"Emilee! Emilee, come on out!"
I peered around the corner of the hedge I stood behind, watching my older brother call out my name from the back porch of our house. In combat boots, jeans, and a light purple T-shirt, my hair kept back in a high ponytail, I easily blended in with the garden surrounding me.
"Emilee!!" he called again.
I smiled, ducking back into the garden. A black blur suddenly rushed by me, rustling ahead in the bushes. A small black creature with bright yellow eyes, crooked antennae, and a red heart outline on its chest sat nestled in the roots of a nearby tree. "What are you?" I asked. Of course, it didn't answer.
"Emilee!!" I could hear my brother still yelling my name, but I was more concerned with the small black creature feeling around the tree roots.
"Hey!" I called as the creature darted through a hole. "Wait!!" I knelt down to see where the creature had disappeared when my foot slipped and I fell. The hole seemed to go on forever, getting deeper and darker. Pretty soon, everything I thought made sense just suddenly…didn't anymore. I could barely remember my own name anymore, let alone if any of this was humanly possible.
"What the—?" I rubbed my eyes as a grandfather clock passed me by. Looking down, there was a small light getting bigger and bigger, brighter and brighter. My arms instinctively went up to cover my head as I saw the ground approaching quickly. My mouth opened and closed, no sound coming out, as my feet gently touched the ground and I regained my sense of balance.
A small noise distracted me again and I turned just in time to see the same black creature I'd been following slip through a small black door, an image of a heart covered in thorns emblazed on the front. "Wait a second!" I called after it, the door slamming shut as it ran in. I knelt down, but I already knew I was way too big to even think of getting past it. Sighing, I stood back and finally noticed the small table sitting against the wall.
"Drink me," I read, picking up the small bottle of pink liquid. I shrugged and downed the liquid, setting the now-empty bottle back on the table. I closed my eyes for a second, opening them again to find myself much smaller than I'd been a second ago. Thankfully, my clothes had shrunk with me and as I turned for the door again, I tripped.
"Ow…" I moaned, rubbing the back of my head. Behind my foot was a pair of keys. One was black and ornate-looking while the other was a bright blue color. "Weird," I muttered, pocking both up. The second I touched them, they glowed dully and the door behind me clicked open. "Might as well keep them." I crossed them behind my back and headed out the door, never noticing the small black creature following my every move.
My boots crunched on sticks as I walked, twigs snapping as I pushed them aside. The wind whistled past me, leaves blowing in its chilly breath.
"Look, look! She could be the one!"
"She looks like a weakling. How could she be the one?"
"She wields Oathkeeper and Oblivion! No one else has been able to do that yet!"
"Shhh!! She'll hear you!!"
"Who's talking?" I asked, turning to see if I could see anyone. "I know you're out there! Come out where I can see you!"
"She already knows we're here, Roxas. Maybe we should show her."
"Shut up, Sora!"
"Come on out!!" I yelled again, my hands reaching back to bring the two keys on my back out in front of me. "I'm not afraid of you!"
"Sure you're not. That's why you have Oathkeeper and Oblivion in your hands."
"Oathkeeper and Oblivion?" I asked in confusion.
Someone snorted behind me. I spun around to see a boy with spiky blonde hair in black pants and a black zip-up tanktop with a 4-pointed star as the zipper leaning against the trunk of a nearby tree. "See?" he asked. "She doesn't even know what she's holding, Sora."
A boy with spiky brown hair in black shorts with yellow criss-crossing straps with red pockets, a black tanktop with a red pouch, and black fingerless gloves walked out beside the first boy, a silver crown hanging around his neck on a silver chain. "Well, we didn't know what they were either until the king explained them to us," he replied.
"Who are you and where am I?" I asked, hands tightening slightly on the keys.
"I'm Sora and he's Roxas," the brunette said, the blonde refusing to speak to me. "And you're in Twilight."
"And those keys you're so oblivious to are the strongest weapons we have," Roxas said, not even bothering to look at me as he talked. "Oblivion," the black one, "and Oathkeeper," the blue one.
"Well, if you want them so bad, take 'em," I said, putting them back on my back again. "It's not like I care."
"Stupid girl," Roxas muttered.
"Well…" Sora stopped, cocking his head to the side. "What's your name?"
"I…" I tried, but my mind came up with a blank. "I don't remember."
"If you can't remember your own name, what can you possible remember?" Roxas scoffed.
"I have an older brother, my favorite place was the garden, and I followed a small black creature down a hole," I said.
"So you don't even remember your name?" Sora asked. I shook my head. "Well, then, I'll come up with a name for you! How 'bout…Lexy?" (a/n: I know it sounds weird, but I got called this a lot when I was younger)
"Sure," I replied. What was the harm?
"Okay, then, Lexy," Sora explained again, "the Keyblades are special. There are many of them in this world, but only one person can ever use it. I think that person is you."
"Why me?" I asked.
"Good question," Roxas muttered.
"Ignore my brother," Sora said.
"And if there are other…Keyblades, where are they?" I continued.
"At the Pink King's Castle." Sora pointed to the distant east, the very tops of light pink towers peeking over the tops of trees. "There's one special Keyblade. The Kingdom Key. With it, the one and only holder can have complete control over Twilight, locking away the darkness forever."
"Or releasing it forever, if that stupid king gets his way," Roxas mumbled.
"The Pink King believes that if he controls the holder, he can control Twilight, its people, and its Keyblades," Sora explained.
"He sounds me," I said, crossing my arms.
"He is," Roxas said. "Even though he can't control the Keyblades, he still found a way to control the Heartless into doing whatever he wants." I looked at him, a little confused. "The darkness."
"Most people follow the Blue King," Sora said, grabbing my hand. "Come on! I'll show you!"
"Sora! Hold up!" Roxas ran after us, the black shadows getting closer.
A foot soldier of the Heartless walked into the throne room of the Pink King's Castle, bowing low in front of the elegant throne. "Your Majesty."
"Rise." The Pink King leaned back in his throne, resting his chin in his hand, his shoulder-length pink hair falling over his hand. "What is it?"
"We've found the one who can control the Keyblades," the solder said. Well, that certainly got the king's attention.
"Marluxia, don't get too excited," a blonde woman standing next to the throne said, polishing the knife in her hand.
"Quiet, Larxene," Marluxia hissed, turning back to the soldier. "So, where is this…Keybearer?"
"She went with Roxas and Sora to see the Blue King, your Majesty," the solder replied.
Marluxia's gaze hardened, a light scowl coming to his face. "My idiot of a brother," he growled. "Axel!" A man with spiky red hair dressed entirely in black stepped into the throne room. "Find this girl and bring her back to me."
"But, my lord!" the solder insisted. "She has Oblivion and Oathkeeper with her!"
"Won't stop me," Axel muttered, running a finger over the edge of one of the two chakrams on his back.
"I don't care!" Marluxia yelled. "I just want her now!!"
"There it is!" Sora exclaimed. I looked where he was pointing and saw a beautiful castle of the deepest blues I've ever seen.
"That's where the Blue King lives?" I asked, the brunette leading me inside the gates. Sora nodded enthusiastically.
"Sora, Roxas." A tall man with orange hair stood guarding the door. "Hey, Lexaeus!" Sora exclaimed happily. "We'd like to see the king, please!"
"Of course." I just stood and stared as Lexaeus pulled one of the heavy doors, resuming his post after.
"Lexy, come on!" Sora grabbed hold of my arm again and I finally tore my gaze away from Lexaeus, following the twins into the castle. "Throne room is…"
"This way, Sor," Roxas said, turning down a corridor until he stopped in front of a pair of ornate double-doors of the deepest blue.
"Your Majesty?" Sora asked, leading me into the throne room with Roas following close behind.
"Sora! Roxas!"
Sitting sideways in his throne room with his legs over one arm of the throne, a blue guitar in his lap, was a blonde man in blue formal clothes, his dirty blonde hair styled in a cross of a Mohawk and a mullet. "And who's this?" The king stood up, handing his guitar to the girl standing next to his throne, her black hair hanging in her eyes. "Thanks, Xion."
"This is Lexy," Sora said, pushing me forward a little. "She doesn't remember her real name, so I call her Lexy."
"Demyx." The Blue King looked over to his left, a man in purple clothes with slate-colored hair covering the left side of his face standing with his gaze on the keys on my back. "She is the one."
"The one?" Demyx asked, cocking his head to the side. "What do you mean, Zexion?"
Zexion sighed. He grabbed the blonde's chin, directing his gaze to the two keys. "The Keybearer," he said, releasing the king's chin.
Demyx looked surprised before a smile broke out on his face. "The Keybearer, huh?" he asked. "So, you can control the power of the Keyblades, then, right?"
I shrugged. "That's what they tell me," I replied.
"I am the Blue King, Demyx," Demyx introduced. "And this is my most trusted advisor, Zexion."
"Quick question," I said. "Are you related to this Pink King Sora and Roxas talk about?"
"Unfortunately," Demyx replied. "Marluxia is my older brother. The throne was meant to be mine, but he took over wit his army of Heartless."
"He has the Kingdom Key in his castle, doesn't he?" I asked. Demyx nodded and I turned to leave. "Well, that's all I needed to know. Come on, Sora."