Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep: Sabrina Remix

Girl, Where Do You Think You're Going?

The next morning, she was the first of the four peers to wake up. She took her breakfast in her room, hoping the others would assume that last night's anxiety was still bothering her. And maybe it was. Something in the air still felt wrong. Something was going to happen. She would have thought that it was her choice in all this- how she planned on leaving everyone behind during a day of importance. Sabrina may have had a decent intuition, but her hindsight was really something she needed to work on more.

She waited until she knew the others had started their morning preparations. Several years of training had allowed her to memorize every hall of the castle she and the others lived in. Over the past few months, she started to take extra note of the cracks. There were always secrets in the cracks. Even more so, there was a certain spot that she wanted to investigate thoroughly while everyone else was distracted. If everything fell into place, she might even find a way off of this world. She just had to be-

The accidental run-in hurt more than it actually should have. It was shock that made her stagger quite a bit away from whoever she had run into. Something was wrong. Something bad was going to happen. Something that felt like...

"My apologies, young miss." an old, gravely voice said to her in a tone that didn't sound apologetic enough. "I didn't see you there."

Sabrina looked up at who she bumped into. She nearly recoiled again looking at an older man with naturally dark tan skin and piercing yellow eyes.

"The mistake was mine, Master Xehanort." she replied, giving a small, stiff bow as an apology. "I wasn't watching where I was going. I've been... restless, recently. Forgive me for disrupting your morning routine."

The old master cocked an eyebrow at the girl.

"You know my name?"

Sabrina gave him a stiff nod. "You were the one who brought Ventus here a few years back." she agreed.

"You have an excellent memory."

That was when Sabrina shook her head. "I'm good with patterns." she told him, rather prudently. "Which means I usually remember faces too."

"I would still consider that a valuable skill." Xehanort claimed. "It gives you a greater advantage over a predictable enemy."

"Right." Sabrina agreed, giving another stiff nod. A few moments of awkward pause, Sabrina started to move around him. "I'm sorry, sir, but I really have to go now."

"One last thing before you go." Xehanort told her. "I found this card on the ground. It wouldn't be yours, would it?"

Sabrina gave the old man a distrusting side glance before looking at the card in question. The surprise she almost let show would have been incredibly genuine.

"Yeah." she carefully agreed. Her steps forward to take the card from him were even more cautious. The old master only offered her a calm smirk as they exchanged the card. Sabrina made sure to purposely not let her fingertips brush against Master Xehanort's. Once the card was in her possession, she looked down at it to further look it over.

"Thanks, Master..." she started to say, looking up at him, but Master Xehanort had left. This didn't help her perception of the event much. Sabrina then returned her attention back to the card.

Sometime before Ventus came to the Land of Departure, Sabrina and Aqua had found a book about worlds that existed in between the realms of light and dark. In it was a passage on how the Land of Departure was formed. It wasn't anything more than what the girls already knew, but one section stood out. The section was about the castle and that, as a safeguard, there were numerous secret passages for the inhabitants to get in quickly in case of an emergency. Activating the passages required two things: a Keyblade and a card crafted by the castle itself.

Suffice to say, finding those cards were not an easy feat. How you were even able to extract a card from the castle wasn't even brought up after. After that section, no other mention of them was made either. Aqua deduced that the cards would only show themselves in an emergency, as it was the purpose for the secret passages. But Sabrina was far, far more determined as to know why. In her off time, she tried to find various ways to make that castle force a card to appear. She never had any luck in her (probably mildly dangerous) search.

And Master Xehanort had been able to procure a card as if it were natural. Right here, right now.

Sabrina carefully tucked the card away before nearly bolting down the hallway. This was it; she had everything she needed. There wasn't any time to question the hows or whys. Everything she tried to research had come down to this moment. She wasn't going to let the opportunity pass her by. This had to be done now.

The young wielder made her way to the higher levels of the castle. She stopped at a particular spot, and simply gave it a hard stare for a moment. The wall didn't look much different than the rest. Regardless, Sabrina dug into her pocket for the card. She carefully aligned it with a crack no wider than a strand of hair. Just as she thought the spot was bunk, the card started to glow, floating out of her hand to stay suspended in midair.

Sabrina mischievously grinned as she called her Keyblade out. She directed the Keyblade's tip to the card- a shot of light immediately left the tip, penetrating the card, then hitting the wall behind. As the card dissipated, the wall behind it started to open up into a new pathway. The grin on Sabrina's face didn't waver as she activated her Keyblade armor. She didn't know where exactly this pathway would lead, so it was better to be safe than sorry.

Her only hesitation came when she took a step inside the pathway. She paused, taking a look back down the corridor. Sabrina held back for a moment. She should really sit in on the Mark of Mastery. Aqua and Terra had trained their entire lives for this moment- as a peer, she could at least stay behind to watch them for a moment or two.

"No." she hissed to herself, shaking her head in annoyance. "I have to leave now, while they're all distracted."

Doubt resided in her for only a moment before she turned back to the pathway. Adrenaline made her half walk, half run to wherever this new path would go. Behind her, the wall closed again as if nothing had ever happened. It made the pathway feel dark and claustrophobic, but she refused to stop. A new light started to make itself known in the distance. Sabrina followed it with every determined step she took.

She really wanted to be more surprised that the pathway led out to the forecourt.

Sabrina turned to face the castle she'd called home for several years. Today, not quite for the first time, it no longer felt like home. The castle seemed alien and too imposing. This wasn't the world she was meant to spend her entire life in. She really didn't expect anyone to forgive her on what she was about to do next. Master Eraqus always had the Lanes Between closed for a reason.

Considering they had a visitor, the Lanes Between should have been open. Assuming they didn't already do so when she had used the card. Sabrina raised her Keyblade at the sky, letting it find the little hole that would unlock the rest of the worlds. A brilliant light of white came from the Keyblade's tip to open the Lanes Between. With that done, Sabrina tossed her Keyblade in the air, allowing it to transform into the Keyblade glider. She mounted it without a second thought and blasted into the open pathway without so much a look back.