I know what you're thinking. Why is she writing a new story while she has others? I'll tell you. This thing has been floating around in my head for months, blocking any other ideas for my other stories.

I disclaim any characters and places as mine. I claim artistic license.

Dark mist swirled around a prone figure sprawled out on the rocky ground. A faint breeze caressed its face, ruffled its brown hair and whispered in it ear, causing it to wake up, groaning. Sapphire eyes opened and blearily looked around. Not recognizing the landscape, it snapped awake, all traces of grogginess gone. The figure sprang up, revealing it to be a young human female, lashing out a hand. A strange sword appeared in her palm, shaped like a key. She gazed around warily, watching for enemies.

'Sora...' Her name whispered in the wind, startling the girl.

"Who's there?!" Sora demanded, looking about wildly, searching for the owner of the voice.

'My poor daughter…' Another whisper.

"Who are you?! Show yourself!" Sora's voice carried through the dark atmosphere.

'Relax, daughter. Free your senses and you will find me.' Sora narrowed her eyes, before deciding that she had nothing to lose. Stretching her senses, she detected something something to her far left. Turning on her heel, she began to walk toward it cautiously, eyes still closed. After a few minutes, she stopped and open her eyes. The thing she detected was a woman, dressed in an elaborate silver kimono, the color matching her ankle-length hair, and her red eyes glowed dimly in the darkness.

"I will ask you again. Who are you?" The woman smiled slightly.

"I am whom you mortals call Shinigami." Sora gasped and bowed low.

"Forgive me for my insolence, Shinigami-sama." The goddess gave a laugh as she approached the trembling girl. She gently grasped Sora's chin and tilted her head up.

"I cannot forgive that which has not been done, daughter." Shinigami let her go and stepped back. "Rise, for I have much to tell you." She turned and started walking, Sora dutifully rose and followed. Fifteen minutes later, they were sitting in a comfortable house-like cave system, drinking tea.

"Shinigami-sama?" Sora asked tentatively. The goddess nodded for her to continue. "Why do you call me daughter?" Shinigami smiled slightly and placed her tea on the table between them. She got up and motioned Sora to follow. She led the way through the system, stopping in front of a small cavern. They stepped through the entrance and Sora looked around, not seeing anything interesting. She turned to Shinigami and saw the goddess was staring at a painting of a man with brown out-of-control hair and laughing sapphire eyes smiling up from the frame.

"Who's that Shinigami-sama?" The goddess smiled sadly.

"Hikari Ginta. He was my husband." She traced a loving hand over the man's features. She placed the small painting back on a shelf that Sora just noticed and tuned to walk to the opposite wall, beckoning Sora to come closer. The goddess pointed to a wall hanging, "This is my family tree. I magicked it so that it would update itself whenever someone was born." She placed a finger on the line the bisected the one that connected her portrait to Ginta's and followed it down to the bottom, tapping the last portrait. "Here is the answer to your question, daughter." Sora leaned down to get a closer look. Her eyes widened and she let out a gasp.

"Wha-? Hu-? Ho-?" She stuttered as she looked at her own face. "How is that possible? How can I be related to a goddess? I'm just Sora, nothing special!" She started to cry. She was startled when long arms wrapped around her in a hug.

"I would not say that. Are you not the Keyblade's chosen? Did you not save the worlds of your dimension? Do not sell yourself short, Sora." Shinigami admonished gently. Sora smiled a little and whipped away her tears.

"I guess…" Her ancestor smiled at her.

"Do not guess. Know." Sora looked at the family tree again and noticed something.

"Am I the only girl to be born in this family?" Shinigami smiled and nodded.

"Yes. That is another indicator that you are special, and powerful." Sora tilted her head in question. "For every generation that the power in our bloodline is not used, it grows stronger. And since only females that were born with our blood can use it…" The goddess trailed off as Sora gained an 'Aha!' expression as she figured it out.

"Then my powers would be stronger than my demi-god ancestors!" Sora's grin at finding that out vanished when she realized something. Her shoulders slumped and she sighed, "Joy. More responsibility." Shinigami cocked an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"'With great power comes great responsibility.'" Sora quoted. "When I first heard that quote in school, I promised myself that I would hold that as the truth, not knowing what would happen that summer." She tilted her head, staring up into space with unfocused eyes. "Sometimes, I wish that I could just be me. Just plain ol' Sora. No powers, no responsibility, no danger. But then I think about what my life would be like if I was just Sora, and I realize that I would have never met my friends or explore new places." She shook her head to clear it and looked back at her ancestor with a small smile, which was returned.

"Come. Let us return to the main chamber. We have much to talk about." Shinigami turned and walked back the way they came with Sora following behind her.

After reheating the tea, Shinigami threaded her fingers under her chin and stared across the table at her descendant, who kept fidgeting under her gaze. "Now, do you have any more questions?" Sora nodded.

"Yeah, I have a few. What powers did I inherit? How did I get here? How do I get back?" Shinigami sighed and folded her hands on the table.

"Your first question is easy enough to answer. You inherited my control over shadows, Shikigami, something called Shinigami Eyes, and the ability to gain a Zanpakuto. You also have a small ability to sense spirits. Though, through training, that ability will get stronger. Your second question is also easily answered. One of the smarter Heartless kidnapped you and threw you here into End of the World, hoping that you would not survive. Thankfully, I found you before anything could happen. Your final question is the hardest. The same Heartless that dumped you here tampered with the portal to the Light Dimension, causing it to only work once every three 'light' years."

"What do you mean by 'light years'?" Sora asked, confused.

"Light years are a measurement of time in the Light Dimension, which include the worlds that you saved. End of the World, where we are currently, is in the Dark Dimension, in which time flows differently. The conversion is a dark year equals a light day. Meaning that you have to wait a 1,095 years for the portal to open again." Sora was about to open her mouth when Shinigami held up her hand. "Now, I can slow down your body's natural aging process so that you will age one year for every eighteen that pass, but I can only hold that for 72 years."

"But that only leaves 1,023 years to go. Then what am I supposed to do?" Sora interrupted, but shrank when the goddess leveled a glare at her. "I'll shut up now."

"Good. Now as I was about to say before I was so rudely interrupted, there is another portal here that has not been tampered with. However, that portal only leads to the other worlds of the Dark Dimension. This portal is special, as those who enter it have three spells cast on them. The first causes you to de-age to a newborn, while keeping your memories, whenever you enter a new world. The second causes the time of the world that you left to speed up to match that of a Light Dimension world. The third causes you, when you re-enter a world, to either age or de-age to the age that you left said world, plus anytime passed in-between leaving and re-entering. Any questions?" Sora thought about it and nodded.

"How do I contact the people I meet? I mean, King Mickey sends his messages in a bottle." Shinigami tapped a finger on her chin in thought.

"Hmm… Do you have an e-mail?" Sora nodded. "Then those whose worlds are technologically advanced can e-mail you. Those whose worlds are not can send you letters, I will have my Shikigami to collect those letters and bring them to you. How is that?" Sora nodded again.

"Cool! When do we start training?" Shinigami smirked.

"Now."