Kingdom Hearts: Chains By Days.
Author's note: Surprise! Welcome to my new KH story! I know that I have other stories going, but I guess I'll have to give up on those ones since they're not getting enough support. It's not easy.
This idea has been annoying me for ages, and so finally, I've decided to do it after finally coming up with a perfect/or at least a decent title of this story.
It's a mixture of the games as well as the manga, but don't worry, it's AU thing.
In the meantime, let's begin. I don't own Kingdom Hearts.
Chapter one: The Unknown Evil.
Around Day 23...
It felt like forever since Sora, Donald and Goofy have defeated the evil Ansem and restored the worlds back to normal. Kairi returned to Destiny Islands which were restored, but Sora didn't return home. His best friend Riku, and Donald and Goofy's friend and king, Mickey Mouse, were both trapped in the Realm of Darkness. They lost the Gummi Ship at the End of the World which was destroyed along with Ansem.
Donald and Goofy both discarded their travelling clothes and now wore their original clothing they used to wear just before Mickey became a Keyblade wielder a long time ago. They and Sora, who had his hands behind his head, walked down a dirt path of a lush green field that seemed to go on forever. At least the sky was blue and it was a nice day.
Except that they didn't have anything to do.
"Well now what do we do?" Donald asked, breaking the silence.
Sora shrugged, "We gotta go find Riku and King Mickey."
"But uh, where do we start lookin' for that there door to the light?" Goofy brought up the question from their minds, causing all of them to pause. Realising that they had no lead, they all hunched forward with a sigh.
Sora stood back up and sighed, "I guess we'll just have to keep looking." continuing as the others stood up as well, "It's not like we have anything else to do, right?"
"Ooh, I wish we had the gummi ship." Donald grumbled, crossing his arms, while Goofy noticed a butterfly and briefly said hello to the little flying insect before it flew away.
"Well, let's get going." Sora declared, leading the way, and Donald and Goofy both followed, hoping to find some clues in finding their friends and then return home. It may take forever if it will, but Sora was not going to give up until he found his lost best friend.
Later that night, the group made camp, and Donald and Goofy were both already asleep, but Sora couldn't sleep at all. He layed on his back, holding Kairi's good luck charm, holding it up to block the vision of the full moon. Kairi must already miss both him and Riku. It was still hard to believe that she was one of the chosens-one of the seven Princesses of Heart.
"Can't sleep, Sora?" a voice spoke next to him as Sora sat up. "Being awake too long and you'll catch a cold."
"You too, Jiminy." Sora smiled as he looked down at the small cricket who held his journal.
Jiminy replied, "I'm alright. I was just sorting through our adventures through my journal." and allowed Sora to take a look.
Looking through a magnifying glass, Sora read through the journal and exclaimed amazed, "Wow! You wrote a lot!" before handing the cricket the journal back.
"Aha, and I have to inform Queen Minnie of our adventures." Jiminy continued, "That's my duty as chonicler."
Sora thought about the things that happened, and wondered how different it would be if Kairi and Riku were with him. He thought that how he optained the Keyblade, how he had seen other worlds, met new people and new friends, fighting against the heartless, ect. "Wonder if I'll return home?" he thought outloud.
"Of course you will!" Jiminy stated, before pointing at the charm that rested in Sora's pocket, asking, "You promised your girlfriend, didn't you?"
Blushing in embarrassment, Sora protested, "She's not my girlfriend!" waving his hands 'no' and almost panicking. Okay, so he really liked Kairi more than a friend, but he couldn't let anyone else know that!
"Don't be bashful." Jiminy laughed, before yawning, and said sleeply, "Well, let's get some shut eye." as he layed down on the ground, taking off his hat and fell asleep.
Sora nodded, and as he layed down on the ground, he looked up at the sky once more, saying in his mind, 'I'll come back with Riku, Kairi...I promise.' before finally falling asleep himself.
Very late at night, the campfire slowly died out, and the heroes continued to sleep, though Sora and Jiminy still remained the same as when they first went to sleep. Donald and Goofy both kept on moving all over the place in their sleep, snoring, and Goofy was sleep talking.
However, a voice suddenly startled Sora awake, "...S-Sora...!" causing him to snap away and sat up, looking around for the source of the voice. When Sora stood up, he blinked in shock and disbelief, as a young girl, about his age, was having difficulty in walking. She had light blonde hair, blue eyes, a white plain dress and sandles, and she looked like Kairi.
She is Namine, and she looked exhausted.
Rushing over, Sora caught the girl before she could fall. "Are you okay?" he asked immediately.
Namine looked up weakly, and what she muttered before she lost consciousness was, "Sora..." before falling limp, but still breathing.
"Wha?" Sora blinked, wondering how this girl knew his name. But then he decided to worry about that later, and gently steered her to camp, laying her down to the ground, before shaking the others awake, "Guys, wake up!"
"W-what?" Donald asked, tiredly, yawning and stretching his arms. Taking note that it's in the middle of the night, Donald grumbled, "Sora, it's the middle of the nigh-Wah!" he cuts himself off at the sight of Namine.
Once Goofy, who was tired himself, also saw the girl, he gasped, now fully awake, "Garwsh! What happened to her?"
"This is terrible!" Jiminy exclaimed as he too was now awake and saw what was going on.
"She needs help, fast!" Sora told them, and he and his companions quickly got to work on healing the injured mysterious girl, all unaware of what was in store for them and others.
Days earlier...the Seventh day...
It's been seven days since Organization XIII had gained their final member. Seven days since Roxas, their final member's name, as been brought to the World that Never Was. He was the Nobody of Sora who did not know of his other half's existance, nor did anyone know how both could co-exist.
One thing's for certain, Axel, the eighth member of the Organization, also known as the Flurry of Dancing Flames, was assigned to watch over the new kid-not that Axel wanted to, but he had no choice. Besides, it seemed that Roxas, who couldn't even do anything other than walk and speak very few words, was completely blank.
Aka-Zombie like, according to Axel.
The red-haired nobody, grumbling at today's sudden meeting, entered the newbie's room, and to his irritation, three Dusks were looming over the sleeping spiky-blonde haired boy.
"Hey! What're ya doin!?" Axel demanded, causing the Dusks to instantly teleport away. He approached Roxas and sighed in exasperation, unplugging the peg that pluged Roxas's nose to allow the boy to breathe again, grumbling to himself, "Stupid Dusks! Guess they had to look at the new guy."
Without concern, Axel said to the kid, "Time to get up, Roxas."
Almost like a robot, Roxas sat up, eyes completely blank and staring into space, and you can practically see jellyfish float around his head. Axel shook his head, "Still no lights in there, huh? We're needed at the meeting today, so let's go."
Once Roxas was up, Axel lead the boy to the Throne Room of Nothing, before inquiring to the boy, "So, got my name memorized yet? It's Axel; A-X-E-L."
"Ax...ess." Roxas repeated incorrectly.
"El!" Axel corrected.
"...el..." Roxas muttered again.
Axel bit back a sigh of frustration. First Xigbar constantly dubs him Flamsilocks due to both his fire abilites and his hair, and now the newbie calling him Axess? What next-Fire-Place-head? Still, both remained silent as they continued on, passing a looming Vexen who was muttering about Roxas, but Axel and Roxas payed no attention, as if Vexen wasn't there at all.
"HOW DARE YOU IGNORE ME!?" Vexen demanded angrily, causing the two younger Nobodies to stop.
"When you pass your superiors, you greet them! Don't you agree!? Don't you!?" Vexen ranted on.
Not really caring, Axel waved, greeting sarcastically, "Oh, hi. Haven't seen you in a while. I thought you got yourself killed." before continuing on with the blank Roxas.
Very annoyed, Vexen bit his finger in irritation and grunted, "Hmph! He thinks he's so hot just because he was chosen to take care of the Keybarer!" before storming to the Throne Room. Xigbar smirked, at first not sure what to say.
"Axel may look like a tough guy, but he's a real big o'l softie." Xigbar muttered, followed by Luxord, Xaldin and Marluxia(who was holding a flower).
"Certainly." Lurxord said.
"He's perfect for the job." Xaldin agreed.
Marluxia smiled, agreeing, "No objections."
"You guys just don't wanna do it yourselves." Axel grumbled, annoyed. Why did he had to be the one to babysit Roxas in the first place? He continued to lead Roxas, meeting up with the rest of the members save for their Superior, Xemnas, telling Demyx to shut up after the ninth member called him 'Mister Babysitter'. Axel was close to a breaking point. He was an assassin, not a child-care worker for crying out loud!
"Now, c'mere, Roxas. Sit down and don't fall!" Axel told the blonde as he helped Roxas to sit in the thirteenth throne. Once he was certain that Roxas would be alright, Axel teleported to his own throne and grunted, exhausted, "Ugh, man." and sat down...only for the most disgusting down to rip through the air.
PFFFFTT!
Nearly jumping out of his skin, and feeling that his seat was unusually rubbery and squishy, Axel pulled out a Wind-Breaker toy from his seat and yelled in irritation, "Who put this here!?"
At that point, Larxene, who was hiding behind Demyx's throne, came out and she bursted out laughing, "Kya hahahaha!"
"Aha! Aha! Ah, ha ha ha ha!" Demyx also bursted out laughing at the scene, unable to resist, despite that none of them in the room had any hearts. Demyx nearly fell off his throne as he and Larxene continued to laugh, and Axel, in frustration, just threw the useless toy to the ground, and tried to calm down. If this day just any worse, he was so going to burn something, or someone, and he would not care if he gets punished for turning things or nobodies into ash.
An hour later, the meeting pressed on. Everyone was all showing different expressions on the meeting...well, almost everyone, because as usual, Demyx instantly fell asleep from the boring meeting. Axel secretly wasn't paying attention, but he was admittedly interested.
"Friends." Xemnas began, "Today is a momentous day. I am pleased to announce that a new comrade has been chosen to wear the coat."
On cue, a small figure, about Roxas's height, walked into the room and stood in the middle. It was a small figure in an Organization coat, the hood up and no one was able to see the face, as Xemnas continued, "Number XIV. Let us all welcome one of the Keyblade's chosen."
At this, Number XIV looked up at Roxas who didn't notice.
Once the meeting was over, most of the members met in the lounge, some of them discussing about Roxas and No.14 who both didn't take notice at all.
"So," Demyx began, "Since there's fourteen of us, we are keeping the name Organization XIII?"
"How should I know?" Xaldin replied.
Roxas glanced around, then gasped as he noticed No.14 staring at him, and, finding this a little scary, Roxas quickly rushed over and hid behind Axel who looked at him quizzly, asking, "What?" wondering why Roxas was hiding behind him like a scared child behind their parent. Did Axel look like a parent?
The next day, Axel was in the lounge with Roxas, and Saix, a blue haired man who was the seventh member of the Organization, yet he was second in command, which was weird, but not important. What Axel was hearing from the man who was the same age as him, he was surprised.
"A mission?" Axel asked, disbelieved.
"I can't have him around staring into space all the time." Saix said as he checked the notes on a clip board, being a strict member of the Organization.
Axel shrugged, saying out of concern, "Well, yeah, but...do you think he'll be okay?" before telling Roxas to quit staring at him.
"You will be going with him." Saix answered, causing Axel to exclaim, "What!?"
"Everyone else has already left. You are the only one left for the job." was Saix's answer...despite that Demyx was still around, the slacker of a member playing annoying music on his styer, which annoyed Axel who grumbled in sarcasm and a sweatdrop, "The only one, huh?"
In the end, Axel gave up and, sighed, "Fine. Come on, Roxas." before noticing that the blonde haired boy was staring at No.14 again as Axel summoned a corridor of darkness. "What's wrong? You worried about the new kid?" he asked.
He then looked at Saix and asked, "What was that name again?"
"...No.14, Xion." Saix answered.
"Right, I knew that." Axel smirked, before practically dragging Roxas with him, while Saix inquired in annoyance, "You didn't listen to a word Lord Xemnas said, did you?" to Axel who obviously didn't answer.
Roxas stared at the fourteenth member who was identified as Xion.
Around Day 20...
Something powerful and evil controlled DiZ. That he knew, but he couldn't do a thing about it, as he has used the power of darkness as a transport and did not had the coats to protect his body for far too long. It was too late, as he was easily taken over, and...something inside him had the power to easily find a comatose Riku floating between Light and Darkness, and, keeping him asleep for a while longer, extended his hand.
A small orb of darkness then floated out of Riku's heart and body, and appeared, and...Ansem was trying to become one, but DiZ, under control of something far more dangerous, easily absorbed Ansem who felt this and screamed out in pain, before he was sucked into the body of DiZ instantly...and inside his heart, there was a sickening crunch before it faded into nothing.
A lone card floated away and into the Realm of Darkness...flying away to it's new owner that was unaware to the possessed DiZ...
Around Day 25...
King Mickey didn't know how long it's been since he and Sora both used their Keyblades to close up the door to darkness. The king knew he needed a way out of the Realm of Darkness, but first he had to find Riku and only then he could return to the Realm of Light.
Mickey didn't want to admit it, but the Realm of Darkness sure was a scary place. He found himself gulping nervously, shaking scaredly and rubbing his arms as if he was cold. But no, he had to be brave. He made it far in coming here and was unexpectedly chosen to wield the Kingdom Key-D Keyblade while he still had his Star-Seeker Keyblade.
How could he be scared now? He was a Keyblade Master! Suddenly, a small light appeared and briefly blinded him, before Mickey looked again as his vision cleared, and a clue, strangely crown-shaped card appeared in front of him, floating.
"Say, what's this?" Mickey asked himself, gently picking up the card and held it. As he examined it, Mickey blinked in confusion and quirked an eye-brow. "What a funny lookin' card."
"Mickey? Is that you?" a female voice called from behind.
Startled, Mickey looked behind him, and he gasped in stunned shock. A familiar young blue haired woman, one he hasn't seen in almost eleven years. But it couldn't be...could it?
"Aqua?" Mickey asked, hesitatedly.
The two of them walked closer, and Mickey rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't hallucenating. But no, this was really Aqua who has been trapped here for a very long time. Aqua was a Keyblade Master herself, but unlike Mickey, she didn't last long before things went horribly wrong.
"I can't believe you're here." Aqua said, bending down to Mickey's level. To her, he hasn't changed much, other than the clothes.
Unable to hold in his emotions, Mickey sniffled, before he hugged Aqua, and he knew for certain, this was real. He recongised her light, her heart, her body, her gentleness. She was one of his close friends. Aqua was startled at the embrace at first, but then embraced the young king back as he began to cry.
"I thought I'd never see you again...!" Mickey sobbed, as he tried to control himself, but his tears were rolling down his cheeks.
"I never thought I'd see you either, Mickey." Aqua replied, close into crying herself. Even though she wasn't around him for long, Mickey was her friend, one who helped her more than once. Once both Keyblade masters calmed down, they released each other and smiled, before they became slightly serious with small frowns.
"How did you get here?" Aqua asked.
Mickey rubbed the back of his head, sheepishly, "Well, uh ,it's kinda a long story."
Aqua sighed, and replied, "That's too bad. I know I've been here a long time, wandering through the endless hours...unable to escape..."
"You haven't changed a bit since I last saw ya, Aqua." Mickey sighed in sadness. "You've been gone for almost eleven years."
The young woman gasped, then sighed in sad realisation. "Ten years...I've been trapped here for ten years...I'm not even sure if Ven is alright."
"Where is he?" Mickey asked, remembering the boy he met years earlier.
"I left him somewhere safe, somewhere he wanted to go." Aqua answered. She then realised something and asked, "I've been away too long. If you're here, then did something happen to the worlds?"
"Some of them fell into the darkness." Mickey sighed again, "But I found out that other than me, there was another Keyblade wielder who had the right power to save the worlds. I had Donald and Goofy join him to keep him safe so they could stop the Heartless."
Hearing the word Keyblade made Aqua ask, "Wait, was that Terra?"
"Nope, sorry."
"Should've known." Aqua muttered, disappointed.
Mickey nodded, "When I noticed that the stars started blinkin' out, I knew that trouble was close by. I set out to figure out how to solve the problem, and then I found myself here, and, well, I found this Realm's Keyblade." he held out his hand and summoned the Kingdom Key-D Keyblade to show Aqua who gasped, before he continued, "But at the same time, I wasn't consumed by the darkness. Then I knew that, along with the Realm of Light's Keyblade, this would close the door to darkness to prevent the worlds from falling into darkness any further." before desummoning it.
"Mickey, who is the other Keyblade wielder?" Aqua asked.
"His name is Sora." Mickey replied.
Hearing that name made Aqua's heart jump, and she had tears fall. She repeated the boy's name, which made Mickey confused. "Aqua...have you met Sora before?"
"When I first met him, he was just a little boy with his best friend." Aqua answered. "He reminded me so much of Ven." before asking, "What about Riku?"
Mickey flinched uncomfortly, before sighed, "Well...I'm tryin' to find him...He...was drawn into the Realm of Darkness, and the Princesses of Hearts were involved too." before he proceeded in telling Aqua everything that's happened, up until now. Aqua was horrified when she heard about Riku and was angered that Maleficent was involved, though she was relieved to hear that Sora, Donald and Goofy defeated her for good.
However, when Mickey started to explain about a young apprentince who split himself into two which Mickey recent discovered, Aqua asked, "Do you who it is?"
"Gosh...I can't remember." Mickey shrugged. "Now I'm lookin' for Riku and hopefully a way out of here." before remembering the card he was still unconsciously holding, and held it up, "I don't even know where this card came from-AH!"
Just then the card began to glow in bright light, and it covered the area and Mickey and Aqua who both shielded their eyes to prevent in getting blind. When the light faded, both Keyblade wielders opened their eyes, and gasped in surprise. They were no longer in the Realm of Darkness, but instead, they found themselves in a large white room, with a door leading to somewhere in front of them.
"Gosh...where are we?" Mickey asked, stunned.
"I don't know..." Aqua replied, "Though, this place seems familiar."
She looked at her friend again and at the card, saying, "I guess that card has something to do with it."
Mickey glanced at his card, amazed. "I think you're right." before glancing at the door in front of them, before shrugging, "Welp, I guess the only thing to do is to go forward and find a way outta here. At least it's kinda better than the Realm of Darkness."
"You're right." Aqua agreed. "That means we must be in the Realm of Light..." she digged into her pockets and pulled out her blue Wayfinder, holding it close to her heart. "This time...I'll find a way to wake Ven."
"And I'll help you." Mickey decided, "But we better find Riku too. I'm really worried about him."
Nodding in agreement, both Aqua and Mickey walked towards the door, hoping to find answers.
Around day 24...
Riku floated all by himself, deep asleep, until he jerked himself awake, but still slightly dazed. "Where am I...?" he asked himself, finding himself...well, pretty much nowhere.
Suddenly, "Stay asleep." a voice caused Riku to snap fully awake and he managed to righten himself up, demanding, "Who's there!?"
"You should remain asleep. Here, between light and dark."
"Between...what?" Riku asked, not understanding. Suddenly, all of his memories return to him, and realised he was alone. "The King! Where's the king? Together we closed the door to darkness. After that-"
"You came drifting here by yourself. You did not have the strength to overcome the darkness. Or...maybe you were close to it." the voice said.
Riku didn't like the voice one bit. "Hmph. As if I'm some kind of demon."
The voice seemed amused, before it said, "Turn from the light. Shut your eyes. Here blanketed by the darkness, sleep is safety. Sleep is eternal. But..."
Suddenly, a small bright light appeared, and it formed a small card which floated around Riku who asked, "What's this?"
"It is a door to the truth. Take it and your sleep ends, as you take the first step toward the truth. But know this: the truth will bring you pain. Will you still go? There is no return to the security of sleep." the voice continued.
Riku thought for a moment, but he was worried about Mickey. While the two haven't known each other for long, Mickey already became Riku's companion and friend, because Mickey was the voice that guided Riku to Sora after Ansem's defeat. Besides, staying here would be a waste of time, right? Making his mind up, Riku picked the card up, and he smirked.
"This seemed like a boring place to take a nap anyway." he replied.
"That was very well said, Riku." the Voice said the final time.
Just then the card glowed brightly again, briefly blinding Riku. Once it faded, he found himself in a room-the Twelfth Basement of Castle Oblivion. He looks around and wonders of his new surroundings. He sees a door up ahead. He then looks at the card in his hand.
"A door to the truth, huh..." Riku said to himself.
Little did any of those in these different states now, was that the possessed DiZ was keeping an eye on every single one of them, and smirked evilly, his once orange eyes turning bright glowing red.
A/N: This is chapter one. The story will transfere from one point of view to the next of the characters, and go around days when I feel like it until the real new drama starts.
As we wait for the second chapter, fellow readers, please review and I'll see you in the next chapter soon.