All hail the magical lure of the internet! Now that I have it, expect regular updates again as well as a few stories I never had the chance to post!

Timoteo felt a slight pang of regret at what he was about to do to an innocent child. However he had agreed years ago to keep Iemitsu's civilian family out of the Cosa Nostra, and that would never happen if young Setsuna had Sky flames.

The seal he was going to use was a rather obscure one that hadn't been seen in over a century. Something about 'unusual side effects'. However it had been used to successfully seal a Sky flame without any harm to the one it was applied to, according to the records.

For a moment, nothing bad happened as the seal was put into place.

Then a massive black hole opened up from under little Setsuna, sending her falling into a black abyss.

Cold, hard shock appeared on the faces of the two men.

"What...what just happened?!"

Timoteo had no answer, and their search for the missing child would come up empty. Even inquiries to the Vindice, considering the nature of their flames, came up empty.

Nana was beyond devestated that her daughter vanished without a trace, and rightfully blamed her husband for his carelessness in allowing her to be taken.

She didn't know who kidnapped her child, but as she had been out getting groceries for dinner the loss of her daughter was firmly on the shoulders of her husband who had been watching her at the time.

Elsewhere in Namimori...

Kawahira cursed. He had thought he cast all mentions of that damn seal out of any records that would allow anyone to use it.

And now thanks to the incompetence of Iemitsu and the idiocy of Timoteo, the future Vongola Decimo had been forcibly removed from this particular world.

All because a system he had put into place to secure it from an even greater issue.

The Arcobaleno had no idea they were the power source to the barrier keeping the heartless out of this world, just as the Mare Rings and the Vongola rings kept the forces of darkness such as Xehanort or Maleficent from discovering this place and infesting it with heartless or Nobodies.

There was a reason he had settled on the world known collectively as "Elysium".

He had secured it purely to insure there would always be one world safe from the darkness as a last bastion for those that would fight against it.

And now thanks to a seal he had made a point of destroying any records of, the last true Princess of Light was cast out of a world that should have been her sanctuary. There was no way to tell if Setsuna would remain a Princess or not after having her Heart taken from her by the arrogance of her 'family'.

Elsewhere, on another world...

She didn't know where she was, or why it mattered. All she could remember was the sky and how beautiful it was. The sight would move her to tears.

The adults around her spoke in low tones, but they could find nothing wrong with her. Eventually, a couple took her from the strange house and decided to adopt her.

Her fascination with the sky and it's ever changing moods influenced the adults into giving her a name.

Sora.

One night, while she was sound asleep in her bed she had a strange dream. A boy like her had his heart forcibly taken away, and what little was left was falling apart at the seams.

So she offered him what was left of her own fragile heart, which barely had any light left after her sudden awakening in this strange world.

Their hearts connected, and in a strange twist of fate his heart filled the void left by the one she had lost, just as her light filled the cracks in his soul.

Little by little, Sora began to smile again and remember what it was like to be whole. Meeting Riku really helped, because being around him made it easier to recall the sensation of feeling actual emotions.

Just being around him made her feel really happy and warm.

Kairi was nice enough, but Sora liked Riku best. Kairi was more like an older sister than anything else.

Not that either of the other children knew she was a girl. For some reason they seemed to think she was another boy, and she didn't see any reason to correct them. It wasn't like it was that important anyway.

Sora was a pretty normal girl, even if she was a tomboy. She kept her hair short, never dressed up in anything 'girly' like the others and was just as quick to laugh at the gross stuff like frogs, fish and bugs instead of thinking they were disgusting.

By the time she reached thirteen most of the island firmly believed her to be a boy, and never thought anything of it. Her parents were of the opinion that the situation would sort itself out one way or another once puberty hit.

At the very least they got the entertainment of seeing Sora's crush possibly develop into something more once she acknowledged the fact she liked Riku as more than just a best friend.

It was as close to a normal, happy childhood as one could get. And then it all came crashing down shortly before Sora turned fourteen.

They were so close to finishing the raft too.

It took a couple of weeks, but Sora eventually found Riku after the island was lost to darkness.

Sora wanted nothing more than to tackle Riku into a hug. Except...something seemed off about him.

"What's the matter Sora?" asked Riku.

"Riku...who exactly helped you to get to Traverse Town?" asked Sora slowly.

She couldn't put her finger on it, but she had the worst feeling Riku was caught up in something that would hurt him in the long run if she didn't help him.

"That doesn't matter."

"It matters because the last time I saw you, you were being swallowed up in the same force that destroyed our island!" said Sora. "Can you blame me for being a little worried?"

"Afraid I'll be taken down by some heartless?" smirked Riku.

Sora shook her head.

"Yeah, right. If anyone could defend themselves against such low ranked monsters like Heartless, it would be you Riku. I'm more worried about the people who have the ability to control the heartless."

Riku blinked.

"Control them?"

"Anyone with enough power to pull that off likely got that way through treachery and using other people as disposable pawns. And we really don't have nearly enough experience to tell when we're being used like that considering no one was like that on the island," said Sora sensibly.

"Are you worried about Kairi?" asked Riku.

There was an odd note in Riku's voice when he said that, and if Sora had been anyone else she would have dismissed it. Except she had always noticed Riku didn't particularly like how close Sora was to Kairi.

If she didn't know any better she would swear Riku was possessive of her or something.

Sora shook her head.

"I can feel it in here (she patted her heart) that Kairi is in the least amount of danger. Besides, I haven't seen her since the island was destroyed. I'm more worried about you getting into trouble, since Donald and Goofy have been keeping me from falling head first into it," said Sora confidently. "You're too strong and sure of yourself that the odds of you failing to notice you're being manipulated without someone to keep your head on straight are pretty high."

Was Riku blushing? Nah, it must have been a trick of the light... right?

"Don't worry about me Sora. I'll be fine."

Sora smiled at him.

"If I don't worry about you, who else will?"

Now she was sure he was blushing. Not that Riku would ever dare to admit that fact.

Still she couldn't help the sinking feeling into her gut that someone had gotten their claws into Riku. And that it wasn't someone that would ask him to do nice things.

Some time later, after Agrabah...

Sora thought she could put up with a lot of things, but after learning what Genie could do an idea occurred to her. She had always felt...wrong. Like something important had been taken from her and it would take a miracle to bring it back.

A miracle...or the cosmic powers of a recently freed Genie.

"You want me to what?" asked Genie confused.

"I want you to fix what was taken from me as a kid. I woke up when I was five with no memory of how I ended up in that state feeling nothing but cold, and I know something had to be wrong because it took me a year before I could remotely act normal. It's been close to nine years since I was found and I still can't get rid of the cold."

"Doesn't sound like something I can fix," said Genie. "Wishes like that usually require a specific idea of what I'm dealing with."

"Just knowing if it was caused by trauma or something magically based would help a lot," said Sora.

"Now that I can do!" said Genie. Sora was a good kid, and this was minor magics compared to the big stuff...like turning Jafar into another Genie.

He snapped his fingers...and frowned.

"What is it?"

"There's a magical seal on your soul. I haven't seen one of this in centuries, and never on someone as young as you. Generally speaking they only used this on criminals," said Genie frowning. "Hang on a sec while I use my power to get rid of it... no kid should have something like that chaining them down. It would completely ruin their potential, never mind the side effects of having it on."

"Side effects?" repeated Sora alarmed.

"Considering your age, it would delay puberty easily. Would explain why you look closer to twelve instead of fourteen," said Genie.

And considering his scan of Sora, it would likely jump start the less fun aspects of growing up...like her period. He hadn't thought anything of it when he first saw Sora, thinking she was a short boy who was overdue a growth spurt, but now that he knew she was a girl that seal was raising all sorts of red flags. If she still had that on when she turned sixteen it could have caused irreperable damage and likely have rendered her sterile at the very least.

A few uses of cosmic powers later, and the seal was gone...and a bit of the long-term damage was discreetly fixed. He had little doubt Sora was going to be in for a rough month or two while she hit a few overdue growth spurts on top of the 'fun' of maturing into a proper female.

Which was why the first stop after Genie removed the seal and fixed the damage...was straight to Traverse Town to find Aerith and Yuffie.

It was going to be an...enlightening...conversation for many involved.

With Aerith and Yuffie...

Aerith had a rather...odd...look on her face when she realized what Sora was asking.

Which was why she had a question of her own.

"Sora...are you a girl?" she asked carefully.

"Yeah, why? Does this have anything to do with why my parents kept saying things would sort themselves out when I refused to wear the girl's uniform at school?"

Aerith looked at Yuffie, who had a fixed expression on her face.

"Please tell me that your parents already explained the birds and bees," said Aerith.

"Mom said that we were going to have a serious talk after we visited the doctor. I think she was starting to get worried about me being a 'late bloomer' from what I remember overhearing."

Aerith winced.

"Wait, how did you know to come to us first for this sort of thing?"

"Because I asked Genie if he would fix whatever was taken from me as a child, and the first people who came to mind since my island is gone was you two."

"What do you mean, fix what was taken?" asked Aerith, openly alarmed by that particular wording.

"According to Genie I had some really old and obscure magical-based seal on me that hasn't been used in centuries. He said it had a few side effects and that he had never seen anyone my age have it on them because it was only used on criminals. I think when he removed it, he started a process that should have happened before now."

Aerith sweatdropped. At least Sora had picked the two most likely to give her straight answers and knew how to be discreet about this.

After all, Yuffie was a tomboy herself and likely knew the sort of clothes Sora would prefer. And Aerith would know how to ease Sora into a more...feminine...outlook in the process.

It was almost like helping a little sister learn how to become a woman.

That being said Aerith might dip into Cid's secret stash of booze once Sora was gone. She was not expecting this particular... problem...to rise when the Keyblade bearer came to visit!

In retrospect, the fact that neither Donald or Goofy picked up on the fact Sora was a girl until they 'landed' on Atlantica made perfect sense. After all, Sora had never really bothered with all the frilly stuff most girls liked at her age, preferring to join the boys in their make-believe adventures.

Did not change the fact she was going to give Riku such an earful for allowing himself to be swayed by the wrong side!

"Hey Sora, I didn't know you were a girl!" said Goofy in honest surprise.

"Just because I'm a girl doesn't mean I can't fight like the boys can!" huffed Sora annoyed. "Mom gave up trying to get me into dresses a long time ago, saying it would come out eventually. I never did get what she meant by that though."

Donald's magic had turned Sora into a proper mermaid...thankfully without the standard sea-shell bra. Then again, Sora had only recent hit that particular stage in life so there wasn't much to cover up in the first place. Instead she got a half-swimsuit in place of the sea-shells alongside the long flowing orange tail.

Sora actually rather liked the look, though she wished it didn't basically announce to the world that she was a girl.

She still hadn't come to terms with the fact she was stuck suffering once a month as her body transitioned into actual curves. Never mind how Riku was going to react when he found out!

Fortunately for her, Donald and Goofy shrugged off the fact Sora was really a girl who preferred boy's clothing rather easily. It meant they didn't treat her any differently than they did before.