KINGDOM HEARTS III: Final Mix

Disclaimer: I do not own the story or characters featured in this story. They are the sole creation of the Walt Disney Co., PIXAR, Tetsuya Nomura, and Square Enix. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy.

WARNING! Contains story spoilers for Kingdom Hearts III, so read with caution if you haven't played the game yet.

Chapter 1: Prologue/Landing in Olympus

Many years ago, in a land by the Sea and Sky…

A young silver-haired teenager was sitting by a window, overlooking the vista of their world inside a castle-like fortress when he began hearing footsteps approach him. A similar aged young man with shaggy ebony hair came to sit down across from him.

"Not afraid about the Mark of Mastery, are you?" the first figure asked.

"Me?" the second boy laughed, "No way! I just want to say may the best man win when the test comes."

"Ever the optimist, eh, Eraqus?" the other man said to his friend. "I'm glad you came over, actually. There was something I wanted to ask you."

"And that is?"

"Have you ever heard the tale of the ancient Keyblade War?" the boy asked Eraqus, as they began playing a game on the chessboard sitting between them.

"Yeah, that's the Master's favorite story, Xehanort," Eraqus answered.

"So, then you know all about the Lost Masters; they're the ones who started the War." Xehanort continued.

"I can't say I ever heard of 'em."

"Heh, you can drop the façade, my friend," Xehanort remarked, seeing through Eraqus's feigned ignorance. "Those six Masters, Ira, Aced, Gula, Invi, Ava, and Luxu, were each granted a demand to follow after their teacher the enigmatic Master of Masters vanished, in the hope that they could maintain the light of their world, but mistrust and jealousy overtook their hearts and eventually that power of light failed them. It was as if the Master planned for the War to occur from the very start."

"How could you believe something like that?" Eraqus asked his friend, beginning to feel distressed with his friend's tone.

"Believe what you will, but sometimes I feel destiny is like a game of chess when you come down to it; an endless battle where all the pieces are guided to their proper place until their rightful time for action comes." After his ominous declaration, Xehanort made his move to capture Eraqus's king piece. "Checkmate. Now as you can see, darkness will prevail as the light expires; just as the tale foretold."

"Hold on, it's my turn now, isn't it?" Eraqus asked.

With a bewildered but bemused chuckle, Xehanort asked "By all means, be my guest, but what more can you do? There's no other path to turn to, so it's best you just surrender."

"You think that it's all that concrete, what destiny is? It's true, darkness has power, but unlike darkness, there's far more to the light than meets the eye. Who knows? You might be surprised by it."

"Oh, I sincerely hope so," Xehanort replied.

Time has passed, and in the vast reaches of space…

A lone Gummi Ship is seen flying through the stars, as the three passengers inside ponder about how they can reach their destination. It was only a matter of moments ago when a young boy named Sora returned to the Mysterious Tower of Master Yen Sid and was informed that because of the actions of sabotage by Master Xehanort in Sora's Mark of Mastery led to him losing much of his power. To remedy this, Sora was instructed to venture off with his friends the Mage of Disney Castle, Donald Duck, and the Guard Captain of Disney Castle, Goofy Goof to the world of Olympus Coliseum, where he could train with the true hero Hercules to earn the strength that could help him regain his abilities that he lost. But it had been so long that the roads to the worlds have shifted, and their normal routes wouldn't work for them this time.

"How're we supposed to get there now?!" Sora lamented.

"I thought you knew!" Donald rasped in frustration.

"Wait a minute, didn't Master Yen Sid say that Sora should trust the guidance his heart gives him?" Goofy asked, as Sora sat deep in thought once more.

"Hey, won't ya get serious about this?" Donald remarked.

"Gimme a break, won't you, Donald? These things take time." Sora rebuked.

"Well, we've been there a lot of times before; maybe picturing everyone with us like we're already there might help." Goofy suggested.

"Hmmm," Sora thought as he imagined flexing playfully alongside Hercules. "Sorry guys, I've got nothing."

"May your heart be your guiding Key," Goofy wondered out loud.

"Wha-?"

"Yen Sid always said that, right before we went off on our adventures. Or maybe I just imagined it."

"Do you remember that?" Sora asked Donald, who shrugged in response. "May my heart be my Key…" In an instant, a thought sprung up and Sora summoned his Keyblade forth, aiming it at the horizon ahead. Soon enough, a gateway opened forth. "All right! Olympus Coliseum, here we come!" The group then drove through, eventually approaching the home world of one of their oldest friends.

"Now the real question is where to land. It's not like our ship is very inconspicuous." Donald explained to the others.

"Well, that's a big word for you, buddy," Sora joked.

"I mean it though!" Donald snapped.

"Wait, you guys. What about that big city way over there?" Goofy asked, pointing to a clearing within range of a large city.

"That sounds good to me! Hang on tight, everyone!" Sora called out as he pulled the Gummi Ship in for a landing. After disembarking, the group began their trek towards the Coliseum, only to find their landing spot was further away than he expected.

"What? No fanfare?" Sora asked, as he made a trumpeting noise through puckered lips to prove his point.

"Sora…" Donald scowled.

"What, I overshot it, but no sweat. We need to find Herc!" Sora said in defense as he began marching upwards towards the mountain vista.

"Up there?" Donald asked.

"Well, yeah. 'Up' is the general direction," Sora added.

"Well Donald, I guess it's true then what they say about having yer head in the clouds." Goofy remarked.

"Exactly!" Sora remarked with a cheerful grin, as the group went on ahead. Little did they know that Hades was once again up to no good, with a new plan at work; for you see, it was prophesized in eighteen years' time, the planets would form into a perfect alignment and open the gates to the very prison that Zeus banished the Titans to from the dawn of time. After one failed plan upon another, Hades was determined to at last exact his revenge on his brother and become the rightful cosmic ruler.

After wandering around for some time and battling some Heartless, Sora and the others found themselves on a cliff overlooking the city.

"I think we might be lost," Goofy remarked, as Donald glared at Sora.

"We must've made a wrong turn somewhere…" Sora grumbled, before shouting out into the wind. "Hercules, where are yoooouuuu?" As Sora turned back around, he saw a black cloud of smog that smelled of brimstone waft towards the team. The smoke soon cleared to reveal a very irate Hades.

"Okay, I know for a fact I dotted my Is and crossed my Ts, so who's the yutz that's giving me a migraine by yodeling that Sunspot's name?" Hades growled before he took notice of Sora and the others. "Ah, it's just you three. Oy vey…"

"Even for you that's cold, Hades," Donald snarked.

"Remember that I'm capable of turning up the heat, birdbrain." Hades barked back angrily.

"Now hold on a moment, if you're here, then where's Hercules?" Goofy asked.

"BY THE GODS, WHAT IS EVERYBODY'S INFATUATION WITH THAT DOLT?!" Hades snapped, turning red with fury, before regaining his composure. "Y'know what, it's fine; I'll let this slide, because that schmutz will be out of my hair soon enough. And besides, I don't have the time tossing fire at you when the entire cosmos is waiting, with my name on it, I might add."

"Poor, poor, Hades," Sora remarked. "Thinking he can actually pull it off this time…"

Hades then spread out his arms as if summoning forth something, as he bellowed "Come forth, my Titans, and show me your power!" The clouds began to darken into a menacing dark gray as lava flowed down the mountainside, the earth shook violently, and a chilling icy gale overwhelmed the heroes. Eventually, the gale became too much for them, and they were flung into the air towards the city in the horizon.

"Ah, that sent 'em flying... right to where I was just coming from. Bah, whatever," Hades reflected as he turned his attention back to the Titans. "Wonderful work, guys. Now back to the old cosmic coup?"

"DESTROY ZEUS!" the Titans mindlessly bellowed in reply as they lumbered away, leaving Hades in his solitude until a dark corridor opened beside him.

"Well, who are the new pests?" Hades grumbled, before seeing the portly cat-like creature Pete and the devious fairy Maleficent appear in front of him.

"Hey now, what sort of way is that to greet old friends of yours?" Pete said to Hades.

"Ah, it's just you two. And we're not friends, okay? You never did me any favors as I recall. Keep your Heartless; I'm going with my original plan, so go on and vamoose. Happy trails!" Hades remarked to the two newcomers.

"The last thing I intended to do here was help you, but there is one thing I want from you. All I require is information regarding a distinct black box in this world," Maleficent explained.

"A black box, eh? Don't tell me you're after the one that Zeus left buried long ago."

"Perhaps. If I were, where would we find it?"

And that finishes this opening chapter. With the game now out and available to play, I'm having a lot of fun with the game so far, but I can't help but feel some aspects need some more filling in, so I'm adding some things in this continuation of the new Kingdom Hearts game. Again, there are spoilers in the story, so I just ask that you exercise caution while following this story. That being said, I hope you enjoyed it, and remember to leave a review!