Visit to an Old Friend

"Hello? Anyone home?"

Yuffie flung around from the stove when she heard a young man's voice. "Who's there?!"

Sora's eyes widened. "Chill, Yuffie. I just came here 'cause Cid told me to." He hesitated. "Do you.. remember me?"

Yuffie smiled, and walked from the stove to the doorway, and gave Sora such a tight hug, she lifted him from the ground. "Kid, I said I couldn't forget you, even if I wanted to, didn't I, Sora?"

Sora took her hands and jumped up and down. "You really do remember! But how so? Cid says you need a physical possession to remember someone by."

Yuffie's eye twitched, and she said nervously, "Uh, yeah, about that--"

Sora blinked. "Huh?"

Yuffie smiled. "I'm a ninja thief, remember?" She held up Kairi's lucky charm.

Sora dropped his jaw. "I can't believe you took that! It's not mine, you know!"

Yuffie nodded. "I know that. I also knew that when you closed Kingdom Hearts, everyone would return to their own worlds. Kairi's world is closer to Midgar than it is to Destiny's Island."

"But you could have told me! What if I found some way to get back to her, and didn't have her charm?"

Yuffie frowned. "I didn't mean to steal, but it helped me remember you too, didn't it?"

"I suppose," Sora mumbled.

"Oh, Sora," Aleisa started, "don't be so down."

Yuffie looked to Aleisa and smiled. "Good to see you again, Aleisa."

"You know her?!" Sora exclaimed.

"Sure, she was in Traverse Town when we were. You just never saw her. There are a lot of homes around there, and she hardly left hers."

"I brought Kairi back to Traverse Town, remember? Why didn't you reunite them?"

"I must've gone back to Hollow Bashion," Aleisa explained.

"But that's where I rescued Kairi!" Sora shouted.

"Calm down, Sora," Donald quacked. "No use in getting angry."

"But it doesn't make any sense! Are you telling me you traveled to Hollow Bashion right after I rescued Kairi from there?" Sora questioned Aleisa.

"I went to go--" Aleisa began.

"Alright, enough jabbering," Yuffie said. "I just ate, and you're going to give me indigestion."

Aleisa and Sora looked away from each other, and kept their distance. Neither of them were mad at each other, but Sora was so oblivious as to what had happened, he couldn't help but feel angry. He changed the subject. "Yuffie, Cid said this was Aeris's old house."

Yuffie frowned. "That's right."

"Well, where does Aeris live now? I want to go see her."

"She lives in the Lifestream," said a small girl who had just came from upstairs.

"Marlene! Don't say that!" Yuffie demanded.

"But it's true!" Marlene whined.

Sora just stood there quietly, and looked to Yuffie. "The Lifestream?"

Yuffie scratched her head nervously, and turned back to the stove. "I'll make you all some soup. Sit down."

So everyone sat. Within minutes, Yuffie had brought them each a large bowl of vegetable soup, and they all ate it in silence. "Heaven's to Pete," Yuffie sighed, "I can't believe how hectic it got just from you being here."

Sora looked up from his soup. "You want me to leave?"

Yuffie shook her head. "No, you just reminded me of.. Aeris."

"Where is she?" Goofy said.

"When Meteor attempted to strike, she called forth the Lifestream and blocked it, dissipated it. Can't really say what her orginal plan was.."

"You're ignoring the question," Sora frowned.

"She planned on, at first, using Holy," Yuffie continued, "but Holy fell in the lake at the City of the Ancients. We couldn't retrieve it. We thought all was lost, but then she called the Lifestream--"

Sora stood from the table. "Quit ignoring me!"

"She lives in the Lifestream now! Don't you see?!" Yuffie cried. She stood from the table, and wiped the tears from her eyes. "Please excuse me." She walked quickly away from the table and upstairs. They all heard a door slam. Sora flinched. He looked over to Marlene.

"Marlene, what's the Lifestream?"

"I'm not sure. Yuffie just tells me that's where Aeris lives."

"How do I get there?"

"I hear there's a rumor you can get there from the Farplane."

"The Farplane? Where is that?"

"It's in some other world. I dunno, ask Yuffie."

"I don't think that would be wise," Aleisa said. "I think she's a little stressed out as it is."

"I don't know why she's being so stubborn," Sora mumbled.

"Just drop it," Donald said. "We should probably be leaving anyways. There's not really anything to do here."

"Marlene, where is the door to this world?" Sora asked.

Marlene glanced upstairs, then led them outside, and into Aeris's dead garden. She pushed back some over-grown weeds and shrubbery, and a small door was imprinted into the granite. "You'll have to crawl through, but don't tell Yuffie. Tiffy was going to come pull up some of the dead plants the other day, but she found this, and decided not to touch it for a while. Only she and I know about it."

Sora smiled. "Thanks, Marlene. Tell Yuffie I'm not mad, but I have my mind set on a lot, okay?"

"Kays! Bye, bye, cutie!" She gave Sora a tight hug before he crawled through after Goofy and Aleisa. Donald laughed.

"Looks like you've got a new admirer," Donald said.

Sora smiled nervously, and returned the hug. "Give Yuffie a hug for me, too."

Marlene's eyes turned sad. "You like her more," and she ran off back to the home.

Sora scratched his head, and crawled through the small door after Donald. He seemed to be crawling through a cave or tunnel, and continued crawling toward the light at the other end.