Introduction:

I've probably sunk 200+ hours into Birth by Sleep, with me playing through all the episodes at least three times each. Suffice to say, it's my second favorite game in the series (for those curious, KH1 is my favorite). For a long time, I've toyed with the idea of retelling the game the way I would want to tell it. Now I've finally made that idea into a reality (sort of).

I've changed a lot about the lore, partly because I don't really understand the plot of the Kingdom Hearts series despite me playing almost all the games and partly because I just want to change some parts. For example, Ven's age in the game is 16, but I changed it to be 14. I feel that he acts a little too young for a 16 year-old. Maybe that reasoning is flawed, but I'm still making the change.

I hope you enjoy. I probably won't finish this, but I have to scratch that fanficiton itch at least once, so that's why I'm posting this anyways.

"Hey! Lightning! Look Here!" Aqua shouted.

"What is it?" Lightning ran over.

Aqua was stretching, as if she were in preparation for something. "I'm – huff – gonna do – huff – a cartwheel!"

"Again?"

Nevertheless, Lightning watched in eager anticipation, her light-pink hair almost falling into her eyes. Aqua ran a bit, jumped into a handstand position, and then flipped her legs over, only to fall down.

Lightning ran over, concerned etched into her young, ten-year-old face. "You okay?"

Aqua sat up as she said, "Uh… yes."

Aqua got up, and with a red face, strutted further down the park path, hoping nobody had seen her failed cartwheel. Lightning caught up and said, "Why do you always keep trying to do cartwheels?"

"I dunno. I'm just exploring some hobbies."

Lightning raised her eyebrow. "What, you're still thinking about that assignment Mrs. Boyce gave you?"

Aqua frowned. "Yeah. I got no idea," she deepened her voice dramatically, 'what I'm going to do when I grow up.'"

She then looked down and placed her right hand on her chest. "And, you know, I sometimes wonder about those warriors."

"The ones with the keys?" Lightning looked at the white and gold castle far in the distance.

"Mom… well… she doesn't really like them, but..," she looked back up, "Oh, never mind."

Lightning quickened her pace. "You'll be alright. I mean, Serah and I get along in life pretty well, and we have no idea what we're gonna do either. And don't-cha know about all the clubs at school?"

"Hey," Aqua twisted her mouth into a wry smile. "Now there's something I can do!"

"And besides, we're still kids, y'know. Adults are the ones who worry all the time."

Aqua looked at the castle. "Yeah..."

With that, the two changed the subject to arguing about who had the favorite color. Lightning insisted that pink was the way to go, while Aqua advocated for blue. Soon they got to the southern outskirts of the park.

They arrived in a clearing edged with vibrant, green shrubs and trees and plopped themselves down on the ground.

"How's Serah's newest cake recip-" Aqua was interrupted by numerous shuffles coming from behind the bushes to her left.

Aqua ran over. "Hey! Wait for me!" Lightning called out as she scrambled to catch up.

No way, Aqua thought. As she peered through the bushes, her jaw dropped. "Look," Lightning whispered. "Keyblade wielders!"

One of the wielders was a girl who hard dark red hair arranged neatly into a bun. The other was a boy with spiky black hair. The two simultaneously traded blows and evaded each other. Though both were interesting, Aqua was enamored with the girl's fighting style. It was graceful, with her leaping to and fro to dodge strikes and almost twirling whenever she attacked. It was as if she were a ballerina or a figure skater. She gave Lightning a quick glance. Is she as interested? Aqua had never told Lightning, but she already knew what she really wanted to be.

The boy then spoke. "Alright. Enough with physical attacks. You know what the Master wants us to do next."

The girl nodded as the tip of the boy's keyblade glowed orange. As he held it up to the girl, the tip started to smoke. Aqua's eyes widened. "I didn't know they could to that!" she whispered hurriedly.

"Wait'll I tell Serah about this!" Lightning said.

The smoke on the keyblade grew into a small fire. He waved his keyblade at the girl, and the fire flew towards her. She barely dodged it in time, and then she countered with a gust of wind from her keyblade. He lunged to the side as it hit a bush — Aqua's bush.

"Eeek!" The two girls squeaked.

The girl slapped her hands to her cheeks. "Oh no! I'm so sorry!"

She rushed over, her face etched in worry, but Aqua shot up unfazed. "I'm fine. I'm fine," she said.

Before the girl could respond, words tumbled out of Lightning's mouth. "Are you two keyblade masters?"

The boy chuckled. "I wish. No… we're just keyblade wielders. What you saw was us training."

"You guys looked so cool. Can you really do magic?"

"Lightning! Didn't you just see that mini tornado?" Aqua quietly reprimanded.

The girl said, "Every keyblade wielder is capable of doing magic. The ability to do so comes from being bonded with a keyblade."

Aqua ventured a question. "How… do you become 'bonded with a keyblade?'"

"You are either chosen by one, or a keyblade wielder performs a bequeathing ceremony with you."

How do either of those happen to me? I can't just ask them to perform the ceremony. That'd be so rude and pushy!

"Do you know about Master Eraqus-" The girl was cut off.

"We'd better stop talking before Richelle enters her walking-encyclopedia mode," The boy said.

The sentence was mean, but Aqua saw that the boy looked at Richelle with a bit of mirth and admiration in his eyes. Richelle rubbed the back of her head with her left hand and let out a tiny laugh. "That's probably a good idea. Besides, the master doesn't want us out here too long," she said as she turned around.

"Wait! Before you leave…" Lightning began.

The keyblade wielders looked at her.

"...could we at least catch your names?" she finished.

He almost seemed to roll his eyes. "I'm Maddox."

She gave him a tiny glance. "And I'm Richelle."

Aqua then gave her and Lightning's names. "Thank you for talking with us!" she said.

The two wielders left. Soon, the sun started to lower.

Lightning turned to Aqua. "Wow! They looked so cool fighting, right?"

But Aqua said nothing. Instead, her sight remained fixed on the clouds above. Her wanting to wield a keyblade used to be a fleeting desire that would come and go, but now…

She knew that the desire was now cemented in her heart.

"Aqua? Are you listening?"

She turned towards Lightning, her hand on her chest. "Let's go home."