The Tale of the Lost

PandaShadow

Meetings

A/N: I figure it is relevant to point out that this takes place after Kingdom Hearts III. The one that doesn't exist yet. So, all spirits forbid, the canon is probably not going to agree with this story. It could kind of be considered AU, and I will not change it to accommodate Birth by Sleep, Dream Drop Distance, or Coded. Honestly, it only really cares about Kingdom Hearts, Chain of Memories, and Kingdom Hearts II. Riku is eighteen. Sora and Kairi are seventeen. Yeah. Life.

It's so interesting editing my old work. Some parts of it are exactly the same as how I would say them now, but others make me wonder what on earth I was thinking. Anyway, DISCLAIMER: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, and I make no profit from writing this story. If you steal Meera or my plot, I will be very upset with you. So please don't.

Enjoy!

Dear Sora, Kairi, and Riku,

I hope you are all doing well! I know you just returned home again a little while ago, but I have another job, and I need all three of you for it. I don't want to explain much, in case this letter doesn't make its way to your islands. Some information I need to tell you should be kept from falling into the wrong hands.

Organization XIII, in its earlier years, had an ally (though he only was an ally in order to keep them from attempting to exterminate him) who will remain nameless until I can speak to the three of you in person. It is a problem we need to deal with, so I will give you a method of transportation to meet with me. A portal will open for you in the same place that you originally left the islands. Don't worry; it will take you to somewhere all three of you are quite familiar with. In three days, enter the portal; I will meet you at your destination.

Sincerely, King Mickey

"I'm sorry, but King Mickey hasn't been here in quite a while," Cloud explained to the teenage trio. Sora and Riku sighed in unison.

"Well what are we supposed to do? We came all the way from Destiny Islands! Why would he send us another letter, but then not show up?" Sora asked, exasperated. Zoning out to let Sora handle the problem, Riku looked around the room they were in and took in all of the changes since he had last been there.

The floors were a polished, dark wood. The walls, matching the floor in color, were covered with large, intricate windows. The whole place was brighter, casting away the dreary feel it had for so long. Eventually, he tuned back into what Cloud was telling Sora.

"You three can stay here while I try to contact King Mickey. We have plenty of rooms. Just make sure you stay quiet if you go on the fifth floor," Cloud explained. The trio nodded and, as Cloud walked away, decided to make themselves at home. Riku left to go and look around, while Sora, in all of his curiosity, wanted to find out just why he needed to be quiet on the fifth floor.

Incidentally, Meera awoke with a start at the sound of someone falling off one of the lifts. She winced as she remembered the time that she fell off of that very same lift, but the thought of falling brought her thoughts to the events that had taken place the night before.

Meera blinked a few times and wiped her eyes before getting up and out of her bed. A bitter smile made its way on her face as her bare feet planted themselves in her soft, crimson carpet, the very carpet she had thought her feet wouldn't be able to bury themselves into ever again.

She shivered from a slight breeze coming in from an open window somewhere. Making her way over to her large, mahogany dresser, she pulled out a shawl to go over her bare shoulders, effectively killing two birds with one stone: being warmer and covering up her scar. She walked out into the hallway, jumping slightly as her feet touched the cold, wooden floor. There was a boy with spiky, brown hair rubbing his bum at the end of the hallway, right by the lift.

"Um," she hesitated. "Are you okay?" Meera asked, receiving the boy's full attention. He looked about her age and had dark blue eyes that sparkled with life.

"Oh no! I'm fine! Ah ha. Hahahah," the boy replied, awkwardly waving his hands in front of him. He squinted his eyes as a large smile shined on his face. "I'm Sora! It's nice to meet you. Are you the reason I'm being quiet?" he asked loudly. Meera blinked her eyes twice, her face blank of any emotion.

"You are the opposite of quiet. And my name is Meera. It's nice to meet you too," Meera replied. Sora opened his mouth to say something back, but the lift lowering and rising caught the attention of the duo. A girl with burgundy hair and a creative, pink outfit came running off the lift, panting.

"Sora!" she exclaimed in between breaths. "I heard you fall from all the way down on the first floor! You are supposed to be quiet!"

"You aren't being quiet either!"

"At least I tried!"

"Excuse me," Meera interrupted, "but I'm going back to my room now. The two of you are giving me a headache." She turned on her heel and walked back into her room, content with knowing who the noise came from.

She returned to her mahogany dresser and pulled out a mid-thigh-length black dress with long sleeves. She brushed her shoulder-length, red hair and folded up her black shawl and nightdress. She quickly looked into her mirror to make sure her entire right shoulder was covered – and it was. She pulled out a pair of black, ballet flats and, after slipping them on her feet, picked up her dirty clothes and carried them into the hallway. Sora and the burgundy-haired girl with him were gone, so Meera carried her clothes to the lift and arrived with them in her arms on the first floor.

"Meera!" she heard a voice call to her. "Have you seen Cloud?"

The speaker was a woman with black hair flowing to the middle of her back. She wore all black leather, and her name was Tifa. Meera shook her head. "No, I haven't. I was looking for him too. Let me know if you see him?" Tifa smiled and nodded, walking past her.

Meera kept walking in the direction of a large, gold, double door. Above the door was a sign that read "Laundry." After leaving her laundry in the possession of a blue fairy named Barkeep, Meera exited the room and tilted her head at the sight before her eyes.

"You mean to tell me that, through all of your adventures, NEVER ONCE did you bathe or wash your clothes?"

Sora was being yelled at by the burgundy-haired girl Meera had seen earlier.

"Well, I did go in water when I visited Atlantica," Sora replied in a guilty voice and scratching his head. The girl huffed before noticing Meera watching them with her head tilted and her eyebrow raised. Sora uttered a "Huh?" and turned around. Sora and the girl both wore deer-in-the-headlights expressions.

"Are you two, like, dating?" Meera asked, straightening her neck. The girl blushed a shade rivaling the burgundy color of her hair, and Sora waved his hands awkwardly again – clearly a nervous habit – while he let out a nervous chuckle.

"No! Of course not!" Sora answered, calming back down. Meera just stared at them, her eyebrow still raised.

"Sure, whatever you say," Meera replied, pushing the subject to the back of her mind. "Anyway, I don't know your name," she said to the girl. "I'm Meera." The blush slowly receded from the girl's face and she looked more aware of the things going on around her.

"Oh! I'm Kairi."

"Kairi. Cool name. You guys know Cloud, right?" she asked. The duo nodded. "Have you seen him recently?" They shook their heads. Meera sighed and looked around the entrance room.

"What are you guys talking about?"

Meera's eyes widened at the sound of that voice, and she quickly scurried out of the room and outside of the castle. 'I suppose I could go get some ice cream from Uncle Scrooge. I know that couldn't have been him but, that voice. It sounded just like him,' Meera thought.

"Hey Meera! How are ya?" she heard a female voice ask. She stopped and turned around, seeing her favorite shinobi. She had short black hair and wore a black and white headband; her name was Yuffie.

"I'm fine. Have you seen Cloud?" Meera asked. Yuffie's almost-always-present smile grew and she nodded.

"Aerith was talking to him a little while ago. He said he was going to the gummi dock," Yuffie explained. Meera nodded and Yuffie walked with her to Merlin's house, where she would wait for Cloud.

"How have you been, Meera?" asked a woman with long, light brown hair in a braid. She always wore red and pink and had bright green eyes. "We haven't seen you in a while."

"I've been fine I guess. It's only been a few days. Squall still silent?" Meera asked the woman, Aerith. The brunette smiled and Yuffie laughed in response to Meera's question.

"You know how much he hates it when you call him that, right?" Yuffie reminded Meera, still laughing a bit. Meera nodded, about to make another comment when the door opened and she spun around. She was a little surprised to see Cloud and a small mouse walk into the room.

"Is this her then, Cloud?"

A/N: Well, I am still having fun. The next chapters might get changed a bit more than these first two did. And they will probably also start to get longer sometimes soon. But we'll see. There are some parts where I wish I could add more description, but it would require too much change of what I already have, which I am not particularly keen on doing.

Anyway, let me know what you think, and I'll update the next chapter soon!

C. E. Taylor