Chapter 1: Chris Talonflight: Crossroads

Well, this is going better then I expected. I walked through the high grass, my little Shadow Heartless friend Nudge trundling along beside me. I could see the crossroads from here. Now was the time that I would find out the way to Castle Oblivion, and probably lose all of my memory. But there would be a way out. There had to be.

Is it really only a month? Seems like a lifetime ago. I though wistfully. Exactly one month before, I had lived on Earth, a world separated from the worlds of fantasy. Then the Heartless had come, and had destroyed my world, sending it back to merge with Kingdom Hearts. I had fought my way through several other worlds, along with my friends: Ashley, Rodney, and C. Ashley was a Keyblade wielder, and she wielded a keyblade named Lurebreaker. Rodney had wielded the power of lightning, but he had succumbed to darkness and finally been killed by C. C wielded a guitar that could control water: a useful weapon.

At the end of my journey, we had encountered our greatest enemy so far: a man who called himself Johnson, who had wielded the power of darkness. I had faced him in combat at the end, and barely defeated him. He had died when he tried to summon the power of Kingdom Hearts. It had killed him instead. However, the door to Kingdom Hearts had been opened, and there was only one way to close it. Johnson had created a replica of me using power contained in the mysterious fortress known as Castle Oblivion, and the replica had rebelled against him and joined me. The replica agreed to be sealed inside Kingdom Hearts along with the King of Disney Castle, King Mickey. Their Keyblades, weapons that could lock and unlock worlds, combined with the power of my own keyblade, had locked Kingdom Hearts, and ensured that it could never be accessed from that point again. My friends Ashley and C had been returned to our world when the door was locked, because re-locking the door would cause all of the worlds that had been destroyed to return to their place, which was, in their case, Earth. Another friend, David Frostmourne, had been returned to his world of Disney Castle: or so I hoped, but I had since suspected that Frostmourne's had no true home. But it was the departure of my last friend, Yuffie Stromwind, which had troubled me most. You see, I was in love with her.

Yuffie and I had met the same day that I had arrived in a world called Traverse Town. We had developed a relationship, and I still bore her parting gifts: a legendary healing Materia, and her headband.

I looked at my hand, and summoned my weapon, Soul Eater. I had the power of darkness, but I did not use it to do evil as others had done. I used it for the good of the worlds. I had called on all my power in my final battle, and defeated my opponent. I glanced down at my companion, a small being about two and a half feet tall, pitch black, with round yellow eyes. He was a Shadow Heartless, the most common kind of heartless that was in existence. However, his powers far surpassed any normal Heartless, to the point that he and I were almost equal. Almost. I was a bit better. Probably because I could wield two Soul Eater swords and a dark keyblade: Last Chaos. He, unlike other heartless, did not crave hearts, but instead followed me like a puppy, and was a godsend in combat. His name was Nudge.

I sighed. Looks like I'm going to go to Castle Oblivion after all. I could see the approaching dark figure, and set off away from the crossroads to meet it.

"I already know what you are going to tell me." I yelled to him. I never had figured out who this was. There were only thirteen possibilities, but the hoods made it impossible.

"Indeed? Then my task is merely to point your way." The dark, hooded figure pointed down a path. I took the path. Far in the distance I could make out a huge castle. Castle Oblivion. I shuddered. I knew what I would find inside, but I had no choice but to make the journey. I wouldn't remember what happened here in the future: Once I reached the top of the castle, I would have lost all of my memories. I would have to make a deal with a girl named Namine to re-string my memories back together, while my Nobody, the creature that remained when a person became a heartless, worked with an evil secret society, until he eventually left it and I re-absorbed him. I knew also that I would run into the Replica of me here. There was also a chance that I would run into a replica of Ashley, or one of my other friends. Here was the place I would live my highest moments, as well as my lowest. I would see the violence and the gentleness. I also knew that the moment I walked through the door into Castle Oblivion, not a single person who had never entered the castle would remember me: it was part of Castle Oblivion. If you entered, you would only be remembered by those who had ever entered also. So that meant… it would be Replica and the King, definitely… Frostmourne, maybe… and my enemies, duh. Fine and dandy.

Then the picture of Yuffie forgetting all about me, even if only for the space of a year, came to me, and I felt tears sting my eyes. I'm so sorry, Yuffie.

I walked in through the double doors of Castle Oblivion. First floor. No one in the outside world would remember me now, until I awoke from my sleep in a year. Here began my journey.

"I've been awaiting your arrival." I looked at the figure standing in front of me.

"Go ahead." I broke through the formalities. "Sample my mind and let's be done with it! I may have forgotten some of my moves, but one thing I haven't forgotten is how to use my sword."

The hooded man sniffed. "Very well. Your choice." He dashed at me, and seemed to phase through me. There was a moment of dizziness, and I was back to normal.

"Tell me the rules of Castle Oblivion." I demanded. I couldn't remember the rules at the moment: I was too dizzy. Nudge nudged me.

"When you entered that door, you forgot most of your attacks and spells." He intoned. "In order to regain those memories, you will have to make your way through each of the worlds in this Castle." He held up a crown shaped card. "In order to progress through the doorways, you must get a card. Each card contains the key to the next room. In order to move up a floor, you must have passed through all the rooms to gain the pieces of the Floor Card, and you must have all of the cards in the aerial part of the castle to gain the Final Card. Everything is ruled by the cards. That is the rule of Castle Oblivion."

"Thank you." I nodded. Then I walked up to him, and took the proffered card to the next room. It had on it the name: Key of Beginnings. I nodded, and walked up to the door, and held up the card.

The door opened.

I stepped though.

A quite good start as I believe, but correct me if I'm wrong. This story is