Disclaimer: I don't own anything Kingdom Hearts related.

Authors Note: Okay! This is my first attempt at writing a Kingdom Hearts fic, and I hope I'm coming off as Sora okay. I also would like to thank my beta reader, Mystics Apprentice, for doing such a great job with this chapter :)

Anyway, please read and review, I would love to know what you think!

Chapter One: Strange Faces

I opened my eyes to find sharp rays of sunlight spreading across my face and throughout my room. I yawned and rolled over, finally noticing the noise that had woken me up from one of the best dreams I had ever had. I stretched, trying to remember exactly what that dream had been; it had been really cool, though I could only remember bits and pieces of it. I think it had had something to do with my two best friends (Riku, who was one year my senior, and Kairi, who was almost exactly the same age as me).

Hmm, we were going to visit someone…but as for who we were going to visit, I couldn't remember. I gave up trying to decipher the rest of my dream, and instead sat up and reached over towards my nightstand to grab my alarm clock (the source of noise that had woke me up from my very nice dream). I flipped the switch on the top to the 'off' position, and slowly got out of bed.

I went over to my window to look out it, and I let out a sharp gasp in surprise. True the sun was shining, but that was about the only thing that looked right about that morning. The sand was an odd mix between the colors of purple and tan, and there really wasn't a whole lot of my island left - most of it had crumbled away into nothingness.

I ran out of my room and bolted down the hall to my parents' bedroom. I began to frantically pound on their door.

"MOM!" I yelled, but I didn't wait for a response as I opened the door and ran in anyway. Nobody was there, so I proceeded on to the bathroom, which door was already open. Much to my dismay, I found no one in there either.

I left their room, and went to the front door in a rather panicked state. As I slowly walked down the walkway which led away from my house and out towards the street, my mind was racing to think of what I could do. No one was where they should've been, and everything was falling apart. What was going on?

I heard an odd sound from behind me, which made me whirl around to find its source. My eyes widened upon what I found there: it was an odd figure clad almost entirely in black, wearing a long coat; just like the ones belonging to Organization XIII!

I automatically pulled out my Keyblade.

"Who are you?" I demanded, while pointing my Keyblade at his chest, "and what do you want?"

The man made a motion to step forward, but seemed to think better of it.

"There isn't time for a long explanation, I'm afraid," the dark figure responded. "And as for who I am…I'm not someone that you have met before, but-" He was cut off by the ground giving a violent shake, which almost threw me off my feet.

The stranger swiftly glanced around, and then before I could make any move to stop him, he had grabbed me by my shoulder and shoved me back into a portal unlike any I had ever seen before. It seemed to be made up of neither light nor darkness.

"HEY!" I yelled, as I quickly scrambled to get up and out of the portal. "Wha-"

I stopped mid-sentence as my vision began to grow fuzzy. I felt as though I were spinning through an odd light show, until suddenly everything started to fade.

"I am sorry, Sora, but you cannot stay here. Your world is fading, as well as every other world out there. You must save us!"

Those were the last words I heard before everything blacked out entirely.

...

"Sora!"

"Is he okay?"

"Come on, Sora."

I opened my eyes a crack; everything was a bit foggy, and it took me a moment to bring the faces that were staring down at me into focus. I grinned once I had made one of them out - it was Kairi.

I forced myself up and into a sitting position. "Kairi! I had the strangest dream! There was this man, he told me that-"

I stopped mid-sentence and looked around. There were several other people watching me, one was my best friend, Riku. But there were others as well, some that looked oddly familiar, and others that didn't.

"I'm really glad that you're okay, we were really worried," Kairi said, smiling at me with a look of relief.

"What was this about your dream?" Riku asked me, looking thoughtful. "Was he dressed in black? Because I saw a strange man too, only…it wasn't a dream."

"You saw him too then?" I asked, my face falling in disappointment. Darn, I had hoped that it was just a dream.

"He said that all the worlds were fading. I mean, do you think he was telling the truth?" I further asked.

Riku looked thoughtful.

"Yeah, I think he was telling the truth, Sora. When I'd looked out my window last night, I didn't see as many worlds as usual. I was going to tell you when I saw you today, but I never got the chance. I knew that I should've told you yesterday though, but I didn't. Now our island's gone-" Riku paused and looked at the ground, "-again… I wonder who's destroying the worlds now."

Riku glanced around, his turquoise eyes falling upon each person in turn. "We've asked around, and none of them know, either."

I glanced around to see where we were at. It looked a lot like Traverse Town, though not exactly. We were surrounded by tall buildings on either side of us, but they weren't kept up as nicely as the ones in Traverse Town; these almost looked as if they could crumble on us at any second.

Once I had finished taking in our surroundings, I started examining our other companions, one of which had gotten up and walked over to me. He was probably about my age, perhaps a year older, with a thick layer of bangs concealing one side of his face. Riku glared at him as he walked up.

"What do you want?" Riku demanded, his glare unmoved as the guy stopped in front of us.

He glanced irritably at Riku and then ignoring his question, held out a hand for me to shake.

"Hello," he greeted pleasantly, his steel-colored bangs falling gently from his face as he bent down so that he could shake my hand from where I remained sitting on the ground. "It is very nice to meet you, my name is-"

He paused, smiling and looking thoughtful. "You can call me Ienzo," he finished, as I reached up a hand to shake his.

"Ienzo, huh?" spoke up Riku, his turquoise eyes still glaring daggers at Ienzo. "Decide to change your name, did you?"

Ienzo turned to face him, looking somewhat annoyed as he released my hand.

"I have not changed it," Ienzo retorted. "My other name just does not currently suit me."

"Ah, I see," Riku replied, "and may I ask why it doesn't suit you right now?"

"Because I am no longer a Nobody," Ienzo explained flatly. " 'Zexion' is only my Nobody name, so-"

He drew in a breath and continued, "Since I have my heart back now, I see no reason why I should go by my other name."

Ienzo then turned back to face me. I opened my mouth to speak but was cut off by someone else.

" A Nobody? What do you mean by that exactly?" spoke up someone who was probably around the age of twenty. He had long, platinum-blonde hair of which fell just past his shoulders and bright-green eyes, reminding me of the color of emeralds.

"Who are you?" I asked him. He looked familiar, though I couldn't figure out from where.

He didn't even glance in my direction, but instead stood awaiting a response from Ienzo.

The steel-haired teen finally turned to face him and answered calmly, "A Nobody is a being that has lost their heart. It does not happen very often, for in order to become a Nobody the human must have a very strong heart, and even then … it is much more ordinary for someone to turn into a Heartless." Ienzo paused, looking at the young man who had asked the question.

"The majority will just fade with their world."

"Really?" the man clarified.

Ienzo nodded, now looking faintly amused.

"How interesting… how very interesting. And other worlds have faded into nonexistence, you say?" the man went on, looking very intrigued.

Ienzo chuckled, watching the expression on the man's face.

"I had thought that you would have known this already, Even," Ienzo said smirking. " What with all of your studies that you've completed."

Even scowled and crossed his arms. Ienzo seemed to think this was rather funny and laughed, leaving Even looking even more offended.

"Yes, Even; some worlds have faded before, or I should say… mostly in your future," Ienzo told him.

I tilted my head and looked at them. What could they mean by 'his future'?

" Umm, what exactly do you mean by 'his future?'" I asked Ienzo the question that I'd been pondering. Before he could answer, however, someone else piped up.

"Well, while you were over there getting your beauty rest," he chuckled, "the rest of us figured out what's going on here."

I scowled, and he laughed even harder, looking as though he were thoroughly enjoying himself.

Kairi gave him a dark look, and then turned to me.

"Don't mind him; he just seems to enjoy being rude," Kairi informed me, smiling.

He was still grinning at me from where he sat on a crate.

"Who is he?" I asked her. "All of these people look so familiar… almost as if - I've met them."

"Well, his name is Braig, but apart from that and him being rude, I really don't know that much about him," Kairi told me. "And you have met many of these people before, they're who made up most of Organization XIII. Except these are there past selves, and they all have their hearts right now."

Ienzo turned back to us again,

"Correct, most of us are members of Organization XIII. Although, most people here have no concept that they ever joined such an organization," Ienzo explained, sweeping his long bangs out of his face with a gloved hand.

So that's why I recognized most everyone here; except their explanations still didn't make a whole lot of sense to me.

"So you're Zexion, huh?" I asked the steel-haired guy, who nodded in response. I had heard plenty about him; apparently he had been pretty mean to Riku in Castle Oblivion, considering Riku hated him.

Now that I knew most of these people were members of Organization XIII, I could better discern who they all were. Even, who was still glowering at everybody, must be a much younger version of Vexen, especially since they both wore the same expression. Wait, had I ever even met a Vexen before? Oh, well.

As for the one sitting on the crate grinning at me… I would guess he was either Xaldin or Xigbar, but gauging from his big grin and overall attitude, I would guess the latter. A short ways away from me I saw someone with bright-red hair speaking to someone with blue hair, whose shade was nearly equally as bright. I was pretty sure that I knew who they were.

There was another person standing over by Vexen (aka Even) who was glaring at everyone with an expression similar to that of Even's.

"Aha!" I thought. "That must be Xaldin." There were some people that I couldn't quite place, such as a person with pink hair that distinctly reminded me of flower petals. Another was a girl with silvery-blue hair, who caught my eye and smiled. I grinned back.

Just then a horrible thought struck me. I quickly turned and caught Riku's eye.

"Riku, we can't stay here. I mean we're surrounded by members of Organization XIII!" I half-whispered urgently. "We should take Kairi and go!"

Across the way, the guy with the pink hair laughed sarcastically.

"Don't worry, we won't harm you," he said dryly. "I don't even know who you are."

He did look like he was telling the truth, but still...there was something that I didn't like about him.

"Oh really?" I asked frowning. "And what's your name?"

"Marluxia," he answered, tossing his hair away from his face. "You're Sora, correct?"

"Yep, that's right," I told him.

The name Marluxia sounded familiar as well... Ugh; everything was starting to hurt my head.

"Unlike Ienzo there, I see no reason to switch back to my previous name," Marluxia informed me.

"Well!" spoke up Even from where he stood with his back against the wall, " I think we have all discussed things long enough." He clapped his hands together.

"Someone needs to go and investigate where we are." Even looked around at the gathering, his green eyes resting on each of us in turn.

Ienzo opened his mouth to speak, but I cut him off.

"I'll go!" I said, jumping up quickly, perhaps a little to quickly since the floor almost came up to meet me. I fought to stay on my feet as everything swam in front of my eyes.

"Heh, you're going to go around and investigate while you're still in your pj's?" laughed Braig.

I looked down at my clothes, he was right; I was still dressed in my pajamas, my favorite ones with Mickey, Donald and Goofy all over them. I guess I would look a little funny walking down the street dressed like this, but not that strange. In fact, I thought I would look a great deal less strange then most everyone there.

I crossed my arms and frowned at Braig.

"I'll do it!"

I looked around to see who had spoken; it was the redhead I had noticed earlier. He had gotten up from his corner.

"Axel?" I asked aloud. He turned to face me and grinned.

"Nope, I'm Lea." The redhead paused and tapped a finger to the side of his head. "Got it memorized?"

I laughed; that was definitely Axel, only a bit younger. Lea turned to face Even.

"We'll go and investigate," Lea informed Even, jerking his hand back toward the blue-haired guy he had been speaking to before. He then turned to face him. "Coming Isa?"

"I'm right behind you," the blue-haired guy replied, casually walking up to him.

Without awaiting a response from Even, they both turned the corner and were out of sight.

I glanced back over towards my friends. Kairi met my eye and smiled, which I returned with a faint one and sat down beside her.

"Ugh, I'm beginning to wonder if this is all just a very strange dream," I told her. She smiled sympathetically at me.

"You know what, Sora?" Riku asked. I looked over at him; he was sitting on Kairi's other side.

"No, what?" I asked tilting my head to the side.

"I've been wondering the exact same thing."

It was probably about an hour an a half later when I started hearing a sound similar to that of a guitar coming from around a crate nearby. I got on my hands and knees and peered around the side to see who was playing the instrument. It was another person whom I recognized right away; Demyx, number IX of Organization XIII, was leaning against a wall and playing his Sitar. He looked to be about the age I had last seen him.

I turned to see Ienzo walking back over to us again, (he had just gone to see if Lea and Isa were on there way back yet).

"I didn't see them anywhere," Ienzo informed us. "But this world looks pretty big, it could take them a while to get back."

Riku sighed and made his Keyblade, the Way to the Dawn, appear. He then started swinging it up, down and around through the empty air, obviously very bored.

Riku wasn't the only one though. I think pretty much everyone here was at least a little bored. Braig had even stopped his rude comments and was now opening the crate he had been sitting on top of. Ienzo seemed to notice him as well.

"I wouldn't go snooping through that if I were you. We do not know what is in it, nor whom it belongs to," Ienzo told him disapprovingly.

Braig scowled, and slid the lid shut again.

"It's just some grains anyway," he told Ienzo grumpily.

I turned toward Ienzo.

"Hey, Ienzo?" I asked him. He turned towards me and smiled,

"Yes?"

"Why is it that some people here are younger then I remember them, and others aren't?" I asked.

That didn't make a whole lot of since to me.

"Well, I'm not entirely certain… All we really know is that everyone was sent here by some hooded figure, and told to help you save all the worlds," Ienzo replied, and then glanced over at Riku.

"Would you happen to know why he dislikes me so much?" Ienzo asked, his blue eyes thoughtful.

"Well, You know Castle Oblivion, right?" I asked. Ienzo nodded.

So, I told him what I knew about the events that went on within Castle Oblivion, or at least what Riku had told me about it. I had gone there too, but I couldn't remember any of it. Apparently that was because of the work of a girl named Namine -Kairi's Nobody.

When I had finished the story, Ienzo nodded, and glanced over at Marluxia.

"That makes since...I suppose. It certainly does sound like something Marluxia would do," Ienzo said thoughtfully. "Thank you for explaining that to me."

I nodded, and glanced over at Marluxia as well. He was sitting down, writing words on the ground with flower petals that he summoned out of thin air. He seemed oblivious to what we were discussing.

Even suddenly unfolded his arms and stepped forward towards Isa, who had just turned the corner.

"Well, that certainly took you long enough. What kept you?" Even demanded, his emerald-green eyes flicking upon some people that had just walked up behind the blue-haired teen.

"You aren't gonna believe what time period we're in!" Lea exclaimed, grinning broadly.