Chapter 25

As it streaked through the sea of space, Paine's ship rattled and quaked like a set of cataclysmic tectonic plates. The elaborate paintjob alongside the hull depicting a red-eyed skull in a pit of flames peeled clean off within seconds of launch, and with each passing megalight-year, a new cluster of gummi blocks came loose and jettisoned from the frame. The ship was falling to pieces, but Paine and Zack didn't lose their nerve; she loved the thrill of lightning-fast vehicles, and he didn't have any nerve to lose.

Paine didn't need the excuse of the countdown clock to opt for the nitrous. Not more than an hour into the flight, she grew bored with the current top speed of 2000 light-years per second and decided to juice the thrusters. The ship rocked and rumbled with every injection of nitrous as it sped faster towards the opposite side of the universe. The only thing working harder than the nine engines was the on-board navigation protocol that auto-corrected the ship's course and maintained its stability to avoid collision with nearby worlds.

To prevent permanent damage to their eardrums, both Zack and Paine wore a combination of industrial-grade earplugs and heavy-duty earmuffs. Though filled with nothing but the whirring of the engines, the cabin did not experience any severe turbulence. Thanks to the modified stabilizers installed by the moogles, Zack and Paine could stand, eat, and sleep without much hassle. They enjoyed a fairly smooth ride until the stabilizers plum blew off the ship.

Just minutes from its destination, the ship had lost most of its outer frame, and along with it, the cabin stabilizers and GPS navigation antennae. The inertia in the cabin forced Zack and Paine hard against their seats. Without guidance from Cid's satellites, the computer failed to steer the ship clear of an upcoming moon. It crashed straight through the center, exploding it into debris that veered into the nearby world and set its cities ablaze. Cracks webbed across the cockpit's dome and Zack eyed the emergency oxygen tank next to his seat. But the force pinning his arms down was too great to overcome. He then darted his eyes over at Paine, who slowly inched her fingers towards the nitrous switch.

The bolts holding down the two seats rattled and squeaked loose, and Paine's headrest bent backwards, forcing her eyes to the ceiling. But still her index finger stretched for the switch. Pressure continued building along the base of the captain's chair until the bolts were yanked out of the floor.

As her seat went tumbling backwards, Paine forced all of her energy and jerked forward just enough to flip the switch. The nitrous pumped into the engines and sent them into overdrive for the last time. Paine smacked into the rear wall as the rickety ship hurtled even faster to its imminent destruction, losing both of its wings in the process. It bounced and ricocheted off three asteroids and a moon on its collision course with a nearby planet.

Nothing remained save for the engines, thrusters and base blocks composing the mainframe of the ship. The flooring broke away fast, and to add to the oxygen crisis, the windshield shattered, scattering its tiny fragments everywhere. Zack closed his eyes just as the sharp, broken particles blew across his face. He sucked in a last bit of air before burrowing his nose into his shoulder and forcing his nostrils shut.

The shrinking husk of metal flew into the atmosphere and caught fire. Three of the engines blew out, sending the ship spinning wildly out of control. Tossed around like a rag doll, Paine lost consciousness. Meanwhile, Zack continued to hold his breath and force his head steady, straining every muscle in his neck in the process. The flaming mass crashed hard into the ground, forming a crater large enough to comfortably house a family of whales.

When Zack opened his eyes, he saw a puddle of red pooling out from under him. The shock of impact had been strong enough to snap his chair free from its restraints and forced him to the ground where his body was impaled on shards of the upturned metal flooring. He took a quick glance at Paine, who was knocked out cold just a few feet in front of him.

With a groan, Zack retracted his outstretched hands and pressed them firmly to the ground. In one, swift motion he pushed himself up and stumbled to his feet. He staggered a bit until he regained his balance. Jagged chunks of metal protruded from his chest, but not for long. Zack inhaled slowly, and as he did so, the metal melted and submerged into his skin, patching up all of his critical injuries.

Thick smoke soon filled the cabin, and Zack wasted little time. He tore off his bloodstained shirt, and after stripping it clean of his various blades, fed it to the growing flames. Underneath, his bare torso didn't show even the slightest hint of damage. Zack then flipped around his fallen seat and tore off the bottom cushion. A spare indigo uniform in a vacuum-sealed bag dropped at his feet.

After donning a new vest, Zack returned his focus to Paine, who was centimeters away from the ravenous fire. Flames nipped at her boots until Zack collected her in his arms. With a quick study of his surroundings, he charged to the front of the cockpit and jumped out the broken canopy. Once outside, he hoisted Paine over his shoulder and took a sword in each hand. With a running start, he jumped towards the wall of the crater and began the rough ascent by digging his swords into the earth for leverage and support.

It took almost an hour for Zack to climb out of the crater. Paine kept slipping and his swords occasionally dug into a patch of weak soil. He had slid to the bottom to start anew many times before finally reaching the surface. When touching foot on ground again, Zack made the trek to a nearby ashen tree void of the leaves of life. He set Paine down to rest and gave her a quick check for signs of any serious injuries. Aside from some minor cuts and bruises, she was fine.

Zack leaned his back against the decaying bark and looked at the abysmal scenery, allaying any doubts he had about crashing on the right world. Both the ground and sky were colorless and reeked of death—a trademark sign of heavy Heartless activity. He tossed off his helmet and ear protection, and kept an eye out for the emissaries of darkness until Paine regained consciousness.

When she came to, Paine slowly sat up and blinked the haze from her eyes.

"What happened…?" she muttered. Of course, Zack's reply sounded muffled until she tossed off her headgear. "Say again?"

"We've arrived, but our ship's totaled. It went up in flames." Zack pointed to the smoking crater.

"We were in that? Ha." Paine lifted up her helmet and held it like a trophy. "And people doubt its magic."

"Preaching to the choir."

Paine got to her feet, and after dusting herself off, gave Zack the once-over. "Well aren't you the picture of health?"

"On the outside, maybe. My lungs are probably as black as pitch," Zack replied in a strained voice as he hacked and wheezed into his fist.

"You always did have the Devil's luck," Paine jibed as she walked to the edge of the crater. "There're worse things than a pulmonary paint job." She peered down into the smoldering mess. Little remained of the base blocks, which were indistinguishable from the scorched earth. Some minor flames continued to eat away at the remnants as they slowly died.

"Cid owes me," Paine said with a sour face. She tossed her helmet into the pit and walked past Zack, snagging one of his swords in the process. "Hope you don't mind if I borrow this; mine's made like a popsicle on a hot summer's day."

Zack gave a nervous smile. "Sure, just remember to—"

"I know, I know; I haven't forgotten your OCD, Fair. You'll get it back after the mission." Paine gave the sword a twirl before holstering it. "Now come on; let's hurry up and find Sazh before the Shadows come out to play."

With a nod, Zack jogged up to his companion and the two wandered into the dead forest.

On the other side of the world, Sazh ran through the college campus with Dajh in his arms as a horde of heart-hungry Heartless paraded after them. Skeletal hands erupted from the ground and swiped at Sazh's feet while bony birds rained down from the rooftops. Sazh took a few quick shots, sending skeletal remains flying in every direction.

"Close your eyes, son!" he implored as a spare rib scratched the side of his cheek. "It'll all be over soon." The infestation was worse than he had anticipated. Zombies cut him off at every corner, their chains rattling and snaking up to ensnare Sazh's ankles. He fired a few more shots and dashed for the nearest unobstructed door.

Inside the abandoned Admission's Office, a couple of skeletal birds had made a nest out of tattered graduation gowns. Sazh made short work of them with his gun and then went to work on barring the entrance. "Stay away from the windows," he ordered his son as he pushed chairs from the waiting area against the door, and then hurried to fortify the windows. Books, plants, and even the coffee pot were hastily piled onto the windowsills. They wouldn't last for long, he knew, but they would buy him enough time to formulate a better plan.

When he finished stuffing a potted poinsettia into the last bare nook, he jogged over to the main reception desk and signaled to his son. "You stay close to me now, you hear? This'll only take a few seconds." Dajh joined his father.

The large, crescent desk bolted to the floor far inside the office housed a computer for each secretary, and of the four, only one retained functionality. Sazh wasted no time in accessing a map of the campus.

Dajh stood up on his tiptoes, but even then his eyes could barely see above the counter. "What game are you playing, Daddy?" he asked while hoisting himself up further by pulling out a drawer to use as a makeshift step.

"It's called: 'Find the Security Station'."

"Are you winning? Can I play?"

"You're already playing, Dajh." Sazh grabbed his boy's hand and ushered him towards the backdoor. "If we beat the Heartless to the security station, we win."

"Yay!" Dajh broke away from his father and ran on ahead just as the flimsy barricades in the office crumbled. "Hurry, Daddy!"

"Dajh, don't get out too far ahead of me!"

Dajh giggled as his boyhood whimsy whisked him away in pursuit of merriment. In his youthful mind, it was all a game. He understood the dangers of the Heartless well, and yet, in order to cope with the harshness of reality, he chose subconsciously to suppress his fears and trust in his father's ability to protect and perpetuate the fragile illusion of safety.

Just a few yards from the Admission's Office, a decaying rabbit jumped out in front of Dajh. It hissed at the boy, causing him to shriek in shock. The rabbit bucked forward and got within inches of Dajh before a loud shot rang out, forcing it to tumble over unmoving.

"I told you not to get too far ahead," Sazh said as he approached and holstered his gun.

But Dajh paid little attention to his father. Something more exciting captivated his attention. "Look, Daddy! A toy!"

"Huh?"

Dajh made a beeline for the Heartless bunny.

"Don't touch that!" shouted Sazh, his face livid. But to both his relief and surprise, Dajh went past the fading Heartless and instead picked up a ragged, chewed-up cowboy doll. "Put that down! You don't know where it's been!"

"Tee-hee!" Dajh hugged the doll as if his father had said nothing at all, and pulled on the drawstring.

"There's a snake in my boot!" said Woody.

"Look, Daddy! He talks!" Dajh pulled the cord again and jumped up with glee.

"There's a snake in my boot!"

"Can I keep him, Daddy? Huh? Can I? Can I?"

"No, you can't keep him!" Sazh wanted to say, but one look into his son's puppy dog eyes sealed the deal. Even if that rabbit had gnawed on it a bit, it could still occupy Dajh's attention until they got off that miserable world.

"Okay, fine," Sazh relented.

"Yipee!"

"But on one condition: don't pull that string again until we leave. We don't want the Heartless to hear it."

"I promise, Daddy."

"Good, now let's go!"

The two raced across the campus past hordes of zombies. The Heartless could sense fresh hearts and threw themselves at their prey. But none were a match for Sazh's quick draw skills. Clumps of undead Heartless paved the path to the security station, and to Sazh's good fortune, the small office lacked windows. He barred the door with a chair and got tow work on the security terminal.

The station housed all the monitors for the security camera feeds. Dozens of small, black and white monitors were connected to the main cataloguing computer. Sazh ran a simple search for the feeds inside and outside Andy's dormitory, and pulled up the footage on one of the monitors.

"Are we watching TV?" Dajh asked.

"Just a little bit." Sazh leaned in close to the monitor as he rewound the tape. "There!" He stopped, jaw agape, as the heavily armored lancer came into view. "What've we gotten ourselves into…?"

Dajh lifted Woody up to guard his face, peeking ever so slighting from behind the doll's shoulder. "Who's that scary man?"

"The one responsible for this mess."

"Are you going to get him, Daddy?"

Sazh pushed away from the terminal and fingered a gun. "We'll see, son." With a steady hand, he removed the chair from the door and slowly turned the knob. He took a glance outside, laying eyes on a suspect sight. The coast was clear—too clear. "Stay close to me no matter what," he warned, and progressed into the open with gun at the ready.

No sooner did they step outside when the Heartless came out to feast. Skeletal arms erupted from the ashen soil. The undead emerged in full force as the whole of the world concentrated on the last two remaining hearts on campus.

Sazh started running anywhere he could evade the mob. Without a ship to return to, his only options were to run and hide until reinforcements arrived.

"Daddy, I'm scared," said Dajh as a zombie gained on him.

The Heartless groaned, making a swipe at Dajh with its shambling hand. Its maggoty, grey jaw drooped down at an awkward slant, stretching like rubber as the zombie hobbled faster after its prey. A shot from Sazh stopped it in its tracks, and the dirt swallowed the decaying corpse as it hit the ground.

Sazh kept his gun leveled, clearing the way to yet another hopeful hiding place. "Everything's going to be okay," he assured his son. But as they reached the next building, the roof collapsed from the weight of the roosting skeleton.

Unscathed, the bony birds erupted from the rubble and attacked. Sazh pulled out a second gun and blasted them to pieces only to get smacked upside the head by rusty chain.

"Daddy!" Dajh ran to his father, who went sliding through the mud.

"That's gonna hurt in the morning," Sazh groaned as he got his feet. His clothes were soaked in mud, and worms wriggled in and out of his afro.

Dajh looked up and inspected his father for obvious injuries. "Are you okay?"

"Stay behind me." In one swift motion, Sazh tore the muddy headband from his hair and tossed in into the drooping face of his oncoming assailant. Caught offguard, the Heartless stumbled long enough for Sazh to counter. He twirled his guns and shot them off several dozen times, decimating the zombie and his enclosing cronies. The Heartless dispersed, and Sazh let out a sigh of relief. "C'mon, Dajh; let's go—"

Just then the ground quaked. Another building collapsed, and the ashen trees blew away with the wind. The muddy ground under Sazh's feet hardened into a black mass that grew to envelop the whole of the campus. Out of the darkness arose a giant shadow with glowing, yellow eyes and dark tentacles that twisted around its head like a tangled mane. It towered over the father and son, its gargantuan hands levitating over them before clenching into fists that rocketed into the ground.

"It's Darkside!" Sazh screamed as hundreds of tiny Shadows sprung from the vortex of darkness spiraling out of the darkened ground. He collected Dajh in his arms and ran like a man on fire.

"Daddy! That's the monster! He's the one that…that…!" Dajh's eyes grew misty. He squeezed Woody close, clinging as hard as he could to the moment before Darkside's arrival.

"Don't look, son. Just don't look! It'll all be over soon."

Dajh buried his faced into his father's shoulders and tried not to cry. "Don't go away, Daddy. Please don't go away…like Mommy did…"

"I'm not going anywhere, Dajh. You hear? Your old man's staying put!"

Dajh hugged his father tight.

"Of all the Heartless that could've showed up…!" Sazh thought while dodging an oncoming assault of chains from the relentless zombies. "Just once I'd like to face off against something cuddly and inept—like a dust bunny or a gnat. Heck, why is Darkside even here?"

Shadows dogged at Sazh's heels, zombies ambushed him at every turn, and skeletons in every other cardinal direction. A trail of blackened worms followed him wherever he went as the baby chocobo kicked the miniature Heartless out of his home. All the while, Darkside continued to reach its arms deeper into the ground, reaching for the world's core to corrupt and devour.

Sazh slid to a stop. Caught between the undead and the shadows, he didn't have enough bullets to carve a clean path. "Routine rescue mission my foot! Basch, you've sentenced us to death!"

"Daddy…" Dajh peeked his eyes out and shivered at the sight of the advancing horde.

"Be brave, Dajh!" Sazh held his boy close, tightening the grip on his gun. "Be brave."

He took aim.

BANG!

Like the shot commencing a marathon, the Heartless swarmed their prey. They covered Sazh and Dajh in darkness from head-to-toe, blanketing them in a teeming mass of heart-hungry scavengers, only to get blown away by a powerful Aero spell. The Heartless scattered in all directions as Paine and Zack charged in with their blades and magic.

"Well aren't you two a sight for sore eyes!" Sazh chuckled.

Dajh waved at the newcomers. "Yay, it's Uncle Zack!"

"Sorry we're late; we had engine trouble," Zack said as he knifed a squad of Shadows.

Paine rolled her eyes. "That's the understatement of the year."

"Whatever the case, you're here now!" Sazh set his boy down and whipped out his second gun. "Time to teach the zombies a lesson!"

The three warriors went back-to-back, gunning down and slicing through every Heartless in sight. However, no matter how long or hard they fought, they could not purge the field clean of Heartless. The endless mass of Shadows spawning from Darkside's ruptures in the world's core easily replenished their ranks.

"There's nothing but Shadows left," Paine said as she stabbed the last zombie and strangled it with its own chain. "I say we make a break for it before we're obliterated."

Sazh wiped the sweat from his muddied forehead. "Basch gave us the wrong readings. This world's dying too fast. It had another three days at least!"

"Accelerated decay—we've been seeing a lot of this lately."

"Since when?"

"The boys in the sewers are calculating the data. Their reports should be officially released within the next few weeks."

"What causes it?" asked Zack, retrieving a stray dagger and swiftly using it to shish kebab a couple of Shadows.

"The jury's still out on that one." Paine signaled the others and started backing out of the undistinguishable courtyard. What was once a prestigious, vibrant university campus had morphed into a dismal, disintegrating wasteland.

"Let's get to your ship while the getting's good!" she said to Sazh. "Where'd you park it?"

"Mine?" Sazh almost tripped over his feet. "What about yours!"

"It's a smoldering heap of ash."

"Well mine's at the bottom of an Olympic pool!"

"So we'll drain it." Paine made a beeline for the murky pool of sludge in the distance.

"Which part of Olympic don't you get? They built that thing to fit all seven of Poseidon's oceans!"

"I don't think that'll be much of a problem, guys." Zack pointed at the torrent of muddied water whirling into a giant cyclone. "It's heading straight for us!"

"This can't be happening!" Sazh quickly grabbed his son to shield him from the eminent impact.

But Paine and Zack didn't even flinch. They gave each other a quick nod then bolted into action. Paine cast another Aero spell, conjuring a large tornado that spun in the opposite direction. It scooped up Zack, who had drawn his two largest blades and extended them so that they ran perpendicular to his body. Inside the tornado, his blades spun like propellers, which he used to slice into the cyclone and steer towards the gummi ship.

Zack landed on the ship, maintaining his grip by puncturing the side hull with his sword. Dangling on the side of the ship, he breathed in a pocket of air trapped between the whirling currents. He edged his way towards the windshield, jimmied free the canopy and flung himself into the waterlogged cockpit. A few flips of the emergency switch and the thrusters kicked into gear.

The ship broke through the rapid rush of tainted water just as the cyclone merged in full with Paine's tornado. The two forces exploded, hurtling the ship to where it plunged into the ground.

"It's nothing serious," Zack called as he lowered the entry ramp. "Hurry and get in!"

Everyone boarded the ship.

"Darkside's got the core!" said Paine. She slid into the co-pilot's seat and restarted the primary thrusters. "Punch it!"

"Roger!"

Behind the cockpit, Sazh hastily strapped Dajh and himself into their seats. "Hold on tight, son. You know when those two are behind the wheel, things get rough."

"It's like a roller coaster!" Dajh giggled. Now that Zack and Paine were here, his sense of security returned to overshadow his fear of Darkside. He pulled Woody's string to further forget ever having seen the towering Heartless.

"There's a snake in my boot!"

"Doesn't that doll say anything else?" Sazh wondered as he clenched his armrests extra hard in preparation for the inevitable kickback.

The world below turned to flaming charcoal. Darkside yanked his enormous hands out of the crumbling ground, hauling out a giant, glowing sphere several times the size of its head. Darkness leeched from the Heartless into the sphere, corrupting its glow. A black, ethereal light pulsated as the orb of energy grew even larger with each passing moment.

"We don't have all day, Fair!" Paine shouted.

"I'm going as fast as I can!" Zack pulled back on the joystick as far as he could without breaking it. The ship tilted to an almost 90 degree angle while streaking through the sky.

Meanwhile, Darkside brought the burgeoning orb down close to its chest. It pressed the sphere of dark energy against a heart-shaped cavity that ran the entire length of its torso. The energy melded with the Heartless, sending stray sparks flying across the expanse of the deteriorating world. When Darkside finished devouring the sphere, it detonated, taking the whole world with it.

The gummi ship rumbled uncontrollably and filled with a strange light—the kind that no mortal eyes were meant to witness. With a serene smile, Sazh gazed at his son, who sat strapped in the chair facing him. When their eyes met, Dajh grinned.

"You know," Sazh thought, "being a single father isn't easy."

Sazh's wife appeared next to their son, smiling and emanating with warmth.

"It's an even harder job during the Apocalypse—you know, what with that whole "end of days, end of civilization" hoopla. But hey, he's smiling, right? He's happy. I did my job."

His wife continued to smile, a blinding light enveloping her body.

Sazh's eyelids grew heavy.

"I just wish…"

His vision blurred.

"…I could've…done more…"

Somewhere very far yet very near to the chaos imperiling the universe, two men sat opposite each other at a round table. It was a plain table, as they were plain men. And yet hidden beneath the simple exterior there shined something most brilliant—a long forgotten gem.

But such a thing didn't interest these men, who invested all their focus in a consuming game of chess. Since the start of their match, they had not once left the table. Nothing mattered to them but the game, and yet everything mattered to the game itself. It was a vicious reality that left them both empathetic and apathetic simultaneously.

It took long for them to scheme their moves. They seldom exchanged words, for chess is not a game won through diplomacy. When they did speak, however, the pieces quivered in anticipation.

Much time had passed since they last conversed, and yet one man felt compelled to speak now. The words pushed past his reluctant lips too fast for his teeth to bite his tongue.

"You're playing with fire."

"Indeed." The other man—the greyer of the two—did not look up from the board. He rubbed his knight piece between his fingers as he contemplated his next move. After a moment or two, he moved the knight two squares in the shape of an L and tapped the clock.

"It's against the rules."

"It's a reinterpretation."

"An illegal reinterpretation."

Folding his arms, the greyer man leaned back in his chair. A small smile crept across his face. "Sometimes, the rules are their own undoing."

The other man scoffed. "We have rules to create order. You've ruined that order!"

"I've created a reinterpretation—a new order."

"A false order. Fuel for the fire."

"Indeed."

The two men glared at each other for some time. All the while, the clock continued to tick towards the inevitable conclusion. With deep reluctance, the next move was cast.

"I won't let your misconduct slide forever," said the other man as he tapped the clock.

"We'll see…"

In a place with no sun or moon—a world bathed in perpetual darkness—Andy stood at the precipice of an impossibly high mountain. A cacophony of dying men and scavengers filled the air, spurring the youth closer to the edge. Draped in tattered clothing with his eyes bloodshot and his bones visible against his thinning skin, he was the shell of the bright-eyed, star student prior to his capture.

A group of vultures, ravens, and crows flocked around him. They circled the sky and perched themselves on a nearby withered tree, eying the broken youth as he took another step closer to seal his fate.

Muttering like a madman under his breath, Andy reached the very tip of the cliff. With wide, unblinking eyes, he peered down into the abyss. He watched the swirling darkness below with the same fervor as the birds watched him. His muttering grew louder and louder as he repeated his mantra faster.

Then the rats came and his heart stopped.

"Think about what you're doing," said a cool, conniving voice. "If you fall, you'll die."

Though he was parched and had gone long without food, Andy continued to repeat his mantra.

"Foolish child, come back—come back to your friend."

"There is light in the darkness," muttered Andy. "There is light in the darkness."

The rats scampered about Andy's feet, and he shouted his mantra louder.

"There is light in the darkness!"

"That's all very well and good," crooned the voice. "But come now and return—return to your friend. Play with him; have fun with him—and above all: tell him your secrets."

"THERE IS LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS!"

Andy's heart was thumping hard against his chest. He gazed below once more into the darkness.

"Come now—return to your friend," the voice coaxed, both sly and confident. "He's come all the way out here to greet you. It would be rude of you to ignore him any longer."

A large, shadowy figure emerged from the hazy darkness and approached the cliff. It was large and bulky, with an elliptical head and blade-like appendages that jutted from its back.

"Your friend has arrived, dear Andy. Well? Aren't you going to say hello?"

Andy didn't turn around.

"Come play with me, Andy," said the newcomer in a heavy, twisted voice. "There's adventure to be had. We can go to infinity…and beyond! Just tell me your secret, little chum, and we can play together for all eternity."

"Yes; play with him, dear Andy."

A rat rubbed up against Andy's leg.

"There is light…in the darkness."

The buzzards cawed.

Andy spread his arms out like an eagle and dove off the cliff.

A/N: A megalight-year is a million light-years and is typically used to measure the distance between galaxies.

I realize this chapter is long overdue, and perhaps the length doesn't justify the long hiatus. However, what logically flows next is the return to China, and its inclusion here would've clashed with this chapter's tone. If it's any consolation, Ch. 26 will not take nearly as long to release. I guarantee it will be up soon (either next week or the following week).

Now that FFN has implemented the new image manager, I've made covers for all my stories. However, as you've no doubt noticed, the thumbnails are rather small and conceal much of the finer details. To remedy this, I've created a DeviantArt account to display larger versions of these covers. For the URL, see my profile.

A note regarding the new KH Dream Drop Distance (KH3D): As with every other game in the series, BRS will not intentionally include plot points or characters from KH3D. The time frame still stands as incorporating elements from games 1-2 only.