A/N: Hi there :D I'm James Curtains, Pirate Captain and Evil Space Invader from Mars. This idea sprung itself on me while I was reading too much kingdom hearts fanfiction and the third Potter book again. I'm not giving any hints to the plot, but I'm excited to reveal it in this story. I write small chapters, but that should mean that I update faster, right? Well, we'll see. Hope you all enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter series or the Kingdom Hearts franchise.

Chapter 1

Side Mission

Roxas fell away from the crowd of by standers. The grizzly sight was too much bear. Walking away towards a bench, the blond Nobody collapsed onto the wooden surface and groaned lightly. Twilight Town had become over run with Heartless lately. And without Xion around to help, the work load was just piling up. At the rate he was going, the double missions Saix had assigned for him would never get finished.

"Need a helping hand?" A soft voice called.

Roxas spun around searching for the person who had spoken.

"It's too early to be able to see me yet, Roxas." The voice said gently. "But it's great that you can hear me! It means we're getting stronger."

"Who are you?" Roxas asked, unsure which way to look as he spoke to the invisible presence. "Who's we?"

Faint laughter filled the air. "I'm Ventus, but everyone calls me Ven. We are we. And I think I can help you with the Heartless problems."

x.x.x.x.

Trees. Hundreds and hundreds of trees. Roxas wanted to chop them all down after losing himself in their labyrinth. Ven had told him that this place would help him, but after an hour of wandering around hopelessly, the blond was starting to lose faith. Where was the so called puzzle piece Ven had told him about?

"There's a world out there that has something we need. It'll help us get stronger, and help you fight off the Heartless. It's called a Wayfinder."

"A Wayfinder? What does it do?"

"Aqua says it was to keep us all together, even when we were apart."

"Who's Aqua?"

"She's our friend. But I'm not sure where she is right now, just like I'm not sure where I am and I think it's because I lost my Wayfinder."

"So if we can find this Wayfinder thing, you can find your friend? What's that got to do with me?"

"Everything! You're the only one who can get it, Roxas. And if you succeed, you'll become stronger too!"

"I still don't get it. How can I get stronger? How can 'we be we'? Are you…are you my other?"

"What's an other? Listen, I don't have much time left right now. Promise you'll look for the Wayfinder! We can talk more once you've found it."

'Ven' had left him with a strong mental image of a castle, almost bigger than the Castle That Never Was. Roxas had only been able to guess that that was the world Ven had mentioned. It was an odd sensation, receiving such a thing from a disembodied voice. Was it even possible? Roxas would have to ask Axel about it once he got back. Which reminded him.

"I never RTC'd." Roxas muttered numbly. "And I never told Axel and Xion where I was going." He included Xion's name out of respect. She was his best friend, even in a coma, and she had the right to know where he was even if she couldn't really hear him.

The whole situation was starting to seem like a bad idea. It probably hadn't been the smartest decision to just portal off to the other world without telling anyone first. Ven's words and urgency had swept him up in a haze of confusion laced with duty, though to whom he had no idea.

"I bet all that talk about helping each other was just a trick to get me to come here and now that I'm here, he's gonna turn out to be some weird Heartless that'll I die fighting and I'll never get to eat ice cream with Axel or Xion." The blond rambled, kicking a few rocks across the ground. "And I bet there's not even a castle. That thing was huge, I definitely should have seen it by-"

The words died in his throat, for just as the blond crested over a hill the building he had been searching for appeared into view. It was larger than he had thought. There were towers and connecting bridges, hundreds upon hundreds of windows glowing bright with light. It seemed older than Beast's Castle, but far cleaner and less run down.

"I wonder if the Somebodies there will know where the Wayfinder is." Roxas wondered aloud. He sure hoped so. How was he supposed to find an object that he'd never even seen?

Just then a voice boomed from somewhere in the distance.

"Firs' years this way! Firs' years!"

In the darkness, Roxas was able to spot a small glowing light bobbing some distance away from his place in the forest. It was difficult to see whoever was behind it, but the deep, gruff voice made apparent the gender. The blond had no clue what a 'firs' year' was, but he assumed that the Somebody was leading the lot of them towards the castle. From what Roxas had gathered, Somebodies didn't like to stay out after dark. Axel explained that it was because of fear of the unknown, a concept that flew right over the blonde's head. If it bothered them so much to not know, then why didn't they stay and figure it out? Somebodies were weird creatures.

Roxas, after having stealthily made his way closer, found out that the bobbing light was actually a large lantern and that the male Somebody he had heard was a giant. Literally. The small Nobody fell back farther into darkness, dropping into a defensive position. Huge creatures like that mostly tended to be evil.

"Come on! O'er here, the lot o' yeh. Castle's this way!"

"Agh! What's that?"

Roxas stumbled backwards, suddenly wishing he were still lost in the trees. A tiny female Somebody must have spotted him. He cursed silently for moving in so close. Saix was going to turn him into a dusk when he found out about all of this.

"Wha' is it? Ge' back, lemme through!" The giant boomed.

Roxas ducked down low, blending back into the shadows, and prepared for a fight. Gloved fingers itched for the cool metal of his Keyblade but he wouldn't summon his weapon just yet. He'd wait it out, hope the giant would back off and leave well enough alone.

Seconds ticked by like years. The Somebodies who had been following the giant were huddled together, some craning their necks in order to get a better look while the rest whispered heatedly to one another. After a few breathless moments of just staring into the darkness, the giant backed up, seemingly satisfied at having not seen anything.

"Musta bin a trick o' the light." He said dismissively, but a few of the little Somebodies gave each other troubled glances.

"But it's pitch dark!" One girl, the one who had originally seen him, whined.

The giant didn't seem to hear her, or at least pretended not to. Instead, he picked back up his former role of shepherd and began ushering the young Somebodies to the castle.

"This way! Follow the lantern!"

Roxas didn't follow. He'd had enough of this world and was in enough trouble as it was.

"Ven can find some other idiot no brain to get him his finder. I'm out of here." Roxas said. Dark tendrils sprouted up, wrapping themselves around the blonde boy's boots and arching up and over his head to form the dark corridor. Without a backwards glance he stepped into the darkness, with the hope that the Superior would never ever find this world and force him to return.

x.x.x

A/N: Hope that wasn't terrible. Hagrid speak is difficult ._.