AN: This story has two leads, Leon and Riku. This starts the overall story and with the next chapter it starts Sora and Riku's part in the story. The only pertinent author's note to this chapter is that each world has a Keyblade myth but they don't necessarily believe in it.

Kingdom Hearts: Spectrum - Prologue

Xehanort had mixed feelings about the Keyblade Master's statue. On the one hand, whenever he looked at it he felt a dim glimmer of pride that he couldn't quite place. On the other hand, having to babysit Cloud while he had his portrait painted in front of it wasn't his idea of a good time.

It didn't help that Even had foisted Ienzo off on him for the day, and so far he had stopped the brat from picking gum off the bottom of a bench, dropping his book in the fountain, and now the kid was climbing all over the statue.

Xehanort picked up a stray paper streamer forlornly. Cloud had already headed home, leaving him to clean up the mess of decorations they had used in the background of his portrait. This is what I've been reduced to. Glorified baby sitter in a lab coat. Ever since his research had been destroyed and he had been thrown out of the lab for conducting experiments on the heart, he had found himself "mysteriously" given menial tasks that Ansem claimed were of "grave importance." He had the distinct feeling that Ansem didn't want him anywhere near the labs. Ansem didn't trust him anymore.

"Ienzo, get down," he called as the kid tried to scale the statue's Keyblade. He turned to walk over to one of the clothing shop windows, staring longingly at the mannequin's comfortable looking clothes, cursing Ansem and his insistence on a "proper" dress code under his breath. Purple cravats were in no way proper for anyone, especially scientists who dealt with explosives. It was on days like this that he wished something, anything, would happen. Anything to spare him from having to go through another eventful day in Radiant Garden where absolutely nothing happened. Especially since now, he was cut off from the only thing that had given him purpose since he had found himself here months ago.

It was at that moment, almost as if called down by his feelings of depression and boredom, the window lit up, before a brick went flying past his head, smashed through the glass, and set one of the mannequins on fire. He stared, and for a split second his only thought was "I'm magic" until he became aware of the screaming and general chaos happening around him. He turned, and where the Keyblade statue had once stood, now only remained a smoldering pile of flaming rubble.

"IENZO!" He was the worst babysitter ever. He ran over to the statue, frantically searching through the rubble, shifting aside rocks and pieces of twisted metal, burning his hands in the process, chanting to himself the mantra: "Don't be dead, don't be dead."

"I'm not dead. I'm going to tell Ansem you let me climb on the statue."

Xehanort whipped around, and there the boy was, not dead and holding his book. He nearly fainted in relief at finding his charge alive and he ran to him, checking him for any injuries that he might have missed in his once over.

"You actually listened to me?" Ienzo never listened to him, Ienzo never listened to anyone. Ienzo was a little shit but, he was Xehanort's little shit, and tears of relief were forming in his eyes. However Ienzo wasn't paying attention to him; he wasn't even looking at him.

"I think someone's in there."

"What?" Xehanort spun around, eyes turning to the mangled remains of the statue. The child raised his hand and pointed. Xehanort followed the tiny finger and then stepped between the boy and the statue. "You stay right here, do you understand?" he asked, but really it was an order. Ienzo nodded and Xehanort quickly made his way back over to the smoldering heap.

The hand was small, which is what made him quicken his pace. Too small for a grown up.

Xehanort wasn't sure how he had missed it until he climbed back up and realized that the body was hidden under a twist of heated metal. He cast a hurried blizzard spell and pried the metal off, bracing himself for a possibly really unpleasant image.

It was better than he had imagined. It wasn't a child. He was probably about 15, the lanky phase of puberty. He was intact, which was surprising considering the amount of sharp metal around. He wasn't burned beyond recognition, an almost unblemished face except for a neat little scar that split the skin between his eyebrows. It wasn't one of the people in town he knew, which was a pitiful comfort but one he took slight solace in.

He was bleeding however, pieces of the statue stuck in him in unpleasant ways.

And he was awake.

Xehanort knelt down, making soothing noises as he untied his cravat and pulled off his lab coat.

"You'll be okay," he may possibly have lied as he reached to check the more serious wounds. The boy moved, snatching his hand out of the air and keeping it away from his chest.

"Wha-…" the boy started, voice raw.

"You've been… You're hurt," Xehanort tried to extricate his hand. The boy lifted his head to look down, making a distressed noise at the blood.

"I know it looks bad but you'll be okay," Xehanort continued to lie. "Can you tell me your name?"

The boy turned blue eyes to him, wide and unafraid. Xehanort stared back for a long moment before the boy answered.

"Squall."

AN2: This story is meant to have a lot of extras and these extras can be found at kh-spectrum (dot) tumblr (dot) com, which has a link to the livejournal posting of this story. Feel free to interact, ask questions and leave comments at any of these three places. We just hope you read and enjoy this as much as we are.