- Chapter 12 -

The Master Remembers

Author's Note:

Wow, not even 15 chapters in, and I've already got over 60 reviews. I'm so happy!

Okay, now in this chapter, as I said before, we dip a little more into Sï'Lea's old friendship with Terra, Ven and Aqua, such as her first meeting with Ven.

Also, I've been thinking, and maybe Brina Palencia isn't the best choice of VA for Rinoa. Shortly after I posted last chapter, I started "hearing" her as Michelle Ruff (Rukia Kuchiki from Bleach, Yuki Nagato from Haruhi Suzumiya, Sinon from Sword Art Online), and have decided she would be a better fit. Again, you are in no means obligated or forced to "hear" my choice of VAs; they're just friendly suggestions and what I hear them as.

Flashback

Land of Departure

"I first met Terra and Aqua when I was eight, but I didn't meet Ven until years later."

Sï'Lea, then fourteen years old, walked up the steps of the castle with Yen Sid. With Mickey having been forced to put his training on hold to attend to his royal duties, she was currently Yen Sid's only active apprentice.

Yen Sid had brought her to the Land of Departure to become acquainted with Eraqus' latest apprentice, Ventus. Sï'Lea herself was very curious to meet the boy.

As they entered the foyer of the castle, they found Terra and Aqua, then fifteen and thirteen, respectively, already waiting for them with an eleven-year-old boy Sï'Lea assumed just had to be Ventus. While Terra was somewhat less muscular, and Aqua's figure was noticeably less curvy and developed, the two otherwise looked the same as they did in the present.

"Hi, guys!" Sï'Lea said enthusiastically, with a smile on her face. Terra and Aqua smiled, while Ventus, after a moment's hesitation, smiled back. Sï'Lea walked over to Ven and held out a hand.

"Hi, you must be Ventus," she said. "My name's Sï'Lea." Ven nodded and shook her hand.

"Nice to meet you. Just call me Ven." he said. Sï'Lea smiled.

"From what Terra, Aqua, and Master Eraqus told me, something bad had happened to Ven, and he lost all of his memories before he came to the Land of Departure. Still, we bonded and became good friends. Had some good times, even pulled some funny pranks."

One year later, Sï'Lea approached Terra, Aqua, and Ven, a mischievous smile on her face.

"So, guys, I heard from Master Yen Sid that Master Xehanort's coming by later," she said, her hands behind her back. "And I whipped up something special for him."

Terra raised an eyebrow. "What are you up to, Sï'?" he asked. Sï'Lea gave them a toothy grin and produced from behind her back a glass vial filled with a sickly green fluid. Aqua gaped at that and took the vial out of her hands.

"Oh, by Kingdom Hearts, you didn't," Aqua said.

"Is that a stink bomb?" Ven asked, also smiling mischievously. Sï'Lea giggled.

"Yep," she said. "During a little outing to Twilight Town, I managed to collect just enough smelly stuff to make it work. Stinkbug juice, litter box crud, dog poo, and a dash of raw sewage for character. And, of course, I worked a little magic on it." By now, all four Keyblade apprentices were grinning.

"You know we're probably gonna have to do a boatload of chores for this," Ven said, clearly not caring.

"Totally worth it," Terra said simply.

Some time later, Sï'Lea, Aqua, Terra, and Ven were positioned just above the door on the inside of the foyer. The stink bomb was in Sï'Lea's hand.

"Any second now..." Terra said. As if on cue, the door opened, and Master Xehanort walked in, unaware of the four kids above him.

"BOMBS AWAY!" Sï'Lea shouted as she dropped the bomb. Master Xehanort looked up just in time to see it coming, but not in time to sidestep; the bomb exploded on impact, and Master Xehanort was engulfed in a rancid green cloud.

Eraqus and Yen Sid came running in as the cloud faded, and promptly covered their noses in disgust. Xehanort had a blank, if somewhat annoyed, expression on his face, while Sï'Lea and the others were doubled over laughing hysterically.

"If only we had a camera!" Ven said between laughs, tears streaming down his face. "I think I'm gonna pee my pants!"

Eraqus, Xehanort, and Yen Sid all looked up to see the foursome, all four looking stern.

"Those rotten kids," Xehanort said simply.

"Yeah, we ended up having to scrub the stink out of the castle interior, and disinfect Xehanort's clothes by hand (thank goodness he brought a spare), but like Terra said, it was totally worth it."

A few months later, at night, Sï'Lea, Ven, and Aqua were lurking in the hallway that contained Terra's bedroom. Ven was dressed in a set of green pajamas, while Sï'Lea and Aqua were wearing respective purple and blue nightshirts. In Sï'Lea's hand was a plastic can that bore the image of a cartoon man scratching himself with his foot like a dog; it was clearly a can of itching powder.

"Three... two... one..." Sï'Lea said quietly, counting down on her fingers. Right on cue, a stifled yell of discomfort sounded, and Terra came running out of his bedroom, clad only in a pair of red boxers and furiously scratching every part of his upper body he could reach as if he had caught poison ivy. He glared daggers at Ven and the girls, who were stifling laughter.

"Okay, which one of you clowns put itching powder in my bed?!" Terra demanded as he continued scratching, while Ven, Aqua, and Sï'Lea were too busy laughing to answer.

"Ooh, was Terra red. And not just from the scratching! Of course, when he calmed down and showered off, he admitted that it was kinda funny.

"Those three were my closest friends. Which made it all that much harder for me when I passed my Mark of Mastery exam and was immediately dispatched to Sublime City as its guardian. None of us were sure if we'd ever see each other again."

Sï'Lea, now seventeen, sat on the edge of the summit with Terra, Ven, and Aqua, watching the stars. Sï'Lea sighed sadly, running a hand through her hair.

"I'm really gonna miss you guys," she said. "You're all my best friends, and I'll always cherish the good times we had."

Ven smiled. "Hey, cheer up," he said. "It's not like we're never gonna see each other again."

"You really think so?" Sï'Lea asked. The other three nodded.

"We know it," Aqua said. Terra nodded.

"We'll never say goodbye," Terra said. "We're gonna see each other again."

Sï'Lea smiled at that, and the foursome sat their peacefully, enjoying one another's presence.

"And that was the last night the four of us ever spent beneath the same stars."

Flashback Over

Radiant Garden, The Castle

Sï'Lea finished her story, and the others looked on at her, all visibly affected by the touching story.

A loud sniffle sounded at that, and everyone turned to see Sora, tears drizzling down his face as he wiped his nose.

"Sora?" Max said curiously. "What's going on?" Sora sniffled as he wiped the tears from his face.

"I... don't know what came over me," he said. "Hearing Sï'Lea's story, I just felt really sad all of a sudden."

Sï'Lea looked at him. "Y'know, it's funny, Sora," she said. "You remind me so much of Ven."

Sora looked at her. "I do?" Sï'Lea nodded.

"Yeah. Your looks, your constant cheeriness, you even have some of his quirks. Like that thing you do when you fold your arms behind your head."

Sora looked at her curiously as he did just that. Mickey gasped as he realized that.

"I never noticed until now, but you're right, Sï'Lea," he said. "Sora is a lot like Ven."

Riku looked at Sï'Lea at that. "Sora told me that you had a photo of Ven, and that you showed it to him." he said. "Do you have it with you right now?"

Sï'Lea looked at him curiously for a minute, then nodded as she withdrew the photo from her pocket and handed it to him. Riku gasped as he saw Terra, the man who granted him his Keyblade over a decade ago, along with Aqua, the girl who made Sora promise to watch over him. He did a double take as he saw the boy whom he quickly deduced was Ven. It was the very same boy whom he briefly mistook for Roxas when he dove into Sora's dream six months ago.

"Ven," he said. "Six months ago, I saw him in Sora's heart when I dove into it to free him from Xehanort's nightmare."

"But why would Ven be inside Sora's-" Kairi started to say before the realization hit her. Sï'Lea and the others were also coming to a realization.

"Why would he be in my heart?" Sora asked.

Well, most of the others were.

Riku turned to him and grabbed him by the shoulders. "Sora, that possessed armor you were wearing inside your Dive to the Heart," he said. "Do you remember where it came from?"

Sora thought for a moment, then nodded. "When I was put to sleep by Young Xehanort, I was falling into darkness. I heard a voice yell out, 'I won't let you hurt him!', and then I was covered in that armor before everything went black."

And that was when it hit Sora. Sï'Lea and Mickey were looking at him in surprise, with the others having much the same expression.

"So that's where it's been all this time," Mickey said. Sora placed a hand over his chest, visibly taken aback.

"Ven's heart... is inside me?"

Author's Note:

Well, now they know. Took 'em long enough, huh?

Much of the aspects of Sï'Lea's flashback, such as the stink bomb and itching powder pranks, were borrowed from Star Tours Traveler's fic Reconnect: Kingdom Hearts - The Forgotten Worlds, in which Sï'Lea and Nixe play a major role. All credit for the original goes to him.

From what I've read, Ven first became Eraqus' apprentice four years before Birth by Sleep. Since I previously mentioned my decision on the Wayfinder trio's official ages in my fic, I figured it wouldn't make much sense, since Ven should have technically been ten or eleven when Vanitas was "born," but looks like a teenager. For the sake of clarity, just try to imagine them as being younger.

Please R&R. Until next time.