It was a warm night at Mickey's Castle. Everyone was sound asleep in their beds. The moon was full and high in the sky to signal the fine midnight. The stars stood still or shot through the black sky. The castle's path lights were lit for the latecomers and goers. The path the light shined on was all cobble stone.
Inside the castle, candles lit the hallways. The stain glass windows glimmered with the moon's glow. Those stain glass windows pictured each fairy tale's happy ending. King Mickey Mouse called them happily ever afters. Each picture displayed a happy princess or girl and prince or boy showing how their love bonded them together and how they became happy. The couples in the windows are still happy to this day.
The only window that was colorless was in young Keyblade Bearer Sora's bedroom. All the other rooms were pictured. His was not. At night, Sora would stare at his window, thinking, What happily ever after will I have?
When he slept, he dreamt about his body being in a mysterious garden. He did not recognize this garden from his wanderings. He only saw a fountain in the center and rows of flowers, consisting of roses, at his feet.
"Hello?" he called unsurely, "Is anyone out here?"
No response returned.
Sora traveled his way through the garden. The pathway led to the west side of the garden to a gray tower, which did not ring a bell to Sora. "Where am I?" he asked himself. "It looks like Mickey's Castle, but it doesn't have that magic feeling it normally has. Out of all the dreams I have in one night, why am I dreaming this?" Sora slowly turned a corner. He stopped as he saw a lean girl with long, jet-black hair in front of him. "Hey there," he called, "Do you know what this place is?"
She turned to face Sora. Her face was blushed with pink cheeks. Her eyes were gold and gleaming. Her nose was small but perfectly sized for her face. She had lips red as the roses in the flowerbeds. Sora got a glimpse of her outfit. It was a long silver gown with red thread to add detail. The only footwear that Sora could spot was a red slipper from one of her feet showing.
Sora felt flustered being around her, but he managed to speak. "Who are you?" he asked.
The only thing she said was, "The only thing that hurts is loving you without telling you. For long, it hurts deeply."
"What? What do you mean? I don't even know you." Sora was about to touch her until an ear-shattering crash of glass ended his dream.
Sora woke up, startled. "What was that?" He grabbed his Keyblade from the wall just next to his bed and broke his bedroom door open outwards. He saw nothing at first. When he looked to the right, he saw broken glass on the floor. He noticed that a window had been broken. Sora picked up two pieces of the window. One was of Snow White and the other was of her prince, Prince Florian.
"Mickey, we have searched all over the castle," Donald explained as soon as Sora informed the others of what had happened with the glass window, "but no intruder is here. Every guard has checked every last corner."
"Yeah," said Goofy, "No one broke in the castle. We checked twice."
"Three times, you loon," Donald hissed.
"That is completely the opposite of what Sora told me," Mickey replied.
"We found no evidence of a break in either," Donald retorted.
"That is odd. Master Yen Sid would have to figure this out. He'll know what's happening here."
"This can't be right," Sora fought, "The window was broken from the outside. The glass was inside the castle as soon as I came out here."
"Something is fishy about that," Goofy agreed with Sora.
The office doors opened, and Master Yen Sid entered. Recently named Keyblade Master and Sora's closest friend, Riku, followed him inside. "We got your word and rushed over as quickly as possible," Riku said, "Whoever broke in will get a beat down of a lifetime as soon as he is faced with me."
"Patience, Riku, patience," said Master Yen Sid, "There is an explanation to all of this. It's more than just a broken window."
"Then, what's happening, Master?" asked Sora.
"The happily ever afters. They are being destroyed."
The rest of the party jumped in fright. "Destroyed?" they exclaimed in horror.
"But that's impossible!" Mickey said, "Happily ever afters are tightened to the point where they can't."
"Yes, destroyed and possible, Mickey. The darkness is pulling the halves of the couples' hearts apart. Those hearts are called Bonds. For that, they couldn't remember why fate brought them together from the start. If love falls, the Bonds will never be brought together again. Then, the worlds will fall apart as well since there is no one to rule a kingdom with love and passion."
"That is not good at all," Mickey replied, "If the worlds fall apart, Kingdom Hearts will fall into ruin."
"Right."
Sora added, "So you're telling us that in order to repair the happy endings..."
"Happily ever afters," Riku corrected.
The teen Bearer rolled his eyes. "Same thing. What difference is there anyhow? Anyway, we need to make those couples fall in love again, I guess?"
"You are correct, Sora," replied Yen Sid.
"Well, why are we standing around for?" Donald snapped, "Goofy, we need to start the Gummi Ship."
"Aye aye, Captain," he said.
"Hold it!" Yen Sid ordered.
Donald froze. "What do you mean hold it? We got worlds to save, and no time to waste on it."
"Correct, but you can't do it alone."
"What do you mean by that?" Sora questioned, "We are the only ones here that know what is happening and what fate that will come of it."
"What Yen Sid means, Sora," explained Mickey, "is that you will be joined by one more Keyblader."
Sora's blue eyes widened. "There's one more?"
"Yes. My brother, Oswald, is training her on the islands of Caliva."
"Caliva?" Riku said, "I know that place. It's next to Destiny Islands from what I remember."
"Correct. Oswald is the king of those islands. She, your new partner, is his heir to the throne. She's really free-spirited, like you, Sora. She's just the girl we need. One more thing. Her name is Mikida."