"May my Heart be my guiding Key."

"This world is just too small."

"Protect the things that matter..."

"I just gotta keep on believing."

"The Three of us, will always be one."

"You used to be too broken to talk back."

"My name is Master Aqua. Now return my friends heart, or pay the price!"

"Wait a minute! What happened to my home!? My Island!? Riku? Kairi?"

"One who knows nothing, can understand nothing."

"Giving up already? Come on Sora. I thought you were stronger than that!"

"You poor simple fools. You think that you can defeat me? Me, the Mistress of all Evil!?"

"You're wrong! I know now, without a doubt, that Kingdom Hearts is Light!"

"Take care of her."

"Sora you're lucky. It looks like my summer vacation... is over."

"Does he really have the power to wield the Keyblade? He is nothing but a boy."

"Do not misunderstand me. I shall have my revenge yet."

"Tell me. Why did he pick you!?"

"Heroes of the Light. I will not allow it to end this way. Not yet. If Light and Darkness are eternal, then surely we nothings are the same... eternal."

"W-we're back."

"You're home."

"Hypocrite. You are the one who has made your heart a prison."

"Master Xehanort!? We were right about you!"

"Let us finish this in the fated place! Once your Lights and my Darknesses have joined together!"

"All right! Olympus Coliseum, here we come!"

Falling was such a unique sensation, unlike anything else. Sora could feel himself slowly descending towards... something. He couldn't see when he opened his eyes as the entire place he found himself was completely taken by the Darkness. The descent itself was gentle and he felt almost peaceful. If not for the unsettling feeling that Darkness always seemed to emanate, he may actually feel comfortable with his current situation. He had a feeling he knew what was happening however, as ever since he was a child he occasionally found himself here.

As expected, his body began to shift downwards and his feet softly connected with the ground. Moments later, the darkness scurried away and took the form of countless white doves that flew from his position and revealed that he was standing on a massive stained glass platform. A familiar voice then spoke up in his mind.

"It is almost here. The time of the preordained confrontation is at hand."

"The confrontation?" Sora questioned, looking down at the platform and studying it. Like all the others, there was a central figure pictured in the center with their body hovering in a sleep like state. It was him, although a much younger version. His brown hair was still styled similarly to his current state and he wore a white t-shirt and red shorts. He was cradling a white orb close to his chest as he slept. "Is that me?"

"Those who sleep must be awakened to take part in this battle. This is your task."

"Where can I find the other Lights?" Sora tried. The voice never really answered his questions but it never hurt to try. He examined the rest of the platform. The background was simple black and there were various faces pictured around his young self. Riku. Kairi. Mickey. Lea. Roxas. A girl who looked like Kairi but with black hair with a large crack over her face. Namine. An older girl with blue hair. An older boy with long white hair and yellow eyes. A sleeping body who looked like a younger version of Roxas. Snow White. Cinderella. Belle. Aurora. Jasmine. Alice. Maleficent. Pete. Finally, there was a pale skinned boy with dark red hair and soft orange eyes. So many people he had opened his heart to and seemingly those he would soon meet.

"To do this, you will need the help of the Old Masters. Their legacies are scattered across the worlds."

"Old Masters? What Old Masters?" Sora questioned, growing impatient. He was not a fan of how cryptic this voice always was each time he returned to the strange place he found himself in. "Where can I find them?"

"You will not be able to save everybody. But you will try. You will always try to help those in need. This is your most prominent flaw but also the trait that will save the Worlds from collapse."

"That's... ominous." Sora muttered, frustrated that the voice was still not answering his questions. He glanced back down at the platform and frowned. This was raising so many questions. Who was the boy with the dark red hair? Where were the Old Masters and WHO were they? Why would he not be able to save everybody? And why was the platform showing himself sleeping, a younger version of him, when he was supposed to be the one waking everybody else's hearts up?

"Wake up!"

"Sora! Wake up!"

Sora's eyes opened and he jumped forward with a start, tumbling onto the floor with Donald Duck squawking in agitated protest as the teenager fell on top of him. They struggled to untangle their limbs from one another and Donald rose back to his face with a huff and a glare directed towards the boy.

"S-sorry Donald." Sora said, getting back to his feet and rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"Gawrsh, you really dozed off there Sora." Goofy said from his spot at a seat to their left.

"Doesn't mean you have to throw yourself on top of me!" Donald chastised him, folding his arms over his chest.

"I didn't meant to! Honest!" Sora raised his hands defensively before frowning. "Why did you wake me up in the first place?"

"We're here obviously." Donald scoffed, jerking his thumb in the direction of the view port.

Sora looked out the view port and smiled at the sight of the familiar world. He had traveled here many times since his first adventure out into the worlds and he was honestly quite excited to see the inhabitants again. They were all great Heroes and if they were allowed to break through the walls between worlds, he was almost certain that they would be of great help to him. Of course, they weren't and this was just wishful thinking. He frowned slightly, noticing that the world itself looked different. Bigger.

"Somethings not right..." Sora stated.

"It does look like its grown a bit." Goofy agreed.

"Bah the worlds change sometimes. This isn't a big deal." Donald rolled his eyes and settled back into his own chair and pressed a couple of buttons. "It probably has something to do with Master Xehanort's Thirteen Darknesses."

"Yeah... I guess." Sora replied uncertainly. "But the cloud of darkness isn't hanging over it. In fact, it looks brighter than ever."

"Maybe it's been fully restored to it's original state?" Goofy suggested.

"Who cares?" Donald said impatiently as the Gummi Ship began to enter the atmosphere of the world and they all gasped as a bright flash blinded them all.

"Ugh..." Sora groaned as he opened his eyes and looked around.

He was in a strange place. The ground was simple dirt and there were several marble pillars jutting upwards from the ground. As he studied the area further, he found that there were more pillars and a broken path made of the same white marble, while several lush plains, trees and bushes surrounded him. The sky was blue and the sun was shining down on him brightly. Donald and Goofy were nowhere to be found and it didn't seem like anybody was around for ages. Standing up with a grunt, the young Keyblade wielder shrugged and decided to just walk forward. However, no more than one step had his eyes falling on a familiar dark portal and without any hesitation he summoned the Kingdom Key. Dropping into his battle ready stance, his eyes narrowed as he looked upon the black coated figure.

"So the new organization is here too huh?" Sora stated, ready to fight off the newcomer. "Take that hood off and show me who you are!"

The tall figure stared at him for a few moments before a low chuckle escaped their lips, betraying them as distinctly male. His right hand slowly was raised but instead of pulling down their hood, the figure instead opened their palm and in a blaze of flame a weapon appeared in their grasp. It was a Keyblade with more jagged edges than Soras and a black and orange color scheme. The figure pointed his weapon towards Sora before letting it drop, a signature dueling stance that signified the stranger was challenging him.

"So you wanna fight? Alright then!" Sora yelled, jumping towards the figure and swinging his weapon in a wide arc.

The stranger raised his own weapon to block and the clash sent out a clear shock wave of power from the connection. Sora landed on the ground and offered two more quick strikes but each of them was parried by the mysterious figure who let out another chuckle. Jumping backwards, Sora decided to try a different tactic and threw his Keyblade in a spiraling motion towards the figure, making use of the Strike Raid technique. The figure batted this too away, as well as three more attempted strikes before Sora stopped and the two Keyblade wielders stood meters apart.

"Not bad." Sora complimented the male, inwardly cursing the fact he'd lost most of his strength during his time in the Sleeping Worlds.

"Is that all you have?" The figure questioned him. His voice was quite deep with an amused tone to it.

"You should know the answer to that, you guys are the ones who did this to me!" Sora accused him, a frown on his usually pleasant face.

"'You guys'?" The figure asked, tilting his head to the side.

"Dont pretend you don't know! That cloak proves you're with Master Xehanort!" Sora stated almost angrily.

"Xehanort?" The figure seemed angered himself by that comment. "I would never side with that snake."

"If you're not on his side, then why are you wearing that coat?" Sora demanded.

"Some old guy in the Realm of Darkness gave it to me right before he pushed me through that Corridor." The figure explained before jumping towards him with surprising speed. "Anyway, enough talk. Take this!"

Sora raised his Keyblade to defend against the sudden onslaught and barely managed to keep up. He batted away five consecutive strikes before the figure changed tactics and spun, kicking Sora in the ribs and sending him flying into one of the pillars. Without a moment to rest, Sora barely managed to dodge a slash meant for his neck and tried to counter attack with a strike of his own but instead had his Kingdom Key batted from his grasp. Eyes widening in surprise, Sora yelped as the figure roughly grabbed him by the throat and tossed him away. As Sora skidded to a halt in the dirt, the figure landed on the ground near the Kingdom Key and picked it up with his free hand, looking over it curiously. Behind him, the pillar he'd slashed fell to the ground and caused a cloud of dust to spring up.

"This design is so simple." The figure chuckled before continuing. "I guess it suits your fighting style.

"Sh-shut up!" Sora growled as he picked himself up and summoned the weapon back to him in a sudden flash of light.

"Whats your name kid?" The figure asked, letting his own Keyblade disappear in another blast of flame.

"Sora." The boy replied, eyeing the figure suspiciously. "Who are you?"

The figure regarded him silently before whipping off the coat in one swift movement. He had pale skin, green eyes and bright red hair that was as wild as his fighting style. He wore a white t-shirt that was cut off at his midriff revealing his abs and black shorts with armored boots of a black coloration with metallic orange accents. He had a grey belt that crossed his torso over his left shoulder which had a flat armored pauldron of the same color as his boots. His entire left arm was covered in the same armor with clawed finger tips and he had an X shaped scar on his right cheek. He had a smirk on his face and let his right hand rest on his hip.

"Master Ignis, at your service." The male stated, nodding his head politely.

"M-Master!?" Sora exclaimed, eyes wide with shock and confusion. "That's impossible!"

-Kingdom Hearts: The Third Chapter-