Step into the Past...

As the door began to close, Riku had one last glimpse of his friends walking away, then nothing. Riku was left alone in the black vortex that lay between the worlds...

Riku jerked awake and as always his dream followed him... the dark dreaming of the dark. Nothing had changed, he was still lost in the vortex. He sighed as he sat up and reaching beside him, he picked up the keyblade.

It is the only thing I have left...

Riku treasured it, though it was still darkened by what he had done. Five years of wandering alone in the dark because he had joined the evil side: that of the heartless. His friend Kairi's heart had been stolen, and he had been willing to do anything to save her, even if it meant allying himself with the very ones who stole it. They craved human hearts, and as his was tainted by his very willingness to ally himself with them, he quickly fell under the control of the one who led them. At that moment when the bargain was struck, the keyblade's powers over light forsake him, and went to his friend Sora. But though Sora eventually defeated the heartless and saved Kairi, the only way to ensure that they would stay away forever was to cast them back in to the void that lay between the worlds, and Riku with them. During his waking hours he was certain that he had long since gotten over what he viewed as his friend's betrayal at leaving him to his fate, but the dreams still came. They were his constant companion, most likely caused by the keyblade himself, to remind him of what he had given up. Still, Riku had long since stopped wondering "if only..." After all what did it matter. He was already trapped in the void between the darkness that lay between the worlds, borne up only by the fact that the keyblade had once trusted him.

Some day, the light will be mine again. It may take my entire life in this place, but in the end, it will come back...

Resigned as he was, Riku's shock was complete when a sudden cluster of flickering lights appeared in front of him, like stars blinking in the nighttime sky. He ran forward, but when he reached the spot where the lights had been, winking like a out of existence. Riku frowned, did he imagine it?

No. You don't imagine light in a place like this.

Riku closed his eyes and willed the light to appear again. He knew what they meant, he had seen them before five years ago, the day his journey began and he had foolishly taken the wrong path to save a friend. And though Riku consoled himself with the hope that someday the light might return to the keyblade, he was certain that his hopes were merely lies. But now it seemed, that his hopes had some foundation after all. As Riku gazed out in the surrounding shadows, he saw the light again... and this time it stayed, then another lit up and another... A slow smile spread across Riku's face.

Riku began to sprint down the path eager to see what was behind the door. Would he finally find his way out of the darkness, or was this just another one of his dreams, his lies? In his excitement over the first lights, the keyholes that marked the doors in the inky black surroundings, Riku didn't notice that this light was somehow wrong. When he finally had the keyblade in the lock, the door opened just as he was met with a blast of energy, and fell to the ground writhing around in pain and his vision went gray. After a moment the pain stopped, and he collected himself enough to sit up to find a tall silver-haired man looking down at him, a psychotic expression in his eyes. No, Riku decided after a moment, the man wasn't looking at him, but at the keyblade...

"But Where is he? I Mean...I know he went into the pit, but how far down does it go?" Cloud looked around at his friends, and his gaze rested for a long while on his love, Tifa Lockheart. They had stopped shortly to take a small break before going after Sephiroth. Tearing his gaze away from Tifa, Cloud saw that Vincent was gazing down into the pit as if hope was just within reach.
"I don't know Cloud, I wouldn't be surprised he burns a hole right through this world just to get to his sacred promised land." Cloud looked at Tifa and nodded his head, seeing that she could be right.

"He's so strong." Yuffie shook her head sadly, while looking for a way to steal the group's money. She needed it, or her village did, and if she had a little extra to spare, so be it. She figured she could at least steal Cloud's, since Tifa was standing in the way of Cloud's view, and distracting him greatly.
"Give it up, Yuffie, you're not stealing any more money in this decade." Yuffie silently cursed, Vincent had been following her eye movements. If Yuffie didn't have at least some common sense Vincent would have risked her rampant rage.

However Vincent ignored this, seeming to have more important matters on his mind.
"Well, if you're all ready to go down into the center of that chaos he's causing, the entrance is here."
As one they all took a step forward and glanced into the pit.
"What a nightmare..." Tifa grumbled as she looked gloomily into the abyss. Still, if they didn't go, the world was doomed, and all her old lectures to Cloud, back when he was just a mercenary, about trying taking a stance and being selfless for a change would be lies.
"He's almost within our reach, we can't give up now." Cloud spoke confidently, though in reality he was distinctly worried. With a slight sigh, he stepped out onto the narrow path that would take them to Sephiroth.

"The key or your life." Sephiroth spoke as he stared at Riku, a twisted slight smile on his face. He'd probably be taking both. Without waiting for the reply he grabbed Riku's arm, twisted his wrist to near cracking point, and pulled the keyblade away. With the blade now in his grasp, he hit him hard across the head with the hilt of his sword and watched as the Riku slumped to the ground. Turning, he walking into the hole he had created and stepped through the darkness over to the portal. He held out keyblade expecting the door to open...

Nothing.

Frowning, he tried again, forcing it against the scar in the earth then tried using the key on the gateway. While contemplating his next course of action, he was interrupted by the sound of smug laughter. He glanced over and saw that Riku was conscious again.
Riku got slowly to his feet, before deliberately dusting himself off. He leaned against the canyon wall with a smirk on his face despite his unease.
"You can't use it, you don't own it. The keyblade chose me, and it won't work for anyone else. You wanna get to new worlds, I am the only one who can open the doors."

Greatly annoyed at the fact that he couldn't take the blade and he couldn't kill him, Sephiroth took a menacing step forward and grabbed Riku's arm dragging him forcefully through the tear in the earth. Glancing around at the flickering stars, he pulled Riku over to the one he had tried before.

"This One." Handing him the keyblade and giving Riku a shove, Sephiroth watched as Riku held the blade towards the keyhole and a line of light outline door and a few seconds later, the portal opened. Sephiroth smiled. This was it, he was going to reach the promised land.
"Let's go."
With his arms outstretched ready to embrace his godhood, Sephiroth stepped through the door, and after a moments hesitation, Riku followed. There was no change. Sephiroth glanced around, finding that he was in a world not unlike the one he left. He scowled. This was not the promised land.
Releasing a furious cry of rage, he called upon the same power that he had used to tear the hole between the worlds in the first place, intending to destroy the planet since it wasn't what he sought. Suddenly their came a snapping, and Sephiroth could sense the release of a force of great power, paying attention to the details around him for the first time, he noticed that he was by some sort of prison or cage. A flashing light appeared, and the cage snapped open revealing a woman. The power was radiating from her.
"Good going." Riku told Sephiroth sarcastically. He could sense the woman's power as well as Sephiroth could, and her gaze was hardly welcoming.
As Sephiroth watched, the woman opened golden eyes, glancing around as if seeing the world for the first time. Eventually her gaze came to rest on him and their eyes met.
He smiled.

Cloud had watched the scene half in shock and half in amusement, despite the situation. Approaching the gateway first, he stopped a little ways away and motioned the others to come over.
"He's in there... so I guess... we follow." Cloud frowned, he had a bad feeling about this.
After a few moments indecision, everyone agreed. Standing in front of the gateway, they all stared into the dark working up the will to step through. Once they did, they realized it had to have been a huge mistake as the earth fell out beneath them and they began to plummet down through the void.
Tifa didn't know what was louder: The sound of them whizzing in the air towards the ground, or the sound of her heart beating in her ears. She had only a moment to ponder before she and the others hit the ground and the world became dark.

An explosion, a great disturbance in the atmosphere. A power, released in the form of the ice queen herself, Edea. She was free. Slowly memory flooded back into her, after all how could she forget? She was furious for her imprisonment and this was a rage that would never go away, this much she knew. And, now that her cage had been broken, she had her life back. Now she would make things go her way.

Or, she would, as soon as she figured out who two men standing before her were, they were obviously the ones who had freed her. She was about to approach the flaxen-haired, younger man, and ask him who he was, when he shot the question at her, taking her by surprise.

Edea glanced at him to the other male standing before him then back again. "I could ask you the same thing, but since you freed me from my imprisonment, I will tell you as much. I am the sorceress Edea."

She was surprised at the blank stares that met her response. She was not used to people not recognizing her. She frowned when the silver-haired man began to speak.

"I don't believe you, you do not seem to be a sorceress."

Angry at his disrespect, she summoned up a wall of ice, imprisoning the man.

"Oh no?!"

The look the man gave her was both amused and impressed. He nodded his head slightly. Then sword in hand he did a quick spin cutting through the ice with his power, impressing Edea in turn. Freed from the ice, he nodded at her.

"I'm Sephiroth. Wouldn't you care to put that power to a more fitting use?"

Edea inclined her head.

"Speak."

After listening to Sephiroth talk, an approving smile grew on her face. Yes she was free now, and with access to more power then she could have ever imagined. Revenge would be sweet, and she wouldn't just have it on this world, but the next and the next...

Following Sephiroth into the portal, delightful images of destruction dancing in her mind, interrupted by a sigh coming from the other one, Riku. She glanced sharply at him. One of them was still undecided about what he wanted.

Spotting another keyhole near by, Sephiroth nodded towards it. Shortly Riku was in front of the door, and he began to unlock it, careful not to go to slowly lest he incense Sephiroth's rage. The man was an utter psychopath, even if he wouldn't try and kill him, somehow Riku suspected he wouldn't be above torturing him to get what he wanted. No doubt the sorceress would help. Door opened, he stepped on into the next world.

It was a daily task, and one they detested, but it had to be done, unfortunately they were the only ones brave enough to do it. Squall Leonhart, both a strict follower of and enforcer of the rules, was leader of the team sent to check to see if the Sorceress Edea's prison was still sound. Trepe, second in command, was a kind-hearted instructor who would much rather be doing a month's work of paperwork than checking up on an evil sorceress.

Then there was Seifer Almasy. Did he want to be there? No. Did he have to be there? Yes. Did he have a choice? Not like the rest of them. This served him as a punishment for his awful intentions, even if they were in the past. Finally, there was the sweet and humble, Rinoa Heartily, who probably looked more like she should be picking flowers in a garden then dealing with a huge danger to the world. Of course, she was tougher than she looked, especially since she was a sorceress herself.

The four headed to Edea's prison, experiencing that twinge of fear, that the prison had been breached, despite the security of the hold. The only way the sorceress would get out was if someone let her out, and no one in their right mind would do a thing like that. As soon they arrived, all four immediately wished they hadn't been assigned to the job. The cell lay open and the Sorceress had vanished.

Great...

"How could someone have been so stupid as to unlock the cell?" Squall looked at Rinoa spoke then shrugged. He'd rather not think about it.

"Just keep your guard, she could be anywhere." All three nodded at Squall in agreement. Rinoa knew she didn't have the heart to kill anyone, but when the safety of the entire world was at stake, she knew what she had to do. They stayed together when the searched the area, Edea was one scary witch. They had searched through the entire place, when Seifer spotted it. He briefly considered not mentioning it so they could just leave, but he was curious. In the farthest corner of the room, a light was beckoning from the shadows, no not shadows, the inky black was like space itself.

They walked briskly, over to that light like moths to the flame. A foolish thing to do, really. Stepping through, gravity and unbelievable power soon had them in it's grasp. In moments they were spinning in the core of the vortex, maybe never again to see the world in which they loved so much. Falling falling falling, when suddenly they stopped, flung onto a hard surface, and consciousness slipped away.

Rikku placed a helmet over her long hair, as sandy as the desert that surrounded them, and gave her boyfriend Gippal a slightly uneasy smile as she climbed into hover beside him. It wasn't the hover that worried her. Like all Al Bhed she had grown up around machines, when the rest of the world shunned them, believing that it was machina that had brought, Sin, the monster down upon the people of Spira. She felt a brief flicker of sadness for Yuna, her cousin, who had died in the fight against sin, and like always there was a moment of guilt and self-condemnation that she hadn't done enough to save her. Rikku sighed, she was letting this stupid trip bother her, she should be excited to see the strange new machina again. I mean it started up on it's own, like how totally cool was that? Glancing slyly over at Gippal who had begun to fiddle with the control panel she grinned and gave him a shove, and caught unaware he fell out of the hover and into the sand just as Rikku had intended.

"Hey!" Gippal looked up at her in bemusement.

"You drove last time. My turn now." She smiled sweetly at him and started up the hover as the half-amused and half-annoyed Gippal shook his head climbed into the passenger seat.

"I don't know how such a tiny person can push so hard." Gippal grumbled, then smirked. He adored her and they both knew it.

"Yeah, yeah..." Rikku tossed back carelessly as she adeptly navigated the hover across the sand dunes. Glancing over at Gippal, she had to ask.

"There are hundreds if not thousands of old ruins beneath the desert... why would one of the machina just suddenly start up now?"

Gippal frowned, considering for a moment, than shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine... let's just hope it's not another Vegnagun." The Al Bhed besides her referred to the threat to the second greatest threat in Spira's history, the machine that had destroyed the world over a thousand years ago. That time had seemed worlds away, but then someone had gone and brought it back again. Fortunately, Rikku, Gippal, and the gullwings had managed to shut it down in time.

"Wouldn't that just be Spira's luck." Rikku muttered as she pulled the hover to a halt and hopped out only to miscalculate and stumble down the side of the dune. A shadow fell across her, and Gippal smiled down at her, holding out a hand to pull her up.

"You are such a klutz." Gippal kissed the hand he was holding, looking for all the world like the rakish scoundrel that he was. Rikku smiled impishly at him.

"But you love me anyway... now let's go check on this thing so we can leave."

Most of the time Rikku was just excited about the ruins, but these ones just creeped her out. Dragging Gippal along behind her, she headed towards the door that led into one of the sand dunes, the strange machina that had begun to act up. Arriving at the door, Rikku dropped Gippal's hand and took a step forward, astounded by what she saw. Lights began to flash from the machine, outlining a door in sand that lightly coated it's surface, as Rikku approached, the flashes grew more brilliant, blindingly bright... The door began to open and the light was suddenly replaced by inky blackness. Atall man with long silvery hair stepped through the door. As Rikku jumped back, noticing the enormous sword that hung at the man's side, Gippal shoved her behind him. The man studied them for a moment before abruptly turning around in anger as two more people came through the door, a tall woman with black hair and harsh golden eyes akin to those of the birds that flew over the desert, and a handsome young man with pale blonde hair. It was to the young man that he spoke.

"Again you fail me, this is not the promised land, nor does this weak little planet have the power to get us there."

At this point Gippal interjected despite Rikku's attempts to hold him back.

"Hey, just who in the hell are you and what—"

The man turned a frightening glint in his eye.

"Ah yes. That... I'm Sephiroth and it's your destiny to die by my blade."

Rikku looked at Gippal pulling on him harder while pulling out a knife that she had hidden in a sheathe behind her back. She looked over to see that the blonde man was watching them, a determined look on his face.

"Right." Gippal moved to pull his gun out of it's holster, but though Gippal though the fastest draw Rikku had ever seen, he didn't even get a shot of before Sephiroth had pulled out his masamune, and stabbed Gippal through the heart. Rikku screamed, and tried to catch him as he fall, but only ended up falling to the ground with him.

"Gippal, Gippal, come on, don't be dead... you can't be dead." Her whispers slowly faded away, and the tears running down her face swiftly became tears of rage. Sephiroth had turned his back to her. Wiping at the tears, Rikku charged at him, about to stab him in the back, when suddenly she hit a wall of ice, she stepped back only to be met by another and another. She released shriek of rage, and hit the walls of her prison with her knife, trying to crack through the ice and get to the bastard that had killed Gippal. Understandably, she wasn't thinking very clearly. Looking around wildly, she noticed the woman was the source of the ice.

Sephiroth smirked at her then looked at the woman who smiled back and waving her hand the ice disappeared, taking a step forward, Sephiroth picked up Rikku by the neck, as if she weighed no more then a rag doll and slowly began to choke the life out of her.

"You thought you could defeat me?! Pathetic little creature, you are very amusing."

Rikku kicked and struggled trying to get him to release him, but it was futile. She looked over at the other man catching his eyes, and just before she passed out she saw him step forward.

"Stop!"

Watching as the pretty little blonde ran after Sephiroth, a guy who was practically twice her size, and found himself impressed despite himself. He also couldn't stop the nagging guilt about just letting him kill the man she was with. Riku didn't want Sephiroth to kill the girl.

"Let her go. If you kill her, I won't help you, and you will never reach the promised land you are trying so hard to find."

Riku crossed his arms, glaring at him. Sephiroth intently back at him.

"What does it matter, they'll all die in the end."

Finally he shrugged.

"Have it your way."

Then instead of setting the girl down, he tossed her back through the gate. Seeing Riku's look he smirked.

"I let her go."

Edea coughed slightly to get their attention.

"I tire of this place. Let's go."

Sephiroth turned and walked with Edea through the gate, and shoulders slumped with failure Riku slowly followed.

His new master, whose favorite obsession was creating chaos, was really getting on Riku's nerves. This wasn't exactly what he had in mind when he wanted the keyblade to start working again. They were heading to a new door, and Riku wasn't sure he liked what he was getting himself into. Correction, what he was getting forced into. The only way out of an ordeal such as this one was resistance or escaping. The first one would be pretty hard to do, especially face to face with a sorceress and someone as strong as Sephiroth.

Riku didn't know where the door led, but he had a choice. He had made up his mind, and he would have to pull it off quickly, but he could do it. Riku jerked his head to the side, pretending like he heard something. He watched as Sephiroth and Edea also turned their heads to see what the hold-up was and using their distraction Riku raced towards the door, his mind repeating the same words over and over.

Just get to the door... get to the door.

And he did, getting it open in record time. Now... now he had to close the door. A much more difficult task, though one viewing this from the outside would not think so. Riku saw Sephiroth and Edea speeding towards him and rapidly closed the door, locking it, narrowly missing the icicle that Edea had shot at his head. Turning he was startled by the sight before him. There were nine of them, all lying unconscious, on the ground, recognizing the girl that Sephiroth had tossed so carelessly into the void between the worlds, he assumed that they were all stragglers from the last few worlds they had hit.

Nine of them... all warriors by the look of it.

Riku smirked.

For now, I'll be their watcher... they need... guidance.

Riku sat down on the ground waiting for them to awaken.

And so watcher and keyblade master was united with the nine warriors from different worlds. And so....The Story Begins. Seek out the Light.

...Open...the...Door...

The vortex is darkened by the evil of human hearts,
But only in the darkness may stars appear.
The path lies in shadows,
The path lies in pain,
But hope burns strong in this rampant chaos.
The nightmare lies within your own heart.
Forget this life,
And unlock your heart.
There are thousands of worlds, but just one destiny,
Open the door.