Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. It is the sole ownership of the Square-Enix company (a.k.a. now referred to by fans as Squenix) and Disney Interactive. Okay, scratch that. All I know is I don't own KH. Yeah, sucks to be us.

Pairings: RiSoRi, AkuRoku, SeKurao/ReKurao and among others.

Plot: A pack of Tarot cards was all the Sora had of his home, when he found himself in a strange, new country. One that would have an immediate impact on his new life.

Warnings: Before you start reading Chapter 2, please try and use google to search for "moomba ffviii". They are Final Fantasy VIII creatures which I find very cute and very appealing. Search for an image so you can have a clear picture of what they look like.

And thank you for the review...err, yeah. Cookie for the review. XD

Which is more true: You who were, you who are, or who you are to be?


"Cookie?"

Sora was highly perplexed at his rather weird and awkward situation.

Wasn't he just playing with Tarot cards Namine' had a few minutes earlier? It almost seemed like he was teleported to god-knows where this place was.

It was a very rural area. Fields of meadow and rice could be seen stretching for miles. The road was hardly cemented, and meandered unnaturally by the side of the fields. Over in a distance, Sora could make out a large pylon, which looked almost like the stone version of Tokyo Tower. Hell, the wind was rather blowing too hard for Sora to hear himself think. All that whoooosh going on…

And now…

This boy, who strongly looks like Roxas (and even sounds like him), was taking a cookie from the jar he was holding and offering it to the said blond. Sora's eyes instinctively narrowed at the other 'contents' of said jar. They suspiciously looked kind of like…charcoal.

This boy was no means, a source of wonder for Sora, as well. His clothes were rather archaic and old, like that of the workers of Edo in the old days. On his feet were wooden clogs and wrappings to keep the dust off. He wore a simple workman's coat, the blue material held close in his hip by a simple belt. His blond hair was partially hidden by a clumsy turban, which failed to hide it. Snatches and slivers of hair peeked out from the coarse cloth.

Sora had traversed the distance between them earlier, while the blond waited for him; head cocked sideways in confusion. He had meant to ask if the teenager knew of a nearby telephone booth, so he could call his apartment and ask any of the guys to fetch him…wherever he was.

But the boy scuffled with the jar he was holding. All thoughts fled his mind when the Roxas-look-alike nudged the 'cookie' in his hand. A rather black, and powdery cookie.

"Cookie?" He offered once more, his voice slick with boredom and curiosity.

Sora took the blackened lump, and bit.

"BLEEH!" Sora had no idea how he made such a rather undignified sound. "That tasted horrible!"

The Roxas-look alike remained unperturbed by his adverse reaction. He turned to his side, digging something out of his pocket. He held another cookie, this one all motley and powdered with white. He offered it once more to Sora.

"Biscuit?"

Sora's eye twitched, immediately shaking his head. Roxas-look alike stared at him, before he returned the 'biscuit' back in his pocket.

"Oh. I thought you were stupid."

He thought I was stupid? Sora was dumbfounded at that.

"But I thought the charcoal you gave me was a cookie."

Roxas-look alike's eyes widened. A bit surprised, and a bit amused. Skeptical, but surprised. A mixture of feelings that cannot be fully explained.

"You knew it was charcoal. You're not such an idiot. But why did you eat it?"

Sora looked around, still trying to comprehend wherever he was dropped into. He still didn't understand how all of this happened. Okay…so here he was in Farm Country, with absolutely no electric or telephone poles in sight…a country boy is offering me charcoal for cookies and…what else?

"So…" The boy prodded him with his unanswered question.

Sora answered silkily. "I've seen lots of different types of food. I just took the chance of trying out if charcoal here is different from charcoal back home."

Well, at least one of us has to be mature about it.

The boy cocked his head in another side, catching on the air of maturity Sora was trying (keyword: trying) to exude.

"You eat charcoal back in your home?"

Sora stared with pity and horror at the same time.

"No. I didn't say that."

"Oh." The boy looked taken aback. But he nodded, and turned away from Sora, apparently intent on setting out once more into the road.

"Wait! Do you know where I can find a telephone booth? I need to call home." Sora called out after him. The situation of him being lost was starting to catch up on him.

Roxas-look alike turned around.

"Home? Where is your home?"

"Tokyo…Japan…"

The boy was genuinely confused; his blue eyes reflected his inability to understand the name.

"Where's that? Is it there?"

Sora scratched his head. Okay, this was starting to sound not-like a dream he was hoping it would be.

"This Japan home…it's there, right? We are here, so your home must be there." Roxas-look alike sounded confident with his stick-thin logic.

"Where is there?" Sora asked, hoping that confidence wasn't a blind one.

"Japan is there."

"How do you know?"

"Your home is certainly not here. Then it should be there."

Oh great. Someone get me a degree in Philosophy. Sora rolled his eyes on cue.

"But where is there?"

"Japan is there."

Sora could feel the onset of a migraine fast approaching.

"Okay…okay. But where is here?"

Roxas-look alike stared at him, baffled. A frown was starting to evidently form in his face.

"Nuremberg."

Sora summoned all his will to remember such a place in the world map. Nuremberg…Nuremberg…that sounds awfully like some place in Germany…

"Are we in Germany?"

Roxas-look alike looked rather tired.

"No, I told you. Here is Nuremberg. Germany is there. You foreigners are stupid."

Sora was confused once more. He hadn't noticed a milkmaid coming up the road, leading a herd of goats to a pasture, no doubt. Well that woman was wearing something akin to that of Swiss milkmaids…

"But you're Japanese! Your accent and sentences are perfect!" Sora pointed out, rather perplex.

"I don't speak your tongue! You're the one speaking my language!"

The milkmaid noticed the confusion, and approached the two young men with courtesy. She looked too modest to be one though. She had blond curly hair in a ponytail, and she looked rather young though like a mother.

"fjatA hmaro akdfha?" The woman spoke kindly, smiling at both of them.

Eh…what?

Sora turned to Roxas-look alike, who immediately addressed her.

"Yagjke eoqptn mfetpaf." He pointed at Sora. "Epnagi eornl amfigpa angodpdf eitangff!"

The milkmaid was slightly troubled, and turned towards Sora.

"Can you please answer his question?" She spoke gently.

"Huh?" Sora took a step back, when the woman's voice suddenly spoke Japanese once more. "I understand what you're trying to say, but…I didn't know what you two talked about earlier. Your Japanese is quite impeccable though."

"Ara?" The woman blushed, before turning towards the other boy smiling. " Fwer yonaflag oenflah eiryfa."

The boy turned back towards Sora again. "What do you mean Japanese? You speak like we do."

He cupped his hands near Sora's ears, and spoke full volume.

"DO-YOU-UNDERSTAND-ME-NOW?!"

Sora frowned at him, glaring somewhat annoyed. "Of course, I do. I told you, you're speaking Japanese." God, that would have shaken his earwax off or something. Sora had the impulse to clean his ears out with his pinkie.

"Uhm…"

Sora turned towards the woman, who made the small sound.

"Excuse me, but what language was that? The one you were talking to Roxas with?"

"Roxas?" He pointed at the other boy. "His name is Roxas?" He was rather surprised, asking him directly. "You're Roxas?"

'Roxas' glared at him. "There you go again. You're speaking half-gibberish. Smarty-pants. Just because you know our language and we don't, doesn't make you the better one of us."

Will you look at that? He even pouts like Roxas.

Sora rubbed his temples now, more confused and annoyed than ever. The odds that he might be…or rather is, stuck in a parallel dimension where everyone he knew would certainly be there, just not the same person that he knew back home was certainly stacking against him.

"Listen…kid." Roxas' eye twitched at that. "I'm not talking your language. You're the ones talking to me in Japanese."

Roxas pouted, and carefully conversed with the milkmaid again. In their own frikkin language.' Sora could not explain what was happening right now.

"So much for writing my life story. It's probably going to get dumped into the fiction section." He groaned.


Chapter 2


Sora had never found his way back.

No one knew what a telephone was. What an airplane was. Where Japan was or even what it was!

It was almost like he was in another world!

But that can't be entirely true, Sora knew. Nuremberg had television, had refrigerators and such (though Sora wondered what powered them. Electricity was rather non-existent.)

And when he asked 'Roxas', whom he later found out, was rather bipolar; he'd merely get the same answer when he asked how the televisions worked, how some people flew over their heads, and how did the rock by the tree talk.

"It's that." Roxas spoke with no sense of humor whatsoever.

And Sora was back to square one on how to comprehend his situation right now.

Sora explained to him the concept of science and electricity. How fluorescent lights worked like the starlights they had here. How electricity powered their televisions and refrigerators. How Sora's world did construction using large cranes, heavy machinery and cement.

Not plant a seed and wait for it overnight to grow into the foundation of a house, and summon the earth to make the walls.

Sora still stared, ogling at the newly constructed house just by the corner.

It was rather strange too, since they had a lot of foreigners before; but Sora was the only one couldn't understand more than one person. Sora insisted he spoke perfect Japanese. Roxas countered everyone he talked to spoke perfect Japanese to him; but everyone he spoke to said his Nuem was perfect.

Sora asked him how that was possible.

"It's that." Roxas spoke the word as if it were the explanation to everything.

He had taken him in their family's sweet shop. It was a nice little dink, right smack in the center of the village, facing the town's monument (a single golden wing that was outstretched). Sora had thought it looked almost normal…

The shop looked ordinary. Tables and chairs here and there. A banner outside with the shop's name ("The Keyhole"), and sliding doors that allowed good ventilation for when the shop was too hot. The glass counter outside was empty of the treats it would have displayed on normal days.

"It's a rest day for everyone. We start work tomorrow in here." He answered, as if knowing that curious look Sora had for the emptiness.

Sora carefully inched across the area, poking tables and chairs one by one. He was rather careful now. He didn't want the next thing he sat on to blurt out that it didn't want his ass on their faces. (The rock near the road had courteously pointed that out to him).

"What are you doing?" Roxas peeked from upstairs, curious why the brunet did not follow him. He narrowed his eyes when he noticed the brunet poking around. "Hurry up here. I want you to meet my grandma."

"I'm coming." Sora made for the stairs, following the blond to the second floor. Roxas was already by the door on the far end of the corridor.

"Grandpa is inside." He whispered, like afraid to wake the dead. "He's physically blind, but he'll still see you. You'll know what I mean when you meet him."

"Oh I know." Sora rolled his eyes. "It's that, isn't it?"

Roxas smirked, grinning wider. "Well, you're not such a bad egg after all."

The blond carefully slid the door open, revealing a rather disconcerting sight.

There were spears everywhere, in every wall and corner of the room. A single beam of sunlight pierced through the darkness of the room, it's rays falling at the feet of the person who was sitting in a rocking chair at the center of the dark room.

"Wait…ARE THOSE MUSHROOMS?!" Sora harshly whispered, pointing at patches of mushrooms that grew in a circle around the figure in the center.

Roxas turned around, still relaxed. "Don't you have mushrooms where you come from?"

"We do." Sora scratched his head. "But they don't necessarily grow right smack near people's feet."

"Roxas?"

The boy fully slid the door open.

"I'm here grandpa." Roxas answered curtly at the voice. That sure did not sound like someone who was supposedly in his 'old age.'

No sooner had he said those words did the 'grandpa' suddenly tackled Roxas out of the door and into the hallway. The two rolled out in the hallway, dust flying everywhere from their scuffle.

"C'mon here, you little shit head!" The grandpa rough-housed the other boy, who was laughing as he was being assaulted with tickles. "You dare leave your blind, old-man all alone? I'll teach ya something about manners!!"

"Grandpa!" Roxas sniffled between tickles. "There's someone I…giggle…I want you to…haha…meet." He pointed a shaky finger at Sora.

Only when 'Grandpa' faced Sora did the poor boy finally lose himself and ran away from them, from the shop, from the village at full speed.


I don't belong here! My home! I want it back! Where am I? How do I get out of here?! I lost my parents, now I lost my home! What NEXT?! AM I GOING TO LOSE MYSELF?!

These thoughts ran incoherently across Sora's mind, as he darted through thick copses of trees and over bushes as he swept through the forest just as fast as a midsummer gale.

He finally stopped, his legs buckling at the immense stress of running a marathon without stretching. Muscles screamed in agony, Sora could almost hear their cries. They were drowning in their own acid, losing oxygen…losing energy…losing light.

He fell against a shallow puddle of soft mud; Sora's face was smeared by scum and by tears. He didn't care. He was losing everything around him. Might as well lose his sanity and his dignity as well.

"I…sniff…I want to go home…" He finally voiced out his wish, letting go of the frustration that he kept inside for so long ever since he arrived in this mysterious place. Panic and awe were one of the few things he knew wouldn't help him in this situation.

But level-headedness and logic didn't help him one bit at all. It only caused unnecessary stress and friction that made his stay in this place much more hard to bear by every passing minute.

He cried even harder. He didn't have to control himself. No one was here. He was all alone in this forest, wallowing on mud and nothing but self-pity.

He never remembered anything about his childhood save that he was an orphan nobody wanted to take in. He never knew the reason why. Even the social worker who handled his case didn't bat an eyelash at him. The kids at the center didn't socialize with him, kept towards themselves instead. Sora knew his childhood was rather wretched.

That was why he forced himself to grow up so fast. Then maybe he can leave that dreary childhood. Then he could start the life that he wanted. With friends. With family. With people that cared about him and people that he cared about.

Tidus was the first to notice him whenever the blond saw the older boy walk by, carrying a heavy load of groceries. His apartment was a few blocks away from Sora's. It was almost a weekly routine for the blond to take stealthy peeks at the brown-haired boy through their window whenever he would pass by.

Weeks passed by before Tidus finally introduced himself. And Sora was happy. For he never had someone talk to him so openly and willingly. Sora was a year older than Tidus, but age didn't play a role in their budding friendship. That day was also when Sora felt his burden was lighter. Not only because Tidus had taken part of the burden on his groceries, but the blond had taken the burden of loneliness from his heart.

That was how Sora knew the gang that was his circle of friends. Roxas, brother figure of Tidus. Namine, the mother of the circle and Vincent, the stolid father figure to all. They took him in, like how a younger brother takes in an adopted older brother with open arms and a warm, toothy smile.

That was the day when Sora felt the sun had truly shone in his life. That was the day he was thankful for having lived.

But everything slid to darkness when he came here. His friends disappeared into it. His light was overwhelmed by the nothingness that was creeping slowly towards his soul.

He could feel it. Almost feel it. The earth was digging itself around him, almost ready to swallow him. The sensation of falling, getting ready to plunge into a pitfall that never ended. A hole that led to a world that never was, and never will be.

Slowly…

Slowly…

Just a little more and everything will end…

He could feel himself losing air…losing sight…

A nice feeling to let go…

A little more…

Into a world where light cannot pierce…

Where everything would truly disappear…

Memories…soul…heart…

Almost…

Almost…

"MOOMBA!!"

"Gah!" Sora jolted up with a scream, fright reflected in his sky-blue eyes. A rather strong, childish voice boomed around him, drawing him from his melancholy and from his eager desire for a quick death.

Yes…he was asking for death…sweet, maternal death…the embrace of a morbid mother…so dark…so hard and cold and…

"MOOMBA!!"

"GAH!" Sora was jolted up once more, finally standing from where he had lain. Alright, that was just pure irritating. Once, he can forgive. Twice is just foolhardy and annoying.

Just as he was about to retort something nasty as to whoever was disturbing his "alone-time", he was greeted by a red, smallish, three-foot high, lion-cub look alike with a spiky mane, and wild green eyes.

"MOOMBA!!" The creature took a long glance at Sora before it jumped back, clapping its paws and wagging its fire-lit tail. It was dancing and clapping at the same time, cheering "MOOMBA!! MOOMBA!!" over and over again. Sora would have asked him nicely to 'cut it out' when suddenly the bushes around them erupted, revealing more and more creatures that looked similarly like the first one.

The first one, recognizable due to be the only creature with a tail that was lit by fire, led everyone to a bacchanal revelry. Sora could only hear the same word over and over again, but he could feel…ecstasy and rapture in the creature's voices.

The three-minute fiesta finally ended with a pound on the ground and a quick somersault in the air. Everyone regarded Sora quietly, though some of them had a happy twinkle in their eyes. Their mouths weren't visible, as they were overlapped by thick fur in their short snouts, so Sora couldn't know if they were smiling to see him…or smiling because they had food served before them.

"MOOMBA!!" The first one cried, obviously happy at Sora. Sora twitched an eyebrow, waiting for more. But there was an expectant look in the creature's eyes. And it took a minute of silence before Sora realized he was supposed to reply in turn.

"Uhh…M-Moomba?"

The whole forest suddenly exploded into full gear! Sora swore their shouts and cries and tears would be heard miles around. The lot of the creatures was hugging each other, crying into each other's shoulders, jumping lithely and rolling on the ground, playing with each other, knuckling each other, dancing around.

It was very obvious that their source of joy was he, Sora.

The cheers quieted down once more, the forest was as silent as the dead of the night.

The first creature, the one with the flame tail that provided the sole light in the dark forest, swished its tail in a pattern before him.

A circle.

A square.

A diamond.

A circle inside the diamond.

The rough drawing of a flame inside the circle.

And the air exploded in the pattern, and a miniature fireball erupted and hung itself mid-air. The light was strong enough to reveal to Sora there were at least thirty of them surrounding them and it.

"Moombas are happy! You have finally returned!" The creature spoke quite in a rascal-tone. His features were enraptured with joy, but serious at the same time.

"We have waited for so long, everyone of us waited loyally. We did no wrong! We did no wrong!"

Sora stared. Surprised. Stared.

"…w-what?"

"You are master above us!" Sora finally had the name for them, moombas. Figures they kept saying it over and over. "We, who were without form for so long, finally took shape when master has returned!"

Sora was quick to reject this implication. "NO! It must be a mistake! I'm not from here! I'm not from this world!"

Moomba leader cocked his head sideways. "Mistake? NO NO NO NO NO!" He shook his head violently, its spiky mane following suit. "We are wise! We do not make mistakes! We trust! We can be fooled! But we do not make mistakes! We trust our hearts so!"

"We are shadows until now. We remain in this forest for so many years! Suddenly, moombas took body, took color! We became whole! We are hollow no more!"

The leader stalked towards Sora, its tail swishing the fireball idly towards the side.

"We have form. We have touch. We cannot be ignored anymore." It brought its large paw towards Sora's dirty uniform, over Sora's wildly beating heart. The moomba's paws were soft, so soft; adorned by a miniature, blunt claws.

Sora regarded the Moomba before him. It spoke wisely; sagely. And yet those eyes that looked expectantly at him were that of a child, ready to be rejected.

He carefully brought his hand over the moomba's head, combing the spiky mane back, surprised at how soft and silky the turgid spikes were. Their red fur, copper red like drying blood, was soft and downy. Its strong body was nicely shaped, curves reaching downward towards strong hind legs fitted with large hind paws of their own.

The moomba dug its head into Sora's chest so suddenly, surprising Sora a bit. But he recognized the soft nuzzling, a very affectionate gesture.

Hesitantly, gently even…he slid his hands towards the moomba's back and returned the embrace.

The other moombas who stood at the side slowly grew closer, closer, closer; until no space was left for breathing. Sora was happy, albeit suffocating. Everyone loved him, for reasons he did not know. He felt loved, needed, once more.

He was happy.


The boy had spent the night sleeping with the pack of moombas.

Only he and the Moomba with the Fire Tail were awake, Sora unable to sleep, and the other was guarding each one against danger.

"Do you…" Sora broke the glass-like silence. "Do you have a name?"

The moomba was quite happy to answer. "Master asked my name! Moomba is Nanaki!"

Sora smiled gently, fondness in his heart for the moombas growing exponentially by every passing second. "And Nanaki…what are you? I know you are Moombas, but…where did you come from? Who are you? What do you eat? Why are you here? How did you know I was here?"

Nanaki sat up like a cat, tail swishing side to side. "Nanaki is Nanaki, and moombas are moombas. Moombas come from Master's heart. Moombas come from Master's soul. Moombas are Moombas. Moombas eat nut and fish, but Moombas have eaten none for sixty-eight seasons. Hunger came when we took bodies once more. Moombas are here because we felt Master's heart falling into dark."

Nanaki stretched his legs out and fell into the ground, like a cat writhing because it got tangled in a ball of yarn.

"Terrible, terrible feeling! Like…faaaaaaaaaaaaaaalling down and down and down. Drown, drown in dark. So sad and terrible. Like swirly water we followed Master's heart cry."

Nanaki sat up, regarding Sora once more.

"Master must not be sad anymore. Moombas feel Master's pain, far times more terrible. Master's pain will drown us. Master's rage will burn us. Master's darkness will kill all Moombas. That is why Moombas will do their best to keep Master happy."

Sora sat agape, feeling terrible at what he had felt. So they were dying because of him? He did not understand how they were a part of him, but if Nanaki said it was true, then it should be true.

After all, they understood exactly how it felt to wish to die.

"Nanaki? How did I create you?"

The moomba bristled, unsure how to answer.

"Master should know. Moombas only remember being here."

"You…just pop out because I said so?" Sora found it hard and inconceivable.

"Moombas do not know. Nanaki is the oldest, first born among all Moomba. Nanaki only remembers other moombas coming out from dark. From dark, moombas took form. Took body and fur and heart and soul. Moombas are living things. Moombas are moombas!"

Sora grinned at that, a bit proud. "That's right. Keep your chin up and be proud of who you are."

Nanaki whooped. "Moombas are proud race, just like Master! Moombas are Moombas and Master is JdEaobBdaj!"

Sora stopped.

"What? What was that name you called me?"

Nanaki cocked his head again, sideways to the right.

"Moombas are moombas and Master is SoEndHvneI?"

Sora picked at his ear, the sound of his name was blurred, almost ghostly and murmured. It was scary to hear, but what was wrong? It was like what happened with Roxas and the milkmaid.

"Nanaki, say it with me. Sora."

The moomba scratched its mane.

"It with me. Sora."

Sora asked once more.

"Tell me, what is my name."

"Master's name is FyElaPaTmoS."

Sora tried to clear his ear out, but to no avail. He understood every word Nanaki said, but he could not get his name right. Whatever names the moombas would call him.

"Can Master not hear his name?" Nanaki purred worriedly. "Master has doubts in his heart. Master is choosing not to listen to what Master's heart is saying."

Sora glanced sadly at his feet. "Can Nanaki tell me what my heart is saying?"

The moomba slid closer, bringing its lion-like ears towards Sora's beating heart.

"Master…master belongs here. Master's home is here. Master should be here. Master's other home is not real home. Master's duty lies here…Master's – "

"No." Sora cut in rather harshly. "My friends in that place are true, I know it's true! It cannot be a lie! It cannot be – "

He stopped, noticing the moomba suddenly whimpering in pain, clutching its own heart. Its eyes were closed, as if it's body was wracked in convulsions.

"NANAKI!" Sora embraced the poor creature. "Sorry. So sorry! I forgot…so forgetful…please don't be in pain…forgive me…"

The convulsions stopped, weary green eyes opening once more. "M-master's forgiveness heals. Nanaki will be fine. Nanaki is sorry for troubling master…"

"NOO! NO, no…it's…it's okay. Just…try and call me Sora from now on. It is my name now, because I cannot hear my other name. Maybe until the doubts are cleared from my head…until then, just Sora."

Nanaki nodded in his place against Sora's chest. He looked up to Sora's eyes, looking into its depths.

"Nanaki has never seen such eyes of blue. Like bright sky that could kill us before Master arrived. Nanaki sees turmoil and worry in those skies of Master's eyes." It silently shook its head, and dug itself further into Sora's soiled shirt.

Sora nodded softly, as the moomba closed his own eyes, sleeping in Sora's arms.

Once more, confusion fell on him like another layer.

He didn't want to think about anything anymore. Just sleep.

Tomorrow, he'd go back with Roxas to ask for an explanation. Ask for his help to look for someone who would be able to clear the confusion up.

Then maybe…

Maybe, just maybe…

He would finally hear his name from Nanaki's voice.


A/N: I swear when you look at a Moomba, the first thing that comes to your mind would be Akuseru/Axel. XD See? See? I thought at first that they look like Red XIII's descendants, but now, they look like Axel going through Pride Lands and getting chibified. XD So cuuuuute!