(AN: This story is a mash up of concepts used in Kingdom Hearts and Sword Art Online featuring mostly Original Characters, though some characters from SAO and Kingdom Hearts will appear. Magic will be used in the game and there are changes to how the game works to accommodate the integration of Kingdom Hearts. Now, let's dive deep into Kingdom Hearts Online.)

Collin's eyes darted to the clock on the wall; the digital display read 9:43, two minutes left in class. He then turned his eyes back to his professor who was rambling on about the biological functions of prokaryotic cells. A quick glance around the 200-person classroom showed that his peers were just as bored as he was. Most of them were discreetly checking their phones or absently doodling on their notepads. They most likely wanted nothing more than this class to end so they could go to their next class, or eat with their friends. Collin was anxious for a different reason altogether. Today was the day that Kingdom Hearts Online, a highly anticipated Virtual Reality MMORPG, was being released, and he was able to play it an hour earlier than anyone else. You see, Collin had participated in the beta for the game, and was the top player in the world. Among many in game perks that this brought him, it also allowed him to play the game an hour early. Unfortunately, the game was being released at midnight in Japan; meaning Collin had to log on at 10 am.

The sound of his classmates putting their things away brought Collin back to attention as he stood up from his seat and slung his backpack over his shoulder. He then joined the rush of his classmates rushing out the door of the classroom and into the crisp Midwest autumn air. Collin zipped up his brown leather jacket and descended the steps of Cunningham Hall, the biological sciences building of Kent State University. He pulled his smart phone out of his pocket and opened the text message application and tapped on the name DJ, one of Collin's friends from high school who also had a love for the Kingdom Hearts series. In all honesty, he was one of Collin's only friends. It was Collin's third year at Kent State and he hadn't met anyone other than his roommate who he got along with. It didn't help that all his other friends were at different colleges that were over 2 hours away.

You excited for KH:O today? Collin typed.

Of course! DJ replied.

Awesome, meet me outside the train station in Twilight Town when you get in.

I'll take you to an area where it's really easy to level grind.

Will do, what's your player name again? I'm going to use Weiss as mine

Mine's Nox.

I still can't believe you get to play an hour early…

Well that's what happens when you're the best, you get to reap the benefits ;).

I'll ttyl, 'bout to drive home. Collin typed before slipping his phone in his pocket.

He walked into the parking lot, towards his car. He then unlocked the door of his gold Saturn SL1 and tossed his backpack into the passengers seat as he relaxed onto the distressed leather. He then put on his seatbelt turned the ignition and drove out of the school parking lot.

It took him about 10 minutes to drive to the apartment complex where he lived. He grabbed his backpack from the passenger seat and exited his car, locking it as he walked to the main door of the building. He then walked down the long hallway in front of him to the second apartment on the right, Apartment 2. Collin unlocked the door and closed it behind him as he kicked off his shoes. The apartment was nothing special; it was divided into 2 floors. The first floor was a lounge area with a couch, glass table and a flat screen TV, along with a small kitchen and dining area. Collin tossed his keys on the table and his backpack on the couch and walked upstairs and into the bedroom on the right. As he walked in he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. Short wiry black hair seemed to compliment his lightly tanned skin; his eyes were a curious shade of gold and brown with a ring of olive green surrounding the perimeter. He had an average stature and build for a 20 year old. He wore a brown leather jacket and black t-shirt along with jeans and sneakers. He continued to his desk that sat next to a window, tossing his jacket over the back of the chair that sat in front of it. He opened up his laptop that sat on the desk and connected a Nerve Gear helmet to the laptop. He then lay down on his bed and put the helmet on. Almost immediately a digital display showed up before his eyes. Collin checked the time in the upper right corner of the display. 9:59am.

"Link Start" he said forcefully.

Almost immediately, his vision was flooded with a cascade of colors. 5 blue circles appeared and flashed green, showing that his 5 senses were working. Collin then entered his login information and selected his preferred language as English. A message then appeared reading, "Would you like to load your beta character 'NOX' ?" Collin selected yes and then another message appeared reading "Welcome to Kingdom Hearts: Online"

Collin then was enveloped in a blinding white light. It then faded revealing he was in an all white room with a large door in front of him. He swiped his hand vertically and brought up the menu and checked his character's info. "Better make sure I have a weapon, everything about this place is screaming 'It's a Trap!'"

Name:Nox

Weapon: Sword

Level:30

Accessories:

Fencers Earring [E]

Weapons:

Dream Sword

There was also a picture of his character, a man with long straight black hair, a grey shirt with a large silver X in the center and baggy black pants, with the series standard of unnecessary belts and zippers. He equipped his Dream Sword, one of the strongest swords in the game, and his reward for being the best beta player, and immediately it appeared in his hands. Its silver short blade reflected the light of the room. It had an elegant gold pommel and a curved gold hilt containing a red gem with 3 connected black circles, and its handle was wrapped with dark blue material. He smirked as he gripped the handle, its weight comfortable in his hands. He was no longer Collin, a regular College student; he was now Nox the sword-wielding champion of Kingdom Hearts Online.

Man, this is pretty different than the beta. He reflected as he placed his hand against the door and it swung open without a sound. He stepped into the room noticing a figure in a red hooded coat sitting on a pure white throne. Nox walked carefully towards the man, stopping when he stood in front of his throne.

"Hello Nox, I am Kayaba Akihito the main developer of Kingdom Hearts: Online, and I am truly honored to meet you." His voice boomed, his voice sounded very distorted and robotic. "I am sorry for the technical glitch with my voice, the translating software is still being perfected. Launch day issues, I'm sure you understand." He chuckled.

"Of course sir." Nox replied. In the beta, there were players from all over the world; many of them had difficulty talking to each other because of the language barrier. Since then, Square Enix, the company behind the Kingdom Hearts series, had released a message saying that they were working on translation software so players could better understand each other when the game officially launched.

"Now I'm sure you're wondering why you are here instead of in the starting area of Twilight Town. Don't worry it will all be explained soon." Kayaba continued.

As the words left his lips the door swung open again, revealing a tall thin player with short white hair walking into the room. He was wearing a red sleeveless shirt with a black X in the middle and black pants, his hands were covered with black fingerless gloves, his hands clenched into fists. In between his fingers he held strange curved black knifes that were edged with gold, making them almost look like sinister claws.

"Ah… the second champion arrives, welcome Braxton…" Kayaba sighed. "Now it is time to explain to both of you why you are here. As you both know, Kingdom Hearts at its core is about chosen wielders of the Keyblade and their struggle for or against the Darkness. Therefore, due to your accomplishments during the beta, you both have been selected as the chosen champions of the Light and the Dark." He waved his hand and streams of code surrounded Nox and Braxton's hands.

Nox looked at the weapon now in his hands, it was a sword blade enveloped in blue, white, and gold filigree with a sliver crown to provide the 'teeth' to the Keyblade, two silver crowns were on the guard, and the chain was also 3 silver crowns. He then hovered his hand above the weapon where it displayed the name Ultima Weapon. Nox looked over at the man called Braxton, his keyblade had a cog-like design at its head with a long grey blade with a bronze cod in the center and a red and black cog as the guard. It also had two blue eyes of darkness at the head and hilt. From playing the Kingdom Hearts games throughout his life, Nox knew that this weapon was the Void Gear. Nox then noticed that he also had a new item called the 'recusant sigil'.

"Now let us get on with your roles." Kayaba continued. "Braxton, throughout the beta, you betrayed those you called your allies, destroyed your enemies without remorse, and exemplified the attributes of darkness. Therefore, you are the champion of Darkness, your goal throughout this game is to spread darkness to all of the worlds and destroy the tyranny of Light in a war that will begin in 2 years, resulting in the deaths of many players. You can accomplish this alone, or you can recruit others to help you with this goal. You can even grant other players Keyblades of their own by marking them with the recusant sigils I have given you. Of course, you're going to need something more fitting of a Champion of Darkness than those clothes." He waved his hand again and Braxton was covered in code. When it dissipated, he was wearing a black and red jumpsuit that looked almost organic, his face was covered by a silver and black helmet.

"Wait… what did you mean when you said people would die in the war?" Nox interjected before Kayaba could continue.

"Well, in two years the war between the Light and the Dark will begin. At that point, all death within the game will be permanent. This is the true nature of Kingdom Hearts Online, I want to see which is stronger, the light or the dark. Now, I really should explain the role of the champion of Light." Kayaba began.

"Don't bother, I'm done with this." Nox shouted opening his menu. He moved his hand to where the log-out button should have been only it was blank.

"Oh… I should have mentioned, there is no logging out from Kingdom Hearts Online. Once you log in, you're trapped until the experiment is complete and either the Light or the Dark is victorious. If someone tries to take the Nerve Gear off of you, a radio wave from the Nerve Gear will shoot through your brain, killing you instantly." Kayaba continued with a sinister tone coming through his digitized voice. "And before you try it, if you strike down Braxton now, he will only respawn and will continue with his mission as the champion of Darkness."

Nox threw his Keyblade at Kayaba in rage. The weapon only bounced off an invisible barrier and landed on the floor. The man only laughed.

"That's not going to work either, now pick up your blade and accept the role that destiny has chosen for you."

"No." Nox firmly replied. "I refuse to be a part of your sick game. I'll find a way to stop this war, and I won't do it on the side of the Light or the Dark." He then turned to walk out the door.

"Fine." Kayaba snickered. "Then I guess you'll have to anguish away in nothingness and doom the Light to destruction." He waved his hand and Nox was enveloped in code and blinding light.

When he could finally see, he realized he was in a dark cityscape, rain was lightly falling down and thunder could be heard in the distance. The neon lights of the buildings illuminating the dark streets, along with something else. Nox looked up and saw a yellow heart-shaped moon in the sky.

"Ah… shit." He mumbled before he looked down and noticed he was wearing a black coat known to all Kingdom Hearts fans as the dress of Organization XIII. "Well, that's to be partially expected, he did say I would anguish in nothingness." He mumbled to himself before he noticed that there were multiple pairs of yellow eyes surrounding him. Each of them belonging to a Neoshadow heartless, their human-sized bodies crowding against each other making it almost indiscernible how many there were. "Double shit." He exclaimed, reaching his hand out, hoping that a weapon would materialize.

To his surprise, a white light appeared in his hands and a keyblade materialized, however it wasn't the Ultima Weapon. It instead was a Keyblade with black and white 'teeth', its shaft was silver and the guard was black, the hilt was imbedded with the Nobody emblem. Nox recognized this blade immediately as Two Become One. A smirk ran across Nox's lips as he gripped the Keyblade with two hands and positioned it in front of him.

"Alright you Heartless bastards, come get some!" He exclaimed.

Almost as if they were waiting for the invitation, a group of 10 Neoshadows leapt at Nox, their long claws extended. He was expecting this though, as shouted, "Fire!" As the words left his lips, 3 rings of flames spun around his body and set the Neoshadows that were caught in the spell ablaze, killing them almost instantly. He then slashed his keyblade at a Neoshadow in front of him, causing it to dissipate. 3 more Neoshadow's lept at Nox, but he deflected their blows with his keyblade and then lifted it to the sky. "Thunder!" He commanded. Multiple bolts of lightning fell from the sky, decimating multiple Heartless that were crowded around Nox. Nox then slashed at another Neoshadow, but he failed to see one that was lunging for him as its claws raked across his side. He cried out in pain and turned, slashing at the Heartless and destroying it. He then slashed at another heartless, bringing his blade from his left shoulder to his right hip. Then he spun the blade around and slashed upwards, launching the next heartless into the sky where he followed. Suspended in midair, Nox brought down a devastating air combo on the Neoshadow, slashing his Keyblade in a downward slash from his right shoulder, then cutting across the Heartless's midsection, and finally bringing down a two-handed cut from above his head. The heartless dissipated as Nox fell to the ground. He landed on his feet and raised his Keyblade again. "Gather!" A massive magnetic force appeared above Nox's head. All the remaining Neoshadows were then drawn into the force, taking damage as they swirled around. The force dissipated and the Neoshadows fell to the ground, where Nox was waiting. "Fire!" Nox was yet again surrounded by a flaming vortex, as the Neoshadows fell into the inferno, dissipating into black puffs as they touched the vortex. Nox looked around, noticing there were no enemies left as his Keyblade disappeared in a flash of light. He then became aware that he was breathing very hard. He sat down on the wet pavement trying to catch his breath when he noticed that he had a new message. Nox swiped open his menu and opened the message. His blood turned to ice when he read the subject line: From Kayaba.

Dear Nox,

While I am impressed with your resilience to your role in this game, you should know, you are the only one who is the true Champion of Light. This means that you are the only one who can grant Keyblades to the warriors who support the side of Light and the only one who can wield the Ultima Weapon. Therefore the responsibility also falls on you to seal the Keyholes of the Worlds until another Keyblade wielder for the Light arises. You see, all of the different worlds in this game are overrun with Heartless, and will be until their Keyhole is sealed. Then players will be allowed to advance to the next world. Even if you decide to fight with the side of the Light but still will not take your place as champion, they will reject you. However, I am not an unfair man and I foresaw that you may have ended up rejecting your destiny. So, I took the liberty of creating a Nobody faction. If you chose to continue rejecting destiny, then let me welcome you to your new home, The World that Never Was. This place was intended to be a secret world, so it is different from any of the other worlds you will encounter. I don't want to spoil anything, but trust me; there are surprises at every turn in this World. There are also other changes to the game now that the Nobodies have appeared, but I'm sure you'll figure those out. Have fun trying to rebel against the inevitable without any help! – Kayaba Akihito

Nox closed the message and sighed, "Well, he is right about one thing… I'm all alone, and I have no one to help me." He then noticed an alert reading Nobody Skill Tree Unlocked. He opened the alert and a branching skill tree appeared before him. He noticed that the first skill had been unlocked already; he tapped on it to read the description. Corridors of Darkness: As a member of the Nobody Faction, you can now travel between worlds using the Corridors of Darkness. The description then went into detail on how to open the Corridor.

Nox stood up and placed his hand out. An oval shaped swirling mass of darkness appeared from the ground as he did so. Nox then stepped into the Corridor and was ready to face whatever awaited him on the other side.