, it's a Protega Chain. Should help you in case you find yourself in another predicament such as Sora described."

Herzophia nodded and put the chain around her neck. "Thanks, er... Cid."

"Well," said Sora, "we should probably look for a way to get home, huh? Later, Gramps." He headed toward the door of the shop, Herzophia following again.

They stepped out of the shop. Just as they were heading towards the stairs, a voice spoke to them, the voice of a man. "They'll come at you out of nowhere." The man stepped around the corner of the shop and looked at Sora, hardly taking into notice the girl standing next to him. He had brown hair, and wore black jeans, a white t-shirt and a black leather vest.

"Who are you?"

"And they'll keep on coming at you," he continued, "as long as you continue to weild the Keyblade." He pointed at the weapon Sora held in his hand. "But why?" He put his hand on his forehead. "Why would it choose a kid like you?"

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Sora asked, annoyed.

"Never mind," the man said. "Now, let's see that Keyblade." He began to move toward Sora, reaching his hand out for the Keyblade.

"What? There's no way you're getting this!" Sora exclaimed.

"All right, then have it your way." The man took out a sword that looked like a gun and faced Sora.

Sora charged, and swung the Keyblade at his challenger. The man was quicker, and dodged. He jumped backwards from Sora, and held out his hand. Fire appeared in front of his outstretched palm, and shot at Sora, catching him totally off-guard. Sora stumbled backwards, in pain. Then he charged the man again, this time, it was his opponent who was caught off-guard. The man, not expecting him to recover so quickly, fell victim to Sora's attack, getting hit 4 times before he recovered and jumped out of the way. He swung his sword in a wide arc, and it hit Sora hard, sending him flying back into the Item Shop's wall.

Herzophia watched as Sora hit the wall, and heard a sickening *crack* as his head hit it, and he went out cold. "SORA!" She cried, running to her fallen friend. She couldn't wake him up, he was thoroughly unconscious. She whipped out her sword and faced Sora's attacker.

The man watched as a girl he had before failed to notice ran to her fallen comrade. He watched as she realized she couldn't wake him. But then, something entirely unexpected happened. She turned around and pulled out a sword much like the Keyblade.

Herzophia, seeing the look of shock on the stranger's face, decided to use his surprise to her advantage. She ran forward, screaming out a battle cry, and mercilessly hacked away at the man.

She was strong, he noticed, not weak like most girls her age. But, he was in pain, and he had to make her stop. He gripped his sword harder and swung it around with all his might.

Herzophia saw him grip his sword tighter. She desperately tried to move out of the way of his attack, but failed. The sword connected with her body, and she fell to the ground. Unconscious.

The man put his sword away. He had won, even though it was close.

"Aw, you're slipping, Leon." A cheerful voice sounded behind him. He turned around. Yuffie, of course.

"I went easy on 'em." He said. "Still... things are worse than we thought." He gazed at the two unconscious teenagers. "A lot worse."

'Both should have been stronger by now,' he thought. 'And they should not have met each other. I wonder what will happen now that the wielder of the Heartblade has joined the wielder of the Keyblade...'

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A/N: Again, sorry it's out late. It's longer than I usually write, and I suck at writing descriptions of swords and writing battle sequences. I made up that little Heartblade thing myself. Aren't you proud? I know I am. ^_^ Well, tell me what you think. See you later! (waves)