"Hello~!" Kairi called out to the empty ballroom. Her echo was the only response. "Seriously, you'd expect more people in a castle!" She sighed, taking a few dance-like steps.

Sora, who was back to 'normal', asked "Why the heck are you dancing Kairi?"

Kairi twirled lightly, saying plainly "It isa ballroom, right?"

"There's no music, there's no one here, there's really no point."

"Who said there had to be a point?" Kairi then began swaying as if she were in the arms of someone else. She was humming lightly, caught in her own little idle daydream. Sora watched her carefully, but then roughly shoved her aside.

"HEY! What's-" she stopped when she saw Sora fiercely fend off a Heartless. He killed the thing remorselessly and then extended his hand to Kairi

"I guess that's where all the people went. Watch yourself." As she accepted his hand he continued "You're twice as susceptible: Heartless love a heart that has tons of light, and yours just the stuff. Not to mention how Keyblade wielders are constantly followed by the buggers. I would advise against letting your guard drop like that again."

When Kairi was up again, Sora looked around for any more signs of the dreaded creatures. Kairi was still left speechless; Sora had just saved her. She was about to thank him before he walked elsewhere, saying "I'm gonna go see what else is wrong with this place. Riku, you can watch Kairi, right?"

Riku nodded "Be careful, okay?"

But Sora was already disappearing up the wide staircase to the upper levels of the castle. Kairi and Riku shortly debated on where to go, but they both agreed that going upstairs seemed like a good idea and followed.


Sora absently brushed the old tapestries covering the walls, wondering who had the time to create such works. Snippets of daily life, scenes from stories, anything in any color could be seen. He then shrugged, and continued on. Beauty was fragile and, in most cases, worthless. There was no point in reveling in the work of more than one set of deft fingers when there were larger problems around.

Sora didn't even notice himself lash out at a Shadow hiding among the dim light, only beginning to take note when their numbers increased. He rolled his eyes and readied himself for a long battle.


"Hey Riku, do you really think the people here became Heartless?" Kairi asked, Keyblade slung over one shoulder while her arm swayed in rhythm to her walk. Riku nodded, then quickly took out a Soldier "Heartless are formed from darkness in people's hearts, or when hearts are stolen by the Heartless. It wouldn't be a invalid hypothesis. Just bring in one Heartless and idiots who can't defend themselves and you have an outbreak waiting to happen."

Kairi shuddered "So these things used to be people?"

"'Used to be'is the key word there- Soldier on your right -I don't know if they're even aware of who they used to be, but when they're killed the heart they used to be is restored. Then they go off to wherever people go when they die." Riku explained while they made their way through bursts of Heartless. "So in a way killing them is a good thing."

Kairi launched a few fireballs at the Heartless, destroying them instantly, and the hall was quiet again. She had begun to realize fighting wasn't exactly fun, but there was something she knew her dad would say when he had to leave again: "Kairi, remember that life isn't always going to give you what you want. You're not always going to be able to do what you want either, so when you have that free will to do as you please, enjoy every second of it."Those words were finally starting to sink in.

She sighed softly. She loved her dad, but he was only around a sprinkling of years in her life. It was mostly her mother she spent time with, learning protocol for being a princess and eventually queen, learning spells on how to defend herself, learning learning learning. She smiled vaguely at memories of listening to her tell a wonderful bedtime story, about light and the worlds-

Kairi gasped and clutched her head. An older, more jumbled memory had snuck up on her. Riku stopped, asking "You okay?"

Kairi waved her hand dismissively "Fine, it's just a headache." She then cocked her head, and asked "Hey, am I the only one hearing those voices?"

A sound echoed from down the hall "...taken again..."

Riku and Kairi quickly walked forward, the voices growing louder and more legible.

"Ooh that Maleficent doesn't know when to quit, does she?"

"Now, now Merryweather, just because-"

"She's kidnapped Aurora and you're asking me to calm down?!"

"She wasn't asking you to calm down dear, just to keep a level head. You let your temper control your actions too much."

"Well I'll show Maleficent what she gets when she-"

"We don't even know where they are-"

"Hello?" Riku and Kairi walked into the room, it's only inhabitants being Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather. Flora blinked in surprise, then exclaimed "What are you doing here? It's not safe!" She then walked over and began pushing Riku and Kairi away "There's too much Heartless and danger for you!"

"But Flora! Dad wanted us to come here-"

"It's gotten much too dangerous for you-"

Riku stopped firmly, saying "We were told to come here, we're here to help."

Fauna sighed, then nodded "Flora, they can take care of themselves. Give them a chance."

Merryweather scoffed "Give them a chance? We gave Philip a chance and he went missing too!"

"He might still be searching!"

"He's probably dead!"

"I am getting tired of your pessimism Merryweather!"

"Why do you have to be so bossy, Flora?"

Fauna stepped between the two sighing "Ladies, we have a bigger problem to explain here!" she then told Riku and Kairi

"To sum the events that have been happening, while we were gone Maleficent must have taken the opportunity to attack the castle. She took our dear princess Aurora, and Philip must have gone after her... We haven't seen any sign of him or Aurora..." the three looked despondent, but then Flora asked

"Wait, there were three of you with His Majesty. Where's Sora?"


Ba dee dum!

I'd like to state how the plot is gonna work with this, give you guys a blurry idea of what to expect next. Essentially I'm mixing plots elements of KH1 and 2 in this(might split it into two parts) then moving on to '3' for lack of a better term. The only things that are in continuity of this fic is the events of Birth By Sleep up to the point where Ven and Vanitas meet at the islands. As you have already read, that was changed drastically. Although the trio's fates are unaltered: Aqua is still waiting in the RoD, Terra is still stuck with geezernort, and Ventus... you probably already know ;)

With characters I'm mostly going to focus on Char. Dev. for Sora, and he'll kinda be like Neku Sakuraba: Pessimistic jerk going to a guy with a heart of gold. I am NOT having Roxas, Xion, or Namine in this fic. I write about Roxas too much already and Xion and Namine just make things confusing. Not to mention I'm gonna need an excuse to have Sora and Kairi lose their hearts and give Org. 13(yep, those guys are here) a chance to find them and make Xion.

... Yeah, big headache right there with this AU ^_^*.

Also, I'll try and keep the worlds canon only, so if it hasn't been featured yet I won't include it(might do a Tangled one again[points at KH3:The Return]. Tangled needs a world)

Anyways, that's just a broad swipe. Enjoy, read, review, blah.