Chapter 1

A heavy fog swirled lethargically in a blackened clearing. Grey, dead grass bent at awkward angles and a stiff breeze shifted the forbidding cloud along the parched ground. Not a single light shone in the sky, save for an eerie, cheshire blue moon. It was despair incarnate.

At the heart of the clearing stood a large group of people in a circle, all wearing dark cloaks with their faces hidden deep within their cowls and key-like blades in their hands. In the center of the circle were two figures. One was held up by the undersides of his arms by two cloaked men, and the other stood hunched over him, glee all too apparent in his posture.

"Tell me where it is," the stooped figure demanded. His face was hard to see in the pale moonlight, however yellow eyes flashed dangerously in the dark. He kicked the restrained one hard in the ribs, causing him to let out a strangled gasp of pain. He was startlingly young, with his wild hair clumped together with blood and bruises and cuts all over his body. Once the boy collected himself, he looked up at the older man, his ice blue eyes glaring defiantly.

"No."

The man paused in his pacing. "No?"

"No."

After a moment, he shook his head in disappointment. "And here I thought you were smarter than that, Chosen One."

The boy grimaced, shifting as much as he could. The grip on his arms visibly tightened. "Don't call me that, my name is _... What do you want with it anyways?" the boy rasped painfully.

His eyes flashed with delight. "Ah, my poor poor boy," he chuckled darkly. "That is for me to know, and for you to never find out." He leaned over the battered young man, and studied his weak state. "It looks like you won't last much longer... How unfortunate..."

He spat blood in his face, "Yeah, well, screw off, old man. It's creepy."

The older fellow flinched at the blood spit and recoiled, wiping it off slowly. "And yet so full of fire." He mumbled. Another swift kick to the ribs sent the boy gasping and coughing, blood dribbling out of his mouth faster than before.

"Tell me where Kingdom Hearts is, and I will spare you," he demanded once more, gripping the boy's pale face harshly in his hand.

He grinned dully, icy eyes slowly losing their light. "Never." he gasped shakily. "Never. I would rather die."

His face was dropped, and the old man clasped his hands behind his back and walked away. "We are done here. Introduce him to REAL darkness."

The boy watched the circle slowly close in on him and with one last valiant effort, he cried out, "The darkness may destroy my body, but my heart will never die! I will find you again, master," he said scornfully, "and when I do, you will regret ever contemplating unsealing Kingdom Hearts! I swear on my honor, and my heart, as the Keyblade's Chosen One."

The old man paused, turning around to see the fire alight once more in the doomed boy's eyes. "When you do find me, I will make sure you die again."

A keyblade pierced the boy's chest and-

"HOLY MOTHER OF-!" Sora yelped, flailing rather spectacularly as he sat ramrod straight. He clutched his nightshirt just above his heart and panted, eyes wide with fear and pain. After several deep breaths and semi-calming thoughts, he groaned and flopped back onto his bed as the adrenaline left his system. He stared at the ceiling, trying to collect his thoughts. "That time... so freaking REAL... felt like I was the one stabbed... Kingdom Hearts?... more vivid than last time..."

For the past year, he had been having the same recurring dream, night after night after night, each time with one more detail that wasn't there before. He had started writing down what he could remember after the twelfth occurrence.

Sora gave his clock a flat stare, the bright neon green numbers washing his room in a pale green light. With a groan, he flopped back onto sweat soaked sheets. It was very early in the morning, and he knew he had no hope of falling asleep again. He lay there in the dark, staring blankly at the wall, trying to process what happened.

A small figure leapt onto his bed, startling him. Sora jerked in surprise, his nerves still on end, as the dark blob approached him. His heart sped up in fright as he felt the weight of the thing roll closer to him-

"Mrow?"

Sora heaved a huge sigh of relief, sitting up to pet his rather fat cat. "Hey, Blue. You scared me a little bit."

The cat sniffed fingers as they stroked his soft head. Blue rubbed against them, then looked imploringly up at his ower, yellow eyes glinting. "Mrow?"

Sora chuckled softly. "How is it you're always hungry?"

He rolled out of bed, his fat cat teetering after him, and poured some attempted diet cat food in Blue's bowl on his desk. The cat gleefully jumped up onto the wooden surface and began eating like the pig he was. Sora shook his head in exasperation, patting the base of Blue's tail. He would never be able to understand animals.

He glanced over at his clock and frowned. Odd, he had been up for more than fifteen minutes but yet his clock still said...

4:34am.

Sora blinked twice, and made his way over and tapped the clock's side.

Nothing happened.

He stared at it for a full minute, eyes watering in pain as he did so.

Nothing happened.

He grunted in frustration, and and went to find his phone. He was sure it would have the right time. Just as he reached for it, his alarm finally rang.

Sora jumped, swearing heavily as he threw his hand up instinctively. A burst of light formed in a small dim ball and dissipated quickly. He tensed.

'What the-'

The lights turned on abruptly. Sora did what any normal teenager would do.

"Oh, COME ON!" he cried angrily as his retinas were burnt to a crisp. He fell to the floor writhing in agony, his hands to his eyes. Blue merped at him in concern, placing a helpful paw on his arm.

"Oh. You're up already."

Sora attempted to glare at his assailant, but failed miserably. "No kidding," he muttered under his breath, rubbing his eyes vigorously. When his sight finally regained some normalcy, he looked up and was slightly surprised to find Ventus leaning against his doorframe. Normally it was Roxas waking him up.

Ventus was his older cousin and was a senior in college, however he still looked like he was still in highschool. He had spiky, windswept blond hair that always stuck up straight, bright blue eyes that always held a glint of humor, and a permanent ghost of a smile on his face. He was tall, taller than Sora, and was very strong having lean wiry muscle to prove it. He wore white black and gold tennis shoes and dark green jeans. He had his gray T-shirt on and Sora could faintly see both his silver necklace with the Master's charm around his neck as well as the outline of his armour on his bicep.

"Ya done starin' yet?"

Sora glowered as the older boy chuckled. "Oh, shut up doofus," he growled, crossing his arms over his chest. Ventus laughed. His laugh was always bright and happy, and made him smile every time he heard it. Sora stood, grinning, and stole a quick glance at his clock.

5:17am

'Huh. Weird.'

"B'sides," he said, turning his attention back to the boy in front of him. "It's been forever since you visited last."

Ven grinned and motioned him to follow. As Sora exited his room, he slung his arm over his shoulders and whispered conspiratorially.

"Roxas is still asleep. What do you say we do the ole Blue prank?"

Sora's grin was just as evil as his cousin's. "Let me grab the supplies."

Said supplies consisted of the cat, some feline friendly fur paint, rope, and the stuff of nightmares.

Needless to say, Roxas' reaction was priceless.

They exited his room laughing hysterically, following the steaming boy into the kitchen. Roxas was virtually a mini Ventus, with the same blond hair and sky blue eyes. The only differences were that he was considerably shorter than Ven and he scowled a lot more. He was the same age as Sora, only a few days younger. He had on black converse shoes, gray jeans, and a black T-shirt with a red and white jacket over it.

As he entered the kitchen with his cousins, a bright voice rang out.

"Sora, go put some clothes on."

Tifa Lockhart Strife was Sora's aunt. When his parents died two years ago, she took him in and became a rather important part in his life. She wore her usual outfit, a black zip-up leather shirt, with matching pants. She had her black hair pulled back into a low-hanging ponytail. Her brown eyes glinted with amusement as her two sons plus one barreled into her "domain" as they called it.

Sora rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "... Heheh.." He nervously chuckled before turning around and sprinting to his room to change, laughter following behind him.

God, he felt so loved. His heart swelled with happiness, as he shoved his red shirt on. He mussed his hair rather messily and raced back to the kitchen, shoes in his hands.

He paused briefly at the doorway, eyes wide with surprise, and quickly took his spot at the table.

He was seeing his family's hearts again.

He hummed his appreciation as Tifa set down a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon in front of him. Just as he was about to devour his breakfast, Cloud came in, looking tired and strained.

He was the original copy of Ven and Roxas, except more mature and hardened. He wore all black, as was usual, and a silver hoop in his left ear.

The glow in his gray heart was a mix of bruised purples, reds, blues and blacks.

Cloud was not very happy at the moment.

However, as soon as he set his eyes on the table, the bruise in his heart melted away to a steady pink.

Cloud sat next to Roxas, and immediately stole a piece of bacon from his son's plate.

"MHMPH!" Roxas protested angrily with his mouth stuffed with eggs. Cloud rose an eyebrow.

"Don't talk with your mouth full," he said, munching on the bacon while the blond next to him glared. Ventus snickered beside his younger brother, wisely moving his plate away from the upcoming quarrel. Both Ventus and Roxas had similar heart shades, with Roxas' being a few shades darker than his older brother's. Normally, it was the other way around with siblings like that.

"Don't worry Rox," Tifa said, turning off the stove. "I made plenty of bacon. And eggs." She added, pausing and sticking a finger up. Tifa had the same shade of grey as Cloud, as they both went through a pretty hard childhood together. It was amazing how happy they were though, with that much black in their past.

She sat next to Sora, setting a plate full of food in front of her husband. Cloud grinned at her, and leaned over to kiss his wife soundly on the lips. Roxas made a gagging noise and Ventus murmured "gross" under his breath. Cloud glared at them.

"Where do you think YOU came from?" He questioned heatedly. All three boys blushed instantly.

"NOT AT THE TABLE!" They hollered vehemently.

"Preferably, not EVER." Sora added as an after thought, subtly watching the hues in his cousins' hearts flash a reddish pink.

Tifa grinned widely. "But then who will tell you how marv-"

"MOM!"

Breakfast was normally not that awkward.

Sora shoveled his food quickly, barely tasting it. He listened to his adoptive family, peeking up at a disgruntled Roxas. He swallowed audibly, and grinned at his "twin".

"Aw, geez Roxy, you're still mad 'bout that?" He teased, sending a wink Ventus' way. Roxas shot him a venomous look before quickening his eating pace.

Cloud once more raised an eyebrow. "Anybody feel like explaining?"

Ventus snickered. "We, uh, played a prank on Roxas to wake him up this morning."

"Kind of as a, 'Hey, I'm back' deal?" Cloud asked deadpanned. Ven shrugged, splaying his hands in a 'what can you do?' manner.

"They did the Blue prank," Roxas snarled, a light blush appearing on his face. Tifa snorted.

"Again?"

"Same reaction as last time, too!" Sora chirped from his place.

"I was 10!" Roxas cried indignantly.

"And yet, you STILL scream like a little girl," Ventus said pompously, leaning his chin on his hand. The air around him was thick with smug satisfaction.

The blush on the young blonde's face deepened.

"I bet you would scream too if you had a freaking 15 pound cat hovering above your bed!" He retorted hotly.

Tifa frowned. "I thought Blue weighed 10 pounds?"

Sora shook his head. "He keeps finding food. He weighs about fifteen to twenty pounds."

Cloud sighed. "As interesting as it is, we need to leave or we're going to be late."

Both Cloud and Tifa were teachers at Kingdom High, where both Sora and Roxas attend. Ventus was one of the student teachers in a program there, but Sora wasn't sure which one yet.

They dumped their plates into the sink, and began gathering their things. Sora double checked his red backpack, rifling through it. With a grunt of satisfaction, he zipped it back up and hauled it up onto his shoulder just as he heard his uncle's voice.

"C'mon, Sora, or we're gonna be late!" He hollered.

He puffed in exasperation. "Coming!"

He pelted down the stairs to see Cloud waiting at the door. "Everyone else is in the car. Well, almost."

'Almost?'

Ventus had a motorcycle.

Cloud, having a separate hulking monster of a bike and going separate was normal, but THIS.

Sora all of a sudden wanted one.

Ven sat on a sleek, gold bike that literally looked like a Tron lightcycle. His armour was activated, matching the style and color scheme perfectly. It was obviously built for speed, as it was low to the ground and very aerodynamic.

Sora's inner nerd was begging to bust out as he fawned from a distance.

"Wayward Wind."

Sora jerked out of his fantasyland. "Whazzat?"

"Its name is Wayward Wind," Ven said, his mask distorting his words. With that he started it up, the engine barely making a sound. "Pops is riding with me today, so mom is driving the car."

Sora nodded and jumped when the loud roar of Cloud bike started up, showing its machoness off.

"See you at school, bros!" Ven yelled over the rumble. Sora could only nod at the coolness that was his adoptive older brother.

"Sora! Get in, we're gonna be late!" Tifa yelled. He reluctantly backed up to the car and slid in the back.

"... So... Cool!" Roxas gushed from beside him as they drove away from home.

The school itself was interesting. Located in the north side of Twilight Town, Kingdom High looked as if it was built haphazardly, with a rectangular core building and random extensions protruding from it. It was two stories tall, with a small third floor box on top of it, a greenhouse sticking out the side next to the office doors, and one long east wing, and that was what it looked like from the front. The parking lot was just as atrocious.

Sora stretched as they walked up to the doors. With his hands behind his head, he stuck his foot up and promptly Sparta kicked the door open with a bang. Several heads turned in surprise when the door hit the wall, but then shook their heads in mild amusement and went back to what they were doing (and by doing, they were doing nothing). The brunette grinned sheepishly at a few of them and scooted quickly away from the entrance.

"See ya, mom!" Sora turned to see Tifa kiss her son on the forehead and felt a brief pang of loss in his heart. He looked away, uncertain as to what to do.

"Sora." Tifa called. He peeked back at her as she smiled affectionately. "Come here. It's not like I forgot you or anything."

Sora grinned and bounded over, giving his mother figure a swift hug and a peck on the cheek. "See ya second hour, Tifa!"

She punched him in the shoulder gently. "Maybe this time you'll do your work."

He scoffed. "When pigs fly."

"Go speak to Cid about that. I think he can work something out."

Sora snickered while Tifa laughed. "I'll see you soon, Sora. NO SLEEPING IN CLASS."

He gave a salute. "Right, right, I gotcha." He waved and ran off to find his friends, noting that Roxas was hanging out with a rather large group of people. He did a double take.

'Wait… is that? NO- that's Organization XIII! What does he think he's doing!?'

He hesitated by a vending machine and watched his cousin with unease. Organization XIII was a fairly shady group. He didn't know much about it except for two things. One, was that their 'leader' was Xehanort Junior, or Xemnas for short. The second was that almost all of their hearts were black.

Not pitch black, but...

Black.

Like they didn't HAVE hearts.

His eyes zeroed in on Roxas' heart, and grimaced. It was a shade darker than it once was, and that made him nervous.

"SORA!"

Sora jumped in surprise as arms enveloped him from behind in a surprise attack glomp. He stumbled forwards as the laughing girl clinging to him tried to steady him.

"Gimme a break, Kairi, I just got here." he chuckled, glancing to the side as his blue eyes met violet.

Kairi grinned, releasing one arm to tuck a strand of her cherry red hair behind her ear. "Sora, you lazy bum. Me and Riku have been here forever!"

Sora turned, Kairi still attached, and spotted Riku. He stood a few feet away, grinning mischievously. Immediately, he became wary. He knew that look… Luckily, Riku didn't feel like teasing him right then.

"Did you finish your Math homework?"

Sora gaped at his best friend, then groaned in dismay. "You just HAD to remind me."

Riku smirked. "We both know you won't get it done otherwise."

Kairi let go of Sora and they walked down the hall together. Both teenagers were his closest friends, having met Kairi when they were little, and Riku several years later. Kairi (his long time crush that he will NEVER admit to, EVER) wore her personality. She had on a hot pink shirt with the words "Nerd? I prefer the term 'more intelligent than you.'" scrawled on the front. She had on paint splattered skinny jeans with light pink converse to match. She was kind, fun, and could read people like a book, and at first glance, she was the sweetest person in the world. She has her moments however… Her heart was one of the purest he had ever seen, it's white light comforting.

Riku was walking on his other side, making drumming motions with his hands. He paused and ran his fingers through his silver hair to get his bangs out of his face. He wore a yellow vest over a black tank top, baggy jeans held up properly (Riku laughs at all saggers) by a leather belt with yellow tennis shoes. Riku was an interesting case. Serious with a bit of a mischievous streak, he had a lot of baggage to deal with, yet made time for his two best friends. To add onto that, his heart was in a critical stage. It was interesting… like light and dark were fighting for dominance. His teal eyes peeked over at Sora curiously.

"What are you doing?"

Sora blinked and pointed. "Did you cut your hair?"

Riku stared at him. "No, my hair just magically shrunk," he said deadpan. Sora squinted at his friend.

"My sarcasm detector is tingling."

"Oh, wow! That's wonderful, because I was really laying it thick there."

"Riku, quit being a butt."

"No."

Sora puffed in amusement. "No, seriously. When did you get it cut? Wait, WHY did you get it cut? I thought you liked your hair long."

Kairi giggled at this, a rather evil glint appearing in her eyes. Riku flushed slightly and crossed his arms. "I just wanted a change."

Sora looked to the red head beside him, raising an eyebrow (or tried to. He could never get it down…) at her in question.

"He ran into a pole on the way home yesterday, so I told him to cut it," she said innocently, watching the red become more pronounced on her male friend's face.

"KAIRI YOU SAI-"

"Deal with it, bub," she said snootily.

Sora laughed at Riku's distress. "The great Riku actually had an embarrassing moment? Amazing!"

Riku glared at the shorter brunette. "At least I don't have one every other day. Remember that time when Selphie-"

A finger was shoved into his face, forcing him to lean back and cross his eyes. "We speak nothing of that incident."

They continued down the hallway to their first class, when a thought suddenly came to him as he glanced at the walls.

"Have any ideas what those symbols mean?" he asked, putting his hands behind his head in thought.

"What symbols?" Kairi asked, peering at the walls in confusion.

"You can barely see them unless you're looking for them, but they're right here. They're all over the school." He pointed to a faint marking in the brick. at a barely visible marking that looked like a deformed heart. He squinted at it, and noticed it was on its side. It looked almost like an arrow...

"Oh. Well that's new," Riku said curiously. Kairi shook her head.

"I don't think so. It looks to be about as old as the actual brick here. They could just be scratches."

Both boys mulled over the idea. "Makes sense."

They started down the hall once more when a heavy feeling, like fear and pain, pressed down on Sora, and he puffed at the sudden weight of it. He paused and glanced back at the symbol.

It was glowing slightly, causing him to feel extremely uneasy.

...find me.

He clutched his head in agony as the voiceless voice cut through his head leaving horrible pain in its wake.

"Sora?!" Kairi yelped.

He waved her away, blinking rapidly in an attempt to clear his head. Something was wrong with his sight. "I'm fine. Just a random headache."

"Seemed pretty intense to me... Are you sure you're, good dude?" Riku asked, putting a steadying hand on his shoulder.

Sora nodded. "Yeah, I'm good."

Except he wasn't. There was something wrong with him. Voices don't slam their way into other peoples brains... Do they? Now he was confused. He glanced up at his friend and gave him a shaky smile. "I'm good."

Roxas blinked as his cousin stumbled, clutching his head in pain. He frowned and started over, worrying about a relapse from the crash. Sora would get horrible horrible headaches and because of much experimentation, he knew how to fix it.

A heavy hand stopped him in his tracks. Roxas looked up at the older boy and immediately stowed away his emotions. It was Xemnas, leader of the Org. XIII.

"Where do you think you're going, thirteen?" He said in a deep baritone, his yellow eyes flashing.

"My cousin might need help. He has chronic migraines." Roxas explained. The hand on his shoulder tightened uncomfortably.

"Sora Fair will recover. He is strong enough to cope."

Once more, he became unsettled at how much he knew about his cousin. With a wary glance, he silently wished him good luck.

He was going to need it.

This is the longest chapter i've ever written for anything. I feel so accomplished. 10 points for Kale.

I based the layout and Sora's schedule off of my school and my schedule.

Yep.

Guest- OMG THANK YOU! I really appreciate the critique.

XphiaDP- Heck yes I'mma keep going.

Kudos, Kale