After wandering the streets of Death City and fighting back any Heartless that got in their way (Sora wasn't able to fight since he still couldn't summon the Keyblade) they were finally ascending the steps leading to the Academy. On the way up, Sora kept holding his hand out, trying to summon the Keyblade. After a few minutes, he gave up and hung his head in defeat. This did not go unnoticed by Goofy or Donald.

"Awh, don't worry Sora! I'm sure you'll be able to summon the Keyblade again," Goofy said comfortingly, patting the boy on the back, and Donald took the baton, saying, "Yeah. I'm sure it's just this world, anyways. Haven't you noticed all the weird stuff around here?" Looking around, Sora replied, "Yeah…this place is kinda weird. But still, it doesn't make any sense. I've never had trouble with summoning the Keyblade before…"

When the trio finally got to the top of the steps, they found the white haired boy standing alone, his hands in his pockets and an almost hungry looking smile on his face. Sora felt slightly intimidated by his eyes, but he didn't let that show. Donald was the first person to speak up, holding his staff over his shoulder and glaring victoriously at the boy, "All right, wise-guy, we made it here, do we check out or not?" The white haired boy chuckled to himself and replied, "Well, it certainly seems that way. Anyway, we ran into more of those alien things…those Heartless…on the way here. Maka, the blond you met earlier, is already inside talking to Lord Death. I'm Soul by the way."

"Uh…nice to meet you, Soul. I'm Sora, and this is Goofy," Goofy gave a wave to the boy, "and this is Donald." Donald wasn't as friendly, and instead crossed his arms and looked away, tapping his foot with impatience, "And…uh…we're new students at the DWMA." Again, Soul chuckled, and Sora suddenly felt unwelcome.

"Yeah…just so you know I don't believe for a second that you guys are students," Soul said bluntly, "Personally I think you guys are the ones responsible for all these Heartless in the first place. Anyway, follow me." Beside him, Sora could hear Donald grumbling something about disrespect and where he would put a good fireball, and he chuckled to himself.

"Still though…it sounds like the Heartless haven't been around very long...and this guy thinks we're the cause?"

Death Room

Sora watched the strange being pace back and forth before him, holding a giant, mitt like hand to his…chin? He couldn't really tell, since the comical looking skull mask hid his face from view. All-in-all, Sora assumed that what this guy had said was true: he was a Grimm Reaper, ruler of Death City. But he couldn't really believe that he was as strong as he said he was, with the way his voice sounded and the way he didn't seem to take anything seriously. Finally, after a few minutes, Lord Death said joyously, "Well, thank you very much for bringing these three in to see me. I take it your mission was a success?"

"Well, not exactly, sir," Maka said, scratching her head, "We didn't see this UFO the mission said to look for."

"But we did," Soul interjected, "see a lot of weird looking black monster things with glowing yellow eyes and antennas in town. We think they might be aliens and—" he was cut off as a heavy book came crashing down on his head, sending him straight to the floor with a dent in his head. The three looked on with horrified looks as the young girl cleared her throat and said, "We DO NOT think that they are aliens, but we do think that they are the cause for the recent rise in missing people in town. We think they may be pre-Kishins…wait…Sora what did you say they were?" Sora didn't have a chance to reply as Soul was standing again.

"Jesus, tiny-tits what's your problem, you saw these things! They have to be ali—" Another slam on the head (this time with the girl saying, "MAKAAAAA CHOP!") stopped him, but this time Soul didn't go down. After much grumbling and cursing under his breath, Soul finally said, "He called them Heartless, Lord Death, and I have reason to believe that they're the reason these things are here in the first place." Expecting Lord Death to begin interrogating the three immediately, but he was sadly disappointed when Lord Death said, still in a very joyous and bouncy tone, "These three? Naaaaah these three aren't the cause of the Heartless at all. Why, I admitted these three into the Academy just this morning! Sora is a talented Meister that I flew in yesterday, you see, and he told me he just couldn't come without his good friend, the Demon Shield named Goofy, and the Duckling Wizard himself, Donald!"

"Meister?"

"Demon?"

"Duckling?" Soul, Goofy, and Donald said in unison, Soul in disbelief, Goofy in fear (he'd never been called a demon before) and Donald in outrage. Donald stepped toward the death god and said, "What's the big idea?" but was stopped by a giant hand in his face as Lord Death continued, addressing Soul, "If you want I can get their files and show you." With a clap of his hands, a file cabinet rose out of the floor at his feet, and he quickly produced three manila folders, labeled, "Sora-Meister," "Goofy- Weapon" and "Donald-Wizard." At the sight of the files now in Lord Death's hand, Soul shook his head and said, "Looking at other people's private files isn't really that cool. C'mon Maka let's go get something to eat. Maka gave a little wave as she walked away with her partner, down the seemingly endless hallway of guillotines. Once they were gone, Sora turned back to the Reaper and said, "Hey…ah…thanks for—" but he was cut off when Lord Death said, "I knew you would be coming at some point, Keybearer. The Heartless have been becoming more and more of an issue, lately, and it's only a matter of time before they find the Keyhole. Not that I'd let them anywhere near it of course, but that doesn't mean it's getting any easier." Even though his voice still sounded light and joyful, Sora could tell that he was completely and totally serious.

"Hey how did you know that Sora was the Keybearer?" asked Goofy, to which Lord Death quickly answered, "Please, I knew you guys were here the moment your ship touched down in the city. That's why I sent those two looking for a "UFO;" so that they could find you before the Heartless did."

"We can handle a few Heartless, no problem!" Donald said, as if he had just been challenged. Lord Death chuckled at this remark and said, "I'm sure you can. You've been to many worlds, as I've heard, but the rules of this world are a little….different, as I'm sure you've noticed."

"Yeah, I've never had my arm do this before…" Goofy said as he transformed his arm, something he was getting used to slowly. Lord Death laughed and said, "Oh good, you've already got the hang of it. You of course, won't have a partner." Then he looked over to Donald and said, "I'm sure you've noticed that your magic is stronger in this world, right?" Donald looked at himself for a moment, and then nodded in agreement. Then Lord Death turned his attention to Sora, "And of course, the Keybearer."

"Some Keybearer I am," Sora started, feeling sullen all of a sudden, "I can't even summon the Keyblade. I don't know what's wrong with me…"

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that Sora. This is a world where people turn into weapons, you know. It's not your fault. As a matter of fact, I think that's Spirit with your Keyblade now." Sora turned, saying, "Really?" but was soon disappointed when all he saw was a man with shoulder length, wavy red hair and green eyes. He had an almost bored expression on his face, and he wore a grey-black suit that consisted of, of course, the black jacket, a dark gray dress shirt complemented with a black tie that resembled an upside down cross. He wore the jacket open, and along with this he wore a pair of black slacks and black dress shoes that made a sullen clack on the floor as he walked.

"Yeah, I've got her. Wasn't all that hard, she was only surrounded by…like…thirty of those little alien looking things, until I rushed in and saved the day!" Spirit said, eyeing the three standing before him, especially Sora, "What is this him? Doesn't look like much to me." Sora was about to make a comeback when a girl stepped out from behind Spirit, and his words died before they reached his lips when she spoke.

"Hello, Sora," the girl said quietly. She was his age, with long silver hair and golden colored eyes. She was about the same height as he was, and she wore a shining silver jacket, with gold around the edges and on the cuffs. Beneath that she wore a plain white tee-shirt that with a gold heart outline on the front. She wore a gold and silver plaid skirt and a pair of white tennis shoes, as well as white thigh high socks with silver ruffles on the left and gold ruffles on the right. Lastly, she wore a silver earring that looked like King Mickey's symbol in her left ear. Overall, she was fairly gorgeous.

"Uh…how did you know my name?" Sora asked, scratching his head.

"I know all of your names; Donald, Goofy, even Riku and King Mickey. I helped you close the Keyholes to many worlds, and even helped you close Kingdom Hearts. I'm the Keyblade," then she stepped forward and held out her hand, "I don't really have a name, but I suppose you can call me Light. That seems appropriate." Awkwardly, Sora stepped down and took her hand, noting faintly that her fingernails were painted silver on one hand and gold on the other. Then, in a flash of gold light, she was gone, and in Sora's hand was the Keyblade.

"Good! I'm glad we could get all that sorted out. Now, I take it you three will be staying to look for your friends, right?" Lord Death spoke up, breaking the silence.

"Yeah, we're here to find our friends, Riku and the King," Sora answered as Light reverted to her human form and stood next to him, her face blank, "And, as you said, close up the Keyhole hidden somewhere in this world."

"That's good. Well, the best way to look would for you…" Lord Death opened each of their files, producing cards that read, "Shibusen Academy" at the tops, and featured pictures of each of them, as well as basic information, "to pose as Shibusen Students. You'll be known as one star Meisters and Weapons…well except for you Donald, what does yours say?" Donald took his and looked over it for a moment, mumbling out information as he read. He stopped at one point, staring angrily down at the card.

"Donald?"

"Uh….Donald…?"

"Duck….DUCKLING WIZARD! WAAAAAAAACCKK!" he exploded, losing his temper and stepping toward Lord Death, only being held back by his friends. With some effort, Sora said, "Yeah…yeah that sounds okay, Lord Death..eheh…where will we be staying, though?" Lord Death seemed to have an answer for everything, however, as he quickly produced a card with his skull mask on the front, as well as a series of numbers just below that.

"Well, the school will be supplying you with an apartment; I'm sure Soul and Maka will be happy to show you to it, and this card should be able to take care of any expenses you may need." Sora took the card and put it in his pocket, then turned to leave, the others, including the newest (yet somehow oldest) addition to their party, Light. Before they were out of sight, Sora asked one last question, "Earlier, Maka said something about me having a strong….soul? But I've always thought it was my heart, when gathered with the strength of my friends, that was strong. Have I been wrong?" Lord Death only laughed at this, then looked Sora seriously in the eye (he assumed that was what the Reaper was doing) and said, "Oh, no you're not wrong. You see, these souls and hearts you speak of…well…they're the same thing."

Medusa's Lair

"Vector Arrow!" the Witch cried from the shadows, sending bolts of black arrows zigzagging through space, destroying the monsters that had lately been invading her home. She took a few steps forward, revealing a blond woman with snake-like eyes, yellow in color. Her hair was spiked, with two prominent spikes extending down framing her face, and twisting to entwine around each other before resting on her chest. She wore a body-length, black hoodie with no sleeves, showing large dotted tattoos that circled down her arms and ended in snake heads. The hood was up, and had eye-like markings on either side of her head. The back of the hoodie had an arrow shaped tail, and she wore no shoes. She was scowling at the spot her arrows still inhabited, when she heard an older man's voice nearby. A voice she had never heard before.

"I like my girls…feisty," the man said, stepping out of a portal that seemed to be made of swirling darkness, "I must say, girlie, that's one helluva move you got there. I bet you're just full of surprises. He had yellow eyes, with a jagged scar on his left cheek, and a black eye-patch over his right eye. He wore a black hooded cloak adorned with chains, and a zipper all the way to the bottom. It was open, showing he was wearing more black underneath, including a pair of tall black boots. His hair was long and held back in a pony tail, with gray stripes down the center of his head, kind of like a skunk. Next to him were two children, identical twins by the look of them. They were dressed the same as the man towering over them, with their hoods up so that their faces were hidden from view. Around their necks they wore matching necklaces that seemed to be made of purple arrows.

The Witch looked over at the man, pure evil shining in her eyes, and she said, "VECTOR ARROW!" sending more volleys of her arrows flying at the man, stopping them just before they came into contact with him. He smirked and said, "Extra feisty." Then, he was gone, along with the twins, appearing standing on what appeared to be thin air, while also being upside down. The twins were gone and replaced with two arrow guns, which were now pointed at the Witch, ready to fire at a moment's notice. She noticed that the arrows were identical to the necklaces the children had been wearing moments before.

"Who the hell are you?" she asked, her voice cool as she smirked back at the man. The man stayed battle ready as he said, "Name's Xigbar, gorgeous. Yours?"

"Hmmph. Medusa. Tell me what you want here before I tear you apart, Xigbar."

"Oh I'm just here to tell ya, those things you've been killing off, they're called Heartless. I've got plenty to tell you, actually, if you stop those arrows coming up behind me." Then, Xigbar was gone again, appearing behind her, "Especially if you're looking to wake up that guy under Death City…" At this she couldn't help but look surprised, but regained her composure quickly, and she said, "Alright, you've got my attention."

BAM! Another chapter done! I'm trying my hand at describing characters better, tell me if I'm doing okay.