Well, this is my first fanfic for Kingdom Hearts, and I've decided that I might as well post it up here. As usual, all original characters are copyrighted by me, while all other characters belong to their respective owners:

Kingdom Hearts characters: Square-Enix
Disney characters: Disney
Original characters: kirinelf (Me!)

Remember to review: I need to know how to improve! That's right, need, not want, NEED!

Sora's eyes snapped open, their azure orbs opened wide in terror. A flash of white burst in his right hand, while a similar blast of black erupted in his left. The twin keyblades, Oathkeeper and Oblivion, materialized, ready to defend against any attack.

Seeing no enemies, Sora sighed, sinking back onto his bed, the two keyblades vanishing. Strange… why was his bed so hard? He turned and saw that he was lying on hard rock, then sighed.

'I forgot… King Mickey sent me out on another mission…' he thought, glancing around. His eyes picked out the lanky form of Riku, his best friend, lounging against the rock face of the cliff they were sheltering under.

"Yo, Key Bearer." Riku grinned as he saw Sora fidget a bit.

"Quit it, Riku. You're a Key Bearer too, remember?" he said. "I'm not the only Key Bearer here!"

"Right you aren't!" Sora spun around, and saw a certain red-haired princess sitting on a rock behind him, a wide smile on her face.

"Kairi, not you too!" Sora nearly cried out in frustration. Throughout this new journey, which his friends had insisted on coming along with him on, they had been badgering him constantly about his 'Key Bearer' status, a rank gained when the keyblade had rejected Riku and selected him. Although Riku soon proved worthy of the keyblade, the name had stuck, and the King, Mickey Mouse, had given the title official bearing. He had included Riku and Kairi in the title as well, but most of the main impetus was on Sora, and this was why Riku and Kairi teased him all throughout the way.

A ray of strange light, where black and white stood out individually instead of a mingled grey, shone behind him, and when he turned back to face Riku, the black keyblade, Way to the Dawn, had appeared in the Wielder of Dawn's hand.

A second beam of light, blood-red with pink, and white streaks burst forth from behind him, and when he whirled around, the Princess of Hearts held True Heart in her hand.

While Riku's keyblade had been his for a while, Kairi had only recently gained hers. The keyblade Riku had given her while he was still trapped in Ansem's body had faded once he left it and resumed his normal body, and only when she had insisted on coming with them had it appeared before her.

The situation was urgent. The King was furious; the only time Sora had ever since him this angry was when Goofy was knocked out and they had thought him dead, and then not even this angry.

Queen Minnie had been kidnapped.

The King had ordered Sora, Riku, and Kairi out on this mission, into an alternate dimension where his scouts had seen the Queen being taken. He had been full of cold fury, the Golden Keyblade in his hand as he had stalked the throne room, his mouth set in a hard line. It had been all Donald and Goofy could do to hold the King down and prevent him from going after his Queen himself. They had told Sora that they would keep the King in check: The last time he went to help Sora, Minnie had been there to govern in his place, and now there was no one.

But then Sora smiled. Here he was, with his best friends in the world, or worlds as he now knew, and he was free in the universe. He held the Keyblades of Light, Oathkeeper and Oblivion, and he defeated Xemnas, yet another person who had wanted the power of Kingdom Hearts. He would have plenty to think about when they find the Queen.

"Anyway Sora, what woke you up? You were sleeping so soundly we didn't wanna wake you." Kairi cocked her head to one side, her big blue eyes on Sora's, who felt his cheeks beginning to colour.

"It was… nothing… a dream…" he muttered, closing his eyes and lounging back onto the rock surface. "Just a dream…"

Riku got up from his perch on the rock, leaping down onto Sora's level. "Heh, must've been one heck of a dream. I could hear you crying out from up there." He inclined his head at the ledge he had just abandoned.

"Are you okay, Sora?" Kairi asked, getting up and walking to him. She placed her hand on his forehead, checking for fever. "You seem a bit flustered…"

Sora waved her away. "Yeah, I'm fine. I dunno, it's just something that came over me. Whatever it was, it's gone now…"

Riku folded his arms across his chest, his silver eyes gazing at his best friend. "Well, if you say so, I think we better get a move on. We're nowhere closer to the Queen than we were yesterday."

"Huh?" Sora got up, looking at Riku. "Whadaya mean no closer? We walked all day yesterday, and the Terra brought us quite a way too."

The Terra was their new Gummi Ship, the latest model to roll off the production line, commissioned to them by the King himself. He was sparing no expense to get his Queen back. It had autopilot, a sauna, a training facility, five-star quality bedrooms, and more weapons than half the Gummi Ships they've ridden in put together.

"For one thing, they seem to be moving pretty fast. For another we are moving pretty slowly. And lastly…" He shrugged. "I just have this feeling we aren't."

Sora nearly slumped down again. Riku's 'feelings' had an annoying habit of being accurate. He didn't exactly feel like walking a huge distance again. The day before, he had nearly walked the distance from the King's castle to Radiant Garden, and that trip took a Gummi Ship around 10 minutes.

"Well, we won't be getting any closer sitting around like this. Since Sora's already up, let's go!" Kairi's keyblade disappeared along with Riku's as the trio prepared for their journey.

Sora went over the map that they had been given. It wasn't very accurate, considering it was around a hundred years old at least. The parchment on which it was drawn was yellowing, and parts of it were unreadable.

"Hmm… I can't really tell, but this seems to say… Di… gi… tal? Digital? Digital World?" He struggled to make out the faded words.

Riku peered over his shoulder. "Yeah, I think that's about right. Good enough for me. Let's go. It's better than having no goal."

Kairi ran up the road, stopping just before rounding a corner as she turned back to grin at her friends.

"Come on, let's go!" she cried over the noise of the wind, which was starting to pick up.

Sora glanced at Riku, who returned the look. Without saying anything, the two of them broke into an all-out sprint, running towards the Princess of Hearts, a casual race between the two of them, just like old times.

But something, in the back of Sora's mind, niggling like a little itch, was the feeling that maybe, just maybe, this won't be as easy as last time.

Sora shook it off as he tried to lengthen his stride, trying as much to bury his doubt as he was trying to win the race. He had new powers, old friends, his Forms, new keyblades, he was a far cry from the Sora who had embarked on his journey to find and defeat Organization XIII, and even further from the one who had sought out Ansem. What could happen?

Gah, it could've been better, but I just can't seem to think of anything at the moment. Remember to hit that review button; Feedback is always nice...