AN: Wow. I can't believe how much attention this story has already gotten after just one chapter. I mean, I know that both series are a big deal and all, this is a much better turn out than I had expected for a story that was only one chapter long until now. Seriously, you guys are awesome, and since this new chapter is now posted, you can consider this a little reward for being so awesome.
[audience applause]
Yes, yes, it's all very exciting, but before we do anything else, I'd like to answer a few reviews really quick. First off, is a little response to the guest review from "Guest", the one who recommended a story to me. I actually have read that story you mentioned, along with it's sequels, and I have to say, Aqua: Heart of Darkness and the stories that followed it are very impressive. I'll admit I'm not much of a fan of how bitter sweet the endings of those stories have been so far, but I'm sure that it'll be worth it by the end of the series. Looking forward to the next update for Aqua: Heart of Pain gets updated. Though I have to agree with you, that is a story that the canon version of Aqua should probably avoid reading.
Aqua: Why? What's so bad about it? I mean, it just seems like a story where I turn into a bad guy or something, right? [goes to look up said story]
AN: AH! NO! [tackles and then ties up Aqua, Terra, and Ventus, very tightly] Trust me, I'm doing you guys a favor by not letting you read that.
Terra: Well why'd you tie me and Ven up?!
AN: You've already got an extreme hatred for Xehanort, and have already gotten pretty into the power of darkness. If you read that story, I'm afraid that you'll either get more hate for the guy, or you'll just get ideas on how to get even more power from darkness that we don't need you getting.
Ventus: Well what about me?! Why am I tied up?!
AN: Half of it is the same reason as Terra, at least in regards to Xehanort-hatred-levels, but the other part...well, you know how you and Aqua are a couple in both Keyblades of Future Past, and in Kingdom Hearts: Dual Keys? Well, that's not the case in this series, and I don't want you starting something out of misplaced jealousy.
Ven: But you don't even have an opinion between Terra&Aqua and Ven&Aqua pairings! [tries to hide discreet jealous looks at Terra ("tries" being the keyword)]
AN: I can see the looks you're throwing, Ven, and that doesn't mean we don't all know that you and Terra are likely to be competing for her affection all the same. I mean, you guys practically did so in an author's note in Keyblades of Future Past, so why should this be any different. Trust me, like I said, this is for all of your own good, in so many ways.
Moving on with reviews, let's answer another guest review, namely from the other guy who simply stuck with the name "Guest". Whether or not Sora will find out of if his girlfriend's heart is inside of him...
Sora: She's not my girlfriend!
AN: Yet. She's not your girlfriend yet. Anyways, whether or not Sora finds out that information before he does in the canon story line is still to be determined, but there is definitely a strong possibility that will happen. I do like that idea you proposed though on how it could happen, so maybe I'll take it under consideration.
Next is an answer in response to my good buddy "Dragon Rider 66". Hey man, good to see you reviewing another one of my stories. Seriously, always great to hear from ya. Anyways, in answer to your first question, yeah the Avengers will be traveling to other worlds with Sora, but it won't be the full team all the time, and there's also a strong likelihood that it won't always be one of the Avengers. It could end up being another Marvel hero as well. In regards to Sora's vision on how to use the Keyblade Glider, the guy's got Ven's heart inside of him, so...yeah, that's how that happened. Finally, no, it's not that weird that you're hoping this story will meet up with Dual Keys like how I had the stories of Justice Marvel and Code Avengers crossover with one another. In all honesty, I'm actually thinking of some ideas that might make something like that happen, at least in the timeline that Dual Keys has brought about.
Next to another regular reviewer, "Monkey D. Conan". Cool to see you too, bud. As I'm sure you've already guessed from the previous review, yeah, we'll be seeing other Marvel characters appearing here, and Sora's growth and abilities will see some "flexing" as you described it, partly because a couple of his teachers will be different in comparison to the ones he had in canon. The Avengers roster may see some alterations as well, but that won't be happening for quite some time. At least, not just yet, plus, as you've probably guessed from the cover image, Captain America, Iron Man, and Wasp are all going to be sticking with the team, regardless. There's no way this little trio of heroes are going to be excluded in any way, shape, or form. Yes, there will be Disney elements in here, but some of the worlds that Sora will visit will be different from the ones he traveled to in the first Kingdom Hearts game. Don't worry, we'll still see worlds like Agrabah, Olympus Coliseum, and Neverland, and Hollow Bastion and Traverse Town will make their way into here eventually as well, but I'm hoping to have Sora go to some other Disney worlds that he either didn't travel to in the first game, or that he has not traveled to in the KH series at all yet, so there's something that you can look forward to. Finally, Sora will most likely not be getting a mask, but he will be getting his KH2 attire, and as for a cool superhero name...I'm still brainstorming on that to be honest. I'm thinking of something with "Keyblade" in it though. That's pretty much going to be set for certain.
Finally, in response to both "Spiderfan626" and this story's first reviewer, "edboy4926", glad you guys are enjoying the story so far, and are so excited for the rest. Here's hoping that it will continue to impress.
Now, this chapter is not quite as action packed as the last one, and is actually a bit shorter as well, at least in my own opinion, but mostly because it recounts the events of Destiny Islands' fall to darkness, from Sora's point of view, and answers a few other questions that were raised in the previous chapter, either by the characters, or by you the readers. So, now that everything has been said, Avengers, to the chapter!...
I do not own anything from either the Kingdom Hearts or MARVEL franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story.
Chapter II
It took very little time for the group to relocate to Stark Tower, and the time it took to find Sora something more suitable to wear until they found him a proper replacement outfit only took slightly longer. At the moment, the spiky haired teen was wearing a pair of blue jeans that were held up by his belt, a white shirt that read "Stark Industries" across the front, and his crown necklace. He mainly kept his belt and necklace because they were the only parts of his old clothes that were still intact, and because he refused to part with his necklace, but the rest of the outfit was really just stuff that they had found here at the tower thanks to some help from Iron Man and his assistant, Pepper Potts. Why the armored hero had spare clothes like this at his company building, no one was really sure. Sora was honestly just glad that none of it was too baggy or loose on him, even if the pants were only like that due to his belt.
Now, they were all gathered together in Iron Man's office, with either masks or helmets off, and with all eyes on Sora, eager to hear his story. Before that though, Sora had insisted on getting some proper introductions to everyone. Sure he knew everyone's names and had a basic idea of what they could do, but he wanted something closer to a full story than just what he had gleamed from the chaos of the fight against Graviton, and from the time he had been on this world before that. Aside from Nick Fury, Ant-Man and Wasp did not really have much else to tell Sora, aside from learning that Wasp's real name was Janet Van Dyne. Hulk did not really share all that much either, aside from the fact that he was also a scientist by the name of Bruce Banner who specialized in anything relating to gamma rays, but he insisted that he and Banner were not the same person, so Sora was left thinking that the two had a kind of split personality or something along those lines. Thor on the other hand was very happy to share a great deal of his own story. It turned out that the blonde was from a world known as Asgard and was in fact the same Thor from the mythological legends that this world had. Not only that, but he also had a magic hammer that only he could use while others would not even be able to lift it. The most amazing fact that Sora learned about Thor was that he was actually his world's prince, but that was sullied a little by the fact that Thor was not on speaking terms with his father at the moment because he believed that he was needed here on Midgard, as Thor called it, more. Finally, there was Iron Man, also known to the world at large as Tony Stark, billionaire playboy inventor. In addition to building not only the armor Sora saw him using in the fight, he had also built a number of other suits, the first of which using only whatever was available to him after he was captured by terrorists a few years ago. That, coupled with the fact that Tony had his own company, was pretty exciting for Sora, but he did feel bad for Tony when he found out that the ARC reactor in his chest was not just something for show. In fact, it was the only thing keeping a cluster of shrapnel from clawing its way into his heart and killing him. Still, it did not diminish how cool it was that he had made the thing in a cave with what one could classify as a box of scraps. When Tony had finally finished telling Sora of his origins as Iron Man, all that was left at this point was for Sora to enlighten everyone on who he was, how he got the Keyblade, and why he was now here on this world. Sora could only help a little with those answers, and he did not hesitate to warn everyone that he had just as many questions about the whole thing as they did. None of them really seemed to care at that point, though. They were just tired of waiting to hear about the kid who helped them save the city.
So, with nothing left to stop him from sharing, Sora began his tale. "Sooo…my name's Sora, and I'm a Keyblade wielder…apparently. Nice to meet you all," the boy started.
"Yeah, we got that part. How about you tell us something we don't know already," Fury deadpanned.
"Like what," Sora asked.
"How about where you're from, how you got here, why you have a Keyblade…you know, important stuff that we can't figure out without some additional details from you," Tony offered up with a hint of sarcasm and a smile of good humor to show he was only half-joking.
If Sora had been offended or upset by Tony's comment, he did not show it, but instead just smiled and picked up where he had left off. "Well, I come from a world called Destiny Islands. It's a pretty cool place to live but it's also a really small world. Like, small enough where literally everyone knows each other, practically from the moment they were born. Don't get me wrong, the sun, the almost-always-clear skies, the beaches, and everything else about the Islands are great, but after living there for so many years and seeing nothing of much excitement, some people do sometimes start to think about ways to leave and see all the other worlds out there. My best friend Riku and I were no exception. Ever since we were kids, we wanted to go out and have real adventures, not just the silly kid stuff, and we had been planning to do so ever since we went into this cave behind the waterfall on the island we would always go to play on, and found a weird door that wouldn't open, even though there was no lock or anything."
"Um, no offense Sora, but I'm kinda wondering how any of this is relevant to your story about how you got here," Janet interrupted, her face showing that she really meant it when she said she was not trying to be mean. That was something that Sora really liked about Janet. Something about her just seemed so friendly and carefree, and she clearly cared a lot about other people, especially if they were her friends or people who were on the same side as her.
"I'm actually getting to that," Sora reassured her. "You see, even though Riku and I wanted to go and find other worlds, we never really thought for sure that there were other worlds out there until the day after a weird meteor shower had lit up the night sky. The next day, there was a new girl in town who had been adopted by the mayor. No one knew who she was, where she came from, or who her real parents were, including her, because she had no memory of anything before she had woken up on the beach. Her name's Kairi, and after we heard about her, Riku and I knew that she was definitely proof of there being other worlds out there. What we didn't expect was that after we met her, she would become our newest best friend, and ever since then, the three of us have been nearly inseparable. It was at that point that our little dream of going on an adventure to find other worlds became more of a mission. Now we didn't just want to find other worlds for the fun of it, but we also wanted to try and find out where Kairi's home was so that we could all go and see it."
"Aw, that's so sweet," Janet cooed, while the others could only smile in admiration for how Sora and his friend's childish dream had become a noble quest.
Sora could only blush at Janet's words, but he quickly shook it off, hoping that no one had noticed by the time he did. "Anyway…that's what really lead to how this all started, or at least, part of it anyway. You see, it really began a couple days ago when I had this really weird dream. It felt like someone or something was testing me for some reason, having me make a bunch of choices and answer some personal questions like what I value the most, what I want out of life, and what I'm afraid of. The thing that really sticks out though is that I also had to fight against those weird monsters that appeared on the Helicarrier."
"You are referring to the Heartless, correct," Thor asked, making sure he was understanding right.
"Uh, yeah. I guess so," Sora shrugged. "I know that they looked like weird, living shadows, just like some of the ones that were on the Helicarrier, but I didn't know what they were called." He then paused to commit the name to memory, just so he could stop referring to the monsters as he had been until now, and then continued from where he left off. "Nothing else out of the ordinary really happened until the next day though when I had gone into the Secret Place, that cave behind the waterfall I mentioned earlier, looking for some provisions that Riku, Kairi, and I would need once we set sail. We were nearly finished with the raft we were building in order to go out and find other worlds, and all that was left was just a few finishing touches and making absolutely certain that we would have everything we would need."
"Wait, wait, wait; hold on a minute. Are you seriously telling me that you and your friends were planning to go out and explore other worlds on a raft," Tony asked in disbelief.
"Yeah, pretty much. We didn't really think too much about how far we would be able to get when we had started getting ready," Sora sheepishly admitted. "Anyways, I had gone into the Secret Place to try and find some provisions, and while I was there, I stopped to look around at all the drawings that Riku, Kairi, and I had scribbled on the walls over the years. While I was looking at one particular drawing, I heard someone come in from behind me, and I immediately turned to see some strange guy in a brown cloak. I had no idea who he was or where he had come from, and with the way he was talking, it was pretty obvious that he came from another world. Some of the things he said though still feel a little strange to me."
"Strange how," Hank asked.
"Well…he said some stuff like how he had come to see the door to my world, and this one other thing about how my world had been connected, tied to the darkness, and soon to be completely eclipsed. He also went on to say that I didn't know what was beyond the door, and how there was so much to learn, but I understood so little. I tried telling him that I would get out and learn what was out there, but he told me that it was pointless because one who knows nothing can understand nothing," Sora recounted, his confusion by the stranger's words showing in his eyes.
"That does make a kind of sense, actually. I mean, you can't really understand something if you don't know anything about it, but I don't see why he would say it would be meaningless to go out and learn. After all, that's the whole purpose of learning: to gain knowledge and better understand something," Hank pointed out.
"Well I don't think anyone told him that. Either that or he was just being really cryptic just to get me mad," Sora shrugged. "It was actually at that point that I could've sworn the stranger had turned to look at that weird door in the cave, and for a moment, I thought I…felt something coming from the other side of it. I'm not sure what it was, but it gave me a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. When I looked back in his direction again, he was already gone; practically vanished the same way he had appeared, like he was some kind of ghost or something. I just figured I should forget about him and get back to Kairi and Riku with the stuff I had gathered. By the time I had gotten back to the cove, it was almost Sunset and Riku had already gone home for the day. Kairi mainly stayed behind to make sure I got everything I was expected to get, and she also took the time to work on a good luck charm made of seashells while she was waiting. Said it was to ensure that we would have a safe journey and always find our way back to each other if the three of us ever got separated."
"Why make a charm out of seashells, though," Hulk asked, honestly a little curious about that.
"Well, there's this old legend back home about how in the old days, sailors always wore thalassa shells because they were supposed to ensure a safe voyage, so I guess that was a big part of the reason why Kairi was making a good luck charm out of them. I'm still not entirely sure why she was weaving them all together in a star-shape though," Sora revealed with a shrug. "Anyway, after enjoying the sunset, Kairi and I headed home for the night so we could rest up. After all, we were going to set sail the next day, so we would need our sleep. That night though, a weird storm hit, and I immediately headed out to the island to make sure nothing happened to the raft. When I saw their boats at the dock, I knew Kairi and Riku had the same thought, but I didn't see them anywhere. All I saw were the Heartless, and this weird black thing in the sky above the island. I tried to fight back against the Heartless, but my toy sword wasn't doing anything to them, so I just ran for it until I finally spotted Riku."
"What about your other friend, Kairi? Where was she," Fury questioned.
"I didn't know. I had thought she would be with Riku, but when I asked him about it, he only said a bunch of weird stuff about how a door had been opened, and how we could go to the outside world now, along with how we probably wouldn't be able to come back and that we couldn't let fear stop us. When he said that he wasn't afraid of the darkness, I just knew something was wrong. I mean, sure, Riku's always been pretty fearless, but with the way he was talking, there was something that just didn't feel right. The next thing I knew, this weird black hole suddenly opened up beneath us and started to swallow us whole. I tried to reach out for Riku but something just kept pulling me away. When I started to see nothing but black, a bright light suddenly appeared before my eyes, and then Riku was just gone, and the Keyblade was in my hand. I knew Riku could take care of himself for the moment, so I turned to go and look for Kairi, and this time, when I attacked the Heartless, they went down easy, somewhat. It was like for every one that I destroyed, three more appeared in its place."
"Huh, kinda like HYDRA in a way," Tony muttered.
"Eventually, I found Kairi in the Secret Place, but something was wrong with her. The way she was moving, the way she talked when she said my name, even the look in her eyes made it seem like she was sleepwalking or something. I was about to walk over to her to see what was wrong when the weird door finally opened for the first time in forever, and released a powerful gust of wind that blew her right towards me. I held my arms out to try and catch her, but instead, she just passed right through me, and I was blown out of the cave. When I landed on the sand outside again, I looked around to see that my home had been reduced to nothing more than the small rock of land that I had landed on. The ocean, the main island, the small mountain in the center of our play island, everything was just gone, and the piece of land I was standing was just sitting there, floating in the air. I kept looking around hoping to figure out what had happened, only to see that the weird black thing that was in the sky had grown bigger and a giant Heartless that had a heart-shaped hole in its stomach was now towering over me. I tried to fight it, thinking that it would have killed me if I didn't, and that if I did manage to beat it, it would put everything back to the way it was. It didn't work though. Instead, the monster was sucked up into the sky, and a minute later, I was pulled in too. The only thing I remember after that was some muffled voices and then waking up on the Helicarrier," Sora finally finished.
Everyone became quite at hearing this, some of them already forming a theory on what had happened to Sora's home, and not one of them had an idea of anything good having happened. They did not want to worry the kid, but at the same time, they knew that not telling him would be a mistake. Eventually, Thor took it upon himself to break the news to him, and said, "Your tale rings of great nobility and friendship, Friend Sora, though I wish it did not have such a sad ending."
"What're you talking about? Do you know what happened to my island," Sora asked.
"Aye, though I wish I did not. From what you have shared with us, it would seem that your world has fallen to the Heartless," Thor revealed, sadly.
"What," Sora gasped in horror. "But then…what about my friends? What about Riku and Kairi?"
"…I could not say. It is hard to really know what fate awaits those whose worlds fall to the dark power of these wretched creatures," Thor admitted.
Sora hung his head in despair, feeling heartbroken at the news of what had happened to his world, and it must have showed a little more than he would have liked, because Janet was coming over to give him a reassuring hug and said, "Hey, don't worry about it too much. I mean, if you made it out okay, then your friends must have too. I'll bet they're out there looking for you right now."
Sora smiled to Janet, thankful for her reassurances, and even if it was a slim chance, he was glad that there was still some form of hope in regards to his two best friends' fate. Still, that left him with one burning question that he needed to have answered. "What are the Heartless anyway?"
"From our understanding, they're creatures that are supposedly born from the darkness in a person's heart, but they act completely devoid of human emotion, only acting on animalistic instinct and nothing else," Fury explained, shortly.
"You understand correctly, Fury," Thor confirmed with a grave nod. "The Heartless are among some of the most dangerous creatures to ever plague not only the Nine Realms, but all of existence. Born from the darkness of the heart, they seek nothing more than to plunge others into darkness, be it people or entire worlds, out of nothing more than base instinct. Though for many years, they have long since been sealed away in their native realm, the Realm of Darkness. Why they have now ventured into our own realm now, I could not say."
"Well, thanks for clearing that up," Tony remarked.
"How do we stop them for good," Hank asked.
"We do not," Thor replied.
"Give me five minutes, and I'll just smash them all," Hulk growled.
"You misunderstand, Hulk. While we can destroy the Heartless whenever they appear, we can no more destroy them for good anymore than one can destroy all evil forever. Just as every day is followed by night, there must always be a balance between light and darkness. The Heartless are merely the result of when a person's darkness consumes them," Thor explained. He then paused for a moment and said, "Though I do know of a legend that tells of how we may stem their advances and possibly rid our world of them at least for a moment."
"We'll take anything we can get at this point. As long as these things are around, the whole world is at risk, so if there is a way to stop them, now's the time to speak up," Fury informed the Asgardian.
"We must locate the Keyhole of this world," Thor replied.
"What's a finding a keyhole going to do," Wasp asked.
"Not a keyhole Wasp, the Keyhole. A mystical passage that leads to the heart of a world. If the Heartless were to locate it, they would be able to go inside and swallow the world's heart, drowning it into darkness, unless we find and close it first," Thor clarified.
"Okay, say I buy this magic mumbo-jumbo for a minute, how the hell do we even close this 'Keyhole' of yours," Tony asked.
"We do not. Friend Sora does," Thor said, earning a surprised look from Sora. "Only the Keyblade can seal the Keyhole of a world, locking it tight against any who would wish to use it for nefarious purposes."
"So I guess that's why this is called a Keyblade then, huh? So it can keep the Keyholes closed," Sora guessed.
"I'm pretty sure that the fact it looks like a giant key has something to do with it too," Wasp joked.
"You are correct, Wasp," Thor confirmed, not noticing the joke. "At least partially so. The first Keyblades were actually forged many ages ago, though no one truly knows why. Only that they possessed an incredible power that was unlike anything that had ever been seen before, including the ability to open or close any lock. More than that, legend says that there was once a time when there were a great many Keyblade wielders, until a dark age known as the Keyblade War had wiped a great many of them out. Now, there are very few remaining. In truth, Sora is the first I have encountered in years since the last three who had ventured into Asgard."
"And I'm guessing that one of them was Ventus, right," Tony asked.
"Verily. He and his friends, Terra, and Master Aqua proved to be valiant warriors who helped to save Asgard from a very serious threat," Thor replied.
"How do you know about this Ventus person, Stark," Hank asked. He had been wondering about how Tony knew about someone with a Keyblade for a while now. Sure, Fury had implied he knew of others with said weapon, but then again, this was Nick Fury, so that did not come as much of a surprise. The director of SHIELD seemed to know a little bit of something about everything. It only made sense that he would want to know more about how Tony knew about these people and their strange swords since from what he could tell, Tony either had not been born or was just too young to remember meeting such people at the time.
"I met him years ago when I was a kid," Tony explained with a fond smile. "He seemed to just show up out of nowhere one day, saying he was on a journey to make some friends while trying to help his two best friends. We hung out a little bit, but for the most part, he actually spent his time helping my dad with something that seemed pretty important. It wasn't until a few years ago when I had to make some modifications to my ARC reactor that I found out that my dad had managed to catch a former partner of his selling his inventions to terrorists thanks to Ven's help. Not only that, but when said partner tried to fight back, Ventus also saved both my dad and me from getting killed. I owe the guy both my father's and my life, so if there's any way I can repay him, someday, I'll gladly do it."
Everyone was touched at hearing Tony's little story, even Fury had to smile a little after he heard that, but the good mood was quickly ruined when Wasp glanced over to see Sora had a slight frown on his face. Confused as to why that would be the case, Janet naturally had to ask, "What's the matter, Sora? You look like something's bothering you."
Sora did not answer right away, but instead just crossed his arms in thought before he replied, "Well, I know already told you guys that I've never heard of any Aqua, Ventus, or Terra before, but for some reason, I suddenly feel like those names should be familiar for some reason. I can't really explain why though."
No one was sure what to think about that. It did sound a little strange in a way, after all. How could you think that a name sounded familiar when you had never even met the person who was associated to it before? It did not make sense, and things just continued to take an odd turn when Hank noticed something that made him frown a little. "Is something else wrong, Sora? You're…"
When Hank indicated his cheek, Sora immediately raised his up and was surprised to find that a tear was slowly sliding down his face for some odd reason. After wiping it away, Sora just looked at the hand that had done so and commented, "That's weird. I feel…really sad all of a sudden, like something really bad had happened, and my heart's aching. Kinda like how it would if you knew something bad had happened to someone really important."
"Maybe it's your heart's way of telling you that you did meet those people a long time ago. You probably just don't remember because you were too young or something, and somehow you later found out something had happened to them," Hulk suggested with a shrug. Everyone could only pause and gape in shock at the jade giant, surprised that he could have come up with an explanation like that. "What? Just because I'm all about smashing and getting angry doesn't mean I don't know something about that kind of thing."
Everyone backed off in response to that, not wanting to irritate the Hulk anymore than they likely already had with that previous reaction. Then again, none of them wanted to get the Hulk mad at all, so they were all quickly looking for a way to change the subject, while filing the odd moment of Sora's sudden shedding of tears away for a later discussion. Thankfully, one of them was able to think of something that they needed to discuss, and it was just as important, if not more so than that small note was at the moment. "How exactly did you even know anything about the Heartless, Fury," Hank inquired, his tone just as accusing as it had been when he had questioned the man about Graviton earlier that day.
Fury glanced around the room for a minute, studying each individual who was present, until he finally looked them all dead in the eye and stated, "Before I say anything, you should all know that this information is highly classified. Only a very few, select individuals even know about it, even in SHIELD." That got everyone's attention. Something that was extremely secret even among SHIELD agents could only mean two things. One, that the information was incredibly important, and two, that if it ever got out, the results could be incredibly catastrophic. When he saw that the heroes all understood this, Fury moved on to the actual explanation. "I had actually learned about the Heartless a short time after my last encounter with Master Aqua, and to be quite frank, I never would have known about them at all had it not been brought to my attention by another Keyblade Master. There are quite a few differences between this one and Master Aqua, but two the big ones were that he was more experienced than her, and that he was the king of his entire world."
"And this Keyblade King informed you of the Heartless because he had an encounter with them on his world," Thor inquired.
"No. According to him, his world is actually shielded against forces of darkness by some powerful artifact that has been around for ages. In truth, he had learned about the Heartless from the king of another world: Ansem the Wise, ruler of Radiant Garden," Fury corrected. "You see Ansem the Wise is a scientist who has long since been determined to fully uncover the mysteries of the heart, as he described it. That quest is what lead him to discover the strange, black creatures that could be described as 'those without hearts,' the Heartless. He and his apprentices had studied the creatures for the longest time, as well as the door that they came through, but eventually, he realized that these were things that should be left alone, scientific curiosity be damned."
"He just gave up on studying a strong clue to the answers he had been hoping to discover just like that," Hank gasped, his surprise shared by Tony. Being scientists themselves, they knew just how important something like that could be, and they had a hard time believing that Ansem would have just given up that easily.
"I doubt it was as simple as a drop of the hat, Pym, but you should keep in mind, Ansem was also the ruler of his entire world, so he had just as much a responsibility to his people as he did to his own scientific endeavors. Last I had heard, Ansem had shut down all of his research and experiments with those things, but he did keep a very detailed report on everything he did learn, which he sent me a copy of. I haven't heard anything from Ansem or the Keyblade King who introduced us since then. At least, not until the other day."
"What, did they contact you about some great impending threat that only a certain individual can stop," Tony asked, sarcastically.
"Actually, you're only half right, Stark," Fury replied, his gaze eventually coming to focus slightly more on Sora than the others. "It was only the Keyblade Master who contacted me, via a letter with that very warning. As I'm sure some of you may have noticed, a few stars in the night sky have recently gone out, and at a rate far too rapid and consistent to be considered normal. According to the king, that meant that quite a few worlds have recently fallen into darkness, and while the Heartless do hold some responsibility, they would not be able to do something like this without having someone to direct them. Someone who holds a great deal of darkness inside of them. The king then went on to say that he was going off on his own to investigate a way to stop this while sending two of his best and most trusted men out to find a specific individual that would help to ensure that this crisis was resolved. It was his belief that this person with a specific 'key' would be the one who would ensure our survival."
"I swear I was joking," Tony insisted, though he did join the others in gazing over to Sora as he summoned out his Keyblade to study it in contemplative thought. There was little doubt that the key that Fury said this king had mentioned could most likely be Sora's Keyblade.
"Well then you might want to stop, because this threat is very real, and if this particular Keyblade Master is worried about it, right to the point where he had told me he was leaving his world to try and find a way to resolve the crisis on his own, then I consider that well within reason to worry as well," Fury informed him.
"Just who is this Keyblade Master," Wasp asked, voicing the question aloud for everyone. It did not need to be pointed out that Nick Fury was not one to worry about anything to a great length based on the words of another individual, and given how the SHIELD director was talking about this person, it was pretty clear that Fury held him in high regard.
If it were another time, Nick Fury would have held it back, but he could not help himself this time. He just had to let out a small laugh before he replied, "Well, let me answer by asking you this: when's the last time any of you did anything relating to Disney?"
The heroes all glanced at one another for a minute with varying looks on their faces, until Wasp finally said, "Well…Hank and I recently attended a business party on one of the Disney Cruise Lines."
"I think the last time for me was when I last watched Lilo and Stitch, Toy Story, or Aladdin," Tony admitted. When he saw everyone looking him oddly he quickly defended himself saying, "What? I like Lilo and Stitch for the aliens, and I loved Toy Story as a kid, especially in the case of Buzz Lightyear."
"Hey, I like Buzz Lightyear too," Sora exclaimed.
"Really?"
"Yeah! I even have one of those limited edition action figures with the anti-gravity belt."
"Nice," Tony cheered, and he was soon sharing a high-five with Sora, only to forget that he was still wearing his armored gauntlet so it stung Sora's hand a little when they slapped together. "Sorry."
"Still, I'm surprised that you would like Aladdin, Stark. It doesn't seem like your kind of movie," Hank interrupted.
"Hey come on. Who doesn't love a good movie with Robin Williams in it," Tony defended, and everyone had to nod in agreement on that point.
"What is this…Disney, you are all referring to," Thor asked.
"It's the name of a massive entertainment industry that makes movies, cartoons, and other stuff. The company is so popular that it even has a few theme parks and cruise lines," Hulk informed the blonde.
Thor still seemed a bit confused, much to everyone's disbelief and slight horror. Sure, the guy was Asgardian, but considering how long he had been on Earth now, one would think he would have at least heard about one of the biggest entertainment industries ever. "We'll show you a few movies later, Thor," Wasp promised. She then looked back to Fury and asked, "But what does that have to do with this Keyblade King you keep mentioning?"
"I'm getting to that, right after you all answer this next question: out of every Disney character in existence, what's the one character that everyone always thinks of first whenever Disney is mentioned," Fury asked.
At that point, it suddenly clicked together for nearly everyone in the room, but that did not mean it was any less unbelievable. "No way. Are you seriously telling us that…" Hank started to ask.
"I didn't believe it at first either, even after he appeared before me. My first thought was that he was some kind of trick or distraction that was being used to hack into or destroy SHIELD, but he quickly proved otherwise. The Keyblade Master who introduced me to Ansem the Wise and warned me about this recent threat and the Heartless is none other than the mouse who started it all: Mickey Mouse, king of the world known as Disney Town."
Everyone was silent upon hearing that until Wasp suddenly burst out laughing. She quickly stopped though when she noticed that Fury was not doing the same and said, "Oh, wait, you're serious."
"He's Nick Fury, Jan. Since when have you ever heard of him so much as telling a joke," Tony asked. He then looked back to Fury and said, "Still, I'm having a pretty hard time believing that you're actually telling us that Mickey Mouse is real, and that he's one of these Keyblade wielders and a king."
"I actually saved a few pictures if you want to see them," Fury remarked, this time with a light-hearted tone that still somehow showed he was serious despite how much it sounded like it could have been a joke. "I received that note from Mickey a few days ago, and I was half-expecting his guys to show up some time soon. I didn't think for a second that the 'key' he had mentioned would appear first, though, or in the hands of a teenager who looks like he hasn't even finished half of High School."
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean," Sora demanded, feeling a bit insulted by that remark.
No one answered him though, because they were a little busy with processing what they just learned. It all sounded so out there and far-fetched that some of them could not help but wonder if working as the head of SHIELD had finally caused Fury to snap. On the other hand, others like Thor and Hulk had a much easier time believing these things, mainly because they had encountered a great many people and things that would be viewed as unbelievable to the ordinary, everyday person. Still, it was a lot to take in regardless. Disney characters being real, a magic, key-shaped sword that not only was the most capable weapon in destroying creatures like the Heartless, but could be instrumental in saving all of the worlds, the fact that said weapon had come into the hands of a boy like Sora, and a secret, magic passageway to a world's heart that needed to be sealed in order to keep it from falling to darkness? Even without Sora's story, you would have to be crazy to think that would not be a lot for anyone to process no matter who they were or what they had been through. Though it was made a little easier given what Tony and Thor had said about their own experiences with other Keyblade wielders.
Crazy or not, it still did not change the fact that everything they were hearing seemed to make it look as though Sora was apparently now the best hope at saving all of the worlds, and when you considered the fact that he was probably going to help the other, newly formed Avengers in recapturing the Breakout escapees while simultaneously looking for his missing friends, then it was easily understandable as to why he would suddenly feel as though he were under a ton of pressure, even from just hearing about all of this. It was not as though Sora did not want to do it, because if people needed him to help them, then he would not hesitate to do something to help. Even so, he still had his own problems to deal with, namely finding his missing friends, and given what he had heard, they could probably be here on this world or somewhere off on another world entirely, well out of his reach since he had no idea how he was going to get to any of them. It was all the more reason for the other Avengers to start feeling a little concerned about their young friend.
For that reason, it made sense that Wasp eventually had to ask, "So what now? I mean, are we really supposed to just drop all of that on Sora's shoulders and ask him to do all of this when he's got his own problems to deal with?"
"I'm afraid the choice is out of our hands at this point, Wasp, including his," Fury replied.
"I don't believe that. There's always a choice," Hank argued. "Why can't he just leave this to someone else, or even give the Keyblade to someone who would actually be willing to do all of this so that he could focus on what he needs to do? You said it yourself, there's already another Keyblade Master out there who's looking to solve the crisis."
"And how many other worlds do you think will end up like Sora's while we're waiting for Mickey to find his miracle? More to the point, we can't expect any help from those other three either. When I asked him about them, Mickey told me that Ventus was currently hidden away somewhere in what could be considered a comatose state because his heart had been shattered and was now lost somewhere between the realms, while Terra seemed to have simply vanished after the three's last encounter with a man who would've done much worse if he had been allowed to continue unopposed. And no one has heard from or even seen Master Aqua in years, so as much as I'd hate to say it, Sora's the best chance we have."
"That doesn't mean Sora can't give the Keyblade to someone else though," Tony pointed out.
This time, Thor was the one who answered instead of Fury. "The Keyblade is not something one can simply pick up and wield like a common sword, Iron Man. It is a power that must be either passed onto another by a master or that one must be chosen for, just as one must be deemed worthy to wield my hammer, Mjolnir."
Before anyone could voice anymore arguments against pushing Sora into this, the boy in question suddenly spoke up and asked, "Hey, don't I get a say in this?" After everyone had fixed their attention on him, Sora said, "I get that you guys are trying to look out for me, and yeah, I do want to find Kairi and Riku more than anything, but if other people need me to help, then I'll do what I can to help out. And besides, I'm already going to be helping you guys catch all the supervillains that escaped during the Breakout, so how's saving the rest of the worlds going to be any different?"
"You sure about this, Sora," Tony asked. Even though he was just a kid when he met Ventus, he could tell that the blonde Keyblade wielder had a great burden on his shoulders that no doubt came from being a wielder of that mystical blade.
"Yeah, I'm sure. I want to do my part and help keep others from losing their homes and friends like I did when my islands fell," Sora nodded.
That earned him a round of smiles from the other Avengers and Fury, all of them glad to see that Sora was so eager to help out like this, despite what had happened to him recently. More than that, it showed that the Keyblade seemed to have made a very good choice when it chose Sora to be its wielder. All the same, that did not mean that they were going to let his kindness go unrewarded, even if it was already an unspoken agreement that they would help him out with one of the matters he was dealing with, and Janet took it upon herself to make that clear to him on everyone's behalf. "Well, you won't have to do any of it alone, Sora. After all, you're an Avenger, just like the rest of us now, so we'll help you in any way that we can, both in saving the other worlds and in finding your friends."
When he saw the others all nod in agreement of this, Sora beamed in thanks to them all. After that had been settled, Fury saw himself out, promising that he would have some of his best people looking for the Keyhole of this world so that Sora could lock it up, while Tony asked JARVIS to start running a program to do the same while also running an ongoing search for Sora's friends after he got a description of them from the boy in question. He had to smile a little at how much more detailed Sora's description of Kairi was in comparison to Riku's, but he filed that away for a later time. With nothing else to do, everyone just left for the day, either to return to their own homes or to go to the temporary rooms that Tony had set up for them at Stark Tower. The latter of those mostly applied to Thor and Hulk though, as Janet had insisted that Sora spend the night at her penthouse on the grounds that she believed it would be a much better place to rest in comparison to what was typically a "boring old office building," not that Sora was complaining either way.
That night, sleep proved to be highly elusive to Sora, despite how gracious his current host was and how comfortable the accommodations he found himself in were. It was not because he was uncomfortable or anything, but he was still tossing and turning regardless. In truth, Sora was more restless than anything else. Not that anyone could blame him, given the day he had just had. Sure, he may have come off as seeming okay to his new friends, and he really did mean it when he said that he did not mind helping others out if he could, but the fact that the fate of not just one world but all the worlds was now apparently resting on his shoulders, coupled with the fact that he had no idea where either of his two best friends were was still something that left his mind very preoccupied. There were so many things that he was worried about regarding the whole saving the worlds thing, like what if he messed up, just made things worse, or flat out was not able to help at all, but the one thing that bothered him the most was the sadness at knowing what had happened to his home. Sure, Sora might have wanted to leave Destiny Islands and explore other worlds for as long as he could remember, but that did not mean he never wanted to see his own world again someday. After all, it was his home, where he was born and raised. Nothing could ever really replace that.
That being said, the only thing that he was more worried about was what had happened to his friends. Sure, Thor had given him some hope earlier when he said that there might have been a chance that Riku and Kairi had made it out okay, but he had no idea how good or bad those chances were. What if one or both of them had ended up just like the islands? What if they were on another world that he could never even reach, even if he was able to reach any other worlds right now? Sora did not want to know what he would do if either of those turned out to be the case. Riku had been his best friend practically since birth. More than that, he was like the older brother Sora never had. He had always been able to count on Riku for just about everything when he needed some help, like when dealing with the very few bullies that picked on him, or learning how to even fight with a sword at all, so what would Sora do if he found out something had happened to Riku? Then there was Kairi. Just the thought of the girl made Sora's heart skip a beat before becoming heavy with sadness and worry. The idea of anything bad happening to her made Sora feel worse than useless, and he hated that more than anything. If he was promising to find Riku that determination was easily dwarfed by how determined he was to find Kairi, no matter what it took or how high the risk. In this case though, his dedication to his friends was more of a double-edged sword at the moment, because it also served to remind him of how he could not do anything to find them at the moment except wait for some sort of word from Fury or Tony, and once again, he was reduced to tossing and turning in his bed while groaning a little every now and then.
His restless state did not go unnoticed forever, and it must not have helped that his frustrated groans were a bit louder than he had thought they had been, because at some point close to the middle of the night, Wasp crept into the room, clad in a black nightgown, a light yellow robe, and cute little bee slippers with a drowsy look on her face that showed she had been stirred from her sleep. "Hey, you okay, Sora," Janet whispered as she sat down on the bed next to him.
Turning to see who had spoken, Sora's face fell a little at realizing that it had been Janet, and why she had come in, prompting him to reply, "Yeah…I guess. Sorry if I woke you up."
"Don't worry about it. I was…was actually just going to bed a minute ago anyway," Janet fibbed with a yawn. Even if she was still really tired, she was still conscious enough to see Sora's depressed face through the darkness of the room. "Seriously though, are you sure you're okay?"
Sora was about to try and insist that he was again, but considering how concerned she looked, he had a feeling that he would be wasting his time trying to reassure her with half-truths and little white lies. "Not really," he finally admitted. "I mean…it's a lot to take in, you know? And besides that, I'm just…I'm really worried about my friends. I just wish I at least knew they were okay, wherever they are."
Janet could see how much this was bothering Sora, and she immediately scooted a little closer to give him a comforting hug. The boy did not have any problems accepting the kind gesture, as he was soon wrapping his arms around Janet in thanks, while the size-changer softly whispered, "Hey, it'll be okay. You'll find your friends before you know it. Just keep thinking positive, and do me a favor, keep smiling too."
"Huh? Why," Sora asked, honestly confused as to why she would ask him that.
Janet simply shrugged in response after pulling back and said, "I don't really know. I just feel like its a little weird and upsetting to see you looking sad, or without a smile on your face. So try and stay happy all right?" Sora nodded in response, doing his best to put on a small smile as he did just to show he was going to follow through, and with that little guarantee in place, Janet then stood up and offered him a hand as she said, "Come on. I think I know something that'll help cheer you up and get you to sleep a little better."
"What's that," Sora asked once he had let Janet pull him up out of bed and to his feet.
"Just something close to the final product of your new look. I've been working almost nonstop on it since dinner. We're still going to need to take it to Tony in the morning so we can give it all the bells and whistles that you'll need to make sure it doesn't end up like your old one, but I think I've got the design down to perfection."
That got Sora a little more excited, and he quickly followed Janet to the room in which she had been working on his new look. When Janet opened a closet to show him what she had come up with, Sora's smile became as wide and genuine as can be, and he was now just itching to just try it on at all, never mind testing it out against the next supervillain they faced.
The next day turned out to be like any other at the start, or at least as close to it as it could be given that the destroyed Helicarrier was still being lifted out of the bay while Damage Control Inc was hard at work repairing the damage to the city, but the calm was soon disturbed when Mandrill came crashing out the window of a tall building, swinging himself down to the street with a bag of stolen money over his shoulder. When a lone, female officer arrived on the scene and ordered him to freeze, Mandrill just turned the hypnotic and disorienting effects of his pheromone powers on her to make her pass out, and then ran over to a manhole cover to try and make his escape. It would have been easy if it were not for two reasons. The first reason was that the manhole cover was really heavy and hard for him to lift, and the second reason was actually the sudden pair of stinger blasts that suddenly struck him from behind in the bum.
"Mandrill, right? Baboon guy, pheromone powers," a female voice asked, prompting said villain to spin around looking for the speaker until his eyes finally found the small form of the Wasp standing on the ground a short distance from him. "I'm gonna have to ask you to put down the money and surrender, or else you will be beat up."
Mandrill just laughed for a minute before he remarked, "Wasp? You think I'm scared of you? I'll tear those wings off and then I'll…"
Mandrill was soon stopping short when a pair of red and gold, metal boots suddenly stepped into his field of vision behind Wasp, and his gaze was soon drawn upwards to see Iron Man standing there with his hands on his hips, silently daring the villain to finish what he was saying as Wasp floated up to hover next to his shoulder. Even though he was now a little more nervous, Mandrill was still not willing to just give up, and he back flipped away from the two before saying, "It doesn't matter. I can take both of you."
His confidence was shaken once again when a loud thunder clap rang out behind him, prompting him to turn and see Thor touch down from above then heft his hammer up into his free hand with an eager smirk. Mandrill's confidence only continued to dwindle as the ground shook beneath him due to a pair of massive footsteps, and when a large shadow fell over him, he instantly looked up to see Giant-Man stepping forwards from his left, until he came to a stop with his fists resting on his hips. Mandrill immediately started to back away from the sky-scraper sized scientist, but he only ended up backing right into the Hulk, who was growling down at him with his arms crossed. The thing that finally shattered his confidence though was when Sora dropped down to the ground, Keyblade in hand, and ready for action, as shown by how he was all decked out in his new threads.
While he retained his old crown necklace and blue belt, the rest of his outfit could be considered a complete and total make-over in comparison to his old one and it honestly made Sora feel like a real hero when he wore it. Instead of the red jumpsuit he used to wear, he now wore a red shirt beneath a black short-sleeved jacket with white lining around the cuffs of the sleeves, pockets, and collar, along with a pair of baggy black pants which contained quite a few pockets, mostly because of the red pouches that were fastened to his sides by the yellow straps that circled his pants. He also still wore rather large shoes, but they were a bit closer to normal size now, and were mostly black with some yellow in them as opposed to the other way around. His old white gloves had been replaced with a pair of black fingerless gloves with white and gold straps around each one, and to finish off this new attire of his, was a decorative red letter "A" on either shoulder of his jacket, which were covered in silver pauldrons. Tony had informed him that his new suit had some kind of nanotechnology in it that made it able to repair itself if it ever did get damaged, but Sora had honestly been too busy admiring how he looked in this new wardrobe to really pay that much attention. Not that anyone could blame him, seeing as he did look really good in his new attire.
When Sora saw Mandrill stuttering and stammering at the sight of him and his friends, he could only grin while lifting the Keyblade over his shoulder as he said, "I believe the words you're looking for are 'I surrender,' right? Unless you want to get Hulk more annoyed."
Mandrill did not need any more prompting after that, and his arms immediately shot up into the air as he quickly stammered out, "I-I-I surrender. I surrender!"
"Well, that was easy," Wasp grinned.
"Verily," Thor scowled. He had been hoping that the guy would put up more of a fight. "He brings shame to all monkeys with his cowardice."
"Hey, if it means we can take him in and avoid destroying anymore of the city, I'm not complaining. It just means we can focus on the bigger and more important stuff now," Sora shrugged.
"True enough, Friend Sora," Thor conceded, feeling a little better at that. "What say you, Iron Man?"
Iron Man could only grin as he slapped a fist into his palm as he declared, "I say one down, seventy three to go."
"And it looks like we're off to a pretty great start too," Sora nodded in agreement. No one disagreed with him on that, but they also had no idea what was going to be coming for them next.
AN: Yeah, like I said, a lot less action-packed than last chapter, but on the bright side, you did get to see Sora sport his KH2 look and help capture Mandrill at the end there. Just so you know, the only change between how it is in KH2 and here is that he has the Avengers logo on the sleeves of his jacket. Kinda like how Captain America has it on the shoulders of his suit during Avengers: Age of Ultron or Captain America: Civil War. Also, yeah, Fury learned about the Heartless from Mickey Mouse and he has spoken with Ansem the Wise a couple of times before the fall of Radiant Garden. Aside from his encounter with Aqua, how else do you think he could really know about other worlds and monsters like the Heartless?
Fury: And you also delegated the role Leon had in the first Kingdom Hearts game to me and Thor.
AN: Hey, no one was expecting you to know every last detail about how to stop the Heartless and save the worlds from them, and besides, it made a lot more sense for Thor to be the one who knew the answer to that question.
Moving on, don't think that just because the Avengers know of the Disney movies, that's going to mean they'll be able to change everything that happens in the events of other worlds. After all, they've got to protect the world order and everything, so if they were to say meet Simba during the events of The Lion King, they wouldn't be allowed to tell him that his father's death wasn't his fault but Scar's, simply for that reason. And there's also the fact that they don't know for sure that those events will play out the same way they did in the movies. After all, there's always more than one version of a story, depending on who's telling it.
Speaking of stories, how many of you were expecting Tony's story about his encounter with Ventus to go the way it did? For those of you who don't know or can't pick up on the clues, the story is actually a reference to that of Ivan Vanko in Iron Man 2, namely the part about him being a former partner of Howard Stark who tried to sell their inventions to terrorists and how Tony only learned about that when he had to make some modifications to his ARC reactor.
Tony: Good to know that my movies are having an effect on the history of this story's universe.
AN: Glad you approve. And while we're on the topic of a franchise's effect on this story, I'm sure we're all familiar with how Sora suddenly shedding a tear for some reason that's unknown to him has become something of a reoccurring in the KH series. For example: in BBS when Ven's heart came to rest inside of Sora's back when he was a kid; just before he left Twilight Town that first and was saying goodbye to Hayner, Pence, and Olette; or when he encountered Xion in Dream Drop Distance...I think you get the idea. And you can't really blame me for putting that in there. I mean, like I said before, Ven's heart is inside of Sora, even if it is somewhat dormant, but with how much they were talking about him and his friends Terra and Aqua at that time, you can't really expect there to be no reaction at all, can you?
Well, I think I've covered everything I wanted to. If I did miss something, I get the feeling you guys will bring it up in your review, and I'll be sure to answer it at the start of next chapter. I'm gonna go ahead and warn you now though, we won't be seeing Sora travel to other worlds for a little bit. For now, we're going to be stick with the storyline of Avengers EMH, along with an original adventure that Sora will undertake on his own, but I do promise you that we will be seeing another world soon enough. Until then, you can move Onto the Preview!...
It's moving day, as the Avengers are brought to their new headquarters, and for some, new home, and while everyone else is eager to get working on catching the bad guys, some of the team are still a little sketchy about how well they'll be able to work together. Either that, or they're just more eager to start a fight with each other than they are the bad guys, though that's mostly in the case of Thor and Hulk. Tensions only seem to escalate when the Hulk seems to go out on a rampage for some unexplained reason, and some old enemies of Thor's only make things all the more difficult. Can Sora and the Avengers manage to deal with these two Asgardian villains and still keep the team together, or is that just being too optimistic? Find out in the next thrilling chapter.
Please read and review, and see ya real soon, fellow true believers!