After watching a video from a YouTuber that had an AI rewrite the Star Wars sequel trilogy, I was inspired to give it a shot. So I downloaded the app Dreamily and put it to work. The following is what it came up with. I call it Kingdom Hearts: Another Incident or KH:AI for short. It's confusing, disjointed, lacks a real plot and some characters just seem to appear and disappear from the story with absolutely no explanation. But perhaps that's to be expected. So without further ado.
Kingdom Hearts: Another Incident
Keyblades were in their hands, the sounds of clashing ringing around them as they slashed through the air. It wasn’t much time before a familiar figure came into view with a smile, dodging a slash that left the other three’s hearts a little dented.
“Heheh~ How about I take you all on?”
The four turned to see Sora, grinning widely and showing them his Keyblade as he stood at his full height. He didn’t give them a chance to answer before he took a running start towards the group.
“No fighting!!” He shouted, jumping high and slicing through the air before landing perfectly onto his feet. The group of seven looked between each other, confusion written across their faces before looking over towards the king, whose face was filled with amusement. They couldn’t help but feel just as confused as him as he walked over towards the two standing on one side.
“Are… are we allowed to fight… him?” Ventus asked quietly, unsure if it was even a good idea to ask that after what had happened the last time they fought him. Sora let out a light chuckle as he placed his hand on Ven’s head. “Sora, no…”
“That’s because we’re not actually his enemies.”
A few hours later, the four friends stood on top of one of the buildings in Radiant Garden, watching as a lone keyblade master moved through the city with ease while they themselves hovered above it, trying not to make their presence known. They waited until Sora had disappeared from sight before gliding down so they stood directly underneath the castle.
“So, uh…” Terra broke the silence after several minutes, “What are we doing here again?”
Larxene scoffed from her spot sitting next to Roxas on the ground. “We’re supposed to be guarding the Keyhole, remember?!” She glanced up towards the others as she continued speaking, “Well, maybe you forgot or something! Maybe this whole mission is just some kind of stupid waste of our time and time alone!”
Ven let out a laugh, shaking his head slightly. “Don’t worry… there has to be a reason we were sent. Maybe the Organization really does have another Keyblade Master, or maybe they just have another member who needs protecting.”
Xion crossed her arms in front of herself. “Yeah, that makes sense, too…” She looked back up towards the sky and gave out a soft sigh. “But whatever happens, we should probably get going soon. After all, we don’t know when Sora is gonna wake up.”
Everyone nodded before getting up from where they had been laying. “Right, let’s go meet up with him then.” Larxene started walking forward towards the entrance of Radiant Garden while everyone else followed behind her. They stopped for a moment when they reached the doorway, hesitating for a second before pushing past the threshold.
It was dark inside the castle, which meant that Sora would have no way to tell if the others were really with him. If he did wake up early, though, wouldn’t that mean he was still asleep? And wouldn’t he be worried that someone woke up without him knowing it? That wasn’t good for his heart…
“You know…” Terra said suddenly as they stepped into the main hall, catching their attention. “Even if there isn’t a Keyblade Master, shouldn’t we be prepared for anything? Especially since Sora might try to find his way here?” Everyone fell silent for a moment as they thought it through, taking a moment to look around the room.
‘We don’t know if he will be able to leave this place… but if there are things like Nobodies and Heartless here, shouldn’t we be ready for something bad to happen?’ Ventus’ thoughts were echoed by everyone else. It was true that things like the Heartless didn’t normally bother them when they could use their powers freely. However, they weren’t sure how dangerous Heartless could really be.
Finally Larxene broke the silence with an exasperated huff. “Of course we are! There doesn’t have to be a Keyblade Master just because you all are paranoid!” Her voice rang out through the large foyer, bouncing off the walls. She was right, but it felt wrong to not be expecting trouble, especially now. “Look, let’s stop wasting time here. I know you want Sora to wake up sooner, but we need to get to the castle first!” Without waiting for anyone to say anything more, she rushed forward, disappearing around the corner towards the throne room.
Ventus sighed softly, turning to follow her. “Guess she doesn’t want us worrying.” He mumbled under his breath before heading after Larxene and Terra, who had already begun following behind. ‘I guess they're probably right... we don't even know why Sora is here or what he's planning… and I guess we can't really talk with him right now anyways,’ he thought to himself. ‘Still, this seems kind of unnecessary. Even if there's nothing wrong, why are we rushing to the castle so late in the night?’ He shook his head, dismissing the thoughts as they ran into the throne room, where Xemnas was waiting.
"Ah, my favorite guests."
As usual, Xemnas' tone made it sound almost playful as he spoke. The others glanced at each other, uncertain of what he was talking about. "Huh?" Larxene muttered before noticing Xigbar and the rest of his group. “Whoa! You guys look pretty strong!” She raised her arm, summoning a black gauntlet, as well as a small black orb that emitted smoke.
"Is that your keyblade, Princess?" Ansem questioned as she held her hand out, a ball of black energy forming at her fingertips.
Her face immediately dropped upon hearing him speak. "Whaaaat? I'm not a princess!!" She yelled indignantly, her eyes narrowing on the wizard in annoyance. "My name's Larxene, dumbass!" Xemnas watched as she pointed at herself with her free hand, frowning as he watched her begin to pace back and forth in anger.
"Larlxene…" His voice trailed off, his expression becoming blank as she continued to growl at him. "Oh, right. You're the thief. My apologies."
Xigbar chuckled lightly, leaning against the wall with one arm crossed casually in front of his chest as he smirked. "Yup, we've all heard about your crimes," he teased. "Though none of 'em compared to those of her majesty."
Leaning forwards, Axel folded his arms together and shot Xemnas a sly grin. "Hey, she ain't exactly innocent herself either. We know all about the whole stealing hearts thing…" He leaned back, shrugging dismissively. "Besides… I bet you can only dream of being the princess they used to call the thief… huh, princess?"
His words caused Larxene to freeze in place, her eyes widening as she stared at Axel with utter shock. Before she could say anything, however, Ansem put a hand out, stopping her from speaking. He looked towards Axel with a stern expression on his face. “You will shut yourself up, thief.” He growled, his voice sounding dangerously low. “There is no point in entertaining this little interlude you think you’ve created. This is a battle to defeat darkness, not a playtime between children.”
“Whatever man…” Larxene spat, rolling her eyes before crossing her arms defiantly. “I was only kidding around anyway, you know.” She grinned, causing Xemnas’ gaze to soften just the slightest bit, almost undetectable to the others unless you knew what to look for.
“Come. We must get moving.” Xemnas said, gesturing at the exit.
Larxene rolled her eyes once again before turning on her heel and leading the way out of the building, leaving behind a bewildered looking Xigbar.
“Wow… she’s tough,” he mused, chuckling quietly to himself before giving chase to the others.
They walked alongside one another for a few moments before Ven finally decided to break the silence.
“So…” he began, “what do we do next? What is Sora planning?”
He didn’t receive an answer, which seemed unusual to him at the time since he assumed everyone was listening to what was said to them.
Terra shifted uncomfortably in his seat for a moment before answering, “…I dunno. It’s obvious they’re trying to find the Keyblade Masters that were involved in all of this.”
“If it means getting Sora out of the Organization, then… yeah… I guess so.” Aqua answered, glancing down towards the floor. “After all, that’s what’s important right now… right?”
Ventus frowned at the question, glancing over towards Xion as if silently asking whether or not she had any ideas about what was going on. She hesitated for a moment before meeting his gaze. For a second he wondered if she would share what he was thinking, but eventually she shrugged slightly.
“What I’m confused about is… does that actually change anything?” Xion asked. “Sora’s still Sora. We just keep doing our jobs as normal and hope this all works out. Like, if they’re really trying to take Sora, shouldn’t that mean… they care about Sora too? Maybe there is some reason why Sora is here instead of the others?”
Terra frowned slightly, his eyebrows furrowing and making his facial features seem much darker than usual. He didn’t seem convinced by whatever response Xion was giving them, but he nodded regardless. “Yeah… but… what if they don’t care about Sora? If we go to the Castle and try to find him, what will happen afterwards? Will the Organization attack us because of it? And then what? Are we just supposed to sit here and do nothing while the people we love end up getting hurt, again?”
Aqua’s heart clenched slightly as she gazed at him sympathetically, not wanting him to continue to doubt their chances of finding their lost friend. However she knew better than to speak, knowing the two of them were too stubborn for their own good sometimes.
“Well, I’m gonna ask again… what do we do?” Roxas spoke up. Everyone turned their attention to him as he spoke, a serious expression crossing his face.
“Well… the Organization wouldn’t dare come into Naminé’s domain without a very clear plan. They need to have someone in place inside the castle to monitor everything happening and make sure we aren’t trying to steal the key. I bet it won’t take long for the Organization to figure something out, so we should leave soon and make sure we’ll be able to help as much as possible. Then, once we’re certain we can’t find Sora, we can start looking for clues about how to reverse time, maybe even find the keyhole.”
Everyone exchanged a nervous glance with one another, wondering just how much more they were going to have to endure before they were done dealing with the Organization’s antics.
After the encounter with the Organization, the group headed straight to the castle, hoping to find answers within its halls. As they approached the entrance, they noticed that the doors were closed tightly, preventing them from entering.
“Uh… guys?” Ventus called out, raising his hand to knock on the door. “We’re here to see Sora!” He waited until nobody replied, assuming that they were busy with whoever was inside, before knocking again.
This time however, the door remained completely closed, and it took them quite a while before a voice called back out to them. “The King and Queen aren’t available today, sorry. Please feel free to return later today!” The voice seemed friendly enough, and yet somehow… strange, considering they had never interacted with any of these people before. Still, this wasn’t the time for idle chit chat; it was Sora they needed to rescue now, and the sooner they got going, the sooner they’d be reunited with their missing friend.
The doors suddenly slid open, revealing several masked figures standing there, dressed completely in white robes. They were wearing masks, but unlike the Organization members that wore hoods or scarves, these ones were black and silver, resembling some sort of crown and scepter style objects.
“Who are you?! What do you want here?” One of the men, the one who appeared to be king of the group spoke up, his words laced with a hint of hostility.
Ventus frowned deeply as he glanced towards Riku with uncertainty in his eyes. He couldn’t understand why the others seemed so hesitant to talk to the strangers. They had no real choice anyway; there was no other option but to follow their directions if they wanted to save their best friend. But still, there was a slight hesitance in Ventus’ steps as he moved forward to speak up. “Um… well, we just wanna find Sora,” He explained, glancing at each of the masked figures before taking a quick glance at Roxas as he raised a brow curiously. “Is there something wrong?”
Roxas simply shrugged at his question, glancing away slightly. “I… don’t know. Something just seems off. Maybe it’s my imagination…”
One of the women stepped forward, drawing their gazes towards her. There was a sinister smirk resting upon her lips as she eyed them slowly. Her dark eyes held a sinister glint as she smirked at them.
“You kids are really interesting… very well then… follow me. You won’t be harmed here. We know what you did after all, it would be bad if anyone discovered your presence. We’ll take you to where you wish to go from here…” she trailed off.
Ventus’ stomach felt like it was twisting itself into knots. He glanced quickly over towards his friends as concern flooded through his system, his eyes landing on Xion. A small smile crossed his face, hoping his worry wasn’t too obvious. ‘I wonder how she’ll react to these people…’ he thought. His smile vanished as he focused back onto the woman who had spoken, who appeared to be leading the group forward.
She led them through several different corridors before finally stopping outside a large metal door. She pulled out a key, turning it around in her hands before sliding it across the lock and pushing it open.
As she entered the room, the others followed, and when Ventus looked around he found that the room was empty save for a table with several chairs surrounding it. In front of the room, a tall man in a suit stood with a wide grin. A look of anticipation came to his face as he noticed them approaching.
“Ah, the children have arrived! I’ve been expecting you,” he announced jovially. “Please, come, sit down, and we can begin discussing your plan!” He motioned towards the seats.
Ventus walked slowly into the room, unsure of what he could possibly say, especially when the rest of his companions seemed rather uninterested. After sitting down, he glanced at the stranger nervously before speaking up. “Why are you helping us?”
“Ah yes! Why indeed!” The man laughed. “I suppose you deserve an explanation for all of this, after everything you’ve gone through already. I’m sure the others must have told you about the Keyblade War by now – but that isn’t important now.” The man’s smile faded slightly, though his expression grew far less friendly the longer he stared at Ventus.
He continued staring at the boy for a few more moments, causing Terra, Aqua and Riku to shift uneasily. Eventually, after a brief silence, he sighed and shook his head slightly.
“Yes… that war changed everything. Not only were my world turned upside down, but so many things happened. I can assure you I had nothing to do with it though, so please forgive me if I give the wrong impression,” the man paused briefly before continuing. “But to answer your first question, I’m afraid I can’t tell you exactly why. Suffice it to say, I am the person who made the decision to let you pass.”
That caught both Terra and Aqua off guard, and they shared an astonished glance with one another. It wasn’t hard to imagine that they might have heard of the war that had occurred during that time, which left them wondering what else had transpired. Did he really stop it? Was that why they hadn’t been attacked yet?
“But anyways, as you probably know by now, the world ended shortly afterward…” The man paused as he took note of everyone’s confusion. “The Keybearers were tasked with destroying the darkness from the worlds and bringing order. This task was left to them to carry out, along with an unknown number of others, and it became known that they were the Chosen Children of Twilight Town, which is what brought you and your group together in the first place! So I think I can safely say that you shouldn’t worry yourselves too much… as long as you continue to work together, you’ll surely end up finding Sora before anything happens to him. You must promise me, that you will do your best to protect him… so that you and he may meet again in the future.” He smiled sadly before turning away and walking back into the depths of the room.
All eyes fell to the ground as the stranger disappeared behind them. Everyone was silent for a moment, pondering over his last words for a few seconds before Terra decided it was time to speak up.
“So… what do we do now? Should we keep going to try finding Sora, or should we return to the town? Or wait until tomorrow? Or, or…”
Ven placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, giving it a firm squeeze. “Don’t worry, Terra, we’ll figure something out.” He turned towards the others, a determined look appearing on his face. “Right guys?”
Aqua nodded firmly while looking at Roxas with a worried gaze. “Yeah, we promised to help Sora, and we intend to honor our word. That includes doing whatever we can to get him back.” She gave a small smile at Terra, but when he didn’t respond, she furrowed her brows slightly. “Terra, are you alright?” She asked softly.
Terra blinked owlishly at her sudden outburst, and he began fumbling with his words. “Y… yeah I mean… I guess. I’m just worried about Sora,” He confessed quietly, glancing downwards for a moment before returning his attention back to Aqua and Ven. “Sorry I kind of freaked out earlier. We just haven’t heard from him in ages, and I’m starting to get worried…”
Xion bit her lip anxiously. “Well, we can’t change that right now. We need to focus on getting Sora back. All we can do now is trust in that fact that everything will turn out okay,” She offered.
Ventus couldn’t agree more, however, he also knew that trusting blindly in things wasn’t always the correct course of action. After all, what if he trusted those people, and in the end it ended up being a huge mistake? What if he and the others ended up trapped down here forever without Sora or any other way to escape? What if they couldn’t find some way to break free from here and find a way home? What if none of this ever happened?
What if they never got Sora back?
His mind kept racing with thoughts as he tried to ignore the strange feeling settling within himself. No matter what they did or said, he knew he still didn’t want to give up hope, no matter what was happening. He refused to lose sight of his goal, even if the chances of success was low. Sora wouldn’t abandon them again, not after everything they’d gone through. They could handle this, they could definitely handle this. And with that, Ventus forced himself to relax a little, forcing his anxiety back into its proper confines.
“Okay, let’s start by thinking about some places that he might have been taken…” Aqua murmured.
Terra raised a brow slightly, tilting his head to the side. “Are we talking anywhere specific?” He asked curiously.
“Maybe not specifically… but maybe we can start somewhere easy, where the most people are usually gathered,” she suggested.
The room fell quiet as they thought about what she said carefully. They didn’t have enough information to decide what to do next. Even if they started searching places that weren’t very often visited, the odds of running into someone familiar, and therefore finding some sort of clue, were fairly slim. As they all stood there silently contemplating their options they suddenly heard footsteps echoing down the hallway.
Everyone’s heads swiveled towards the sound as the door slid open once more, the same man from before standing in the doorway with a large smile on his face. “There you are! Come along now, let’s go.”
They followed him as he moved quickly through the hallways, not really paying attention to where they were going, but nonetheless staying close together so they wouldn’t be separated. Before they knew it, they finally reached the top of one of the staircases leading to a massive room filled to the brim with computers and screens. A multitude of monitors lined the walls, each displaying various scenes from different locations throughout the worlds.
The man approached one of the screens and began clicking a few keys rapidly, causing several images to display in quick succession across the screen. Each image appeared briefly, but in a different location before disappearing from view altogether.
“Now, if you would all follow me through these halls and rooms that I have set up for you, you will be able to find the answers you are looking for.” He looked between everyone in the room as he spoke, smiling warmly at each of them as he spoke. None of them were quite certain how to react to this new development, but before anyone could utter a word, the man stepped backwards and motioned for them to move.
They all hesitated for a second before slowly following after him, watching closely as he led the group through the maze of halls until finally the man stopped and turned around.
“I’ve arranged the rooms accordingly, as well as provided a guide who will guide you wherever you need to go to find what you’re looking for,” he explained. “And of course there’s still the chance that things won’t happen as planned, but I don’t see that likely. Please excuse me; I must attend to other matters now.” With that said, the man turned and disappeared behind a closed door, leaving the room completely empty.
Slowly, the others shifted their gazes towards one another as they stood quietly for a short amount of time before finally turning back around to look at the screens that displayed various scenes of the different parts of the worlds. As they continued staring blankly ahead, they noticed that each one seemed to show the world they were currently in – and yet only one image showed Sora. However, that one image depicted nothing less than an ocean filled with waves that reached up high above the clouds, which almost blocked off the entire sky itself.
No one made any attempt to break the silence for several seconds, as their minds couldn’t seem to process what exactly was occurring. If anything, that image had shown them that they were in some sort of dream or nightmare. They had somehow found their way to the worlds that contained the dark, twisted darkness; the worlds that they thought belonged to the Organization. Their own worlds. But then, if this was supposed to be a vision, what exactly was the connection between the two? Did this mean that the Organization had returned to Twilight Town and begun attacking them in some form or another? Was this just part of their plan to take them prisoner once again, and use their own worlds against them?
Roxas felt as though his heart was breaking, as his thoughts were immediately interrupted by the voice he hadn’t expected to hear once again. “Hey, hey, look at me…”
He slowly turned his head upwards, meeting Ven’s gaze as he tried to maintain his composure.
“Everything’s gonna be ok…” Ven reassured him gently. “We’re sure to find Sora soon…” He paused for a few seconds, a concerned expression appearing on his face as he glanced at him once again. “And I promise to help you find him too, ok? So, let’s just focus on finding a way out of here first.”
Roxas lowered his head again as Ven’s voice faded away, trying desperately to hold back tears as he focused on calming down. His eyes drifted towards the others around the room, all gazing back at him with sympathetic expressions. He wanted to believe what Ven was saying, but at the same time he couldn’t help but doubt it. What if it was all a trick? What if they were actually stuck down here, with no way to rescue Sora, and the Organization was coming to finish the job?
Before Roxas could allow his thoughts to run wild any further, Aqua’s voice pulled his attention back towards the present.
“Hey guys, it’s probably best to focus on finding a way out while we still know that at least something good has happened so far. We should keep our hopes in check for now. We don’t know what’s going to happen after all, and we shouldn’t jump to conclusions,” Aqua explained softly, a gentle expression painting her features.
Ven nodded slightly, offering a weak smile before walking forward with Xion. Terra stayed where he was for a moment longer, glancing over his shoulder towards the rest of the room, hesitating for a split second before letting out a sigh and moving to walk beside Aqua and Ven.
Ventus smiled encouragingly at Roxas and gestured for him to join them, making his way toward them in order to catch up. The rest of the group slowly dispersed and moved to stand in front of the screens that displayed various views of worlds and spaces that they assumed had to be similar to theirs. The images of the many planets were all blurry, almost like they had simply zoomed in closer, and Roxas couldn’t help but feel incredibly overwhelmed by it all. How much further could Sora possibly have gotten through all of this? And where was he right now?
Aqua watched as the images shifted to show different areas of the worlds, and as soon as she saw one particular image that caused the corners of her lips to twitch upwards, she immediately knew which direction to go in next. “This is our path,” she explained as she walked towards the door.
Everyone else quickly came to follow suit, with Terra giving her a grateful nod as they did so. After making sure nobody was following her, Aqua turned back towards her friends as they hurried to catch up, allowing herself to smile. She didn’t think that it was possible, but she could have sworn that the world they were heading towards looked vaguely familiar… Maybe she just hadn’t seen it in awhile.
They walked down the seemingly never ending hallways for quite some time. It took them a good couple of hours, but eventually Aqua managed to figure out where they were headed, and they ended up arriving just outside the entrance of an area that looked almost identical to where they last saw Sora.
“Well, according to my readings, that should be the spot we’re looking for. Let’s head inside,” Aqua suggested, turning towards the rest of them. There were still a couple of hours left until sunset and although the idea of going into the place where Sora was supposed to be seemed like a good idea, she didn’t want to risk any of them being hurt if they went in without taking any precautions.
Riku, who had been trailing slightly behind, looked over at Aqua as he muttered a small affirmation to her words before turning back around towards the entrance and stepping forwards, pushing open the door. ‘I hope he’s alright...’ Riku thought, hoping that everything wasn’t wrong after all.
The moment they entered the building, their heads swivelled about curiously as they stared around the interior. The space they had entered seemed rather large, and from what they could see, there were a number of people walking through the building. Everyone was dressed similarly to the ones that they had encountered earlier in the day, but none of them gave off such a disturbing aura that they might cause concern.
However, the group remained silent and unmoving as they cautiously observed their surroundings, keeping their guard up in case anyone decided to attack them.
The group followed after Riku, entering the hallway as the door closed behind them. All of a sudden, Aqua froze in place upon noticing someone that she recognized standing right in front of the exit. Her eyes immediately fell onto a pair of piercing gold eyes, whose gaze lingered on her for several moments. Then her eyes widened in shock and fear as they suddenly turned towards someone behind her. “Sora!”
It only took a few seconds of searching and confusion before the rest of the group caught sight of Sora standing a few feet behind them. Even with his eyes wide open and unblinking like always, it was clear that he wasn’t aware of their presence. In fact, his eyes looked slightly distant, almost like he was dreaming, as if he weren’t even truly present in any real sense of the word. He appeared to be wearing what appeared to be a long black tunic, with a blue cloak resting loosely across his shoulders and the top half draped over his left arm. Despite being fully visible in reality, he didn’t appear aware of what was happening around him, or even what it was he was doing.
The sound of footsteps broke through the stunned silence that had been hanging in the air since they had first entered the building, causing everyone to turn their gazes towards the source of the sound.
Xemnas and a group of people that were dressed in identical uniforms stood not too far in front of them. They all wore black helmets with a single eye embedded into their foreheads and the ends of their masks were lined with sharp spikes that extended from underneath. On each of their chests rested two red gemstones, which reflected the light perfectly as they began to radiate a cold glare. As soon as Xemnas noticed that they were staring at him, he began to smirk as though he were enjoying their reactions greatly. He raised an eyebrow at them before continuing to speak. “Well well… If it isn’t little children come out to play…” He said teasingly, taking a slight step forwards as he continued speaking. “So curious, are we? Well, let’s make this quick… We have places that we need to be.”
Xemnas’s expression changed, becoming less smug and more menacing as he spoke. “You may be children, but you are not allowed to interfere with our plans anymore! None of your little tricks will help us this time. Now, we must be rid of your interference, once and for all…” A loud explosion rang through the whole corridor as a series of dark purple portals opened up in the distance, causing everyone, including Riku and Ven, to instinctively move backwards as a result of the unexpected blast.
Once the portal had closed once again, however, a strange creature emerged from within its depths; a large, humanoid shaped being that appeared completely made up of darkness. However, unlike any of the other creatures they had encountered previously, this new creature appeared to have four glowing orbs located in the center of it’s body, and upon closer inspection, they appeared to be emitting a faint glow that emanated from beneath it. It took a few seconds for them to realize that these orbs were eyes. Large, glowing green orbs that resembled the very shape of two burning embers set deep into the sides of the creature’s head.
As if it were able to read their minds, the creature uttered a haunting laugh that echoed throughout the hall. The entire group instantly felt themselves tremble under the pressure of the beings intense, intimidating gaze, causing them to quickly take several steps backwards as they tried to hide from the monster’s overwhelming power.
After taking a brief moment to observe the others in order to ensure that they wouldn’t try to flee, the creature’s attention was focused entirely on the Keybearer, who seemed to shrink into himself as the creature studied him. Its gaze lingered for a moment or so longer, as though considering what it would do, and then abruptly disappeared, leaving a confused and terrified Riku stumbling back several steps as the creature disappeared before everyone’s eyes.
The creature reappeared in front of the Keybearer, who promptly stumbled backwards, his eyes widening and his hands clutching his head tightly as he shook violently. His eyes were squeezed shut, refusing to look at anything in front of him.
The creature chuckled darkly as it stepped forward, making its way slowly toward the trembling Keybearer. “Looks like they were telling the truth… You really aren’t capable of using your abilities anymore…” It mused, reaching out a gloved hand towards the Keybearer's trembling form as its voice echoed throughout the corridor. “But then again… you’re still worth something to me. Your usefulness to me has never failed…” With the sound of a loud snap echoing loudly through the corridor, the creature released its grip on the Keybearer, sending him crashing heavily onto the ground as it stood tall above him.
The creature glanced down at the Keybearer, before leaning in close to face him, and once it spoke, it was barely heard over the sound of his heart pounding against his chest. “We shall meet again… I shall await your return…” With that final statement, the creature disappeared once again, and the world returned to normal as it regained its original appearance.
Everyone stared at Sora for a few minutes before finally daring to approach him and kneel down beside him, trying their best to avoid touching him in case he got hurt. As it turns out, their attempt at avoiding touching him proved futile.
Without warning, Sora suddenly bursted into tears. He covered his mouth as he cried, as if he couldn’t cry any louder due to feeling ashamed of his actions. “How did I not notice?! Why am I not strong enough… Why am I weak…” He cried, his words coming out as choked sobs as he curled into himself.
“Hey now, there’s no need to talk like that… It’s ok Sora, it’s gonna be fine… We’ll get you back home and then nothing will ever bother us again.” Kairi reassured him as she placed a hand gently on his shoulder. She knew how hard it was for him to feel so helpless, especially when he felt like he had failed.
She didn’t expect him to react in such a way though.
Sora looked up towards her with wide, bloodshot eyes as he wiped away some of the tears forming in his eyes. He gave her a watery smile, one filled with gratitude for her care and concern. “Kairi...” He whispered softly as he attempted to compose himself. “Thank you…” He whispered softly as he managed to regain control over his emotions.
Although he was glad to hear that everything would be alright, he couldn’t allow himself to become too complacent just yet, as he couldn't forget that danger lurked nearby. It hadn't escaped his notice that there were still quite a number of Organization members present, not to mention the powerful and mysterious beings that had suddenly appeared before them.
Riku could tell that Sora was upset by his reaction, and thus, he decided to put in an effort to console Sora by attempting to comfort him. "Don'tworry 'bout it, buddy," He reassured him with a smile, "There won't be another big attack." He paused for a couple of seconds, wondering whether or not it might be best to add that part about him not knowing where they were headed next either, but after realizing how silly the thought actually sounded, he changed his mind quickly.
"I'm serious!" Riku exclaimed, shaking his head with a determined smile on his face. “You’ll probably wake up to a bunch of memories from today, like yesterday, but… We’ve got this Sora. We can do this.” His gaze softened as he watched Sora smile softly at him and nod in response. “Yeah… I guess you’re right… Thanks Riku.” He replied quietly as he turned his attention towards the hallway in front of them.
They remained silent for a while, simply observing the area in front of them and listening closely. After a few moments passed by, however, they could sense that it was getting harder and harder for them to hold in their laughter. At this point, they knew exactly what was going to happen to them, which prompted them to break out into hysterical giggles. After hearing them, Xion couldn’t contain her own, and soon the rest of the group joined her. Soon, all of them could hardly breathe, as they found it impossible to stop laughing long enough to catch their breath.
It only stopped after a couple of minutes and after they had finally calmed down. They all took a second to recover as they looked around and tried to figure out what to do next. After a moment’s silence, Roxas spoke up with a soft sigh. “Alright guys, looks like we gotta find an exit… Any ideas?” He asked, looking up at the rest of the group.
No one responded immediately as they contemplated their options carefully. As much as they wanted to leave as fast as possible (even if they were still scared that they would be attacked), there wasn’t much else they could do. It was obvious that they could not escape on their own, at least not without some kind of help, and there really was only one person left who could assist them with finding an exit… Unfortunately, that would likely also mean that there would come a point where their luck ran out, and they’d no longer be able to use their powers in order to stay alive. This would definitely not end well.
A sudden noise caught their attention. Turning their heads in that direction, everyone looked towards the source of the sound and saw that an enormous portal had appeared. Once it had opened up and revealed itself, they realized that it was much larger than the ones they had just come through, and that it continued on into the distance. A strange pulsating light came pouring out of it, which began to fill up the entire room almost immediately afterwards, causing everyone to instinctively cover their eyes as they were forced to take several steps backwards. Once the initial shock wore off, they were relieved to see that it wasn’t nearly as bright or bright as the light that filled up the entire chamber just mere seconds ago. However, they weren’t prepared for the sheer size and depth of what seemed like it stretched endlessly beyond the wall of light. What they were witnessing was far more terrifying and horrifying than either of those things combined. It truly took their breath away.
A single thought crossed the Keybearers’ minds:
Where are we?
Xion and Kairi immediately exchanged glances as their hearts sank. The fact that they hadn’t yet managed to figure that out made them both extremely anxious. It wasn’t that they didn’t have a clue – their plan was simple; they needed to go into the portal, find the darkness that resided within, fight it, and hopefully be able to defeat the creatures who resided there as well. That was certainly the most important thing, even though they knew that fighting them wasn’t very likely either given their current strength.
What worried them more was the possibility that they wouldn’t be able to win.
Their hearts hammered against their chests and each breath they took caused a spike of anxiety to erupt inside of their chests and make their stomach drop. Despite the fear of death creeping through their veins, they knew that the only hope they had at surviving these creatures would be their ability to work together. Even though they may have lost the element of surprise on this particular mission, they still knew that as long as they worked together, they had every chance of winning.
And unfortunately for them, there wasn’t a lot of time.
They knew that, in all likelihood, it wouldn’t be the last battle they faced together as a team, and it definitely wouldn’t be the last place they battled together as a team… But at the moment, they were too afraid to think about it further. It felt too surreal to be happening to them… They could barely believe that they had made it all the way here from the Realm of Darkness. Not only had they fought many fearsome foes, but they had also successfully defeated one of the Heartless themselves. It was too unreal.
They weren’t even sure if it was real, to begin with.
As everyone began to process that they were actually inside of a massive crystal, one that was connected to the heart of the universe, they slowly became aware of something else:
The air was growing noticeably colder.
Before anyone could say anything, an icy breeze blew through the room. The others gasped in surprise as they struggled to hold back a shiver at the sudden chill that had hit them.
“Wah! This isn’t good! It’s too cold in here! We should’ve brought extra coats!” Kairi stated as she wrapped her arms tightly around herself. Even though she couldn’t feel her hands, she could feel her legs becoming numb from the cold.
Even Riku, who had been feeling a little warmer earlier, now felt like ice water had been dumped over him. It felt like everything he did was being affected by this freezing temperature. His body felt numb… His lungs felt frozen… His legs felt weak. If he kept walking like this, he’d surely pass out…
He glanced over at Sora who didn’t seem to be affected by it any more than he was. His movements were slow and sluggish, as was his expression. It seemed to be difficult for him to move, as if he had fallen asleep standing up.
“We need to find an exit! I don’t know about you guys, but I can’t walk like this much longer!” He cried out as a desperate expression formed upon his face. Without wasting any time he started running towards the center of the room, hoping that there was an entrance there. Everyone quickly followed suit, following behind him as fast as they could manage.
They searched everywhere, yet nothing gave any indication of the existence of an exit.
Suddenly, a voice came echoing throughout the vast hall, sounding slightly distorted and distant, almost as if the words were coming from a great distance away. “Why do you search for the entrance? Why do you seek the key?” The sound grew ever louder, until it was completely unbearable, and eventually faded out altogether.
Riku, who was the nearest to where it had originated, halted and turned around to look at the others. As soon as their gazes met, the atmosphere in the chamber changed drastically. Suddenly everything started to glow red and a deafening scream echoed loudly around them, causing everyone to wince. When they lowered their eyes to try to locate the origin of the sound, a giant beast materialized in front of them. Its gigantic body was covered entirely by red spikes and its head sported horns, making it look like a cross between a dragon and a wolf.
“What is it? Where did it come from?!” Kairi shouted, trying her best to remain calm despite the extreme panic she was feeling. She felt her heart rate quicken as she stared at the creature. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn’t shake that terrible feeling that she would get hurt if she let herself get close to the creature.
“I… I don’t know!” Replied Riku before looking frantically around the area for the source of the sound. However, as his gaze fell onto the floor, a new thought struck him:
This monster doesn’t belong here.
This creature was obviously not meant to exist anywhere near this dimension. As the group of friends gazed upon the creature, they realized this would be their final battle. From the start none of them dared to dream of winning against it – they feared that the odds simply weren’t in their favor. However, when they noticed that the creature was not moving towards them nor threatening them directly, it suddenly dawned on them that the chances for a win had finally become significantly higher. Now there was absolutely no reason for them to hesitate anymore…
It’s time to stop running away and fight…
The moment that they spotted the creature, the entire group instantly snapped into action. Without hesitation they jumped forward, attacking it furiously. For several minutes nothing seemed to happen. In reality, they probably could have done better in fighting against the creature if they had been allowed more time, but their desperation and determination to find a way out prevented them from giving that any consideration. However, the second the monster moved, they all decided that this was no time to delay their plans any further. They could continue fighting later. With this realization they immediately charged forwards, each one of them unleashing their strongest attacks on the monster.
As the creature’s eyes widened in surprise and confusion at the unexpected attack, its body shook vigorously. Unable to stand the onslaught of attacks directed at it, it screamed with rage and pain. Then without warning, it began charging towards the Keybearers with its powerful claws raised high above its head.
All of the Keybearers reacted as if struck with lightning. In an instant they all leapt out of the way, landing perfectly outside of the creature’s path. They then simultaneously unleashed a flurry of spells, causing the creature to shriek in agony again as countless magical sparks exploded all around it. Before anyone could even blink a pair of massive spikes emerged from either side of its body. It swung its claws wildly, attempting to swipe at the Keybearers once more, however, it soon found itself forced to halt its assault when another barrage of magic erupted towards it from all sides. A series of large balls of fire slammed into the creature, which then began burning violently. Once again it began thrashing wildly, this time trying to push off of the ground due to the intense pain radiating within it. This time, however, the Keybearers were ready for it and they were able to keep the monster pinned down with all the power they had. It continued to scream and squirm madly underneath them for some time, until finally, as all of the lights from the crystal around them died out, it fell silent and lifeless.
For a while everyone stood still, stunned as they stared down at the beast’s corpse. The beast had ceased struggling and had gone completely limp. After what they were going through mere seconds ago, they hardly expected the battle to end so easily… But as the light slowly returned to the chamber they breathed a sigh of relief as a huge weight lifted from their shoulders. It was over. They had won.
When it was clear to everyone that the danger was over, the group of young Keybearers slowly started to make their way back towards the centre of the room. They slowly approached the center, watching in awe as a beautiful light rose from the stone beneath them, and when it cleared, the Keybearers found themselves surrounded by the bright blue light. They were safe. They were really free. They had survived another fight together as a group…
“Are we done now?” Sora asked as he slowly regained control over his own emotions, a wide smile appearing on his face. There was still excitement and excitement in his voice, but the tone was laced with relief rather than joy.
“Yeah,” Riku replied, returning the grin to Sora’s face. “Looks like it. Let’s go home,” he said as he turned around to start heading back the way they had first come.
Kairi nodded her head in agreement as she placed a hand on Sora’s shoulder.
Kingdom Hearts: Another Incident
Keyblades were in their hands, the sounds of clashing ringing around them as they slashed through the air. It wasn’t much time before a familiar figure came into view with a smile, dodging a slash that left the other three’s hearts a little dented.
“Heheh~ How about I take you all on?”
The four turned to see Sora, grinning widely and showing them his Keyblade as he stood at his full height. He didn’t give them a chance to answer before he took a running start towards the group.
“No fighting!!” He shouted, jumping high and slicing through the air before landing perfectly onto his feet. The group of seven looked between each other, confusion written across their faces before looking over towards the king, whose face was filled with amusement. They couldn’t help but feel just as confused as him as he walked over towards the two standing on one side.
“Are… are we allowed to fight… him?” Ventus asked quietly, unsure if it was even a good idea to ask that after what had happened the last time they fought him. Sora let out a light chuckle as he placed his hand on Ven’s head. “Sora, no…”
“That’s because we’re not actually his enemies.”
A few hours later, the four friends stood on top of one of the buildings in Radiant Garden, watching as a lone keyblade master moved through the city with ease while they themselves hovered above it, trying not to make their presence known. They waited until Sora had disappeared from sight before gliding down so they stood directly underneath the castle.
“So, uh…” Terra broke the silence after several minutes, “What are we doing here again?”
Larxene scoffed from her spot sitting next to Roxas on the ground. “We’re supposed to be guarding the Keyhole, remember?!” She glanced up towards the others as she continued speaking, “Well, maybe you forgot or something! Maybe this whole mission is just some kind of stupid waste of our time and time alone!”
Ven let out a laugh, shaking his head slightly. “Don’t worry… there has to be a reason we were sent. Maybe the Organization really does have another Keyblade Master, or maybe they just have another member who needs protecting.”
Xion crossed her arms in front of herself. “Yeah, that makes sense, too…” She looked back up towards the sky and gave out a soft sigh. “But whatever happens, we should probably get going soon. After all, we don’t know when Sora is gonna wake up.”
Everyone nodded before getting up from where they had been laying. “Right, let’s go meet up with him then.” Larxene started walking forward towards the entrance of Radiant Garden while everyone else followed behind her. They stopped for a moment when they reached the doorway, hesitating for a second before pushing past the threshold.
It was dark inside the castle, which meant that Sora would have no way to tell if the others were really with him. If he did wake up early, though, wouldn’t that mean he was still asleep? And wouldn’t he be worried that someone woke up without him knowing it? That wasn’t good for his heart…
“You know…” Terra said suddenly as they stepped into the main hall, catching their attention. “Even if there isn’t a Keyblade Master, shouldn’t we be prepared for anything? Especially since Sora might try to find his way here?” Everyone fell silent for a moment as they thought it through, taking a moment to look around the room.
‘We don’t know if he will be able to leave this place… but if there are things like Nobodies and Heartless here, shouldn’t we be ready for something bad to happen?’ Ventus’ thoughts were echoed by everyone else. It was true that things like the Heartless didn’t normally bother them when they could use their powers freely. However, they weren’t sure how dangerous Heartless could really be.
Finally Larxene broke the silence with an exasperated huff. “Of course we are! There doesn’t have to be a Keyblade Master just because you all are paranoid!” Her voice rang out through the large foyer, bouncing off the walls. She was right, but it felt wrong to not be expecting trouble, especially now. “Look, let’s stop wasting time here. I know you want Sora to wake up sooner, but we need to get to the castle first!” Without waiting for anyone to say anything more, she rushed forward, disappearing around the corner towards the throne room.
Ventus sighed softly, turning to follow her. “Guess she doesn’t want us worrying.” He mumbled under his breath before heading after Larxene and Terra, who had already begun following behind. ‘I guess they're probably right... we don't even know why Sora is here or what he's planning… and I guess we can't really talk with him right now anyways,’ he thought to himself. ‘Still, this seems kind of unnecessary. Even if there's nothing wrong, why are we rushing to the castle so late in the night?’ He shook his head, dismissing the thoughts as they ran into the throne room, where Xemnas was waiting.
"Ah, my favorite guests."
As usual, Xemnas' tone made it sound almost playful as he spoke. The others glanced at each other, uncertain of what he was talking about. "Huh?" Larxene muttered before noticing Xigbar and the rest of his group. “Whoa! You guys look pretty strong!” She raised her arm, summoning a black gauntlet, as well as a small black orb that emitted smoke.
"Is that your keyblade, Princess?" Ansem questioned as she held her hand out, a ball of black energy forming at her fingertips.
Her face immediately dropped upon hearing him speak. "Whaaaat? I'm not a princess!!" She yelled indignantly, her eyes narrowing on the wizard in annoyance. "My name's Larxene, dumbass!" Xemnas watched as she pointed at herself with her free hand, frowning as he watched her begin to pace back and forth in anger.
"Larlxene…" His voice trailed off, his expression becoming blank as she continued to growl at him. "Oh, right. You're the thief. My apologies."
Xigbar chuckled lightly, leaning against the wall with one arm crossed casually in front of his chest as he smirked. "Yup, we've all heard about your crimes," he teased. "Though none of 'em compared to those of her majesty."
Leaning forwards, Axel folded his arms together and shot Xemnas a sly grin. "Hey, she ain't exactly innocent herself either. We know all about the whole stealing hearts thing…" He leaned back, shrugging dismissively. "Besides… I bet you can only dream of being the princess they used to call the thief… huh, princess?"
His words caused Larxene to freeze in place, her eyes widening as she stared at Axel with utter shock. Before she could say anything, however, Ansem put a hand out, stopping her from speaking. He looked towards Axel with a stern expression on his face. “You will shut yourself up, thief.” He growled, his voice sounding dangerously low. “There is no point in entertaining this little interlude you think you’ve created. This is a battle to defeat darkness, not a playtime between children.”
“Whatever man…” Larxene spat, rolling her eyes before crossing her arms defiantly. “I was only kidding around anyway, you know.” She grinned, causing Xemnas’ gaze to soften just the slightest bit, almost undetectable to the others unless you knew what to look for.
“Come. We must get moving.” Xemnas said, gesturing at the exit.
Larxene rolled her eyes once again before turning on her heel and leading the way out of the building, leaving behind a bewildered looking Xigbar.
“Wow… she’s tough,” he mused, chuckling quietly to himself before giving chase to the others.
They walked alongside one another for a few moments before Ven finally decided to break the silence.
“So…” he began, “what do we do next? What is Sora planning?”
He didn’t receive an answer, which seemed unusual to him at the time since he assumed everyone was listening to what was said to them.
Terra shifted uncomfortably in his seat for a moment before answering, “…I dunno. It’s obvious they’re trying to find the Keyblade Masters that were involved in all of this.”
“If it means getting Sora out of the Organization, then… yeah… I guess so.” Aqua answered, glancing down towards the floor. “After all, that’s what’s important right now… right?”
Ventus frowned at the question, glancing over towards Xion as if silently asking whether or not she had any ideas about what was going on. She hesitated for a moment before meeting his gaze. For a second he wondered if she would share what he was thinking, but eventually she shrugged slightly.
“What I’m confused about is… does that actually change anything?” Xion asked. “Sora’s still Sora. We just keep doing our jobs as normal and hope this all works out. Like, if they’re really trying to take Sora, shouldn’t that mean… they care about Sora too? Maybe there is some reason why Sora is here instead of the others?”
Terra frowned slightly, his eyebrows furrowing and making his facial features seem much darker than usual. He didn’t seem convinced by whatever response Xion was giving them, but he nodded regardless. “Yeah… but… what if they don’t care about Sora? If we go to the Castle and try to find him, what will happen afterwards? Will the Organization attack us because of it? And then what? Are we just supposed to sit here and do nothing while the people we love end up getting hurt, again?”
Aqua’s heart clenched slightly as she gazed at him sympathetically, not wanting him to continue to doubt their chances of finding their lost friend. However she knew better than to speak, knowing the two of them were too stubborn for their own good sometimes.
“Well, I’m gonna ask again… what do we do?” Roxas spoke up. Everyone turned their attention to him as he spoke, a serious expression crossing his face.
“Well… the Organization wouldn’t dare come into Naminé’s domain without a very clear plan. They need to have someone in place inside the castle to monitor everything happening and make sure we aren’t trying to steal the key. I bet it won’t take long for the Organization to figure something out, so we should leave soon and make sure we’ll be able to help as much as possible. Then, once we’re certain we can’t find Sora, we can start looking for clues about how to reverse time, maybe even find the keyhole.”
Everyone exchanged a nervous glance with one another, wondering just how much more they were going to have to endure before they were done dealing with the Organization’s antics.
After the encounter with the Organization, the group headed straight to the castle, hoping to find answers within its halls. As they approached the entrance, they noticed that the doors were closed tightly, preventing them from entering.
“Uh… guys?” Ventus called out, raising his hand to knock on the door. “We’re here to see Sora!” He waited until nobody replied, assuming that they were busy with whoever was inside, before knocking again.
This time however, the door remained completely closed, and it took them quite a while before a voice called back out to them. “The King and Queen aren’t available today, sorry. Please feel free to return later today!” The voice seemed friendly enough, and yet somehow… strange, considering they had never interacted with any of these people before. Still, this wasn’t the time for idle chit chat; it was Sora they needed to rescue now, and the sooner they got going, the sooner they’d be reunited with their missing friend.
The doors suddenly slid open, revealing several masked figures standing there, dressed completely in white robes. They were wearing masks, but unlike the Organization members that wore hoods or scarves, these ones were black and silver, resembling some sort of crown and scepter style objects.
“Who are you?! What do you want here?” One of the men, the one who appeared to be king of the group spoke up, his words laced with a hint of hostility.
Ventus frowned deeply as he glanced towards Riku with uncertainty in his eyes. He couldn’t understand why the others seemed so hesitant to talk to the strangers. They had no real choice anyway; there was no other option but to follow their directions if they wanted to save their best friend. But still, there was a slight hesitance in Ventus’ steps as he moved forward to speak up. “Um… well, we just wanna find Sora,” He explained, glancing at each of the masked figures before taking a quick glance at Roxas as he raised a brow curiously. “Is there something wrong?”
Roxas simply shrugged at his question, glancing away slightly. “I… don’t know. Something just seems off. Maybe it’s my imagination…”
One of the women stepped forward, drawing their gazes towards her. There was a sinister smirk resting upon her lips as she eyed them slowly. Her dark eyes held a sinister glint as she smirked at them.
“You kids are really interesting… very well then… follow me. You won’t be harmed here. We know what you did after all, it would be bad if anyone discovered your presence. We’ll take you to where you wish to go from here…” she trailed off.
Ventus’ stomach felt like it was twisting itself into knots. He glanced quickly over towards his friends as concern flooded through his system, his eyes landing on Xion. A small smile crossed his face, hoping his worry wasn’t too obvious. ‘I wonder how she’ll react to these people…’ he thought. His smile vanished as he focused back onto the woman who had spoken, who appeared to be leading the group forward.
She led them through several different corridors before finally stopping outside a large metal door. She pulled out a key, turning it around in her hands before sliding it across the lock and pushing it open.
As she entered the room, the others followed, and when Ventus looked around he found that the room was empty save for a table with several chairs surrounding it. In front of the room, a tall man in a suit stood with a wide grin. A look of anticipation came to his face as he noticed them approaching.
“Ah, the children have arrived! I’ve been expecting you,” he announced jovially. “Please, come, sit down, and we can begin discussing your plan!” He motioned towards the seats.
Ventus walked slowly into the room, unsure of what he could possibly say, especially when the rest of his companions seemed rather uninterested. After sitting down, he glanced at the stranger nervously before speaking up. “Why are you helping us?”
“Ah yes! Why indeed!” The man laughed. “I suppose you deserve an explanation for all of this, after everything you’ve gone through already. I’m sure the others must have told you about the Keyblade War by now – but that isn’t important now.” The man’s smile faded slightly, though his expression grew far less friendly the longer he stared at Ventus.
He continued staring at the boy for a few more moments, causing Terra, Aqua and Riku to shift uneasily. Eventually, after a brief silence, he sighed and shook his head slightly.
“Yes… that war changed everything. Not only were my world turned upside down, but so many things happened. I can assure you I had nothing to do with it though, so please forgive me if I give the wrong impression,” the man paused briefly before continuing. “But to answer your first question, I’m afraid I can’t tell you exactly why. Suffice it to say, I am the person who made the decision to let you pass.”
That caught both Terra and Aqua off guard, and they shared an astonished glance with one another. It wasn’t hard to imagine that they might have heard of the war that had occurred during that time, which left them wondering what else had transpired. Did he really stop it? Was that why they hadn’t been attacked yet?
“But anyways, as you probably know by now, the world ended shortly afterward…” The man paused as he took note of everyone’s confusion. “The Keybearers were tasked with destroying the darkness from the worlds and bringing order. This task was left to them to carry out, along with an unknown number of others, and it became known that they were the Chosen Children of Twilight Town, which is what brought you and your group together in the first place! So I think I can safely say that you shouldn’t worry yourselves too much… as long as you continue to work together, you’ll surely end up finding Sora before anything happens to him. You must promise me, that you will do your best to protect him… so that you and he may meet again in the future.” He smiled sadly before turning away and walking back into the depths of the room.
All eyes fell to the ground as the stranger disappeared behind them. Everyone was silent for a moment, pondering over his last words for a few seconds before Terra decided it was time to speak up.
“So… what do we do now? Should we keep going to try finding Sora, or should we return to the town? Or wait until tomorrow? Or, or…”
Ven placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, giving it a firm squeeze. “Don’t worry, Terra, we’ll figure something out.” He turned towards the others, a determined look appearing on his face. “Right guys?”
Aqua nodded firmly while looking at Roxas with a worried gaze. “Yeah, we promised to help Sora, and we intend to honor our word. That includes doing whatever we can to get him back.” She gave a small smile at Terra, but when he didn’t respond, she furrowed her brows slightly. “Terra, are you alright?” She asked softly.
Terra blinked owlishly at her sudden outburst, and he began fumbling with his words. “Y… yeah I mean… I guess. I’m just worried about Sora,” He confessed quietly, glancing downwards for a moment before returning his attention back to Aqua and Ven. “Sorry I kind of freaked out earlier. We just haven’t heard from him in ages, and I’m starting to get worried…”
Xion bit her lip anxiously. “Well, we can’t change that right now. We need to focus on getting Sora back. All we can do now is trust in that fact that everything will turn out okay,” She offered.
Ventus couldn’t agree more, however, he also knew that trusting blindly in things wasn’t always the correct course of action. After all, what if he trusted those people, and in the end it ended up being a huge mistake? What if he and the others ended up trapped down here forever without Sora or any other way to escape? What if they couldn’t find some way to break free from here and find a way home? What if none of this ever happened?
What if they never got Sora back?
His mind kept racing with thoughts as he tried to ignore the strange feeling settling within himself. No matter what they did or said, he knew he still didn’t want to give up hope, no matter what was happening. He refused to lose sight of his goal, even if the chances of success was low. Sora wouldn’t abandon them again, not after everything they’d gone through. They could handle this, they could definitely handle this. And with that, Ventus forced himself to relax a little, forcing his anxiety back into its proper confines.
“Okay, let’s start by thinking about some places that he might have been taken…” Aqua murmured.
Terra raised a brow slightly, tilting his head to the side. “Are we talking anywhere specific?” He asked curiously.
“Maybe not specifically… but maybe we can start somewhere easy, where the most people are usually gathered,” she suggested.
The room fell quiet as they thought about what she said carefully. They didn’t have enough information to decide what to do next. Even if they started searching places that weren’t very often visited, the odds of running into someone familiar, and therefore finding some sort of clue, were fairly slim. As they all stood there silently contemplating their options they suddenly heard footsteps echoing down the hallway.
Everyone’s heads swiveled towards the sound as the door slid open once more, the same man from before standing in the doorway with a large smile on his face. “There you are! Come along now, let’s go.”
They followed him as he moved quickly through the hallways, not really paying attention to where they were going, but nonetheless staying close together so they wouldn’t be separated. Before they knew it, they finally reached the top of one of the staircases leading to a massive room filled to the brim with computers and screens. A multitude of monitors lined the walls, each displaying various scenes from different locations throughout the worlds.
The man approached one of the screens and began clicking a few keys rapidly, causing several images to display in quick succession across the screen. Each image appeared briefly, but in a different location before disappearing from view altogether.
“Now, if you would all follow me through these halls and rooms that I have set up for you, you will be able to find the answers you are looking for.” He looked between everyone in the room as he spoke, smiling warmly at each of them as he spoke. None of them were quite certain how to react to this new development, but before anyone could utter a word, the man stepped backwards and motioned for them to move.
They all hesitated for a second before slowly following after him, watching closely as he led the group through the maze of halls until finally the man stopped and turned around.
“I’ve arranged the rooms accordingly, as well as provided a guide who will guide you wherever you need to go to find what you’re looking for,” he explained. “And of course there’s still the chance that things won’t happen as planned, but I don’t see that likely. Please excuse me; I must attend to other matters now.” With that said, the man turned and disappeared behind a closed door, leaving the room completely empty.
Slowly, the others shifted their gazes towards one another as they stood quietly for a short amount of time before finally turning back around to look at the screens that displayed various scenes of the different parts of the worlds. As they continued staring blankly ahead, they noticed that each one seemed to show the world they were currently in – and yet only one image showed Sora. However, that one image depicted nothing less than an ocean filled with waves that reached up high above the clouds, which almost blocked off the entire sky itself.
No one made any attempt to break the silence for several seconds, as their minds couldn’t seem to process what exactly was occurring. If anything, that image had shown them that they were in some sort of dream or nightmare. They had somehow found their way to the worlds that contained the dark, twisted darkness; the worlds that they thought belonged to the Organization. Their own worlds. But then, if this was supposed to be a vision, what exactly was the connection between the two? Did this mean that the Organization had returned to Twilight Town and begun attacking them in some form or another? Was this just part of their plan to take them prisoner once again, and use their own worlds against them?
Roxas felt as though his heart was breaking, as his thoughts were immediately interrupted by the voice he hadn’t expected to hear once again. “Hey, hey, look at me…”
He slowly turned his head upwards, meeting Ven’s gaze as he tried to maintain his composure.
“Everything’s gonna be ok…” Ven reassured him gently. “We’re sure to find Sora soon…” He paused for a few seconds, a concerned expression appearing on his face as he glanced at him once again. “And I promise to help you find him too, ok? So, let’s just focus on finding a way out of here first.”
Roxas lowered his head again as Ven’s voice faded away, trying desperately to hold back tears as he focused on calming down. His eyes drifted towards the others around the room, all gazing back at him with sympathetic expressions. He wanted to believe what Ven was saying, but at the same time he couldn’t help but doubt it. What if it was all a trick? What if they were actually stuck down here, with no way to rescue Sora, and the Organization was coming to finish the job?
Before Roxas could allow his thoughts to run wild any further, Aqua’s voice pulled his attention back towards the present.
“Hey guys, it’s probably best to focus on finding a way out while we still know that at least something good has happened so far. We should keep our hopes in check for now. We don’t know what’s going to happen after all, and we shouldn’t jump to conclusions,” Aqua explained softly, a gentle expression painting her features.
Ven nodded slightly, offering a weak smile before walking forward with Xion. Terra stayed where he was for a moment longer, glancing over his shoulder towards the rest of the room, hesitating for a split second before letting out a sigh and moving to walk beside Aqua and Ven.
Ventus smiled encouragingly at Roxas and gestured for him to join them, making his way toward them in order to catch up. The rest of the group slowly dispersed and moved to stand in front of the screens that displayed various views of worlds and spaces that they assumed had to be similar to theirs. The images of the many planets were all blurry, almost like they had simply zoomed in closer, and Roxas couldn’t help but feel incredibly overwhelmed by it all. How much further could Sora possibly have gotten through all of this? And where was he right now?
Aqua watched as the images shifted to show different areas of the worlds, and as soon as she saw one particular image that caused the corners of her lips to twitch upwards, she immediately knew which direction to go in next. “This is our path,” she explained as she walked towards the door.
Everyone else quickly came to follow suit, with Terra giving her a grateful nod as they did so. After making sure nobody was following her, Aqua turned back towards her friends as they hurried to catch up, allowing herself to smile. She didn’t think that it was possible, but she could have sworn that the world they were heading towards looked vaguely familiar… Maybe she just hadn’t seen it in awhile.
They walked down the seemingly never ending hallways for quite some time. It took them a good couple of hours, but eventually Aqua managed to figure out where they were headed, and they ended up arriving just outside the entrance of an area that looked almost identical to where they last saw Sora.
“Well, according to my readings, that should be the spot we’re looking for. Let’s head inside,” Aqua suggested, turning towards the rest of them. There were still a couple of hours left until sunset and although the idea of going into the place where Sora was supposed to be seemed like a good idea, she didn’t want to risk any of them being hurt if they went in without taking any precautions.
Riku, who had been trailing slightly behind, looked over at Aqua as he muttered a small affirmation to her words before turning back around towards the entrance and stepping forwards, pushing open the door. ‘I hope he’s alright...’ Riku thought, hoping that everything wasn’t wrong after all.
The moment they entered the building, their heads swivelled about curiously as they stared around the interior. The space they had entered seemed rather large, and from what they could see, there were a number of people walking through the building. Everyone was dressed similarly to the ones that they had encountered earlier in the day, but none of them gave off such a disturbing aura that they might cause concern.
However, the group remained silent and unmoving as they cautiously observed their surroundings, keeping their guard up in case anyone decided to attack them.
The group followed after Riku, entering the hallway as the door closed behind them. All of a sudden, Aqua froze in place upon noticing someone that she recognized standing right in front of the exit. Her eyes immediately fell onto a pair of piercing gold eyes, whose gaze lingered on her for several moments. Then her eyes widened in shock and fear as they suddenly turned towards someone behind her. “Sora!”
It only took a few seconds of searching and confusion before the rest of the group caught sight of Sora standing a few feet behind them. Even with his eyes wide open and unblinking like always, it was clear that he wasn’t aware of their presence. In fact, his eyes looked slightly distant, almost like he was dreaming, as if he weren’t even truly present in any real sense of the word. He appeared to be wearing what appeared to be a long black tunic, with a blue cloak resting loosely across his shoulders and the top half draped over his left arm. Despite being fully visible in reality, he didn’t appear aware of what was happening around him, or even what it was he was doing.
The sound of footsteps broke through the stunned silence that had been hanging in the air since they had first entered the building, causing everyone to turn their gazes towards the source of the sound.
Xemnas and a group of people that were dressed in identical uniforms stood not too far in front of them. They all wore black helmets with a single eye embedded into their foreheads and the ends of their masks were lined with sharp spikes that extended from underneath. On each of their chests rested two red gemstones, which reflected the light perfectly as they began to radiate a cold glare. As soon as Xemnas noticed that they were staring at him, he began to smirk as though he were enjoying their reactions greatly. He raised an eyebrow at them before continuing to speak. “Well well… If it isn’t little children come out to play…” He said teasingly, taking a slight step forwards as he continued speaking. “So curious, are we? Well, let’s make this quick… We have places that we need to be.”
Xemnas’s expression changed, becoming less smug and more menacing as he spoke. “You may be children, but you are not allowed to interfere with our plans anymore! None of your little tricks will help us this time. Now, we must be rid of your interference, once and for all…” A loud explosion rang through the whole corridor as a series of dark purple portals opened up in the distance, causing everyone, including Riku and Ven, to instinctively move backwards as a result of the unexpected blast.
Once the portal had closed once again, however, a strange creature emerged from within its depths; a large, humanoid shaped being that appeared completely made up of darkness. However, unlike any of the other creatures they had encountered previously, this new creature appeared to have four glowing orbs located in the center of it’s body, and upon closer inspection, they appeared to be emitting a faint glow that emanated from beneath it. It took a few seconds for them to realize that these orbs were eyes. Large, glowing green orbs that resembled the very shape of two burning embers set deep into the sides of the creature’s head.
As if it were able to read their minds, the creature uttered a haunting laugh that echoed throughout the hall. The entire group instantly felt themselves tremble under the pressure of the beings intense, intimidating gaze, causing them to quickly take several steps backwards as they tried to hide from the monster’s overwhelming power.
After taking a brief moment to observe the others in order to ensure that they wouldn’t try to flee, the creature’s attention was focused entirely on the Keybearer, who seemed to shrink into himself as the creature studied him. Its gaze lingered for a moment or so longer, as though considering what it would do, and then abruptly disappeared, leaving a confused and terrified Riku stumbling back several steps as the creature disappeared before everyone’s eyes.
The creature reappeared in front of the Keybearer, who promptly stumbled backwards, his eyes widening and his hands clutching his head tightly as he shook violently. His eyes were squeezed shut, refusing to look at anything in front of him.
The creature chuckled darkly as it stepped forward, making its way slowly toward the trembling Keybearer. “Looks like they were telling the truth… You really aren’t capable of using your abilities anymore…” It mused, reaching out a gloved hand towards the Keybearer's trembling form as its voice echoed throughout the corridor. “But then again… you’re still worth something to me. Your usefulness to me has never failed…” With the sound of a loud snap echoing loudly through the corridor, the creature released its grip on the Keybearer, sending him crashing heavily onto the ground as it stood tall above him.
The creature glanced down at the Keybearer, before leaning in close to face him, and once it spoke, it was barely heard over the sound of his heart pounding against his chest. “We shall meet again… I shall await your return…” With that final statement, the creature disappeared once again, and the world returned to normal as it regained its original appearance.
Everyone stared at Sora for a few minutes before finally daring to approach him and kneel down beside him, trying their best to avoid touching him in case he got hurt. As it turns out, their attempt at avoiding touching him proved futile.
Without warning, Sora suddenly bursted into tears. He covered his mouth as he cried, as if he couldn’t cry any louder due to feeling ashamed of his actions. “How did I not notice?! Why am I not strong enough… Why am I weak…” He cried, his words coming out as choked sobs as he curled into himself.
“Hey now, there’s no need to talk like that… It’s ok Sora, it’s gonna be fine… We’ll get you back home and then nothing will ever bother us again.” Kairi reassured him as she placed a hand gently on his shoulder. She knew how hard it was for him to feel so helpless, especially when he felt like he had failed.
She didn’t expect him to react in such a way though.
Sora looked up towards her with wide, bloodshot eyes as he wiped away some of the tears forming in his eyes. He gave her a watery smile, one filled with gratitude for her care and concern. “Kairi...” He whispered softly as he attempted to compose himself. “Thank you…” He whispered softly as he managed to regain control over his emotions.
Although he was glad to hear that everything would be alright, he couldn’t allow himself to become too complacent just yet, as he couldn't forget that danger lurked nearby. It hadn't escaped his notice that there were still quite a number of Organization members present, not to mention the powerful and mysterious beings that had suddenly appeared before them.
Riku could tell that Sora was upset by his reaction, and thus, he decided to put in an effort to console Sora by attempting to comfort him. "Don'tworry 'bout it, buddy," He reassured him with a smile, "There won't be another big attack." He paused for a couple of seconds, wondering whether or not it might be best to add that part about him not knowing where they were headed next either, but after realizing how silly the thought actually sounded, he changed his mind quickly.
"I'm serious!" Riku exclaimed, shaking his head with a determined smile on his face. “You’ll probably wake up to a bunch of memories from today, like yesterday, but… We’ve got this Sora. We can do this.” His gaze softened as he watched Sora smile softly at him and nod in response. “Yeah… I guess you’re right… Thanks Riku.” He replied quietly as he turned his attention towards the hallway in front of them.
They remained silent for a while, simply observing the area in front of them and listening closely. After a few moments passed by, however, they could sense that it was getting harder and harder for them to hold in their laughter. At this point, they knew exactly what was going to happen to them, which prompted them to break out into hysterical giggles. After hearing them, Xion couldn’t contain her own, and soon the rest of the group joined her. Soon, all of them could hardly breathe, as they found it impossible to stop laughing long enough to catch their breath.
It only stopped after a couple of minutes and after they had finally calmed down. They all took a second to recover as they looked around and tried to figure out what to do next. After a moment’s silence, Roxas spoke up with a soft sigh. “Alright guys, looks like we gotta find an exit… Any ideas?” He asked, looking up at the rest of the group.
No one responded immediately as they contemplated their options carefully. As much as they wanted to leave as fast as possible (even if they were still scared that they would be attacked), there wasn’t much else they could do. It was obvious that they could not escape on their own, at least not without some kind of help, and there really was only one person left who could assist them with finding an exit… Unfortunately, that would likely also mean that there would come a point where their luck ran out, and they’d no longer be able to use their powers in order to stay alive. This would definitely not end well.
A sudden noise caught their attention. Turning their heads in that direction, everyone looked towards the source of the sound and saw that an enormous portal had appeared. Once it had opened up and revealed itself, they realized that it was much larger than the ones they had just come through, and that it continued on into the distance. A strange pulsating light came pouring out of it, which began to fill up the entire room almost immediately afterwards, causing everyone to instinctively cover their eyes as they were forced to take several steps backwards. Once the initial shock wore off, they were relieved to see that it wasn’t nearly as bright or bright as the light that filled up the entire chamber just mere seconds ago. However, they weren’t prepared for the sheer size and depth of what seemed like it stretched endlessly beyond the wall of light. What they were witnessing was far more terrifying and horrifying than either of those things combined. It truly took their breath away.
A single thought crossed the Keybearers’ minds:
Where are we?
Xion and Kairi immediately exchanged glances as their hearts sank. The fact that they hadn’t yet managed to figure that out made them both extremely anxious. It wasn’t that they didn’t have a clue – their plan was simple; they needed to go into the portal, find the darkness that resided within, fight it, and hopefully be able to defeat the creatures who resided there as well. That was certainly the most important thing, even though they knew that fighting them wasn’t very likely either given their current strength.
What worried them more was the possibility that they wouldn’t be able to win.
Their hearts hammered against their chests and each breath they took caused a spike of anxiety to erupt inside of their chests and make their stomach drop. Despite the fear of death creeping through their veins, they knew that the only hope they had at surviving these creatures would be their ability to work together. Even though they may have lost the element of surprise on this particular mission, they still knew that as long as they worked together, they had every chance of winning.
And unfortunately for them, there wasn’t a lot of time.
They knew that, in all likelihood, it wouldn’t be the last battle they faced together as a team, and it definitely wouldn’t be the last place they battled together as a team… But at the moment, they were too afraid to think about it further. It felt too surreal to be happening to them… They could barely believe that they had made it all the way here from the Realm of Darkness. Not only had they fought many fearsome foes, but they had also successfully defeated one of the Heartless themselves. It was too unreal.
They weren’t even sure if it was real, to begin with.
As everyone began to process that they were actually inside of a massive crystal, one that was connected to the heart of the universe, they slowly became aware of something else:
The air was growing noticeably colder.
Before anyone could say anything, an icy breeze blew through the room. The others gasped in surprise as they struggled to hold back a shiver at the sudden chill that had hit them.
“Wah! This isn’t good! It’s too cold in here! We should’ve brought extra coats!” Kairi stated as she wrapped her arms tightly around herself. Even though she couldn’t feel her hands, she could feel her legs becoming numb from the cold.
Even Riku, who had been feeling a little warmer earlier, now felt like ice water had been dumped over him. It felt like everything he did was being affected by this freezing temperature. His body felt numb… His lungs felt frozen… His legs felt weak. If he kept walking like this, he’d surely pass out…
He glanced over at Sora who didn’t seem to be affected by it any more than he was. His movements were slow and sluggish, as was his expression. It seemed to be difficult for him to move, as if he had fallen asleep standing up.
“We need to find an exit! I don’t know about you guys, but I can’t walk like this much longer!” He cried out as a desperate expression formed upon his face. Without wasting any time he started running towards the center of the room, hoping that there was an entrance there. Everyone quickly followed suit, following behind him as fast as they could manage.
They searched everywhere, yet nothing gave any indication of the existence of an exit.
Suddenly, a voice came echoing throughout the vast hall, sounding slightly distorted and distant, almost as if the words were coming from a great distance away. “Why do you search for the entrance? Why do you seek the key?” The sound grew ever louder, until it was completely unbearable, and eventually faded out altogether.
Riku, who was the nearest to where it had originated, halted and turned around to look at the others. As soon as their gazes met, the atmosphere in the chamber changed drastically. Suddenly everything started to glow red and a deafening scream echoed loudly around them, causing everyone to wince. When they lowered their eyes to try to locate the origin of the sound, a giant beast materialized in front of them. Its gigantic body was covered entirely by red spikes and its head sported horns, making it look like a cross between a dragon and a wolf.
“What is it? Where did it come from?!” Kairi shouted, trying her best to remain calm despite the extreme panic she was feeling. She felt her heart rate quicken as she stared at the creature. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn’t shake that terrible feeling that she would get hurt if she let herself get close to the creature.
“I… I don’t know!” Replied Riku before looking frantically around the area for the source of the sound. However, as his gaze fell onto the floor, a new thought struck him:
This monster doesn’t belong here.
This creature was obviously not meant to exist anywhere near this dimension. As the group of friends gazed upon the creature, they realized this would be their final battle. From the start none of them dared to dream of winning against it – they feared that the odds simply weren’t in their favor. However, when they noticed that the creature was not moving towards them nor threatening them directly, it suddenly dawned on them that the chances for a win had finally become significantly higher. Now there was absolutely no reason for them to hesitate anymore…
It’s time to stop running away and fight…
The moment that they spotted the creature, the entire group instantly snapped into action. Without hesitation they jumped forward, attacking it furiously. For several minutes nothing seemed to happen. In reality, they probably could have done better in fighting against the creature if they had been allowed more time, but their desperation and determination to find a way out prevented them from giving that any consideration. However, the second the monster moved, they all decided that this was no time to delay their plans any further. They could continue fighting later. With this realization they immediately charged forwards, each one of them unleashing their strongest attacks on the monster.
As the creature’s eyes widened in surprise and confusion at the unexpected attack, its body shook vigorously. Unable to stand the onslaught of attacks directed at it, it screamed with rage and pain. Then without warning, it began charging towards the Keybearers with its powerful claws raised high above its head.
All of the Keybearers reacted as if struck with lightning. In an instant they all leapt out of the way, landing perfectly outside of the creature’s path. They then simultaneously unleashed a flurry of spells, causing the creature to shriek in agony again as countless magical sparks exploded all around it. Before anyone could even blink a pair of massive spikes emerged from either side of its body. It swung its claws wildly, attempting to swipe at the Keybearers once more, however, it soon found itself forced to halt its assault when another barrage of magic erupted towards it from all sides. A series of large balls of fire slammed into the creature, which then began burning violently. Once again it began thrashing wildly, this time trying to push off of the ground due to the intense pain radiating within it. This time, however, the Keybearers were ready for it and they were able to keep the monster pinned down with all the power they had. It continued to scream and squirm madly underneath them for some time, until finally, as all of the lights from the crystal around them died out, it fell silent and lifeless.
For a while everyone stood still, stunned as they stared down at the beast’s corpse. The beast had ceased struggling and had gone completely limp. After what they were going through mere seconds ago, they hardly expected the battle to end so easily… But as the light slowly returned to the chamber they breathed a sigh of relief as a huge weight lifted from their shoulders. It was over. They had won.
When it was clear to everyone that the danger was over, the group of young Keybearers slowly started to make their way back towards the centre of the room. They slowly approached the center, watching in awe as a beautiful light rose from the stone beneath them, and when it cleared, the Keybearers found themselves surrounded by the bright blue light. They were safe. They were really free. They had survived another fight together as a group…
“Are we done now?” Sora asked as he slowly regained control over his own emotions, a wide smile appearing on his face. There was still excitement and excitement in his voice, but the tone was laced with relief rather than joy.
“Yeah,” Riku replied, returning the grin to Sora’s face. “Looks like it. Let’s go home,” he said as he turned around to start heading back the way they had first come.
Kairi nodded her head in agreement as she placed a hand on Sora’s shoulder.
. I used the app Dreamily, typed 'Keyblades' to get it started, and let it go from there. I did have some control over it though. The A.I. writes a paragraph and then presents you with 3 possible continuations for the story. So I would pick the one I liked the best (I guess?) and see where it went next. I had a lot of fun doing it and I would definitely recommend trying it out.
