Hi everyone! I finally decided to take a chance and post this little story that is a Canon Divergence. So if this is your first time reading this, I was originally posting this in my other entry, "Place Of Forming Ideas" where I share ideas for FanFics that I either write one or a few chapters about or just leave it as an idea. I wanted to try putting this one into its own story, I'll be uploading 4 chapters together and future updates will be at random. So for now enjoy!

*NOTE/SPOILER WARNING: It takes place AFTER KHIII, and it assumes Sora has played the Reaper's game for quite a few tries.*

NOTE 2: I tried to avoid being specific with TWEWY since I haven't finished it quite yet. So some stuff may or may not be accurate. Feel free to let me know in the comments. XD

Title: Sora's Daybreak

Type: Story

Summary: Sora had won, he had a chance to get back… but came the time, something prevented him from returning to the real grounds. When all hope seemed lost, Luxord's card shown brightly and the next thing he knows, he finds himself on a platform that reminds him of all those dreams. (Work On Better Summary)

Idea: I wanted to write a "what if" fic, a story that focuses on Sora getting stuck in the past and what life was like in Daybreak town. I have some other ideas from my ideas page combined with this, so this story is going to be a little wild. Also, expect some Original Characters for sure, this is Daybreak town after all, the home of all the players' Original Characters. One other thing is this story won't be told in order. If I like the idea, I will expand on it. (Edit: I did.)

Sub-Ideas:

-Sora won the Reaper's game in Shibuya, but he could not be brought back for unknown reasons.

-Luxord's card is actually a card from the days of Chi, he placed a magical sleeve on it to hide its use as a keyblade card.

-This card had strong links to the past, and so it responded to Sora's win and sent him away.

-Sora ends up in Daybreak town, starting from scratch and learning how to use a Keyblade of Chi.

-Sora may have some more emotion than usual because of the things he lost for a time during the Reaper's Games.

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Some Notes Post-KHIII After Sora Fades Away:

Kairi is left crying her bittersweet tears, understanding the price he paid for bringing her back. Everyone gathers to comfort her and sets out to find him, but that's not the focus here. Sora awakens in a world much more vivid and real than he ever experienced. The only world that came close to it was his time with Big Hero 6, it was filled with lights and city buildings as well as a language he was not familiar with. But the Keyblade has an internal translator so everything he says and hears is understood by others and himself. There he finds out he is in the Reapers Game for a second chance to come back. He was able to travel to this world because he and the TWEWY crew had a special connection and Joshua found him in the realm between sleep and well… So he was able to guide Sora to Shibuya. Sora must play the game in order to be reunited with his friends. But what would be taken away were his memories (or the bonds with his friends) much like Neku, since that was his most precious possession.

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Story Start

Post-KHIII After Sora Fades Away:

It was over, he had won the game. That meant he was able to come back out, right? Unfortunately, the circumstances said otherwise. The game may have been won, but the reward could not be fulfilled. It was only through the miracle of Sora's connection with Joshua, Neku, Shiki, and Rhyme (he hadn't met Beat in person so that doesn't count) that he was even able to wake up on the planes of Shibuya. Joshua was not able to intervene. As much as he wanted to, the circumstances of Sora's passing were unique and not what "The Game" was accustomed to. Or maybe it was because he perished in a whole world separate from theirs, or it could have been that he was an outsider to this world and that's why he could not be brought back. Either way, Sora was now stuck in the Underground with no way out, something that has never happened in the game before.

All hope seemed to fade for Sora's return onto the Real Ground and Joshua was nearing his wit's end with every resource he tried to pull for Sora to be restored. Meanwhile, Sora was letting the idea of being stuck in Shibuya's UG sink into his mind. But that didn't mean he would lose hope, he knew that so long he was still here, his friends would find him soon. That's at least what part of him believed, a small portion of it went to the idea of losing hope. That feeling was different from helplessness without others, it was a feeling of something he couldn't exactly explain.

He was happy everyone was safe, at the same time he was sad he may never get to see them for a long time. Never to see Riku & Kairi, to spend their days being home on the Destiny Islands together and enjoying moments on the play island. Never getting to know Terra, Aqua, & Ventus as close friends. Never getting to have quality time with Roxas, Xion, & Axel or rather Lea. Never being able to say "thank you" to Namine. Never being able to go on more adventures with Donald, Goofy, and maybe even King Mickey. All that, was it regret? Or grief? No, he couldn't lose hope, not again. Not like the first time at the Keyblade Graveyard. He had to hold on, to believe, to have faith that they would always find each other, and keep moving forward. He has been in tough spots before, he can get out so long as he remembered they were all connected by their bonds of friendship and love.

Sora lay down on the bed of his small one-room dorm Joshua was able to provide for him. It wasn't much, just a bedroom, small hallway kitchen, and a full bathroom. As he lay there, his spikey brown hair dripping wet from the shower onto to the hardwood floor, his eyes stared unfocused at the ceiling glazed over like a porcelain doll's eyes. It was a long day with little success in finding a way out of the UG. Joshua and he spent the day talking to those connections of his for any information or solution of escape. Many came up empty-handed, not even hearing of a situation like Sora's before. Some completely ignored the two but a small few were willing to help, interested in researching this strange anomaly.

That gave Sora hope at the time, but now he lay on his bed wet from the shower thinking about his friends. Oh, how he missed them. He got up and went over to the desk to pick up his belongings and place them back in his pocket. One by one he looked at each item that was special reminders of his friends. The Wayfinder made of Thalassa shells, Kairi's treasure she worked to create, and a reminder of when their whole journey began. Next to it was a picture of the three along with Donald, Goofy, & Mickey, a reminder of when they finally made it back home from the Xemnas fight. The last things to go in his pocket were a couple of charms created by Donald & Goofy for his birthday while traveling through to places in search of Riku.

He would routinely take out those items every night before sleeping and place them on his desk to both motivate him and remind him of those important memories. This was something the game constantly took away with each new play. Joshua ended up telling him that for Neku and the others, they had their important things taken away as well. Things like memories, their appearance, their dreams, desires, and much more were all but stripped away as payment for the game. But they eventually made it back to the RG, and actually, it was right around the time he came. Joshua was actually about to leave the four of them behind as he watched them have a reunion in the RG, but Sora came along and so he stayed to help him out. His most precious treasure was taken from him, his friends. The memories were still there, but he couldn't remember a single name or face. Every adventure could be retold with the best of Sora's storytelling, but who he was there with and who was there, he could tell you nothing. It was comparable to a sticker book with blank spaces, all his friends were peeled right out leaving behind the scenery and story. It was a strange sensation the first time, but he grew stronger. He learned that even without knowing who it was that were special to him, he still was true to himself and was able to make it out. The next time, his memories returned, but his most precious promises were stripped away. That too took a toll, but even so, that too was overcome. Time and time again, the strength of his heart was shown, and that's how victory was achieved. Still, that didn't mean he left unscathed, for some emotional hurt was left behind.

Then the doorbell rang, snapping him out of his melancholic thoughts of the past. Sora knew who it could be, and sure enough, when he went to open the door, he was right. Joshua was holding a bag of takeout food and a few soda-pops. This was another little thing they did together, they ate. Well, Sora mostly ate and Joshua ended up talking causing him to forget to eat his food. Or was he doing this on purpose? Still, he decided to not think about it and they started their routine. Midway through Sora downing another burger, Joshua realized he forgot something and told Sora he'd be back. Sora nodded but internally was grateful. Everything was going over his head and he needed all the time to process it. Something about another reality and a gateway to a different version of their world & friends. He couldn't pay it any mind now, he needed food.

Sora sighed, then he realized the mess he was making while eating. Going to his pocket to get a tissue pack kept inside for just these sorts of emergencies, he pulled out something he hadn't seen since the battle at the Keyblade Graveyard. It was Luxord's "wild card" as he called it. What was so wild about it? The card had the same back like every other card he used, only the front was a blank white. Why? What made this card a "wild card?" Normally, wild cards would be jokers, right? But this was blank, nothing on the front and the same back he saw when he battled him. He wished he knew, wished he could go back and ask him, or go back and ask his friend to help solve the mystery of this blank card. As he was flipping the card around, a detail stuck out to him, the corner looked a little off. Feeling the corner, he realized that it was peeling off, so slowly he did so and found that this back was just a cover and the real back of the card was much different than he expected. On it was a symbol he felt he had seen somewhere before, a heart that stretched down into a shape that looked like a cross or a star, and on each side of the heart was a batwing on the left and a feathered wing on the right. The background was littered with various patterns aligned in a diamond-shaped grid.

"Woah! What is this?" Sora was shocked, so this card was not all that it appeared to be. He wondered if there was a peel on the front as well, and found a corner easy to rip off as well. When the front of the card was fully peeled, the card began to glow. It slowly got brighter and brighter and became a blinding white and blue light that filled up the room. Sora shielded his eyes while unaware that he was being swallowed by this light and disappearing right along with it.

-A Little Earlier-

Joshua came back to the room just in time to see a flashing light. He shielded his eyes due to the brightness, and when he opened them back up again, the only thing left behind was the bits of garbage from the takeout food. Any evidence that Sora was here, other than the garbage, seemed to disappear with him. Not a single hair strand in sight. He pondered on the whereabouts of Sora and wondered if somehow he trigged a way out unknowingly. Well, now that he was gone, he had no reason to stay. So he made his way to see Neku and his friends one last time before he left for real.

TBC

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These started out as a bunch of my ramblings in my notebook and then as entries in my ideas area. Now, I'm finally making them their own entry. This chapter is just setting the stage for how Sora is coming into the KHChi/KHUX world and just a little bit of a way to explain Luxord's wild card. XD

If you spot any mistakes or have any suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments.

UPDATE: I added the original notes from when I first wrote this idea, so now there is a bit more context if you haven't seen it in my "Place Of Forming Ideas" Entry.

Well, that's all for now, thank you so much for taking the time to read these bunch of notes! :D