Dear readers,

Due to so many requests – once more - I am rewriting the first Kingdom Hearts Game. Now, allow me to explain a few changes here:

Sora is 13 in the story.

His personality is a bit darker, and a little different. *if you pay attention in the game, he does evidently have these moments when you watch his expressions, and tones.*

Some events are a little different than portrayed in the game.

If there is anything you spot that strikes you as strange, or doesn't make sense, please PM me so that I can answer it, and so it won't disrupt the people who read the reviews.

Disclaimer: All original titles, plotlines, characters, settings, abilities, weaponry, and events belong to Disney Interactive & Square Enix. I hold no rights whatsoever.

Claimer: Any OCs, Keyblades of my creation, worlds that do not appear in Disney (which I doubt there will be any except I entirely), belong to me. If you wish to use them, please just ask.

Also, if you have questions, or very long comments that are not pertaining to the chapter or story as a whole * after reading it, naturally* please PM ME! So that I can answer you correctly and in an orderly fashion.

Let the story begin…

{In the Darkness…}

"I've been having these weird thoughts lately…"

Shadows shifted around, the steady flow of what felt like water moved around him as he felt the faint reaches of light upon his eyelids as he continued to sink further down into the shadows, and out of reach. A sense of strange peace overtook him as he continued to decline further, and further.

"Like….is any of this real? Or not?"

A faint sense of his body righting itself caught the attention of his mind as sky-blue eyes opened and fluttered momentarily, as a young boy felt his body align itself before his feet touched a stain glass window. It was circular, green, with smaller yellow circles with several woodland creatures in it before a meadow of white wild flowers fell in place as the backdrop while in a series of seven circles with five smaller ones within it appeared with seven old dwarfish people present in them that framed the image of a beautiful young woman in a yellow dress with a blue, red, and white detailed top half that bore a standing white collar.

Her hair was black as the raven, lips red as the rose, and skin white as snow. Momentarily stunned the boy looked at the apple with a bite out of it in her delicate hand, while a hand rested against her chest; over her heart. He looked around himself, the darkness seeming endless as he tried to figure out where he had been taken as his steps made a sharp clank as he stepped forward in wariness of where he was treading.

"There you are!" the boy froze as he started to step towards the center of the stain glass window.

"Who's there?" he looked around to find nothing as he stared around him at the endless darkness.

"So much to do. So little time. But take your time…"

"Could you please just show yourself?" he questioned as he looked the area over again.

"Don't be afraid."

There was a sudden pause, and the boy felt his body tense.

"The door is still closed…"

Sky-blue eyes scanned the area again, and he hoped that he was merely dreaming and not experiencing a mental breakdown. The boy felt a faint shake in his body come through as he did his best to remain calm as a small whisper flooded the area once more.

"Now, step forward. Can you do it?"

Confusion now overtook the fear of the unknown as he considered what was happening. The voice challenged him, and while he was worried about what stepping forward would do, he viewed it as an opportunity to escape the strange place he had landed himself in. Taking in a deep breath, he started to take tentative steps forward until he found himself at the center of the platform.

"Power sleeps within you. Give it form…and it will give you strength."

A timid breath rose from his chest and out of his mouth before he closed his eyes momentarily to gain control over his unsteady breathing once more.

"And then the light will shine where you are."

Suddenly, a loud crash came from nowhere, and his body felt the darkness slither as if it was alive.

"But the closer you get to the light, the greater your shadow becomes."

A crackle was heard from beneath his feet, the stain glass giving off sharp snaps as he started to take several more steps forward to escape the center of the glass.

"But don't be afraid. And don't forget…."

A blinding light appeared, and he shielded his eyes as the shadows suddenly appeared around him, clinging to his legs, slithering up his body, and wrapping about his torso as he was pulled backwards, and a pool of black tar-like darkness began to envelop him.

"You hold the mightiest weapon of all…"

The shadows crawled up his body, licking at his throat, and face, and tangling into his hair as he was drug down further.

"So don't forget…"

The urge to hold his breath overwhelmed him.

"You are the one who will open the door."

A crackling like ice breaking caught his attention as a pearly door appeared, and the fear that had presented itself suddenly weakened.

"Now, go."

And then – the door to destiny began to open.

Chapter 1: Awakening

{Destiny Islands, June 12th 2011: 10:45am}

The sound of crashing waves, gulls cawing, and the sensation of warm sunlight surrounded the small island in the bay of the larger mainland known as the Destiny Islands. Settled upon the shore of the play-island – as so many of the local children called it – was a thirteen-year-old boy, sound asleep. His skin tone was faintly tan, and his hair a messy chocolate brown that stuck up at odd angles. His attire consisted of a red jumpsuit, a chain at his side, a blue belt, white gloves with silver latches at the top, a white and blue over-jacket, and yellow shoes with black soles, and tops with yellow straps. The most identifying detail about the boy though was a silver, crown-shaped pendant on a medium-sized chain that placed the pendant – a precious gift from his best friend, Kairi Misaki – at chest level on him.

As a wave brushed the bottom of the heels of his shoes, the boy blinked, slowly opening his eyes to let in dazzling bright sunlight. The sound of the crystal-blue waves of the ocean was a soothing reminder that he was still home; just as the white sand of the beach, the calm breeze off the sea, the sway of the trees, and the scent of the salt were all reminders to him that he was safe. The boy stretched and yawned slightly as he blinked open bright, clear, and energetic sky-blue eyes. This boy was a thirteen-year-old inhabitant of the Destiny Islands named Sora Seiren. He was known as a hyperactive, somewhat spastic, and humorous child that, though he rarely could sit still, managed to always impress people with not only his habit of never quite wanting to quit – as well as his bad habit of poking his head into things that could either get him in trouble or seemed unjust – but for his sense of right and wrong.

"Huh…what was it?"

Sora stretched once more, taking in the endless blue sky – his namesake – and the vast sea before him. The thirteen-year-old took in a deep breath, recalling to himself in faint musing that this scenic view had been the whole world to him for his entire life before this year, when himself, and two of his closest friends began to plan their departure from their home. With a sigh, he laid back down. He felt as if he'd had a horrible nightmare, and yet, at the same time, he wasn't as afraid as he'd first believed himself to be. Something about the dream had felt nice, familiar, and genuine. The voice, the light, and the dark black shadow had him wondering, though: was it really just a dream?

"Sora…" sky-blue looked back into aquamarine.

"Whoa!" the chocolate-haired boy sat up with a start as his friend, thirteen-year-old Kairi Misaki, suddenly appeared in front of his face.

The girl had jaw-length red hair, aquamarine eyes, fair skin, and a bright smile. She was dressed in a pair of purple-and-white shoes with pink bands around the middle, a purple skirt with slits up the sides, with floral cut outs at the bottom, and matching shorts underneath. A dark purple belt settled about the waist of the skirt while she wore a white tank-top with black, and purple detailing at the top. A part of her attire – on school days or otherwise – was a yellow wrist band, a black and yellow set of bracelets, a black choker, and a pearl pendant left to her by her mother. Sora glanced her over, and took note that she had added another wrist band in purple to her right upper-arm that also bore the yellow one at her wrist. The girl laughed again, and he sighed.

"Gimme a break, Kairi," he stated as he watched her.

"Sora, you lazy bum! I knew I'd find you snoozing down here."

Kairi leaned in, peering into his eyes as she smiled. Her red hair glinted in the brilliant light that poured down from the sky, and reflected off the sea and sand, giving the area around them a near unearthly glow.

"No! This huge black thing swallowed me up! I couldn't breathe, I couldn't – ow!" whatever he was going to say was lost to him once Kairi knocked him over the head. The red-head giggled, and he rubbed the sore spot that had formed.

"Are you still dreaming?" as she stared at him again, Sora began to feel some uncertainty settle into his system. His memory felt mildly hazy as he thought about the details from the dream. How could there be a pitch-black monster like that here on the Destiny Islands? Where it was sunny, warm, and peaceful almost three hundred and sixty-five days a year? The answer was surprisingly simple if he gave it thought: there couldn't be, and yet something nagged him inside that told him otherwise.

"It wasn't a dream!...Or, was it? I don't know…." Sora hung his head as Kairi gave him an exasperated look, and walked down to the water's edge. Now turned away from him, she felt just a little bit distant somehow. He didn't know what to say to her, but as he hesitated, Kairi glanced back with a small smile.

"Well…either way, we better start working on it. Riku's probably getting annoyed," she stated.

Riku Hirigaya was their other friend, and had been close to them since they were very young. His family had lived on the island for quite some time, and they were practically brothers, and always competed against one another. He had silver hair that fell to his shoulders, light-tan skin, and cyan eyes. Riku was a year older than himself and Kairi, and because of that, had a much different outlook on the world than they did.

"Huh?" he raised an eyebrow, and Kairi smiled.

"I said: Riku is probably annoyed…" there was a small scuffling noise behind him, and he turned in a faintly startled fashion to see Riku standing there, holding a log with a scowl.

"So, I guess I'm the only one working on the raft?" the fourteen-year-old shifted the clearly heavy log in his grasp, as the two gave him a faintly sheepish expression. Riku was dressed in jeans – with what appeared to be blue chaps held at the ankles with black buckles – straps at his waist where his belt was, a yellow, white, and black tank top with a black X-shape with white lines and buttons. His shoes were blue, white, gray, and yellow while he wore two wrist bands, and gloves that fit just over the palms of his hands.

"No! We were just…" glancing to Sora, who was seated on the ground still, Riku sighed and tossed the log to him.

"Ack!" Sora fumbled as he tried to catch the log, and failed as he fell over and shoved the log off him. Riku smiled faintly – internally laughing a bit at the sight of tiny Sora fighting the log off - before turning to Kairi.

"And your just as lazy as he is!" he said in a scolding manner. Kairi giggled.

"So, you noticed." The red-haired girl grinned, and began ambling towards the inlet.

"Come on you two, we need to get this done," Riku stated as he looked at Kairi, and then to Sora.

"Okay, we'll finish it together..." the two boys glanced to her.

"What are you…"

"RACE YOU!" with that, Kairi took off at full speed, laughing as she went.

"Huh? Seriously?" asked Sora as he stood, and hurried after her, and then Riku.

"Ready? Go!" exclaimed Kairi as she started to pick up speed again.

"You gonna lose again, Sora?" sky-blue met cyan eyes.

"Not a chance!" with that, the two boys took to chasing Kairi and trying to outrun one another. Their worries about building their raft to escape the Destiny Islands were momentarily forgotten as they raced one another. The sun was still high, and they had plenty of work ahead of them.

{2:45pm: East Area of Play Island}

"Riku, you get the logs….and some cloth and rope. Sora, you find some drinking water and mushrooms for us to take. I'll wait here," Kairi stated.

"Got it!"

Sora turned to walk away in search of the items he needed to find, and Riku split up to do the same on another part of the island. The two of them always treated these sorts of situations like a race or a game, a contest between them. However, there were times when it did get out of hand. Sora sighed as he glanced at the steps behind him, scrunched sand showing the indents of his foot prints within the dry sand. A little ways off, the sound of wood clattering caught his attention, and ironically, Riku's as well. The sound told the two that their friends, Tidus Bainbridge and Wakka Kizuchi, were once again having a sword fight. Cyan eyes looked to sky-blue from a faint distance, and the two started to gravitate towards the sound of the wooden swords clashing. As Riku and Sora got closer and started to stand by the sidelines watching the mock-fight, the silver-haired teen eyed the two fighting, and then looked to the chocolate-haired teen standing next to him.

"Want to join them, Sora?" he questioned.

"But won't Kairi be mad?"

Sora was well aware that Riku knew he'd thrown that out as an excuse. The truth was – even though he outright hated admitting it – he just couldn't win against Riku. Sora, admittedly, wasn't completely surefooted, and had moments that his hyperactivity could get the better of him and cause him to stumble or walk into things when he wasn't paying enough attention. The thirteen-year-old had been teased about that in the previous school year because of his bad habit of stumbling over his own two feet, due to how horrible he was at sitting still for long periods. This often made it quite hard to be interested in mock-fights and contests with the other boys. It was by no means a well-hidden secret – it was evident if one looked at him – that Sora was remarkably small for his age. His smaller size, reduced strength, and hyper personality made these sorts of events far too discomforting; however, Sora had another bad habit: he didn't know when to step down. Seeing the internal struggle, Riku smirked.

"Don't worry about that," Riku stated as he thumped him on the back and ran towards Tidus and Wakka.

"Aw, geeze…"

On this little island, pretty much any game the boys played was something competitive – much to Sora's chagrin – and the perennial favorite was sword fighting, something Sora actually enjoyed for the most part. Wakka, a few years older than everyone else, acted as a teacher. Just recently, Sora and Riku had become good enough to beat him once in a while, and that made them about even with Tidus. However, this didn't exactly make it easier on Sora. When he'd been picked on when he was around twelve, the brunette had been miserable, but the determination in him had burned harsh enough for him to survive with the people he spent the most time with watching his back. Riku, Kairi, Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka stood up for him when some of the older teenagers got too brutal and crossed lines that had forced the hand of his mother, ultimately. Sora smiled a little in thought of the fact that the day his mom had shown up in the school building, looking as if she was ready to spit fire, was the day that all his troubles disappeared.

"Here I come!" Tidus closed in on Wakka.

"Go, boys, go!" Selphie cheered as she hopped up and down, causing the curls at the ends of her hair to bounce at the same time.

"I'm not done yet!" Wakka exclaimed over the sound of striking wood. The two others watched as mere seconds later, Tidus's sword flew out of his hand.

"Aw, nuts!" Tidus dejectedly plopped down upon the sand, and sighed in defeat. As the blonde contemplated his failure, Riku stepped up, and grabbed the wooden sword that had ended up stuck in the sand. Sora perked up a bit as the silver-haired teen walked to Wakka.

"My turn," he stated.

"Hey, hey, gimme a little breather here!" Wakka scratched the back of his head through his bandanna as he contemplated what to do. He glanced to the brunette thirteen-year-old standing not far from them, and tossed the sword over to Sora, who fumbled a bit to catch it. Thankfully, he didn't drop it before he looked to Wakka, who smiled as he walked forward, and then to Tidus and Selphie.

"Oh, he looks like he's about to bolt…" muttered Selphie as she showed sincere concern for the fact that Sora knew he looked like a deer in the headlights.

"Come on! Do it!" Tidus stated as Sora swallowed a little thickly before taking in a deep breath as he gripped the sword. The weight felt different today, the sensation unlike before as he flexed his hand a bit, and then looked to Wakka.

"You take him this time, Sora." sky-blue eyes glanced to them.

"But Kairi'll be upset if we just…"

"You're wide open!"

The sudden statement had Sora on guard in an instant as Riku charged him, and struck the wooden sword. His body tensed, preparing to block as the silver-haired teen stepped back, and began to circle him. Something in him made his stance shift into a defense, and his arms brace a specific way as he held the sword out to the side in his left hand, and kept the other one braced to the side, and down a bit in preparation to fight Riku off.

"Hey! No fair, Riku!" he said. Cyan eyes glanced him over.

"Fights don't have to be fair…but you seem to be learning some…"

Riku struck again, and Sora dodged with a jump, and slid to the side. Wakka, Tidus, and Selphie watched the two of them, and Sora did all he could to listen to what his body told him. Sora took in a steady breath, and fixed his grip before looking at Riku, who smirked.

"Alright, come and get me!" Sora stated as Riku smirked like he knew he'd hardly have to try. The mere sight had Sora's blood boiling.

"I'll show him!"

"HERE I COME!"

Sora blocked the next hit, the sound of wood meeting wood with a thick clack as Riku pushed him back, and then the brunette teen gritted his teeth, and threw himself into the fight as Wakka had taught him once. Sky-blue eyes narrowed as he jumped forward, and up before swinging straight down at Riku from overhead. Riku jumped back, being hit in the head by the end of the sword as Sora crouched and turned, spinning on his heels as he struck Riku in the side. Wakka felt his eyes widen a bit as he watched Sora's form change, becoming more and more adept as he continued his half-circle motions, stepping forward, then turning to block before jumping forward, and bracing against the hits with both hands. The sharp clattering noise of the wooden swords continued to ring out over, and over as Sora's style of fighting changed in the blink of an eye from offensive, to defensive, and back again.

"Ngh!"

"That's it, Sora! keep going, push him right into the water!" Just as Wakka cheered him onward, Sora turned to the side, bracing the next hit from Riku before he made a large, sharp, swing.

"OUCH!"

The sword leapt from Riku's grip, and spun up into the air as Sora kept the sword pointed at Riku's chest. The sound of the wooden object whipping through the air was heard as it began to descend before sticking point-down into the white sand. Riku stumbled back, staring in shock at Sora, who took in a series of steady breaths as he wiped his brow, and looked to his friend as he offered him a hand.

"Whoa! That was FREAKING EPIC!" yelled Tidus.

"Tch. I let my guard down." Sora looked at the silver-haired teen as he pulled his friend to his feet. Riku eyed him oddly for a moment as he gave him a cheeky grin.

"Or I'm just better than you!" with that the brunette raced off towards the hill.

"Where are you going?" called Riku.

"Race you to get all the supplies!" with that, he took off yet again, and Riku laughed as he dusted himself off.

"Alright, then…" with that, the silver-haired teen took off in the other direction.

"Hey, hey, race to get what?" asked Wakka. The question fell upon deaf ears as Sora and Riku ran off.

"Those two lately, and Kairi, too…I get the feeling they're up to something, and that they're going to go away…" Selphie screwed up her face in discontent at the thought as she tried to figure out what the three were planning. To her statement, however, Wakka shrugged, and looked at where the two had vanished.

"Well, they've got Riku, so I wouldn't worry, yeah?" Selphie frowned.

"That's not the point! It's not fair! I wanna be in on it, too!" she said in a huff, kicking the sand. Tidus looked after the two, and considered following them, but found it too late: Sora had already disappeared into the bushes of the hillside, and Riku into the sea.

{…}

Everything is so dark, and I know there's something wrong, but I can't turn the light on...

{…}

Author's Note: So, because I have received 27 PM's asking to please do my version of Kingdom Hearts I – so I am. I hope you all love this story. And, surprisingly enough: I got my hands on the Novelization of KH I, and it has been helping tremendously. I look forward to reading your reviews!

Preview:

"How about the Highwind?"

"The Highwind? When the winds are high, she'll take us as far as we can go."

"Pretty good, right?" a bright smile fell upon the brunette's features.

Chapter 2: Real? Or Not?