Disclaimer: Blah, blah…..BOF belongs to Capcom. KH belongs to Square-Enix and Disney. FF belongs to just Square-Enix.

Ah….only three reviews so far (not really unexpected, though), but that doesn't matter – at least I know that I'm loved! Anyway, on with the fic!

Finally……they were on the road again, after a little hassle from the guards, but Ryu had sorted them out. It was now safe for Sora to take his Keyblade out of his sack for a while. He would need it anyway, because there was no guarantee what creature they would meet on the way.

"So….where are we going now?" Nina asked Zidane.

"….we'll be passing through a few towns," was Zidane's answer. "Until we get to the port town of Lyp. Then we hire a boat."

Nina would gaze at the fields while walking. It was the harvest season, so they could see that farmers were gathering crops. Zidane managed to steal few apples, which were just about ripe, without anybody noticing (lots of children would sometimes come into the fields to either climb the trees or steal fruit, which would really annoy the farmers). Sora was not keen on apples, but they were extra rations for the journey, in case the food ran low, so he was glad to have them.

"It's an easy walk," Nina said happily.

"Heh…you won't be saying that for long," Zidane laughed. "Just wait til you get to the forest."

"Why the forest?" Nina asked, curious about Zidane's warning.

"Bandits," was his response.


They had been walking down the road for three hours by the time they reached the forest. The road seemed to go straight through and there seemed to be no way around.

"I wish I could find another route for you guys," Zidane declared, seeming reluctant to go through. Sora looked towards the forest and saw that he was right. There was something about the forest – something about the tall, dark evergreen trees, something eerie and unwelcoming. He could hear Nina gulp beside him. Ryu seemed very alert. None of them wanted to enter….

"How long till we're out of this forest?" Nina started to moan.

They had not been in the forest that long, but Nina had enough already and the others could see that. Although the road was ahead of them, the trees towered over them. There was little light in the forest, apart from the daylight above.

"Don't worry, I'll protect you, my love," Zidane answered, half-jokingly and half-trying to sound confident.

"Z-Zidane! That's n-not funny!" Nina cried angrily. Sora glared at Zidane. Even he did not find the joke amusing.

Taking this hint, Zidane fell silent and they continued their journey.

They walked on for a few more minutes.

"How long now?" Nina began to whine.

"You asked us three minutes ago, Nina," Sora sighed.

"Yeah, but…."

Zidane put a hand up to tell her to be silent. "I hear voices," he said suddenly.

Everybody came to a halt. Zidane pointed to the road and moved his finger to his lips, in order that the others would keep quiet. They started to walk slowly and quietly. Sora listened closely….

"Leave me alone!"

There was a roar of laughter coming from ahead. Zidane crept a few steps ahead so that he could see what was going on. He then motioned the others to come up to him and pointed to what was ahead.

A girl was sitting in the middle of the road, trying to get up. She did not seem much older than Sora, Nina or Zidane (who was seventeen), maybe a few years older. Her short hair was a light brown colour and she wore three long huge earrings on her right ear. The girl was wearing a white shirt and some short purple skirt which went above her knees. Her cloak was pink and she was holding a staff. She was surrounded by four scruffy men, one of them whose sword was pointing at her throat.

"I said let me go!" the girl demanded. "You'll regret it if you do!"

The four men burst out laughing. The man with the sword then spoke.

"If you give us that ring on your left hand, then maybe we will let you go."

The girl gazed at her gold ring with a sapphire in the middle. It was on her fourth finger – her engagement ring! She could not possible give it up! The girl then shook her head.

The man moved his sword. The girl gasped. "You ain't makin' this easy for yourself," he taunted. "A pretty young lady like you shouldn't be walking alone in the woods, anyway…"

Sora wanted to rip the man's throat, but was unsure if it would be wise to step forward and expose himself. He looked at Zidane for advice.

"Don't worry…..I have a plan…" Zidane whispered in a rather determined tone.

"So…we are gonna help her, then?"

"Course we are…..can't walk away when a cute looking girl like her is getting bullied by swines like them. Goes against my nature."

Sora sighed with relief. He drew his Keyblade out, ready for attack.

"Wait!" Zidane said. He turned to Nina. "Can you cast a spell for me?"

Nina nodded and started to motion her hands, chanting softly. A combination of fire and lightning flew straight to and hit the man with the sword. He screamed and fell over. The girl looked around in surprise.

"Great work, Nina!" Zidane cackled. "Can you do another one?"

"Sure," Nina replied. She then moved her hands again and shards of ice moved towards and hit another of the bandits, who yelled and clutched his left arm in pain. The other two bandits then moved back. The one with the sword was trying to get up.

"T-there's s-something tryin' to…" one of the bandits stammered.

"My turn," Zidane whispered to Sora.

"Huh?" Sora's eyes were fixed on the bandits, but he turned around……and Zidane was gone.

Nina prepared another spell. It was Sever this time. One of the bandits found himself taken up by a whirlwind. He screamed before hitting a tree, knocking him unconscious before he dropped to the floor.

"I'm going to run out of spells soon, Sora," she said. "I might need to save some for the rest of the journey."

Sora agreed with this and turned to Ryu. "Do you have any blue magic that you can use?" he asked.

Ryu turned to him, looking confused.

"Well, do you? C'mon! That girl's in trouble!"

Ryu hesitated for a few seconds. Should they not move on? They were supposed to be making their way to the Returner's hideout? Why tend to this girl when she would prove of little use to them? However, something in his heart told Ryu that he should help. He was not sure why, though, but he knew that he would regret it afterwards if he did nothing. Therefore, Ryu took a deep breath and started to chant.

A few seconds later, one of the bandits was hit by a magical fist, which randomly appeared from nowhere.

The girl then stood up. It was her turn to chant. Just then, a magic circle appeared from nowhere, right behind her. The bandit who was knocked down by shards of ice recovered quickly, and moved towards the girl, only to be attacked by the magic circle's red hot flames. Finally, the bandit who had been hit by a magic fist, who was the least injured of his friends, drew out his dagger and aimed at the girl. He about to move towards her when he felt a sharp pain on his back. When he turned around, he could see that from nowhere, a blond haired boy had appeared and had stabbed him on the back.

Snarling, Zidane drew his dagger out of the man's back. "Don't you ever lay a finger on her again," he threatened.

The man just stared at Zidane before falling to the ground.

The man who originally pointed his sword at the girl's throat watched in horror as his companions fell one by one. Angrily, he forced himself to his feet and was about to charge at Zidane, when Sora came to the rescue, charging towards the man and slashing at him with his key. The man once again fell over. Sora walked up to the man lying on the floor and until he towered over him. He pointed his Keyblade at the terrified man.

"Wh……who are you people?" the man whimpered as Ryu and Nina came out from their hiding places and into the open.

"I don't think you need to know that," Sora answered quietly but with a tone of disgust in his voice. "Just leave her alone…..before you feel more pain…."

And with that, he walked towards the girl.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

The girl did not answer at first. She still had not recovered from what had just happened. She looked around at her rescuers and smiled nervously.

Zidane took her by the arm, turned towards the road ahead and led her down the pathway. Sora, Nina and Ryu followed them, leaving the injured bandits behind.


They walked on in silence until they were out of the forest. Zidane suggested that if they needed to keep a look out for more bandits, and if they were distracted by talking to each other, then there was a chance that they could get ambushed. They needed to be alert, with their weapons out.

To Nina's relief, it only took two hours until they were from the dark and sinister forest and back into the wide open meadows again.

"Wow…..those flowers are really pretty!" Nina exclaimed.

"Hmm….they are…..would you like me to get you one?" Zidane asked.

"Not from you, thank you," the princess replied.

Zidane made a sad face. He then turned to the girl. "Well, maybe I'll get one for um…..sorry, I don't know your name."

"It's Yuna," the girl smiled nervously.

"Wow…Yuna…..that sure is a pretty name," Zidane smiled.

Nina gave him a stern look which told him to leave their new companion alone. The girl just smiled shyly at all of them. Sora decided to say something.

"Um…where are you going, Yuna?"

"Um….to the town of Lyp….where I can get a ship," she replied. "I have to go to Luca to meet my fiancé."

"Your fiancé? Man, I forgot about him…" Zidane sighed, disappointed. Muffled sounds of laughter were coming from Sora's direction. Yuna noticed this.

"I'm sorry, but yes, I am engaged," Yuna said, knowing very well that Zidane liked her but also trying to be polite about it at the same time.

"Oh well," Zidane said in a melancholy voice. His voice then changed. "Anyway, where did you say you were going again?"

"The town of Lyp."

"What a coincidence!" Zidane exclaimed. "We're going there as well!"

"Are we?" Sora asked.

"Zidane told us before the forest," Ryu said. "You didn't forget?"

Sora then remembered. "Oh….yeah……hey, Yuna, why don't we take you to Lyp?"

"That's EXACTLY what I was thinking, Sora!" Zidane laughed.

"It's exactly what you would think, Zidane," Nina pointed out.

Yuna just giggled. To Sora, she seemed a very shy young woman who talked little, but she also seemed to be quite friendly and gentle, especially with that smile on her face.

"Um….are you sure we should be taking her along?" Ryu asked Sora.

"Why not? She's going to Lyp like us," Sora answered, slightly puzzled by Ryu's question.

"…..would we trust her?"

This seemed a question that puzzled Sora even more. Yuna did look suspicious in any way whatsoever.

"Why shouldn't we?" Sora asked, in response to Ryu's question. "She don't look like she's from the Suverian Empire. Have you seen her before?"

"….no…" Ryu then became quiet again, unable to give a justifiable answer as to why they should not take Yuna with them. He did not trust her, but then again he did not trust Nina, Zidane or even Sora. Ryu knew that his mission was now to make sure that Sora was not taken by the Empire. Therefore, he had to travel with Sora, Nina and Zidane in order to watch over Sora. If they were caught, then Ryu knew that something dreadful could happen…


Dear Kairi,

I am sure that you are wondering what had happened to us. Well, I am not sure what to tell you…except that Nina and I are fine. I can't tell you where we are at the moment, but we are planning to leave the city soon – I am sure that you have seen the posters about us all over the city. A new friend of ours (a guy named Zidane – you've seen him in the posters, haven't you?) has suggested that we can go to his place, where there won't be anybody from the Empire who knows about us.

Now for the bad news…when we found our way into the castle, we decided to split up…Nina and I would go on ahead, while Riku would stay behind and come to look for us in case we got into trouble. However, when we returned to his hiding place, he wasn't there. I wanted to stay behind and look for him, but Zidane said that it too dangerous – I can't get caught. I really hope he's all right, though……maybe he went back to school, but I don't know. If he is back at school, could you tell him that we couldn't find the dragon?

Yeah, we found no dragon, even though we searched. I am getting really worried about what the Suverian Empire… will they attack Wyndia with the dragon, just as they planned? Ryu (another new friend of ours) does not seem to think so. He says that the Empire won't attack with the dragon now, but may find other ways to attack Wyndia without them being suspected. As far as I have heard, Wyndia is still safe, which is a relief, for now.

Nina is fine. Zidane is trying to hit on her, but is failing miserably. It's quite funny to watch! She is going to come with me when we leave the city, so don't worry about her.

Geez…I have run out of things to write! Well, I hope that you are well and that this letter gets to you. I am really missing you already. I gotta go now…it's the middle of the night and I should get back to bed before I wake the others up.

Thinking of you, always.

Your friend

Sora.

Kairi had received Sora's letter the evening that he had left Treno. She had the past few days continually worrying over what happened to her friends. One evening they were there, and the next….they had just disappeared. Sora, Nina and Riku had promised her that they would be back by the morning. However, when she paid a visit to both Nina's room and the boy's dormitories, she saw nobody. Did they get caught?

This thought was stuck in Kairi's head for the whole of the morning when they disappeared. She talked little to her friends at school who knew that something was wrong.

"Umm……Kairi…..do you know where Sora is?" Selphie whispered her in the classroom during a lesson with Miss Trepe.

Kairi shook her head.

"Um…are you okay? You look a little down."

"Yeah…I'm fine," Kairi whispered back.

"Selphie, Kairi, no talking!" Miss Trepe called out to them. The two girls stopped instantly. Miss Trepe was a firm woman, who could tolerate little talking in her class.

Kairi felt that she could not work. When she looked at her Maths questions, she found herself unable to think. Kairi was good at Maths – she usually found the sums and the formulas very easy and could complete her work within minutes, but…..today, she just could even write anything down….

"Kairi, can I see you after the lesson please?" she heard Miss Trepe say from the front of the classroom.

Kairi nodded miserably. First, her friends disappear and the next moment, she was in trouble. How could the day get worse?

"Are you alright, Kairi?" Miss Trepe asked, when all the other students had left.

Kairi nodded, reluctant to answer. Her teacher was not convinced.

"You haven't been doing any work all morning. The page is empty…"

"…Sorry, Miss Trepe," Kairi mumbled, biting her nails.

"This isn't like you at all," Miss Trepe continued. "Is there anything wrong?"

Kairi did not say anything. Miss Trepe frowned.

"Hm…..you look really pale," she said. "You don't look well, I think that you should take the rest of the day off school."

And so, Kairi spent the next few days in her room. She could hardly sleep, because her head was full of worry. The other teachers and students at school also noticed that Sora, Nina and Riku were missing. Some of them even noticed the wanted posters of Sora in the streets, but none of them told Kairi, although she suspected that she knew something.

When Kairi read Sora's letter, she had a mix of emotions. She was relieved to hear that Sora and Nina were still alive and that it was unlikely that Wyndia would not be invaded. She was obviously worried about Riku – if he did not escape with Sora, then something must have happened to him…but what? She dreaded to think. Kairi was also uncertain about whether Sora and Nina would make it out of the city without being discovered. However, she could do nothing……except hope and pray that she would see her friends again.

The final part 'Thinking of you, always' made her smile. There was something about that line that touched her. It gave her a warm feeling, and a little flutter in her heart. She put the letter in the chest of drawers beside her bed and then went back to bed…

An hour or so later, Miss Trepe came to visit her. She had done so frequently, during the break times or in the evenings when she did not have pupils to teach. This did not bother Kairi at all. She liked Miss Trepe. Although she was very firm and could easily get very annoyed if there was the slightest sign of disruption in her class, she was a compassionate young woman, who could easily interact with most of the students, as she was still in her early twenties. The fact that she visited Kairi frequently to her room made it obvious to Kairi that she was worried about her.

Miss Trepe came up with some coffee and a couple of biscuits. Kairi took them gratefully. She felt a little better now that she knew that Sora and Nina were safe….or at least they were the day before. During the past few days, Kairi ate little, because she did not feel hungry. However, that evening, she ate all the biscuits that Miss Trepe bought her.

"Well, at least you have your appetite back!" Miss Trepe laughed in a friendly way.

"Yeah…..thank, Miss Trepe," Kairi said, still munching her last biscuit.

Miss Trepe fell silent for a few minutes. "Kairi, the headmaster wants to see you…" she then said after Kairi had finished her biscuit.

"The headmaster? Am I in trouble?" Kairi asked suddenly, fearing that she might have been discovered.

Miss Trepe shook her head. "I don't know," was her answer. "I don't think so, but…." There was a tone in Miss Trepe's voice that told Kairi that whatever Mr Argul wanted, it could not be good. Miss Trepe did not like Mr Argul either. In fact, most of the school, even some of the teachers, were suspicious of him, especially as he spent most of his time hanging about with rather sinister looking people from the Suverian Empire.

"Um….when does he want to see me?"

"As soon as possible."

Kairi insisted Miss Trepe that she was well enough to go to the headmaster's office. She would go straight back to bed afterwards, anyway. As she walked down the long corridor to Mr Argul's office, her heart started to thump quickly. She was very anxious to know what Mr Argul wanted, but also nervous at the same time.


Kairi approached the door saying 'Headmaster' at the top. She slowly moved her fist towards the door, still feeling very tense. There was this feeling inside her that something was going to happen…..and this something was not going to be good….

Kairi knocked three times on the door. "Enter," Mr Argul's voice could be heard from the other side of the door. Slowly, the girl turned the door handle and went inside…….


To be continued…

Yeah, Yuna's magic circles ARE based on Nina's glyph spells from Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter.

Thanks to the following reviewers….

Airess – Yeah, Zidane is a bit unlucky, not being able to go with Nina! I just had to put something like that there, just to confirm that Zidane's personality is similar to the one he had in FF 9 – most or the FF, KH and BOF characters I wanted to put their original personalities in (apart from Nina and Ryu, as all the Ninas in the previous BOF games had different personalities, and none of the Ryus, in my opinion, had much personality). And Riku? Well, that will be explained…..later.

Now, not only do I apologise for the delay in the update but I also apologise for the fact that I won't be updating again in a while…..as I have my AS exams….but I might update in the half term! Please read and review!