Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Fairy Tail, I do however own a Keyblade I am not afraid to use against anyone who tries to sue me.


"Go on."

"You better start running, Tiger."

"Let the winds be at your back!"

"Don't die on us."

"..."

"This book should be enough for you."

"Fight if you must."

"We can get some ice cream when this is all over."

"Run, run away!"

"May Lady Luck be on your side."

"Maybe there's hope for you yet."

"You better go pipsqueak."


Nothing made sense to the young boy as he ran. He hadn't even the faintest clue as to what happened. When he had woken up, they were being attacked and everyone was telling him to run. While he had listened to what they'd said, he couldn't help but fear he might not see any of them again. The only family he had ever known.

The boy was only nine at most, seven at the least. His hair was blonde and somewhat spiky. Clothes were simple, black tee shirt, dark green shorts and a pair of dark gray shoes. Most prominent feature the boy had was probably his bright blue eyes. But there was also what was obviously a weapon that he held in his right hand as he ran. Few people knew him by name, but those that did called him Roxas.

His weapon could easily be seen as a giant key. The handle of the weapon was gray in color with a bright gold guard that was shaped almost like a square around the handle. There was a small blue ring that made the rain guard and coming out of the rain guard was a steely shaft with the teeth of the "key" forming the outline for a three-point crown. Coming out of the end of the weapon was a chain with a charm at the end that had a circle with two smaller circles attached.

He wasn't sure how long he'd been running, only that he'd started running before the sun had started rising. His legs, lungs and heart were all begging him to stop. For some reason though, he felt like he couldn't stop. Surely someone would catch up and tell him when to stop. Even as that crossed his mind though, he felt his right foot getting caught on a tree root.

Upon hitting the ground the blonde blacked out immediately. The weapon he'd held having escaped his grasp and landing a little farther away. Whether fortunately or unfortunately however, he wasn't the only one where. As proven when someone stepped out of the cover of the trees, eyes going from the unconscious boy to the weapon and back again.

It was an older looking woman who had a basket hanging from the left arm. She wore a red cloak with a high collar that had what looked like fangs along the edges. Her hair had been done up in a bun and had two golden pins with crescents on the end to keep the bun in place. The eyes of the woman were a red in color and she didn't seem all too pleased to see him. Actually, she seemed downright unsociable and so far her words had backed that up. Some might know her as Porlyusica.

"Humans." She muttered grudgingly before her eyes settled on the weapon, a surprised look of recognition in her eyes. Before she could go to investigate the peculiar weapon however, it disappeared in a flash of light. Her eyes traveled back to the boy. "For one so young to be accepted..."


"Damn humans. Can't even watch their own brats when they venture into a forest. I hate humans."

As the kid woke from his unconscious state that had been the first thing he heard. The first thing Roxas saw was what looked like the inside of a tree. His first thoughts were along the lines of, "What's going on...?" Which was quickly followed by the memory of what had happened. He had been running, there was a tree root, he must have passed out when he hit the ground. He'd probably been tired from all the running, so the fall he took must have been the last straw before passing out.

That meant, judging by his surroundings and the unhappy voice, someone had found him when he was unconscious. Which, while most would consider good, was very bad in this case. How were the others supposed to find him? He had to get back to where he had passed out or they might never find him otherwise. Unfortunately for him, that probably meant asking the other, more irritated occupant of the tree where he'd been found. But why did she seem to hate humans?

There was a nagging traitorous thought in the back of Roxas' mind however. "There's always the chance they didn't survive." Just the thought made the boy scoff and shake his head before sitting up, they had to have survived. "Of course they survived. They're too strong to be defeated." While the words were meant as comfort for himself, he'd forgotten that he wasn't alone in what he had to guess was a tree.

"What was that?"

He turned his head and only for the briefest second he was reminded of one of the people he'd left behind. Not his favorite by far, but still one of them. That was only a brief second however, it wasn't impossible for more than one person to have pink hair after all. Actually, he would probably be in trouble if he ever mentioned the resemblance a man held with an old looking woman. The man had always been rather sensitive when it came to the unfortunate feminine appearance he held after all. Even if it was the woman that had likely found him. Aside from the pink hair though, there really was no resemblance between the man he was thinking of and the old woman before him.

"None of your business." Roxas muttered flatly, turning his head away from the woman. If she was going to speak to him with a tone of disdain, he'd counter with a tone of disrespect.

"Stupid humans." The woman grumbled, narrowing her eyes at the guest she clearly didn't want. "If you're going to be that way then get out already!"

In answer the boy turned to face the woman again, now with a glare in place. "Only if you tell me where you found me!"

"I'm not telling a brat like you anything!" Porlyusica snapped, now returning the boy's glare with one of her own.

"Then I'm not going to leave you alone." Roxas crossed his arms, looking at the older woman defiantly. Based off her clear dislike of humans, this seemed like a good counter. Not that he really understood her apparent hatred when she herself looked rather human to him. The boy knew looks could be deceiving after all.

For a moment, it looked like the woman was just going to ignore him as she walked away from him. But then she came back with a broom of all things. "Get out of my house! I hate humans!" Porlyusica snapped before she started swinging the broom at the child, and with some skill as she did so. There had to be some skill if she managed to hit only him and not even the vase that had been dangerously close.

Wisely, the boy chose to get out of the house. Never again would he underestimate the power of an old woman with a broom.


Despite the woman's attempts at getting rid of the blonde boy, a couple weeks later he could still be found nearby her house. Porlyusica might have that broom of doom, but that only worked in the house because there was no room to dodge. Outside however, Roxas was able to avoid the evil broom. With neither of them backing down, it was a war that could go on for a long while. If the area hadn't been considered a danger zone with just the woman, it definitely was now thanks to the boy.

It wasn't like the two had conflict constantly though. When the woman wasn't trying to scare off the kid, she usually stayed in her house. The blonde could be found reading an odd book in times of peace. Where the book came from was beyond the Porlyusica's knowledge, but she really didn't seem to care and probably assumed it was similar to what had happened to his weapon. Just like how Roxas never questioned how she could stand locking herself up in her home all the time and assumed she wasn't as human as she looked.

Surprisingly enough, she did leave some food out for him once a day though. He really didn't understand that woman. One moment she was trying to scare him off with a broom, the next she was leaving food. What was he? A cat? Regardless, the blonde was thankful for the food. At first he'd suspected her of putting something in the food, but after a lengthy argument the food was deemed safe.

Today however, was apparently different from previous days however. When she left her house for the first time that day there was no broom in hand to try and chase him off. There was no bowl of soup or a plate of food that she would leave out for him to eat. Not even an herb collecting basket hung from her arm. So what was different today for the Haag?

Porlyusica sent a warning look his way. "I might be coming back with guests Brat. Behave."

"Stop treating me like an animal and maybe I will, Hag." Roxas stated stubbornly as he looked up from his book to glare back at her from where he sat on one of the massive roots of the tree her home was in.

Rather than making a comeback the woman scoffed and headed off into the forest. He was almost tempted to follow her but decided against it. For all he knew, that was exactly what she wanted him to do so she could lead him into a trap of some sort. Granted, that was unlikely when all things considered it was rare for him to not know where Porlyusica was which would make it hard to plan anything... Unless she could communicate with the outside world somehow, which was unlikely given her hatred of humans.

Roxas shook his head, knowing he was over thinking things. It didn't matter anyways if he wasn't following the old Hag. That was another thing that had been developing since he'd first woken up. At first neither had known the other's name and called each other "Hag" and "Brat." They had been told each other's names multiple times now out of annoyance. The damage was done however and both stubbornly refused to show the respect of using the real names.


It wasn't even an hour later that Porlyusica had returned from whatever she'd gone to do. Surprisingly with guests in tow as well. He honestly hadn't thought she was serious when she said she might be coming back with guests. Yet, there were two newcomers following her. Both were on the short side though, not that he was much taller. One was a young girl about his age probably, the other was an old man that was shorter than her.

The girl had red hair, not red like a dark orange either, red like scarlet. She wore a white shirt with a blue skirt and yell-brown shoes. Only one eye was visible and looked brown. It was the other eye that caught his attention, seeing as it was covered with an eye patch. Just looking at her face he could guess the wound was probably fairly recent with the sad and depressed aura that seemed to follow her.

Then there was the old man whose hair was gray. Part of his head was covered with a red ski cap, probably hiding the fact he was balding. He wore an unbuttoned navy blue shirt over a yellow shirt with shorts that matched the button-up shirt and dark yellow pointed shoes. The old man also had a mustache. Overall, he didn't look particularly impressive, but the boy knew looks could be deceiving.

All was silent as the trio approached the tree house until the old man took notice of the boy. "Oh? I don't recall you having a son Porlyusica."

"I don't. That's just the localized nuisance." The woman now known as Porlyusica stated bitterly sending a glare Roxas' way.

"Oi! Since when did I become a local!?" He knew that would just annoy the woman, but that was the point. Annoying Porlyusica until she answered his question was the only tactic he could come up with to get an answer.

"Since two weeks ago when you decided to stay!" Porlyusica snapped, glaring holes through the boy's head before turning to the old man. "There you go. Feel free to try." With that the pink haired woman headed into her tree house.

The red haired girl spared him a glance before following the older woman into the tree house. Or the "Hag's Den" as the boy had started calling it. When the door was slammed shut the boy knew he had reached his goal of annoying the woman for the day.

Forgetting about the old man that was still there the boy returned to his book. It was a fairly simple looking book. Bound with black leather, the only mark on the book was a silver upside down heart that turned into a cross going up and the roman numeral for thirteen inscribed underneath. The book was also small and pocket sized. By no means was it a quick read though, magic had been used on the book. Illusion magic had made it so only family members could read what was really in the book and all of it. He didn't even have to actually turn the page unless he wanted to avoid suspicion of having a magical book. Only thing he didn't know about the book was what other people saw.

"I'm going blind just looking at those teeny tiny words."

He jumped, almost dropping his book. When had the old man joined him on the tree root? It was a miracle he'd managed to catch the book before it got out of reach. The boy was quick to close the book and put it down by his side. "What do you want?" His words had come out rudely, but could you blame the kid when he'd nearly fallen off the root himself?

"Sorry about that, didn't mean to startle you." The old man apologized before holding his hand out. "Just wanted to talk."

The blonde's eyes narrowed suspiciously, ignoring the hand. "Talk about what?"

Seeing that he wasn't going to get a handshake, the old man lowered his arm but maintained a smile. "About you. I've heard you've been causing Porlyusica quite a bit trouble lately."

A snort was the boy's response. "Well if she would have just told me where she'd found me I would've left by now."

"Why is that so important to you?" A brow was raised at the young boy.

There was some hesitation on the boy's part before he answered. "It's the only way I can think of that can help me find my family."

"Wouldn't it be easier to go to the nearest town and ask around?"

The boy bowed his head. "It isn't that easy. They were attacked and they told me to run... so I ran in a straight line so they'd be able to find me."

For a while the old man didn't say a word, which the boy actually appreciated. After all, he hadn't exactly been able to explain to the hag of the forest. When the man spoke again, the boy found himself caught off guard when once more the hand was extended to him. "Makarov Dreyar."

Once more the boy hesitated, but before the hand could be dropped again the boy took it. "Roxas."


"Roxas...?"

"What?"

"No surname?" Makarov already felt like he'd made progress with the "localized nuisance" that had been bothering Porlyusica. But the fact that the boy left out a surname bothered him more than it should have. He couldn't place it but there was something about the kid... that wasn't like the average child. It wasn't just the magic he was certain the boy possessed, there was something else.

The boy in question rolled his eyes. "Roxas Mu."

Makarov sent a look towards the boy, knowing that wasn't right.

"Alright, you got me." Roxas held his hands up in surrender. "It's Kokoro."

"Try again."

"Unmei."

Makarov sighed, he could tell none of the surnames were real just by looking at Roxas' smirk. "Be serious now."

Roxas let out a sigh of defeat. "Alright."

A minute passed and no surname was given. Makarov was really starting to wonder about the boy. "Well?"

Again, the blonde rolled his eyes, but when he spoke he looked serious this time. "I don't have a surname."

The older man found himself looking at the boy with confusion. "You said you had family, didn't you?"

There was a sigh from the younger boy as he looked down at the ground below. "It isn't that kind of family."


For the blonde's part, it was true. They hadn't been the kind of family all related by blood and sharing a surname. It had been a sort of artificial family actually. The look the old man was giving him made him want to elaborate. Maybe talking about himself would help relieve some of the stress he'd had lately anyways.

"It was a guild, but we were all just one strange family. We were all a lot alike too, not having surnames included. They always said our surnames were the same because of it." That got a chuckle out of both Roxas and Makarov. Roxas found himself smiling a real smile for once since waking up in the tree house.

But then a frown crossed Roxas' face. He knew the reality though. Even if he hadn't stayed on a straight course, even if they were injured, they would've tracked him down by now. He sighed and bowed his head. "But it doesn't look like they survived the attack if I'm still here."

Makarov respectfully stayed quiet, seemingly knowing Roxas needed a moment.

"I don't even know where I am now on top of it all. Not that it really matters. There's nowhere for me to go now." Roxas admitted half to himself.

"Well, I don't think it's a good idea for you to continue bothering Porlyusica on a daily basis, or that broom of her's really will get you." Makarov put in humorously, offering a small smile even though his words were the truth. When Roxas made no move to respond the old man continued. "But if you need a place to go, there's always my guild, Fairy Tail."

That, got Roxas' attention as his shot up. "You're in a guild?"

"I'm the master of a guild!" Makarov stated proudly as he pointed a thumb at himself. At Roxas' raised brow he eased up a bit and offered a smile. "It is easier to find someone when they hang around public places more."

He supposed the old man had a point. If someone did survive and his trail was cold they wouldn't be able to find him in the middle of a forest. But if he joined the guild he'd at least be in the public eye and somewhat easy to find. Not to mention he'd be able to get some real food instead of whatever Porlyusica made. There was also the fact he wouldn't be living outside like the stray cat the hag seemed to think he was.

It was settled. If he ever saw a stray cat, he'd take it in.

Turning back to the conversation however, Roxas wanted to know more about Fairy Tail before he considered anything. "What's Fairy Tail like?"

Makarov seemed happy that the boy had taken an interest at the very least. "We're like a family. That includes Porlyusica too. We all support each other, young or old."

Roxas gave a thoughtful nod, his gaze drifting towards the tree house. "So that girl you came with is also a member?"

"Hm? Ah, yes. That was Erza, one of the younger members. I brought her here to see if Porlyusica could do anything for the eye." Makarov explained, following Roxas' gaze to the tree house.

The boy frowned recalling the look that had been on the girl's face. It was a look that said her whole world had come crashing down. He himself was familiar with that look, as he'd probably been wearing it a lot himself the last couple weeks. As tempted as he was to ask what happened, he wasn't about to pry. After all, he wasn't exactly going into detail about what happened himself.

It was almost like Makarov had expected the blonde to ask what had happened. He had waited for a bit, almost expectantly. But when Roxas had said nothing, he spoke once more. "So what do you say?"

Roxas looked at the old man, confused by the question. "What do I say to what?"

A chuckle escaped the old man at the boy's confusion. "Joining Fairy Tail."

"Oh." Roxas had forgotten that they'd been talking about the guild. He frowned looking down at the ground below. "I'll have to think about it."


I just love the interaction between Porlyusica and Roxas.

Anyways, here's the first chapter of Where the Key Belongs. Reviews are appreciated.

Hopefully now my mind will stop running off with more ideas and I'll be able to focus on this as well as other stories I have up. Mainly "An Incomplete Soul" and this of course. Hopefully "Harvest Hearts" will get a long-awaited update as well.