A Heart from the Past

Summary: Sora has a dream one night in his Awakening. In his dream, he's informed by Roxas of other beings sleeping within his heart. Some spoilers.

For Divine Wolfe as she requested it. I hope you like this.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts.

Here goes:

"Where am I?" Sora asked himself. The last thing he knew, he'd fallen asleep after an intense day of Keyblade training with Riku. Now, he was in some dark place with a massive multi-colored tile floor.

"Wait… I know this place…" he whispered. He stared down a person who appeared to be Sora himself. There were also smaller bubbles of Riku, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy, all awake. Sora was the only full body picture, but he was asleep. He was holding his Keyblade too. But there was a new bubble, the picture was of Roxas, his Nobody. There was also a blank bubble next to his.

"Do you know why you're here, Sora?" a voice asked. He knew the voice. It was Roxas. Roxas had been born when Sora had willingly stabbed himself to free Kairi after she'd accidentally given her heart to him. But at the same time, Kairi's Nobody, Naminé, had been born. Kairi had eventually managed to restore Sora to his human self, but Roxas and Naminé were born anyway.

Roxas had then been recruited by Organization XIII for their own personal goals. Naminé had also been used by the Organization. However, with the help of another Organization member, Axel, Naminé had escaped their clutches. Roxas had been used by the Organization for nearly a year before returning to Sora.

A dark vortex appeared behind Sora and he turned to see Roxas, in his street clothes, walk out of the portal. Roxas almost looked just like Sora, but his hair was blonde and styled differently. But he still had Sora's face, build, height, and deep blue eyes.

"No, Roxas, I don't know why I'm here," Sora replied.

"There's someone else who needs you," a new voice replied. It sounded a lot like Kairi. Someone stepped out from behind Roxas. It was a young girl, who even looked like Kairi. But her hair was shorter and black. Plus, she looked more like a younger Kairi. She was dressed in jeans, black sneakers, and a black T-shirt. A white Roman Numeral XIV (14) was emblazoned across the front of her shirt.

"Who are you?" Sora asked. "And why do you look like Kairi? Roxas, do you know her?"

"I don't know." Roxas was gripping his head with one hand. "But something… seems familiar about her."

"I'm an embodiment of your memories, Sora," the girl said. "My name is Xion. I was a friend of Roxas back during his days in Organization XIII. But my existence kept Naminé from piecing your memory back together, Sora. So, in order to help you wake up, I had to disappear."

"You're… from my memories?" Sora asked. Xion nodded.

"Yes, and I'm still a part of your heart, even if I'm not a physical being anymore," she explained. Turning to Roxas, Xion said, "I was friends with Axel too. But he doesn't remember me either."

"But Axel's…" Roxas said.

"He's not gone," Xion said. "He's waiting for Sora to help him. The same goes for six others."

"Others?" Sora asked.

"Yes. But I don't know all their names."

"What names do you know?" Roxas asked. Sora and Xion looked at him.

"What? It wasn't me." Roxas put his hands up in protest. The other two just shared a shocked glance before resuming staring at Roxas.

"But it sounded just like you!" Sora exclaimed.

"I know that!" Roxas retorted. "But it wasn't me." Sora and Xion walked over to him.

"I guess that's one of them?" Xion said absently.

"What…?" Sora started. But the unknown voice spoke again.

"Who are you three?" he asked. "I know one of your voices. It sounds like mine. But I hear a girl's… and another voice."

"Who are you?" Sora called out.

"I'm Ventus," it replied. "But I prefer Ven."

"Okay, Ven," Roxas said. "Where are you?"

"I'm here."

"Where, here?" Xion asked.

"Here in Sora's heart," Ven replied.

"How are you here?" Sora asked.

"You guys ask a lot of questions," was Ven's reply.

"Answer!" Roxas demanded.

Ven's voice sighed and said, "Relax. I'm just making an observation. Anyway, I came here when you were little, Sora."

"You mean…?" Sora asked.

He recalled a faint memory of when he was just four years old. One night as he walked home from the beach with Riku, Sora had started crying for an unknown reason. Riku said that it must be because someone connected to Sora in another world must have been sad. He suggested that Sora reach out to this person and see if he could take away their sadness.

Then, he'd reached a tiny light that had come to him. Taking the light in his hands, its voice, Sora now realized it was Ven, had told him that their hearts were incomplete and that he had to go to sleep for a long time. Sora had worried that Ven was sad about going to sleep. Ven only responded by asking if it would be alright if he could sleep in Sora's heart, to which Sora happily said was fine, as long as Ven would be happy.

"That's right, Sora," Ven replied. "That was me. And I'm still grateful that you let me sleep in your heart. Thank you. I've been very happy since then."

"Having sweet dreams?" Sora asked.

"Yeah," Ven laughed. "Dreams about my best friends. Terra… and Aqua… I hope they're alright."

"The second name sounds familiar," Sora said. "Aqua, was it?"

"Yeah," Ven said. "She's a pretty girl with short blue hair. Terra's a tall, strong guy with brown hair. They're both Keyblade wielders. Well, Aqua's a Keyblade Master."

"What's the difference?" Roxas asked.

"They both took this test called a Master Qualification Exam to become Masters," Ven explained. "But only Aqua passed because Terra had darkness in his heart."

"Is he okay?"

"Last time I saw him, Terra was okay," Ven said. "But Aqua is really the last one of my friends that I saw. I gave up everything for them both."

"Why's that?" Xion asked.

"Have you guys ever heard the name 'Xehanort'?" Ven asked.

Sora jumped in surprise. Roxas and Xion scratched their heads.

"I know Xehanort," Sora replied.

"I've heard that name indirectly," Xion said. "Through Sora."

"Same," Roxas added.

"Well, he was an old Keyblade Master," Ven said. "A creepy old bald guy with yellow eyes and pointy ears. He had this insane plan for this evil Keyblade called the X-Blade. He tried to use me and my friends to get it."

"He wasn't old!" Sora objected. "Xehanort was this guy in his late teens. He became a Nobody named Xemnas and he also turned into a Heartless, but called himself Ansem."

"You must be thinking of someone else," Ven said. "The Xehanort I knew was an old man. Not a teenage guy. Do you know what he looked like?"

"I've only seen a painting of him," Sora said. "But I can describe him. White hair that looked kind of spiky, brown eyes, dark skin. This kind of… confident look on his face. Xemnas and Ansem looked pretty much the same. Except Ansem's eyes were yellow and Xemnas' were orange."

"How tall was he?" Ven asked.

"Tall," Xion said. "Maybe six feet. But I'm guessing because of Xemnas."

"I'd say that," Roxas agreed. "And he was muscular too. I felt his grip once when he patted my shoulder."

"Save for the hair and eye color, you almost described Terra," Ven said. "Xehanort must've done something to him."

"Sounds like possession," Sora said. "He probably possessed your friend."

"Poor Terra… Well, what about Aqua?"

"I only saw her when I was a little boy," Sora said. "And it was only one time. She talked with me and my friend Riku. She asked me to keep Riku from falling into darkness if he ever turned that way."

"Well, you sort of managed to keep your promise," Xion said with a smile. "Crazy things happened to Riku. But he's now back and better than ever."

"That's good," Roxas mumbled. "Even if he did kick my butt." Ven's voice snorted. "What?!" Roxas demanded.

"It's just funny," was the reply.

"It's rare if someone beats Riku anyway, Roxas." Sora patted his Nobody on the shoulder. "Don't feel bad." Roxas just kicked the floor.

"Sora, can I tell you something?" Ven asked.

"Sure."

"The reason you have a Keyblade is because of my presence inside you."

"What?" Sora was stunned. "I thought the Keyblade chose its wielders."

"It does. And that's one reason you can wield one. But did anyone ever show you their Keyblade and hold it out for you to touch?"

"No…"

"Well, that's a Keyblade Inheritance Ceremony. I can sense through you that Riku was chosen that way. Probably by Terra since they're so alike. But Sora, you're a special case. That night you got your Keyblade, it was supposed to go to Riku, that's why he was able to take yours. But the strength of your heart won it back. I was helping you then too. I could tell that you truly cared about your friends. It reminded me of when I had to fight for Terra and Aqua's sake. So, I also summoned your Keyblade back through you."

"Thanks, Ven," Sora said.

"You can wield a Keyblade?" Xion asked.

"Yeah, I trained with Terra and Aqua before we set off on a journey to find Xehanort. Terra was strong, Aqua liked using magic, and I use speed to my advantage. We all had interesting styles that our own Master helped us develop."

"How do you know so much about Sora anyway?" Roxas asked. "I knew even less about him when I was born."

"I may have been sleeping. But I can still sense these things," Ven answered. He was quiet for a minute before saying, "Sora…"

"Yeah?"

"Can you promise me something?"

"What?"

"First off, I need to tell you that I know about the journey you need to go on to save some sad people."

"More sensing things through me?"

"I can hear your thoughts. Simple as that. But anyway, this journey you have to go on… if you can find Terra and Aqua, please tell them I'm sorry. And that I miss them."

"Ven, is there a way to get your heart back to your body?" Sora asked.

"Maybe. But you'd need to take me to my body. And I don't even know where it is. All I know is that it's in some white room. But I have no clue where that is. Aqua might know. Ask her if you find her."

"Okay. I will," Sora promised.

"Thank you," Ven said. If Sora had been able to see Ven, he was pretty confident that he'd see this new friend smiling.

"We'll all be helping you, Sora," Xion said.

"In whatever way we can," Roxas vowed.

"That's right," Ven added.

A light enveloped all of them and Sora was left on the brink of waking up from his dream and from staying in it.

Just as he opened his eyes, Ven's voice whispered, "Remember, Sora, you're the Key that connects us all."

Sora sat up in bed. Thinking about what Ven, Roxas, and Xion had said, he summoned his Keyblade. He had it all because of Ventus. And Roxas and Xion had Keyblades too because of him. He opened his window and felt the fresh breeze pouring in and looked to the sky. It reminded him that there were many worlds out there. Terra and Aqua were probably staring at this same sky too. Wherever they were.

"I'm the Key," Sora mused. Remembering King Mickey's letter that had been sent to him only a few weeks ago, he made a decision. "Those sad people… I'm going to save them. And end their suffering."

Thank you once again, Divine Wolfe. She requested this in a review for one of my other stories and I decided to try it out. I tried to make it longer, but it only turned out to be that long. And sorry that Ven doesn't directly appear. But still, he's present during this.

I know Xion hasn't really met Sora yet, but I wanted to put her in there. She's my favorite Organization member. Plus, she's a part of Sora too. So, what the heck? Also, I just didn't want her in her Organization outfit. That's why she's in street clothes.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed. And Happy Easter.