Chapter Text
One foot in front of the other.
Crystalline lights glowed brightly against stark shadow, the contrast blinding her already drowsy vision. The fog buzzed in her head, numbing her senses and dizzying her, her balance being thrown every which way. How long had she been asleep?
Don't think about it.
She could barely see, barely walk, only feel herself burning beneath the strangling fog. The one thing she understood, and it was blanketed beneath the overbearing cloud of darkness that filled the dank, dead air. No steady pathways, no clear directions, no clue where she was, when she was, who she was, or why. Only the teeming presence of eyes on her, multitudes.
Don't think about anything. Just find an exit.
She fell off a ledge again, nearly retching in brain-scrambling pain.
Don't stop now. Stop moving, and you're done. That's a certainty.
She stumbled to her feet for the umpteenth time, hand on the cave wall to steady herself as she limped onward towards the faint sunlight pouring in from some unseen place. Freedom, she was certain. She had forgotten the feeling of warmth, but she knew it was right ahead. She rounded the corner, still struggling to clear her vision and get some sense of her surroundings, and hopefully of balance. This was met by another unexpected ledge, the three-foot drop knocking the wind out of her once more as she blacked out momentarily.
Coming to a second later, she craned her neck upward towards the light. Definitely warm. Freedom was only a short crawl away, so crawl she did. Mustering every last ounce of strength, she dragged herself across the cavern floor until her hand touched something cold and metal.
A ladder?
Squinting into the bright light way above, she attempted to judge its height and failed, her eyes and her tired, aching body betraying her. That damn fog dulled everything. It always had.
She exhaled one last time as the remainder of her strength dissipated, almost resigned to her fate. She felt the eyes around her, the darkness looming. She felt the fog close in, almost comforting in its chokehold.
Giving up already? You're stronger than that.
Then, she felt lighter. As though she were floating, she found her hands and feet on each rung, the ground growing distant and the light brighter with each step.
One foot in front of the other.
Throwing herself over the ledge at the peak, she clambered out and collapsed to the walkway floor as her weight returned all at once. Rather than stand up again, she simply laid there and attempted to catch her breath, as she basked in the brilliant light of the outside world.
Outside.
...It had been a long time, hadn't it?
She raised a hand to brush a mess of overgrown black hair off her face, shielding her eyes from the light as its warmth began healing her mind at last.
...I was in a cell.
I was a test subject.
They wanted to uncover my memories.
They... Scientists. Researchers. Large men. Large machines. Large hands...
Her stomach writhed.
A man with long, silver hair. A machine.
Her other hand found its place atop her increasingly beating heart. More memories returned, and more faces.
An old man with a beard, and a scarf. A young boy. A scarred man with an eyepatch...
She stopped and blinked, hearing voices in the distance. People?
...Them?
Finding some strength again, she pulled herself upright, nearly collapsing again from headrush, turned and limped away from the hole in the wall towards what appeared to be a town, still more scraps of memories floating by.
Two boys, who found me. Wanted to free me. Never found me again. Were they too late? Friends...
Her brow furrowed.
...Friends.
She felt a sharp pain in her head, trying to recall.
Four friends... and...
"Ah! Right on schedule!"
Pulled violently from her thoughts, she clutched her chest in shock and fell backward onto the soft grass as her eyes snapped forward, attempting to focus. An old, blue-robed man with a beard down to his ankles was addressing her, his voice bright and cheery. It was giving her a headache. She stared around quickly, taking in the new scenery of which she was only now aware. This was... a garden? Were those flowers? Something told her that was right. She might have found it pleasant if not for current circumstances. She looked back up at the man, wordless.
"Oh, come now," he continued impatiently. "I'm no threat, my dear, don't be startled. You are standing before the great wizard, Merlin!" He took a bow to prove it. "My vast powers of foresight and wisdom told me I would have a fated meeting at this day, at this time, at this spot. And sure enough, here you are! And not a second too late, I might add! That certainly makes you a cut above the rest. Punctuality is everything, my dear!" He chuckled to himself and stroked his beard thoughtfully, pacing back and forth as she attempted to stand up again.
"Yet for all my knowledge, there are a great many things I do not know about you, you see. Your name, your age, your origins... All I can say for certain is that you are quite a long way from home indeed! And though you may not know it, you have a great deal of potential waiting to be discovered. And I know just the trick for that sort of thing, don't you worry! Why, you should consider yourself very lucky to be meeting me here today!"
She stared at him, still silent, still dazed.
"Oh," he stopped himself and turned to her again, noting how she towered over him, dead-eyed. "But I'm getting ahead of myself. You never told me your name!"
She stared at him, still silent, still dazed, slowly opening her mouth to attempt to speak. She was pretty sure she remembered how it worked.
"...My dear?" Merlin offered.
She responded by vomiting on his shoes.
"...Oh dear," he commented, giving a quick wave of his wand and vanishing away the mess. "Well, there'll be time for that later. You're in need of food, water and bedrest! And, um..." He stroked his beard. "Some more... fashionable clothing. Now, come along!"
He turned and began walking further into town, gesturing for her to follow. She glanced down at the faded, tattered, unwashed rags she had been wearing for as long as she could remember, barely giving them another thought. They weren't exactly a priority to her right now. She limped after the wizard.
"Here it is, my dear!" Merlin gestured to the old storybook on the table, getting no response as she took in her new surroundings. With a *harumph*, he continued.
"This unsuspecting old book has an incredible ability to unlock powers that lie deep within! It's a rather excellent read, if I do say so myself. Go right ahead, chop chop!"
Her attention finally focused, she stepped forward and examined the book's cover, depicting a young boy and a small yellow bear sitting on a log together, their backs turned. It didn't look like food or drink to her. She sighed and opened it, and was at once hit with a flash of green light.
"Augh--!!" She let out a low, gravelly shout through vocal cords that had not seen use in some time, and collapsed to the floor, unconscious again.
"Ohh," Merlin groaned in frustration. "You whippersnappers these days just aren't what you used to be!"
"What have you done now, old man?" A chipper voice called from the doorway.
Yuffie stepped inside with a bag of groceries, her expression turning to genuine concern upon noticing the girl lying on the floor at his feet.
"Uhhh..." she stammered, trying to think of a tactful way to approach the suspicious situation. "...Whaddaya got there?"
"Magic book," Merlin replied.
"Merlin."
"It seems she was weaker than I anticipated."
"Uh-huuuh?"
"Oh, come now!" Merlin stamped his foot crossly. "What sort of person do you take me for?"
Yuffie snorted. "You don't want me to answer that honestly."
"Enough! This girl needs help. Lend me a hand, will you?"
Yuffie smirked and placed the groceries down. With a lot of effort, mostly on her part, the two lifted the unconscious girl onto Merlin's bed and tucked her under the covers. Yuffie brushed the hair from the girl's face, curious.
"She kinda looks like Tifa," she commented. "If Tifa made a lot of poor life decisions."
"Yes, quite," Merlin remarked sarcastically, fetching his bag and giving his wand a few quick flicks. "Why don't you tell her that when she wakes up, hmm? I'm sure she'll be thrilled by the compliment." Several objects of varying sizes floated across the room, shrinking themselves down to fit inside the bag. The groceries remained untouched.
"Huh?" Yuffie perked up, watching the items dance in the air. "Are you going somewhere?"
"I'm needed elsewhere, I'm afraid," he replied, closing his bag and locking it. "A magician's work is never done! Consider yourself on babysitting duty for your oh-so-amusing comments earlier."
"But what do I do?" Yuffie protested. "What do I say to her? What's her name? Who is she, Merlin? Where'd she come from? Is she Tifa's long-lost twin sister Tifa didn't want anyone to know about, or something?"
"Hah!" Merlin retorted with some disdain. "For all my grand powers have told me, she might as well be. Some intellect, eh?" He gave his beard an annoyed stroke. "All I can say is she's been through a lot. Far too much for one lifetime, indeed. Her heart will need some time to mend. You look to be around her age, young lady. Why don't you try talking to her like a normal person? There's a novel idea! A bit of human interaction will do her good. You can feed her too, while you're at it." With one last flick of his wand, the bag of groceries jumped onto the table in the centre of the room, making Yuffie flinch in surprise. She removed an apple from the bag and stared at it thoughtfully, before looking back to the sleeping girl.
"What do you mean, been through a lot?" She echoed, studying the wrinkled lines on the girl's face. The gaunt, dehydrated complexion. The harrowed bags under her sleeping eyes. She looked far too young to look so worn.
"Perhaps she'll tell you all about it," Merlin replied, pocketing his wand and adjusting his robe and hat. "If you're lucky." He gave the girl one last, sympathetic look.
"May her heart be her guiding key."
And with that, he was gone in a puff of smoke.
Yuffie frowned, confused, at the space he had occupied a moment ago, before sighing and turning back to the other girl.
"Babysitting someone older than me," she muttered. "What else is new?"
She sighed again as she slumped into a chair, staring at the girl and letting her mind wander.
"Been through a lot, huh?"
The comment cast Yuffie's own mind back to the recent events Riku and her other keyblade-wielding friends from other worlds had told her and the gang all about. To their own battle about a year ago, defending the town from an enormous invasion of Heartless, her home being very nearly taken over a second time. Further still, to that distant memory of the first time. The horrid cackling from that fairy of darkness. She grimaced.
"There's a lot of that going around."