Disclaimer: All characters and names are copyright of Square-Enix and/or Disney Corporation. This is a non-profit endeavor for entertainment purposes only

--

The sun was relentless. Sitting high in the midday sky, it bore down without regard for the comfort of the people attempting to go about their business beneath it. Not a single cloud dotted the blue sky, providing no relief from the summer heat.

Squinting upwards, Sora mentally cursed the offending star. Sweat rolled unabated down his brow, constantly stinging his eyes and forcing him to stop what he was doing every few minutes and try in vain to keep his vision clear.

Looking back down, Sora carefully considered his current problem. He was kneeling in the vegetable garden that lined the back wall of his house. His mother had set him to work weeding the garden, and a respectably sized pile of the parasitic plants already sat off to one side, ready for the compost heap. Streaks of dirt clung to his sweaty skin from his mornings work, and he was desperately looking forward to a shower.

Standing between him and his goal was a final weed. By the looks of it, it had been growing unnoticed for some time, as it was a good ways larger than any of the others he had already excavated. Its roots were also firmly implanted in the soil, as he had discovered upon his first attempts to remove it.

Sora briefly entertained the idea of summoning the Keyblade, and hacking the problematic plant to little pieces. He dismissed it almost as quickly. Should his mother happen to look out the kitchen window, and see him assaulting weeds with an oversized key, he couldn't imagine how he might explain that.

He was already lucky enough that his mother seemed to be suffering some type of selective amnesia in regards to his extended absences during his last adventures. He didn't understand the source of such memory loss, but it saved him from having to explain everything to her. Or from lying to her. Sora hadn't quite decided which option he would go with should the situation ever arise.

Letting out a determined breath, Sora wrapped both hands around the stem of the weed, sat back on his heels, and gave a mighty heave. The weed strained against his grip for a few moments, and then with a loud snap and a shower of dirt, finally tore free from the ground. The sudden lack of resistance sent Sora toppling onto his back, but he didn't care. He had finally won. Laughing triumphantly to himself, he tossed the plant into the pile with the rest of its fellows, rolled onto his stomach, and pushed himself to his feet.

Now seventeen years old, Sora seemed to have reached the last growth spurt of his adolescence. He topped out at just over six feet tall, though his spiky brown hair added about three or four inches to his overall height. His hands and feet were no longer as disproportionately large as they once were, now that the rest of him had grown to match. His build was still lean, but there was more defined musculature that could be seen under his skin.

Brushing his dirt covered hands on his even more dirt covered shorts, he gathered up the pile of weeds in his arms and trudged around the side of the house to deposit them on top of the compost pile. There was some small measure of poetic justice in the fact that the weeds would soon be used as fertilizer for the vegetables they had until recently been attempting to choke out.

His chore at last complete, he walked around to the front door of his house, kicked off his shoes on the stoop, and stepped inside. He was immediately hit with a blessed wall of cold air, causing him to come to a stop in the doorway to bask in relief, until his mother shouted at him for leaving the door open and letting all the cold air out.

Climbing the stairs to his room, Sora peeled off his sticky clothes and tossed them in the hamper. Wrapping a towel around his waist, he walked down the hall to the bathroom and turned the shower on. Despite the heat of the day, he turned the water temperature up high enough to produce a good steam. The hot water served to relax his tired muscles as it washed away the grime from his work.

Returning to his room some fifteen minutes later, Sora was in the process of dressing when he heard something outside his window.

"Hey! "Hey!" "HEY!"

Sora stuck his head out the window, glaring down in irritation. "WHAT?!"

Riku was standing on his front lawn, a towel thrown over his shoulder. "A bunch of us are heading for the island. You coming or what?"

"Yeah, I'll be right down." Sora retreated back into his room and went to his closet. Rummaging around in it, he eventually found his swim trunks and pulled them on, then dug out what seemed to be a clean beach towel and thumped downstairs, calling out to his mother his plans, before slipping on a pair of sandals and heading out the door to meet his friend.

Riku, who would be turning eighteen in a week, had shocked everyone a few months ago by turning up with his silver hair cut short. It now barely reached to the bottom of his neck, and his bangs were gone completely, leaving his eyes unobscured. When asked about the sudden change, he had simply shrugged and stated he felt the urge to do something completely different.

"Man, your face is all red. What've you been doing all morning?" Riku asked as he made to poke Sora in the cheek.

Sora batted the finger away. "I've been weeding Mom's garden. I knew I should've put a hat on or something."

"One of the girls will probably have sunscreen on 'em. At least then it shouldn't get any worse."

"Yeah, here's hoping." Sora said as they crested the hill. Looking down, they could see the small harbor that housed Destiny Islands small fishing fleet, as well as the small collection of canoes residents would often use for recreation and inter-island transportation. Clustered around a group of these canoes were four people, identifiable from a distance by their wildly divergent hair colors. Bleached blond, bright orange, light brown, and dark red.

The four turned to greet Sora and Riku as they approached. Wakka was the tallest out of the whole group. He had grown tremendously in height and width. Even Riku, the second tallest, had to stand on tiptoes to reach his chin. It was little wonder he was the schools main line defender on the Blitzball team. He was akin to a brick wall. His attitude, on the other hand, was a jovial and good-natured as ever. He greeted his friends by catching them both up in a bear hug and swinging them around until they swore their ribs were bruised.

Tidus, the shortest male, was also on the Blitzball team. His main advantage was his blistering speed, with which he would out swim defenders and score goal after goal. He also still fancied himself an expert swordsman, and sought to challenge Sora and Riku at every conceivable opportunity, with less than desirable results. It could be said in defense of his character, however, that he didn't let defeat get him down, and always strove to improve himself. True to form, he had his red wooden sword resting lazily against one shoulder, and the gleam in his eyes told Sora and Riku they wouldn't get away without at least one bout this afternoon.

The ever-excitable Selphie greeted the two boys with enthusiastic hugs and a constant stream of chatter that conveyed how pleased she was that they could both come out with them this afternoon. Of the group of friends, Selphie had probably changed the least, physically. Still petite, with her hair that ended in her trademark upward curls, and with a personality that was impossible to bring down. Selphie injected good feelings into any situation, and people always found it impossible to remain in a sour mood around her.

Kairi tucked a few loose strands of hair behind her ear as she smiled demurely at Sora and Riku. Kairi had done some growing of her own. She was only a scant few inches shorter than Sora now. She had continued to grow her hair as well. It was tied back in a ponytail that fell between her shoulder blades to the middle of her back. Her face, despite the hardships she had seen and endured, still managed to retain a soft, innocent quality, and her bright blue eyes always seemed to be smiling.

Riku returned Kairi's greeting with a casual nod and smile of his own. Sora, on the other hand, unconsciously straightened his posture, puffed out his chest, and full on beamed. Riku resisted the urge to put his face in his palm and groan. Kairi did everything short of throwing herself at Sora to convey her interest in him. Riku knew that Sora was every bit as interested in her, but in the two years since the trio's return to Destiny Islands, Sora had yet to so much as ask Kairi out for coffee. Riku privately feared that if Sora didn't do something soon, Kairi might lose interest. And Riku knew that such a thing would crush Sora.

"So, everyone's here now! Let's go while we've still got sun, huh?" Selphie exclaimed as she bounced around her friends. The group rented two canoes and piled three in each, soon making their way towards the small island in the distance.

--

The Castle That Never Was was quiet. More than quiet. It was empty. Still. Dead.

The emptiness didn't last forever though. Two figures emerged from a column of shadow. One tall and slim, dressed in a flowing black robe and forked headdress. The other burly and rotund, in an odd black, red, and blue outfit.

Maleficent gazed around the empty, cavernous halls with keen, penetrating eyes. No signs of life. Not a sound to be heard.

"Perfect. This will serve every bit as nicely as I could've hoped." She said, reaching up with one hand to lightly stroke the feathers of her pet raven Diablo, who sat perched on her shoulder.

Pete said nothing. Long experience with Maleficent taught him it was best not to speak unless spoken to, and he knew that the dark fairy had not been speaking to him.

Blue flame erupted from the floor a few feet away from them, eventually coalescing into the dark form of Hades. The Lord of the Dead glanced around the empty Castle with a skeptical look.

"Really? I mean, don't get me wrong there's plenty of room to put my stuff but, there's nothing….here."

"Once I gather my Heartless army to me again, and our esteemed associates arrive, this will serve as the perfect staging ground for our inevitable triumph."

Pete swallowed nervously, and his strong desire for self-preservation overrode the usual caution he exercised around his mistress.

"Are you sure ya wanna deal with the Heartless again, Maleficent? I mean, they almost killed us last time…"

"And I would know." Hades put in, mostly to himself.

Maleficent cast Pete a withering glare. "Silence coward." She sneered. "Without those Organization fools here to interfere in our business, the Heartless will be falling over themselves to serve me once more."

"That's all well and good." Hades interrupted, "But let's not forget one very important detail. The moment you start mucking around the Worlds again with the Heartless, that brat and his wretched Keyblade are gonna be all over us."

"Oh, believe me, I haven't for a second forgotten Sora and those two royal lackeys that follow him around. We must deal with them as soon as possible. But we need something to keep him distracted, keep him looking in the wrong direction until we can consolidate our power."

"Why don't we just kill him?" Hades asked.

"No, we need him alive so we can make use of his Keyblade. Believe me, if we had the option I'd kill him myself this instant."

Hades considered the problem for a moment, and then a wicked grin split his features. "I've got just the soul for the job."

Maleficent eyes him dubiously. "This isn't going to be anything like that last debacle you cooked up, hmmm?"

"Pfft, no. What? No." Hades waved his hand dismissively. "The problem with that last guy was that whole pesky 'free will' thing. So this time I'll just use someone who doesn't have any in the first place."

Hades snapped his fingers. After a few moments, a strange sound began to echo from the empty walls. Seemingly from nowhere, an enormous steed rode up, rearing on its hind legs as it came to a sudden stop before the three. Black as midnight with burning red eyes, every time it snorted it seemed to expel a thick cloud of smoke. But if the horse was fearsome, it was nothing compared to its rider.

Dressed entirely in black armor with a flowing black cape, a wicked looking sword was slung at its left hip. Even sitting in the saddle, one could tell the rider was easily over seven feet tall.

And it had no head.

"Find the Keyblade Wielder and keep him busy." Hades commanded. "Keep him as far away from us as you possibly can."

Turning his mighty steed, the Headless Horseman galloped away, vanishing into shadow.

A/N: Well, I hope you all enjoy my new story venture. Please leave a review and let me know what you think.