This is my first attempt at a story. I'm a big Kingdom Hearts fan, so I decided that I would try my hand at writing a story when this idea popped into my head. I hope you guys like it!

Please leave a review, whether or not you liked it or not! That helps tell me what I need to change or do better.

Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts belongs to Square Enix and Disney. I have no part in that ownership.

A small wooden boat made its way through the raging waves, barely keeping its course. Relentlessly rowing, a young, spiky-haired brunette sat soaked inside of it.

I won't let our raft be destroyed, Sora swore to himself.

They had built the raft themselves - he and his friends, Riku and Kairi.

Suddenly, his steady rowing faltered as a thought hit him. Riku and Kairi were both just as invested in the raft as he was, the former especially. If he was heading out to the island, then they probably were too.

And he was wary enough of heading out himself, in a storm this bad.

He began to pull up to the island.

Please don't let them be out here...

The rowboat bumped up against the docks, and Sora quickly stumbled out of his boat. Hurriedly tying his boat to a post, he saw two familiar boats already present.

"Kairi's boat... And Riku's!" He had expected to see them, but was still horrified to know that his friends were somewhere out in the storm. Wildly looking around, he tried to find them through the sheet of rain that blurred his vision.

He saw nothing except the waves and trees being pushed around by the wind, but in his desperation, he could've sworn that the shadows were moving, changing shape and shifting about of their own volition.

Sora sprinted across the wooden docks towards the island, just barely keeping his feet from slipping on the soaked boards.

Something moved below him.

He stumbled backwards on instinct, and whatever thing that had moved slashed upwards. Sora's abrupt halt saved him from a more serious injury, but the attack still managed to draw a small line of blood along his cheek.

Giving a short cry of pain, the boy scrambled backwards. Eyes wide in shock, he stared at the creature that had attacked him.

The monster was pitch black, with three sharp claws on each arm. It barely reached Sora's knees in height. Two short antennae protruded from the creature's head, were twin glowing yellow eyes stared directly at Sora.

Without warning, the shadowy creature lunged at Sora again.

"Gah!" The spiky-haired boy threw himself to the side, barely escaping another wound. The monster landed where Sora had been, but it seemed confused. Turning its head from side to side, it didn't seem to notice its victim lying just behind it.

For a second, Sora sat there stunned. He couldn't believe that the creature had so easily lost track of him. Quickly - before the small monster turned its head far enough around to notice - Sora clambered to his feet and dashed away, heading once again towards the island.

Running full-tilt along the dirt paths, Sora continuously looked around for his friends, hoping against hope to find them before the storm took them...

...or the monsters got to them.

The thought made him shiver, and Sora tried even harder to find either of his friends through the curtain of water that was crashing down around him.

Wait, is that...?

"Riku!"

As he cried out, Sora sprinted towards the figure he had seen. Pushing himself as hard as he could, Sora quickly skidded to a stop near the other boy.

"Riku, you're okay!" The brunette cried out, relief flooding him. Before the other boy could so much as turn around, Sora noticed something he had missed in his joy at having found his friend.

"Wait... Where's Kairi? I thought she was with you!"

"The door has opened..." Sora blinked.

"What?"

"The door has opened, Sora!" Riku turned to face the brunette. "Now we can go to the outside world!"

Sora unconsciously took a step back. The expression on Riku's face was too eager, too desperate.

"What are you talking about? We've gotta find Kairi!" Sora pleaded with his friend, but to no avail. Crazed grin forming on his face, the silver-haired boy replied.

"Kairi's coming with us!" He continued, voice starting soft but rising in excitement. "Once we step through, we might not be able to come back. We might never see our parents again... There's no turning back." Riku seemed to hesitate for a moment, but kept talking. "But this may be our only chance! We can't let fear stop us!"

Sora stared in disbelief. What was Riku saying? Abandon their homes? Abandon their world?

Anger rose up in his chest, but the other boy wasn't done yet.

Almost as a challenge, Riku raised his head to the sky and yelled, "I'm not afraid of the darkness!"

Sora followed the other boy's gaze, and gaped, all of his anger draining away. A massive sphere of darkness hung in the sky, crackling with violet bolts of electricity. Trees, planks of wood, and even chunks of the earth itself were being torn up and sucked into it.

Returning his gaze to Riku, he opened his mouth to speak only to once again be shocked.

Shadows were rising up out of the ground, tendrils of inky black that were swirling about Sora's friend.

"Riku!" Sora shouted in alarm. He dashed forward, intent on helping Riku.

An identical darkness rose to ensnare Sora. It grasped at him, slowing his feet and bringing him to a halt-

But Sora broke through it.

"Riku!" He yelled again, and grabbed his friend by the wrist. As he did, the shadows managed to catch Sora and envelop him just as they were doing to Riku.

"What...? Sora, what are you doing?" Riku's smile faded, and he instead looked confused.

Sora didn't know what the darkness was or what it was going to do, but his instincts were screaming that nothing good would come of letting Riku go.

"Saving... you!" Sora gasped out, and he gave a massive heave. Riku was tossed away from the shadows, falling to the ground off to the side. The darkness, having lost one of its victims, thickened around Sora and began to drag him down into the earth.

As he was pulled down and his vision began to darken, Sora stared straight at Riku. His friend was still laying on the ground where he had landed, staring at Sora's disappearing form in shock.

"C'mon, Riku," he managed to say, "I thought you were the strong one... Make sure... Kairi's... ok..."

With that, Sora's gaze finally turned black, and he fell into the darkness.

Riku stared in shock at where Sora had just been.

"What...?"

He couldn't understand. One second he had been ready to go to the outside world, and the next...

The next he was watching Sora be taken away by the very darkness he'd been about to give in to.

And Sora's last words...

"I thought you were the strong one..."

Sora was right, the silver-haired boy realized. Riku had been weak; ready to give in, ready to abandon everything... Even Sora and Kairi. He'd had no guarantee that they would be safe - no guarantee that HE would be safe by letting the darkness take any of them.

As if summoned by his thoughts, the shadows once again coalesced into tendrils of darkness that reached up for him. Gritting his teeth, Riku fought against its grasp. He wasn't going to give in - not this time. Sora... Sora had entrusted him with a task - one the other boy couldn't do because he had thrown himself into the darkness to save Riku.

"Make sure... Kairi's... ok..."

Snarling, he pulled even harder against the shadows that were dragging him downward. No matter how hard he struggled, though, the darkness was winning. It claimed his legs... his torso... his head... Only his arm remained above the ground, and it too was being dragged into the darkness, as he blindly grasped from something, anything to keep him from sinking into the darkness that had claimed Sora...

"Keyblade... Keyblade..."

Riku's sight turned from pure black to bright, blinding light.

Suddenly, Riku fell to his hands and knees, gasping for air. As he did, he noticed a strange object being grasped in his hand - the very hand that had been so desperately reaching upwards.

Shifting, Riku brought his hands up to look at the object.

It was... a key?

Or at least something that greatly resembled one.

His hand was clasped around its handle, with a rectangular golden frame surrounding where he held it. A long, silver rod extended out of one end, with a crown-shaped piece attached near the end. Dangling from the other end of the handle was a chain, with a small silver pendant swaying at the end.

Riku was startled from his contemplation of the mysterious object when he saw shapes forming in the corner of his eye. Odd creatures were sprouting up from the ground all around him. Each one was identical to the next, with small black bodies and bulbous yellow eyes. They looked like nothing he had ever seen before, but he just knew that they were bad news.

The boy tightened his grip on the key-like object in his hand. He didn't know what it was, but for know, it would work as a makeshift weapon.

Although... That voice said "Keyblade". Maybe that's what this thing is called?" For lack of a better name, Riku decided to use that for now.

One of the creatures seemed to grow tired of waiting, and jumped at him. Riku brought the Keyblade up in a slash, catching the shadow in mid-jump. To his surprise, the Keyblade sliced through the monster with almost no resistance, and it vanished.

Interesting... and useful. Riku smiled; if it could take these things down so quickly, then getting to Kairi shouldn't be too hard...

And then they could go find Sora, and everything would be ok again.

He began to advance down the bridge. The creatures seemed to take this as a signal to attack en masse, but with the Keyblade in hand, Riku had no trouble hacking apart any of the shadows that leapt at him.

It didn't take long for him to reach the island. When he did, Riku tried to think of where Kairi could be. She would've gone somewhere safe... Somewhere that she could hide...

That's it! As soon as he realized where she would've gone, he took off running, once again fending off the creatures of darkness. Thankfully, it didn't take long for him to reach his destination.

The minute he stepped into the secret cave, the endless stream of enemies stopped. To Riku, that almost guaranteed that Kairi would be inside. However, he stayed wary, keeping the Keyblade raised in front of him.

He entered the center of the cave, and came to a stop.

The red-haired girl stood unmoving in front of the door at the end of the chamber.

Kairi... Riku felt a spark of apprehension. He had opened that door...

Was... was he the one responsible for what had happened? Had he been the one to let those... things into their world?

He didn't get much time to contemplate it.

The door, which had only been cracked open before, was blown open. Beyond it, where only the wall of the cavern should have been, was an abyss of darkness that was sending out vicious gales of wind. Kairi went flying forward, limp as a ragdoll, straight toward Riku.

"Kairi!" He yelled in alarm, and dropped the Keyblade. Opening his arms, he tried to catch his friend before she got hurt.

Riku braced himself, but to his shock, when the red-head reached him, her limp body passed straight through him.

He tried to turn around to check on her, but without warning, a wave of dizziness struck him. Against his will, the silver-haired boy dropped to his knees. Darkness swallowed his vision, and he fell to the stone floor, unconscious.