I hope you guys are enjoying this story.

Auditions for the audiobook of "Sweet and Salty Days" are still up, so if you'd like to audition, you can message me or check out the casting call page for the project.

Kingdom Hearts (c) to Disney and Square Enix!

Final Fantasy (c) to Square Enix!

Chapter 21: Colorful

This was not the shy girl they met at the beach.

They remembered her in her soft white dress and loose blonde hair.

But now she wore her hair in a long ponytail under a pale blue beret. Instead of her white dress, she wore a white shirt, a yellow skirt, and frilly socks. But the thing that threw them off the most was the pair of glasses on her face.

"Nice to see all of you."

"Oh my gosh! You look great."

The girl giggled, pushing up her glasses. "Thank you."

Captain Mercedes walked over, giving the girl a kiss on the head. "Hey sweetie, how was your day?"

"It was good."

"Um," Aqua tilted her head.

Mercedes laughed. "I mentioned I had four daughters. I adopted Naminé a few months ago. Now, where are your sisters?"

"I'll go get them." Naminé jogged down the hallway.

"You look surprised." Mercedes smiled.

Terra nodded. "Well, we weren't expecting it."

"When I was a pirate, I found many people in need. Including three girls who needed a home. I took them in. And when I came back home, and I met another young girl who needed a home, I offered to take her in as well. Naminé was excited to see you three. She said she didn't know you as well and wanted to get to know you more."

Coming back, Naminé smiled as three older girls flanked behind her. "Everyone, meet my sisters."

A girl who looked to be about 19 years old, dressed in a pink shirt and red skirt with short red hair and bright blue eyes, gave them a nod. "Hello, my name is Shelke(1)."

"Hey there!" Grinned a girl about Riku's age with black hair under a blue hat. "Name's Kyrie(2), but you can just call me Rie."

The third girl, who seemed about the same age as the first girl, smiled softly, blonde hair and yellow-furred rabbit ears bounced as she looked at them. "My name is Lilja(3)."

"I'm Terra."

"Hello, my name is Aqua."

"Name's Ventus. Call me Ven."

Kyrie threw her arms around Naminé's shoulders with a laughed. "So, you're some of the friends Nami's told us about? We've only ever met that cute guy that's got a crush on Nami."

Naminé's face immediately turned as red as a tomato. "He doesn't…"

"Oh yeah he does." Lilja laughed.

"Who exactly are you talking about?" Ven smirked.

Shelke snickered. "His name is Riku."

"Really!?"

"He doesn't have a crush on me!" Naminé cried out, pulling away from Kyrie.

"And you toooootally don't have a crush on him."

"Shut it!"

"Girls, girls." Mercedes laughed a little. "Leave your sister alone. And anyways, dinner will be here soon."

"Did you order?"

The woman smiled. "I asked the castle staff to send up a large dinner for eight."

"I'll get the table ready." Shelke headed for the kitchen with Lilja tagging along behind.

Naminé sighed. "Sorry about all that."

"It's fine." Terra smiled. "It's nice to see you settled in. Last time we saw you, well the first time we saw you, you were really shy."

"I know. My family has really helped me come out of my shell. Kyrie is always happy to help me with art ideas. Lilja also helps me with my schoolwork. And Shelke convinced me to try out ballet."

"Really?" Aqua grinned. "That's great."

The girl blushed a little. "It's been hard. There is a lot to do. I go running every morning and do some strength training too."

"Maybe we could help with that."

"Yeah, that would be fun."

Naminé looked at them, her eyes shimmering. "That would be great!"

Knock-knock-knock!

"Dinner's here!"

The next morning, Naminé slipped out of her room, only to find Ven waiting for her.

"Why are you up?" She whispered.

"You said you run early in the morning." He grinned. "I thought I'd join you."

A soft smile crossed her face. "Alright. Follow me."

Quietly, the two went through the castle, running only into some guards and some staff. All waved to the girl as she passed by.

"You're like a princess."

"Kinda." She giggled. "I've been staying here since after the islands."

"I heard you and Ansem the Wise had a bad history, so I'm a bit surprised."

She nodded. "We did, and the only reason I came here is because I didn't really know where else to go. But Ansem gave me space, as did Even. Ienzo helped me out a lot my first weeks. I never really knew him before, so we got to know each other. He's a great friend."

"I'm glad." Ven stretched as they reached outside. "I don't know your route, so lead the way."

Nodding, the girl took off down the stairs, Ven following right behind her.

He kept pace with her, at times pulling ahead with a laugh.

At her halfway mark, they slowed to a walk.

"You have a lot of energy. You remind me of Sora."

"How exactly did you know Sora?" Ven asked.

The girl's smile faded. "I… I hurt him. At one point I used my powers to change his memories. I felt lonely, and the Organization wanted Sora's power. So, I changed his memories, replacing Kairi with myself. All those feeling he had for her, they turned to me, but it wasn't real, and I knew it. I hurt him, and it took a long time to fix what I'd done. And in the process, other people suffered, like Xion and Roxas."

"Oh, I'm sorry." He sighed. "I wish I could've been there to help."

"Thanks." She stood up. "Shall we keep going?"

"Yeah."

Later in the day, Terra found Naminé sitting in the castle courtyard, drawing.

"Naminé, I never got to thank you."

She glanced up. "For what?"

"Your voice was the one who reached out to me. Or to part of me. You told me the others were in trouble."

"Oh," a soft smile crossed her face, "I was just doing what I could. I didn't know what I could do to help from inside Kairi's heart, but then I ran into Sora. And I reached out to you. Honestly, I was happy to help. I felt a little useless."

The young man sat beside her. "I can understand that. I was trapped as that heartless, just watching as Xehanort destroyed everything and forced me to help him. I tried to reach out once, but I don't think Riku recognized me at the time. I'm glad I was able to break free when I saw Aqua and Ven in trouble. And I think it's because of you. You loosened the binds on me when you reached out, I think. So, you did more than you thought."

The girl clutched her sketchbook tightly. "Really?"

"Yeah, you did. I owe you everything. So, thank you."

She looked down at her sketchbook. "You broke free, I just helped a little." Tearing out the page in her sketchbook, she handed it to him. "Here, this is for you."

Terra looked down at the beautiful drawing of himself on the page. "Wow, you're really good."

"I'm still practicing. Mom got me private art lessons, so I've been working on it. I did one for Ven and Aqua too."

"I'm sure they'll love it."

"Thanks, Terra."

"This is a great place." Aqua sat down at the small tea shop in town.

"Lilja found it." Naminé sat down. "We started coming here to do schoolwork sometimes."

"How do you like school?"

The girl looked down at the menu. "Well, technically I'm homeschooled. Mom got me and the others a private tutor. I did try normal school one day, but I got overstimulated really fast, so she thought it would be better if I did private lessons."

"I can understand." Aqua looked down at her own menu. "So, do you like ballet?"

"It's nice. I like it better than I thought I would. Do you dance?"

"No, but I figure skate." Aqua looked up at her. "My mother was a professional skater at one point."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

After the two ordered their drinks and some small cakes, Aqua sighed. "So, I heard that our world was called Castle Oblivion for a time while we were gone."

"Yeah."

"And you know it well."

The girl nodded. "I arrived there after I was made. The Organization found it and took it over, using dark corridors to navigate without losing themselves, but even they found it overwhelming after a while. I was alone there for a while… and I hated it. And the Organization exploited that, threatening to leave me completely alone."

"I'm sorry." Aqua moved to change the subject. "How do you feel about Kairi's condition, especially being so close to her?"

"I wish I could help more. I offered to use my powers to help, but Ansem refused." A smile perked at the corners of her mouth. "He feels very guilty about how he treated me and made me use my powers, so he won't let me help because he doesn't want me to feel uncomfortable."

"Do your powers make you feel uncomfortable?"

"A bit."

The older girl put a hand on her shoulder. "Well, I'm happy you're not alone anymore. You have a great family here, and we can see that they love you dearly."

"And I love them too."

"And you don't have to use your powers anymore."

Naminé nodded. "Yeah. Though, I do wonder what good I could do with them. I'm not comfortable yet, but I think they can be used for good. And maybe I can use them to help find Sora."

"Maybe, but only when you're comfortable."

"Heh, you sound like my mom."

"I… get that a lot."

The next day, the trio stood outside the castle with Naminé.

"Thanks for coming."

"It was nice to get to know you, Nami."

The girl smiled warmly. "It was so nice to get to know you too.

"You should come visit our world sometime." Ven grinned. "I think you'll like the castle much more now."

"Riku showed me pictures. I'd love to come."

"You're welcome anytime."

She nodded. "I'll be sure to come by."

"Well, see you soon."

"Goodbye."

"Bye."

Footnotes:

1) Yes, this is Shelke from "Final Fantsay: Dirge of Cerberus", but I do have it that she can physically age unlike how she is in the games.

2) This is Kyrie Canaan from "Final Fantasy VII Remake".

3) Lilja is an NPC from "Final Fantasy XIV". She is a viera.

VAs:

Shelke Anaya-Ryi- Kari Wahlgren (Shelke the Transparent, Celty Sturluson, Saber)

Kyrie Anaya-Canaan- Erika Harlacher (Kyrie Canaan, Ann Takamaki, Kurapika, Venti)

Lilja Anaya-Sjasaris- Sasheer Zamata (Adria, Jade, Helenor, Sally, denise, Anaya, Kara)