Aaaaaaw yeeeah! Man! Fourth fanfic, I am on a roll here! Oh, don't look at me like that. All of my other fanfics WILL be completed, (enentually) so "Pokemon and Snickers Bars" and "Fowl Babysitting" readers, don't you fret! I'll be back to those as soon as I get my own laptop!

You know, this is chock-full of OC's. I hope you like them—I went out of my way to make sure they weren't Mary-Sue-ish in the least. Now, I know that this is only the first chapter, but I'd still like to see lots of feedback on the characters! Which ones do you like the most? The least? Anything would be helpful!

And, by the way, the theme song for this story would be Sanctuary. It's not very romantic, so Simple and Clean wouldn't be appropriate. And, as a helpful note, right now, this is taking place during the time of Birth by Sleep. That would probably be helpful to know, hm?

Now…enjoy!

Darkness as far as the eye could see, broken only by tiny glints of light that sparkled and shined above. Sometimes they moved, ever so slightly, and sometimes they changed color. At times they even grew or shrank. But they were always, always there.

It was under this reliable sky that Ashley Carter had grown up under. To her, it was a small comfort. In a world that was ever changing, the sky and its stars remained something that she could always look at with fond memories.

"Hey, Ashley,"

The strawberry blonde girl broke her gaze from the sky at her friend Elizabeth's voice. "Hm?"

Elizabeth nodded her curly-haired head towards the path before them. "We take the south side, remember?"

"Right, right. Sorry."

Elizabeth put a finger to her lips and silently motioned for them to move forward.

There was a mission to complete.

Scene Change!

"Stephan."

"Sh."

"Stephan…"

"Sh."

"Steeephannnnn…"

"SH!"

` "But Stephan, we've been squatting here for hours."

Stephan, a tall, thin boy with a head of neatly combed dirty blonde hair looked sharply at the red-headed girl beside him. "Michelle," He sighed exasperatedly, "We've only been here for about fifteen minutes."

Michelle crossed her arms, squirming. "It feels like it's been hours…" She grumbled.

"Well, it hasn't been. Now, be quiet and keep a sharp lookout." With that, he looked back out from behind the boulder they hid behind.

Michelle sniffed. "I'm hungry…"

"What did I say about being quiet?"

"Oh, fine." Michelle relented as she, too, peered from behind the boulder.

Back to watching.

Scene Change!

"Ah. I'm hungry. I can't wait to finish and have dinner," Piper Dodgeson, a somewhat short girl with golden brown hair and large brown eyes yawned. "What about you, Momo?"

The quick strikes of chalk on a board were heard, and the slightly shorter dark skinned girl beside Piper flipped her slate around to reveal her reply: "Yeah, I'm starved. And DON'T call me Momo."

Piper stretched, reaching into the sky, her hands barely reaching the height of the bush they stood behind. "Oh, Momiji, you know I'm not going to stop. Think of it as a symbol of affection. You'd think you'd be used to it. I mean, I've been calling you that since we were eight."

Momiji rolled her eyes, her hands busy completing the braid she was making in her deep azure hair.

Piper smiled. "Got your lucky charm?"

Her face breaking out into a smile of her own, Momiji nodded, taking a small, yet elaborately made dream catcher out of her sash.

Piper nodded. "Good," She looked out into the night. "We just might need it."

Scene Change!

"I'm telling you," Hikari held out her left hand, "When dodge rolling, you have to hold you left hand out, and use it to transfer you weight and use it as a leverage to regain your balance." She flicked her honey-highlighted brown hair. "You can't use you keyblade arm, that's stupid…"

"Well, that's how I do it," Serena, her partner for the night as they held their post at the north side of the courtyard retorted. "I don't get why it's such an issue with you, anyway…"

"Not just me!" Hikari replied. "Master Archard has been trying to teach you this for months, but have you listened? No!"

"I don't need to know how to dodge roll the right way to use my keyblade…"

"Exactly! That's exactly the sort of attitude that holds you back!" Hikari exclaimed. "Using a keyblade isn't just about offense, you know. You can't just charge in and attack! You've got to use technique!"

"I don't need you to yell at me, Hik—" Suddenly Serena stopped short, brushing her dark brown hair away from her ear. "Did you hear that? That hiss?"

Hikari nodded. "That means only one thing"

The two girls faced the dark courtyard. "They're here."

Scene Change!

The central courtyard of Heart's Earth was a large circular space, paved with smooth, polished mosaic tiles depicting a black keyhole. An ornately designed fountain stood in its center. Shrubbery and bushes encircled the yard, giving it a cut off, secluded feel. On most nights, the courtyard was a good place to be alone, when peace and quiet was desired.

Tonight, this was…not the case.

Fog slowly filled the courtyard, spread so thick that it was impossible to see through it. Flashes of light emanated from its depths, from green to blue to red, allowing shadows of twisted, deformed creatures to be seen. They seemed to be performing a primitive dance, twisting and bending as they multiplied.

The fog then grew dark, and the shadows disappeared. The fog thinned, and from it crawled around four dozen lanky, spidery blue and black creatures, with long limbs and glowing yellow eyes. Like wolves, they moved from the center of the courtyard outward, slowly and methodically.

Hunting.

Scene Change!

"Come on. There they are, there's like fifty Unversed out there. We've just got to—" Serena began, gripping her bright red, flame embellished keyblade.

"No!' Hikari snapped, shaking her head. "Momiji has to give us the signal!"

"And how's she going to do that? She can't talk!"

"She's going to whistle, duh."

"Whatever. I'm tired of this. I wanna fight!" And with that, Serena bounded forward, into the throng of Unversed.

Hikari swore. There was no debating. She had to go after her.

Summoning her own keyblade, a red model lined with white that featured a unique hilt of motorcycle handlebars, she raced after her friend.

Scene Change!

She could already tell it was going to be a long night.

"What? Why is Serena out there already?" Stephan inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"Serena?" Michelle immediately rushed to look.

"Yeah, and Hikari…"

"I gotta go help Serena!" Michelle said, starting forward.

Stephan grabbed her arm, holding her back. "No! She's breaking the rules, we're not supposed to go till Momiji signals…"

Michelle scowled at him, then yanked her arm out of his grip and ran off.

Stephan sighed. "She forgot to summon her keyblade…again…" He muttered as he summoned his own rare double-edged keyblade, one end decorated with flames, the other with ice.

He then rushed into the chaos.

Scene Change!

"What the Hell—"

Heck."

"Sorry Ashley, heck, are Serena and Hikari doing out there?" Elizabeth asked, frowning.

"Stephan and Michelle, too…" Ashley noticed.

"Them, too? Ugh!" Elizabeth summoned her keyblade, a long, iron design, with no decoration and a blank, simple star dangling from the keychain. "Are they stupid? Don't they know we're supposed to wait for Momiji? It's no use, now! We've got to go help them!"

Ashley nodded, summoning her yellow and green sunflower-themed keyblade.

The two girls bounded forward.

Scene Change!

Momiji sighed, leaning against a lamp post. She and Piper had emerged from behind the bushes long ago, and were now watching their fellow keyblade wielders rush into battle.

"Weren't you supposed to give the signal?" Piper asked casually.

Momiji nodded.

"So…what should we do?"

Momiji scribbled on her slate for a moment, then revealed her message, "I dunno. I'm considering just sitting here and watching them."

Piper raised an eyebrow. "And let them have all the fun?"

The two girls held each other's gaze for a moment.

Then Momiji gave her best cab whistle, and they both summoned their keyblades and joined the fight.

Scene Change!

"Serena!" Michelle exclaimed as she approached her friend.

"Michelle, where the Hell is your keyblade?" Serena demanded, disintegrating one of the Unversed with her own keyblade.

"What? Oh, right," Michelle stared firmly at her empty hand for a moment, and eventually a dark grey keyblade, reminiscent of a skeleton key, appeared in her grip.

"What the Hell—"

"Heck!" Ashley called.

"—Are you guys doing?" Elizabeth finished. "We were supposed to wait for Momiji's signal!"

"I know that!" Hikari shouted as she finished off another Unversed. "But Serena—"

"And Michelle," Stephan added as he passed.

"—Decided to just jump in!"

"I can't believe you guys would start the party without us!" Piper put in teasingly as she slid in, taking out an approaching Unversed.

"Not our fault!" Stephan and Hikari exclaimed in unison.

Momiji rolled her eyes, grinning as she blasted an Unversed with a ball of fiery magic.

'All right,' Though Piper, 'So they missed the signal. I guess it isn't so bad, as long as nothing else—"

Michelle then cried out, "My keyblade!" As her weapon flickered out of sight. She stood frozen where she was, her eyes wide with fear as she watched the Unversed begin to crowd around her, having sensed her vulnerability.

"Dammit!" Piper grunted as she made a break for her friend, rolling as she slashed through Unversed. "Michelle! You told us you had solved that problem!"

"It only happens sometimes! Not even that much!" Michelle protested. "Not even that much! You can't blame me—" Her statement was cut off by a large Unversed tackling her from behind.

"Michelle!" Piper went to run to her friend, but was intercepted by yet another Unversed. "Agh! Ashley, can you—"

"On it! Wind!" Ashley exclaimed, holding her keyblade aloft, creating a whisking shield of air that encircled her body completely. She plowed through the crown of Unversed, burning and freezing them away. The ones she missed bounced off her wind shield. She eventually made it to Michelle, and pried off the attacking Unversed. "Run for cover, Michelle! Do it now!"

As Michelle ran for cover, Elizabeth looked around. "They're multiplying!"

"How can you tell?" Hikari grunted as she froze then disintegrated another Unversed.

"Because I know that I just killed like ten of them within the last few minutes, and the number still hasn't gone down!"

"Oh, great…"

Stephan slid in, knocking and Unversed off its feet, then promptly finishing it off. He wiped the sweat from his brow. "So what do we do?"

"Uh…I dunno!" Elizabeth held up her hands in defense. "We never came up with a battle plan!"

"You mean the battle plan we would have had if Serena hadn't just rushed in?" Hikari asked pointedly.

"Hey! This isn't my fault!" Serena protested as she ran by.

"Well, we've got to do something!" Hikari said, blasting another Unversed. "We're going to run out of energy soon! We can't fight forever!"

"Okay!" Piper suddenly exclaimed, "Everyone, try to kill at least ten Unversed, right now! Ten OR MORE, you hear? GO!"

All the young keyblade wielders (with the exception of Michelle) then proceeded to go on a, well, killing spree. Ten each was easy enough, and within minutes the deed was done and the courtyard was once again Unversed-free.

Elizabeth wiped her brow with an air of satisfaction. "Whew! Glad that's over!"

Suddenly, Piper groaned, grimacing. "Oh, no…"

"What's wrong?" Ashley inquired.

"Someone always says that right before something horrible happens…"

Sure enough, right after the last syllable of her sentence was pronounced, a loud, dense thump was heard from behind the group of teenagers. The keyblade wielders slowly turned around to find…

…The biggest Unversed they had ever seen, standing easily over two stories tall.

"See? I told you," Piper said weakly.

The Unversed let out an enormous roar that shook the earth. It seemed to sway under its own weight, examining its surroundings.

Ashley stared, open-mouthed, in horror. "Angels of grace, have mercy on us," She whispered.

Momiji held up her slate, which read, "Crap", summing up Ashley's statement in a word.

"All right, all right, don't panic, " Elizabeth held her hands up, not taking her eyes from the giant. "Does anyone have a plan?"

Her words were met with silence. Even Piper, who typically had not only plans A, B, and C, but the rest of the alphabet, too, was met speechless.

Elizabeth sighed. "All right. Let's just…attack it."

There was a general murmur of approval, and soon, everyone was fervently hacking at the Unversed's feet.

"Ugh…we're not…going to…do it…" Stephan managed through his teeth.

"Yes…we…will…" Hikari replied from beside him.

"No, you won't," A new voice boomed from behind them. A dark figure, his face hidden by shadows, rushed before them, placing himself between the Unversed and the teens, who had instinctively jumped back.

In a quick movement, the figure summoned a black, rustic rod-iron keyblade, turning it swiftly and murmuring a chant.

"Judgment!" He shouted, and a blinding light flashed, flooding the courtyard with white.

As it faded, the teens saw that all that was left of the giant Unversed was a pile of fine purple dust.

The courtyard was quite once more.

Sighing, the robed man stooped over, scooping up a handful of the glittery dust. Letting it run through his fingers, he looked at the teens.

The young keyblade weilders, including Michelle, who had scurried forward, bowed their heads solemnly.

"Master Archard," They murmured.

Master Archard sighed once more. "That's enough for tonight, kids. Let's go inside.

So, what d'you think? Sorry about the Scene Change! thing…I can't break up the chapter with spaces for some reasons…^/^