❧❧ Chapter one ❧❧

In The Ruins of Twilight Town

Slipping...slowly...into the darkness...the plunge is not so far, but takes so long. I feel myself slowly sinking, like into quicksand. Cold, black, helpless, useless...

And now he is gone, he who I tried so hard to save, he who was the only one who believe in me

he who was the only one I ever called a real friend.

He has fallen beyond the darkness - and I am falling in.

❧

She sat alone, the night he was taken. It was after the fight and after the questions, and after the tears. The room was as black as the sky, there was no lamp to light the room as there was no moon to light the sky. The only light to anyone was the stars that stood high, crying over the town. It was a comfort to see the star, for earlier there was nothing but those dark, menacing purple and black clouds. The clouds that brought the evil.

Most everything was destroyed now, the only two building that remained were the restaurant and the library; the two building stood next to each other. All other things were gone, the buildings and the roads, the old mansion and the sand lot. The town was left in ruins, so sad of ruins that the eternal twilight the town was left in was now gone, the town was left in an eternal night, a moonless night, the land of crying stars.

Everything left was crying, and Melody was the only person left in the town, sitting the ruin of her secret place. Her and Airin came to it often when the burden of the world was so heavy that they needed an escape. They knew that when one wasn't home or working, this is where they could be found. Melody came now in vain, hoping to find her best friend here again, waiting for her, so that he may take the burden of the world from her and make her smile, just once more. But that would be impossible, she had watched him as he willing went with those 5 menacing people in the black coats.

They came for her, as they left the restaurant. The sun was still out then. Airin was first to spot them and he immediately threw himself in front of her, to protect his best friend. They simply outstretched their arms. Airin was first to realize what they wanted.

"No, leave her alone." He said, but they did not move and their arms remained open, waiting for her. "Take me instead. I can't let her suffer, I made a promise she would stay safe."

Melody did not understand anything he said after that, there were many names she did not recognize and many crazy ideas, like other worlds and the kingdom of hearts. She remained quiet until he took those 5 steps in front of them and let the hooded figure in the center take his arm. She screamed.

"Stay safe, Melody." He said to her as a purple cloud came and swept him away. "I find you again soon."

And that was the last time she saw her best friend.

And the last time anyone saw the sun in their town.

And the last time she saw any other person in the town.

Just an hour after the last purple cloud destroyed most of the other buildings, the people began to gather their things. Slowly, they began to leave in one very large and spacious mass. Mothers and fathers and sons and daughters began to walk out of the gates and into the dark dessert of their world. There was not much to bring with them, only few items survived those clouds. They had the clothes on their backs and were left homeless, without food, and without water. There was no point to stay here.

And when they began to walk, she began to run. She ran out of the town and made a left around the town wall, until she came across a small break in the wall. From their she ran strait for a while. Until she came to the edge of a forest. Written on the trees were the letters AM and next to them was an arrow, but she paid no attention to them, she knew exactly where their tree house was. But he was not there, and she feared he would never be there again.

And there she stays, alone and sad. There were tear stain down her tanned skin, her green eyes now red and irritated. Slowly, she stood and took slow and crooked path to the window and looked out and up. The stars seemed so low to the ground, too low to the ground to be real. She was alone now, keeping her promise to Airin by staying in the tree house and staying safe, and keeping loyal to her home but not leaving the town she loved so dearly.

The slowly she sank below the window, crying again for she now felt the magnitude of the things she lost today, and she could not stand to lose them. Then, even through her tears, she fell asleep and there under the starry window she slept.

❧❧ Chapter two ❧❧

In the secret tree house

Dreams can seem so real, when you fall asleep in tears. It seems as though we live in yesterday, when I dream.

Then I wake to find today, and find you gone, and find the ruin of the place we used to love.

And find the darkness closing in.

❧

"Follow me!" he shouted as he grabbed her arm.

"It's very hard to follow someone with a blind fold on, you know that, right?" she shouted back as he began to lead her.

"Of course I know that, that's why I have your hand." He said just as he moved his grip from her forearm to her hand. She blushed a little bit.

"Ok, Airin, where are you taking me?" She said while trying her hardest to keep up with him.

"You'll see, just make sure you keep up, it's not that far. And I've been working on it all summer, that why we didn't play much." He said all too quickly.

Melody used her spare hand to pull up the blind fold just a little bit and found herself just outside the town running along the north wall. Airin blond head was just ahead of her as he ran in front of her. She smiled and pulled the blindfold back down over her eyes. Airin knew just how much she loved surprises, and since there wasn't a day this summer they had spent together, this had better be the best surprise she had ever had.

Here, they were young, only about 13 years old. This is when the world was good, when the adults of the town were just starting to hire them for jobs, when the old mansion in the forest was still haunted, and when it seemed like Seipher would always be a big bully. They were pure then, with their original appearances. Airin's hair was still a very yellow blonde and his eyes a pure sky blue. Melody also had a very blonde head of hair on her head. His voice had just begun to change into the deep speaking voice of men, and Melody felt herself become more of a woman with each passing day. How treasured were their days of youth.

Suddenly they took a sharp left turn away from the wall. Again Melody lifted her blind fold for a minute to see where they were headed. The forest was ahead of them. That's when Airin turned around and she found herself pierced with his blazing blue eyes. "Don't cheat." he simply said and stopped running. He stood her still and tighten the blind fold. Melody wouldn't be able to lift it again.

"Now, let's go." He said and took off running again. She knew when they entered the forest. The heat of the sun was gone and the cool of the shadows fell upon her. Suddenly they stopped and Melody ran straight into Airin.

"Ok." he said and moved behind her to take the blind fold off. Once it was gone, it took a minute to adjust to the light, but only a minute. She soon found herself staring up at a tree house.

"You built this?" she said, a wide smile on both their faces.

"Yeah, took me all summer too. Let's go up!" he said and began to climb the rungs on the tree trunk. Melody followed him. The house was a perfect size for the two of them. There was room on the walls to hang pictures and posters, and room for a chair or two. There was a window on each side of the house the roof was so tall that a 40 year old man could stand and even jump inside.

"See, I figured that we would be using this house even when we are older so I made it real tall. And there is a window on each side so no matter where you sit you can look out the window. And look over there." He pointed to the west window. "I put our nick names there so that no one would take our house." And sure enough underneath the window, carved into the wood, was "Sweet Song's and Sky Boy's Tree house."

"I remember when we got these names. When we met in school. I said you spelled your name funny, and you said my name was just funny in general. Then you said it sounded like a song and I said your's reminded me of the sky." Melody said, running her fingers along the wood.

"Yeah, I never did forget that, it made me never want to spell my name in public again." he said and Melody laughed. He always knew how to make her laugh.

Then the world began to disappear around them and Airin began to fly into the sky. Melody reached out to catch him, but he was going to fast. "STAY SAFE!" he yelled to her.

Then Melody woke up.

❧❧ Chapter three ❧❧

In a dizzy state of mind

When does trusting a stranger seem like the right thing to do? When you have told me to do it. They know your name, and they know mine.

Does that make them strangers?

They say they know where you are - and now I trust them with my life.

❧

A dream - it was nothing more than a dream. She was 17 again, with brown hair now, and her once young and smiling face was aged, yet no longer tear stained. Her youth and her best friend were gone now, vanished within the dream. The tree house still stood, though, and under the west window their names were still carved. Fade with dust in the cracks, but still there.

The sky was still dark, the stars were still shining and there was still no sign of the moon, or the sun. It was amazing the air did not turn cold, or that the trees and flowers did not die due to the lack of sun, but all still stood and grew and thrived. It was as thought they now lived in eternal hope, an eternal feeling of euphoria. The flower surviving in the darkness almost made Melody smile.

Almost.

It did make her think. It made her remember something she was taught in school - about what a man named Ansem believed. "All things begin in Darkness." It said "But they find the light in all as they grow." The rest read. She was in darkness now, but she would eventually grow out of the darkness, she would soon find herself in the light again.

And that's when she felt it, something hard, smooth and warm in the palm of her had. She looked down to find an unusual sword. It was light weight, long, and had strangely shaped jagged edges along the far end. The handle was colored in light blue and gold, the blade coming out was gold at the bottom, slowly fading into silver as it neared the tip. She could only think one word as she look upon it. "Key Blade."

"Well, it's about time it found you." Said a voice, it was cheerful and pleasant to hear.

"Because that means we will find you." said another voice, this one more deep and dominant. Quickly she turned her head and found two boys enter the tree house. She immediately backed up again the west wall, holding the blade out in front of her. The first boy she saw must have been the cheery voice. He had a pleasent air about him, with radian white skin and natural brown hair and eyes. He was shorter compared to the next boy to come, who was tall and strong, with white hair and blue eyes.

Blue eyes like Airin's.

"STAY BACK!" She shouted and shook the blade in a menacing manner.

The two boys looked at each other and smiled, then both held their arms forward and a blade appeared in their outstretch hand. A blade similar to Melody's. Then they laughed.

"No, we are hear to take you to Airin. He called on us to come and collect you." Said the shorter one.

"How could he, he's been taken by those men in black coats." She said, her blade still at the ready position.

"There are a lot of things you don't know about Airin." Said the taller one, taking a step to her, his weapon lowered. "But he contacted me personally and told me to call you Sweet Song. Then you should trust us."

Sweet Song. The only person who knew that was Airin. But she still did not trust them entirely. Voluntarily, she lowly the blade and looked deep into his blue eyes. "Then what was his name?" She asked him.

"Sky Boy." He said and held out his hand to help her up. After a minute, she took his hand and stood at full height. "I'm Riku." He said and shook her hand, which was still in his.

"And I'm Sora." Said the other, busting in front of Riku and catching Melody's hand before it fell. "And what you have in your right hand is the Sky's Hope keyblade."

"Sora, you're moving too fast." Riku said. "See, you were chosen to fight with that "

"FIGHT?" Melody said and her heart skipped a beat. "I don't want to fight? I hate when people fight."

"Well, then I guess you don't really want your friend back." Sora said. "I hated to fight too, but I wanted my two best friend back so bad that I would have done anything for them, and I had to fight a lot."

"There are a lot of things we don't want to do for our friends, but we do it because they are our friends." Riku said and slowly took her right hand, holding up her Keyblade. "And this just proves you are willing to do anything.

"It's called the Sky's hope. And it's your's and your's alone. Sora has one called the Wishing Star. And Mine is the Dark Sun. They are for us, special for us, and they show what is in our hearts."

There was a moment of silence, the same kind of silence one hears after a great secret has been revealed. It was like spilling your heart to total strangers without exchanging any words. She knew something about them just by what they held in their hands, and in return they knew something about her.

"Well, I think we'll have more time to talk about the Key Blades later, now we need to get you onto our ship and off this world." Sora said, pulling his arms behind his head in a relaxed position. "My lady, if you'll come with us." He said and gestured to the hole in the wood.

Melody looked from one, then to the other. They knew her name, her nick name that only one other person knew, and they knew her hearts desire, her reason to go with them. She smiled and took a long jump down the hole, hitting the leaf covered ground below. The two followed shortly and lead her to a small green circle.

"Now, Sora will take us to the ship, but be careful. This is going to feel very strange." Riku gestured to Sora, who was standing in the center of the circle, and put his other hand on Melody's shoulder. Suddenly the whole world was stretching and turning dark, it was hard to breath. Melody lost all sense, she forgot her name, her family, her best friend. Until the world turned light and began to un-stretch itself and she found herself on the inside of a ship. A very strange and brightly colored ship.