Note: This chapter has been revised as of August 28, 2019.

ElvenPrincess01: Hellooooooooooooooooooooo people of the Fanfiction universe! What is happening?! Lol sorry, I overdosed on some caffeine today *cough cough* I probably should stop drinking so much Mountain Dew. Anyways, my name is ElvenPrincess01. This is my first story so I'm a little nervous about how it will turn out, but I'm excited to be writing my very own fanfic.

ElvenPrincess01: I've had the idea for this story floating around in my head since last year and I've been working on it since then. The idea I first started out with is VERY different from the final version. I reworked most of the entire plot, but the original idea of Kairi becoming an amnesiac is still there.

ElvenPrincess01: I was going to follow Kingdom Hearts canon, but I decided against that and did something (almost) entirely different. I reworked the characterization for some of the characters too, especially Kairi. Kairi is very different from how I originally depicted. She was a little too…grim, hardened, and almost dark, not like a Princess of Heart. She was almost like Riku in a way. So, I changed her character to be more bright and cheerful. I'm quite pleased with how she turned out

ElvenPrincess01: A certain someone was supposed to be here to read the disclaimer…but I guess I'll just have to do that myself.

ElvenPrincess01: ElvenPrincess01 does NOT own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, or Disney in any shape or form. And if she did own Kingdom Hearts she wouldn't put all the games out on different systems. Because she doesn't have a Nintendo 3DS and she is dying to play Dream Drop Distance. Enjoy!

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Prologue

No one knows where Kingdom Hearts came from, but it has been here for as long as anyone can remember, acting as the heart of all worlds. Since all hearts except the ones belonging to the Princesses of Heart contain both light and darkness in them, Kingdom Hearts can give someone the power of light or the power of darkness, depending on the alignment in the person's heart. But the only way this can be done is through the X Blade, the first Keyblade in existence and the most powerful one.

Using the X-Blade the user can unleash the power of Kingdom Hearts, creating peace and serenity, or chaos and destruction. In order to keep devastation from befalling the worlds, seven Guardians of Kingdom Hearts solemnly swore to protect the X-Blade and keep it safe using Keyblades designed after the X-Blade. When a Guardian reached old age, he or she would pick a successor and the successor would become a new Guardian in their place. This tradition continued for many generations…until one fateful day.

Many years ago, one of the Guardians, hungry for power, betrayed the other Guardians. He took the X-Blade for himself and unleashed the power of darkness. However, he unintentionally set free a new form of creatures which seemed to come from the darkness radiating out of Kingdom Hearts. These beings, which were later called Heartless because they lacked hearts, quickly began destroying the world Kingdom Hearts was hidden above and traveled to other worlds to wreak havoc.

The other Guardians banded together to stop their former teammate and managed to get the X-Blade away from him after a long, arduous battle. They used the X-Blade to bring light back to the world, and in doing so, some of the light from Kingdom Hearts was transferred to the Guardians through the X-Blade, purifying them of all darkness in their hearts. These Guardians became the first Princesses of Heart, maidens with hearts of pure light. But the damage was already done to the world—what was once a beautiful and lush paradise was now a desolate wasteland.

To prevent something like this from happening again, the Guardians made sure to hide the X-Blade somewhere no one could find. Knowing that the Heartless that escaped to other worlds needed to be destroyed, the Guardians, and now Princesses of Heart, traveled to other lands. The destroyed all the Heartless they came across and found and trained new Keyblade wielders to continue the cause.

The scared tradition of seven Keyblade wielders protecting the X-Blade was broken, but a new generation of wielders, made up of many more wielders than before, accepted the challenge and bravely went to battle against the rampaging Heartless. After the original Princesses of Heart died, a new generation of Princesses of Heart were born, but they never became Keyblade wielders. In the years since, however, there have been some Princesses of Heart who did become Keyblade wielders.

And so, the cycle continued throughout the years as Keyblade wielders continued to fight against the Heartless, seeking to eradicate all of the creatures from the realms…

Chapter 1: Memory Blank

Kairi POV

It's times like this that I'm astonishingly happy that I lost my memories. As weird as that sounds. Because if I hadn't, I wouldn't be able to witness the magic that is Macalania Woods.

I'm frozen in place, mesmerized by the enchanting beauty of the woods. The whole place seems to glitter like there are fairies flying out of view sprinkling fairy dust all over the place. There must be some kind of magic involved here because there's a giant, towering tree settled in the center of a glistening pond. It's a sight to see, a tree in the middle of a pool of water.

The atmosphere feels so surreal. I could stand here forever.

"Kairi, come on!" Rikku's ever-so-chipper voice startles me out of my reverie. I turn to see her along with Yuna and Paine up the path, waiting for me.

"Sorry!" I say. I completely forgot that we're on a mission here. I jog over to join my companions, my sneakers treading over the soft dirt of the forest floor.

About a few weeks ago, I woke up without any of my memories. I couldn't remember anything, save my name. My body ached all over, like I had taken a rough tumble, and my head was pounding like a bell.

I was lying on the boardwalk in what appeared to be an island, surrounded by tall palm trees and wooden huts, but I couldn't remember how I had gotten there. Everything looked foreign to me. I didn't recognize my surroundings at all.

While I was struggling to regain my bearings, I was found by three girls around my age as they were passing by—Yuna, Rikku, and Paine. I told them about my situation, and they graciously decided to help me to recover my memories. They knew that I had to be from somewhere in Spira, so they suggested that I travel around with them, in hopes that someone would see me and recognize me. I've been with them ever since.

Rikku rubs her hands together with a big smile on her face as we continue into the forest. "Oh, I hope it's treasure!" She giggles happily, a spring in her step.

Yuna, Rikku, and Paine are sphere hunters. While I've been traveling along with the three, I've learned that spheres are items that serve a variety of purposes. They can be used as recording devices, equipment, tools for the creation of sports arenas, and more. I've seen spheres during our adventures together, but nothing about their appearance rings any bells.

"Does it matter?" Paine says. "We won't be able to figure out until we find the Celsius and have Shinra analyze it."

While looking for spheres one day, Yuna, Rikku, and Paine were separated from their airship, the Celsius, while locked in a battle with some LeBlanc Syndicate or something. They've been trying to find the ship ever since with no luck.

Rikku pouts at her. "Hey! Why do you have to ruin my fun? Couldn't you try to be a little more excited?"

"No."

"Well I think you should—ah!" Rikku suddenly disappears behind a thick patch of shrubbery.

"Rikku!" We gather around the spot where she vanished.

"Rikku!" Yuna calls out. "Can you hear us?"

"Guys!" Rikku's voice echoes back to us. "I think we found it!"

Rikku, Paine, and I share a look. Paine pushes back the vegetation to reveal a large hole hidden behind the foliage.

Rikku's standing in there, pointing up at something while bouncing up and down. "Look! It's the sphere!"

Paine jumps into the hole, followed by Yuna, and then me. I look around. We're standing in a small, dank cave. There's another large hole in the low-ceilinged roof, bigger than the one we went through, which allows thin rays from the setting sun to cast a dim light across the cave. In the center of the cave, resting atop a weathered stone pedestal is a blue, nearly-transparent orb encircled by a thick gold band and embedded with a red jewel.

A sphere.

"Wow," I say. "I guess it's a good thing you lost your step then, Rikku."

Her grins widens. "You bet it is!"

Yuna steps up to the pedestal and picks the sphere up. She stares at it for a second before turning around to face us. She raises the sphere above her head in a victory pose. "All right, guys, we got a sphere!"

Rikku jumps up and down in the air, cheering.

"Looks like it's a Movie Sphere!"

The corners of Paine's mouth turn up slightly in what appears to be a smile. I'm shocked. Paine never smiles. I can count on one hand the amount of times I've seen Paine smile since I've met her, and I wouldn't even have to use all my fingers.

But I shouldn't be surprised she's smiling in this situation. While Yuna and Rikku are all about finding treasure spheres, being zealous for treasure, Paine is more interested in the Movie Spheres, since her goal is to learn more about past events that occurred on Spira.

She notices me looking at her and her smile vanishes in an instant. She clears her throat and glances outside. "It's getting late," she says. "We should get back to the camp."

Yuna nods her head. "Right." She sticks the sphere into the leather pouch on her hip. "Let's go."

xxxxx

I sigh as I roll over in my bed for the millionth time that night, unable to sleep. I would do anything to go to sleep already. Even if I do get another strange dream.

I've been having some dreams lately. Some weird recurring dreams. The finer details are a little faint, but I do remember I was standing in the center of a horde of black and muscular creatures that were taller than me and had long antennas and yellow, glowing eyes.

And I was fighting them. I had a weird sword-like weapon in my hand and I was slashing through the creatures like they were paper or something, because they disappeared like ash as I struck them.

I have no idea what these strange creatures were. Or what that weapon I was holding in my hand was.

And that's not the only reoccurring dream I've had.

Not much goes on in it but it's always the same. All I can see is the back of a blurry figure walking away from me. I can't tell if it's a boy or a girl, but I can see they're dressed in black and they have brown hair.

I try to catch up with the person, but it seems like the more I run, the farther they get from me. I try to open my voice to call out to them, but nothing comes out. I can't speak. No matter how hard I try.

The dream always ends there.

I turn over again and look at the others sleeping away in the tent. Rikku is snoring quietly. I smile a little. And she claims she doesn't snore.

I sit up and quietly get out of bed. It wouldn't be a bad idea to visit the spring I passed by earlier in Macalania Woods. I'm obviously not sleeping anytime soon.

I head back into Macalania Woods, remembering the route the others and I took earlier. The woods appear even more beautiful at night. A calm serenity drapes the area, something that only a peaceful night like this can achieve. Insects chatter in the distance.

I take a seat near the edge of the spring.

I can't make any sense of the recurring dreams I've been having. Between the shadowy creatures and the elusive figure clad in black, everything is a mystery to me. But I keep having the same dream over and over, so it must mean something somehow.

A cool breeze blows through and I shiver. Unfortunately, my strapless mini-dress doesn't provide me with the best comfort for cold weather. I lament not having a jacket as I pull the hood attached to my dress over my head. I heard somewhere that if your head was warm, the rest of your body would become warm too.

As I sit there shivering, I hear a slight rustle in the bushes behind me. I sharply turn my head to look over my shoulder, my heart skipping a beat.

"W-Who's there?!" I ask. My eyes frantically search the bushes, but I don't see anything.

Oh crap, I don't even have a weapon.

Desperately, I search around on the ground with one hand while keeping my eyes locked on the bushes in front of me. My right hand grasps a large rock on the ground. I'm not sure how effective it's going to be if I am pitted against a monster like the ones Yuna, Rikku and Paine told me about, but I'm not going down without a fight.

There's another rustle in the bushes again, and Paine emerges from behind them. I breathe a sigh of relief, my fingers releasing the rock back onto the ground. Even though my brain recognizes a familiar friend, my heartbeat is still going a mile a minute from pure adrenaline,

"Hey," Paine says quietly. "Did I scare you?"

"A little bit," I lie. She nearly freaked me out.

Paine strides over to take a seat next to me on the ground. She doesn't say anything. She just stares out across the glistening spring with an unreadable expression on her face.

As long as I've known Paine which, granted, hasn't been that long, she's always been cool, calm, and collected. For some reason I can't explain, she reminds me of someone. I can't imagine why though since I lost my memories and I never met anyone quite like her post-memory loss.

"Couldn't sleep?" She finally asks.

I shake my head. "No, not at all. I keep having these strange dreams, but I'm not sure what they're supposed to mean. I feel that since they're recurring they must mean something. Why else would I keep having them?"

"Hmm…" Paine purses her lips together. "Maybe it's your memories trying to come back to you."

"You think so?"

She shrugs. "Why not? I don't think your memories are completely gone. I think they're hidden deep somewhere, and you just have to be patient." She looks over at me. "Don't worry. They'll come back to you at the right time."

I smile a little. "You're right. Thanks."

"Don't mention it."

Paine and I remain by the spring for about 20 or so minutes, then we head back to camp. I crawl back into my bed and close my eyes.

I have no more dreams that night.

xxxxx

"So, what do you think, Kairi?" Yuna asks me.

My eyes roam the Calm Lands laid out before me. Grassy, hilly plains stretch as far as the eye can see. Off in the distance is a small, bustling village. The entire landscape is picturesque.

"It's beautiful," I say.

Yuna grins. "I knew you would like it. Come on, let's check out the village."

As we get closer to the village, I can see dozens of people milling about at a multitude of stalls. A few Chocobos roam about, free from their pens I assume, since I don't see anyone attempting to round them up. There's so much to take in, so many sights and smells.

"You can go have a look around," Yuna tells me. "The rest of us just need to pick up some items and equipment."

"Really?"

"Yeah, but don't go too far."

"I won't!"

There's a lot to do around the village despite its size. I enjoy playing several different games around the tiny village, and I even get to ride a Chocobo for the first time ever. I'm a little apprehensive initially, since it seems slightly terrifying to ride around on a creature with such a swift footspeed, but the experience is unbelievably amazing. I laugh as the Chocobo streaks across the ground, the wind blowing through my hair. It feels like I'm on top of the world.

Once I think I've had enough excitement for one day, I lie down in the grass outside the village. I know I told Yuna I wouldn't go far, but I can't help myself. This seems like the perfect place to relax. I can't pass up an opportunity like this.

I close my eyes as I lay spread-eagled on the ground. The sun warms my skin. I imagine that I'm on a beach somewhere. I can almost hear gentle waves breaking against the shore.

Why did I think of a beach just now?

I hear a loud whooshing noise and I sit up at the unexpected sound that disturbs the silence. My jaw drops when I see a black, shimmering portal roughly thirty yards away from me.

A figure comes out of the portal, a large and round black anthropomorphized cat towering over six feet tall wearing blue and purple armor.

Huffing and puffing, he immediately runs to the right, in the opposite direction of where I'm lying. He doesn't see me. I ogle him until I see a guy emerge from the strange portal. He only manages to take a few steps before he collapses to the ground onto his hands and knees. The portal disappears behind him.

I look behind myself at the village, searching for Yuna and the others. I don't see Yuna's brunette flipped-end bob, Rikku's blonde braids, or Paine's short, silver locks anywhere.

Should I approach him or not? He might be in need of help.

Before I can think the situation over more, I jog over to the guy. I tuck a piece of hair behind my ear as I peer down at him.

"Are you okay?" I ask.

He pants softly, still on his hands and knees. "I'm fine," he says. "I just…"

He trails off in the middle of his sentence after he looks up at my face. He's staring at me wide-eyed, like he's seen a ghost.

"K-K-Kairi?!"

I stare back at him, then I look over his figure.

He looks like he's about my age, and he has a lanky body, spiky chocolate-colored hair, and bright blue eyes.

Nothing about him seems familiar to me. So how does he know me?

Wait…Could he be someone from my missing memories?

A wide grin stretches across the guy's features and he's on his feet in a second, despite being out of breath just moments ago.

"Kairi! I can't believe it's you! I've been looking for you forever!" He sounds as if a heavy burden has just been lifted from his shoulders.

"You have?"

"I was really worried about you. I thought something bad had happened to you. But it turns out you're okay." The guy frowns. "But what are you doing here? Why didn't you come back?"

"Um…I'm sorry, but I don't know who you are."

He laughs. "Ha ha ha, that's funny, Kairi." He looks to the left, then to the right. "Seriously though, how'd you end up over here? I've never been to this world before…" His forehead crinkles.

I stare back at him. "No seriously, who are you?"

The guy turns his attention back to me, a smile reappearing on his face. "You can stop joking now, Kairi."

"I'm sorry but I don't know who you are. I've never seen you a day in my life."

The frown returns to his face. "Kairi, what are you talking about? This isn't funny."

"I don't know who you are."

"What are you talking about?" Now he sounds upset.

"I don't know who you are."

"Come on, Kairi!" He stares deeply into my eyes. "I know you know it's me! You can drop the act now."

I look over him again. Still, nothing comes to mind.

"Should I remember you?"

"It's me! Sora!"

Sora?

The name doesn't sound familiar at all.

"Come on, Kairi, don't tell me you don't remember me!"

"I…I don't know what to tell you. Who are you again?

"Sora! We're best friends!"

"We're…what?"

"We used to live on Destiny Islands, remember? You washed up on the beach when we were just kids and you lived there ever since. And then—"

"Wait, whoa, whoa, WHOA!" I hold my hands out in front of me. "You're not making any sense right now. What's Destiny Islands?"

"You know, Destiny Islands? Where we used to live?"

I rack my brain, trying to remember if the others ever mentioned a place called Destiny Islands. I draw a blank.

"Where is it in Spira?"

"Spira?" The guy tilts his head. "Is that what this place is called?"

"What do you mean is that what this place is called? You're from here."

"No, I'm not, I'm from Destiny Islands."

"Yes, which is somewhere in Spira," I say slowly.

"No, Destiny Islands is another world. It's out there." He points a figure up at the sky.

I look up at the sky, then back at the guy. "You're saying…Destiny Islands is…out there in space?"

"Exactly. Along with all the other worlds, like Traverse Town, Port Royal, Olympus Coliseum…Of course, you need a Gummi ship to travel to them."

"Uh-huh," I say slowly. There's definitely something wrong with this guy.

"Kairi!"

I look over my shoulder to see Yuna standing at the entrance to the village. She's not looking my direction.

Shoot, I forgot that I wasn't supposed to stray too far away.

Turning back to the guy, I force a smile onto my face and take a step backwards. "Well, I would love to stay and chat, but I have to get back to my friends."

"Wait, where are you going? We have to—"

"Goodbye!" I start to run away.

"Wait! Kairi!" I hear the guy call out to me. I ignore him and pick up the pace, leaving him behind in the dust.

Whoever that guy is, he's off his rocker.

And I hope I don't see him again.

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ElvenPrincess01: And that's a wrap! Some things in the story played out differently than how I imagined them initially, but I like how it turned out in the end. Sora has appeared on the scene, but Kairi doesn't remember him at all, so he's going to be working on trying to get her to remember him.

ElvenPrincess01: Thanks for reading! Things are going to start picking up soon, so stick around for future updates. Like I said, this is my first fanfic, so I'm hoping for some feedback. It would be nice if you could leave a review, but I won't hold it over your heads if you don't.

ElvenPrincess01: So, thanks for reading and subscribe for more—

Sora: Hey, am I late?

ElvenPrincess01: Sora? What are you doing here?! You were supposed to be here at the beginning of the story to give the disclaimer! *sighs*

Sora: Wait, where are we now?

ElvenPrincess01: We're at the end. I just wrapped up the chapter.

Sora: Ohhhh…So do I still get paid?

ElvenPrincess01: …

Sora: Sorry, I meant to be here earlier, but I got caught up sword fighting with Riku andl—

ElvenPrincess01: Show up next time on time, please?

Sora: *salutes* Sure thing, captain! Can I give the closing remarks?

ElvenPrincess01: Why not? You already missed your cue at the beginning.

Sora: Okay! Thanks for reading, Fanfiction people! Please subscribe for more from ElvenPrincess01. She really would appreciate it! Stay tuned for more!

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