AN:/The long awaited sequel to Time In A Game (you just lost by the way), Finding Twilit Paths! If you're wondering about the name, well, it isn't just Althea's PoV this time. It's Riku's and Ienzo's too. With tidbits of the others like Myde, Sora, Princess Leia- I mean Lea. Anywho! There will be two arcs to this story. The Chain of Memories Arc and the 358/2 Days Arc (although they may blur at random times for continuity's sake). Not much else to say except, Happy Anniversary to me and my beloved and Happy Halloween/Samhain to everybody else!

Warning, beginning is not very Kingdom Hearts like. After the CoM arc, whenever the PoV is generally from Althea's, it will be in worlds you'd least expect. Also, "the tomb" is not in the original game. It's a modification for TES III that I've always found very handy.

Disclaimer: If you can recognize it prior to reading my stories, I don't own it. If you recognize it only because you have read my stories, there is still a chance I don't own it but I have also asked permission from the proper owners, unless it's an obvious shout-out to an author that doesn't even know I exist.

Finding Twilit Paths, Chapter 1: Over the hills and through the portals


One human teen walks along a dirt path towards a town called Seyda Neen. At the next fork, she takes the right path. Her hair is messy, brown, and severely needs a haircut to get rid of all those split ends. Her eyes are honeyed and covered with square, thick glasses, upon deciding this was the world she wanted to live in, she changed her style of clothes and looked for a home.

She found a graveyard nearby the town of Seyda Neen and out of curiosity explored it. There was a tomb in that graveyard, and once she entered, she found it wasn't as dark as one would think. it actually looked like someone lived there and as she searched – and found dead bodies that she asked her three companions to drag out – a story unfolded laid bare in the blood, ashes, and books around the tomb. A vampire had lived there. A simple vampire that took lovers instead of victims. A kind hearted vampire that was attacked for no other reason than being a vampire that was once the Neverine; some sort of savior that lived long past his time. He was an "Imperial" according to his ID papers on the wall. An immigrant that was once a prisoner in Cyrodill. Born under the the star sign the Tower and playing the part of a healer as he wandered Vvardenfell. Then one day, he became a vampire. She had discovered all this from looking around and finding no other company but journals and the dead. She decided that once it was cleaned up, the tomb would make a great home and sent her companions to fetch her bags, promising to make them chocolate cake and sea salt ice cream. As soon as they were gone, a dead woman on the ground jumped up and attacked the teen. The woman had been the last person the Imperial vampire bit and she had been given the gift of vampirism moments before the foolish adventurer entered her home and killed her beloved. The two females wrestled for a bit, the woman quickly being pinned.

"Please! Just a little, I'm starving and I can't leave the tomb. I'm so weak, I haven't fed at all since I rose." The vampire begs, trying to bite the human teen.

"How long ago was that?" The teenager questions. With her common everyday knowledge of vampires, she knew it was bad for a newborn vampire to have not fed at all.

"Two weeks..."

"Allow my companions and I to live here and we'll nurse you back to health and help you find the vampire clan you belong to."

"Yes! Please, some blood?"

Hours later of potion and ether ingestion for one and blood consumption from the wrist for another, they finally introduce themselves. The teen, dresses in a knee-length black skirt, black biker shorts, boots she found on a corpse and washed out heavily, a black and red trimmed long-sleeved Victorian blouse with a purple corset with thin straps on the shoulders and a bag presently holding her old clothes and gloves, introduces herself as Althea Gloxinia. The vampire woman, clad in full white chitin armor hidden only by a blue extravagant shirt and skirt, the helmet to her armor lies next to her, called herself Elspeth Dren, a type of blue-grey skinned dark elf called Dunmer, a native from a very wealthy family whose business is slaves.

It's been almost a month since then and Elspeth has recovered enough to go to Seyda Neen every night and steal some sips from the sleeping villagers. So Althea, as soon as she sees the town, detours right and enters the graveyard and tomb she's beginning to call home as dusk settles across the town. In the main entrance, she sees only a pair of sleeping Shadows on a bed in the corner. She continues on into the storage rooms and checks the lab, finding no one in either section, therefore leaving the throne room as the only place the missing Wyvern and vampire must be. Upon entering the sad excuse for a throne room, she hears two people conversing.

"I'll ask again, are you the summoned beast of a necromancer and is Althea a necromancer?"

"And I'll say this again, we're not and she's not."

"But her blood had something dark in it, she must be a necromancer. And we Dunmer hate necromancers"

"She's been living in a dark environment of course the aura would have an effect. And you're a necrophiliac, that's pretty close to necromancer, so shouldn't you hate yourself?"

"The Neverine was not dead, he caught the Porphyric Hemophilia!" Elspeth counters.

"Which means he was bit by a vampire and brought to near death and then given vampire blood to drink. Everyone knows that." The smart-aleck Ienzo retorts.

"Okay, before it gets fierce, I'm interrupting you two. I found in Balmora the names of the places where the three great vampire clans nest, now we just have to map the exact locations and help you find them." Althea says, literally going between the draconic Heartless and dark elf while.

"Don't bother, just let me have the names and I'll search. I can walk." The Dunmer holds out her hands for the list.

"Ever been to Red Mountain?" Althea asks casually.

Elspeth's already ghastly face suddenly has white eyes with tiny red pinpricks to go along with it. She and most natives of Vvardenfell are terrified of the Red Mountain.

"You're such a wuss, you've never been traveling with your Neverine? I've seen his journals. He searched for each HQ and went to Red Mountain many times, turning up nothing but locations of various ruins all around there. Even I've been there and I'm not a native to Vvardenfell at all."

"My Neverine was protecting me! You're some sort of witch, that's why you have no fear of traveling. Because the monsters listen to you!" Says the hysterical vampire elf.

"A chrono-spatialmancer. Which reminds me, mind if I try out a spell on you?" It's called Silencio. Althea calmly corrects her.

"No! I should've found out you were a witch before I let you stay here. Now I'll never be able to get you out. That's why I need to join up with my clan." Elspeth whines.

"Princess, where have you been? You've been gone for two days." Ienzo interrupts.

"Really? Felt longer, then again, I did cast a Mega-Haste spell on me and that guy overseeing the Corprusiam. He refused to help me so I spent a while convincing him via that spell. I had to heal that obese dwarf of his, I think he called himself the last Dwemer."

"The Corprusiam? Why would you go there? What if you caught Corprus and brought it back here?"

"I'd just do what I did for the Dwemer, turn back time on my body until I reach the point in time precisely before I caught the disease. Besides, I had the head honcho and his wives slash female clones of himself check me out before I left" Althea mentally shudders at the thought of a man immortal enough and bored enough to clone himself, make those clones female, and marry each of them.

The vampire and teenager argue about disease prevention when a pop of light is seen and heard. Out of the light appears a vicious looking cage of green and purple spotted navy blue spiders with a note addressed to Althea. The cage falls into her hands and the trio blink in confusion. Althea balances the cage in one hand and reads the note in the other.

Dear Althea, the newest member to the prestigious magical ranks,

unfortunately you'll remain at the bottom unless you make yourself known to your chosen world and gain a reputation high enough to be known in other worlds. Or you could stay in the shadows like you've been doing since you entered this universe. I'll let you in on a little secret since I'm sure you're wondering how I knew your little secret ;)

I am Jezzebel Landings, (make no comment on my name or I'll hex you) youngest Elder of Darkness and one of two Grey bishops, the other is Yen Sid of the Elders of Light. Each elder, whether of Light or Darkness is also a bishop of either White, Black, or Grey. Therefore, all three of us knew where you were from the moment we met you and therefore knew you were a Grey Princess. Only Fate could tell us if you will be the Grey Queen, and I don't mean those three little old ladies working for Hades. ;P And your little friend, once he learns to accept his dark powers as well as light powers, he will be the Grey King. And just between you and me, Yubaba even with all of her multifold years still doesn't believe the Grey female royal comes from another universe.

Now enough of secrets and onto your present. You see these spiders? They're special spiders, they are completely tame, docile, and self-sufficient when let out of their cage. But that's not what's special about them since most spiders are like that, hehe! All of them love clothes, specifically, they love making clothes. They've been bred and trained to use their multi-colored silk to make and mend clothes. And I really do mean make, give them enough time and privacy and they could make an entire outfit so long as you provide buttons, zippers, clasps, clips, and a general blueprint. They can even make your clothes bigger or smaller. My researchers and scientists ;) have yet to figure out how they do that since it's never been physically observed, but we think they have some magic of their own.

Now one more thing before I end this letter. The man that possessed Riku had been defeated about two weeks ago. You better move quickly if you plan on saving him from himself and any others. The gates to Oblivion are scheduled to close on Thursday at 7pm this week and the next time they open will be when either Sora or the Organization members there are defeated.

Althea lowers the note and asks Ienzo when Thursday is. Two days he says. She puts the cage of spiders on the floor and teleports to the entrance room to wake up Myde. "Myde! I need you awake! You need to go find Castle Oblivion before Thursday! I happen to know both Leia's and Ienzo's nobodies are at the castle but we don't know what will happen if they get too close so I can't send them. I'll make you cookies, you know you like cookies." She picks up the shadow and shakes him awake. He yawns and nods sleepily, quickly dozing off again. She sighs and walks out of the tomb, jumping the graveyard fence and sliding on wet mud into the small body of water separating them from the town. Myde immediately wakes up and leaps out of her arms for a quick swim in his element.

Got it ally! Can I have oatmeal cookies? And how am I supposed to find the castle?

"Do you know how Sora smells? He should be heading towards Castle Oblivion if he isn't there already. Ansem the Wise should also be around there too, but he won't look or smell entirely like himself. And Goofy and Donald Duck and Riku should be there. Alternatively, you can sniff out Ienzo and Leia's scents as long as they don't lead you back here."

Myde melts into the water, becoming just another shadow. Althea walk back inside the tomb, muttering cleaning spells on her clothes and most especially her boots. Elspeth, Ienzo, and Lea are waiting for her in the entrance with the spider cage. She takes the cage and talks to the spiders.

"I'm Althea Gloxinia, the witch you were sent to. I'm going to let you go now, but please try not to leave the tomb. I don't want to lose you little guys."

She opens the tiny door and they scramble out and all over her. Their furry little legs tickle any spot of skin they walk over. "Hehehe, go walk all over Ienzo why don't you? I'm ticklish."

- The night before, at a random crossroads made of dirt in a grassy meadow -

"Who are you?" A tan boy with spiky brown hair demands of the black cloaked figure at the grassy crossroads.

"Who am I indeed? To seek is to find. To find is to lose. All of the answers you seek are down this road Sora." Answers the figure.

"How do you know my name?"

"All questions will be answered when you find what you seek. But you may lose something important along the way."

"Can you start making sense? You're reminding me of that other wacko." Sora distinctly remembers one strange man in a brown cloak that he met the day his homeworld was destroyed...temporarily of course.

"Do you seek your dear friend Riku?"

"You know where he is? Tell me!" The boy conveniently forgets he's also looking for some mouse king.

"To seek is to find. To find is to lose..." The figure disappears mysteriously, leaving the young teenager to his crazy, whirled around thoughts of how does he always end up meeting and attracting all of the wack jobs in the multiverse. He also goes straight back to his friends sleeping in the grass somewhere and wakes them up, saying they needed to follow the strange man before they lost him.

- Thursday -

Myde crawls all over the Realm of Darkness. He's already tried sniffing out Sora, Riku, Donald, Goofy, and Ansem in the Realm of Light, and he's almost done with the Realm of Darkness. He's confused, where could this Castle Oblivion be? Suddenly, he catches Riku's scent and follows it over the hills and through the woods— uhh, I mean through a mysterious and convenient portal leading to a strangely colored and haphazard castle on a small plot of solid Darkness surrounded by a cloudy fog of swirling Darkness. Without even trying to find a way into the castle, Myde rushes back to his friends to tell them the good news.

- Thursday, 6pm, an empty void -

Another teenager, this one being younger than the first and older than the second, sleeps in a void. Floats in this void horizontally. His thoughts are rabid, fiercely overwhelming him. Hence his sleep. It's the only way he is able to make the voices in his head go away for while. But in his sleep, he has his nightmares to keep him company instead.

A nightmare of when he tried to murder his best friend.

A nightmare of sacrificing a girl like a sister to him for what a vile witch claimed was the greater good.

A nightmare of poorly thanking his beloved aunt by throwing her to the dogs to tear apart.

A nightmare of betraying the only friend he really had while working for an evil witch.

The voices tell him he destroyed the world and this is his punishment.

They say he doesn't deserve the Light and should continue to sleep in the Darkness.

Suddenly, there's a new voice.

"Will you sleep in eternity to forget your friends?"

"Go away..." Riku mumbles.

"Sleep in the comforting blanket of Darkness? To forget every bad thing you did under Maleficent?"

Riku groans and turns over.

"Are you sleeping to forget Sora, Kairi, and Althea?"

"Shut up..."

"Will you break your promise to your friends, just so you won't hurt anymore? Leave them behind and sleep in eternal Darkness. Go ahead, they won't hold it against you."

Riku's eyes jolt open at that sentence and he realizes what the new voice has been saying. "What?" He stands up...in a sense since there's no floor for his feet.

"It's okay, they won't look down on you, you can sleep here for as long as you want. You'll only be forgotten."

"Yeah right, I'm not leaving them behind again. So tell me, Voice, how do I get out of here?"

"Are you sure you want to leave this warm place?"

"Tell me!"

A blue glowing orb flashes into existence and circles Riku. "Take the orb if you want to leave. But you really should stay and sleep, it's better here. Safer."

"No thanks, I've got a few promises to keep." Riku tries to grab the orb but it turns into a card in his grasp. The empty void fades away and suddenly he's in Hollow Bastion. "What the hell is going on?" He asks.

- Thursday, 6:30pm, outside Castle Oblivion -

"Great job Myde! You found it just in time. Your cookies are waiting back home, you better hurry, the pyromaniac may have woken up by now—"

What? No, he'll steal my cookies! Myde interrupts, quickly leaving after he's said his part. Ienzo and Althea share a look and shrug their shoulders, or wings in Ienzo's case.

Shall we? Ienzo asks before leading the way into the castle. Luckily, Sora and company had already gone through the first door within the castle, so Althea and Ienzo weren't seen. Unluckily, it turns out the producers of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories weren't able to fit every doorway into the game. Already our heroes have to make a choice. Do they go through the huge elaborate door, or one of the two smaller ones off to the side?


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