Through out the universe there are thousands of worlds each with their own customs and beliefs. Most think that their's is the only world out there. This belief makes them arrogant to varying degrees. The world that was by far the most arrogant was known as Delphi.

It is a lonely world covered mostly in forest and swamps. There is only one city and housed in the center of that city is the source of their great arrogance.

The people of Delphi do not live their own lives. In fact they are little more then wiling slaves to the creature they all worship. Every decision is made by an omnipotent being. The oracle decides everything from when and what to plant to when and whom will marry. The decisions of the human statue are never disputed and never wrong.

Every year the temple holds a festival. The children are each allowed to ask one question (a right usually reserved for adults with "important" questions).

One girl in particular did not know what to ask. To her, her life was perfect. Her mother and father loved her and although her sister was annoying as hell, she was still her best friend.

During her turn she asked nothing, but instead the oracle spoke directly to her first, something that in its self was unheard of.

"No matter how hard you try your sister can not escape her destiny. It is written in the stars. Knowing this will not stop you from trying. So if you want to free her you must find him that was never born. He that was created to be the source of the greatest power of the universe. He and only he, in some shape of form, can release her."

The words shook the girl to the core but she would not realize the significance of them for many months.

Just shy of a year after the oracle's horrifying prophecy their was another festival, this one more solemn and jubilant then the last one was by far. It was, in a way, both a funeral and a birth. The old oracle had used up it's life force to give the people answers. It was a heavy sacrifice that never went unnoticed but their always had to be an oracle. If not the very fabric of the universe would unravel (or so the natives believed).

No one outside of the temple had ever seen the ceremony that converted an ordinary person into an extraordinary being. That was the degree. The rule. But as most know children do not follow the rules.

The blue haired girl was standing just out side one of the many windows that looked into the oracles sanctum. And what she saw would haunt her dreams for the rest of her life. For this was the second nail in the coffin. This was the second piece of the puzzle. A puzzle which when completed would give her a perfect view of her destiny.

"I don't want this! I don't want this!" Screamed a dark haired boy, no older then Aqua herself. He was being held down by a two priest while a third had him by the hair forcing his head back. He head priest knelt down and spoke in a voice that was meant to be calming but in fact had the opposite effect.

"It's okay. It will soon be over. It will all be over." He said pouring a vile of liquid down the boys throat. The boy immediately went limp then stiffened until he was in a sitting position.

When the head priest moved from in front of him, Aqua could see his face. Forever still as the rest of him. Except the eyes. His sky blue eyes, although unmoving, were full of life; full of knowledge.

Unnatural knowledge.

Sleep is gentle and kind, for even when you are in the throes of a nightmare so vivid you wake drenched in sweat one thing is always true: the dream is not real. You will always wake eventually, and often not even remember the nightmare.

Reality is not so kind. It is always real. What takes place in reality can never be undone and often the things we wish most to forget can never be forgotten.

Aqua knew this, she knew it well, but there, wakening up on that old lumpy sofa she realized something: it didn't matter. None of it did. Wither or not Ansem's words were simply a figment of her imagination, didn't matter. Each syllable had been another crack in her already glass heart.

They had lost. Terra was dead. So was Ven and Aero and everyone else. She couldn't even remember the end of the battle, all she knew was that she was last. Aqua had watched Ven die. She had watched him beg, watched him plead with her to fix it. But she couldn't. She had saved Terra instead. She had done it for her sister, but Stunts was dead too.

It was all for nothing. Everything. When she heard that she screamed and ranted. She had called Ansem a liar. She had called him every name in the book, Including going so far as to indirectly insult Terra by insulting Ansem's parentage.

It had not been until Ansem and his acquaintances (who's names she didn't know) had left, that she realized a horribly shocking truth. Ansem had no reason to lie. Not to her. Not about Terra's death, and if he had been telling the truth about them…

She truly had failed.

Deep within her heart a cold snake grew, for she finally understood his words. She was alone. Forever alone.

In order to give the grieving girl some privacy, Sora, Riku and the others decided that it would be best to work with Tron and his search engines. Their was a lot that nether Mickey or Ansem knew. Things that had to be known.

Mostly it was just an excuse to keep busy. If they allowed their minds to wander they would wonder about the girl. How they would act in her position? What could they do to fix it, to make it all better?

The answer was nothing and they all knew it. Their was nothing they could do to help. They could not resurrect the dead. They could not turn back the hands of time. All they could do was help her move on with her life. It was a poor consolation, but it was all they could give.

"Is it just me, or have you guys noticed that no one can give us any real information. I mean what are the Chasers and who was that girl?" Riku wondered aloud.

"It's not polite to talk about people behind their backs. If you want to know so bad why not just ask?" A voice sounded from the doorway, causing everyone to turn and look.

It was the girl, just as they had seen her last, except instead of that bulky armor, she wore something else. The new outfit was just as conspicuous as the armor had been but only in a different way. The shirt was a black sleeveless turtle-neck with violet straps across the chest and a cinched torso and sleeve like gloves. She wore plain black shorts and leggings.

But the most noticeable thing about her was not her outfit, or even her blue hair as some might imagine. No it was her eyes. Eyes that were made for smiling showed nothing but grief. Oceans of grief.

"I understand that you have questions, but before I tell you my story I would appreciate it if I could at least know your names." Her voice had a sort of regality about it that Riku found to be slightly intimidating.

"I'm Riku."

"Hey, I'm Sora. Nice to meet you."

"I'm Kairi."

The girl looked slightly surprised at hearing Kairi's name but she obviously hid it well, for no one gave any hint that they noticed.

"I'm Aqua."

"Well since you know everyone here, I would greatly appreciative it if you tell us what happened. I'm sure everyone has questions." Ansem said, coming up from behind the group.

"What do you know?" She asked, fishing for a place to start.

"We know that Terra was Ansem's son and that he was a Chaser that disappeared ten years ago but that's it." Kairi said.

At the sound of the red head's words Aqua's head whipped around and her jaw almost literally dropped. Once she processed just what the girl's words meant she looked at Ansem out of the corner of her eye. The former DiZ was shaking his head slowly and mouthed something to her.

Riku was not the only one who caught this exchange but he was the only one with a good enough view to read the scientist's lips. She doesn't know. Don't say anything. What was it that Kairi didn't know? Did it have anything to do with the way Mss Izzy was acting back on Destiny Islands?

He was so caught up in his own wonderings that he almost didn't notice Aqua take a deep breath and begin her story.

"I was twelve when my sister and I ran away from home. It was either fight or run and even though I had a keyblade at this point, my skills were nowhere near par. So I chose to run. I knew I couldn't run far but I had to try. The day I left home a keyblade master had come to town. At the time he was one of thousands. Every world had at least one, some as many as a dozen.

"I was in a hurry to get away so I snuck aboard his Gummi ship. My sister and I barley even breathed in fear that we would be discovered. It didn't matter, as soon as we were in space he walked right over to our hiding spot and said; "You can come out now. The coast is clear."

"Eros took us to the Chaser's home…"

"That's got to be at least the third time someone's said something about the Chasers, but no one's told us what they are." Sora said, cutting her off.

"Remember how I said that every world had at least one keyblade master? Sometimes a keyblade would chose someone in a world that didn't need him. Maybe it was a peaceful world, or maybe they had too many keybladers already. These extra people could then become Chasers. Not all did, but some.

"Chasers lived on a different world and were always training. In short the Chasers were the best of the best…. "She trailed off then started again on her story.

"As I was saying, Eros took my sister and I to the Chaser's home world and introduced me to the leader of all keybladers: Thanroe."

She paused to catch her bearings fore telling this story so soon after learning of her friend's deaths was more then simply taxing. It was agony. But It had to be told and she was the only one who could.

"Thanroe? But I thought he was the bad guy." Commented Sora.

"He is." She replied, slightly annoyed with the interruption.

"Thanroe saw potential in me. He allowed me to become a Chaser and since he already had an apprentice, he placed my training under one of his students who had already completed his apprenticeship. I was lucky. One of the best things Thanroe did was to select the best Chaser to train me.

"While Terra and I worked on my swordsmanship, my sister studied mechanics. Within three years of us arriving there she was in charge of creating and maintaining a fleet of Gummi ships.

"Right around that time I finished my training and took on a trainee myself. Ven was an odd one. He just appeared one day with no memory and a lot of skill. Despite his lack of memory, he learned quickly.

"During the six months it took to complete his training, Terra, Ven, and I went on several missions and got quite a reputation…"

"A reputation? Ha! You guys were famous. No one thought of the Chasers with out thinking of you three." Lea injected, earning a slight sad smile from the warrior.

"One day Thanroe gave us a mission. He had gotten word that someone was intending on opening the way to Kingdome Hearts. Our job was to discover the identities of the seven princesses of heart and tell him so that he could send Chasers to protect them.

"Because time was of the essence, we split up and all went well. Then we got a message from Terra asking us to meet him as soon as possible. He had evidence that Thanroe was using our information for his own means. That he was the one planning on opening Kingdom Hearts. We could not allow that especially because of the means he was willing to use to do it.

"We told all the keybladers we knew of his tertiary. Some believed us, but some did not. Eventually the believers and non believers went to battle. In the end it was only Terra, Ven, and I against Thanroe and his apprentice. We fought as hard as we could but…"

She paused with a confused look on her face.

"But I can't remember the end. Obviously we lost but the last thing I remember was Ven getting attacked and Terra getting angry. Very angry." She whispered almost more to herself then anyone.

"That's curious. A few years after all this I came across several people that I knew to be keybladers. Against my better judgment I asked them if they knew what happened to Terra. I knew that I probably didn't want to know, but I asked anyways.

"Their answer surprised me. They clamed to have no memory of the keyblades or Chasers or even Thanroe." Ansem said.

"I wonder if that has anything to do with why Aqua can't remember what how the fight ended." Sora said.

"That's a possibility." The scientist replied.

Aqua wasn't listing. She had too many things on her mind. What was she to do next? Why couldn't she remember?

"So what do we do now? We know that Thanroe's behind this latest group of attacks." The silvered haired one said.

"Then I will join you. He is only alive because I failed last time. It's my job to put it right."

"Is this about putting it right or getting revenge for what happened to your friends?" Riku asked. He was worried for her. If her reason's where for revenge then the darkness could take her and at her current state of mind she would not be able to fight it off. She would be consumed forever.

Aqua's ultramarine eyes narrowed at the comment. She did not like being denunciated by her friends let alone this boy who could barely remember her name.

"My motives are none of your concern. I am coming with you be it for revenge or to be a hero. What is your concern is how much of a bitch you will make me on this journey. This hasn't exactly been the best week ever for me so forgive me if I don't take kindly to a stranger's criticism . Now I'm going to get some supplies just let me know when you're ready."

Aqua walked out leaving a stunned crowd in her wake.

"She's not vary nice."

"Myde, shut up."

"Hey Aero, guess what." Blaze said as he appeared behind the oracle.

"What?" She asked as if humoring a small child. It had not been a good day for her. Their had been several petty disgusting people asking advice on how to become even more despicable. Because of the curse the bound her, she had to heed their wishes. Sure she had the option of advising in sub par riddles, but that was little consolation on being an unwilling accomplice.

"I have a new ability…. I can now become a shadow." He said, obviously proud of himself. Aero didn't know how to respond. Had he finally lost it?

"Umm, Blaze? You've been stuck like that for ten years."

"No. I mean I can change my outline so now I can look like anyone else's shadow. Do you know what this could mean?"

If they could, Aero's eyes would have widened to the diameter of desert plates as she processed the possibilities in her mind.

"Oh. This is unexpected. So who did you spy on first?"

"Aqua. I was kind of worried that she wouldn't be found."

"So how is she?" Aero asked solemnly. She could probably guess the answer but could still hope that it was different.

"Your didn't take to well to the fact that you're dead. She didn't like that the same could be said for your prince and Blondie." Their was a slight accusation in his voice, Aero felt it. She felt the same way, but what else could she do?

"Over all though, she took it better then we thought she would. No one attacked. She did call Ansem some pretty bad names and was a right bitch to that Riku kid, but not too off par for her on a bad day. " He paused for a moment then said in a whisper: "You think maybe deep down she knows the truth?"

"Maybe in her heart, but as long as she listens to her head we'll be fine."

In another world, not so far from our heroes…

A boy with blue-black hair tied back in a bandana sat on his bed with the lights off. He concentrated on the palm of his hand until a small ball of light appeared, about the size of a golf ball. Focusing all of his energy he forced the ball to become bigger and bigger until it was the size of a soft ball, a basketball, and finally a beach ball.

Tired, the boy closed his eyes and went to sleep with a triumphant grin on his face; unaware that across town his brother was doing the exact same thing.

Oddly enough, Aqua kind of reminds me of Ash from Final Fantasy XII. Just the was she talks and carries herself. (that has nothing to do with the story, just a random fact)

But seriously, I freaking love that girl. Finally a princess that is FAR from a damsel in distress.

For some reason this one doesn't seem up to par. Oh well.

So know we know that Aero is stunts. Don't think that's the only surprise I have in store for you.

Next time on Digimon, Digital Monsters…Oh, sorry wrong fandom.