Disclaimer: I in no way own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy VII or Final Fantasy VIII. Don't sue; I'm simply an E5 in the USN, therefore I have no money. Ha.

A/N 1: Each chapter is written from a different POV. The identity of the 'speaker' is located with the chapter's name. Just trying to avoid confusion here. :)

A/N 2: This was written long before KH2 came out in Japan. Therefore the contents of the letter mentioned are sheer speculation and probably not close to being right. And no whining about it being 'Aeris.' Square themselves put out that the correct English translation for the name is Aerith. Deal, FF7 fanboys/girls. Aerith they say, so Aerith it stays. :P

-BEGIN FIC-

Chapter 2
The Keyblade Master – Landing

I groaned as I lifted my bangs out of my face.

It had been a bit of a rough landing.

"Hey, you guys alright?"

A few uneasy shifts and a hand landing right at my side, its huge white glove a stark contrast to the dark blue coloration of the ground and the water it splashed in, were accompanied by a groan followed by a confirmation that my companions were indeed fine.

"Gawrsh, that sure was a close one!" Goofy cheerfully mused even as he pried his large form off of my own.

Donald, having been firmly sandwiched between us, lifted his bill from my bottom with a disgruntled huff. "Wouldn't have happened if I were driving," he snarled, his gravely voice accusingly biting at my ears even as he hopped to his large webbed feet – right in the small of my back.

"Ow! Hey, watch it!"

"Sorry," Donald cackled. Yeah, right. I knew he wasn't sorry at all.

The duck finally hopped off of my back, letting me lift myself from my rather wet landing spot. I rose queasily to my feet and shook my head, flinging my unmanageable hair away from my eyes.

"Wow," I finally uttered as I got my bearings and located the site of my adventurous landing. "We really got thrown far, didn't we?"

Donald grumbled something unintelligible under his breath, even as Goofy just 'Hyucked' in agreement.

Finally the duck stomped his feet, all pretense at anger management lost. "You know, Sora, this only happens when you pilot! From now on, I pilot the gummi! Period!"

"Come on!" I fired right back. "Last time you piloted, we nearly got blown out of the sky by Heartless because you panicked and couldn't find the laser controls!"

"At least I can land us in one piece!"

"Assuming you can make it somewhere in one piece!"

"Uh, guys…."

"What!"

Goofy shrunk under our combined shout, his large eyes a bit miffed and his nose quivering. "Don't'cha think that instead of standin' out here arguin', we outta be goin' to the Castle?"

Leave it to Goofy to be the one voice of common sense among us. Looking down at Donald, I sighed quietly.

We've been fighting like this for ages.

And we've never, ever come close to an agreement on who should get to pilot the gummi.

Alright, I'll admit it! So it's a bit immature for a nearly 15-year-old teenager to be arguing to the death with a stubborn duck about such things! Still, the gummi's awfully fun to drive. And why should he get all the fun?

Just because I've crashed it a few times… one mistake (alright, four or five mistakes) and a guy never gets to do anything ever again.

"Yeah, you're right," I finally admitted, turning my gaze to Goofy for a few moments before flashing a bright smile at Donald and offering him my hand. "You get the gummi."

Oldest trick in the book when it comes to dealing with Donald. To end any fight prematurely, offer him what he wants and he instantly forgives you.

"Agreed!" he huffed as he shook my hand. "Now, let's get this over with. I don't really like this place."

"I don't have fond memories of it either, but every other place we've been to hasn't lead us to any new clues," I sighed quietly even as I looked at the daunting task before us.

Despite the fact that this was no longer the center of Ansem's attempt to draw the worlds completely into the Heartless' domain, Hollow Bastion was still a rather intimidating sight. If it weren't for the disappearance of a pair of very important people, I'd never have returned here.

We've been searching for what seems like forever, and we still haven't found the door to the light.

We haven't even found any real clues.

The letter that Pluto carried, much to our dismay, simply warned of coming danger that was equivalent to, if not directly related to the Heartless. It spoke of other doors and asked me, Goofy and Donald to find them and close them before it was too late.

Infinite worlds with infinite doors leading to Kingdom Hearts?

I wanted to give up.

However, there were two important factors that made me continue on, accepting that task.

King Mickey, who was so concerned for the worlds that he went headlong into darkness, seeking the light that is buried in its interior, searching for a way to release that light so if a door to that dark Kingdom were wrenched open light would flood out.

Riku, who helped me close the door to Kingdom hearts that existed on Destiny Islands, who sacrificed himself for all of us.

If I could find more doors to Kingdom hearts, there is a possibility I can find Riku and the King.

That's what lead us back to this nightmarish place. Without a single clue as to where the 'door to the light' that King Mickey urged us to find is actually located, without a direction as to where that junction at which we would meet the mouse would like, we were a bit overwhelmed with the magnitude of the task.

Donald had thought that perhaps revisiting those worlds we'd sealed before would help. It ook us a few days of waiting, but once the first star fell from the sky the barriers between worlds started to crumble and we were free to move with our gummi once more. We'd instantly set out for Traverse Town.

Not surprisingly, we'd found nothing there. Traverse Town was a quiet little place these days, not a Heartless in sight and many empty buildings lacking the residents who had been displaced by darkness.

The same was true with Deep Jungle. Atlantica. Halloween Town. Neverland. Wonderland. Even the Coliseum was lacking in Heartless competition (however, there was a plethora of strange mythical monsters. We managed to come out on top in the new-improved-hero-smashing Zeus Cup, but barely!). We'd visited Merlin and found that the Adventures of Pooh were still calm and sedate, nothing wrong with that world. For once it seemed that all was right in the universe.

However, stars were still falling. We just weren't reaching the right worlds in time to stop them from collapsing.

Once upon a time, I used to look to the sky and think that falling stars were lucky, something to be wished on. Now seeing a star fall brings a sense of dread and despair to my heart.

Hollow Bastion held the answers before. I could only pray that it would hold the answers again. A grim, stoic frown took my lips as I took my first step forward onto the odd watery landscape, my feet splashing but not sinking as I planted my shoes. Letting a sigh leak from my lips, I closed my eyes, focusing on the rather large task I had before me.

I remember what it was like last time I traveled the path to the massive castle's forbidden doors. Last time, when I had the Beast by my side and a wooden sword in my hand, Riku having taken the keyblade from me with a smirk and a sarcastic proclamation that I wasn't up to saving Kairi.

I'd never felt as I did in that moment ever before in my life. Some part of me hated him for taking the keyblade, for insulting me, for questioning my abilities. Some part of me hated me for recognizing that he was completely right. Some part of me asked why I wasn't capable of rescuing Kairi, as she was the center of everything, and why I wasn't fighting Riku to get my keyblade back. The rest of me was sulking miserably, realizing that Riku was more capable of saving her than I was – after all, he always won our competitions.

Then my heart kicked the crap out of my brain and told me to go after him anyway, that Riku wasn't really acting like himself and he needed a good throttling to return to normal and that Kairi needed me to come help her because Riku's behavior made me wonder if he was really in this to save her like I was. I'd picked up that wooden sword and ventured up the cascading waters with their odd floating rocks, the huge devoted Beast by my side protecting me.

I'd regretfully rejoiced when I'd met Riku for our second fight in that castle that now loomed before me. When his voice was overlaid with another, much deeper and lacking concern and emotion. When his eyes shined with a light that wasn't at all natural, their gaze piercing and ferocious as he glowered at me without recognition of our friendship. When he'd told me that he was Ansem, the seeker of darkness. It wasn't Riku I was facing at all. My best friend hadn't entirely turned against me. It made it a lot easier to fight him, to open up with all of my ability I'd harnessed over my adventures with Goofy and Donald upon him.

I grimaced internally as I remembered the pained look on his face when he'd collapsed after I'd defeated him in Hollow Bastion's Grand Hall, as I remembered the defeated glimmer in his eyes when I'd pushed the doors to Kingdom Hearts shut only a short time afterwards. I still cringed when I heard his voice within my heart whispering for me to take care of Kairi, his eyes soft and sad, his smile forlorn and hopeless as he knowingly committed veritable suicide by sacrificing himself to darkness without a keyblade to protect himself.

It'd been so very long since I'd seen them last. Riku's grim smile of despair, King Mickey's soft grin of far-fetched hope. But there's always the chance that they're hanging on even as Goofy, Donald and I are, that they're valiantly battling away the darkness that surrounds them.

It was that chance that I clung to, that hope that brought what cheer that stioll could exist despite the hopelessness of the situation to me.

There was still a possibility that I could save them. There was still a possibility that I could see Kairi again.

Those facts kept me going, kept me smiling.

"Well, let's get going," I said with a cheeky grin thrown back at my companions.

They both sighed, Goofy's big nose bowed and Donald's eyes staring with forlorn disdain at the inverted waterfalls that sent their liquid delivery cascading towards the proverbial heavens.

An hour and a half later, we'd finally collapsed at the massive gates that lead to Hollow Bastion's grand interior. Hey, what do you expect? We'd been running, jumping, inevitably falling and retracing our steps, forgetfully taking the wrong elevators and going the wrong way for… um… forget I started saying that.

"Never thought we'd get here," Donald huffed as he flopped on top of me, using my back as his couch.

"Hey," I warningly grunted, prying my nose off the ground I'd collapsed on.

Donald ignored me though, even as Goofy leaned his back on the huge wooden doors and wiped invisible droplets of sweat from his brow and grinned widely.

He fell backwards a few moments later with a yelp as the doors swung easily open. I bolted to my feet, instantly sending Donald onto his face and sprawling on the ground. My keyblade was quickly brought to my hand – even though we'd not seen any Heartless during our entire journey, one can never be too careful – the fact that the stars have been falling was proof enough that they still existed on this side of Kingdom Hearts' doors.

My grip tightened on Ultima Weapon as I slinked towards the door, stepping around Goofy and his Save The King shield. With a worried gulp I stepped into the seeping darkness that flooded the great halls, my long golden keyblade's haft leading my progression.

Moments later I was shielding my eyes with a sharp gasp as the torches that lined the walls and the brazier that hung suspended form the center of the massive entryway's ceiling burst into life, their warm light unexpected but welcome. I pried my hand away from my eyes, barely making out someone in pink walking towards me.

"Aerith?" I asked, my lips spreading into a wide and happy grin.

"Sora, welcome back," she politely greeted as she curtsied prettily before me. "Leon and Cloud are expecting you in the library."

"They're expecting me?" I asked, my brows arching in surprise. "I didn't know our visit was expected at all."

A soft laugh escaped her lips. "We saw the gummi landing. Cid recognized it as yours."

"Cid's here too!" I burst. Well, we'd avoided Hollow Bastion like the plague over these last months. Like I know who's all here.

"Yes," she replied even as she started walking away, leading us towards the massive library. "This used to be a portion of our world before Ansem's acceptance of darkness consumed our light. We all returned here when you sealed Kingdom Hearts."

She laid her hands upon the massive doors to the library, pushing them open with relative ease. Walking into the lofty room, she turned to face us and nodded. "They're upstairs. You know the way?"

"I can find it," I replied with a slight nod. After all, I'd reorganized this entire place last time I'd visited. After spending hours running around swapping books from one shelf to another to get shelves to move and new books to appear, one doesn't easily forget the layout.

My shoes echoed loudly on the floor as I walked past her with a smile, accompanied by the slapping of Donald's webbed feet and Goofy's massive shoes clonking along. It took us no time at all to make it to the stairs.

I grinned when we reached the small study between the bookshelves on the upper level of the library. The first thing that caught my eyes was the tall, lank form of the scarred stoic warrior who'd urged me throughout my time in Traverse Town, still clad in his leather jacket and form-fitting pants with his heavy boots and plethora of belts in their casual circumference about his waist, still wearing his soft white t-shirt tucked into those pants and Griever dangling upon his chest from the chain loosely wrapped about his neck, still wearing his thick black gloves and the straps buckled around his strong forearms. All that was missing was his gunblade – I couldn't imagine him running around in the library with it, anyway, so that didn't surprise me in the slightest. "Leon!" I greeted.

He silently nodded, his soft russet hair brushing over pale cheeks and thick lashes that concealed his eyes.

Well, some things never change, no matter how much time passes. Leon still apparently hadn't gotten any friendlier.

"So he really did arrive," another voice stated from directly behind us.

I gasped in shock, instantly spinning to face whoever it was that just spoke with my keyblade still in my hand. Donald flailed madly with Save The Queen, nearly clubbing me with the staff as he spun, mimicking me. Goofy just turned and grinned.

"It's you! Hiya, Mr. Cloud!" the humanoid dog greeted with an upraised hand, his shield loosely hanging at his side.

The spiky-haired blonde we'd faced so many times in the Coliseum's tournaments nodded before walking past us to stand at Leon's side, his tattered burgundy cloak fluttering dramatically behind him as his boots clicked lightly on the library's tiled floor and his metal banded armor added its own soft music with every move, that huge wrapped sword of his missing as Leon's gunblade was from the ensemble. Arms loosely falling to his sides, he looked at us without a word, his glowing blue eyes seeming to absorb and overpower every last shred of light that dared to touch them.

Hoo boy. Silent nodding in stereo. This was going to be a wonderful meeting.

"So…" I began, arching a brow as I looked at the two stoic warriors standing side by side, Leon with his hands in his leather pants' pockets and Cloud just staring unnervingly at us with his clawed-gloved hand clenched at his side. "Aerith said you wanted to see us?"

"You're here looking for them," Leon bluntly stated, finally opening his gunmetal gray eyes to look at us. "They aren't here."

My shoulders slumped. "Well, I kinda figured that," I sighed. "After all, no Heartless, no open door, right?"

They nodded in synch with one another.

Donald sweatdropped in perfect time with me. Goofy just grinned then politely took over the conversation as I was as lacking for words as our hosts were. "So, uh," he clumbsily began, "we're here to se if there's any clues as to what's goin' on. There're stars blinkin' out again, an' King Mickey told us to find more doors to Kingdom Hearts."

Cloud and Leon looked at one another, steel gray meeting glowing blue for a moment before they both returned their gazes to us. Cloud huffed quietly, his head bowed and his hair rustling with his movement. "Figured that's what brought you. However I don't know what you'd seek here. The door to darkness is still firmly locked."

"However," Leon quietly interjected, "there might very well be another threshold here."

We all stared at him, Cloud included.

"Uh, what'd'ya mean by that?" Goofy asked without hesitation while Donald and I still mulled over the impact behind his statement.

"I mean," Leon began, his hand moving to let his fingers pinch the bridge of his marred nose to fend off whatever headache our questions were beginning to incur within his skull, "that this world can be reached by gummi ships. The barriers are collapsing around it. That is the first indication that something is amiss. Unless a keyhole is open, the world is closed off from all others."

"Until that day when the door to light is opened," Cloud clarified with a nod, "when all worlds will be connected again." Turning to look at his partner in stoicism, he frowned slightly. "Maybe it's not as dark as you suspect.

"Nope, I'm afraid Squall's probably right," a new voice chirped.

"It's Leon," the leather-clad warrior groaned.

We all turned as one. Yuffie waved at us all before leaping with odd grace from the beams overhead and landing beside Leon, placing her hands on her hips and shaking her head.

"If the door to light were open, the walls that divide worlds would vanish and all would be connected. They're still plenty of worlds that aren't connected," she began, her eyes bright as she lifted a hand from her waist to gesture with her rapidly flowing statements. "And that wouldn't account for the falling stars, either."

"Many worlds, connected to darkness. It is the task of the keyblade master to find and lock tight the doors."

I blinked as Leon's quiet voice interrupted the ninja. "Huh?" I intelligently questioned.

"Ansem's research mentioned multiple doors."

"Multiple doors, because there're multiple worlds, right?" I asked, arching a brow.

"That's a fact. But perhaps he was also referring to multiple doors upon each world."

"So you're saying that there could be other doors on each world we can reach by gummi?" I mused.

Leon's simple nod was my answer.

Donald huffed as he looked at both Goofy and myself. "Well, you know what this means," he gruffly snarled.

"Yeah. Might as well start looking now," I stated, my hand tightening on my keyblade's haft.

"Gawrsh, we're gonna hafta wander all over this place again? An' this time, we don't have a clue where to start!" Goofy interjected, scratching his head.

Cloud and Leon looked at one another before nodding.

What the heck? Were they communicating telepathically or something?"

"I'll help you look in the lower passages," Cloud stated, stepping away from the other grim, silent figure in the room. "Leon will check the prints of the castle and see if he can find anything up here."

"You run into trouble, get back here," Leon quietly instructed.

"Hey, we can handle ourselves in a fight," I stated, my face more of a pout than a grim display of courage I'm afraid. "We defeated Ansem, after all!"

"I was talking to him," Leon huffed with a slight flick of his hand towards the blonde that was approaching us.

Cloud snorted, shooting a scathing glare over his shoulder.

Maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me, but I could swear that I saw a slight smile slide across Leon's lips before he turned his attention away from us and seated himself at the desk we were standing by.

"Give me a few minutes to get my sword and we'll be on our way," Cloud grunted, his voice an indignant growl.

Call me crazy. Something's going on at Hollow Bastion that's gone right over my head.

-tbc-


Alright. Editing's a pain in the arse. Hand-typed from the printout from work, so please excuse typos. Reviews are highly appreciated!

And in the interest of inflating my ego, I shall now merrily gesture towards that 'submit review' feature. Not necessary for continued work – necessary for expediting continued work. After all, I got lots-a-stories goin' right now that cry for attention. I've been procrastinating on some of 'em for over five years. One for an entire decade. (sweatdrop)


(breaks out Ansem plushie) SUBMIT! (cackle, cough) Pweez? (bats eyelashes)