- Chapter 6 -

Reminiscing

Author's Note:

Okay, fair warning; there are some feels for this chapter, at least in my opinion.

I would like to thank x1gbar for following and faving.

Soundtrack for this chapter: (Note: * means battle music, */ means ambiance)

*/ Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep: Destiny's Union - www. youtube watch?v = MajGnYEi-jM

Sublime City, Sï'Lea's Mansion

Sï'Lea finished packing her supplies, but just as she was sealing her bag, she found her eyes drifting to a framed photograph sitting on her dresser. A photo of herself, Terra, Ventus, and Aqua, taken a month or so before she became a Keyblade Master and left. In the photo, Aqua and Sï'Lea had their arms around each other's shoulders, while Terra had Ven in a friendly headlock.

*/As she looked at the photo, Sï'Lea found her mind drifting back to the day she first met Terra and Aqua...

Flashback

Land of Departure, Castle

Yen Sid stood at the castle steps, with a young Sï'Lea, around eight years old, standing next to him. Her brown hair stopped just above her shoulders, and she wore a purple shirt and black skirt with purple boots.

"Come, Sï'Lea," Yen Sid said, looking down at her. "There are some people here I'd like you to meet."

"Y-yes, Master," Sï'Lea said. Taking his ward's hand, Yen Sid led the little girl up the stairs into the throne room, where Master Eraqus was waiting.

Eraqus had black hair with one lock that hung down on the right side of his face, with the rest pulled back into a spiky ponytail, gray eyes, and a mustache and triangular soul patch. He was dressed in a white, red-lined haori with a hood, along with light-colored hakama. Underneath his haori, he wore a navy blue shirt with a large white X pattern on the front. He also wore gold and black armored boots and a dull blue-green section of armor that covered his abdomen. His face was slightly less aged and unscarred, but otherwise he looked the same as he did in the present.

Eraqus bowed respectfully to his former Master. "Hello, Master Yen Sid," he said. "It has been some time." He looked at the young girl who was shyly hiding behind Yen Sid's leg. "You must be Sï'Lea."

"Yes, sir," Sï'Lea said shyly, coming out from behind Yen Sid. "And you're Master Eraqus, right?"

Eraqus smiled. "That's right," he said. "Yen Sid has told me much about you." He turned to the older man. "I assume you're here to see my apprentices?'

Yen Sid nodded. "That is part of it," he said. "I believe Sï'Lea needs to socialize with children her own age, not just King Mickey and myself."

Eraqus nodded in understanding. "Terra and Aqua are outside right now. I'll take you to them."

With that, Eraqus took Sï'Lea and Yen Sid outside to the training yard, where a young Terra and Aqua, age nine and seven, respectively, were having a play swordfight.

Terra was dressed in a black T-shirt and red overalls with black sneakers, while Aqua was wearing a light blue shirt, black pants, and silver boots. While Aqua was wielding a simple wooden sword, Terra had an elaborate wooden Keyblade. The handle was a dark brown in coloration, same for the tip, and teeth were placed unevenly on both sides, held together by rope, same as the hilt, which had Terra's name carved into it.

Using the Keyblade, Terra swept Aqua's legs out from under her, causing Aqua to fall on her rump with a squeak. After pointing the tip of the blade at Aqua's chest for a moment, Terra lowered it and offered Aqua a hand up, which she took.

"Terra! Aqua!" Eraqus called, getting the duo's attention. "Could you come here, please?"

The two apprentices turned at their master's call and scurried over to him and their guests.

"What is it, Master Eraqus?" Aqua asked. Eraqus gestured to Sï'Lea, who was still hiding behind Yen Sid.

"This is Sï'Lea," he said. "She's Master Yen Sid's apprentice." Feeling a bit braver, Sï'Lea came out from behind Yen Sid and gave Aqua and Terra a smile.

"Hi," she said. Aqua smiled back.

"It's nice to meet you, Sï'Lea," she said. "My name's Aqua, and he's Terra."

"Hey," Terra said simply, nodding.

"So, you wanna play with us?" Aqua asked. Sï'Lea twiddled her fingers for a moment.

"Um, okay," she said. Aqua grinned at that.

"Race you to the summit!" she yelled, and took off running.

"Oh, it's on now!" Terra shot back as he started running as well. "Sï'Lea, you coming?"

Sï'Lea smiled. "Wait for me!" And with that, the three took off together. Both Eraqus and Yen Sid smiled as they watched their respective apprentices run off.

"I believe they're going to get along just fine." */

Flashback Over

Sublime City, Sï'Lea's Mansion

Sï'Lea gave a smile at the memory, holding the photo in her hands.

"Master Sï'Lea?"

Sï'Lea jumped slightly and turned to see Sora standing in the doorway.

"Please, just call me Sï'Lea," she said. "What's up?" Sora entered the room.

"King Mickey wants to know if you're ready to go," he said. Sï'Lea nodded, and that's when Sora took notice of the photo in her hands.

"What's that?" she asked. Sï'Lea showed the photo to him.

"It's a photo that Terra, Ven, Aqua, and I took a month or so before I made Master and had to leave," she said. "It's all I really have to remember them by."

Sora looked over the photo. He recognized the brown-haired boy and blue-haired girl right off the bat, having seen them in the Sleeping Worlds when Xemnas and Xigbar were trying to manipulate him, though he felt he had seen them before then as well. The third individual, a boy around his age, was almost the spitting image of Roxas, though Sora could see it wasn't the same person.

"I still can't believe how much I've missed," Sï'Lea said sadly. "They've been missing for twelve years... my best friends..."

Seeing Sï'Lea's sadness, Sora put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "We're gonna find them," he said. "The King and Master Yen Sid have been searching for them all this time. They're still out there somewhere."

Sï'Lea nodded, a small smile on her face. "You're right," she said. "Tell Mickey I'll be right down."

Sora nodded back, folding his arms behind his head as he did so. Sï'Lea's eyes widened briefly, but Sora didn't notice.

Ven used to do that all the time, she thought to herself.

"Well, see you on the Gummi Ship," Sora said as he exited the room, leaving Sï'Lea to her thoughts.

His mannerisms, his cheerful attitude, even his looks... she thought. He's so much like Ven, it's crazy.

The Highwind

The group of eleven said little as the Gummi Ship sailed through the Lanes Between. Donald, Goofy, and Sï'Lea were seated at the controls, Lea, Max, Mickey, and Nixe were seated on one couch, and Sora, Riku, Kairi, and Hikari were seated on the other. Nixe was looking out the window of the ship.

"I can't believe it," she said excitedly. "I'm going to another world. This is so cool!"

"I know the feeling," Sora said, a smile on his face, but when he turned to Riku, the smile faded. Ever since they had chased Ansem out of Sublime City, he'd had a distant look in his eyes, as if he was reminiscing about something. There was clearly something on his mind. Finally, he moved to ask the question he'd wanted to ask since they fought Ansem off.

"Riku, who's West?" Sora asked. As soon as the words left his mouth, everyone took an interest and Riku came back to the present. Riku sighed and rubbed his forehead.

"She was someone I met when I was working for Maleficent," Riku said. Kairi looked at him with sympathy.

"Did something happen to her?" she asked. "Riku, please tell us." Riku let out another sigh, then continued.

"Maleficent told me that I could find Sora at Traverse Town..."

Flashback

Traverse Town

Riku, then fifteen years old, wandered through the first district of Traverse Town. Several people asked him if he was lost, but he rudely pushed them off. A little creature with white fur, purple bat-like wings, a big red nose, and a red pompom attached to its head flew past him; it was a moogle, something Riku had never seen before. He was so intrigued by the moogle that he didn't notice he was about to run into someone until he did.

Riku looked in front of him to find a boy around ten years old with wild dark brown hair that peeked out from under a red baseball cap that was turned backwards, freckles, a baggy green jacket, blue jeans, and red sneakers.

"Sorry," the kid said as he took off towards the second district. Riku rolled his eyes, but then noticed that his wallet was missing.

"Why, that little..." Riku growled to himself as he ran after the kid. As soon as he pushed open the doors to the second district, he heard voices.

"TJ, you said you wouldn't steal anymore!" a feminine voice said. "What would Aerith say?" Riku looked over the edge and saw the boy he had run into talking to a girl around Sora and Kairi's age; Riku had to admit she was cute. She had brown eyes, a face full of freckles, and her brown hair was tied into two messy pigtails that reached past her shoulders. She was dressed in a baggy green T-shirt with a grey undershirt, white kapris, white sneakers with yellow laces, and a grey hoodie tied around her waist, with a yellow bandana tied around her neck.

"She's not gonna find out!" the boy, TJ, defended. "Besides, we need the munny!"

The girl crossed her arms. "Not unless I tell her," she smirked.

"Oh, c'mon!" TJ whined. It was at that moment that Riku jumped down from his hiding spot, startling TJ.

"Give me back my wallet, kid," Riku said. TJ hid behind the girl, who put her hands on her hips.

"TJ, give him his munny back," she said. TJ gave her a look, but nonetheless stepped out from behind her and have Riku back his wallet.

"Sorry," TJ said timidly as he toed the ground.

"Thanks," Riku said simply before turning to the girl.

"You new around here?" the girl asked. Before Riku could answer, she leaned in extremely close to his face, as if examining him. "Never saw you before. What's your name?"

"Riku," he answered, backing away. The girl gave him a friendly smile.

"Nice to meet ya, Riku. I'm West, and this is TJ," she said as she gave TJ a noogie. "Do you need a place to say." Riku didn't even have a chance to answer before she started speaking again. "Great, 'cause we have lots of room. We stay in this house with a bunch of other kids. C'mon!"

With that, she grabbed Riku's wrist and dragged him towards the direction of their house.

"They led me to this flat that was next door to the Dalmatians' house. It was well-hidden, which was probably a good thing, because all the people there were young."

"Hey, everybody! We're back!" West yelled enthusiastically as she led Riku and TJ inside and locked the door. The front room was an old, simple kitchen connected to a living room with a dark green couch, wooden coffee table, and a small TV with antennae. There were five people who turned to face them.

The first was a fifteen year old girl with long, braided black hair and red eyes, wearing a dress that was decorated with several belts with a skirt that was open in the front, revealing black kapris and dress shoes.

Seated at the kitchen table, working on a blueprint, was a twelve-year-old boy with blond hair that stuck straight up, round glasses, and blue eyes wearing a white T-shirt with a blue sweater vest and red shorts, along with a fifteen-year-old boy who had long red hair tied in a ponytail, wearing a cowboy hat and long trench coat.

Sitting on the couch in front of the TV was a sixteen-year-old girl with red hair and green eyes, wearing a black shirt and green cargo pants, along with a thirteen-year-old boy with blonde hair, a black tattoo on one side of his face, and a short-sleeved jacket decorated with blue flames.

"This is Riku," West continued. "He lost his world too, so let's be nice to him!" The redhead got up from her seat and shook Riku's hand.

"Nice to meet you, Riku. I'm Kim Possible," she said. "That's Lulu, Lewis, Irvine, and Zell." Each of them waved as their names were called. "You can bunk with Lewis tonight." she pointed to the boy with glasses. Riku turned to West.

"So, are any of you related?" he asked. West shook her head.

"Nope," she said in her perky fashion. "But we did all lose our homes to the Heartless. Leon and the guys from the Heartless Resistance check in on us every now and then, but we mostly take care of ourselves. So yeah, we're kinda like a family."

"I only stayed with them for one night, but I learned a lot about them. West lost her home world when she was six, along with all of her memories. Leon took her in and taught her everything she needed to know. She became a sneaky pickpocket and was a bit of a klutz, but only stole from people who tried to hurt her. Zell was a guy who was big into sports and only fought with his fists. Irvine was a bit of a flirt, but gave up on the girls he stayed with, and used a gun in battle. Lulu was the big sister to the younger ones and a talented mage, and used a moogle plush to cast spells. Kim used to be a teen hero in her home world, and still used her skills to fight the Heartless. Lewis didn't fight that much; he was more of a tech guy. He was always trying to invent different things, kept me up most of the night. TJ was pretty tough for a kid, and usually came up with some pretty good plans.

"The next day, I went looking for you, Sora. I met up with you, Donald, and Goofy, and then I took off. After Maleficent found me, so did West. Maleficent offered her the same position as me, and she agreed. None of Maleficent's other allies seemed to trust her. I got into a ton of tough situations, but West would always be there. Whenever we went to the bad guys' home worlds with them, they'd try to kill her. I always thought it was because of her light. She did get on my nerves a lot with her clumsiness and perky attitude, but after awhile she grew on me and I started to like her. It was only after Sora beat me in Hollow Bastion that I understood..."

Hollow Bastion

"What should I do?" Riku asked the hooded man in the Castle Chapel.

"It's really quite simple: open yourself to the darkness. That is all," the figure replied. "Let your heart, your being, become darkness itself." Riku began to emit a green aura as the figure approached him.

"Riku!" the sound of West's voice broke through Riku's trance. He turned to see the girl standing in the middle of the room, with Maleficent firmly clutching her arm.

"West?" Riku said, before turning to Maleficent. "What's going on?" Maleficent snickered.

"You really haven't figured it out yet? This girl has been deceiving you this entire time. She's a spy for the Heartless Resistance!" Maleficent looked down at West. "Now, tell me, my dear. How much did you tell your friends back in Traverse Town? Who is their leader?" West looked into Maleficent's eyes... and spat right in the dark witch's face. Maleficent recoiled in anger and disgust.

"It doesn't matter what you do to me, Maleficent," West said firmly. "I'll never betray my friends." Maleficent let out an angry growl.

"You insolent BRAT!" she yelled as she gave West a good smack across the face with her staff, knocking her to the ground and opening a bleeding gash in her cheek.

"West! No!" Riku shouted as he tried to run to her aid, but the cloaked man held him back as he possessed Riku's body. While he did so, Maleficent opened a corridor of darkness to the dungeons

"One way or another, I will find out what you know!" the dark witch shouted as she threw West into the corridor.

"There was nothing I could do once Ansem took over my body, but the dungeons couldn't hold West for long. She got loose and came back to face Ansem..."

While the Ansem-possessed Riku stood over Kairi's lifeless body, he heard footsteps approaching. He knew right away who it was.

"You never give up, do you, girl?" Ansem spoke, his voice a mix of his own and Riku's, as he turned to face West. The cut on her cheek was still bleeding, but she had a fiery look in her eyes and an angry sneer on her face. In her hand, she held a small silver knife with a black handle, a long yellow ribbon wrapped around said handle.

"I'm only gonna say this once," she said. "Give Riku his body back!"

Ansem chuckled. "What makes you think you can do anything?" he asked. "Do you think he likes you? You mean nothing to him." Tears started to pour from West's eyes, but she tried to stay strong. "All you are to him is a nuisance."

"Shut up!" West screamed as she charged at Ansem. She tried to get close enough to stab him, but Ansem was too fast for her. Ansem raised the Keyblade of Heart in his hands and slashed at her several times. West managed to dodge the next attack and quickly swiped a potion from his back pocket, drinking it before jumping back into battle. She tried to land an attack, but it was so hard to get a decent hit in; she was no match for Ansem, and he knew it.

West circled behind him and tried to steal another potion, but Ansem saw it coming; he grabbed her wrist and threw her hard onto the floor. West tried to get back up, but she was bleeding badly and found it hard to breathe. Ansem loomed over her.

"Pity. You could have been useful, child," he smirked. "I suppose I have no choice but to let the Heartless take you!" With that, another corridor of darkness appeared underneath West, taking her away.

"The corridor of darkness took her to Kingdom Hearts, where I was. We met up with Mickey and took down some Heartless, and that's right around the time you, Donald, and Goofy showed up to close the Door to Darkness..."

Realm of Darkness

While Riku struggled to close the door from his side, he heard a girly shriek and saw one of the Darksides backhand West, knocking her over the edge; West managed to grab onto the ledge, but since she was still weak from her wounds, she wouldn't be able to hold on much longer.

As the door closed completely, Riku turned to Sora. "Take care of her," he said, referring to Kairi. Sora nodded back as the door shut. Mickey readied his Keyblade to seal the door, while Riku quickly rushed to help West, diving and catching hold of her hand just as she lost her grip.

"Hold on!" Riku shouted, holding West's hand. West looked up at him, feeling weak from the blood loss.

"Riku..." she said. "I... I don't think I'm gonna make it." Riku gasped.

"Don't talk like that!" he yelled. "You're gonna be fine!" West gave a small smile, tears in her eyes as her hand started to slip.

"I'm glad I met you, Riku," she said. "Maybe we'll meet again in the next life." With that, she let go of his hand and fell into the darkness below.

"WEST!" Riku screamed, his hand still outstretched as he watched the perky thief fall until she disappeared from sight. Riku pulled himself back onto the solid ground, shaking.

"No..." he whispered, barely audible. He gritted his teeth in anger and sorrow. "NO!" he screamed as he slammed his fist into the ground, tears starting to run down his cheeks.

She didn't deserve this, he thought in despair. West. I'm sorry... I'm sorry...

Flashback Over

The

The ship was silent for a few moments as Riku finished his story, and was only broken by a sob coming from Hikari. She sniffled as two tears traced their ways down her cheeks.

"That's the saddest story I've ever heard," she whimpered, wiping her eyes with her kimono sleeve. Kairi gently patted her shoulder.

"Is West dead?" Sora asked.

"Welp, that's what we thought, since we never saw her again after that." Mickey said, his eyes down.

"She was still bleeding," Riku said sadly. "There's no way she survived."

After another moment of silence, Sï'Lea spoke up.

"We're coming up on another world, guys," she said. Donald and Goofy looked at the screen.

It was Twilight Town.

Author's Note:

Well, here's another chapter down.

Again, West is the property of PrismRain13. Riku's flashback was largely taken from her story, with some slight modifications done here and there.

Now, just in case there are readers out there who don't know who came from what series, Kim Possible comes from, of course, Kim Possible, Lulu is from Final Fantasy X, Zell and Irvine are from Final Fantasy VIII, Lewis is from Meet the Robinsons, and TJ is from Recess.

Please R&R. Until next chapter...