Kingdom Hearts 1. Prologue

-Prologue: Heroes Never Rest

The darkness was high. There was more to do. Here, the Heartless and Nobodies had seemingly been destroyed. But it wasn't long before the world was engulfed in darkness again.

It was only a month after Sora had defeated Xemnas. His time on Destiny Islands was cut short when he received a letter from King Mickey, stating that "there's more to do here".

But it was far from fun...some new adventure. Sora had to go alone, back to Radiant Garden, to help clean up the mess that ensued from the Heartless attacks and Maleficent's obsessively dark nature, which had ruined the castle.

The letter had the King's seal, but it was a trap. Indeed...there was more to do here, but what exactly, Sora cannot remember.


	2. Chapter 1

-Chapter 1: Sora's Return

Maybe it was just because the castle and the surrounding areas were almost done being fixed, but Sora noticed as soon as he landed on the ex-Hollow Bastion, the atmosphere was much cleaner. The streets had no Heartless, the people were smiling a lot more. All the old shops Sora had bought things from were now double or triple their original size. It seemed that Radiant Garden, as it had come to be known, was restored.

"Sora! You're back!" an exasperated voice called out to him from behind. To his surprise, it was Rikku, but his size. The blonde-haired girl tackled him to the ground somewhat affectionately.

"Whoa! What happened?" As Sora recollected, the last time he was here, Rikku, Yuna, and Paine were all little winged fairy-looking things that could fit in Sora's hand.

"Oh, nothing..." She was already scheming again. She eyed Sora up and down, seeing all the glamorous Keychains he had obtained.

"Uhh...you're weirding me out." He backed up a few steps and bumped into someone.

"Oh, hey! Sorry, didn't see you there," he said to the tall, dark-haired black mage.

"Is she giving you a problem?" she said. Lulu, who had traveled with Yuna, Rikku, and Paine, was originally the reason they became so small: she placed a curse on them for leaving her behind in a destroyed city.

"No...not at all. We go back a ways," Sora replied.

"Oh, really, now..."

"Yeah, a while back, these guys were on the Restoration Committee."

"Well, in any case. The name's Lulu. Let me know if they do give you any trouble."

"Uhh...nice to meet you..." Sora felt like he was being stalked.

They had actually done a nice job on the town, as Sora saw it. Even people like Cloud were helping out to fix the bailey and everything leading up to the castle. Sora was really busy sightseeing when out of nowhere, the world suddenly went black.

That's when Sora saw him again. Axel.

"Hey! You! You're back!" he exclaimed. The darkness had a dreary echo to it.

"Shh. Keep it down. We don't want Xemnas to hear," he said. Axel was quite the person. One minute, he'd be a protagonist, fighting for good and alongside his friends. The next, he'd be double-crossing people, sending up pillars of flames, and throwing his giant spiked chakrams at people. He no longer wore his coat: instead, he wore a coat reminiscent of the one Xemnas wore to the grave.

"What do you mean...?"

"Sora! Do you know what happens when a Nobody finds its heart inside a Heartless?"

"No. I've never seen it before."

"Well, here's the deal. They become what's known as a Chaser. C-H-A-S-E-R. Got it? They're soldier-lookin' things in silver, gold, and black. They chase Keyblades. For what reason, we still don't know."

"Are you saying..."

"Nobodies don't exist, so they can't be killed. But at the same time, if a Heartless is killed, it releases its hearts. Luckily, my heart was in Kingdom Hearts, so I found it again."

"Are you saying that Xemnas is a Chaser?"

"Became. That's why when Riku turned back into Riku, he got back his Keyblade."

"So wait. You're saying that Xehanort's Heartless left Riku at will, claimed back his heart, and fused with Xemnas?"

"Precisely. And he's powerful. The only way to get rid of him is to destroy his heart."

"So, does that mean that I eliminated the entire Organization for nothing?"

"Nah, at least they stayed outta our way long enough to beat Xemnas."

Sora, still confused, took out his Keyblade. "How do we get out of here?"

"Well, seeing as you're dressed for the occasion..." Sora suddenly realized that he was wearing an Organization coat.

"Whoa! Where'd this come from?"

"Don't ask me. Maybe you'll find out from the King."

"Speaking of which...you don't think the letter was a fake, do you?"

"No, he had a reason to bring you back."

The conversation abruptly ended when a light shined in Sora's eyes.

"Sora! Wake up!" a scared Yuffie yelled in his face.

"...huh?" Sora opened his eyes. Once again, he was in Radiant Garden, but he was in death-defying pain, laying on a bed.

"Guys, he's conscious!" Yuffie had the loudest, most obnoxious voice Sora had ever heard. He tried to lift his left hand to signal her to keep it down, but he couldn't move an inch.

"You took quite the beating." Leon leaned over to Sora with a glass bottle in his hand, signaling Sora to drink it.

"What...happened?"

"I think he's got amnesia," yet another voice said, but in a lower tone than the others. It was Cid.

"No...I remember being shrouded in darkness, and talking to Axel...and this coat..."

"You don't think he's become a Nobody again, do you?" This voice came from the corner of the room. It was Aerith, as far as Sora recognized.

"Nah, I feel intact. I just..." Sora finally lifted up off the bed, and looked around. Then, he looked back at himself. The coat was still there.

Something hit him over the back of the head. Sora recognized it was Donald's wand. "You should be ashamed of yourself, going alone like that! You almost gave us a heart attack!" he exclaimed.

"No, no, he did exactly as I ordered." Almost everyone Sora had ever known was right here in the room. King Mickey seemed to have entered just minutes before, silently, as though just spying on what was being said.

"Gawrsh, what's goin' on in here?" Goofy walked through the door.

"Wait! Where's Riku? And Kairi!"

"That's what we've been trying to tell you. The island's gone again." Leon was an extremely aloof character. He had the unique ability to tell the truth and act like it was nothing.

"No...all because of me..." Sora nearly burst into tears.

"We've got much more to worry about right now. Like the fleeting swarms of Chasers we've got."

Sora's fists clenched tight, his Keyblade in one hand and a mysterious chain in the other. His eyes burned with rage. "Come on, then...let's make them pay."

Leon tried to stop him, but Sora forcefully pushed him out of the way, and walked through the door. The chain in his hand suddenly became gigantic and developed spikes, blades, and hooks. As Sora looked on at the world devoured by Chasers, he swung the chain at them wildly, hooking them to within his reach so he could slash them, or just continuously mauling them to death with the deadly chain.

No one could do a thing but watch their friend turn into a furious killing machine. No one...so it seemed.

---Excuse me for having a sick sense of humor, but I had to make Sora into a killing machine.--- Reviews please! Email: 


	3. Chapter 2

-Chapter 2: The Fury

Leon opened the door when Sora was done. He was awestruck. Where thousands of Chasers, Heartless, and Nobodies had just been, there was only the town again. Leon tried to understand this rage...but he couldn't fathom what Sora was really thinking. Then, he thought to himself about his earlier days, when he had feelings for one girl. He remembers that rage driven inside of him...and remembers he couldn't even use it because of the superiors.

The rest of the team's jaws dropped a mile. Here was their friend Sora, a mere teenager, doing things that no one could imagine. He probably, at that time, could have defeated anything that crossed his path.

"Well...? Are you just going to stand there, or are we going to get my island back again?" Sora asked everyone.

"It's about time this finally ended," King Mickey said. "So we're gonna bring all of your friends together again, and we're gonna finish the story."

And who else would appear, out of nowhere, but an old friend. "Hey, Sora." It was Tidus, grown a bit and with a glowing blue sword in hand.

"At least someone made it off the island," Sora turned as he spoke to Tidus. "Did you see anyone else?"

"I'm not sure how I got here. But if the same thing happened to them, they should be fine. We'll just have to find them."

"Count me in, too." Leon walked forward.

"I don't want anyone coming with me. This is dangerous."

"Well, you'll be disobeying the King's order if you don't at least take Donald and Goofy. And they're hunting me, too, so I might as well help get to the root of all this," King Mickey said to a distant Sora.

"...err...if you say so, Your Majesty..." Sora was somewhat displeased.

"Relax. Remember what I said before: Kairi is a Princess of Hearts, and Riku is fine on his own. I'm sure they're fine," the king said, trying hard to reassure Sora.

"You're right..." Sora put away the Keyblade and wrapped the chain around his arm.

"Oh, my...Sora, you've got the Chain of Memories!" King Mickey recognized the chain from his own time seeing it in action.

"So, is that what this is..." Sora looked closely at each link of the blade. The handle on one end had a heart in the center, and had the image of Kairi engraved into it. The other side was home to a halberd top, and was engraved with the number "XIII" in a Nobody symbol on one side. Each link was extremely sharp, in the shape of a Heartless symbol.

"The Chain of Memories is rare. It goes to the strongest will among the Keyblade holders, and displays their memories as they see them."

"My heart has always been here." He looked deeper into the eyes of the engraving of Kairi, wishing she knew how much he cared.

"Tell me something we don't know, silly," Yuffie said, playfully.

"Hey!" Sora took mild offense, then the two of them laughed. He then continued examining the chain.

"That's your harshest memory, right there. The one that cuts deepest in your heart." The king pointed to the halberd.

"That's right...they really do piss me off." Sora was examining it even further, when all of a sudden, out of nowhere, Merlin popped up.

"Sora, I saw that fight just now." Merlin seemed to have been on the roof or something. "It seems you've unlocked your Fury ability."

"You mean when I attacked all of those guys?"

"Yes. Fury slows them down and speeds you up for a short period of time. You also deal double damage when using it."

"That explains a lot." Sora was more fascinated by the chain.

"That chain will come in handy. You can use it in many more ways than one."

"I see. It's not hard to use, either."

"And remember: any keychains you obtain, you can equip either on that chain or on your Keyblade. It will amplify your power in that particular area."

"Okay. I'm ready to set sail, whenever you are." Sora turned to Mickey. "Well, are we ready?"

Mickey shook his head. "There's still more we have to do, like getting our Gummi ship back, for one, and fixing the launch point."

"Oh, man, this is gonna be some heck of a day..."

The crew started work on it. Sora used his newfound abilities to speed things up. For instance, he used his new chain to bring big boulders up over a wall. When they were done, Radiant Garden was back to radiance.

"Well, we'd best be going now." Sora was readying the ship for departure.

"Good luck, you guys!" Yuffie yelled. She seemed to yell everything, even though this time she had a reason to.

"Whatever..." Leon turned his back and went back in.

"You take good care, now!" Cid pulled out a cigarette, lit it, took a drag, and walked back in.

"We'll be seeing you all again soon." That's what Sora was thinking.


	4. Chapter 3

-Chapter 3: Twilight Town

Sora was still pretty down about everything, even on the Gummi Ship. He could try to mask it up by saying to everyone, "Hey, look on the bright side," but he didn't see a bright side. He couldn't see a bright side in darkness and fighting, even though he believed that there was always "that little light that never goes out". He didn't know who to believe, what to believe it for, and why these people seemed to love making him suffer. Sora felt like turning the knife for once, like maybe he should dish out a worse punishment than what he already has.

"Hey, pal! Cheer up!" Mickey wasn't about to give up on him.

"Easy for you to say..." It was easier said than done.

"Aw, gosh, Sora. You know it always turns out for the better. It always has before, right?" Mickey was desperate to get Sora back in his old spirits.

"Yeah...but I'm tired of having to fight. I mean...it was a year and a half since I saw home, then I finally came back and it gets destroyed again. And Kairi..."

"Well, then, lemme tell ya something you may not know."

"There's a lot of that, I guess."

"When me and Minnie met, way back, when I was a comedian, I wasn't required to do anything, say anything, fight Heartless, or even be away from her. Now, I wield a Keyblade, and I barely even know her."

"Wow...I never really thought about that."

"What I'm tryin' to say to ya, pal, is that what you have with her is more than just friendship, it's more than love. You have the power to fight directly for her. Me...I've got a kingdom and a half to uphold. There's a lot more than just Minnie on my mind."

"There's a lot more on my mind, too."

"But what're you always thinking about with every step?"

"I'm thinking about her."

"Pal, we got something in common. And as long as you've got that on your mind, as long as you don't forget her, you'll never lose, you'll never grow weak, and you'll never be able to back down."

"Yeah. It's just that, though. I'm worried about what could have already happened to her...I can't get it off of my mind."

"But it's always gonna relieve you to confirm whether or not it's happened."

"Yeah...I know..."

Donald, out of nowhere, exclaimed, "Arriving at Twilight Town now!"

Sora got up. He recognized the town, suddenly, and without notice. "Wait...stop there! Donald, we need to park in Twilight Town!"

"Got it!" Donald slammed the brakes and sent the entire team flying forward in the ship. The cockpit broke open, luckily after they had landed.

"Gawrsh! The ship's broken!" Goofy had some sense of knowledge. He was a guardian, all right, with the stupidity to boot. He tended to re-state the obvious a lot.

"Well, looks like we'll be stuck here for a while. Perfect timing," Sora said.

The trio darted off to the usual spot to go and meet up with Hayner and his gang. But Sora immediately realized something was wrong. Along the way, Heartless, Chasers, and Nobodies came by the flocks. Surprisingly, Sora didn't fight them, and turned past the alleyway, where Donald and Goofy went and lost sight of Sora. Instead, he pushed away whatever got in his way, and ran straight for the Clock Tower.

And there stood Axel, with his black and white coat. "Hey, Sora. Hasn't been too long, now, has it?"

Sora ran towards Axel, and with amazing strength, grabbed him by the collar, ran to the side of the building, and slammed him into the wall. "What happened here? Answer me! NOW!" Sora was severely pissed off.

"Whoa, whoa, calm down! What do you mean?"

"I woke up in a warzone and found out my island's gone again! You know what happened! You're better off telling me right now!"

"What? What in the world would they want the--" He stopped. "Uh-oh..."

Sora's face turned from angry to frantic. "Answer me, please!"

"Did Riku go back with you...?"

"Yeah...why?"

"Do you have ANY idea whatsoever? When someone goes to the Realm of Darkness, they're supposed to stay there!"

Sora let go and backed up a bit. "But...why?"

Axel took out a keychain and handed it to Sora. In its backside, it read Pyromaniac. "I'll explain later. Now we need to get out of here."

Sora clenched the keychain, tight. With that fist, he slammed it into his opposite palm. "You'd better be right..."

"Sora. Remember Roxas...my best friend? You know where he is."

"Yeah, that's right."

"That's what you can base your trust on." Axel was obviously telling the truth. For the first time, Sora saw a tear from his eye.

"And that's exactly what you shouldn't trust." Someone came out from the tower in a black cloak.

"Xavier! Stay back or I'll get rid of you myself!" Axel recognized his voice.

"Oh, you're no fun. Then again..." He lifted his hood and took out a pair of revolvers. "You never were, anyway!" He shot at Axel, barely missing.

"The Organization is reformed. If you fight us, you're just committing suicide," Axel informed Xavier.

The man, now exposed as a Xigbar lookalike, complete with an eye patch and short gray hair, shot at Axel again, barely missing. "We don't want you to give us our hearts back. You know what we want."

Sora knew right away. "You want to become a Chaser, don't you?"

"The kid catches on rather quick, don't you think, Axel?" Xavier shot again, this time at Sora. He blocked the bullet with the Keyblade and threw his chain at Xavier's gun.

"Ah, ah, ahh...I wouldn't do that if I were you." He shot at the halberd of the chain and unveiled a duplicate of Sora's picture of Hayner, Pence, and Olette.

"No...! You wouldn't!" Sora knew right away. The new Organization had captured them and were holding them hostage, or so he thought.

"Ah, but we would. Association XIII never does business politely." Xavier threw a card at Sora. "Just in case you're willing to fight for us and leave them behind."

Sora pretended to put the card away as Xavier warped away. Then, he took it back out and ripped it to shreds. "I don't do business politely, either. Especially not with you ungrateful Nobodies!"

Axel took Sora to the side and said, "Look, there's something you don't know about me. Something that could change your world fore--" He was cut off when Xavier came back through and grabbed him by the back of the collar.

"Axel!" Sora tried to run after him, but he was too late. Axel was gone. "No...not you too..." He dropped to his knees.

Hayner, from on top of the clock tower, yelled out, "Hey! Roxas! Is that you?"

Sora looked up. "Hayner?"

"Yeah! Go around to the back of the train terminal! I'll meet you there!" Hayner got back to his feet and darted off. Sora did the same.

As they both arrived behind the train terminal, Hayner saw Sora. "Hey, Sora! Long time no see!"

Sora said to Hayner, "Long story, but there's trouble over here."

"I know. Some guys in black coats with hoods tried to take all three of us. Olette and Pence are back at the usual spot."

"Oh, wow. That must have been what Xavier was saying."

"Who?"

"That guy just now. The one me and Axel were fighting."

"Axel's the redhead, right?"

"Yeah. Come on, we better make sure everyone's safe over there." The two ran off to the usual spot.


End file.

Kingdom Hearts, Adventure, Drama