A/N: Hello everyone! Long time since the last update...and my timing is kinda horrendous considering that the Kingdom Hearts Re:Mind DLC will be out in two days and will be giving us a lot of new story stuff concerning Sora and the aftermath of the game's original ending in which Sora goes out to find Kairi. And a part of me wants to wait to see what's going to happen before posting this but...regardless of what new story information comes out, for this story I'm going to do my own thing, although parts of the story stuff from Re:Mind might creep into this story if there's stuff in it I want to incorporate into this Fanfiction. But on a whole, we're going a different route, which is going to make a lot of sense considering the other properties I'll be involving once we get this story rolling. I hope you guys will enjoy this chapter and many apologies for taking a while to update. I had a bad bout of writer's block for this particular story and even now I don't have a draft of chapter 10 written. However, I have a better idea of where I want to take this story and I'm sure the Re:Mind DLC will grant me some much needed inspiration. Anyway, that's it for this gigantic author's note. Enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts is a product of Square Enix, Director Tetsuya Nomura, and Disney. This is a Fanfiction made for entertainment purposes only.

Song Title: Darkness of the Unknown from Kingdom Hearts II

Darkness of the Unknown Pt. 1

~Two Days Earlier~

Sora was tired. He was walking across an eroded cobblestone pathway through an abandoned city. In times past it was called the Cathedral City, because at its center an imposing an immaculate cathedral stood. It was erected long ago as a home base for the Intoner known as One.

Of course, Sora didn't know any of this. He was flung into this shell of a world after a week of searching through several different realms for Kairi's heart. He was having no luck with that as of yet, but considering how it had only been a week, the young keyblade wielder still had plenty of hope to spare. He would find Kairi. No matter what it took or what he had to sacrifice, he would save her.

This was the oath he made deep in his heart before setting off on this journey.

However...

The city in which he traveled was cursed.

Of course, it wasn't cursed in the typical way. There was no magic spell lingering over the place or anything like that.

Put simply, the city is a massive grave site. It is a home to forgotten screams of terror and bloodshed It is the resting place for the damned.

This city is completely empty of the hope Sora carries deeply in his heart and soul.

So it goes without saying that the teenage boy full of life, dreams, and purpose, felt extremely uneasy in a place with such a palpable aura of darkness.

"I hope I can find Kairi's heart somewhere around here and get us both back home," he thought, swallowing a lump that had formed in his throat. "I really don't like it here."

And just as he thought that, a scream shot through the air so suddenly he fell backward to the pavement.

"YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD!"

"Stop! Leave me alone, Zero!"

Sora, realizing someone was in trouble, quickly got to his feet and ran in the direction of the sound.

"Shut up! You're dead. Dead. Dead! DEAD!"

"Aaaaaaaaaaah!"

Speeding up, Sora summoned his keyblade and rounded a corner before scaling up the side of a building. Once on the roof, he saw that there were two women in the main courtyard of the massive cathedral for which the city was named.

One of them was on the ground laying in a fetal position, crying from a mixture of pain and fright while the other stood shaking with a sword raised over their head.

The tip was dripping with blood.

Sora gritted his teeth at the sight and dove from roof to roof until he was close enough to be heard.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing!?"

~Present Day~

After ten minutes of struggling, Aqua and Kairi finally managed to defeat all the Heartless infesting the small cul-de-sac. Both of them were breathing heavily from the effort of keeping up such an intensive battle, but Kairi was showing the most obvious signs of exhaustion.

The second the battle ended, the red-head sunk to her knees, using her keyblade to hold herself up as sweat dripped from her brow. Aqua was by her side an instant later, concern shining in her cerulean gaze.

"Are you alright, Kairi?"

"Yeah." Kairi smiled up at her, but the expression looked weirdly forced to the blue-haired master. "I'm fine. Just a little tired."

"Understandable," Aqua replied with a slight hint of wariness in her tone. "You're still pretty new at this. Battling multiple enemies at once takes time to master. You...did well."

The smile Kairi responded with this time seemed more natural. "Thanks."

Aqua extended her hand to the girl. "Maybe I'm just being paranoid."

"Kairi! Aqua!"

Both of them fixed their attention in the direction of Riku's voice as Aqua helped Kairi to her feet. Seconds later they watched Riku round the street corner with Donald and Goofy trailing behind him.

"Riku!" Kairi waved at him exuberantly, almost as if she were happy to have a distraction from Aqua's presence. "Everything okay on your side of the neighborhood?"

"It is now," he answered once he'd stopped running. "Looks like you two handled things well here."

"Yeah," the red-head cheered, her smile even brighter now. "Aqua and I made a great team."

Feeling awkward, Aqua decided to return the smile and just nod in agreement. For whatever reason, she couldn't shake the feeling that something was just...off about Kairi.

Riku raised his brow, also seeming to notice something odd. "Kairi? You sure you're okay?"

"Perfectly fine." After a sharp inhale she added, "But there are still Heartless swarming all over town. We have to get rid of them quickly."

"Kairi...listen, if you need to rest you don't have to..."

"BRIIIIIIING!"

Aqua's Gummiphone suddenly blared to life, stunning all of them into a defensive stupor. Only after the first couple rings did the blue-haired master realize the sound was coming from her.

"Sorry," she muttered, hurriedly reaching into her left pocket for the phone. "It's probably Ven or Terra checking in." Tapping on the 'Answer Call' button she started to shift away from the group when Mickey's face appeared.

"Mickey?"

Donald and Goofy bounded over the second she uttered his name.

"Hey Your Majesty!" Donald wailed, appearing on Aqua's left side.

Goofy appeared seconds later on her right. "Good to see ya!"

The Mouse King tried to smile at his most faithful friends and subjects, but just couldn't manage the expression. That alone was as good an indicator as any to yet another bout of bad news to Aqua.

Riku strolled over to the trio after taking another second to make sure Kairi was doing alright. Aqua held out her arm a bit more so everyone crowding in could see Mickey in all his woeful glory.

"Your Majesty? What's wrong?" the white-haired teen asked, raising a brow.

Mickey struggled for a moment, a deep sigh escaping him.

Aqua bit the inside of her jaw in grim anticipation.

"Are you okay?" Donald asked.

"Yeah. You don't look so good." Goofy added.

The Mouse King closed his eyes, taking in a final breath and then...

"Master Yen Sid has passed away."

There was a collective gasp among the group gathered around the Gummiphone. Kairi stood only a little ways off, so she heard the news.

However, she didn't respond.

The others present didn't notice. They were too stunned by the information to pay attention to anything else.

"Master Yen Sid...passed away?" Donald shook his head, tears already gathering in the corners of his eyes as he fell to his knees. Goofy was next to him in an instant, patting Donald's back with one hand while simultaneously wiping a tear from one of his own eyes.

Riku's jaw dropped in complete disbelief and horror.

Aqua brought up her free hand to steady her grip on the phone then began asking questions in a fashion sounding far too mechanical for anyone's liking, yet it was her default setting in moments like this.

"Mickey, what happened? Was it from old age or..."

She trailed off for a second when she glanced up from the phone and noticed Kairi standing there with a completely blank expression on her face.

"Did someone...do something to him?"

Mickey was struggling to talk, which was understandable given the information he was sharing and the fact that the person in question had been his teacher. Master Yen Sid had been a teacher to all of them in one way or another. Plus, he had been around for so long and was so powerful that it was difficult to even fathom the idea of his death.

In some ways, it was similar to how none of them could truly believe Sora was gone.

And even though Aqua knew differently now, the others did not.

This information was just compounding the grief Riku, Donald, and Goofy were already dealing with.

"But as for Kairi..." Aqua kept her gaze on the girl. She wasn't looking at any of them. Her gaze was fixed on the funnel cloud of Heartless high above.

"Master Yen Sid was killed."

"Killed?" Riku questioned. "You mean...someone attacked him?"

"Right now, I'm not sure what happened, Riku," Mickey admitted. "I came here to tell him about Sora and...when I got here Maleficent and Pete were in his study looking for a book."

"They must have done it!" Donald screamed, bouncing up fitfully from the ground.

Goofy was silent for a few seconds, then shook his head. "Now I don't know about Maleficent, but Pete wouldn't do something like that. He may be a troublemaker and he's always hanging around the wrong type of crowd, but he ain't evil deep down."

"Maleficent wouldn't go to that extreme either," Riku agreed, his hands coiling into fists by his sides, no doubt remembering past mistakes. "She's rotten to the core, but murdering an old man is beneath her. I'm sure she said as much."

"Well, she said it was an accident," Mickey supplied. "She sent Pete to the tower to steal a book of curses and he released them when he got caught. I'm guessing that's what killed Master Yen Sid, though there may be more to the story than just that."

"Either way," Aqua cut in, focusing her full attention on the Mouse King now. "I'm so sorry, Mickey. Are you going to be okay?"

"I'll have to be," he answered. "Cause there's other bad news I gotta share."

Donald sunk against the pavement again. "There's more? What could be worse than that?"

"Well, the stars are blinking out again. You all know what that means."

Aqua groaned inwardly. "I knew it. The worlds are in danger again. They're...falling to darkness."

One of her hands flew to her throat.

Riku noticed the gesture right away. "Aqua?"

"I'm...okay." She inhaled deeply then exhaled. It didn't help lesson the feeling of breathlessness, but there were other things happening to distract her from it for the time being.

"The really bad news is they seem to be falling faster this time."

"When it rains it pours." Riku shook his head in obvious irritation then glared at the Heartless swarms in the sky. "Mickey, we're actually dealing with a Heartless problem on Destiny Islands now."

Mickey nodded. "I see. Well, I'll take care of letting everyone else know what's going on. They're already visiting other world's so it's possible the world's they're in can be saved before they end up in the realm of darkness."

"Okay, we'll take care of things here in the meantime," Aqua answered. "Stay strong, Mickey."

"I will. Thanks."

"Your Majesty," Goofy interjected, stepping forward to make sure Mickey could see him on his screen. "If you're at Yen Sid's tower still, Donald and I can meet you there after we're finished dealing with the Heartless."

Mickey's smile was somber but genuine. "Gosh, Goofy. That's awful kind of ya, but I'd rather you check on Minnie for me. I'm worried about her, but I can't leave the tower yet. There are some things I still need to investigate, and I have to do that alone."

"We understand, Your Majesty," Donald answered. "Good luck."

A few more goodbyes were exchanged then Mickey hung up. Aqua slowly put the phone back in her pocket. "Well...that was...a lot to take in."

"That's one way to put it," Riku replied, his eyes on Kairi. She was still staring at the Heartless swarm, her expression unreadable.

"You okay?"

She blinked once seemingly shaken out of a daydream. "Fine. It's just...it's gotten larger."

Aqua shifted her gaze to the grey sky above only to cringe at how the original clump of Heartless she'd seen had grown in diameter. Several small swarms of shadows and elemental enemies spun out of the massive ball and into different areas, wreaking havoc to the unsuspecting citizens.

"Has there been any damage to the town yet?" she asked.

Riku shook his head. "No. Aside from just scaring a lot of people, the Heartless haven't caused any major issues."

"Well, that's good isn't it?" Donald quipped.

"Yeah," Riku answered. "But it's also a little weird. Clearly we're outnumbered here, but the Heartless aren't really coming at us with full strength. It's like something's holding them back."

Placing a hand on her hip, Aqua watched the path of some of the Heartless swarms. Some of them were flying in odd patterns in the sky while others seemed to dive toward the ground of a distant neighborhood.

"Now's not the best time to speculate," she stated after a moment. "If they're holding back now then that makes it's the best time for us to strike."

Kairi nodded. "I agree. We should probably split up to cover more ground." She turned to Riku. "You and I should see how things are at the school. It's autumn here, so classes are in session, aren't they?"

"Yeah...," he replied, looking in the direction of said school with a contemplative frown. "One of the Heartless swarms went that way, so we better handle them for the sake of the students." After a few seconds he turned to Aqua. "You should head over to the play islands. I think the heart of this world is somewhere out there."

"We'll go with ya," Goofy chimed in, smiling brightly at her. "Right Donald?"

"Absolutely."

Aqua felt the weight of the pendant in her pocket again.

"I need to tell everyone about Sora..."

The thought trailed off as she opened her mouth, ready to do just that, but something invisible called out to her again, demanding she stop.

Not yet! It's not safe.

Aqua swayed to the side a little.

"Aqua!"

Donald's squawking shook her out of the dizzy spell. "Huh?"

"Are you okay?"

Aqua lifted her gaze from the asphalt below to meet Kairi's. Her expression seemed to show a great deal of concern, but...

"I have to be imagining it."

"I'm fine, Kairi," she answered finally. "Just got a bit dizzy for a second. Thanks for asking."

"Don't push yourself too hard," Riku ordered jokingly. "You heard my mom. She's not going to play doctor twice."

Everyone laughed at the quip, but Aqua was only half paying attention at this point.

"Whose voice was that just now?"

DATA RECOVERY PROCESSING
Recovery Status: 38%
Multiple entries detected
Encryption detected in newly recovered data

"I expected as much at this point," the mysterious person muttered, still busy searching for anything related to "Intoner" on a separate database. "Decode the data."

The computer made quick "ding" sound to confirm the command registered than began the process of decoding.

If those entries are encrypted, it means they're probably the key to figuring out what's going on in this timeline. I'm definitely making progress here. It's slow going, but the answers will reveal themselves soon enough.

However, what's truly troubling is not knowing who created this mess or why. It has to be someone who knows the purpose of our organization, or at the very least, someone who knows how our system databases function.

The mysterious figure continued to type, searching through archives detailing events from a different dimension's timeline. Entries for this particular timeline were told in a different format than what the data collector was used to. Rather than explaining events in detail, the entries were told in an almost lyrical format complete with flowery writing and passages describing the history of a world straight out of a fairy tale.

After a few minutes of scrolling through passages, one caught the person's attention.

This little novella looks promising. Let's see.

With a few more taps on the keys, the entry appeared and the mysterious figure began to read.

"Long ago in the age tarnished by endless conflict, five beautiful goddesses descended upon the land. The goddesses sang mystical songs that restored peace and harmony to our broken world. The people began to worship these holy songstresses and came to refer to them as "Intoners."

With widening green eyes, the figure rose from the chair. "This is merely surface level information. I need more. Certainly someone monitored this..."

The words drifted into the air, forgotten completely as the researcher conducted another scan. After a couple seconds, a detailed report of the monitored timeline appeared in a format she could understand.

"This concludes the supplemental repairs made to recording M4510_E0900_FL. Please ensure that such mistakes do not occur again..."

"Crap, this is an ALPHA level report."

"With this all conditions have now been met. Now all that remains is BRANCH D. The final record of the singularity known as Zero. Divergence BRANCH D."

The mysterious figure tapped her gloved fingers against the counter top, uneasy about what she'd found. ALPHA level reports were traditionally off-limits to lower level researchers, which unfortunately, Accord model 374 happened to be.

Even so, 374, a female android tasked to monitor Sora and those connected to his heart, knew that this classified information was imperative to figuring out what was going on in the branches in the timeline she was chosen to keep track of. Of course, up until recently, her records had consisted of a continuous timeline with no branching paths. Now...

"The divergences started shortly after Sora gained access to the power of waking," 374 stated, glancing over the old data in front of her. "But in the case of this timeline, the divergences occurred much faster and were far more volatile. Let's see..."

Looking over the data, Accord model 374 noticed some disturbing anomalies within the third branch of the timeline, BRANCH C.

"Both the Intoners and their disciples seem to be entering unstable mental and emotional states. I shall continue my investigation, keeping an eye out for any signs of a Full Collapse."

"Did a Full Collapse happen..."

Before 374 could finish asking the question, the doors to her office opened. With a start she jumped to face whoever entered...

Only to find herself standing face to face with a singularity from Sora's timeline...

"Take this!"

Aqua, twirling her keyblade like a baton, attacked the surrounding enemies with Donald and Goofy supporting her nearby. Most of the enemies around them were shadows, but the continuous cycle of battles were beginning to wear all of them down.

Their current mission was to make their way to the play island, but between Heartless swarms and individual enemies blocking their way, the trio had only managed to drift into the next neighborhood. It was closer to the ocean and had a more quaint, rural feel than the more high end neighborhood Riku and Kairi lived in. The houses were smaller, with more space between the individual plots.

There were more Heartless around too, but for whatever reason they weren't attacking the homes or going after any of the frightened citizens that passed by in a frenzy. This was a relief to Aqua, but, as Riku had pointed out before, this behavior from the Heartless was strange.

Of course, when the trio arrived, the Heartless attacked immediately.

Another few minutes passed before the remaining shadows coiled into another large swarm.

Goofy readied his shield. "Get ready!"

Donald widened his stance, a look of sheer agitation on his face. "Ah, come on! Enough is enough already!"

Aqua was in agreement with the duck but kept silent in order to maintain focus, which was difficult to do with her lungs practically on fire.

"Why am I so tired?"

As the swarm dove into the asphalt in front of them, the three fighters jumped out of range. Donald and Goofy retaliated with their respective magic and melee attacks soon after the initial strike, but Aqua ended up staggering a bit on the landing. Her breaths came out in a rasp as she stood there, preparing her next strike.

"Now Aqua!"

Heeding the signal from Goofy, the blue-haired master leaped into the air once more and pointed her keyblade forward. Rainbow colored swirls of magic burst from the keyblade, blasting the enemies on impact.

She landed on the ground shakily once through with the flurry of attacks.

"I can't...keep this up," Aqua thought, straining to get a proper breath. "I don't understand. I never tire out this easily..."

The thought trailed off when she remembered she wasn't in the realm of darkness anymore. There, she could go on fighting endlessly without needing to rest.

But here in the realm of light was a different story. In two weeks she had barely slept and the one night she did sleep peacefully was the result of a head injury. She was in no condition to fight at this capacity. Lasting this long was a testament to her stamina and physical endurance, but Aqua was at her limit.

Unfortunately, pride was still a factor in her decision making.

"I won't...let them see me weak again,"she whispered lowly.

The swarm was shrieking too loudly for Donald and Goofy to hear her. They continued attacking, though they were nearing their limit as well.

Aqua.

Clutching the keyblade in her hand more tightly, Aqua took a step forward, ready to make her move again. She heard Sora's voice in her mind, but she wasn't sure if he was speaking to her or if it was merely the memory again.

Aqua? Is that you again? Are you okay?

Well, now she knew for certain Sora was speaking to her, but the timing didn't allow for her to address him right away. After all, she wasn't 100% sure he could hear her to begin with.

Once there was another opening for her to attack, Aqua ran forward, speaking lowly once more.

"Sora...if you can hear me, please...just wait a moment."

Oh? Are you busy?

"Something like that," she answered, her voice rising in volume a little as she sprung into the air one more time to activate her Ragnarok attack. The Heartless swarm screamed out in clear agony, but it wasn't out for the count just yet.

"One more push should do it!" Goofy shouted.

Donald lifted his staff. "THUNDER!"

Aqua landed back on the ground again, this time unable to stop herself from falling to her knees.

You should probably take a break from...well, whatever it is you're doing. Your breathing is really shallow.

The blue-haired master smiled, equal parts happy and exasperated by Sora's voice. "Don't worry, I'll be...

"AQUA!"

Startled by Donald's scream, Aqua barely had enough time to create a reflective shield around herself as the Heartless swarm hurdled straight toward her.

"Gah!"

Aqua! What's going on?

Unable to answer, Aqua gasped as her shield broke and the Heartless shrouded her in darkness.

It was only for a moment, but the single instant of captivity brought back all the horrible memories of sinking into the depths.

"No...please no! I can't go back there! I'd rather die than be left alone there for another decade."

Tears sprang to her eyes as she created another reflect shield then shot the energy out at the shadows. Light immediately broke through the darkness, but the shock wave of the attack sent her spiraling toward the asphalt.

As she fell, she caught the slight glimmer of Sora's pendant flying out of her pocket. With shaking fingers she just barely managed to clutch the crown in her hand.

"S-Sora..."

She closed her eyes, anticipating the impact.

But it never came.

A/N: And that's how we end this chapter...on a cliff-hanger. Oh, I do love leaving my audience dangling off the metaphorical cliff. It's fun! I feel I should Re:Mind you guys that I'm lowkey evil. Muhahahahahahahahahaha! So, we have a new character and some new lore that has been introduced in this story, and it'll probably fly right over your head if you are not familiar with the work of Yoko Taro, but...let's just say that this story will take some dark twist and turns. Not as dark as some of the stuff that's inspiring this plot progression, but...still darker than normal Kingdom Hearts. I'll leave it at that. I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! Please leave a review if you feel so inclined. Until next time...bye! God bless you all!