Greetings, prospective readers! TheRedeemer1995 comin at ya, and I'd like to extend a warm welcome to my latest Kingdom Hearts creation. You see, I thought it'd be a fun idea to have the Destiny Trio get blasted back in time to the Land of Departure about six months before Ventus came to live there, which also means that Sora hasn't been born yet, and as a result of this freak accident, the Destiny Trio is effectively marooned there, and they receive formal training with the Keyblade as Master Eraqus' apprentices, although he is somewhat worried about Sora's Anti-Form and the potent, yet oddly focused and controlled darkness within Riku, and ultimately have the Wayfinder Trio, and Eraqus, learn as much from the Destiny Trio as they learn from them.

But, enough about that! Let us start the game!

Prologue

Blasted To The Past

The Castle That Never Was-Near The Altar of Naught

Two individuals emerged from a staircase within the castle and onto the outdoor passage, where they had a clear view of what looked like a massive heart-shaped moon that shone down upon the empty realm along with the city and castle that dwelt within it. One of these individuals was the King of Disney Castle, Mickey Mouse, easily recognized by his large round ears and clad in a red, black, and yellow outfit.

The second individual was a human male who looked to be approaching the twilight years of his life, carrying a large, unknown device with him as he climbed up the stairs. He had long, slicked back blonde hair with a matching beard, and wore a long, red cape with a quadrate cross cut taken out at the chest that was outlined with yellow at the edges, a black shirt with a white symbol on it, grey, segmented armor over his sides and abdomen, a long, black cloth lined with yellow, with several decorative straps pinned onto it.

"This spot should do," Ansem the Wise told King Mickey as he placed his device down onto the ground and began setting it up.

As Ansem continued setting up the device, Mickey, his smile still ever-present on his face, couldn't help but ask his old friend, "What's this gadget for?"

"It's a device to reclaim Kingdom Hearts, and encode it as data," explained Ansem, indicating the heart-shaped moon in the horizon as he spoke.

Encode Kingdom Hearts as data? As in, computer data? Is such a thing even possible? thought Mickey before he addressed his old friend. "Not sure I get it."

"I do not claim to know the outcome of this venture either," admitted Ansem as he took aim at Kingdom Hearts with the business end of his encoding device.

"After all… hearts are unpredictable."

And on that note, Ansem pressed the "Initialize Encoding" command on his device, which then proceeded to fire a beam at Kingdom Hearts, a small dark hole forming where the beam struck the moon, which slowly began to grow larger as the celestial entity became digitized.

For quite a long time, the two monarchs sat in relative silence, until Ansem noticed a small warning indicator on his device. Clearly, Kingdom Hearts was too much for the machine to handle.

I should have realized… after all these years spent in solitude, plotting my plots, scheming my schemes, and planning my plans to attain my vengeance on Organization XIII with Sora as my instrument, I have failed to learn my lesson…thought Ansem, an amused smile crossing his face. I profess to know and understand the heart, and yet I continue to show that I truly know nothing about it… and one who knows nothing can understand nothing.

It wasn't long before Mickey took notice of both the violent shaking and occasional sparking of the machine and Ansem's smile. "Ansem?" the mouse king asked his good friend.

Ansem couldn't help himself. He laughed at both himself and at his folly. "I'm a fool… I spent years studying the workings of the heart… yet it seems I still haven't learned a thing!" he said, shaking his head in sorrow as he spoke.

"Whaddya mean?" asked Mickey.

"The process of encoding hearts is incalculable," replied Ansem as he struggled to maintain his grip on the encoder. "The inhabitants of my Twilight Town were data created from real hearts… I was convinced that they would think and behave the way that I had envisioned, but I couldn't have been more wrong… a heart is so much more than any system… I saw it when Roxas and Kairi crossed paths… I knew… but, I was too stubborn to accept it."

"It's always the same…" lamented Ansem. "I try to wrap my mind around things my heart already knows, only to fail. While I was trying to bring Sora back, I had so many plans in store… but, once Sora was an acting force, they fell apart. All my research amounted to nothing compared with that one boy's heart…"

As Ansem finished his lament, the encoder device suddenly began shaking and sparking a lot more violently as the status screens on it suddenly turned a vivid shade of red.

"Ansem! The machine!" Mickey was quick to exclaim in worry and panic.

"All the more proof that hearts cannot be contained by data," said Ansem, his tone quickly turning urgent. "Run, my friend! It's going to self-destruct! And anything could happen!"

"But-" Mickey started to say only to be cut off by a voice from nearby.

"Your Majesty!"

Both Ansem and Mickey turned towards the source of the voice and found a large group of people heading their way. Among them were two of Mickey's oldest and most dear friends since childhood, to the point that he considered them to be his brothers just as much as his long-lost older half-brother, Oswald: his court magician, Donald Duck, Save the Queen+ at the ready, and Goofy, the Captain of his Royal Guard, who likewise had Save the King+ at the ready.

Ahead of Mickey's most trusted friends and allies were three humans. One of them seemed to be an adult male in his early or mid-twenties with tan skin and silver hair that seemed to reach halfway down his back, and was clad in the long black coat, black leather gloves, black pants, and black and silver boots. To those who didn't know any better, one would think that this was Ansem, Seeker of Darkness and impersonator of the bearded blonde struggling to contain the encoder's energy. In truth, however, he was a young man of sixteen who was stuck in the form of the defeated Seeker of Darkness due to terrible mistakes born from jealousy and misinformed choices that he'd made over a year ago named Riku Yoake.

Right alongside Riku, Donald, and Goofy was a young woman of fifteen with long red hair wearing a pink strapless mini-dress that had three zippers and a white halter top with a black hood underneath, three bracelets on her left wrist, a black belt reminiscent of suspenders with a note book shaped bag attachment, and lilac sneakers with black laces. This was Kairi Destanti, Princess of Heart and probably the only one in perhaps all of recorded history to actually become a Keybearer.

And finally, leading the charge up the stairs to where Ansem and Mickey were was none other than the very boy that Ansem had previously been talking about. Sora Hikari had brown hair that was spiky enough that, if such a thing were possible, could easily be used as an impromptu weapon. He was clad in a navy blue v-neck t-shirt, black shorts with yellow belts, a black hooded jacket with pauldron-like additions on the shoulder with yellow belts hanging off the front, black fingerless gloves, black and yellow shoes, and a silver necklace with a crown pendant on it.

Upon hearing Sora and company's approach, Ansem turned to look at the brown haired boy, a solemn and regretful look on his face as he spoke. "Sora… the rest is up to you… and Roxas… I doubt you can hear me but… I am sorry…"

Upon hearing Ansem's apology, Sora felt as though someone else from within his heart was making an attempt to use his mouth to say "I forgive you…"

But before the words could actually escape his lips, Sora felt the feeling and urge to vocalize what he could only assume was his Nobody's forgiveness vanished as quickly as it came thanks to Mickey's cry of "Ansem!"

"My heart is telling me what I must do! Please allow me to do what it says!" said Ansem.

"No!" cried Mickey, desperate to save his friend only to feel Riku's gloved hand on his shoulder trying to hold him back. "Riku!" the mouse king exclaimed as he turned to face the black-clad person.

"His heart's decided," Riku said in his normal voice, which was very hoarse after having to do an admittedly very good impression of the fake Ansem's voice for over a year. Still, it was rather weird to hear Riku's normal voice coming from the mouth of the Seeker of Darkness. "We can't change that."

Any further discussion on the matter was quickly brought to an abrupt halt by the all-too-familiar sound of a member of Organization XIII's leadership warping in.

"I was wondering who would dare interfere with my Kingdom Hearts…" the deep voice of Xemnas, leader and founder of Organization XIII, who had long silver hair not dissimilar to the hairstyle that Riku was currently sporting and clad in the attire of Organization XIII. "And look… here you all are… how convenient for me…"

After a moment, Xemnas turned his attention to the man who had taught him everything he knew, and was currently trying to keep his machine from exploding for as long as he could. "Ansem the Wise… you look pathetic," Xemnas said, not that Ansem minded how disrespectful his old student was being.

"Have your laugh," muttered Ansem. "I deserve as much for failing to see you for the fool that you are…"

"Students do take after their teachers…" Xemnas replied as easy as you please. "Only a fool would be your apprentice. After all, none of this would have happened without you. You are the source of all Heartless. It was your research that inspired me to go further than you ever dared."

"I admit… my disregard brought chaos to more worlds than one…" lamented Ansem, recalling how his Radiant Garden, his city of light, had fallen into the darkness and became twisted into Hollow Bastion, with so many innocent people lost to either death or darkness, the grandmother of a certain red haired girl who happened to be among those present to hear this exchange being one such victim. "But… what were you seeking? You erased me from the world, only to take my name, and continue research better left forgotten… is this the answer you've been looking for?"

"All that and more," replied Xemnas, a stone-cold glare in his eyes as he looked upon his former master and teacher. "I'm carrying on what you yourself began, and I'm creating a brand new world, one heart at a time." Not entirely true, of course. After all, the old fool didn't know everything about him, or even what he had done prior to becoming his apprentice, back when he was nothing more than an old man with only a demon crafted from the darkness torn from his pathetic excuse of an apprentice and dreams of attaining the ultimate weapon and starting the Second Keyblade War.

Now that he thought about it… Roxas actually had an uncanny resemblance to that apprentice, despite being, without a shadow of a doubt, the Nobody of the Hero of the Keyblade who stood before him now. It was quite an interesting quandary, considering the fact that Nobodies who had retained their human form always looked completely identical to their human selves, due to being the bodies they had left behind when they became Heartless. Xemnas would have to look into it once he dealt with his uninvited guests.

"I thought you'd praise me, but all you ever do is hold me back," Xemnas continued before taking a mock bow of respect. "I understand, though. Unlike me, you have a heart, and you're powerless to control it. Consumed by the jealousy you feel towards the student who has surpassed you."

Ansem couldn't help but shake his head and give a small, sad chuckle as his encoder device began to shake ever the more violently in his hands. "Xehanort… foolish apprentice of a foolish man… you have surpassed nothing. Only proved how little we both know. We may profess to know the heart, but its essence is beyond our reach. We are both ignorant, as oblivious today as when we began eleven years ago. I'm afraid that any world you try to create… any world of yours would be an empire of ignorance! That is why you and your creation are destined to fall!" declared Ansem before he returned his attention to his machine.

"We've said enough! Riku, you know what to do!" Ansem said to the dark skinned man, who merely nodded once in response as Ansem looked at Mickey, who had a sorrowful expression on his face. "King Mickey, my friend… forgive me… farewell!"

Almost as if it was on an unspoken and unknown cue, Ansem's encoder device emitted a bright glow that quickly consumed the man. Acting quickly, Riku moved to stop Sora, Donald, and Goofy from trying to save Ansem while Kairi tried to hold back Mickey from doing the same.

As the encoder device detonated in a magnificent explosion of unknown energies, Riku turned around just in time to see a massive surge of light from the machine's explosion heading right for all of them, causing his eyes to widen in panic and fear.

In a matter of moments, the explosion consumed everything within the party's sight, before everything went black, and they knew no more.

The Land of Departure-Fifteen Years Earlier

Keyblade Master Eraqus, a strict-looking man with black hair wearing a white robe, khaki pants, and brown sandals opened his eyes, removing himself from his meditative state. He sensed something that hadn't been there a moment prior. Three of the Keyblade's chosen had appeared on his front lawn as though from thin air. The next moment, a knock was heard on his chamber door.

"Master, we need you on the front lawn! Now!" said the urgent voice of Terra, Eraqus' first and most powerful student, at least in terms of raw power.

Eraqus got up and opened the door to face Terra, who was a young man with brown hair that reached to the base of his neck in the back and was styled into rather messy, vertical spikes, bangs that framed his face, and wore a skintight grey and black high-collared shirt, red straps that resembled crisscrossing suspenders, a belt tied like an obi-sash, dark gray and khaki hakama, dark brown and gold armored boots, and a gold, brown, and red pauldron of armor on his left shoulder.

"What is it?" Eraqus asked Terra as he followed his student towards the front lawn.

"We have, er… unexpected guests," explained Terra. "Three of them, wielders of the Keyblade to be certain, one of them having the taint of darkness, but there's something... off… about his darkness within him. The second… call me crazy, but I think she might be the seventh Princess of Heart. Neither I nor Aqua sensed even the smallest trace of darkness within her."

"Hmm… it is true that we haven't been able to locate the seventh Princess of Heart in some time… it is not unreasonable to assume that she has passed from this world, and her power has been passed on…" said Eraqus. "But that one of the Keyblade's chosen is also a Princess of Heart… even I've never heard of such a thing… what of the third?"

"We… aren't exactly sure what to make of him," Terra admitted as he and his master arrived at the front door. "Aqua and I thought perhaps, with your knowledge and wisdom, you might have better insight."

Eraqus nodded in understanding before he opened the door. There, on the front lawn, he found Aqua, who was a young woman with short blue hair wearing a black and blue, high-collared halter top, two pink, intersecting belts over her chest, black shorts, a silver badge on her chest, white bell-sleeves tan fingerless gloves, small, segmented piece of silver, blue, and blaçk armor on each of her upper arms, black stockings, two strips of blue cloth that draped over either side of her hips, along with a smaller white strip of cloth tied around her waist, and pointed armored silver boots with a sharp "hook" on the outer side of each, casting Curaga on three teenagers, two boys and a girl, all unconscious.

Eraqus turned his attention to what seemed to be the oldest of the three, a silver haired young man clad in a familiar-looking black coat and wearing a blindfold. There was no mistaking the taint of darkness within him, and yet… if he had indeed been taken by the darkness, then it seemed as though the light had reclaimed him, causing the darkness within him to become more focused, controlled, almost like a tempered blade… regardless, the fact that there was darkness within him was troubling…

Stowing away his thoughts on the first boy, Eraqus then turned his attention to the girl, who had flaming red hair, and quickly found Terra's assessment of her to be correct. She was indeed a Princess of Heart and one of the Keyblade's chosen. It was truly remarkable… then again, Eraqus supposed that not all Princesses of Heart were necessarily the textbook depiction of a pure hearted soul, frolicking with small forest creatures and the like.

Eraqus frowned as he turned his attention to the third boy, who had spiky brown hair and a crown-shaped pendant. He… honestly didn't know what to make of him. Eraqus could sense that he had a strong heart, stronger than any he had seen in recent memory, including his own students and even his own teachers as a student of the Keyblade. But, at the same time, there was something funny about him. It was almost as if… he was never actually meant to have the Keyblade. If that was indeed the case, then how exactly had he managed to become one of the Keyblade's chosen? Had he somehow 'won' his Keyblade from its original master?

Regardless of how this boy had attained the Keyblade, if he was truly never meant to be a Keyblade Wielder, then that made this boy highly unpredictable, a wild card and virus in the passage of fate… and that could be just as dangerous, if not more so, than someone who had been taken by the darkness. But, if he was a guardian of the light, or could be made into one, then perhaps the darkness could be eradicated from the worlds once and for all.

However, Eraqus wouldn't get answers to his questions while these three were out cold like this. "Take them to the spare bedrooms, and keep an eye on them. Alert me immediately once they've awoken. I will consult my old friend, Yen Sid, on this matter," instructed Eraqus.

"Yes, master," replied both Aqua and Terra. Terra then proceeded to heft both the boys onto his shoulders in a fireman's carry while Aqua did the same for the girl.

As his students reentered the castle, Eraqus frowned as he watched them go.

Just where would this unexpected development lead…?

And thus concludes the prologue! So, if you liked what you saw here, then be sure to fave, follow, and review, and be sure to join us next time as the Destiny Trio come face to face with Terra, Aqua, and Master Eraqus, and recount their previous adventures! See you then!