Author's Notes: I don't own Kingdom Hearts nor its characters – only my OCs which are Asuka, Hana and Isamu!

Chapter 3 – Lost on Another World.

A soft cold breeze blew in my face as my eyes slowly cracked open. Unfortunately, my vision was quite blurry… ugh, my head. Where am I exactly…?

Sitting up, I rubbed my eyes until my vision became clear. Looking around, I immediately concluded that this wasn't Twilight Town or anything familiar to me… instead, I woke up in an alleyway filled with a couple of boxes and trashcans. How did I get-

Wait… I remember! Twilight Town… my mom asking me to go find Hana and Isamu whom ran out of the house… strange black creatures showing up… Isamu disappearing… Hana and I embracing the darkness together… Wait! Where's Hana?

"Hana!" I yelled whilst getting up and looked around for any signs of my adoptive sister but to no avail. "H-hana! Please come out! T-this isn't funny… P-please…" My voice broke down as tears slid from my eyes.

I'm all alone now… H-hana… we were supposed to be together in the darkness… I don't want to be alone… p-please come back to me… you, Sammy and Mom… please… I don't want to be alone…

I sat down on the ground and buried my face in my legs whilst continuing to cry. I h-hope they are okay… Sammy… Hana… Mom… I hope you all okay. Please be safe… P-please…

All this time I continued to cry and didn't even notice a mysterious stranger watching me from atop with a sympathetic look. Ascending down from the rooftops, she landed gently a few feet away from me. "Are you okay, little one?"

Upon hearing her voice, I immediately raised my head with the tears still falling from my eyes. Taking the time to examine her, I saw that she was a young woman with a well-built figure… also, she was very tall it seems. Her attire was that of a ninja: a black hood with a cloak, a green bandanna over her mouth, a gray tank top underneath a purple shawl, white skinny jeans that stopped in the middle of her ankles and dark blue shinobi open-toed sandals. She wore a pair of fingerless gloves as well. However, what caught my interest was the skin and eyes: they were both tan and emerald green… just like me.

I was quiet for a few seconds until the woman spoke once more. "Little one?" At that response, I immediately nodded. "Y-yeah… but I feel awful." I answered truthfully.

The mystery woman kneeled to my level and started to examine me from left to right. "Why were you crying?" She asked me.

I sniffed and decided to answer her but only a small bit of info since I wasn't sure if she was an enemy or not. "I d-don't what is going on to be honest… one minute, we were enjoying a quiet night on my world and the next thing… I wind up here. I don't know where I am exactly…" The woman's eyes widened as more tears slid from my eyes due to me thinking about my missing family. "Your world was invaded as well?"

Freezing up, I looked at the woman as my teary eyes widen at what she just said. "W-what do you mean by "invaded"? D-do you know what is going on exactly…?"

With a heavy sigh, the woman nodded. "Yes… I'm afraid your world was taken over by the Heartless."

"T-those creatures with yellow eyes?"

"Yes… they are the creatures that come out from the darkness in people's hearts. Their goal is simple – find more hearts to sustain their hunger. It seems… your world was chosen to be plucked for a heart chowder." The woman explained as my eyes widened.

"How do you know all of this exactly?" The young woman pulled out a handkerchief and began to wipe my tears away. "Because… I lost my world to those pests as well."

"R-really?" The woman nodded before speaking once again. "Yes… now I lead a group of people against the Heartless."

"Who are these people exactly and where am I?"

"Oh! I'm truly sorry about that! I was so caught in explaining things that I never got around to tell you where you were. Anyways, this is where refugees who have lost their worlds to the Heartless end up… we don't really have a name for this town yet: but some of us call it Pure Heart. As for your other question… Several people and I have created a small group that combats the Heartless as to protect the ordinary citizens of Pure Heart. I'm the leader obviously…"

"So… you are like a Guardian or something?" I asked with an innocent look as the woman was contemplating how to answer that question. "In a way, yes… plus, it's a way to repay the mistake that I made a couple of years ago."

"Mistake?" I asked as the woman nodded once again. "I was once a young woman living on my home world with my elder sister, her husband and their daughter. I loved them more than anything else in the world… yet, the one person I was very close to was my niece. I believed that nothing would ruin the happiness in our lives… unfortunately, peace was just a fantasy in my head. One day, the Heartless invaded our world… and they took everything that mattered to me: my family, my home and my friends. My sister, her husband and I did everything we could to hold off the blasted pests… yet it was all for naught. They had their hearts stolen right in front of my eyes… I couldn't do anything at all." I didn't know how to react to this at all… the poor woman. I can't believe the Heartless did that to her and her family… I got up and embraced her in a warm and friendly hug. The woman's eyes widened at the hug but nevertheless hugged back. "T-thank you for the comfort…"

"No problem… I'm very sorry you had to see your family suffer like that. It must have been very hard…" I released the woman as she nodded grimly. "It was… but luckily I was able to save my niece before sending her away to another world. I nearly escaped my home before it disappeared completely off the face of the universe."

Upon hearing those words, I couldn't help but wonder about what the mystery woman said – mainly, about her niece. She had sent her to another world a long time ago… was it possible… no, it couldn't be true… I couldn't be this woman's long-lost niece… but then again, I did find myself alone and without memories in Twilight Town a couple of years ago… it's very strange, but for some reason I can't help but wonder if what the woman said is true.

"Anyways… I'm really sorry if I bored you with my history tale." She apologized but I shook my head. "Don't worry about apologizing. It was actually a pretty interesting story… it made me feel like comforting you again with a hug."

"O-oh! Thank you… Little one, I neglected to tell you this but the Heartless are also stationed here on Pure Heart. Currently, the streets are very quiet without any signs of human life whatsoever. Our group's headquarters is not very far from here… normally, the civilians would wind up in their homes and make sure to not come out until the all clear is given. However, since you are a new arrival, I have to take you to our HQ until the chosen one or the company that Vanessa spoke in her letter arrives."

"Chosen One? The Company?" I asked with confusion since I had no idea what she was talking about.

"I shouldn't have to tell you this right now… but better late than never: According to the legends, the Heartless have great fear of only one weapon – the Keyblade. However, only those that have a strong heart can wield such a weapon… unfortunately, a Keyblade Wielder has been sighted in centuries. Until yesterday when we received a vision: it was foretold that very soon a wielder would find him or herself on Pure Heart and helps us drive back the Heartless menace. So far… no signs of the mystery wielder. I can only pray that he or she comes very soon and helps up resolve this crisis." The mystery woman explained to me as I nodded. "As for this 'Company' you mentioned?"

"Basically, a letter from an old friend called Vanessa arrived three days ago. She is going to send help in the form of her two children: Bloom and Lyra. We're expecting them today." The woman explained as I nodded.

"Alright, we've wasted enough time in this alleyway. Are you ready to go?" The mystery woman asked as I nodded immediately.

Seeing as how I didn't have any choice in the matter, plus the Heartless might show up out of the blue and attack me… on the bright side, at least I didn't have to sleep outside today.

"Alright. I want you to stay close to me and don't wander off… Ummm…" The mystery woman scratched the back of her head and then I realized something – I never did tell her my name! "It's Asuka. Asuka Kizaki."

The mystery woman froze up and looked at me with her eyes widening. Ummm… did I just say something wrong?

"Excuse me… are you okay?" I asked the woman as she snapped out of her mind stupor. "W-wha…? O-oh! Y-yeah… I'm fine… just a little confused that's all… Anyways… pleased to meet you Asuka. I've discarded my real name a long time ago… but these days I call myself: Shenmi." I took a note at the mentioning of "discarded my real name" – I can't help but wonder what Shenmi's real name is. I don't know why… but for some reason I feel like this woman and I share a connection. How is that possible though?

"Ready to move, Asuka?" Shenmi asked me as I nodded.

The two of us began to leave the alleyway and make our way through Pure Heart towards the place where Shenmi and her people were. In my mind, I was still curious about Shenmi and who she really is… for some reason, she feels very familiar to me. But how is that possible? I never met her before… plus, I've lived in Twilight Town for most of my life.

And then it came back to Shenmi's tale of how she lost her family and had to send her niece away… was it possible that I was the mystery niece? It couldn't true… I can't be Shenmi's niece… Yet, I'm still wondering about that.

But what I didn't even get to thinking about was my adopted family and their current status… I didn't even realize that at this very moment Hana was somewhere far away from where Pure Heart was.

(Meanwhile…)

The sounds of an echoing waterfall slowly filled the sleeping Hana's ears as her eyes slowly cracked opened. Looking around, she found herself laying on a stone platform. "W-where am I…?"

Getting up, she examined her surroundings very carefully before concluding that this wasn't Twilight Town or her home at all. "What is this place?"

It was then that she realized that someone very special to her wasn't here at all. "A-Asuka…? ASUKA! Where are you!?" She screamed for her adoptive sister but there was no answer.

Hana fell to the floor and hugged her face in her legs as tears began to fall from her eyes. "A-Asuka… I'm so sorry… this is all my fault… if only we were strong enough to pass through the darkness together…" She whispered quietly as sobs could be heard.

She only wanted one thing – to see the outside worlds with her adopted sister and older brother… yet fate had to guide her into using the darkness to escape from Twilight Town and drag her siblings into this. She prayed that Asuka, Isamu and her mother were alive and well on a world that was safe and sound.

Hana was so busy sobbing that she didn't even pay attention to her surroundings – mainly, the fact that a mysterious stranger cloaked in the shadows was watching her from afar with her lips twisting into a seductive but manipulate smile.

Things were about to get very interesting, it seems…