Well. This is my first update to this stroy in... over a year?

Hopefully you guys enjoy!

When Sora awoke, he found himself back in the unknown hotel room that Eraqus had originally left him in. This time though he wasn't alone. Eraqus was sitting on a plain wooden chair next to a small round table. Also sitting around the table was Yuffie, Cid, Leon and a mouse. Sora rubbed his eyes. He was sure he had just seen a supersized mouse like creature sitting at the table but he was probably imagining things.

"The Heartless are organised. It's not like them to do things this way. Someone must be controlling them," he heard Eraqus mutter to what was unmistakably a mouse.

"I've tried to round up as many old warriors as I can but I am afraid I could not find any. There are some of my guard though that are willing to help. As long as we can work out how they can destroy Heartless too then at least we'll have more," replied the mouse in a high pitched quiet voice. None on the table had realised that Sora was awake.

"To make it worse, I got a message from Flynn today. Apparently someone back home has been trying to find out about the Keyblade wars. Also had a very clever break in to the school. That security program though, Tron, saw to it that nothing was taken off any computer. But who knows what they may have found in the books. The more people that know about this the worse it will get," added Cid in his usual gruff tone.

"Did Tron get any footage?" asked Yuffie, her voice unusually void of the bubbly excitement.

"No, they used something to blind the cameras. Can't have been Heartless though, they aren't that smart," he replied.

"Let's not assume that whomever broke in did so for a bad reason. For all we know we may have additional people on our side," commented Eraqus. "Though it being on Destiny Islands, that is not good. Perhaps Sora wasn't the only reason Heartless appeared on the Islands; he could have just been the catalyst they needed." Sora decided it was time for him to speak up. He sat up in bed slowly, his body aching from the fighting he had done earlier.

"Does that mean I get to go home?" he asked, slightly surprised at how strong his voice still sounded. The mouse jumped up and rushed over to him. Now that Sora could see him better, he was even more surprised. Two huge round ears stuck out over a smiling round face. If it wasn't for the fact that it was a mouse, Sora would have said the face looked quite kind. He, if it was a he, was dressed in a dark black coat with a silver zipper that went all the way down to his feet. Sora had a strange feeling that he had seen that coat style somewhere before.

"Heya! So good to see you awake, my name is Mickey Mouse, but my friends call me Mickey!" introduced the Mouse, offering a hand (or paw). Sora took it a little uncertainly and gave it a tentative shake.

"Sora, this is King Mickey, one of the remaining Keyblade warriors," explained Cid. Sora looked at Cid and then back at Mickey.

"King?" he asked, hoping it wasn't too rude.

"You have to understand Sora, all these other worlds may have people that do not look just like we do. It makes perfect sense in many of these places for a mouse to be King. As a matter of fact, Mickey is also the King of Destiny Islands, but he tends to just leave things be until he is needed in most places," Eraqus did a better job of explaining that Cid did. Sora nodded slowly as Yuffie giggled.

"You'll get used to it," she said as she stood up and stretched. Mickey also laughed, a short high pitched laugh that seemed to fill the room with a happy aura.

"I was a student to Master Yen Sid for a number of years. You've met him, right?" he asked. Sora nodded, causing Mickey to beam.

"Swell! Now, time is of the essence here. It seems that the Heartless are getting stronger with each passing day and we need to find out why. Sora, you mentioned to Master Eraqus that you saw a Heartless on Destiny Islands but it did not do anything, correct?" continued the King. Sora looked directly at him and for the first time saw a dark worry that lay behind King Mickey's good natured face.

"Yeah, it just watched Kairi and me as we walked... I mean we stayed away from it because you know, it looked really dangerous," he replied.

"Kairi... she's an important one," muttered Mickey. The group looked at him, confused.

"Excuse me, but how is she important to this?" asked Cid, his voice laced with the concern that could only come from a teacher worried about the welfare of his student. Mickey sat down on the foot of the bed Sora had just been lying in.

"I am not sure, just a feeling," he muttered, his brow furrowing slightly as he thought about it.

"Eraqus, was she not the one who had to have her memories locked away?"

"Her what? Wait a minute... you know why she cannot remember things? What about me? Why could I not remember?" exclaimed Sora, suddenly realising this was his chance to find out what was going on and how he, and now Kairi, were connected to all this.

"That is a very long story, and not one we have the time to go into right now, unfortunately," replied Mickey, his voice giving away a trace of the pressures that faced him. Sora, despite wanting to pry further, realised that this was not the best time to do so. He would find out what happened though, the entire story from start to finish. He just hoped that he would have the chance to share it with Kairi. Instead, he just nodded. Mickey smiled once again.

"I'm sorry but you will know in time, I am sure of that. Now, we need to get ourselves back out there. Take a drink of this," he said, handing Sora a small vial.

"What is it?" asked Sora, taking it and looking at it carefully. It seemed quite thin, with the consistency of melted ice cream.

"It's a health potion. Designed to repair a lot of damage done to your body. Not recommended to be drank all the time, but when needed it can do wonders for you," explained Mickey. Sora popped open the lid and peered into the small funnel. The liquid inside didn't seem to be bubbling or frothing. In fact the only property that looked out of place was the fact that it was bright green. He took a sniff. Nothing. He heard Yuffie giggle from the table and realised he probably looked silly for not drinking it. So he gave an apologetic glance to the King, who for his part did not seem to take any offence in the fact that he was not drinking immediately. After a few more seconds of his brain debating whether he should or not, he raised the vial to his lips and drank its contents. The effect was immediate. Every single ache that Sora was feeling disappeared, as did his weakness and general weariness. He raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Wow..." he muttered, handing the vial back to Mickey, who pocketed it.

"Like I said, it can do wonders... but it is also dangerous to have too much of it, as you will become reliant. And that is not something any of us should become," said Mickey. Sora took a deep breath and got out of the bed, slipping on his boots and stretching. He felt more than ready to go back out and fight.

"What's the next move?" he asked.

"Well, we severely underestimated the power of the Heartless, so we need to regroup, gather some numbers," said Cid.

"But the only way for us to do that is to clear up this town, or at least as much of it as possible. Shortly after Mickey arrived we lost the ability to use our Star Shards to travel. We think it has something to do with the Heartless here. In fact, that really is the only lead we have. In order for us to have a chance of regaining our abilities to leave this world we need to clear them out. The occasional Heartless should not be an issue but we cannot have hordes following us wherever we go," added Eraqus.

"In short, it's time to kick some..."

Eraqus cleared his throat pointedly.

"... doors down and save this town," finished Yuffie weakly, looked at the King, who had his backed turned to her and did not see her sheepish expression.

"Indeed. If you're ready Sora, let's go for it."

Sora nodded.

"Let's get back out there."

Sneaking around with two people was one thing, but sneaking around with five was very different. Cid had remained behind, trying to get in touch with Destiny Islands again in order to figure out what was going on there. That left Yuffie, Sora, Leon, Eraqus and King Mickey to work their way back into the other districts and fight their way through. So far they had passed down a couple of alleyways and not encountered a soul.

"Do Heartless have souls?" asked Sora, the thought suddenly occurring to him. Eraqus shook his head.

"No, they do not. Heartless have nothing but the darkness from the fear and evil in a heart," he explained. Sora nodded, understanding that he was fighting what was in essence a feeling.

"So... if we were not scared, would they just disappear?"

"If only it were that easy... Heartless are born out of darkness in hearts. Fear is the majority of it but there are other aspects too. The problem is that every person fears something, in some which way, at some time. If that fear grows too strong and the person is subject to an attack by the unversed, a Heartless is born. That Heartless will then feed off all the fear and dark emotions of it and spawn more Heartless. In many ways, they are impossible to defeat with conventional weapons, which is why the Keyblades are vital. Only three of..." Eraqus stopped mid sentence as he heart a soft footstep in the distance. Immediately blending into the shadows, Mickey crouched low and continued against the wall. Yuffie did the same, whilst Eraqus took light steps, not hiding from whatever was coming towards them. Leon lifted his arm over his shoulder and grasped the hilt of his supersized sword, as he also walked into the shadows. Sora was unsure what to do, so he just followed Eraqus, as quietly as his could. From the viewpoint of an outsider there were only two people walking down the alleyway. Sora felt himself shiver involuntarily. Forcing the fear from his mind, he took a deep breath and waiting for Eraqus to make a move, which he would follow.

"Step light, Sora. There seems to be something much bigger going on here," muttered the old man ahead of him. Sora did as he was told, listening out carefully to see if he could possibly hear anything that would give him an advantage. A dark shadow flashed across the ground, causing Sora to jump and jerk his head up towards the sky, just in time to see Yuffie's leg disappearing over a rooftop, doing her best to get to a vantage point. He watched as she climbed up a tall building with ease and perched herself at the top, almost hidden in the shadow. Unless you had seen her climb up there was little way of knowing there was a person there. Using the moonlight, she reflected it against her shuriken to indicate where she could see movement.

"Prepare yourselves," said Eraqus, his Keyblade appearing in his hand with merely a small glimmer. From the corner of his eye Sora saw Mickey do the same. Sora followed suit, hoping his summoning of the Keyblade would not be bright like it always had been so far. Luckily, despite being brighter than that of Mickey and Eraqus, it was not as bright as it was at the start. Sora wondered if that had to do with the fact that he was getting some amount of control over the Keyblade and its power.

"Go!" ordered Eraqus, barking out a single word that caught Sora unprepared. The trio bounded forward with amazing speed and synchronisation, with Sora being left somewhat behind as they rounded the corner. He picked up speed to catch up as he saw a horde of Heartless ahead of him. Most of them seemed to be the shadow kind: so dark that they absorbed all light, fidgety, with glowing yellow eyes that seemed to give off a power of pure evil. There were a few others too though, armoured with an emblem of a black heart with a red border and cross on it. Some of those were dressed in blue with sliver helmets and shin armour, the others were in bronze with golden armour. Both had long red claws that looked like they could slice a person in half if they were given the chance. If it wasn't for the fact that they were Heartless, Sora could have mistaken them for a Knight.

"Xehanort..." Sora heard Mickey say in a tone that gave off a message of distrust and confusion. But right now, he had no time to ask about this. Ploughing Keyblade first into the horde, Sora started swinging at the creatures ahead of him, doing his best to clear as many of them as possible. The shadow like Heartless were harder to hit; every time Sora swiped they would either duck or melt into the ground where he could do nothing to hit them. At the same time, the armoured Heartless seemed to lack this ability but made up for it with enhanced speed and a lot more strength. Sora found himself being pushed backwards by the endless barrage but he grit his teeth and forced himself to fight back with all the strength he had. Taking a quick glance, he could see that each Keyblade wielder was having to face what seemed to be an endless torrent. Leon, whilst also being attacked was not being attacked with the same intensity, giving him a slight advantage and allowed him to help the others.

"Heads up!" cried a voice from up above. The Heartless momentarily glanced upwards at the newcomer, giving the four on the ground a chance to go on the offensive. Moving closer towards each other they pushed the Heartless back towards a dead end. Some of the Heartless, sensing defeat melted away into a dark portal, whilst others fought on, becoming angrier and fighting with more intensity. From above, Yuffie leapt to the ground, landing expertly on two of the armoured assailants, which Sora capitalised on by destroying them whilst they were down. Together, the five warriors pushed on, and within a few moments there was no trace of a the Heartless ever having been in the alleyway. The group stood in silence for a few seconds before Mickey broke it.

"Those Heartless, they bear the mark of Xehanort," he said simple. Yuffie, Leon and Sora looked at the mouse in confusion but Eraqus stiffened, his gaze hardening as he looked at where the Heartless had been standing.

"I have not seen Xehanort in a very long time, Mickey," he said as he continued to stare.

"Indeed, but surely you saw the mark too?"

Eraqus nodded slightly.

"At first I thought perhaps I was imagining it; I have heard old age makes one go senile. But perhaps I was just denying the fact that Xehanort had something to do with it..." Eraqus let his voice trail off. Sora could sense every word seemed to be laced with a mixture of anger, sadness and regret.

"Who is Xehanort?" asked Yuffie, her eyes now scanning around for any more signs of danger.

"Xehanort was an old Keyblade master, one who knows about the power of Kingdom Hearts more than any of us. His goal was not to destroy the darkness, but to find a way to harness it and therefore have ultimate control over it. In the end, he sought to recreate Kingdom Hearts and the original Keyblade, making a world that would be the ultimate balance of dark and light," started King Mickey.

"Only his plans did not work. Xehanort was consumed by greed and darkness. I lost three of my pupils to him, one of whom ended up giving me many of my scars. Kingdom Hearts was found but never opened, the original Keyblade shattered once more. Xehanort, once a man whom I shared the closest of friendships with, a man I called my brother, disappeared, presumed dead," added Eraqus bitterly. Sora now understood the way in which Eraqus was acting.

"But... he is gone, right?" he asked with some uncertainty.

"I did not doubt that he perished. Not until today. I have never seen Heartless like those that we encountered, with these emblems. I fear for the worlds. If Xehanort is alive, then we may be in far more trouble than we first thought. We must act as fast as we can, and find out what he is after," replied Eraqus. During the whole conversation he had kept a tight grip on his Keyblade, and as he spoke his grip became tighter and tighter until you could see the whites of his knuckles. Sora felt himself naturally more apprehensive.

"Gentlemen, and lady," said Mickey, grabbing the groups attention. "We should move to someplace safe."

Leon nodded and pointed towards a clock tower, the same tower that Yuffie had been perched upon.

"In there, we will be safe for a while," he said simply. Without a further word he started in the direction he had gestured. The others took no time in following, all maintaining a dark silence. Sora looked around nervously as they walked. Every single shadow caused him to twitch; every slight rustling from the wind against shop fronts or flags caused him to jump a little. He was on edge and he did not like that one bit. As they walked past a ground aqueduct, Sora peered into a gate that seemed to lead to an underground cavern. There was a faint light emanating from there and it intrigued Sora. But he knew there was no time to explore right now. Moving quickly to catch up with the group, he looked around more as Leon led them out into the main square and then up some stairs around the side, onto an upper level. From there he led them up some more steps that took a sharp right and up to the doors of the building upon which the clock tower was perched. This building looked very similar in style to the rest, but had a very fancy double door with multicoloured glass in curved panes. Leon pushed at the door.

"Locked," he muttered pointedly. Sora looked at Leon with concern. If the door was locked, how was that going to be their safe place?

"One moment," said Eraqus, looking at the door lock intently. He pointed his Keyblade, which had not disappeared, at the lock and tapped it once. A little light shot out of the tip and into the lock where a key would normally go. With a click, the door unlocked. Sora raised his eyebrows as Leon led the group inside.

"The Keyblade can also be used to open locks. A terrible misuse of such an item, but occasionally it is necessary," said Eraqus, responding to Sora's confusion.

"So, what do we do now?" asked Yuffie, who was walking around the building. It was not lit up and definitely did not feel safe to Sora.

"I am guessing that those were most of the Heartless over here. But there must be more somewhere, otherwise the Star Shard would be glowing," replied Mickey, holding up his shard, which looked dull and lifeless. "So, until we can work out where they are and how many are left, we wait and fight as and when needed."

"What about Cid?" asked Sora.

"What about me, kid?" replied a gruff voice behind him. Sora jumped.

"Hey! Cut it out," he cried, forgetting that he was talking to his headmaster. Cid chuckled.

"Sorry, didn't mean to make you jump Sora," he said before turning to Eraqus.

"Got back in contact with Destiny Islands, but was cut off half way through. At first I was worried that the Islands were under attack, but I am certain the problem is on this end. Either these computers here are really antiquated, or we are being blocked somehow," he reported.

"Most likely blocked. The Heartless consume a world and as they do they remove it from the dimensions that we deem to be reality," explained Eraqus.

"So we need to stop them before they do," said Sora, trying to sound braver than he felt.

"Yes we..." Mickey stopped short as a rumble was heard outside. He rushed over to the window and peered out. When he turned back, the look of horror was clear.

"I think... Maybe we need a little more help here," he said. Sora moved to the window and looked out. He didn't have to say anything as Yuffie stood next to him, jaw agape. Leon stood to the right of Yuffie, seemingly unphased but his body was tense. Mickey looked horrified and Eraqus narrowed his eyes.

"We can do this," he said quietly. For Sora, this day could not have gone much worse.