AN: Well, it looks like I'm back in the Kingdom Hearts fandom, and what better way to celebrate than to write a Kingdom Hearts fanfic? This will be the first that I post. For those of you who were following my Hetalia stories/letters, those are still on hiatus. This is an idea I want to focus on, and hopefully finish, more than I've wanted to do other fanfics before.

I've realized that I have a tendency to overthink things to get a story to flow almost as much as Master Xehanort has to get his evil plot to work (I blame KHDDD, 1984, and Doctor Who). This will not be the type of story you were expecting, where Riku get the Keyblade and Sora gives into the darkness. As a matter of fact, that will be made obvious in just this chapter. While the story will follow mostly the same paths as the original, there are so many changes you won't see coming at all. As for what happens prior to the events the first game, I have only changed two events. One is revealed in this chapter, and is the driving force in the story, the other is because I needed to progress the story in a way that makes sense, and will be revealed much later.

With all that being said, I hope you enjoy.

EDIT: I went and reread this chapter and I found that some things which should have been italicized were somehow undone. If you've already read this chapter, there is no need to do so again. For now, I am working on the second chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, or the associated Manga or Novels.

I. The Invasion

One time, when I was a little kid, Sora and I decided to check out this cave nestled beneath one of the large trees near a waterfall, the entrance nearly covered with vines. However, during our little "expedition," we didn't find anything of interest, other than a wooden door that neither of us could open. When we left, I considered staying a moment longer, but chose instead to leave the cave.

As time went on, I forgot about the strange door, not knowing that that single choice was one that decided the way my life would turn…

~~Another Choice-A Different Story~~

Tomorrow was the big day. Tomorrow, me, Sora, and Kairi were setting out on our raft to go see other worlds. It was just as well, since those weird black creatures that had appeared a few days ago were becoming more numerous.

The creatures had arrived not long after we had decided to leave the Islands. There was no question that they were dangerous, since they had been seen attacking people, and several people had gone missing too. A few people said that the creatures seemed to be looking for something, though none of us knew what.

Fortunately, they hadn't appeared on the play island. This gave the three of us a chance to relax while working on the raft… although Sora took the "relax" part too seriously. Since the creatures had appeared, Sora and I sparred more often, not wanting to risk getting killed by those things. None of us had been attacked yet, thankfully, but it was always better to be prepared.

Unable to sleep, I stood on the balcony outside of my room, overlooking the sea. Our raft was on that island, all ready to go, and somewhere beyond that sea was another world… and maybe even that guy who had come to the islands when I was a kid. I wondered what happened to him, and what kinds of worlds he was seeing right now.

Something at the play island caught my eye. Were those… black clouds? Not to mention I could feel the wind beginning to pick up… A storm!

Without a moment's hesitation, I leaped over the balcony railing. I know it sounds dangerous, but there was plenty of sand down there. I ran in the direction of the docks, hoping to grab a boat and get to the island to check on the raft. I had started untying my boat when I heard Sora's voice. "Riku?"

I glanced back at him. "Sora! Get in!"

Sora nodded and quickly climbed in the boat. "Are you gonna check on the raft too?"

"Yeah." I pushed the boat away from the dock and started rowing. "Something tells me this isn't an ordinary storm," I said with another look at the sky.

"What do you mean?" Sora asked. I jerked my chin in the direction of the clouds… or maybe cloud, as in one, was more accurate. There was a huge, almost spherical cloud hanging above the play island, and while the cloud appeared to be black at first, I now realized that it was red in the center, almost like blood. I shuddered and began rowing faster.

When we reached the play island, Sora jumped out immediately. "Riku! Kairi's boat is here too!"

"What?!" I stopped tying the boat and looked over. Sure enough, Kairi's boat was there as well. But where was she? "Sora, go find her! I'll check on the raft!"

"But-" Sora began.

"Now!"

Without further delay, Sora ran off. I finished tying the boat up and jumped out, running to where the raft was… when several of the black creatures began rising from the ground. No way! They've never come here to the play island!

One of them lunged at me, and I winced when its claws scraped my arm. I gritted my teeth and ran past them, evading their attacks and cursing myself for not remembering to bring that wooden sword, not that it would do much good in a real fight.

I ran under the bridge with the intent to go through the wooden door to the other side of the island- and stopped short. The way was blocked by even more of the monsters, and they had seen me. I backed away as they started coming at me, but stopped when I glanced back and saw that the ones from before were still in pursuit.

I looked around wildly for a way to escape. The ocean! I seriously doubted any of them would attack me if I was in the water. If this were a normal storm, I wouldn't have considered the ocean as a means of escape, what with the risk of being electrocuted and everything. I sprinted towards the water, hoping to get away from them.

"Gah!"

One of the creatures had jumped at my back, followed by some of its friends, and knocked me to the ground. I struggled to roll onto my back, eyes widening as I saw even more coming at me. Am I really going to die like this?! I lifted my arm in a pathetic attempt to defend myself, squeezed my eyes shut, and braced myself for the pain.

It didn't come.

But I did feel a weight in my hand that wasn't there before. I cracked my eyes open and lowered my arm to see what had happened. There were two things I noticed.

One, all the monsters had vanished in puffs of black-and-purple smoke.

Two, there was a strange weapon in my hand, shaped vaguely like a key.

The "teeth" consisted of a white angel's wing, curved slightly so that the tip pointed away from the blade. The blade was white where the angel's wing was connected, but as it got closer to the hilt it slowly faded to sky blue, with a light blue chain embedded in it. A sapphire hewn in the shape of a diamond connected the blade to the hilt, which vaguely looked like a lighter colored version of the hilt of the key that that guy from ten years ago had.

Keyblade… Vow of Strength…

I wondered what the voice was, but before I could think about it any further, more of the creatures showed up. I couldn't tell in the darkness, but it almost looked as if they had their eyes locked on the… well, the giant key. I didn't know what to call it. Looking at it now, however, it also looked vaguely like a sword. I wonder…

Hefting the key into position beside my head, one arm outstretched, I lunged at the monsters. Focusing on one of them, I swung the new weapon a few times. Three hits were all it took for the creature to disappear in a puff of smoke.

I smirked, glad that my weapon had worked, then turned to my enemies. "Come on!" I taunted as I launched myself into battle. I slashed at them, trying to get a few at a time. I did take a few hits, but one by one I managed to take them out.

I panted, nearly spent from the fight, and looked around. I didn't see anymore, but I was bound to run into them on my way to where the raft was. I knew I was strong, and now I had a weapon to fight those things with, but I wouldn't last much longer. Fighting these creatures wasn't like fighting Sora or the others.

"Riku!"

Speaking of Sora, said person came running. "Riku! Kairi's vanished!"

I stared at him in shock. "What do you mean 'vanished'?"

"She was in our Secret Place," he began. "I called out to her, but when I saw her face… She looked like she was sick. And then that wooden door opened and she came flying at me… I tried to catch her, but… she passed right through me!"

"She passed… through you?!" Before I could ask him what he meant, the wind began to pick up, blowing debris around. I shielded my face with my arm, Sora doing the same next to me.

Sora must have lowered his arm first, because I heard him gasp in shock. I lowered my own arm, and immediately did a double-take. The ocean we had been standing to close to, the bridge, the wooden shack and the door that lead to the other side of the island… All that was gone. Almost everything was gone, in fact, aside from a few planks of wood embedded in the sand and a couple palm trees.

"No way…" breathed Sora beside me, who was facing the other direction. I turned to see what he was looking at and took a step back in shock. The thing I was looking at now had to be one of the creatures, but the size of this thing was just huge! "That's… the thing from my dream!" Sora continued.

"You know this thing?!" I asked.

"It was in a dream," he said. "I didn't think it was real!"

I lifted the weapon into position. "I don't suppose your dream told you how to fight this thing?"

"I just kept hitting its hands. That was all I could reach."

I watched as the thing lifted its right hand into the air. "Then that'll have to do," I said. As the giant brought its arm down, I called to Sora "Get to cover!"

Sora nodded, and ran as the thing brought its arm down. I rolled out of the way, getting up to see a pool of darkness surround its hand. More of the smaller creatures came out of the pool of darkness, and I gritted my teeth as I realized that I would have to focus on just the big one, though that would leave me open to attack from the smaller ones. I pushed this to the back of my mind and ran forward, attacking its hand. I wondered why it wouldn't pull its hand away, deciding the giant was either stupid, or so strong it didn't notice the pain. I seriously hoped it was the former.

"Hey! Over here!"

I whipped my head around to see Sora waving his arms wildly, the smaller creatures coming at him. "Sora, are you insane?!"

"You can't focus on them both, right?" said Sora, staring to run to lead them away. "I'll keep them away from you! Just take care of that guy!"

I nodded, though I didn't like it. I turned back to the giant to see it pulling its hand away. I grimaced, realizing I'd lost an opportunity to attack. Sora may have had good intentions, but still.

The giant straightened up, then knelt on the ground, crossing its arms over its chest. I held my weapon at the ready, waiting to see what it would do.

"Riku! It's gonna launch some sort of missiles!" Sora called. He dodged to the side as one of the creatures tried to get at him. "If you can send them back at it," Another dodge, "You'll deal some serious damage!"

I nodded, watching as the creature brought its arms back, send blue-purple projectiles flying from its chest. I watched and waited until the projectiles were close enough before using my weapon to send them flying back at it. I grinned as they hit the creature, mentally thanking Wakka for all the times we sparred together.

The creature, however, unleashed a second salvo of missiles. I deflected most of them, but one flew right past me. I realized with a shock that it was headed towards… "Sora!"

Sora looked up as his name was called, just as the missile struck the ground in front of him, exploding on impact.

"No!" I turned his back on the giant, racing towards where Sora was, then shielded my eyes as a bright light shone from where the explosion had been. I lowered my arm as the light faded, staring in shock at Sora, who now held a similar weapon to the one I was carrying.

Unlike mine Sora's was simple in design, and definitely more key-shaped. The hilt was gold, and the blade and teeth were simply silver, with no added designs, unless you counted that the teeth looked like someone had cut the shape of Sora's crown pendant into it.

Sora stared in shock at the weapon he was now holding, but then quickly turned his attention back to the smaller creatures. I relaxed, realizing he was going to be fine, then raced for the giant again as it brought its arm down once more.

Hoping to finish this quickly, this time I jumped onto its hand, running along its arm and up to its head. I slashed several times before jumping back down to the ground, as Sora finished the last of the smaller creatures.

We braced ourselves for it to attack again, when I felt an odd sensation. It was almost like… like I was being sucked into a vacuum. My fears were confirmed as the giant began to rise into the air, towards the dark sphere that hovered there. Thinking quickly, I grabbed Sora's hand and ran to some of the wooden planks on the ground. Sora caught on and grabbed hold of one, while I grabbed onto another.

Sora glanced over at me worriedly. "Riku, what's happening?!"

"How should I know?!" I snapped back. "I'm just as clueless as- Sora!"

His hands were slipping as the force pulled even harder. I reached out with one hand and grabbed him just as he lost his grip. However, my grip slipped too, and the two of us were sent screaming into the air.

The last I saw of the island's remains was the ground itself breaking up… and I may have imagined it, but I also saw a figure in a brown robe.

Something hit the back of my head, and everything went black.

~~Another Choice-A Different Story~~

AN: Just to clarify one thing- instead of Riku opening the Door to Darkness in the Secret Place, the Heartless found it instead. I don't count that change as something from before the first game, since it technically takes place during the game. A little bit before, but still. I apologize if Riku is a little bit OOC. I'm not all that good at writing in first person. I also improvised on the battle with the Darkside. I know the projectiles don't really explode on impact, but I needed some way to give Sora his Keyblade. For those of you who are wondering, my theory is that the Kingdom Key belonged to Sora all along, and Riku's Keyblade would have taken on some other form. I drew a sketch of Riku's Keyblade, which I call Vow of Strength, but I can't upload it for a while. It's a composite of Oblivion, Way to Dawn, and Earthshaker.

Please remember to read and review! Reviews motivate me to keep going!