Heart of Akasha

A/N:

Hi, guys and gals.

This story was supposed to be my last big project, something I've decided on because I realized, that with my actual writing speed and work, I would not be able to do more than that. But now that I am on the start of work, I realize that I would not be able to do even that much. At last not if I wanted to have a life and being able to write my own story. So, after falling into despair and trying to tell someone exactly why I don't want to give it up, showing him all the information I already have gathered together, he then notes "isn't that too much for one person to begin with?" And he was right! There is no way I will be able to write the story on my own, so I'll have to get other people for it. It's, after all, quite the big and ambitious crossover.

So, if anyone likes the concept, thinks it would be a pity if wasn't realized and wants to become a part of it, they can get into contact with me. It is my hope that together we can keep this story alive. For that I am going to publish the chapters I've written so far one after another, hopefully showing off just why this story shouldn't be left to die.

Naturally, getting other people to help does not just mean that I'll tell them what to write. Unless they want that, which I would welcome but really doubt would happen. Rather it is – besides maybe things like item and skill creation – combining my idea with that of others and have some write their ideas to the story with the ground elements the same, with me being mostly the watchful eye that makes sure the story doesn't get ridiculous. At last that's what I planned and think might actually have a chance of working. I've also added a Forum to hopefully help with that.

So with that said, I'll present you the prologue. Afterwards I'll explain some of the aspects of the chapter and what they mean for the story.

Prologue: Dive

They were deep under water. Or at last, it looked that way. Their surroundings were tinted in a dark blue color, the only source of light coming from the far away surface above them. Yet despite how far away the light was, it still managed to touch upon the rock formations beneath and around them. Rock formations, which were not sculptured by human hands but only through the natural flow of water.

Which stood completely in contrast to the platform they were standing on. The perfectly geometric structure was made out of a completely unnatural, semi-transparent material that was arranged in squares, each of the same size of two yards length. And it was floating in the middle of the sea without any visible support. Though the last part was actually true for the rock formations, too, which, despite their huge size, didn't seem to realize that they were supposed to follow gravity and instead floated above and below the platform.

And if that wasn't strange enough, this sea had no water. Or at last the platform they were standing on was filled with air instead, since up and below them there seemed to be layers of some liquid, going by how the light from above was refracted and there were always the little air bubbles that rose up everywhere in the liquid. It was quite surreal, actually.

But there was one more thing of note. Or rather, a bunch of things that were essentially the same yet looked completely different: Keys. Everywhere on the platform were keys, their heads with the teeth buried through the platform without damaging it and their ends raised upwards. Furthermore, they were all so ridiculously over-sized! Even the smallest one was several inches long and the largest one, a thin alloy key, went up to three yards! Seriously, how was one supposed to operate a lock with that one?! Or carry it around with you, since that was one of the more distinctive advantages a key had over something fixed like a lever.

And then there was the fact that not two of them looked the same. Now, granted, even normal keys didn't really look all the same as different locks had to be operated with different keys. But those differences were minuscule in comparison. Besides size and color, these keys had also ridiculously different shapes. Everywhere one could see them adorned with ornaments that would definitively break off with frequent use.

To get a better picture on how ridiculous the keys looked, let us take a look at a small selection of them:

The first, one of the more normal looking ones, was 40 inch long and made out of a dark blue rock which shone with a metallic gloss with thick red teeth at the end that was buried through the platform. And both the teeth and shaft were carved in with unreadable glyphs.

The second one was a 42-inch long key with a grip made out of a dark blue metal and a shaft of crystal in light blue color. It had three teeth that were like crystal spikes coming out of the side, only that instead of light blue, they came in the colors red, yellow and light green one each.

Another resembled a sword with a black blade that has been chipped greatly on both the back of it and on the side with the silver edge. The first few inch of the blade were wrapped with pale silk-like cloth and the guard was bronze with a hinge like that of knight's helmet.

The fourth looked more like a wooden club than a key. Only the teeth resembling frozen flames escaping from its bulky end gave it any appearance close to a key.

Then there was one were the designers seemed to have gone way overboard, trying to get as many different aesthetics together as possible. The handle were two strands that grew apart from the shaft and meet together, the upper one being made out of thick sandy-brown scales with black marks all over them while the lower one resembled solid flames of cobalt blue and black color.
The shaft itself was made out of three intertwining strands, the first looking similar to a gray shrimp, the second like a tail with red fur and the third like another tail, this time with tan-colored fur. It also had four teeth, the first one reminding one of a white slug, the second one of an orange insect's wing, the third one of an octopus's arm and the last one of a fox's tail.

The sixth was an alloy key, like a spear made out of twelve gold and red hexagons, each with the symbol of one of the Chinese zodiacs. The last one was attached to the side of a red shrine gate taking the role of the handle.

And, even after taking the time to go describe all of those, I only managed to scratch the tip of the iceberg. But then again, maybe I was overreacting. After all, their high number was also one of the aspects that made it unlikely that they had been created without a purpose that would explain their multitude of variations. And even if it didn't, if they hadn't been created with a clear purpose in mind, one still had to applaud the artistic sense as well as the craftsmanship of the one who created them. Oh, and the three people inside this field of keys had all a key of their own. That was probably worth mentioning.

The first of these people was a young man with tanned skin, neck-long silver hair that was styled into messy vertical spikes on top and the back with two bangs framing his face which most prominent feature were its piercing yellow eyes. His upper body was clothed with a skintight high-colored shirt of dark colors that emphasized his muscular body and had two red straps crossing over his chest. His red arm was, besides a black wristband, left free, while his left arm was covered with multiple metallic parts on the outside of his arm up to his shoulder to protect this body parts from injuries. His trousers were of beige color and resembled a Japanese hakama with a dark-colored obi sash and a black belt.

But his appearance wasn't all that interesting compared to the object he held in his right hand: The over-sized key I had talked about earlier. Looking at it, it seemed as if it was clearly designed to resemble something demonic. It was black with silver lines drawn it and had a general ragged, thorny appearance. The shaft was split into two until it joined together again at the tip which had a blue cat-like eye and had two more protrusions. The first was an axe-like blade that was just barely bigger than the eye, while the second was like a combination between a claw, fang or scythe, going up until a third of the separated shafts.

But for some reason, the man was holding the key so that the long protrusion was pointed upwards, completely different to what you would expect from something looking like a demonic axe. And there was one more thing that differentiated this key from the others, something that only the keys held by the other two people had in common: A token, that was hanging from the handle by a chain, in this case another blue cat-eye wrapped in gray metallic strings.

The second person was a teenage boy who wore a bodysuit of mostly black color that gradually turned towards a red color at the hands and feet, the former more so than the latter. It also had lines that simulated skin-less muscles, which took on a red color on his chest. Additionally the boy had a short ragged mantle-like object of dark blue color that was covering his posterior and was held together by a cross of blood red girdles at his front and one that went around his waist. His face was impossible to make out on the account of him wearing a silver helmet with a darkened face-cover that was smooth like plastic and went all around his head.

The key the boy was holding seemed also to have been made with a special design in mind, just like the one of the young man. In this case, it seemed the designer had decided that one key was not enough; he should make two of them and put them together. Maybe it was to offset the familiarity that one of those keys otherwise had. With one metallic shaft that turned blue at the handle, normal-looking teeth and a golden grip, it looked closer to a normal key than any other key around them.

Which was probably why instead of one they had two, crossed over and fused at one side of the grip, with both teeth facing outwards. Left and right from the cross-section where something resembling the skeleton of mechanical wings of a soft color mixture of blue, green and white and starting from the cross-section away from the handle was a two-edged yet hollowed-out blade of white color with a gold gradient. The token was also a symbol with two crossed keys and was not attached to one single chain, but two that started at the handle of each individual key before they merged together into one.

The last person was also the only female out of the three. She was a young woman with short, blue hair and blue eyes. She wore a metallic full-body armor that, besides her head, covered everything in a form-fitting manner, slender at the waist and wide at the hip with breastplates resembling an upside-down crescent moon, leaving no doubt that the owner was indeed female.

Though while her armor was rather elaborate for armor, her key on the other hand was more simple compared to most of the keys around her. Its guard was circular with slightly jagged edges, the upper part being of a black color, the lower of a white and the center was gray. The shaft was of a metallic blue and had two diamonds near the grip, which was a simple gray shaft. The teeth were only like a frame of metallic rods with diamonds at the three places were the actual teeth went outwards with an extremely short metal rod. The chain at the grip was made out of segments, which were like tear-shaped diamonds and connected to a token that also reminded one of a water droplet-like sapphire with silver ornaments.

Nevertheless, no matter how the key looked like, it was at last useful for something. Namely supporting its owner. Stabbing the tip of the key into the ground, the woman put her weight onto it as she tried to use the leverage it brought to rise from her kneeling position. A task, while successful, was not done without any trouble. The fight she had been in until now had not left her without any mark. Be it the physical dirt and sweat the covered her face and armor or the mental exhaustion that she was still recovering from.

Yet she could not just sit down and rest. She had to continue fighting! No matter the cost!

"Pointless", the man spoke in a condescending voice as he saw her efforts, "your friends are already beyond your reach! Ventus has become one with Vanitas to forge the ultimate key, the χ-blade! Terra's heart has been extinguished, smothered by the darkness within him! You are of no consequence anymore."

"My name is Master Aqua", the woman declared as she stood up straight, her left side towards her opponents and her right hand holding the key like a sword, "return my friends' hearts or pay the price!"

"Fool", commented the man, but his words were not heard under the loud laughter of the teenager. A laughter, that was incredible eerie as it sounded like two people laughing at the same time in the same way, yet with different voices.

"Not bad at all", exclaimed the teenager, still using two voices at once. "You really are fun to have around! But you are just wasting your energy! The χ-blade will open the door – the door that leads to Kingdom Hearts! Then from each and every single world Keyblade-bearing warriors will flock together, to battle for the light within Kingdom Hearts! And just like the legends says, the Keyblade War shall begin!"

After that speech he pointed his key, which was called χ-blade at last as far as their conversations had seemed to indicate, towards the sea above them. Black and white energy gathered in a sphere above the tip of the key, swirling around each other in a contained chaos. Then the sphere left the χ-blade and shot upwards. As it hit the water, a pulse went through the liquid and pushed it away from the point of impact like Moses parting the red sea. Only that this sea was up in the sky and when it was gone it didn't leave behind solid ground, but a giant bluish-glowing moon in the shape of a heart floating in the sky.

Despite the situation Aqua couldn't help but stare in awe at the majestic sight in front of her eyes. A clear sky with white dots, surrounding the heart emitting a pure light, which was further, reflected on the borders of the sea around it, truly a beautiful, heart-racing sight. She could downright feel its radiance inside her heart and soul, her own Keyblade singing in all but sound as its light shined upon it. Aqua had to admit that she could understand how Kingdom Hearts could gather people like moth to a flame.

But she shook of her trance quickly enough. She couldn't just stand around and no nothing. After all, she still had her friends to save! Still, it seemed that seeing the light of Kingdom Hearts had invigorated her, washing away her fatigue and filling her with new energy. She didn't know if it was indeed an effect of the heart of all worlds, Kingdom Hearts, or if it was just that turning from something so beautiful after reaffirming her goal increased her focus and conviction enough to simulate the effect psychologically. But whatever the case, she knew what she had to do now!

Vanitas, the teenager in a bodysuit with the χ-blade noted her defiance and broke out into a big smile unseen under his helmet, while Xehanort, the man with the demonic Keyblade just stared at her dismissively. But Vanitas rushed towards her and she grabbed her own Keyblade to meet his charge with all the might she could bring forth.

But both combatants stopped dead in their tracks as suddenly their surroundings where tinted with a red color and out of nowhere a mechanical voice spoke up:

[ERROR 401: Unauthorized access to Akasha detected. Please gain authorization from the Moon Cell Automaton and try again.]

"Authorization?" Voiced Xehanort skeptically. "Many worlds are close enough to the root of all hearts to tell about it in their tales. You are but one of them, Automaton of the Moon. You have less claim on Kingdom Hearts than I, who forged its key!"

But the voice didn't seem to agree with his reason as it just continued:

[ERROR 403: Forbidden entry detected. Current action is not permitted by the Moon Cell. Cease your access to Akasha at once or face termination.]

Aqua held her breath. Each world had a heart but not every heart was equal. Some worlds had stronger hearts than others. And with those stronger hearts came greater powers. Some worlds were barely alive like an infant child, only able to tell what happened to them. Stronger ones were able to make themselves known, to talk to the people living on them. Some were aware enough to give out gifts, empowering their Chosen Ones. And then there were those with hearts strong enough to forgo their passive role, those capable of taking an active role in the lives on them, manipulating people and events to their liking or even materialize in an avatar, a physical being on their own body. A world able to actively destroy any intruders it dislikes? That world would have to own a strong heart, indeed.

Yet neither of the two others felt reason to pause at the implication. In fact, Vanitas was starting to laugh at the world's declaration.

"Oh, give it your best shot!" He challenged the world with glee. "I have the χ-blade, the ultimate Keyblade! What do you think you'll be able to accomplish?!"

[ERROR 403: Forbidden entry has not ceased.] The world noted.

[Terminating hostiles.
ERROR 613: Hostiles cannot be terminated. Hostiles are outside of the influence of the Moon Cell.]

So the world wasn't able to influence them, after all. It wasn't that surprising actually. Disregarding the χ-blade, even normal Keyblades were given to people to deal with problems outside of a world's influence. In other words, those who wielded them were also exempt from their influences. And that especially included being deleted by one. So Vanitas had been right when he called the bluff of the world. It was not able to terminate them.

[CODE 101: Switching Protocols.], decided the world.

[Last resort: Deploying Counter Guardian.]

"A guardian?" Voiced Xehanort with interest. "A world is able to call forth a guardian for Kingdom Hearts? How intriguing."

"Hahahaha", shouted Vanitas in joy. "Let's see how this 'guardian' stacks up against the χ-blade!"

Not too far away lines and circles of ever-shifting digits appeared. They moved through the air in a random fashion, yet still contained to a cylinder the size of a door. More and more and more numbers appeared, until they completely filled the space inside the cylinder. Then, with a flash of light they disappeared, leaving behind a person.

The person, the so-called Counter Guardian, was a tall man with tanned skin and short but spiky white hair. The Counter Guardian wore a black body armor and a red coat, which was more like two sleeves of red fabric connected with a single cord on his back, as well as a red skirt that ended above his shins and was left open at the front. With his empty eyes he stared in the direction where Vanitas was, silently challenging the wielder of the χ-blade.

"Hahahaha!" The person in question laughed and a tremor went through all the Keyblades around them. They broke free from the platform, flying into the air and combining all into a maelstrom of flying keys. Together they twisted around and in unison shot towards Vanitas from behind. But the boy did not get caught unaware. In fact, it seemed as if he expected them as he jumped into the air right as the whirlwind of keys came up to him and landed on one of them, using it like a surfboard, riding the twister like a wave towards the Counter Guardian.

"Out of Order", spoke the person in question with an emotionless voice and a light blue crystal Keyblade with three different-colored teeth appeared in his hand. Then he spun it around in front of him, creating the image of a shield. With it he stood against the tidal wave, making any key that hit it fly off to either side, were it landed motionless with its tip in the floor. And with every key that flew away, an electric current ran over the frame of the Counter Guardian and the spinning became a tad faster.

Vanitas narrowed his eyes and jumped off the twister, letting the rest of the keys shoot towards his opponent on their own, still without any noticeable effect.

"Great Heavenly Race."

Suddenly the Counter Guardian vanished in a blur, only to reappear before Vanitas, impaling the frozen foe with something looking like a spear made out of twelve gold and red hexagons.

"World-Spanning Empire", he then said and the same time a "gotcha" from above accompanied the arrival of a second Vanitas who slashed at his enemy while his other image faded away into nothingness. Only for the Counter Guardian to disappear as well, leaving behind just a roman-styled Keyblade with a red cloth surrounding the tip of a Gladius in the shape of a key's teeth.

Vanitas looked around for a sign of his enemy and found him kneeling at the place where all the other Keyblades had fallen into the ground, his hand around a copy of the roman Keyblade. His other was stretched out towards the boy, having thrown a third copy – or was it the original?

Nevertheless, it seemed real enough for Vanitas to quickly cartwheel out of the way. Which seemed to be the right decision as the Counter Guardian suddenly appeared next to the flying key, his hands already on it.

"Void Tears."

The key transformed into white-glowing and liquid-looking yet still solid clay. The Counter Guardian moved it upwards in an arc, blocking Vanitas strike after his teleport moved him above his enemy. However, that wasn't the only effect the white key had. At the same moment it drew an arc in the air, it produced a viscous liquid glowing white just like it. The liquid flew forward like paint thrown out from a bucket, towards the place where Vanitas's after-image had been, as well as the person himself when the Counter Guardian blocked his attack.

Vanitas quickly pushed himself away and did a backward somersault for additional distance. Once again a sound decision as when the white liquid hit the platform, it burned a line into the seemingly indestructible matter which was not even scarred when the keys fell into it, not to mention the giant floating rock above them.

Speaking of, Xehanort had finally decided to enter the fight himself and, with one move of his hand, send the floating rock down on top of the Counter Guardian while Vanitas got clear.

"Thirteen Guards."

The Keyblade transformed into one resembling a wooden cane with flames coming out of the bulky end, distorting the air above and around them like the heat of real flames, only a lot stronger.

The Counter Guardian hit the giant rock with the bulky end and in an instance, evaporated the whole asteroid-look-alike like it was nothing. However, this moment of inattention was instantly used by Vanitas. He shot a fireball, which turned into multiple fireballs and flew towards his enemy from all directions.

"Protecting Left Hand."

The Keyblade changed again, this time resembling a long sword with chipped edges and the Counter Guardian charged, completely ignoring the flames as they harmlessly vanished upon contact. Vanitas slammed his χ-blade onto the ground, sending forth a razor-sharp wave of darkness, but it as well proved futile against the Counter Guardian. And then he was already upon Vanitas, attacking his enemy with an onslaught of fast vicious blows that kept him completely on the defensive.

Fortunately for Vanitas, he was not fighting on his own. Xehanort had caught up with them and swung his own Keyblade at the Counter Guardian's back.

"Ten Elements."

But he transformed the key again, changing it into a key completely made out of light. At the same time, his other hand suddenly held a key made out of literal shadows, which he used to block Xehanort's Keyblade. Additionally, then more keys made out of the substances water, clay, cobblestone, wood, air, steel, as well as fire and lightning appeared in a circle around the Counter Guardian. Then those eight others spun in a whirlwind of death, forcing Xehanort and Vanitas to back off let they get skewered by the multitude of flying weapons.

That not enough, Xehanort suddenly found himself as the target of multiple spheres of light in different colors of the rainbow. He swatted them out of the air with his Keyblade and send an angry glare towards the interloper: Aqua, who had finally overcome her stupor over the appearance of the guardian and just decided that, as long as he was fighting against her enemies, she would help him out.

"Message to Tomorrow."

Meanwhile the person in question changed his key again, this time to a metallic-looking stone of blue color with red teeth. He stabbed it into the ground and once again the platform was carved in, this time with a giant symbol in the shape of a condor. In fact, the symbol was so large that when the lines appeared, Xehanort and Vanitas had to retract quite a lot less they be trapped inside their radius and being subjected to any number of unknown effects.

Yet nothing happened.

"One Hundred Tales."

That was, until his key changed again, this time resembling a large Japanese brush with split hairs making up the teeth. The Counter Guardian swung the Keyblade, releasing ink that filled all the lines that the symbol was made of. Then suddenly a beast rose up from the place the lines where, taking the ink with it but leaving the carvings like they were. It was, as if the painting had literally come to live in a giant black bird with glowing red lines, the Counter Guardian on its back. The bird let out a loud shriek and flew towards Vanitas, intending to squash him with its giant talons.

"Don't screw with me!" Declared Vanitas and, with one swing of his χ-blade, cut the giant bird in half, making it turn into black particles of dust. "No matter how many ancient Keyblades you take out, they are useless in front of the χ-blade!"

Vanitas, suddenly surrounded by a golden glow, jumped upwards against the Counter Guardian.

"Split Calamity."

Again the Keyblade changed, this time looking like it had been assembled from nine different strands of mundane and mythical matters, four as the teeth, three intertwined as the shaft and two as the handle. The Keyblade met the χ-blade head-on and the latter promptly split apart into two singular Keyblades.

"What the-", was all Vanitas could let out before the Keyblade hit him, shutting up anything else he wanted to say. Furthermore, the moment it touched him, he also, split in two. Flying to the right was himself, Vanitas. But flying to the left was someone else, a young boy the same age with spiky blond hair, blue eyes and baggy clothes who was currently unconscious.

"Ven!" Shouted Aqua who recognized the boy instantly as the one of her friends and rushed towards him before he hit the ground, completely forgetting her current battle with Xehanort. Fortunately for her, the young man had also been dumbstruck at the development, stopping his attacks as soon as the χ-blade had split.

"How is that possible?" He voiced confused. "Nothing should be able to effect the χ-blade like that… could it be… the union had yet to finish? Did Ventus proof himself even more useless than I originally had assumed?!"

While he was ranting, the sea above them retracted back to its original state, once again hiding Kingdom Hearts from their eyes and anyone seeking it in the future. Meanwhile Aqua had reached Ventus and caught him, before he hit the ground. Vanitas, who had no one who cared enough to give him this courtesy, landed hard on the platform.

"Seal by Embrace."

Vanitas picked himself up, angrily turning towards the Counter Guardian.

"Oi", he shouted, "what the hell did you do, you bas-"

Once again, he was interrupted. This time by a Khakkhara-like key where the rings of the Buddhist monk staff all pointed downwards and the upward teeth were made out of white foxtails. Not quite comprehending what was happening, Vanitas could only stare down at his chest, where the pointy end had stabbed him, not drawing any blood.

"Void Tears."

The key changed again, for the first time to a shape that had already been used before, a key of white-glowing clay. Then the Counter Guardian drew a circle and with that one swift motion created enough liquid clay to completely erase Vanitas.

Still cradling the unconscious Ventus in her arms, Aqua could only stare aghast at the space where Vanitas had been before, now no trace left of him. She was only brought out of her stupor, when the Counter Guardian turned around to face Xehanort.

"Great Heavenly Race."

Spear in hand, the Counter Guardian rushed forward, switching it back to Void Tears upon reaching him. That was when Aqua had a frightening thought. Never once had the Counter Guardian shown any emotion or made any attempt to communicate with them. Vanitas, he had literally murdered in cold blood without so much as batting an eyelid. Since he was still fighting, even though the access to Kingdom Heart had "ceased", it stood to reason, he would do the same to Xehanort. And unlike Vanitas, Xehanort had no χ-blade that the Counter Guardian would have to deal with. So, what would stop him from killing Xehanort without saving her friend first? Nothing. Would he even recognize Terra as someone different from Xehanort or would he think, Terra also had tried to get to Kingdom Hearts?!

Right at this moment the Counter Guardian used Ten Elements to disarm Xehanort, letting his Keyblade fly through the air and land with the tip through the platform, joining all the other Keyblades. Then he switched to Seal by Embrace, pointing the tip at the downed Keyblade Master.

"Stop!" Cried Aqua, but it was too late. The Counter Guardian impaled Xehanort, sealing his fate.

He found himself in a dark void. There was no landmark, nothing to tell him where was up or down. Just a never-ending darkness. Yet, for some reason he felt like he was slowly falling. Maybe it was because there was nothing to tell him where up or down, his brain automatically assumed he was moving downwards.

Until his feet suddenly hit something, stopping his decent. He stumbled, but managed to catch himself before he fell face-down onto… the void? It felt like there was some sort of platform in this darkness where he was standing on, yet his eyes did not manage to make out anything.

Hesitantly he took a step forwards, prodding whether or not the platform in the void extended past his current position, only to fall back in surprise, landing unceremoniously on his bottom as the darkness broke away under him. Literally. Piece by piece the darkness came off, flew upwards and dissolved in the surrounding darkness, revealing a real circular platform under him.

The platform was colored in a whitish gray, beige and light brown, like an old world map, stretching and compressing the continents so that they all fit into the circular shape and still make it clear that it was the earth that was shown. He himself was currently sitting on Australia. But then he stood up, walked over the shortened Pacific Ocean until he stood in the center, shortly before the coast of Japan. He took a minute to take a look on him home country South Korea before turning around and taking in the whole map one continent after another.

[So much to do, so little time…], suddenly a voice cut through the silence, startling him. But though I said "voice", it was more like a feeling of words that suddenly filled his being, his heart and soul. [Don't be afraid. But it is time you decide…]

Suddenly six white pedestals rose from the ground around him. One on Australia, one on South Africa, one on the northwest of Asia, one in between Asia and North America at the Bering Strait, one on North America and the last on its southern counterpart. Above each and every one of them floated an object: A sword, a shield, a bow, a staff, a book and a pack of cards.

He stood in place, only moving around to take a better look at the objects floating around.

[Now choose], the voice told him, like a mother that was impatiently waiting for its child, managing to pull him out his stupor. The voice wanted him to choose? Well, there was only one real option for him!

Without hesitation he moved back to Australia and grabbed the sword from the pedestal.

"The sword!" He declared enthusiastically. "The sword for men!"

It was a beautiful piece of equipment even without any elaborate decoration. Resembling a two-edged Roman Gladius with a silver-colored polished blade and a golden guard and handle, it fit perfectly into his hands as he swung it around in practice.

[The power of the warrior.
Invincible courage.
A sword of terrible destruction.
Is this the power you seek?]

The voice spoke up again, as if to check his resolve. Which did make him wonder whether or not he should actually change it. In games, swords where a classic for a reason, but they were also the default weapons of Tanks… no way! This is the character creation of a video game, isn't it?! It's where I'll decide on what class I am going to play isn't it?! I am dreaming right now, aren't I? Did I play so many games my dreams are now turning into games, too?! Is my sub-consciousness telling me to stop?

But as his mind was stuck in the dilemma, the voice either decided assumed he was sure or did just not want to wait any longer for him and declared:

[Your path is set.]

With that the pedestal the sword had been on vanished into the ground, leaving the weapon into the hands of the flabbergasted human.

"Wait!" He called out. "I wasn't finished!"

But the voice did not care.

[Your path is set.], it repeated, making him angry.

"I was just-"

[Your path is set.]

"You can't just-"

[Your path is set.]

"Will you-"

[Your path is set.]

"Stop inter-"

[Your path is set.]

"ALRIGHT, FINE!" He shouted, giving up on making the voice let him think about his Class choice. But damn it, if this was a video game, he would have liked to be able to think more about at what kind of character he wanted to play. No choice. Then he'd just have to play a warrior. They were a standard video game class for a reason. He should be able to deal with it.

Or at last, that was what he thought until the voice decided to throw him yet another curve-ball:

[Now], the voice continued, [what will you give up in exchange?]

He had to give something up, too?! And that without ever deciding whether he really wanted the sword or not? Damn it. This game was really not user-friendly… no choice. But then what was he supposed to give up? Since there was no user manual he had no idea what would be a bad choice. Should he give up the bow? He already had a sword so for this game he was pretty set for close-quarter combat but then what about the book or the cards? Wouldn't they be even less useful than the bow?

Damn it, this would definitely easier if he knew what the objects stood for. He had first assumed the Class but what game would have to give up a Class? Wouldn't you normally give up stats? …wait. Now that he think about it, wouldn't that make a lot more sense? There were six objects and the RPGs he played usually had five to six stats: Strength, Endurance, Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom and sometimes Luck or Charisma. The objects were just symbolic for the stats! The sword was for Strength, the shield for Endurance, the bow for Dexterity, the staff for the magic stat Intelligence, the book for Wisdom and the pack of cards for Luck.

Now then, with that in mind, he could think better about which one to choose! Only that the choice had already been taken for him: Strength. Which made it not a good idea to give up any of the physical stats, Endurance and Dexterity since he would need them if he went into melee combat. Usually the Dump-Stat to choose to discard would be Luck, but since he had no idea what this game was about, Luck could actually be the most vital stat of them all. And since he had no intention of finding out that he accidentally reduced his Sanity value by dropping Wisdom, this left Intelligence, the stat of magic. Damn it. He really wanted to become a magician. Hopefully this game would allow for INT-independent magic.

He walked over to the staff and picked it up with his left hand.

[The power of the mystic], intoned the voice.

[Inner strength.
A staff of wonder and ruin.
Is this the power you want to give up?]

'Yes, you cutthroat!'

And with that the staff dispersed into molds of light, flying up into the darkness.

He looked after them, until an earthquake brought his attention back to the plate he stood on. All around him the pedestals were sinking back into the ground, taking the objects with him. The exception being the sword still in his hand and the staff that had already vanished.

[You gained the power to fight], noted the voice. [Use this power to protect yourself and others.]

Alright. So pretty standard video game opening. Maybe he should have discarded Luck after all.

[There will be times you have to fight.]

Oh, really? What else was he supposed to use the sword for? Cutting Tofu?!

Suddenly three shadows appeared on the plate, which soon lifted themselves up from the ground to form three-dimensional figures. They were little black humanoids that reached up to his knees. They had a plump body, thin arms with three claws, large pointy feet and a round head with big yellow dots as eyes as well as two bug-like feelers, also in the color black.

[Keep your light burning strong.]

Alright. Time to kill some mobs!

He swung his sword, hitting the first little monster, making it flinch back. However, at the same time, another shadow popped up behind the first one.

"Whoa!" He exclaimed as he noticed that these kinds of enemies were the ones that constantly spawned until they were all defeated at the same time.

Quickly he stabbed after the monster. Only that to his horror, the monster flattened itself onto the ground just like a shadow and hushed far too fast to the left, escaping out of his reach. Meanwhile another monster came up from behind and slashed at him, sending him tumbling forwards. The pain on his back was joined by pain on his head as he planted his face right onto the ground. Then the monster from before came up from the ground again and joined its brethren in pummeling him.

Clenching his teeth, he pushed himself up through the continuous pain and slashed at one of his assailants. This time the strike connected but only made it stagger a bit. But for now that was everything he wanted. Spinning around his axis he managed to hit all of the rest, too, pushing them all back and giving him the space he needed. It also resulted in one of them suddenly dispersing into nothingness. Why was that? Is the damage variable? Their life points? Oh, wait! He already had hit one of them once, didn't he? So they needed two hits! Alright!

But as he prepared himself to go against them again, they suddenly became transparent, flat and vanished. He looked at the place they had been in surprise until it hit him:

"Of course", he realized, "I should have known no game would put an infinite respawn at the beginning! But, damn, that scared me."

[Use this power to protect yourself and others], the voice suddenly called out, making him roll his eyes.

"What do you want? You've said that already!" He asked.

That was when another of those monsters appeared same places away from him and he quickly held the sword in front of him. In haste he looked around, but no more monsters appeared. And even the one monster just stood there, not doing anything. Then, the voice repeated:

[Use this power to protect yourself.]

His left eye developed a twitch as he noticed how the voice had shortened the text additionally to the significant smaller number of enemies.

"Argh! Don't screw with me!" He shouted as he ran towards the monster and downright slammed the sword onto it. As a result the monster dispersed, this time just from that one hit.

[Use this power to protect yourself and others], intoned the voice and three monsters appeared this time.

"Alright. Let's do it serious this time!"

He quickly ran towards the first and slashed at it, only for it to flatten itself onto the ground. But this time he did not just dawdle around and instead passed the monster and turned around so that he did not again get someone on his back.

He noticed how the number had once again grown to four but in exchange the monster that he had first targeted had come back up from the ground. Not wanting to waste that opportunity, he cut it. First from the right and then in the backswing from the left. This two-hit combo was enough to deal with the monster and it dispersed into nothingness.

Seeing that, the other monsters once again vanished.

"Huh? I wasn't that bad this time!" He called out.

[There will be times you have to fight. And times you don't.]

"Alright, then now what?"

[Now, step forward.]

Suddenly a door appeared at the end of the plate. It was an old door of two door wings of a clear blue color, twice his size and became wider the higher it went until it reunited in a curved top. It had four square indentations, two one each wing up and above the elaborate handle.

He walked over to it. But before he reached it, he stopped because the voice piped up again:

[The day the door opens is both far off and very near.]

And with that the door actually did open. Behind it appeared rectangular plates colored like the class windows one could find in churches, like mosaics that didn't show any motifs. Plates which only showed themselves when he looked through the door. Looking past it on the right or left and he couldn't find any trace of them. An interesting feature but somehow unnecessary considering he could only reach them when going through the door in the first place.

Which did not stop him from doing just that. But as he walked through the door and stepped onto the first rectangular plate he also noticed something else. Namely that the circular plate he had been on had not been a plate at all, but something akin to a tower with beige-colored cathedral windows, which went further down into the void than he could see.

But the plates guided him away from it, further and further into the darkness. With every step another plate showed up so that there were always four plates in front of him. Dutifully he walked on them for who knows how long until the suddenly stopped in surprise. Downwards, past the mosaic plates he could see the tower again. But not its top, no, its side. That was when he noticed that the mosaic plates did not appear out of nowhere, no, they were already there. They were just curving around so that he could only see a limited number of them at the same time. And that without him noticing any change in gravity.

Keeping a watch on the tower below he continued to walk. Soon enough, he also realized that the tower did not actually go on forever, but had a second end, which looked just like the other one, making it a symmetrical cylinder. There was only one difference that he could make out as he walked on the mosaics towards the second end: Above it was a glowing spot as a source of light that became more and more blinding the closer he came to it.

Once he actually left the mosaic plates and stood directly under the light on top of the tower, he had to shield his eyes from it. But it soon dimmed to allow him to take a look around. But there was nothing new to see. It was literally just the same image as on the other hand. The only thing new was the large shadow that the light above him cast. But as he noticed it, the voice decided to comment once again:

[The closer you get to light, the greater your shadow becomes.]

He rolled his eyes.

"Thank you for these wise- whoa!"

His words got stuck in his throat as his shadow decided to lift itself from the ground and grew larger as well as bulkier, until it only in passing resembled him.

[But don't be afraid.]

"Alright", he responded, grabbing the sword in his hands tightly to confront the new foe. "I am guessing this would be the first boss."

The black enemy in front of him was incredibly large, easily five times his size. His upper body was bulky and muscular, complete different to the relatively short legs and thin feet resembling the shoes of a jester. The arms were also muscular, ending in two large hands with five claws. On its back it had two thin wings, looking more like extra hands than actual wings and its head with piercing yellow eyes was shrouded in black tentacles, which took the function of mask, scarf and hair all at once. But it's most striking feature head to be the large heart-shaped hole that he could see through.

Though apparently he studying the enemy looked like he was still hesitating, as the voice called out again:

[Don't forget. You have the power to protect yourself.]

[And others.]

Once more his left eye developed a twitch as the last part was only added in like as an afterthought.

"Oh, screw you, too!" He shouted at the voice, ran towards the giant monster and slashed at it with his sword.

Only for nothing to happen. But that was alright. Video game bosses often could deal with a lot amount of damage without showing any reactions. Thus he kept attacking, but at the same time always throwing a glance back up to see what the monster was planning to do.

He saw it bending down and he quickly ran around to get behind it. But it completely ignored him even as he continued to hack at its legs. Instead it held out its hand and gathered dark energy around it. Then it slammed the closed hand onto the ground knuckles first, making the energy fall onto the ground below where it created a pool of darkness.

But even though he was way out of its range, the boss did not let up and kept his fist on the ground. Why became clear soon enough as from the darkness rose a bunch of shadows, the same monsters that he had fought against earlier.

"Great", he cursed, "a Minion Master!"

What should he do? Should he deal with the little ones first to prevent them from swarming him? Should he destroy the big one first to prevent him from summoning more?

In the end the decision came down to one thing: There was no health bar. There was just no way to tell whether or not he made any progress with the boss. But the small monsters were killed in two hits. So he knew at last that his attacks were doing something.

But as he went past the leg of the boss monster, he suddenly stopped, as he noticed something he hadn't thought of before: the black puddle surrounding the hand of the boss monster. And as any idiot could tell you, stepping into an area covered in an unidentifiable black tar-like substance was not a good idea. Who knew what kind of debuffs it would give him?! But on the other hand, how was he supposed to get to the minions, of which there were already four, if he couldn't step into the area they were in?!

Luckily the problem solved itself on its own as the enemies in question just decided to come towards him instead. One of them even made the mistake of jumping at him, which meant that it could not flatten itself onto the ground like his brethren, allowing him to easily swat it out of the air. That did not kill it, but that did not matter much since except for the one time the voice screwed with him, those monsters did need two hits to be destroyed. And the strike had thrown it far enough away that it would hopefully only join the attack again, once he dealt with the others.

Left, right, and the second attacker dispersed after getting hit two times. The third flattened itself and went past him but the fourth also went directly towards him and soon paid the price. Then he quickly turned around to attack the one who had passed by him and then turned around again to finish off the first one.

Only that that one was now accompanied by two more mobs that had appeared from the dark pool while yet another one was already rising up from it. Was it going to summon them continuously while its hand was in the ground?

Damn, there's just too much he didn't know! But first things first: Destroying the minions in front of him!

One; and the first of the three was cut down. One, two; and the second followed him. Spin, one, two; and the one who had slipped behind him was history, too. Spin again, one, two; and that was end of the first of the next reinforcements. But by now it was pretty much a given that the boss would continue to spawn his minions until he did something to make it stop. The only problem was that all he could think of was attacking the boss himself. And since he had no ranged attacks that meant stepping into the pool of tar. Something that he has explicitly tried to avoid. But if he wanted to continue forward, he'd have to take a leap of faith.

So, before the next black shadow jumped him, he took a step forward. To his surprise, not only could he not notice any negative effects on him, he could step onto the black tar as if it was a solid surface. Now literally grinning, he ran straight ahead, taking out the minion in his way, until he reach the submerged hand and attacked it like there was no tomorrow. He only slowed down when it occurred to him, to better still keep an eye on the black tar around him to watch out for more minions who might get summoned. And soon enough, there were two more of them.

But at the same time that he turned around to deal with them, the black giant finally lifted its hand out of the ground, making the black tar vanish right afterwards. The minions already on the field did not vanish with it, but as last there wouldn't be any new ones for a while, allowing him to concentrate on the boss. Who still showed no sign of noticing his efforts. He started to wonder, whether attacking the hand had actually influenced the boss or if the black-tar-attack, as he decided to call it for now, was just that long.

Glancing upwards to not get blindsided, he witnessed the boss straightening himself; and then slowly falling on its knees. In haste he stumbled out of the way as the boss arched backwards, the hands hovering slightly above the ground next to his sides balled into fists. Then, in front of the hole in its torso, dark energy gathered into a sphere and, with a motion that looked suspiciously like a recoil-imitation done with the whole body, a copy of the sphere shot forward into the air. Then, repeating the same motion, a second sphere followed. When a third sphere was created, he couldn't help but voice his confusion:

"What's that supposed to – oh, they are homing, of course!"

Just as he had said, after flying a bit the spheres turned around, heading directly towards him. Quickly he got out of the way and not a moment too soon, as the first of the spheres impacted on the ground behind him, creating an explosion of dark energy. But it was too soon for him to rejoice, as the other spheres turned around in mid-air, homing in on his new location, forcing him to continue running away. All of that with no end in sight, as the boss continued to pump out more and more dark spheres.

"Damn it!" He cursed as he continued to run in circles, explosions hot on his heels. Did he had to do something here, too? Hopefully this wasn't a Tennis Boss. There were way too many tennis balls for that!

As he contemplated on what to do, his gaze fell on the black fist that hang up in the air. The boss did change his pattern the last time he hit that, didn't it? He decided to try that first. Playing tennis with the spheres would be plan B.

He ran towards the hand and slashed at it as he was passing it.

"Tag, you're it!" He declared as he hit the fist with his sword and turned around to look at how that effected the boss. Only for his eyes to widen as he now came face to face with an energy sphere.

As fast as he could he jumped backwards, letting the sphere impact the ground at his feet in front of him. Unfortunately it was close enough to still send him flying on his back, making pain shot through it. But that not enough, there were still three more spheres coming right at him.

"Shit, shit, shit!" He cursed, not even trying to get up at this point and literally rolled out of the way, one close call after another. Fortunately "tagging" the hand had been enough for it to stop its attack and rise up again, stopping it from shooting more spheres into the air. Otherwise getting away from all the projectiles would have been a lot more difficult.

Realizing there were no more explosions, he stopped rolling and quickly picked himself up. He had to be ready for whatever the boss would throw at him next… which was apparently the same attack as the first. Let's see. Slightly bend legs? Check. Dark energy in the hand? Check. Reaching out? Check. Slamming the ha- uwak! Too close!

He quickly jumped out of the way as the hand came down near the place he had stood in before. And, once again, a pool of darkness followed that would soon spawn its minions.

"Not this time!" He declared as he ran up to it and attacked the limb, not hesitating to step on top of the black tar this time. And soon enough, the black giant lifted its hand up again without having spawned a single minion.

"Alright!" He shouted, his empty fist pumped into the air as the boss went into the motions for his second attack. If that was all the boss could do this would be a lot easier than first expected!

He quickly went to the hand, as the boss was kneeling down and once again "tagged" the hand. And like a charm the boss stopped doing what he was doing and rose again. All without shooting a single sphere into the air. Then the boss held out its hand; and promptly lunged with it after him, taking him completely by surprise with this sudden change of strategy. Luckily the boss's motions were really slow, otherwise this would have really hurt. So he could still evade the hand by stumbling back, even if it wasn't the most elegant retreat.

The hand went down on the place he had been before and he quickly closed in on it to attack it. Going with the earlier pattern that should be the right course of actions, after all.

Only that as he went to strike the boss, he suddenly found himself without a weapon at all. Dumbstruck he stared at his now empty hand, before quickly looking around, to see where he dropped it. But he couldn't find it. A fact, he became even more conscious about as his eyes met the ones of the boss. He literally froze for a couple of second, staring unmoving at the boss who was also just staring at him, only menacing thanks to its glowing yellow eyes surrounded by black.

Hesitantly he reached out with his own, now empty, hand and touched the hand of the boss.

"Tag?" He exclaimed unsure.

Now the boss itself also started moving, retracting its hand and straightening itself. For some reason he felt as if the boss was suddenly bigger than before.

"No tag-backs!" He shouted as he turned tail and ran away from the enemy. But not too far. Which was not because he had suddenly found new bravery. No, it was because he had found himself on the edge of the platform he was standing on, a single black abyss stretching out before him, promising to devour him if he made a single false step.

He turned around to face the black giant who was coming over to him without hurry. Like it knew that he would not be able to escape.

"Alright, alright, don't panic", he told himself. "This things pretty slow, I should be able to run circles around it…"

As if it had heard him, black lines began to appear on the surface, cutting through the continental pictures like cracks.

"Oh, come on!" He exclaimed as the platform cracked along the lines, sending him tumbling into a dark abyss while the black giant's yellow eyes continued to stare down at him hauntingly. He wanted to let out a startled yelp, only to find out he couldn't. In fact, he couldn't let out any sound anymore, as he suddenly became unable to breath at all. His hands went up to his throat, trying to pry away whatever was blocking his air, but there wasn't anything.

[Don't be afraid!], the voice from before, which had been silent throughout the whole fight, suddenly started to call out to him again. [You hold the mightiest weapon of all.]

But he didn't care about any of that at that moment. Even as he heard the words, since they didn't help with against suffocation he completely ignored them.

[So don't forget.]

His consciousness was fading, only hearing the voices last words like a final goodbye:

[You are the one who will open the door.]

With a startled cry he woke up from the nightmare to the sound of his alarm clock.

The first thing he did was sigh in relief about it only having been a dream and him not really dying. The second thing was shutting off the alarm clock.

"What a crazy dream", he mumbled as he stood up from his bed. Maybe his mother was right and he should cut down on playing video games, if his dreams are already creating their own games… na, there is nothing like too much video games. Maybe if he dreamed enough of that game he could actually sell the idea and get rich with it! Now wouldn't that be great?!

But he was dragged out of his musings when his eyes fell on the person-sized mirror standing in his room. His reflection showed a 17-year old guy with messy, dark brown hair that had the tendency to fall to the right side. His mouth was rather large and the nose rather pointy. Below his angular eyebrows lay brown eyes. He was currently wearing white and blue-striped pajamas. So, basically it was him, depicted in the mirror without any difference to his real self, just like a mirror was supposed to do. However, there was one thing that did not quite fit with how a mirror functions. Not with his mirror image, but above it. Namely, one inch above the head of the mirror image was blue lettering, which moved together with the head, constantly staying at the same relative position no matter what he did. The content?

[-The Gamer-
LV 3 Han, Ji-Han]

Confronted with that development, Han Ji-Han only had one thing to say:

"What the heck?!"

A/N:

And that's the prologue. When it said in the summary it was a "Gamer"-Story, it did not just mean that the main character gets a Gamer-like power, in this case it also means that the MC is no one else than The Gamer Ji-Han himself. But that wasn't the only thing mentioned. It actually said "KH X Gamer X Anime".

Now what does this mean exactly? It means that everything from Disney that is not Kingdom Hearts-specific is replaced with Anime-franchises, be they worlds or characters. So, Micky, Donald, Goody or the rest of them wouldn't be showing up. Though when I say "Anime" that doesn't specify only those that are literally Anime. This website itself puts Anime and Manga in one category and for Light Novels, Visual Novels and Webnovels, it is really only a matter of reception and resources whether or not they are turned into an Anime or Manga.

And it doesn't matter, whether the Anime/Manga/… (you get the idea) is actually Japanese or the Korean or Chinese counterpart. Even if this Website puts them under Misc. that is only because they were not famous enough. Other sites that list translated versions often don't care what the original language was and show Japanese, Korean and Chinese ones side by side. Personally, in the past I hadn't even realized that some weren't originally Japanese so I think it pretentious to exclude them just because of that.

And with the main character being Han Ji-Han, we would not only see all the worlds and characters through the eyes of a Gamer, but KH itself, too. Thus there would be some changes to expect, be it because of this, or the aforementioned A/M/L/V/W.

One of the most present changes is already right in the title: Heart of Akasha. Akasha refers to the mythical Akashic Records, a place or object where everything, be they events, actions, thoughts or even emotions of past, present or future, are recorded. Whoever can access them can find out anything and whoever can rewrite them, can change reality. It wouldn't be wrong to say that it is a source of ultimate knowledge and power. It is referred in a handful of AMLVW by name alone and quite possible the greatest candidate for something similar to the center of all worlds. Thus I have made Kingdom Hearts, the origin of all worlds, a part of it, the Heart of Akasha.

But that is just the first element I've found in multiple AMLVW that resonates with KH. The second is the travel between worlds. There are just so many AMLVW that deal with the concept of multiple worlds and the travel between them, completely different to Disney. Thus, whenever an AMLVW-franchise with multiple worlds in included, one has to decide whether or not those are all different worlds, or just different layers of the same world. And no Disney means the spaceship that comes with them is also a no-go. Look forward to Traverse Town for more on that.

Thirdly, there are the hearts of the worlds. Not just the collective heart of all the worlds, but also each and every single world having its own heart. In other words, the worlds are alive. In KH this does not have much repercussions besides enabling a world to lose its heart. But in AMLVW there are franchises where the worlds not only are alive, but are also active. They give out powers or visions to people, can sometimes even influence events and then there are the franchises where the world is govern by one single entity and you have to wonder, whether or not that entity is just an administrator or possibly the manifestation of the world itself. In fact, Gaia, the world of "The Gamer" itself gives out special powers to people, supports the existence of pocket dimensions to keep the Masquerade and actively kills off people who break it. Not many franchises have a world with such a high level of activity, but it's still prevalent enough to be kept in mind for such a crossover.

And the nasuverse has all three of these. The inhabitants do not just reference the Akashic Records, there are some who got there and then some others who are still actively searching for other ways to copy that feat, it has the concept of multiple worlds as well as the concept of operation between them and the world is one of the most influential worlds in all AMLVW. There is hardly any franchise better to show off how different using Anime worlds would be.

First, no Disney means no Micky, which means a different outcome of the fight against Xehanort. On the other hand, his need to create the χ-Blade at the Keyblade Graveyard turns out to be quite hazardous, if the Keyblade Graveyard is located in a world that dislikes outsiders and people trying to get to even part of the Akashic Records. Thus his non-canon defeat.

Speaking of, the Counter Guardian who appeared this chapter is none of the canon known ones, but a Keyblade-wielding alternative counterpart of one. His Keyblade has the special ability to transform into any Keyblade he has seen and use their abilities like his own. This includes the Keyblades in the Keyblade-graveyard. These Keyblades themselves all represent an event that had happened in the past of their respective stories, meaning events that had appeared in lore or flashbacks before the main storyline. For those who are interested, what follows is a list of all Keyblades used by the Counter Guardian and what franchise/story they are from:

Great Heavenly Race: Etotama
Message to Tomorrow: One Piece
One Hundred Tales: Nurarihyon no Mago
Out of Order: Elsword
Protecting Left Hand: Zero no Tsukaima
Seal by Embrace: Tayutama – Kiss on my Deity
Split Calamity: Naruto
Ten Elements: Digimon Frontiers
Thirteen Guards: Bleach
Void Tears: Fox Spirit Matchmaker
World-Spanning Empire: Hetalia – Axis Powers

Alright, that's everything important to say for now. I'll publish the first chapter soon. Hopefully I've woken your interest enough to check it out. Though in my opinion it's the chapter after that where things start to get interesting.

Gashadokuro Amanojaku