"Good morning!" Yuffie called out as she bounded into the guard tower the next morning.
"Good and morning should never be used in the same sentence," Sammie complained good naturedly, turning to face the other girl.
"Come on, meeting at Merlin's. let's go," Yuffie said, motioning toward the door.
"About what?" she asked, Yuffie had way too much energy for it to be this early.
"You," was the one word reply as they walked toward the old wizards house.
"Figures. Leon is a blabber mouth," she muttered as they reached their destination. "Ahh, have we been talking about me?" she asked, noticing that the conversation stopped the second she walked into the room.
"Of course," Cloud said from his position beside Aerith in a large arm chair.
"Figures. Let me guess, blabber mouth over here," she said, pointing to Leon who was leaning against the wall, "Told you guys what happened last night, am I right?" she said, crossing her arms over her chest.
"That he did. How long has this been going on?" Merlin asked as Sammie sighed and rubbed her eyes, sitting down on the table.
"I first noticed something different a few months ago. I noticed that it was easier for me to heal, and instead of draining me, it began to energize me like it used to do. Then one day I was on guard duty, bored out of my mind I decided to try this," she said, waving her hand and causing a portal to appear. "I haven't had the courage to actually walk through it yet. The fact that I actually made one appear…" she broke off, shaking her head as if to clear her head.
"And you didn't tell anyone why?" Merlin asked when she stood up and began to pace around.
"I don't know. Things were going so well that I just didn't want to fuck anything up. I'd already done enough damage by even joining them in the first place. Here," she said, calling her weapon to her and examining it.
"Can I?" Cloud asked, standing up and walking over to her.
"Go for it," she said, handing the blade over to him as Leon walked over.
"It's a good weapon," Leon said, taking it from Cloud and running a thumb over one of the thorns.
"Careful, the thorns are poisonous," she said warned, glancing over at the two men.
"Why does that not surprise me," Cloud said with a chuckle.
"What else can you do?" Sora asked, walking up to Leon and Cloud who were still fascinated with the blade.
Sammie laughed and focused her energy on Sora, who soon found himself tied up with vines and unable to move. "Any other questions?" she asked as he struggled to free himself.
"Just one, how do I get out of this?" he asked, calling the keyblade and still finding himself unable to move.
"That's the fun part. The more you struggle the tighter it gets. I used to have so much fun with this," she said, waving her hand and the vines disappeared.
"Glad I never had to battle you," Sora said, rubbing his arm where the vines had been.
"It would have been an honor to fight against the wielder of the Keyblade. What's wrong with me? Why is all this coming back? I thought that part of my life was over," she said softly, hugging her arms to her chest and glancing over at her weapon, causing it to disappear in a burst of leaves.
When no one in the room offered an answer, she sighed and turned to leave, Leon and Cloud on her heels as she walked out into the morning sun.
"Does Axel know about this?" Cloud asked once they were out of ear shot of the house.
"He found out last night. Came to visit while I was on duty and I told him to leave but he kept bugging me until I told him what was wrong, well showed him is more like it. He seemed genuinely shocked and said he'd snoop around see if Xemnas was up to something or if them coming back is just a fluke," she said, glancing over at Leon who looked slightly hurt that he hadn't been told anything about what had been going on.
Sora had just walked outside when a portal appeared and a figure in black stepped out. He charged toward the figure, keyblade in hand, but Sammie put her arm out, stopping him in his tracks. "What?" he asked, confused as he looked from his friends to the intruder.
"What do you want?" Sammie asked tiredly, unamused by the intrusion.
"Xemnas wants to see you," a voice said, pointing at her, his face still hidden.
She snorted, "Yeah, like that's actually going to happen," she scoffed, trying to place the voice.
The man in black chuckled, shaking his head slightly. "I knew you weren't going to come with me willingly, but I seem to have a bargaining chip."
"And what exactly would that be, Xigbar," she asked, addressing the figure once she figured out who he was.
"A certain friend of yours. Good thing I was following him last night other wise we never would have found out about your returning powers. He could be killed for that, Xemnas plans to turn him over to Saïx if you don't come along," Xigbar explained, pulling his hood off and facing a woman he hadn't seen in years.
"Axel," Sammie said softly, unable to believe that Axel had been stupid enough to not realize that he was being followed.
"The one and only. Are you coming?" he asked, an amused smirk on his face.
"I guess so," she said with a sigh as someone reached out and grabbed her hand.
"Don't," Leon said, his eyes pleading with her as Sora looked on, slightly in shock of the new events.
"I'll be fine. Xemnas I can handle. Trust me," she reassured him as she took a step toward her friends, kissing Leon softly. "I'll be back," she promised the small group before walking to Xigbar.
"I've heard that before," Cloud muttered darkly, crossing his arms over his chest stubbornly.
She shrugged and stepped into the portal behind Xigbar, closing it behind her so that no one would follow.