Riku: Oh, no... She's come back to torture us again!

Sora: No fair, Blu!! I thought you left Kingdom Hearts alone after you popped KH2!

Blu: Nope.

Sora: Okay, what inspired you to start a KH fic--

Riku: --Which you will most likely delete--

Sora: --Again?

Blu: Nothing in particular. It's just that while I was along the lines of rewriting little sketches of previously discarded stories of mine, I wound up attempting to rewrite Twilight.

Sora: ...The Namiku fic?

Riku: (Blushing in a corner)

Blu: Of course, this rewrite, came out very differently. Darkness is a way bigger element in this story!

Riku: If it's ever finished. Which is unlikely, by the way.

Blu: Must you be so mean?! (T.T) You ought to be grateful that I'm pairing you up with a cute girl like Namine--the closest you'd ever get to Kairi! I've had enough of you. Bring out the random moogle!!

Sora & Riku: The...what?

Random Moogle: (Pops up in-between Blu and the boys) Kupo! Miss Blu Rose does not own Kingdom Hearts or the Final Fantasy series, as well as any other series that she uses in this story, kupo! They all belong to their respective owners, though there have been some changes in cannon knowledge.

Sora: Now on with the fic!! (Gets slapped upside the head by Riku) OW!! What'd you do that for?!

Riku: Because saying that proves we're still under her power.

Blu: Awwww...! You know you like it when I control you!

X-X-X

A scattered Dream that's like a far off Memory...

A far off Memory that's like a scattered Dream...

I want to line the Pieces up...

Yours and Mine...

X-X-X

Darkness overtook her, enveloped her, until she saw nothing. Tears cascaded down her face and off her chin, landing onto the ground, but leaving no mark of its existence. Then, something happened. A thin slit of light appeared before her. The slit began to widen, letting more light through. It chased away the darkness that enveloped her, but not enough to make it disappear completely. A shadow then appeared in the light, in the shape of a human.

"Naminé?"

It held its hand out to her, its outline only visible in the light.

"Naminé..."

She held her hand out to reach its own. Their fingers barely touched--

"Naminé!!"

"Hm?" The blonde girl blinked and looked up from her desk to see a 16-year old boy with spiky blonde hair and blue eyes, wearing a buttoned up white shirt, khaki pants, and a yellow tie. "Roxas?"

"The bell ran minutes ago. School's over," said Roxas as he readjusted the strap of his book bag.

Naminé looked down at her desk, at the drawing of her, in a long, frilled white dress, her fingers about to touch a shadow's as it stood in the light. "Oh."

The blonde teen arched an eyebrow and leaned forward, trying to get a look at her sketchpad. "Uh, whatcha drawing?"

Her blue eyes widened a bit and she hastily attempted to cover the drawing with her arms, her hands hanging over her desk. "Oh! Um..."

The door of the Art classroom was suddenly kicked open and salvation came in the form of a young man with short, pale blonde hair and brown eyes, wearing the same outfit as Roxas. At that moment, Naminé was grateful for Hayner. "ROXAS!!" He shouted, in the middle of removing his tie, "The summer has begun!!" Then the door slammed back into his face, sending him back into the hallway. "OW!!"

"That's the third time that's happened, Hayner," a boy's voice spoke outside.

"Shut up, Pence!!"

"I guess this just isn't his lucky day," a girl's voice spoke.

"Grrr...!"

The door then opened again and a 16-year old girl poked her brunette head into the classroom, the two ponytails that hung down her face swinging as she looked at the two blondes. "Hey, Roxas! You coming or what?"

"Coming!" Roxas called out to the brunette, Olette, before she disappeared back into the hall. He then looked back at Naminé, who had immediately shoved her sketchpad into her single-strapped book bag. "See you later, Naminé! Have a great summer!" The blonde boy then ran out of the room, leaving the blonde girl alone. "Hey, guys! What do you want to do today?" She heard him in the hallway.

"Duh!! It's the first day of summer, so let's hit the beach!" Hayner spoke with gusto, having recovered from his blow to the face.

"Don't you think we should start our class project first before we wind up forgetting about it? Again?" Olette asked.

"Today was the last day of school!! We deserve a little fun to let off some stress!"

Naminé got up from her seat and sighed. 'Summer vacation again...' She slipped on her book bag and glanced out of the window for a second before she exited the classroom.

X-X-X

"So, what're you doing for the summer?"

"Me and my family have to go away--visit the relatives."

"Let's hit the mall, later! I need a new bathing suit..."

"I keep telling you, Hayner, we need to do our homework now if we wanna enjoy the summer!"

"If you want to do work, go to summer school, then, Olette!! But if you wanna act like a normal teen, we'll be at the beach! ...Hey, don't give me that look! We can do it next week!"

"You say that every school year and we always put it off for the last days of summer!!"

"Aaaahhh!! Hey, quit it! Stop, Olette!!"

Naminé passed through the chattering students over to her locker and opened it. 'Everyone has something to do for the summer, or someone to hang out with...' She bowed her head, bangs falling in front of her eyes. 'Everyone except for me. Except for quiet, shy Naminé.' She shoved all the books that were in her locker into her bag, as well as the drawings that had been attached to its door. She was in a hurry to get out of school as quickly as possible. As soon as the blonde girl closed the locker door and turned around, an arm stretched out and slammed against the lockers behind her head, making her jump slightly in shock. She looked up at the owner of the arm.

"Hey, Naminé."

"H-hi, Seifer."

With short, white blonde hair and ice blue eyes, Seifer would have been considered as a handsome young man--or he would have been if it weren't for that scar going across his face from the left of his forehead and across his nose. Like most of the boys, he already unbuttoned his shirt and pulled it out of his pants, revealing a black T-shirt, and wore a black beanie on his head. Seifer often alternated between harassing Naminé and hitting on her ever since he hit puberty. Standing at the lockers at the other side of the hall were his posse, Fuujin and Raijin--a purple-haired, red-eyed girl who spoke in one-liners and a dark-haired, tan-skinned, tall and muscular boy whose sentences often ended with "y'know".

"So what're you doing for the summer?" Seifer asked with a smile--or what would be considered as a smile to him.

"N...nothing." At the moment, Naminé was wondering if she could slowly inch away from Seifer without being caught by Fuu and Rai.

"Really?" The scarred boy leaned forward, causing her to lean back against the lockers. "You wanna spend it with me? My parents are outta town...so I've got the house to myself." He leaned even closer, close enough for him to notice the beads of sweat that were beginning to form on the exposed part of Naminé's forehead. "I'd love...some company."

"S-s-sorry, but... I have a job for the summer! I can't spend the day with you, Seifer!"

Seifer smirked. "Who said anything about spending the day together?" A paper ball hit him in the back of the head. He turned around to glare at the culprit. "Alright, who's the wise guy?!" Another paper ball hit him in the face, courtesy of Roxas. A blush crept onto Naminé's face while a frown appeared on Seifer's. "Beat it, chickenwuss. Can't you see we're busy here?"

"She doesn't want to do 'business' with you, Seifer," Roxas spoke, narrowing his eyes.

"Oh, yeah? Well, what does she think?" Seifer looked behind him to find that Naminé was gone. "What the--?! Where'd she go?!"

X-X-X

"I can never tell if Seifer really likes me...or if he just likes to embarrass me..." Naminé muttered to herself as she quickly walked down the streets of Twilight Town, holding on tightly to her book bag. 'If he weren't such a jerk most of the time, I'd think--' Her thought went unfinished as she bumped into someone and dropped her bag. "O-oh! I'm sor...ry." She looked up at the tall, cloaked figure, but couldn't see their face, since the hood of the cloak was up. But if she didn't know better, she'd think that man was staring at her. Disturbed by his silence, the blonde girl immediately picked up her bag and ran off, mumbling another sorry.

The cloaked man stared at her back until she disappeared down the hill. He turned around and took a step forward...and felt his foot step on something. He looked down and saw sketchbook underneath his foot.

X-X-X

The bell that hung on the door of a shop rang lightly as Naminé entered. She was still wearing her school uniform, the white blouse, yellow tie, and yellow skirt. "Vaan, Penello!! I'm here!"

An 18-year old girl popped up from behind the counter up front. She had long, blonde hair that was styled into two long ponytails and wore a sleeveless green blouse with several orange stars on it, an orange skirt, and green sneakers. "Hey, Naminé! How ya doing?"

"I-I'm fine..." The blonde girl mumbled as she dropped her bag on the counter. Her face then brightened up and she started to smile. "I've got something I want to show you! You know how you were telling me what sort of dress you'd want for that show you're doing on Saturday and we were going over designs?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I've made a few...a few altercations..." The younger girl paused and she stared down into her bag in shock. "Oh, no... Oh, no...! I think I've lost it. I lost it!!"

"Hold on a second! Lost what?!" Penello exclaimed as Naminé held onto her head with both hands.

"My sketchbook...! I lost my sketchbook!" The blue-eyed girl dropped her head, slumping over. "It had all by work for the school year...!"

Penello patted the younger girl on the head. "Relax, Nami... You can always get another one. We can always make a new design."

"But...some of those drawings were close to my heart!" Her memory shifted to her most recent work, and all the others like it--drawings based on her dreams. "They were...my dreams..."

"Hey, come on! What're you whining about? It's just a sketchbook--worth a dime a dozen at your local store," said a blonde young man as he leaned against the frame of the door that was behind the counter. He wore a short-sleeved black shirt with a gray vest that had 'XII' imprinted on the back in faded white, black pants with a red bandana hanging from the right pocket, black boots and fingerless black gloves.

Penello walked over to the blonde guy and pinched him in the arm. "Be quiet!! Can't you see that she's upset?!"

"Owww!! What? She can replace, can't you Naminé?" The black-clad blonde asked, glancing over at the broken blonde girl.

"You of all people should know of the feelings that are linked to a certain item, Vaan." The blonde woman said with a pout.

Meanwhile, Naminé pulled out the one of the remaining drawings from her book bag--a drawing of a heart with a large jagged X crossing through it--and clutched it in her hand.

X-X-X

Later that day as the sun began to set, at a house on the far end of the beach's coast that seemed isolated from the rest of the town, Naminé sat at the window on the second floor, wearing a short white dress. 'Tomorrow is officially the first day of summer... What am I going to do?' Usually, she passed the time by drawing in her sketchbook, but now... She sighed and looked out the window. "Huh?" She looked down at the beach below and saw the cloaked man down below, looking up at her. She blinked and he was gone. The blonde girl shook her head and moved away from the window. 'I'm just imagining things...' She laid down on her bed and gave another sigh. 'That's right, I'm just imagining things. It's not like that man is stalking me.' She closed her eyes. 'There's just no way...'

X-X-X

The shadow held its hand out to her, standing in front of the light. The light seemed a bit smaller than it had before. Wisps of darkness wrapped around her legs and slowly made their way up. Naminé's fingers were inches away from the shadow's. She felt herself slowly sinking into the dark. The shadow's hand stretched out and grabbed tightly onto hers. Surprisingly, its grip was warm. She started to smile...until she saw the darkness that came from the shadow's hand wrap around her arm, enveloping it. It covered her arm at a much faster pace than the darkness that was now at her knees. The darkness completely enveloped her again and all she could see was darkness.

Naminé's eyes snapped open and she found herself breathing heavily, beads of sweat trailing down her face. The blonde girl sat up and held onto her head before she got up and looked through her window pane. She could make out several people in the distance who were on the beach below. "Right... Today is officially the first day of summer. Of course a lot of people are going to come to the beach." Naminé walked away from the window and ran a hand through her hair. Blue eyes glanced at the drawer next to her bedside, where one of the few crumpled drawings she had left was placed. Just about the entire paper was colored black, save for the two yellow circles that stood out in the center of the page--a drawing from her youth, whose subject she was never able to figure out. But then again, she drew plenty of weird things as a kid--doors without doorknobs or keyholes, doors with keyholes but no doorknobs, scribbles of brown and white, red and pink, silver and yellow, and too many hearts to count.

Walking over to the drawer, she opened the top drawer and pulled out her old childhood drawings. The blonde girl stared intently at them, looking through them, trying to remember what made her draw them--what inspired them, but...nothing. Not a memory or recollection of these things. 'Why do I keep these drawings, anyway? I don't even know what they're supposed to mean.' Naminé placed the drawings back into the drawer. She then walked up to the closet and began to look through it. "Now, what to wear to work?"

X-X-X

As soon as she set foot on the beach, Naminé saw people who were intent on starting their summer vacation at the beach. The most familiar was a particular group of teens, where the dark-haired, slightly chubby boy was being buried beneath the sand by his friends.

"Hey! Are you guys done yet?" Pence asked while he laid down on the sand, his entire body covered in it. Roxas, Hayner and Olette were in the middle of sculpting the sand into the shape of a muscular man's body, still trying to make a proper six-pack abs.

Hayner, dressed in a pair of green camo shorts, with a bar of sea salt ice cream in his mouth, muffled out, "Be patient!"

"But my face itches! And I'm..." Pence's stomach growled.

"Uh...hungry?" Roxas asked. He was only wearing a pair of swimming trunks with a white left leg and a black right leg.

The brown-eyed blonde reached into the smaller cooler beside him and pulled out a bar of sea salt ice cream. "Open up." The dark-haired boy opened his mouth wide enough for Hayner to shove the ice cream in it. "Now be quiet while we finish our masterpiece!"

"Mmmphhh!!"

Olette, who was wearing a one-piece orange bathing suit with a large yellow hibiscus in the center, blinked and pulled the ice cream out from Pence's mouth. "What's wrong? Too much sea salt?"

"N-no!! I feel something crawling underneath me!!"

"I'm pretty sure that it's just your imagination," said Roxas. "We made sure there wasn't anything under the sand."

"Then my imagination's pretty touchy-feely--because it's touching my butt!!"

Hayner stared at the chubby teen with half-lidded eyes. He took the ice cream bar from Olette and shoved it into Pence's mouth. "Yeah, right!! You're just saying that because you wanna eat with your hands!"

Roxas looked up and saw Naminé staring at them. "Hey, Naminé!!" As soon as the blonde girl realized that she had been noticed, she blushed and tried to walk away, but it was too late. Roxas was already up and running and by her side. "Hi there!"

"Um...hi," the white-clad girl mumbled as she clutched the bag that the blonde boy recognized as her school bag, blush on her cheeks and a shy smile on her face.

"I, uh... I don't think I've ever seen you outside of school before." He may have only appeared in Twilight Town about a year ago with almost no memory of his past, but he had been there long enough to see almost every member of their homeroom class after school except for Naminé. She was wearing a sleeveless white dress with a pale blue skirt that had triangular frills and white sneakers with pale blue soles and laces. "Where you going?"

"To work."

Roxas arched an eyebrow. "Work? Where?"

"Galbana Games," Naminé replied, shifting the bag in her arms.

"I...think I've heard about that. It's a game store, right?"

"Oh, it's more than a game store!! There are comic books, movies, soundtracks, and..." She trailed off and looked away, starting to blush. 'I feel like such a nerd!'

Roxas smiled and scratched the back of head. "Well, I might go there sometime. There's a game that I've been waiting for that just came out."

"O...okay..." Naminé glanced out of the corner of her eye. She swore she saw a figure in a black cloak standing beneath the shade of a palm tree, looking in her direction. She looked at the blonde teen and smiled, the blush still visible on her face. "See you." She walked away from him, glancing back at the palm tree again. The cloaked figure was already gone.

"Yeah... See ya," he said with a lazy wave.

X-X-X

Several minutes later, Naminé entered Vaan and Penello's shop, Galbana Games. The store front was completely empty. "Hello! I'm here!" She called out as she walked by a shelf of comic books.

"Perfect timing!" Vaan exclaimed as he poked his head out from a row, surprising the white-clad girl. "Here, wear this!" He threw something at her and she caught it in her hand. It looked like a white and red hooded robe with a pair of white and red shorts.

"What is this?" She asked as she looked down at the outfit in confusion.

"That's your costume!"

"Costume?"

"For our big sale today!" Penello chirped as she walked out from the storage room in the back.

"Today is the release of Final Fantasia: Dissidia! And as a special gift to our customers, we'll be selling all Final Fantasia related items for 25 percent off! We're even gonna dress up like the jobs from the game!" Vaan exclaimed with a grin.

"Hm?" Now that he said that, Naminé noticed the outfit that Vaan was wearing: a sleeveless black shirt with black leather pants and his red bandana tied around his head. Penello wore an orange tube-top with long white sleeves and blue-green pumpkin pants, her midriff exposed. "That explains the weird clothing... But why do I have to wear this?" She asked as she held up the outfit.

"What? I thought White Mage suited you, but if you want, I guess you could be a Black Mage..." The blonde man asked with an arched eyebrow.

"That's not what I meant!" The usually quiet girl shouted.

"Oh. Well..." Vaan folded his arms across his chest. "You have to do it. You're the employee and I'm the boss. And as the boss, I'm saying 'Do it or you're fired.'

"Fi...fired?" Naminé squeaked.

Vaan nodded his head. "Yup. Fired."

X-X-X

Naminé sighed as she stood behind the counter, wearing her White Mage outfit. Vaan and Penello were in the back, unpacking some more games. 'I feel even more like a dork...' She attempted to pull down her shorts. 'And this outfit exposes too much leg for my taste!' The blonde girl was so busy trying to pull down her shorts that she didn't notice the door open and saw someone step up to the counter.

"Well, that's a weird outfit." Naminé looked up and saw Seifer smirking at her. He was wearing a sleeveless blue shirt and dark green pants with a long-sleeved white coat that almost touched the floor. For once, Fuu and Rai were nowhere in sight. So that meant she was alone...with Seifer.

She felt her heart drop down into her stomach.

"So, what's the occasion?" The scarred boy asked with an arched eye brow as he leaned against the counter.

'Focus, Naminé! Do your job!' The blonde girl took a deep breath before she started to smile. "Galbana Games is having a special sale in honor of Final Fantasia: Dissidia's release! All Final Fantasia-related items are 25 percent off and a copy of Dissidia is 40 percent off!" She stated energetically.

"Dissidia, huh? ...Okay, I'll take a copy."

"Great!! You won't regret it!" Naminé turned around to take the game off from the shelf that was behind the counter. As she did this, Seifer looked down at her exposed legs for a few seconds and looked up as she turned around, game in hand. "That will be 500 munny, please."

"Yeah..." The blonde teen placed the exact amount of yellow and blue baubles on the counter and took the game from Naminé's hand. No brash comments or lustful looks. No lewd statements about her wardrobe. The white-clad girl wondered if it was because there was no one to embarrass her in front of.

"Thank you for shopping at Galbana Games! Please come again!"

"Yeah, yeah..." Seifer slipped the game into his coat, walked back towards the door, opened it, and looked back at the blonde girl. "Hey, Nami!" He started to smirk. "Nice legs." He then walked out of the store, leaving a blushing Naminé alone.

'Maybe he just likes to make me feel bad...!' The blonde girl sighed and went back to attempting to pull down the short-shorts in vain. She heard the bell ring as the door opened and heard footsteps approach the counter. 'Knowing my luck, it's probably Roxas.' She looked up and saw not Roxas, but the cloaked figure from earlier. She felt her blood run cold. Was this man stalking her? No, no, it was just a coincidence. Nothing more. "May I help you?" She asked after a seemingly long moment of silence.

The cloaked figure remained silent as he reached into his cloak. He placed something on the counter and moved it towards Naminé. It was a sketchbook--more precisely, it was her sketch book. Naminé immediately grabbed the sketchbook and flipped through its pages, seeing all her familiar drawings. As soon as she came to the last picture she drew, she held the book to her chest.

"Thank you so much! I was afraid that I had lost it!" She said as she smiled up at him.

The cloaked figure said nothing. He merely turned around and walked out of the store.

'How odd,' Naminé thought. "But at least that explains why he was following me everywhere. He was only trying to give me back my notebook..."

X-X-X

That night, as she walked home in her normal clothing, Naminé began to notice some papers posted all over the walls and posts, the word 'MISSING' appearing on all of them in large, bold letters. She stopped walking and took the time to look at some posters that were on the town bulletin board. Her eyes widened. 'These...are all people! Usually, the only things that go missing around here are pets and things... And there are a quite few, too.' She turned on her heel and continued to walk down the street, unaware of something small and black scurrying on the roof of a building. 'How weird.'

The little black creature with its inky black skin and large yellow eyes stared down at her, ready to pounce when something pierced its body. The creature disappeared in wisps of black smoke and a glowing heart floated up from its place, disappearing up into the sky. The cloaked figure stood on top of the roof and gazed down at Naminé until she was out of his sight. He jumped off of the building and landed in the spot where the girl stood seconds before, and then walked off in the same direction as Naminé.

X-X-X

Darkness. All she could see was darkness. But then something appeared before her, illuminating the darkness. She was standing again and the glowing object floated in front of her face. It looked like a heart, glowing and shining its pink light in the dark. It wasn't enough to dispel it, but enough for her to see her hand in front of her face.

"Do you see?" A voice spoke, making the blonde girl jump and look around. The voice was coming from nowhere. "Do you see the power of the heart? Though it is surrounded by darkness, it endures and it shines. But, should it ever weaken..." The heart began to flicker like a light bulb and soon, it went out. She was in the dark again, unable to move. "The darkness will overcome it. But fear not..." A light began to shine above her head and she could move again. A path began to light up beneath her feet, leading up to a door where light seeped out from beneath it. "If your heart is strong, you can endure the temptation of the dark." She started to walk up to the light, the path disappearing behind her with each step she took. "Though you will walk between darkness and light, one day..." She reached the door, and with shaky hands, opened it. Light flooded out of it, covering the entire area. Now all she could see was light.

"The way to the dawn will take you where you are meant to be..."

Naminé's eyes snapped open as she kept her head on the counter. 'It's a slow day... Just about everyone in town went to see preliminaries for the Struggle Tournament.' She then heard footsteps again and raised her head. There was the cloaked man, reading a comic book named 'DreamWeaver', flipping through its pages every couple of seconds. 'Everyone except for that guy...'

Penello walked out of the storage room in the back and leaned over Naminé's shoulder. "That guy's still here?"

"Uh-huh."

"He's been here ever since you came in. And he's wearing the outfit during the summer! That's odd."

"Uh-huh."

"By the way, you remember what tonight is, right?" The older blonde said with a wink and a smile. "Yours truly will be performing at the Club DusK tonight!"

Naminé smiled. "Of course I remember! I wouldn't miss it for the world!"

"Great! Remember, me and Vaan'll pick you up around 9:00, so be ready by then."

"Okay." The blonde girl looked over at the cloaked man just in time to see him turn his head away. 'Was he listening in on us? This is getting too weird for me!' "Um, Penello, I'm gonna go in the back to take a break. You mind covering for me?"

The pigtailed woman looked at the empty store. "Are you kidding? I could use a break! Especially since Vaan went out to get those figures..." The younger blonde got up and she sat down in her seat. "A rest would be good."

As Naminé disappeared into the back of the room, the cloaked man closed the comic book in his hands, put it back on the shelf, and walked out of the store.

"Huh? He just left? Without buying anything? Then...what was the point of just standing around in here?" Penello asked herself with an arched eyebrow.

Naminé then walked back into the store front, holding onto her sketchbook. She looked around the store and blinked. "Is he gone?"

"If you mean the guy in the cloak, yes, he's gone."

"Good! That man's been following me for 2 days... I think he's a stalker!"

"That's not good. Maybe Vaan and I should walk you home then go to my place to change..."

It's fine, it's fine!" The younger blonde exclaimed with a wave. "And if you'll excuse, I'm going to the Sandlot to...watch the Struggle Tournament preliminaries for a bit." 'And see if Roxas makes it to the end.' "I'll come back in a while," she said as she ran out of the shop. She looked both ways, just to make sure the cloaked man wasn't nearby, and she ran off deeper into town.

X-X-X

The sun was starting to set in the sky as Naminé walked home from the Sandlot. Roxas had made it through the preliminary matches of the Struggle Tournament. She had gotten to the sandlot just in time to see him fight a match. To her surprise, he was very good at it--almost as though struggling came natural to the new kid even though he'd only been in Twilight Town for a year.

"Hm?" She stopped walking when she came up to the town bulletin board. There were more missing people posters up. She could recognize a few of the lost ones as classmates and teachers. 'More people have gone missing... How could they just disappear out of nowhere?' As far as Naminé knew, there was no place out of Twilight Town. There was endless land and endless sea that always came back to this. They shouldn't have been that hard to find--they should all still be in town. As she stared intently at the posters, a shadow scurried behind her into an alley, out of sight before she the blonde looked over her shoulder and saw nothing. 'This is getting creepy...' She turned around and ran off. 'For all I know, I could be next...!'

A pair of yellow eye appeared in the darkness of the alley, glowing eerily. Then another pair of eyes appeared in the darkness. Then another pair...and another...and another...until there were close to a dozen yellow eyes peering out of the alley as odd sounds could be heard.

X-X-X

Later that night, Naminé stood in front of her closet door, where several dresses hung off of hangers. "Now, which one should I wear...?" She took a dress off of the closet and walked in front of the mirror, pressing the dress against her body. She looked up at the clock on her wall. 'It's after 7:00.' The blonde girl sighed, pouting slightly. 'They'll be here in a few hours. I've still got time.' She went back to staring at her reflection in the mirror when lightning flashed across the sky and thunder boomed, making her drop the dress. 'What?' Just then, the lightning flashed again and the power went out, putting the blonde girl in the dark. "Great... Just great!" She muttered to herself as lightning lit up the darkness of her room and thunder continued to roar outside. She could hear the wind was picking up, too, but oddly enough, there wasn't the calming sound of rain beating against her window that calmed her down during weather like this.

Naminé began to make her way towards the door when she heard the sound of something breaking downstairs. She froze in her spot, the fear in her eyes unseen in the dark until lightning flashed outside, lighting up her room for a moment. Her breath got caught in her chest. 'What was that that? A...burglar?' A thought then ran through her mind: she hadn't bothered to look out her window once since she got home to see if that cloaked man was outside. For all she knew, he could have cut off the power, broken into the house, and was searching for her in an attempt to abduct her--just like he had all those others people...but then she snapped out of her thoughts when she heard another sound from the ground floor.

What could she do? She couldn't climb down her window because she was on the 2nd floor, and the only way out of the house was the front door on the ground floor. Vaan and Penello wouldn't be here for 2 hours, and she may have been abducted before then. She had no choice. Naminé ran over to the closet and began to blindly rummage through it until she felt her hands run over the face of something familiar. She pulled it out and revealed lightning flashed through the room, revealing that it was a tennis racket. 'Now I'm grateful that I bought this thing to practice with. I just hope it's enough for whoever's down there...'

X-X-X

After a few minutes of steeling herself for whatever she might find downstairs, Naminé slipped out of her room and into the hallway. She crept down the hall, towards the stairs. Her grip on the racket tightened each time the thunder sounded off outside. She could hear more things dropping, scratching against the floor. Once she reached the top of the stairs, she could see little yellow dots glowing in the dark. When the lightning flashed outside, the living room was filled with light, letting the blonde girl see several little black creatures that resembled large bugs crawling on the floor, the coffee table, and the chairs, their antennae twitching. Unfortunately, the bug-like things saw her as well, and began to make their way towards her. One of the closest, which was on the stairs, jumped at her, swiping its claws at the blonde girl.

"Aaahhh!!!" Naminé's reaction was to swing her racket, swatting the monster aside with her tennis racket. It hit the side of the wall and dissolved into wisps of black mist, but the mist reformed and took the bug creature's shape again. The others continued to stalk towards the blonde girl and she continued to swing the racket left and right, slamming it down on the inky black monsters, but they kept reforming. She saw that it was futile and that her only choice was to run for the door. She jumped off of the stairs and just barely landed. Naminé attempted to make a run for the door, but the creatures grabbed her legs and she fell, dropping the racket before she hit the ground. They started to crawl on top of her, clawing at her exposed legs and arms.

'Is this how I'm going to die? Killed by monsters?' She thought as she heard the thunder outside. 'I never thought my life would...end like this...'

The front door was forced off the hinges and the black creatures looked up. The cloaked figure walked into the room, the lightning outside making his outline definite. The wind's howl and the rumbling thunder became louder. With a wave of his hand, an odd sword appeared in his hand. It had a black and red blade that resembled a devil wing with a smaller white angel wing on it, a square hand guard, and a black and red trinket resembling a heart that hung from the hand guard on a chain. In the right light, one might say the weapon faintly resembled a key. The cloaked figure held the sword out with one hand and dashed forward. The black creatures jumped at him, but with a few swipes and slashes, they were all easily done away with. He approached Naminé and looked down at her, the weapon disappearing from his hand in a flash of light. She looked up at him with wide eyes from her spot on the floor. He held his hand out to her and she hesitated before grabbing it. He helped her to her feet and they stared at each other.

"You..." The blonde girl began with wide eyes as his grip on her hand tightened.

The house began to shake violently, causing pictures and clocks and other things to fall to the floor. The cloaked man held Naminé close to his body and the blonde girl wrapped her arms around him tightly. Once the shaking stopped, she let go of him and looked up at him.

"Who are you...?"

The cloaked man remained silent. He pulled Naminé behind him as more of the little black creatures came up from the floor, their empty yellow eyes staring up hungrily at the duo. The man grabbed her hand and ran out of the house with her with the bug-like monsters scurrying after them. Once they were outside of the house, the two skidded to a halt as they came to what seemed to be the edge of the beach. Naminé looked down and saw the seawater many feet below them and chunks of land and houses swirling around them. The fragment of land that Naminé's house rested on was now flying up in the air, along with the fragments of other familiar places in Twilight Town.

Naminé fell to her knees and stared at the swirling fragments. "What's happening...?" She spoke softly, her eyes wide with fear. "Are we...in a storm?"

The cloaked man looked away from the blonde and towards her house. It began to break apart, its pieces floating up into the large, black swirling ball of energy in the sky. The fragment of land on which they stood on was starting to crack and break apart. He grabbed the white-clad girl and pulled her up to her feet. With a wave of his hand, a portal appeared before them. It was dark and swirling, black mist rising from the bottom of it. It reminded Naminé of those things, which were now floating up to the large ball in the sky as well.

"Don't be afraid." Naminé looked up at the cloaked man. His voice sounded younger than she had expected. "I won't let anything happen to you."

She didn't have any time to respond as the ground beneath them cracked some more. His grip on her hand tightened and they ran into the dark portal. It disappeared seconds before the land broke apart and it floated up into the sky.

X-X-X

Meanwhile, up in space...

"WAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!! SORA, WATCH WE'RE YOU'RE GOING!!!"

"Huh?!" A spiky-haired, blue-eyed brunette looked in front of him and saw a large meteor hurtling towards them. "Whoa!!" He pressed a button that was on one of the steering handles and fired off a series of lasers from the dual turrets that were underneath the ship. Eventually, the meteor exploded, sending chunks of space rock hurtling out of their way. "Phew!" The brunette gave a sigh of relief as he sank down in his seat. He wore a short-sleeved black and white hoodie jacket that was zipped down, showing a sleeveless blue shirt underneath, black pumpkin pants with a pair of white X's on the knees and black and yellow sneakers. Around his neck was a silver chain with a silver crown pendant. "That was a close one...! Why didn't you guys tell me sooner about that meteor?"

"We did." The short white duck that sat in the chair on the brunette's left huffed. He wore a small blue hat with a blue and yellow jacket, a pair of yellow bracelets and his bottom bare for the word to see.

"You...did?"

"Yeah, but you weren't listening. You just kept staring out the window," said the tallest of the group, a black dog who sat on the brunette's right. He wore a long-sleeved green turtle neck with a black vest, tan pants with large tan shoes, and a small brown hat on his head with a pair of goggles on it.

"I...was." The brunette looked back out of the window with half-lidded eyes.

"What's the matter with you?! I thought you learned not to space out when steering the Gummi Ship a year ago!!" The duck quacked angrily. "Are you listening to me, Sora?!"

"...Another world's gone."

"Huh?" The duck and dog blinked.

"I saw a star go out a while ago. The Heartless took another world."

"Gawrsh, I hope it wasn't any of the worlds we've been to," said the dog.

"Nah, it can't be..." The duck muttered.

Sora looked forward with a smile on his face. "Yeah, you're right!! Let's get going to Hallow Bastion!" His foot stomped on the acceleration and the small red and yellow ship that they were on sped off, darting in-between small rocks and space debris. 'Still...that means another world's been lost to the darkness...'

X-X-X

Blu: And that's the end of the first chapter of Way to the Dawn!

Sora: Wait. That's it?

Blu: That's it.

Riku: Huh. I thought for sure that there'd be a bigger action scene.

Sora: I thought Naminé would get a weapon before her world was destroyed.

Donald: I thought we wouldn't show up.

Goofy: Glad ya remembered us this time, Blu!

Blu: Yeah, well... I've decided that even though this story is an AU, the majority of cannon will remain true. As for Naminé's weapon...I dare you readers to figure out what she's gonna use!! I bet you'll never find out in a month!

Sora, Donald & Goofy: Month?

Riku: Why a month?

Blu: Because I'm not sure how soon this story will be updated again... But since I'm a very scatterbrained person this year, I'll probably be updating this soon. And now, we will present the name of the next world!! Random Moogle!!

Random Moogle: (Walks onscreen holding a top hat and holds it up) Here you go, kupo!

Blu: Thank you. (Pulls a piece of paper out of the hat) And the next world is...huh? Is this a leftover from my original KH idea?

Sora: What? What is it? (Tries to look over Blu's shoulder)

Blu: It says "Ivalice".

Donald: What's Ivalice?

Goofy: I've a lease back home at Disney Castle for my house! Hyuck!

Donald: That's not the sort of lease she's talking about!!

Blu: To find out what the hell this is all about...stay tuned--maybe--for another chapter of Way to the Dawn! Remember to review and give your opinions since they'll determine whether or not this fic will be continued and remember to guess what Naminé's weapon will be, folks! Here's a hint: think Final Fantasy!