Authors Note: This is being co-written with Vampire Countess, and we will be alternating with writing the chapters (Vampire wrote this chapter).

Oh, almost forgot:

Disclaimer: Vampire Countess nor I own Kingdom Hearts. It is owned by Square Enix, Disney, and Tetsuya Noruma.

Claimer: Vampire Countess owns Amaya, Hanako, and Maiara.

I own Risa and Haru. We also own this story.

-DotH-

Chapter One:

A Familiar, New Face

Sora leaned against the strong, smooth wood of his favorite Paopu tree, dressed entirely in black, waiting for Riku and Kairi to show up. It was early in the morning, so he it would be a while. Sora always got there before everyone else so he could have the island to himself for some time. Riku and Kairi were probably still asleep; the same was likely true for his older brother, Haru, and his older sister, Risa. It had only been two months since he, Riku, and Kairi had returned home to their island since their last adventure.

Sora also enjoyed watching the sunrise. The beautiful colors of pink and gold blended together perfectly, never failing to take his breath away. It was a shame Kairi was never awake to see this. They had watched the sunset a few times, but Riku was usually with them too. It would be nice to have some alone time with Kairi. Sora just wished he had the courage to tell her how he felt. He had often been teased by Risa about it, but he always denied it, afraid that if she found out for sure, she would tell Kairi and Kairi would never speak to Sora again. Or maybe laugh at him. Sora just wasn't sure how he could tell Kairi without embarrassing himself. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his Thallassa Shell lucky charm. Kairi had given it to him nearly two years ago, saying it would help protect him. Every time he looked at it, Sora always smiled, no matter what mood he was in. Thinking of Kairi always cheered him up a little.

But this morning, he also needed some thinking time. The night before, he'd had the strangest dream. It was nearly noon, but save for a few white clouds, the sky was pitch black. All of a sudden, he saw the body of a girl, being soaked by the incoming and receding waves. Sora rushed to her aid, fearing she was unconscious, maybe worse. He tilted her body so that she was lying on her back. When he saw her face, he woke up. He hadn't seen enough to remember exact details, but she looked frighteningly like him. She had long dark brown hair and wore sapphire earrings. She had dark blue jeans and a pale pink V-neck tank top, revealing dozens of angry-looking cuts on her arms. On her feet were two dark blue flats that looked black because of how soaked they were, and around her neck was a black cord with a silver crown exactly like the one Sora wore. Sora touched her face to see if he could wake her up, but her skin was pale and cold, and he was sure it wasn't because of the water.

"Sora!" A girl's voice called out to him, bringing him out of his thoughts. It was Kairi, with Riku right behind her. Sora quickly put the lucky charm away and jumped down from the tree. Kairi noticed the look on Sora's face. "Is something wrong?"

"Oh, no," Sora shook his head. "Just…thinking." All of a sudden, a cold gust blew violently, nearly knocking the teens off their feet.

"What's going on?" Riku shouted above the noise, when something caught his eye. It was a girl, lying motionless on the shore just a few feet away from them. The trio of Keybearers rushed over to the site, and Sora's heart practically stopped at what he saw: it was the girl from his dream.

"Come on!" he cried desperately. "We have to help her!" There was something about this girl that made him want nothing more than to help her. He cared so much about her, even though he had never seen her in his life. It was almost like a non-romantic love – like a sister. And that dream had him fearing for her life. He would stop at nothing to get her to safety.

~.~.~.~.~

The girl found herself in a room she had never seen before. The room was dark, but it wasn't at all difficult to see. The floor was covered with a calming blue carpet and many pictures of various kinds of flowers. The walls were a dark red, perfectly matching the bedspread on the grand bed on the other side of the room. Next to the bed were to cradles: a pale pink one, and a baby blue one. But something was very wrong. There was a young woman, likely in her early thirties, lying against the wall, holding a baby in her arms and bleeding profusely from her stomach. She looked up with pleading eyes at her attacker, a man in a black hooded coat with long blue hair. His yellow eyes were cold and there was a scar in the shape of an X on his face. He held a large claymore in his hand.

The man lifted his claymore, preparing to finish the woman and her daughter off for good. "You cannot protect her, Maiara. Your other children may have escaped, but her death is unavoidable. Both of yours are."

"No… please, Saix!" Maiara pleaded, clutching her baby daughter closer. "Do whatever you want to me, just don't hurt my child!"

Saix raised his claymore for the finishing blow, when all of a sudden; a wooden beam fell from the ceiling between Maiara and Saix, burning to a crisp. The girl's vision was then obstructed by a blinding flash of white.

~.~.~.~.~

The girl groaned quietly as she opened her blue eyes and examined her surroundings. She seemed to be in someone's bedroom. It was tidy, the white carpet was clean, and the bed was a simple one, perfect for a person about her age.

Where am I? She asked herself. What happened? What was that dream about? The last thing she remembered before blacking out was a man who looked to be in his early twenties. His face was flooded with anger and worry. He had wild red hair, and electric green eyes with reverse teardrop markings under them. He was dressed entirely in black. Suddenly, the door opened, bringing her out of her thoughts.

"She's awake," a red-haired girl, about the same age called back before entering the room. Behind her, four people walked into the room, but her eyes remained locked on Sora. She was almost frightened at how similar they looked. He seemed to share her surprise, because he was wearing an almost exactly similar shocked expression. It was true. Their faces were nearly identical, hers was just more feminine. As well as Riku, Sora, and Kairi, two other people had entered the room.

One of them was a girl who looked to be around seventeen years old. She had steel-blue eyes and dark brown hair, just a little longer than Kairi's, and was angled so that the front was slightly shorter. She wore a pitch-black U-neck tank top; a dark navy, midnight colored U-neck tank top underneath that had its straps draped over her shoulders. Her jeans were dark blue and she wore a black studded belt. Around her neck were a black spiked collar and a silver chain that had a small skull at the end. There was a black fingerless glove on her right arm that stretched to her wrist. On her feet was a pair of black sneakers with white laces.

Just behind her was a young man who looked to be about twenty. He had ocean-blue eyes and his wavy hair was ebony black and had slightly spiked bangs. He wore a black leather jacket with the sleeves cut short. Underneath was a white T-shirt. He wore navy blue jeans with a studded belt. On his hands were black leather gloves and his shoes were dark grey sneakers.

The girl tried to sit up, but sharp pains shot up her arms and there was a little in her chest too. "Ow," she said quietly as she winced.

"Take it easy," the man said, stretching his arm out. "You're still hurt."

"Can you tell us what happened?" Kairi asked. The girl hesitated for a moment, then shook her head.

"I remember being swarmed by Heartless, and then I saw a man with red hair, but after that, everything's blank." Sora, Kairi, and Riku exchanged glances, thinking they had a pretty good idea of who the red-haired man was.

"What's your name?" Riku asked.

"Amaya," the girl answered as she finally managed to sit up. "Who are all of you?" Everyone in the room could tell she was still a little wary of them, which was understandable, considering they were all complete strangers to her. Riku, Sora, and Kairi introduced themselves, then the older teens in the back.

"I'm Haru," the man said, then gestured to the girl next to him, "and this is my little sister, Risa."

"And this dimwit is our baby brother," Risa said with a playful smirk as she messed up Sora's spiky, chocolate-colored hair. Amaya smiled as she watched Sora escape from Risa's hand and give his older sister a glare.

Amaya noticed Riku smiling at her and returned it. She had to admit, he was really hot. She wondered if he felt the same way about her, but didn't let her hopes get too high. Even so, the heat rushed straight to her cheeks and she turned a sheer shade of red. Riku walked over to the bed and offered his hand to help her out.

"Can you walk?" He asked with a touch of concern.

Amaya nodded. "I think so," she replied with a grateful smile as the front door opened downstairs.

"That's mom," Sora said to Risa and Haru.

"I called her as soon as you called me," Haru replied. He had bought his own apartment just a year or two before. "She sounded really scared on the phone and said she'd be here as soon as possible."

"Then we should probably let her meet Amaya." Everyone nodded and headed downstairs.

"Sora!" Their mother, Hanako, cried obviously sick with worry. "What happened? Is every…" She was cut off the instant she saw Amaya. Was this really happening? She couldn't tell her children the truth, not now.

"Mom? Are you all right?" Sora asked, noticing tears coming to his mother's eyes. Hanako ignored him, though, and asked Amaya a question she already knew the answer to.

"W-what is your name?"

"Amaya, ma'am," Amaya replied, also getting worried. Now Hanako couldn't fight back the tears any longer, though she refused to let herself break down in front of her children and Sora's friends.

"Amaya," she replied with a shaky voice. As soon as she had her tears under control, she turned to Sora and his siblings. "I think you should take her to Disney Castle. The time has come for the four of you to learn the truth," she said. "But no matter what happens, I just want you to know that I will always love you and I'll always be here for you."

Sora, Risa, and Haru weren't completely surprised when Hanako drew them all into hugs, but Amaya was caught a little off guard. She was especially confused when Hanako whispered something: "I thought I'd never get the chance to meet you." Amaya was about to ask what she meant, when Hanako released her.
"You kids should go," she said. "I think King Mickey also has something else to inform you of." Hanako worried that that something was another quest. She prayed that it wasn't, though she knew that as long as Sora continued to wield the Keyblade, there would be more and more quests until the Heartless were completely wiped out.