Brittany's Point of View

I was so worried about my new parents fighting with my old parents that I didn't even take the time to appreciate the interior of Merlin's home or even Merlin himself. I was more focused on the other person in the room drinking tea with Merlin. Kairi. "Mom, Dad is next door with Yuffie. He told us to get you. He seemed pretty upset with her," Alison said.

Kairi turned to Merlin. "I'm afraid this will go sour. I don't even think Riku will be open to talking," She sighed.

"Fear not. I believe I have a solution. Until you can talk it out, I will send Brittany to a mutual friend. Someone you all trust. Once you have this sorted out, she will be returned to the place that has been agreed upon. That way, she won't be caught in the crossfire. However, lest one of the parties decide to take Brittany without the consent of the other, the identity of this person shall remain with me alone," Merlin suggested.

"Merlin, I don't know what to say other than thank you," Kairi smiled.

"Of course, my dear," Merlin replied.

I wasn't sure what was going on, but I was getting nervous. "I'm not sure what this is, but will it go on for a long time?"

"It shouldn't. Just do what Merlin tells you. You can trust him," Kairi answered. There was yelling coming from next door that you could hear from Merlin's house. "I should go. Thank you again, Merlin." Kairi left.

"Alison, we shouldn't be long, but I'm counting on you to handle Riku and Yuffie until I get back if they come by before me. I'll just be a moment," Merlin ordered.

"Where am I going?" Before I could even finish my question, a cloud of smoke engulfed Merlin and me. When the smoke cleared, we reappeared at the marketplace.

"Something you need?" A male voice wondered. It sounded somewhat familiar, but I could place where I knew it from. As I waved my hand to clear away the smoke, I could see that the man who spoke was an older version of Leon. I became excited and smiled.

"Yes. You see, this is Brittany. Yuffie and Riku and Sora and Kairi are not quite seeing eye to eye right now, and it is my hope to keep Brittany away from that nonsense, but I need someone to take care of her until things can be worked out," Merlin explained.

"Oh. Hey, Cid, Merlin's got a job for you!" Leon called Cid, who was looking at a nearby shop. My smile fell. I remembered that Cid was a little grouchy in the games, which made me nervous meeting him in person.

Cid walked over to us. "What? What is it?" Cid asked.

"Are you daft?!" Merlin shouted at Leon.

"Dang it, you old wizard, what?" Cid huffed.

I flinched at Cid's typical grouchy behavior. Leon seemed to notice. "Hey, I was just messing around. I'll keep an eye on you until your parents are on better terms," He told me.

"Now that we have that settled, I need to be heading back. Who knows when Riku will come knocking at my door?" Merlin stated. He disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"What was that all about? Who's this?" Cid inquired, looking at me for the first time.

"You really can't tell? She looks a lot like her mom," Leon commented.

"Wait, you don't mean- Brittany?" Cid questioned. I nodded in response. "Brittany! You wouldn't remember me, but I knew you when you were just a little thing. Now look at ya. I'm your old Uncle Cid."

I blinked in surprise at his change in demeanor. It was strange to think that Cid from the games had held me when I was a baby. "I'm Leon, a close friend of your mom's," Leon greeted.

"I know. I played the games," I replied without thinking.

"Games? What games?" Cid asked.

"I was on earth where Sora's journeys defeating Xehanort were shown in video games-" I stopped at their confused faces. "And you know nothing about that. Forget I said anything."

"We're just messing with you. We know about the games," Leon smirked.

"Oh," I sighed. My mind was elsewhere. From the time I had entered the worlds of Kingdom Hearts, I had been constantly passed around from place to place. I felt like I was finally somewhere I could belong at school, but then Riku and Yuffie took that away from me. Even if I went back, I would be told who I could hang out with. I felt isolated and alone.

I jumped as Cid's hand fell on my shoulder, tearing me away from my thoughts. "You hungry? I sure am. How's about we go and get some dinner. My treat," Cid offered.

"You don't have to do that," I said.

"Aw, don't be like that. Aren't I allowed to spoil my niece? Leon'll come too," Cid pressed.

"Okay. If you insist," I agreed.

"Perfect. I know just the place," Cid smiled.

"She just met you. You're going to scare her away if you keep pushing too hard," Leon commented.

"Well, maybe you should have thought about that before not having any kids because if you had kids of your own, I might have been spoiling them instead," Cid shot back.

"Why are you bothering me? I'm not even married?" Leon grumbled.

"You're the one making comments about me needing to lay off. I'm just stating the facts here," Cid answered. He didn't seem as scary as I first thought. I hadn't expected him, of all people, to dote on me.

I wondered how many of these people had seen me before I was taken to Earth. I realized that I didn't know how long it had been before Sora and Kairi took me with them. "You okay?" Leon checked.

I looked up to realize that I was so lost in thought that I hadn't noticed they had started to move in whatever direction we were going in. "Yeah. I just have a lot on my mind. Sorry," I apologized.

"Hey, if you're not ready-" Leon started.

"I'm fine," I interrupted as I ran to catch up with them. We walked to the restaurant together.