Once Upon A Destiny (A Kingdom Hearts, Destinies Intertwined Prequel)

Chapter four: Unfamiliar Place

Leon was taking an evening stroll-- it was one of those rare, quiet nights when Heartless weren't around, and he had decided to take advantage of it. He somehow ended up in an alleyway, where he found a young man, sitting with his head lulled forward, and there was a teenage girl across his lap. Neither of them were moving.  

"Newcomers, huh?"

Then something else caught Leon's eye.

A Keyblade sat beside the young man. He went to tell the others, and they brought the pair inside. Leon was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed as a woman named Aerith tended to the young man, who was injured. Yuffie was in the next room, watching over the girl.

A few hours later...

 Rachel woke up from another dream about the silver-haired boy, and sat up. She was in an unfamiliar bed, a young woman with black hair sitting beside her.

"Hey, you okay?" The woman asked.

"Yeah... Who are you?"

"I'm Yuffie." She replied in a cheery tone.

"I'm... dreaming, right? Pretty soon, I'll wake up in my bed, at home." 

"Don't count on it." A voice said from across the room. Rachel turned. A man was leaning back against the wall, arms folded. "This town is where people end up if their world disappeared. So you'd better get used to living with us now."

"Aw, c'mon, Squall, give the kid a break!" said Yuffie. 

"That's Leon. All I'm doing is telling it like it is."

"Our world... disappeared? Wait, where's Ryan? Did he make it out?"

"That blonde with the Keyblade?" Leon guessed.

Rachel nodded, "Yeah, that sounds right."

"Come with me." 

She followed Leon and Yuffie into the next room, where a woman in a red dress was sitting beside--

"Ryan!" Rachel ran to his side. Tears welled in her eyes as she hugged him, whispering, "I thought I'd never see you again."

She pulled out of the hug. "Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine... Those things... I've never seen creatures like that..."

"Some Keyblade master." Rachel joked

"Shut up..." Ryan mumbled, shutting his eyes as he smiled. 

Leon folded his arms, "Sounds like you two had it pretty rough."

"So, Leon..." Rachel began. "How long do we have to stay here?"

"Until all the worlds have been restored. I'd tell Ryan to go to other worlds and lock their keyholes once he's recovered... but that job is taken already." 

"Really? By who?"

"His name is Sora."

Sora, the boy in red. He was a part of the dreams she'd been having. Maybe he could help her figure out why she'd been having dreams about the silver-haired boy.

Ryan sat bolt upright.

"What's wrong?" Rachel asked, easing him back down.

"Your present-- is it-- where... Where did it..."

The woman in red left for a minute, then came back with a carefully wrapped box, and turned.

"Are you Rachel?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"This has your name on it." 

Ryan exhaled with relief, and the trio left the room to give the siblings a minute alone. 

Rachel slowly opened it, and flipped through the pages of the book inside. Ryan watched as her eyes filled with tears, and she put a hand over her mouth.

Rachel threw her arms around him.

"Thank you." She whispered. 

He smiled, and hugged her back.

Maybe... this won't be so bad after all.