Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts.
Sora stood at the beginning of the crossroads. There were paths to his left, his right, and in front of him, and all appeared to lead to the same thing: complete blackness. He tried to decide which path was best, which path would lead him further towards the door to the light. But, none of the paths seemed to do so. Recently, it seemed like the more he struggled to find the path to the door, the further he separated himself from it. He looked to the sky in his indecisiveness, and solemnly watched a star wink out of existence. Nothing was like before, and all their hard work, their blood, sweat, and tears, it had been for nothing and it had accomplished nothing.
*Flashback*
Sora walked leisurely down the dirt road, his hands behind his head, happy that Ansem was gone, and that the worlds had been restored. A part of him kept nagging him about Riku and King Mickey's whereabouts, but his relief currently drowned that part out. Kairi was safe, as were his friends, old and new. He looked to both sides and smiled at Donald and Goofy. He could tell that they were worried about the King, but like him, they were too elated to show any signs of that worry. The battles they had fought thus far had been horrible, especially for Sora. The hardest battle was easily fighting Riku the first time. The second time he did battle with his best friend, it had been Ansem he had been fighting; yet the first time it truly had been Riku. Sora had struggled with himself to even be able to attack Riku, let alone keep up with him.
But that was all over now, and Riku had returned to the light. Sora glanced at his two companions again, throwing them another smile, and receiving a smile in return. Tomorrow he could let his anxiety over Riku and King Mickey take over, but today he had to be able to celebrate his victories, not his defeats.
"Well now what do we do?" Donald then asked, and while it was a perfectly valid question, Sora disliked it. It seemed to make the air around them heavier, and Sora let his hands drop to his sides before slumping slightly.
"We've gotta find Riku and King Mickey." Sora replied despite knowing that the question was a rhetorical one. Of course they were going to find Riku and King Mickey, it was the only thing they could do.
"But uh, where do we start lookin' for that there door to the light?" Goofy then chimed in, and Sora thought the question over for a second before realizing that he had no answer. The trio of companions then collectively let their heads drop and make an exasperated sigh.
It was then that a yellow dog began to walk by with a somewhat perky gait. Sora raised his head along with Donald and Goofy to look at this dog, and the latter two seemed to recognize him. Sora could have sworn he'd seen that dog somewhere else too.
"Pluto?" Donald asked, somewhat angry and somewhat in disbelief.
"Hey Pluto. Where have you been?" Goofy asked as well, and Pluto turned his head upon hearing them, revealing the envelope tucked neatly in his mouth. Donald immediately took notice of this.
"Hey!" Donald exclaimed, noticing not only the envelope but also the seal that adorned it.
"Gawrsh, that's the king's seal!" Goofy said when he too noticed this. Hearing this Sora immediately was able to pick up his hopes.
"Hey, have you seen King Mickey?" Sora asked hopefully. Pluto took a second to process the question before turning and running off not to get away, but to lead them away.
"Guys, let's go!" Sora said, his hopes flying high now. He began to run after Pluto, and Donald and Goofy fell into place behind him. The three began to laugh again, and while Sora knew that the road ahead of him was long, everything would be all right. The door to the light would reveal itself to him.
*End flashback*
Except nothing had been all right, and the door to the light continued to elude him. And now he was all alone, wondering which path to follow. Which path led to the light, and which paths deceived him? They all looked the exact same, with no distinguishing characteristics, no landmarks, not even a turn or slight deviation. They all went straight out and into the distant horizon, where the darkness of night swallowed them completely. He would let chance decide then, and perhaps fate as well would play a role in his choosing. The only direction a person could go in life is forward, and therefore Sora would go forward.
His gaze wandered back down from the night sky to the ground, and he began to walk on the path that led forward, on the path that would hopefully lead to the light.
He walked slowly, dramatically, through the rain, his bangs of hair constantly getting in his face and obscuring his vision. But it was best that way, for no one could look him in the eye. He didn't want any reminders of what had been, what he had been. He wanted to be cleansed of his past, just as these rains cleansed the ground beneath them of dirt and grime.
He continued to walk, his path dimly lit by the neon lights of the buildings and the faint glow of the street lights. This place, it reminded him of another place, somewhere he had been before, a place that was part of his past. He quickly repressed the thought, repressed the memories. His past was no longer a part of him. All that he was, all that he embodied, was his present self, not his past self. He needed to let go, and yet he couldn't.
As he walked he felt the eyes upon him, and he stopped, standing absolutely still in the rain, the only sound being the rain softly hitting the hood of his raincoat. His eyes moved around, seeing the Neo-Shadows rising from the ground, challenging him to fight, hoping that they could finally bring him down. This time their numbers were incredible, almost as much as last time even, but they were making a grave mistake in attacking him. He bade forth his weapons, and both of his hands were suddenly occupied by Keyblades. In the one hand was the Oathkeeper, in the other was the Oblivion. Keyblade of light and Keyblade of darkness, clashing forces that somehow worked in perfect harmony.
He spun the Keyblades quickly, goading the Heartless to attack him, and as he did blue flames in the symbol of the Heartless surrounded him, dividing him from the Heartless. He looked up to the top of one of the many buildings, and he saw the figure, appearing minute due to the distance between them. He almost smirked when he saw the figure, but he fought that impulse and instead opened his mouth and quietly spoke, knowing that the other person would be able to hear him loud and clear.
"Where's Sora?"
Author's Note- Yeah, yeah, this idea is really, really unoriginal, but I'll try to leave my own distinct mark upon it. Anyways, the basic frame of the plot is coming from the "Deep Dive" FMV, which was one of the many additions to KH: Final Mix, a.k.a. "How Squaresoft Screws over the Americans". Fortunately, there are a lot of places from which you can download the FMV. I suggest you go download it if you're a KH fan (and really, you wouldn't be reading this if you weren't one), it's a really cool FMV. "Another Side, Another Story" is nothing compared to this. Oh, but you'll be asking yourself a LOT of questions after seeing it if you do.