Grand Marshal Sora Of the Alliance Resistance forces stared out over the shattered stronghold that was once known as The World That Never Was, and remembered. He remembered how Riku, Kairi, Donald, Goofy, King Mickey, and everyone else he had known had died. Some had died peacefully, some after weeks of torture, but they had all died just the same. They had been pushed back, from world to world, making frantic treaties and alliances until the only world left under the resistance's banners was The world that never was. He had failed utterly and absolutely.

He was Alone….

"Are you brooding again, Grand Marshal?" High Warlord Roxas of the Horde Resistance forces teased gently. Ok so maybe he wasn't alone but Roxas was apart of him and they only had barely 40 troops left between them and most of them were wounded. One good raid from the Legion or the Heartless and they would be destroyed completely.

"Tell me High Warlord, do you bring any news? I imagine at this point its all bad." He teased gently back. Ever since they had gained the titles they had taunted each other about them. It was gallows humor at its finest.

"I'm afraid your right. Three of the men passed away last night from wounds sustained getting those supplies last week."

"Skrrrk"

"Sora!! If you're going to curse, curse in English, Ok? Not in Harpy tongue, you're the only one who understands it anymore."

"Do I look like I care?"

"My Lords!! The Legion attacks!!" a watchman shouted just before a Doomwhisperer cut him down.

"Skr'reek'kawmrk!" Sora again cursed in Harpy tongue as he and Roxas sped down to where the battle was joined.

"They're retreating!!" Roxas called from his side of the battlefield.

"Good! We may yet live to tell the tale!" Sora yelled back as he killed a Felhound that was trying to take out his throat. The battle was just winding down and he was still on his guard for a heartless mop up crew. He knew that they who were left were a lot of easy targets.

"Fall back to the Fort! Bring the dead and wounded!" he shouted before realizing that the only other person he saw walking was Roxas, and he had a nasty limp. 'I'm not doing too good my self' he thought, feeling his ribs and arms protesting the continued movement. But he could hear the wounded singing out to tell the walking that, yes, they were alive.

"Come on Rox, time to do BFC"

"What dose that stand for again?" now that Roxas was closer, he could see the matted blood in his halfway to white hair. 'He's got a Skrrk-ing concussion.'

"Battle Field Cleanup, Rox. It means we go around as fast as we can and get all our troops in the fort, live ones first."

"Oh, right…. I remembered that, really I did."

"Sure Rox, Sure."

"Sora… where… What?"

"Lay down High Warlord, your concussion got to you as you were helping Grand Marshal Sora cart in the wounded. You have been unconscious for 6 hours. There is no more work for you."

"Ok, Mar', you should lay down yourself. you don't look so good." Roxas said to his most loyal general and most powerful priest. Mar' Kath was also his closest friend apart from Sora.

"I am fine my Warlord… truly I am… I… just…" with those words, Mar' Kath collapsed next to Roxas' cot and as Roxas started from the cot to the floor, died from wounds he had not even realized were killing him.

Sora watched as Roxas broke as the second friend he had been unable to do anything to save died in front of his unbelieving eyes. He was glad that the infirmary was empty, then ashamed because he would be hauling the 37th body to the morgue out of the 39 that had gone to the fight. He and roxas truly were the last now. And the last candle of hope was that the Burning Legions would mutually destroy the Heartless Armies. It was not a bright flame.

As roxas lay weeping, alone in his infirmary cot, his mind spun back to happier days, days when hope still shone in the eyes of his people. He had not always considered them his, but after fighting for their survival for 20 years, they had become so. '20 years… has it really been so long since me and Sora split? Has it really been 25 years since I was created? Time has flown onwards uncaring of mortal sorrows….' something was nudging him about the last statement, as though it was not true, but 'time… time… we needed more time to avert this crises' the something in the back of his head was being very insistent about something. He turned his attention elsewhere 'what was that legend about, the one Mar' told me…. It was so long ago… he had a book on it…it had something to do with the dragons of Azoroth...' The something was screaming. "The legend had something to do with aspects… Oh! I remember the Dragon Flights of Azoroth were all associated with and had control over different aspects. Black was earth, red life, blue magic, green dreams, and what was bronze again? Oh yah, time…" he rolled over to get more sleep and wondered why his subconscious was yelling at him. " We can't do anything, the time when change could have been made has already passed, we would have to go back in time to do anything."

'… … Wait a minute'

He ran the last thought process through his head again. Ran them again, because the concussion must be addling his brain to come up with such an impossible conclusion. Jumped out of bed and collapsed on his bad leg. Grabbed a crude crutch and hobbled out of the infirmary.

"SORA! GET YOUR SULKING BUM OVER HERE!! I'VE GOT AN INSANE PLAN THAT JUST MIGHT WORK!!!!!" for the first time in 5 years hope shone in Roxas' eyes.

"Roxas that is completely insane. There is no way a dragon could send us back in time! It just isn't possible!"

"So is losing your heart and still remembering who you were and being able to split from your somebody after rejoining him. We don't care about possible or impossible, Sora. We just do."

"Ok, ok I get your point, but where should we go to find this dragon?"

"That's simple. We go to the caverns of time, in Azoroth, on the continent of Kalimdor, to the southern desert. There we shall find the caverns of time."

"Roxas?"

"Yes Sora?"

"You do remember that Azoroth was taken over by the Legion 12 years ago, right?"

"Kek! Minor details… we just have to be stealthy"

"…" Was Sora's eloquent reply.

'We just have to be stealthy he says, I've got a plan he says. Well I say he has gone cliff diving without a parachute. But then again, as Ben said, "Who is more idiotic? The idiot, or the idiot who follows him?" or something like that… Kreak'wark! That was close! What was I Skrrrk-ing thinking when I agreed to this?' Sora was sneaking past a pitched battle between the Burning legion and the Heartless they had lured there by standing around holding the keyblades for 40 minutes. It had been the first time in 8 years either of them had held the keyblades. He had been using a blade called Despair, while Roxas had been wielding two blades called The Sun Eater and Blazefury. It had been odd seeing Oblivion and Oathkeeper after so many years, but not as odd as seeing his current keyblade, called Epitaph. It was a fitting name.

Sora was shaken from his reverie when Roxas poked him and pointed to a cave just beyond some ruble.

"There it is," he hissed in the lowest and softest voices he could manage "the cavern of time is just though there."

Sora just nodded as they slowly made their way to the cave. 'At least its defensible.' Was his sulking thought.

"Woah…"

"Yah, Woah…"

They were in the caverns of time and it was an amazing sight. It seemed like the whole of eternity shown above them. They stood there, awed, until…"Roxas, What's that noise?"

"Sounds like wings" before he finished the sentence, they were in the most defendable position they could find and scanning the vaulted ceilings for any flying adversaries.

"Look." Roxas' soft voice carried awe and wonder at what he was seeing. "It's a bronze dragon!"

"Keep your head down, we don't know if its heartless or not!" Sora hissed as he pulled roxas down behind the house they had found in the caverns. He did not have roxas' spark of insane hope, and thus was thinking clearly. Read: he still had enough paranoia that if he was still somewhere that wasn't war torn, he would be known as the creepy and paranoid old war veteran that went funny in the head while he was fighting, even if he was only 38… he thought. Maybe 40... ish. Somewhere around there. Anyway…

"Sora do you think I can't tell if a being is heartless or not? I'm a nobody remember? He is still whole."

"I am glade you can tell," said a whispering voice from the roof that had them halfway to the other side of the cavern before they even thought to look at what had spooked them. "But I must ask who you are and your purpose for being in these caverns when the world of Azoroth has fallen to the Burning Legion. You are most defiantly something a great deal like human." By now they were all the way across the cavern and had a building between them and the dragon, had their bows out and strung and were just catching up with what their bodies had done while they had been in automatic flight and fight mode. Then, they registered the dragon's words. "What do you mean 'something a great deal like human'?"

"Roxas is perfectly human and so am I!"

The silence that followed opinionated two things. The dragons silence opinionated that 'Of course your are right, I shall just discard countless millennia of wisdom and knowledge and go with that shall I?' The silence from Roxas' direction opinionated that Sora had lost his mind somewhere along the way, would he like some time to go find it?

"Err… Yah... /coughcough\ ignore me." Sora said in a very small voice. The silence opinionated 'I thought so.'

"My name is Roxas, my companions Sora. We have come here to beg that the Bronze flight aid us in setting things to right, by diverting the burning legion from its course in the distant past, and thus altering the timeline to a better point." He elbowed Sora in the ribs Hard when he opened his mouth at the word 'beg.' Sora had an ego left, small and tiny thing that it was. Roxas had no such limiter.

"That is an interesting way to phrase a request so large. Normally such requests would be denied before they were even said, but there is another reason the Burning Crusade marched so flawlessly. They have been receiving help from the Infinity Flight. The Bronze flight has worked tirelessly against the infinity flight, just as they have toiled ceaselessly to undermine the flows of time. The only way we can see to repair the timeline is to send champions back in time to halt the burning Crusade and the infinity flight. I shall endeavor to aid you in your quest. My name is Zaladormu. Please come this way, I have prepared means for this to be accomplished."

Roxas and Sora followed the slowly walking dragon deeper into the caverns.

"Here it is" Zaladormu said while indicating a huge hourglass like structure "This shall merge you with your younger selves and the bracelets shall allow access to your armor, potions, weapons and equipment"

"Err," Sora spoke out for the first time since he blundered "what bracelets?"

Zaladormu looked unaccountably smug. "Why, the ones around your wrists."

"What bracelets around our… HUH?! How did that get there?" roxas asked the wind.

"Magic..." was Zaladormu's mysterious response.

"… You've been waiting to say that, haven't you?" was Sora's rhetorical question as he and Roxas stepped into the structure.

"Farewell travelers and good luck." With these parting words Zaladormu activated the hourglass and forever altered the face of history.

"…. Grandpa Nozdormu is going to kill me for this." Three guesses who said this and the first two don't count.

AN: Ok here is the end of the extremely long prologue. The next part is going to be KH1 and as I get further into the game you will see a defiant drift from what is the cannon timeline. Hope you enjoy this.