For many years now, ever since I beat Kingdom Hearts 2, I fantasized about making my own continuation to the Kingdom Hearts series. Not long after I beat the second game back in the mid-to-late 2000s, I wrote my own version of Kingdom Hearts 3. I was much younger at the time, and I hadn't written anything before, so the way my story was written was more like a Wikipedia summary format, rather than a proper light-novel or script, and of course, it wasn't very good, especially the ending. I posted it on the IMDb message boards (back when that was still a thing), and the few people that read it seemed to enjoy it, with one person claiming that it was better than most Kingdom Hearts Fanfiction that he read at the time, though that wasn't saying much based on what I myself had read back then. There were very few stories like mine that tried to take themselves seriously and actually continue the series, instead they seemed to focus more on sexual content (particularly yaoi), or otherwise parodied the games. But the ending to my story was the worst part, as it did not do the story and the characters justice. I was going through a weird phase at the time, and it clearly affected my writing.

Now, after many years, while I have also come up with other types of fanfiction for other franchises, the one that persisted with me the most was Kingdom Hearts. Since the earlier games in the series brought about a powerful sense of nostalgia in me and made me fall in love with classic Disney movies all over again, as well as helped me branch out of Nintendo games and into a much bigger videogame world, those games had a bigger impact on my life than I realized. But, as more games came out, I had accepted that my version of Kingdom Hearts 3 would have to be changed, since it was apparent that Square Enix would eventually release the actual game. So instead, I changed my story into a whole "saga" that takes place after what was now being called the "Xehanort Saga". By this time, I had seen more shows, read more books, and played more games, so my mindset was more refined. I still wanted to pay respects to the source material, but I wanted to also change it up by having the characters grow more noticeably. Not only that, but any worlds that I include in my fanfic would be significantly more relevant to the overall story. No longer would it just be our childhood stories being replayed in an abridged format, or have an in-game sequel that barely shows the aftermath of the story that the game-world is based on. Instead, I'd try something more ambitious and actually change the background and lore of the franchises I plan on featuring in my KH fanfic so that they fit the Kingdom Hearts lore. I'll try and balance it so the franchises I include feel familiar with their source material, while also feeling fresh and exciting again, and grow in ways that hasn't been seen in their source material, but could be considered plausible by my readers. Whole character arcs and world lore would be molded into my Kingdom Hearts story while retaining elements of their original versions so that they remain recognizable. That way, they wouldn't just feel like fan service that pad out the plot, but would actually feel relevant, affecting and being affected by the Kingdom Hearts universe. KH 3 did something like that with the Big Hero 6 world, when Sora inspired the characters to improve their abilities based on how he battled the Heartless. I appreciated that small but noticeable attempt to actually change the characters in some way, but I plan on making those kinds of changes on a much LARGER scale in my story, not just with characters, but with the lore and background as well. Some of these changes you might like, and some you might not.

I won't force any of you to like where I plan to take these characters, all I ask is that you bear with me. I'll accept constructive criticism, especially if it helps me improve and/or add to my story, but otherwise, I have long-term plans on where my story will go, and in my humble opinion, I feel that's more than what Tetsuya Nomura did. Again, this is my opinion, though I'm likely not the only one who thinks this, but I got the feeling that Nomura was making stuff up as he went. I felt like he didn't know what he wanted to do for Kingdom Hearts 3, even though he saw the demand for it. So, to pass the time, he and the rest of Square Enix pumped out games to satisfy our needs in the short term. These games should have been great, but instead they were let-downs, focusing too much on plot-twists and convoluted subplots, and in the end merely served to hype up Kingdom Hearts 3 rather than progress the story in any meaningful way, with the exception of Birth By Sleep, but even then, that game would only contradict the original Kingdom Hearts game by retconning how and why Sora and Riku got the keyblade, and when combined with 358/2 Days, it diluted the character of Roxas, who was of my favorite characters in the series. But that's not the biggest issue I face now that Kingdom Hearts III has been out.

Based on how it ended, and that includes the epilogue and the secret ending, I came to the conclusion (which may be controversial to some of you) that I'll have to remake and post the final act of Kingdom Heart III, as I clearly underestimated how much the ending would affect my story. I predicted that Ventus would come back, among other important plot points, but I did not predict Namine, Roxas, and Xion as well. With Roxas and Ventus existing simultaneously, it complicated the story arc I had for my interpretation of Ventus/Roxas, and since Xion is back too, it further complicated the direction I wanted to take Roxas. As for Namine, I'm not sure why Nomura felt it was ok to have her and other Nobodies exist, when technically they're just aspects of "somebodies" like Sora and Kairi. Kingdom Hearts 2 implied, at least to me, that since Sora and Kairi were revived, Roxas and Namine were now whole again, so the idea that Roxas and Namine deserve to exist as their own entities makes no sense considering the logic in Kingdom Hearts 2 stated that defeating a heartless and a nobody makes a person whole again, and that the heartless and nobodies of a person are nothing more than incomplete beings of a person. So, Roxas, Namine, and Xion having their own bodies, as well as Roxas and Ventus exist at the same time as separate entities, just made things in my story more complicated, unless I addressed them ahead of time without changing my story too much.

If my story is to stay as it is, without making MAJOR changes that would only end up destroying what I want to do, I had to remake aspects of the last portion of the game so that it ties into my story much more smoothly which, as I realized while I was writing my own ending, re-writing the ending also made me introduce a few elements from my sequel series earlier than intended. This not only gives my readers an idea of what to expect for my series, but also helps Kingdom Hearts 3 tie into my series that much more smoothly, or so I'm hoping. I've done my best to make these changes as in-game friendly as possible. My changes also include how certain characters were treated in the game, and because of that, I tried to give them what you'll hopefully consider as "better treatment" than what they originally got.

For those of you who were satisfied with how Kingdom Hearts III ended, and what it's building up to, if you don't want to see anyone else but Nomura and Square Enix write the story, that's fine, feel free to follow where the canon story goes. For those of you who were satisfied with the game, but are willing to hear me out and see where I take the series, thank you for giving me a chance, and while I hope to entertain you, my primary goal is to tell a story that feels like a legitimate follow-up to Kingdom Hearts, not to pander to any low-tier fanfiction currently available online, nor any personal or political views that are currently trending. For those of you who were not satisfied with how Kingdom Hearts III (and maybe the series overall) ended with the "Xehanort Saga", and are hoping to either find some form of closure wherever you can get it, and/or see someone else's take on the series' direction in a way that satisfies you, again, I thank you if you do end up giving me a chance, and while I hope to entertain you, my intent is to share my version of events at the end of the game as well as after the game, so while you may not agree with everything I have to share, I'll take constructive criticism to help improve my story, but not change it entirely. For those of you who are writing your own Kingdom Hearts fanfiction, whether it's a sequel series like mine, or something else entirely, feel free to read my stories and see what you think. I'm not trying to out-perform you, I just want to finally take the opportunity to share the story that I've been keeping in my head for years, a story that has developed over time, just like you want to share your stories with us.

I will also feature characters outside of Disney and Square Enix, most of whom will primarily be featured after my KH 3 alternate ending, however, a small handful will appear in my KH 3 ending as well. If that bothers you, don't worry, I won't go bat-shit crazy and have characters like Master Chief from Halo, or Lara Croft from Tomb Raider show up. I won't go full Super Smash Bros and have Solid Snake and Simon Belmont team up with Sora, Donald, and Goofy. But I will feature characters and franchises outside the Disney/Square Enix umbrella that I feel are cohesive to the Kingdom Hearts universe. I don't want to say anymore about that due to the risk of spoilers for my story, but what I WILL say right now so that we're all clear: I will NOT feature Star Wars characters. I love Star Wars, but I feel its lore is far too big and complex to fit into what I have planned for Kingdom Hearts. I will, however, have story elements that are inspired by Star Wars, very much like what we've already seen in Birth By Sleep, but I will not have Luke Skywalker actually show up and fight alongside Sora and friends. If that bums you out, I'm sorry, but that's how I wrote my story. As for Marvel, while I will not feature the Avengers or Spider-Man (at least not in this saga), I will have certain Marvel characters in my sequel series. It'll start out as a small cast of Marvel characters that will help branch out of the otherwise anime-like tone that the games have set. Then hopefully, once I've gotten my readers comfortable with the idea of established superheroes appearing in a Kingdom Hearts story (as opposed to just Big Hero 6), then I will feature more comic-book characters in my next Saga, after the one that takes place after KH 3, and it won't just be characters from Marvel comics either. Again, if that bothers you, I only ask that you bear with me. I plan to introduce all these non-Disney and non-Square Enix characters in a gradual manner so that the concept grows on you.

Furthermore, while I won't address every single specific plot point that was brought up in the Kingdom Hearts games, I made it so that the plot points I DO address will imply how the rest of the canon will be affected in my story. I realize by now that I cannot just ignore certain things, because if you DO end up giving my series a chance, I figured you'd still want to know how certain plot points get resolved in my version, so I will attempt to ret-con certain elements in-universe so that it doesn't seem like the characters conveniently forgot any backstory, exposition, lore, or other characters that were brought up. And as I said earlier, this also means that I'll have to introduce certain elements of my Saga earlier than planned, but I will try to do so in a manner as in-game friendly as possible.

That's all I can say about that as far as what I want to include and what I want to change with the established canon. Anything else would only spoil my story, so if anyone still has any questions after reading my complete alternate ending for Kingdom Hearts III, I will do my best to answer your questions without spoiling what I have planned. I'll be blunt and honest with my answers, but I will also be respectful in the likelihood that you disagree with me on how the Kingdom Hearts series turned out. There are certain aspects I did not like, at all, but as I said, I can't just ignore them, so I will bring up as much as I can in my attempt to ret-con the lore and the KH 3 ending so as to pave the way for my story.

To anyone who is aware of the series Fate/Stay Night, and how its story has "alternate routes", which are sort of like alternate endings while also sharing the same base canon, if it makes it easier for you, you can consider my story an "alternate route" of sorts: where at some point in the Kingdom Hearts canon, my story diverges and takes on a route of its own, not completely ignoring what came before it, but not ending in the same way as before. With that said, I hope you enjoy my version of events, and that you look forward to what I have to offer in the future.