By: Stephen Levi Groves

I don't own Kingdom Hearts, nor do I receive any royalties from it.

If I did do you think I would be writing cheap knock-offs of it?

The sea washed over the glistening white sands, its bubbling whispers giving the island an ethereal quality.

Sora stood facing the far off islet where so many of his childhood memories were based. He slowly and thoughtfully lifted the Keyblade and proceeded to examine it. The moonlight glinted off its silver shaft. Sora froze, there less than an inch below the blue band on the cross-guard was a tiny sentence scrawled on the metal.

He leaned closer and read aloud "The ancient past calls thee back." He shook his head and pushed it to the back of his mind.

He looked at the Keyblade for a moment and thought back to his adventures in Port Royal, and to his time on the Black Pearl with Jack Sparrow. He chuckled and said out loud "Sorry "Captain" Jack Sparrow." he recalled when he had described Kairi to Jack, Jack had said with a mischievous glint in his eyes "This Kairi of yours sounds like a rare one indeed!" Jack turned to Sora and clapped him on the back and said "Sounds like you've got yourself a girl mate; you were describing her like she was made o' gold!" Sora blushed and scratched the back of his head "Bah don't worry." Said Jack "A woman is by far the greatest treasure on the seven seas, like as not you'll find the Holy Grail 'afore you find a girl."

He returned form his stroll down memory lane laughing and released his grip on the blade's handle causing it to vanish in a shower of white sparks. He turned and glanced at his house, weather beaten and decrepit. He walked casually to the door and pushed it open.

The smell of old oak and salt filled his nostrils, he glanced down the hall to his bedroom door which was hanging open, and he looked to the kitchen where….. Sora glanced back to his bedroom door. "Now that's strange." He thought to himself. "I usually close and lock that door every time I leave." He stepped towards it cautiously and glanced through the crack.

He gasped; Kairi was asleep on his bed! He crept in and stood by the bed, she stirred and sat up while rubbing her eyes "Sora?" he knelt next to the bed and waited

"Sorry, I came to talk to you but you weren't here, I came in here and sat down, I guess I fell asleep." Sora nodded and smiled "Ah its okay you know you're welcome here." Kairi smiled and stood up.

Sora turned and sat on the bed sighing loudly. Kairi frowned and asked "What's wrong?" Sora smiled and fell back on the bed. He lay there for several minutes staring up at the stars painted on the ceiling.

He turned his gaze on Kairi who was staring at him, he frowned "What?" Kairi shook her head and walked out to the living room. Sora stood quickly and followed her. She stopped at the door and said "Sora, Riku asked me to tell you that King Mickey wanted to talk to you." Sora nodded. She turned and stepped out on the porch and waved "Bye Sora see you tomorrow!" Sora waved back half-heartedly.

He returned to his bedroom and plopped down on the bed.

The Next Morning

Sora woke stiff and sore, after he leapt up and collected a towel and some clean clothes he trotted off to the shower. He stepped out and ran his towel through his hair and dressed.

Out in his bedroom he picked up a small black satchel filled with various odds and ends from his adventures and strapped it to his left thigh.

Adjusting the straps he walked out to the front yard and summoned the Keyblade in a shower of white sparks. Focusing as hard as possible he pointed the Keyblade in front of him and said "Open."

A distortion appeared in the air taking the form of a keyhole; Sora slipped the Keyblade into it and turned it one quarter turn left. The keyhole grew bigger than a door and unleashed a torrent of wind that nearly knocked him on his back. He jumped up and over the bottom edge of the portal and vanished.

Sora's POV

The world was consumed by a hurricane of light and sound. My skin felt numb and cold. "I will never travel these corridors of darkness again." I thought to my self bitterly.

King Mickey had meant well, but he had no idea what it was like to enter one of these hell-holes.

Supposedly the new version of my clothing was made to ward off the effects of the darkness on the human body, such as: the rapid loss of body heat, the loss of sensation in the various portions of the body and the strange thoughts. Even now I was re-experiencing the primal need of the Heartless, believe me I know what it is to be a Heartless,

I had spent one year, three days, twelve hours and thirty-seven minutes as one and I didn't even know it! But all the same, I was back to normal.

I really had no idea why I had opened a corridor of darkness, I wasn't asked to go anywhere and I wasn't on any quests that I knew of.

I looked around to find some sort of exit from this horrible place. Off to my left I could discern the outline of another keyhole, so I turned and made a beeline straight for it.

I quickly whipped out the Keyblade and opened the rend in reality. My first thought when I tumbled out onto the cold pavement was that I had arrived in Hollow Bastion...Sorry that's Radiant Garden now.

I stood, brushed the dust off my pants and glanced around...Nope...This definitely isn't Radiant Garden. Of all the worlds I have visited on my travels, this one took the cake! The stone walkway extended for hundreds of yards over an expanse of nothingness. Literally, the bridge was running over nothing. I stepped to the edge of the cliff and stared down into the seemingly endless drop.

I slowly made my way to the bridge and tested it, it groaned in protestation of my sudden weight slightly and swayed. I only then did I notice the composition of the bridge, it was nothing more than a chain of boulders strung together by what appeared to be vines. I turned intending to exit by the same way I entered, but to my surprise, the portal was now replaced by a plain stone wall.

I turned back to the bridge and slowly and testily crossed. More than once I found myself face to face with loose boulders and rotten vine, however I had traveled several hundered yards when I saw an island of stone floating on the end of this "Island Chain." I made my way to it as quickly as one could on a chain of floating rock.

After a few minutes I had finally made it. The stone island was fairly ordinary(as floating islands go) except for a small ornately carved altar. I approached carefully expecting some sort of trap(believe me, I have watched the Indiana Jones series.) The altar was plated with gold and set with all manner of gemstones. On it's center was of all things, a keychain. I picked it up and gazed at it.

It was silver with double helix links which ended in a blue diamond. I casually summoned the keyblade and clipped the chain in place. I have learned in the past that any sort of charm with a chain, can be clipped on the keyblade to change it's shape and abilities, and since this was obviously was a charm with a chain I instinctively expected it to have the same effect.

As soon as the clip closed the keyblade exploded into white and grey light. The flare lasted longer than usual, I assume because it was a charm my keyblade encountered for the first time. Once the light had died down I examined my new weapon.

It was slightly shorter than Ultima Weapon and longer than Oblivion, it was grey and silver with alternating silver and black spirals shrouding the blade itself, it's "key teeth" were three grey spikes with black edges. The handle was perticularly odd, with black grey and white "hound's tooth" marks.

I let the keyblade drop to my side and turned to the floating stone pathway. I heard a strange sound behind me, something similar to rushing wind, I whirled around and stared into a dark corridor forming to the left of the altar.

To my utter surprise, out stepped Riku with Kairi. Kairi wrapped her arms around herself and shivered violently "Damn Riku, you could've warned me about that!" Riku grinned smugly and looked up at me "Well well, it seems the Keyblade Master has found a fracture world." I frowned and asked him what he meant

"Sora you should know this." he drew a deep breath and said "A fracture world forms in the inbetween when a world from either the realm of light or the realm of darkness is destroyed, these partially existing worlds are nothing more than remnants of the aftermath."

I nodded, that explains the endless white expanse extending god-knows-how-many miles down. Kairi smiled and cocked her head, I walked over and gave her a warm hug. I started to pull away, but she clamped herself tighter to me "No, it was cold in there." I looked down and smiled, she glanced up and chuckled "Your smile is blinding me Sora, aim it somewhere else!"

Riku cleared his throat loudly startling us both. I hastily pulled away form her while she did the same. I glanced at Riku giving him the most discreet and threatening glare possible. Riku smiled and looked up. Kairi frowned "What are you doing here anyway Sora?" I shrugged and glanced around, Riku rolled his eyes "Dude, didn't Kairi tell you about The King wanting to see you?" I nodded and asked "Yeah, what did he want?" Riku turned to the corridor of darkness "Why don't you ask him yourself?"

With that the darkness swirled and heaved like boiling mud, and out stepped King Mickey.

The King was wearing a simple black outfit and holding his Kingdom Key D. He nodded at Riku briefly and said "Sora, I see you have found one of the reasons for our meeting." I frowned and waited for him to elaborate, "I wanted to relate the story of these "fragment" worlds." he sighed and dismissed his keyblade. "As Riku told you earlier, these worlds result from the destruction or distortion of worlds from the realm of darkness and light." he stared at me as if willing me to understand, "I believe that The World That Never Was and The End Of The World, are condensations of these fragments."

I held up my hand like I was in school. "Yeah?" I lowered my hand and said "How could that be possible?" I held up my keyblade "None of the keyblades I have used possess any ability that can manipulate an entire world." Riku shook his head "That is not true, your Kingdom Key is the sole keyblade that represents the world of light, so it posesses the ability to lock or unlock any heart or world that resides in the world of light." I looked at him surprised. i unclipped my new charm and watched a fountain of white sparks engulf my hand, once the Kingdom Key had resumed it's ordinary form I said "So, I can use The Kingdom Key to manipulate worlds, and create worlds?" Mickey nodded.

"The Keyblade is the one weapon that can manipulate Kingdom Hearts directly." Mickey said solemnly

"Ansem The Wise, Master Erauqs, and Master Yen Sid have all joined forces to unlock the secrets of the Keyblade, if you pardon the expression." added Riku with a grin.

I rolled my eyes and stepped toward the Corridor of Darkness. "Sora wait!" yelled a voice behind me.

I turned and locked my gaze on Kairi. From the look on her face, I could tell she was upset about something.
"What's wrong?" I asked, concerned. She hesitated for a moment, "Can I go with you?" she asked sweetly, her blue eyes seemed to draw me in as she pouted, "I don't want to go in there alone... and..." her sentence trailed off. I smiled and nodded, she ran up beside me and grabbed onto me like someone was attempting to kidnap her. I wrapped my left arm around her shoulder, and stepped into the darkness with her.