A/N: Well, here it is, my second try at a Kingdom Hearts III fic. Before you start reading, a warning: this fic will contain MAJOR spoilers for Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep, and possibly Coded though nobody cares about Coded. There's a reason it's called 'Connections'.
Disclaimer: I don't own Mickey Mouse, Master Yen Sid, Terra, Ven, Aqua, Master Xehanort, Sora, or Sora's mother. I do however own the mysterious man.
Chapter 1: Setting Events in Motion
July 28th, Master Yen Sid's Tower, Twilight Town...
A knock came at the door. "Enter." The young mouse king closed the door behind him as he entered the office. Master Yen Sid closed his book, and pushed it aside. "Mickey, my young disciple, it has been too long."
"Gosh, I'm not exactly young anymore, King of the Land of Disney, after all," Mickey pointed out.
"Ah, but you forget, I have lived a long life, and so see even a strong thirty year-old as a child in experience," Yen Sid said. "But then, you haven't disputed your status as my student, despite becoming a keyblade master in your own right."
"Wasn't it you who said that even the wisest man admits that he knows nothing? I'm still your student, because I still have plenty to learn from you," Mickey said.
"And you come again to learn something else," Yen Sid reasoned. "Unless you merely wish to continue our present discussion."
The King shook his head, almost sadly. "There's something else I need to tell you about." With a wave of the sorcerer's hand, an armchair appeared on the side of the desk opposite himself. "Put simply, Sora's journey hasn't ended. And if I'm right, it didn't begin with the heartless attacking Destiny Islands, either."
Yen Sid motioned for him to go on. "I think it goes back all the way to the three keyblade apprentices, ten years ago. Terra-" Mickey hadn't ever met him, but he'd heard a lot about him from others who had "-Ven, and Aqua. Their journey to find Master Xehanort is tied to Sora, Riku, and Kairi."
"An interesting theory," Yen Sid said thoughtfully. "Though unimpressive. Haven't you felt a trace of him? Around Sora? Yes, young Ventus, with the keyblade Fresh Breeze. You remember that he went to sleep again?"
"Vaguely," Mickey admitted. "It was a long time ago, a lot's happened since then."
"A stronger memory lets one make the connections between events. Ventus's heart left his body after fighting his darker half, Vanitas. It was meeting Sora that let me see it. His heart, lies within Sora's own, ever since that fateful day." With one hand, he made a flame jump over his fingers as he thought. "This is why his nobody, Roxas, looks identical to Ven, and why Sora has the potential to wield two keyblades, due to the presence of two hearts within his body."
"So, if Ven were to ever wake up," Mickey said slowly, "Would Sora lose half of his strength?"
"There's no way to tell," Yen Sid said. "Sora's heart is unpredictable. He is unique, due to all of the connections he has to others. If Ven were to awaken, he could lose every drop of power he had, never able to even summon the keyblade again. Or, he might stay the same. Or even, without having to support two hearts instead of one, his soul would strengthen, and he would become greater in power.
"Mickey, I should tell you now, I don't see any reason to tell Sora, or any of his friends, of his connections to Terra, Ventus, and Aqua. Be sure to not let Donald or Goofy speak of them, either. Only if it becomes absolutely necessary."
"What circumstances would 'absolutely necessary' be?"
"I will leave that judgment to you," Yen Sid said. "And that, as they say, is that. Is there anything else you wish to discuss?"
Both of them knew what subject it was Mickey wanted to know about, he'd wanted to know about it for ten years, but Yen Sid had always said 'The Keyblade War is none of your concern at the moment.'
However, there was one other. "The other night, I was looking up at the night sky, and I saw a star blink out. I didn't tell anyone, not Donald, Goofy, or even Minnie." His eyes met Yen Sid's-quite a feat, as anyone who has seen the firey gaze of Master Yen Sid could attest to. "I'm not the only one who knows. The other day, a man called Snow Villiers came from Radiant Garden, to tell me that more and more people had been coming from other worlds to theirs, and that Sora's help was needed."
"Hm, so theirs has taken the place of Traverse Town this time," Master Yen Sid said, his eyes now closed. "And with the rocky state of both social and political life there, more citizens is quite the opposite of what they need."
Ever since reconstruction was less and less of what they needed, the people of Radiant Garden had begun asking for a true government, instead of the leadership of the Restoration Committee. A city council of seven citizens had been formed, but many weren't happy. Some wanted to create a stronger democracy, others believed that the Restoration Committee had been the right way to go until the town was completely restored and the heartless gone, and still others wanted to restore the monarchy (even though Ansem the Wise was dead, and he had never produced an heir). It made it difficult to get anything unrelated to fighting the heartless done, to say the least.
"If, or when, Sora returns there, it would do much for the moral of the people," Yen Sid said. "On the other hand, many political groups would want to sway him to their side. I trust you have already declared your neutrality to the issue?"
Mickey nodded. "But Sora isn't experienced enough to be able to both declare himself neutral, and keep that promise. Neither would Riku be able to, and Kairi could get involved too, being a Princess of Heart from Radiant Garden. I'll warn Sora to not tell anyone that Riku has a keyblade. But it'll still be hard to do."
Yen Sid nodded. "I believe we have exhausted his conversation. Before you leave, I ask that you take this with you." He waved his hand slightly, and on his desk appeared an odd piece of metal. "Do you know what this is?"
Mickey frowned, and took it in hand. "A piece of armor...a shoulder guard, I think. Oh, like what they used? Armor?"
Yen Sid nodded. "If it is necessary, I would wish you give it to Sora. It will protect him from the darkness, but do not give it to him too quickly. It would be better to leave our enemies guessing."
"Right, our..." Mickey trailed off, and did a small double-take. "There's somebody controlling the heartless?"
Yen Sid did not answer his question. He merely instructed his student to leave, and King Mickey had little other choice, leaving the office, the bronze armor piece in hand.
August 3rd, Elrea(1), Destiny Islands...
A storm blew powerfully across the small island. All of the island's denizens were inside, safe and warm. They were used to these tempests, their homes safe from the wind, but an unspoken rule that nobody ever, ever, ever, went outside, especially so close to dusk as it was. If you saw somebody outside during one of these storms, everyone except the most crotchety old person would allow them to come into their homes for the remainder of the storm.
The one woman who was outside during this storm had been given this offer three times already, but had turned them down each time to astounded looks, but she explained each time that her son was waiting at home for her.
She hadn't planned to go out in the middle of the storm. However, she'd gotten a call at six 'o' clock that evening from an older man who had helped her many times when she was trying to make ends meet as a single mother. One of his windows had blown out in his house, and a combination of both his age and his failing eyesight made it impossible to repair it. Her son has offered to go over and fix it, but she had assured him that she could handle it, before running out the door with a raincoat.
She had come and gone from his house, boarding up the window as fast as she could before braving the storm again, now even worse. And it was harder than before, as the river that separated the two halves of Elrea had flooded its banks, and more importantly the bridge that crossed it. The current was too fast for her to try and walk through, and so she had to take the second bridge far out of the way, closer to the ocean. She'd been given a lucky break with that. The water was lower, and she could still cross the bridge.
The rain made the cobblestones slippery, and she slipped at the very end of the bridge. "Ah!" she shrieked as she hit the ground, hard. She breathed deeply, still on her knees, when she heard feet slapping on the wet sand. Somebody offered a hand to her, and she took it gladly.
It was a man who had helped her up. Dark hair was plastered to his face. He was young, younger than her. He was maybe in his mid-twenties. Through the roar of the wind, and the crackle of the lightning, he shouted "What are you doing out here? Come with me, I'll get you somewhere safe!"
"I can't!" she shouted, but he cupped his hand around his ear. "I can't, my son is at home alone!"
He raised his hand in incomprehension, and pulled her over to one of the houses, beneath the edge of its roof. She said again "I can't come with you, my son is at home alone."
He nodded, finally hearing her. "I see, let me help you, please."
"Thank you, but it's alright, my home is only a few blocks away," she said. "And I can't be delayed any longer, Sora's probably getting worried sick."
"Sora? Your son?" The man smiled. Oddly, his smile made her feel almost uncomfortable. "Then you're Irina, aren't you?" She nodded, as she pushed the hair, a shade the same as her son's, out of her face. "I know your son, great kid."
"Thank you, I'll be sure to tell him you said that." Irina started to turn away, but he grabbed her by the shoulder, very tightly. His smile only became wider.
"Oh, no, he doesn't know me, but I've heard about some of the things he's done," he said. Irina knew all about Sora's adventures throughout the worlds, and so it became clear to her why she didn't know who he was. He was from another world. She didn't feel any more comfortable knowing that.
"Let go of my shoulder," she said stoically. She was afraid, indeed, but she had always been very strong and defiant.
"Yeah, about that," the man said. "I'm afraid that I've got plans for your son. You wanna know the first step in that plan?"
He came very close to her, to where Irina could smell his breath. A manic glint came into his dark eyes. He whispered two words to her, very soft, but she heard them very well.
"Your death."
The man grabbed her, one hand around her throat, one hand over her mouth, and pulled her back to the bridge. "So long, farewell, auf wiedersen goodbye!" he said in a sing-songy voice. As soon as he took his hand off her mouth, she started to scream, but only for a second, before he pushed her into the rushing water.
She tried to scream, but water filled her lungs. She tried to swim, but the current was too strong. Soon, it was impossible to do either, as she hit her head on a rock in the murky water. Blood spilled from the cut, and she felt her vision start to go black.
No, she thought, as she reached the ocean and she began to sink into the murky water. My son...he needs me, and I need him. Oh Sora, I'm so sorry, I'm so, so sorry.
Her tears were invisible in the brine. A final bubble of air escaped from her lips.
(1) Elrea is the name of Sora's home island, as here, it's only part of an archipelago.
A/N: That was unusually dark for a first chapter. And unusually short, I promise that the length won't be like this either, chapters will be far longer. I'm going to be trying to update this on Fridays, though once the school year starts I may have to change that to Saturdays. And once I get through my pre-written chapters, updates could be few and far between. But I won't stop writing it, and I won't be four months between updates, mkay? Reviews would be much appreciated!