A/N: Here's the next chapter! Unlike my original story, Keke is trained and raised alongside Terra, Aqua, and Ventus. She won't really be doing too much, and I decided that if she was ever "in the game", she'd be a support character for Ventus he'd get starting the second half of his story, sort of like Donald and Goofy. At the most, Keke can do basic swings with the keyblade, along with low-level spells and one or two light spells with an emerging dark spell. Well, she is around four or five, so you can't expect her to do the things Sora and Riku do in KH2, that'd be insane, even for this game series!
Chapter 1 - Land of Departure/Wasteland
The next day, Keke rolled over when someone poked her shoulder. "Keke." She recognized it to be Ventus' voice.
"Too tired…"
"Keke, come on! Terra and Aqua's exam is gonna start soon!"
"Okay, okay! I'm up!" Keke said, instantly awake.
When they got to the throne room, the two went off to the side as their friends stood attentive. Ventus and Keke felt someone's eyes stare at them. One of the Keyblade Master, Xehnort, was looking at them intensely. They looked away, but quickly stood strait when Master Earqus walked onto the platform.
"Today you will be examined for the Mark of Mastery. Not one but two of the Keyblade's chosen stand here as candidates… but this is neither a competition, not a battle for supremacy – not a test of wills, but a test of heart. Both of you may prevail, or neither. But I am sure our guest, Master Xehnort… did not travel all this way to see our youngest prospects in years fall short of the Mark. I trust you are ready."
"Yes."
"Then let the examination begin." Eraqus took out his keyblade and a small glow surrounded it. Some orbs of light appeared, and Terra and Aqua got ready to attack. Unknown to anyone, Xehnort's hand moved and some darkness began to infect the orbs, making them move unpredictably. Everyone else was taken back by it, and Terra and Aqua began to attack.
One headed strait toward Ven and Keke, "Ven! Keke!"
Ventus summoned his Keyblade and attacked it. "Don't worry about us! You two focus on the exam!"
"Yeah! We can take 'em." Keke summoned her's.
"But you two are in danger here!" Aqua said. She and Terra were back-to-back, surrounded by the orbs. "Go wait in your rooms."
"No way! We've been looking forward to this – seeing you two become Masters."
"There's no way we're going to miss it now!"
"They can take care of themselves. Both of them have been out there training just as hard as us." Terra said.
"Yeah!"
"Stay sharp, Ven. And you be careful, Keke."
The orbs began to move; just the slightest touch to them inflicted pain. They fought them, but the orbs kept moving, which made them hard to hit. Keke defeated one, but another hit her in the back, her small size enabling it to push her down. A few others surrounded her as she tried to get up. She screamed in pain.
"Keke!" She heard her friends yell. Something swelled up inside her, almost like a pure power, but was different from the light attack she knew so well.
"Gah!" She grunted, a dark energy was shot from her Keyblade, hitting the orbs and making some of them vanish. Keke got up, and hit the remaining orbs around her with a few swings and light attacks.
As soon as only a few orbs were left, Eraqus examined the child, knowing she had used the darkness. Behind him, Xehnort smiled.
Pretty soon, there were no orbs left. Terra and Aqua stood where they were, and Ven and Keke stood off to the side.
"That was unexpected… but one must keep a still heart even in the most trying of circumstances. It was an excellent test, one I chose to let unfold. Which brings us to your next trial."
As he told them the next part of the test, Ven turned to Keke and whispered, "You okay?"
"Yeah, don't worry."
They looked back to see Terra and Aqua facing each other, their weapons out.
"Now, Terra and Aqua, you two will face each other in combat." Eraqus explained, "Remember, there are no winners – only truths, for when equal powers clash, their nature is revealed. Begin."
They charged at each other, their blades clashing. Aqua began to run at him, and a dark aura surrounded Terra's hand. He looked at it, surprised, and brought his attention back to the battle, blocking Aqua's attack as the aura vanished.
~*~KH – BBS~*~
A little later, Eraqus looked to them, "We have deliberated and reached a decision. Terra, Aqua, you both performed commendably. However, only Aqua has shown the Mark of Mastery. Terra, you failed to keep the darkness within you sufficiently in check. But there is always next time. That is all. Aqua, as our newest Keyblade Master, you are entitled to certain knowledge. Please wait here for further instruction." With that, both Earqus and Xehnort walked off.
Aqua turned to Terra, "Hey…"
"Terra," Ven ran up with Keke behind him, "I'm sorry."
"Terra?"
"The darkness… where did it come from? Sorry… but I need some time alone." Terra stated, walking off.
~*~KH – BBS~*~
Keke sighed as she got back to her room. She summoned her Keyblade. Terra wasn't the only one who used a dark attack, so did she. But she didn't mean to, it just happened. But why? She thought all she could do was light attacks.
The four-year-old shook her head. Most would wonder why she wouldn't shrug it off since she was so young. Well, she didn't know why. She just knew she was a bit smart.
At the sound of bells, she withdrew her blade and began toward the door. Stopping at the hallway, she heard Ventus talking to someone. Sneaking her way over so she wouldn't be heard, she listened in by the door.
"What? Get real. I can see Terra any time I want, and there's no way Keke's just gonna disappear. " Ven said.
"Like right now? He's leaving you behind. And by the time you catch up… he'll be a different person. And little Keke…" The other boy chuckled darkly, "Let's just say she's as good as dead."
"Look, whoever you are, you don't know the first thing about Terra. Me and him will always be a team. And I'll make sure Keke's okay. You trying to pick a fight or what?" Ven said, getting angry.
"Oh grow up. Is that what you call friendship? You'll never know the truth unless you go out and look for it yourself. Come one, what could you possibly know if you're stuck here, looking at nothing but what's in your tiny world?" A dark corridor appeared and the by walked through it.
Ven turned around, "Terra!" He looked over and stopped running, "Come on Keke!" He grabbed her wrist and pulled her along.
"Terra!" Ven called again as they ran down the steps. He had told Keke about what happened on the way, excluding the part about her. He didn't realize she already knew.
"Terra, wait!"
Terra turned around. Ven stopped in front of him, trying to make a sentence. Terra patted both of them on their heads, "It's okay." He pressed his shoulder pad and became covered in armor. Summoning his Keyblade, he summoned a portal and threw it into the air and it transformed into a glider. Getting on it, he flew through the portal.
Ventus turned to Keke, "We have to go after him."
"B-but, Master Eraqus said we weren't allowed to leave this world."
Ven sighed, "Fine, stay here if you want to, but I'm going!" he activated his own armor and glider, and flew through it.
"Ven!" Aqua shouted.
"No, he mustn't!" Earqus said, he turned to Aqua, "You have to bring him back!"
"Don't worry Master." Aqua repeated what the other boys did and left the world. Keke stared up at where the portal was.
"You'd better not be thinking of following them."
"I'm not…" Secretly, she was. Keke couldn't help but feel like something was wrong, and something bad was going to happen. Deep down, she wanted to go with her friends, to see new worlds. But she couldn't, not alone. Why did she hesitate when Ven left?
~*~KH – BBS~*~
It was about a day later, and already, Keke was missing her friends. There wasn't much she could do. There was no one to train or joke around with.
But things began happening. She kept having nightmares, and unknown to her; the worlds were becoming more and more dangerous. She dreamed of creatures made of negativity, darkness, and even those of empty shells, and it frightened her.
Eraqus eventually decided to send her to another master for the time being, not only so she could have someone else to train with, but to keep an eye on the dark power she used, knowing that only the end of the peace he and his pupils were trying to maintain would shatter if her true power was revealed.
She was dropped off at a world that had a tower. She went inside, and saw an anthropomorphic mouse and an old wizard waiting for her. "H-hello." She greeted, nervous.
"Hiya!" the mouse replied, grinning, "My name's Mickey, Mickey Mouse."
"I am known as Yen Sid." The wizard said. Keke ad heard about him from her own master. He was a keyblade master who was retired, yet still took in one or two apprentices if need be and kept an eye on the balance of the worlds.
"My name is Keke." Keke said.
~*~KH – BBS~*~
A few days passed, and Keke got along with Mickey. He would help her with simple spells she was learning, and would also help her learn new attacks. She learned he was a king in another world, and came back to Yen Sid's for more training.
"I don't know where I'm from." She said. The four year old sighed, looking out the window at the starlit sky. It looked so similar to the night just before Terra and Aqua's exam.
"You don't?"
"No. Master Eraqus and the others said they found me when I was younger…"
"I'm sorry to hear that… Huh?" Mickey jolted up. He thought he saw something in one of his master's crystal orbs. They looked and saw he hadn't imagined it. There were seven small lights. One by one, three flickered out, covered by a dark aura, then back on as if nothing had happened.
"What are they?" Keke asked curiously.
"Well, Master Yen Sid told me they represented the Princesses of Heart. This was how he found out they were in danger a few days ago. But, why would they just flicker off, then back on?"
"Maybe something happened to them, then they were fixed after a while?"
"Could be, but it still is strange… We gotta get to the bottom of this."
"But how? We have to way to travel in the Lanes Between. I have my armor, but you won't be protected."
"Well…" Mickey went through one of the treasure boxes, "Why don't we use this?" He pulled out a blue crystal that was in the shape of a star.
"What's that?"
"It's a star shard. You just have to think about where you wanna go, and it'll bring ya there."
"That's pretty nifty." Keke smiled.
"Yep, now let's go!" they ran down the stairs of the tower. Keke remembered how this had happened with her and Ven. She didn't go with him or the others, but now she knew this was her only chance, especially now that she knew others needed help.
When they got outside, she could feel someone watching them. Just as she turned around to see who it was, a light came from the star shard and surrounded her and Mickey, and the Mysterious Tower went away from her sight. Even through the light, she thought she could see Terra.
~*~KH – BBS~*~
Keke opened her eyes, and looked around. Mickey was standing next to her. They were in some sort of wasteland, and it was just about empty.
"Where are we?"
"I don't know… But the star shard… It seems to have a mind of it's own…" Mickey said, pocketing the gem. They walked around a bit, eventually hearing sounds of metal clashing and yelling. Going toward the noise, they saw two people fighting with keyblades.
"Hey! I know him!" Keke exclaimed.
"Really?"
"Yeah! That blond guy is Ventus, one of my friends." As she said that, Ventus was sent flying by the masked boy he was fighting.
"That really all you got?" The masked boy said, "Man, you are worthless. I'd be going against the master's orders, but so what? As far as I'm concerned, your job is done here, and your little friend could always be used as a back-up." He began to gather energy at the end of his weapon, and sent it flying at Ven. Scorch marks remained where the blast had hit,
"Don't worry, you're safe."
"Ven, are you okay?"
"Heal!" Keke and Mickey cast the spell, healing his wounds and waking him up. They had saved him just in time.
"Tell me where you got that!" Mickey shouted at the masked boy, "Keyblades are not something you should use to bully someone around!"
"Yeah, we'll show you!" Keke said, coming next to Mickey.
"We all will!" Ven said, getting up. They began to fight him. Keke couldn't do too much, but she helped out from the sidelines by casting light and healing spells. Eventually, the masked boy was defeated, lying on his back.
They saw him get back up, "Hmph, you win. Consider yourselves on probation." He summoned a dark corridor and walked though it.
"Probation? For what?" Ventus asked out loud as he, and Keke willed their keyblades vanish. He turned to Mickey, "Thanks for before, I owe ya. The name's Ventus. What's your's?"
"I'm Mickey."
"I see you've got a keyblade."
"Yep. I've been trainin' under the great Yen Sid. " Mickey's blade vanished, "He found out the worlds were in trouble, an' I kinda ran off without tellin' him."
"Well that makes both of us. I ran off too." He then turned to Keke, "And what ever happened to staying with the master?"
"Well…" Keke rubbed the back of her head, "I was sent to train with Master Yen Sid and Mickey after you and the others left. But when I heard about the worlds with Mickey, I couldn't just sit around."
"But how'd you two get here?"
Mickey took the star shard out of his pocket, "All I haveta to think it, and the star shard will take us anywhere we wanna go. At least I thought it would. I haven't quite got the fine points down yet, like… when, or where… It just kinda kicks in whenever it wants to. Bit I wouldn't have met you if it hadn't brought me here."
"Yeah! And we wouldn't have been able to save you from that boy in the mask!" Keke pointed out.
"Ya know, it might not be an accident. Maybe it starts workin' 'cause it's reactin' to somethin'." Mickey said as they looked at the star shard just before it glowed brightly and the light enveloped them.
~*~KH – BBS~*~
Keke opened her eyes and realized her keyblade armor was activated. Looking around, she was in the Lanes Between. "What in the…" she murmured quietly under her breath as her eyes darted around through the glass of her helmet, trying to find her friends or any indication they were there. Keke noticed something – no, someone – was floating near a world.
She flapped her arms and legs, trying to "swim" over to them, and recognized it to be Ventus, his armor and glider were activated. She shook his shoulder, "Ven, hey, wake up!"
Ven jolted awake, "Keke? Where's Mickey?"
"Probably somewhere on that world." She pointed to it. They nodded and she hopped on his glider behind him and they flew to the world.