Legacy of Hearts

Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews, guys! I can't say I wasn't surprised that I got four on the first chapter, and none of them were bad either! You have no idea how much I appreciate hearing from you. I am going to continue it, though I am not sure how much time I'll have for it considering the fact that I am working my bum off and hurtling towards finals, but I'll keep you posted and you can be sure I'll make it extra awesome, just for you. ;)

Disclaimer: If I owned every character that appears, or will appear, in this story, then I would be the richest person on the face of the planet. Guess what? I don't even have my own computer. You do the math.

The First World

They emerged in the hall of a gleaming, bright castle. Harry thought for a wild moment that it was Hogwarts from the look of it, but on further inspection he noticed that it just wasn't quite the same. The place was empty, except for a rather small boy who was sitting on a rather large throne at the front of the room.

Sora walked slowly towards him, Keyblade at the ready. "Hello…excuse me?"

The boy jumped, then looked sternly at Sora. "Who are you? I said I wanted a little peace and quiet. Just because I'm king doesn't mean I don't deserve a moment's break…"

"King?" Harry thought quickly, remembering what they had said about their own king. Obviously this wasn't him, as the gang didn't seem to know who the boy was, but then again if their king was king of this place, what was their king the king of? He supposed it was just another world.

"I'm sorry, but we've been stuck in your dungeons for a while now—we're not really certain how. If you could just tell us where we are…"

"You're the heroes!" the boy said quickly. "Aren't you? The ones Merlin sent for?"

Again, Harry was sent into a whirlwind of thought. These people were not only talking about Merlin, a figure from his world, but they were also talking about him as if he were alive. Could he…

"Ah, Sora!" Everybody turned. Harry for a split second thought it was Dumbledore walking towards him, until he realized that this man, though greatly resembling his headmaster, was definitely not the same person. "So you did come. I almost thought I'd sent you to Bermuda, or something of that sort."

"No, you sent us to the dungeons," said Sora morosely.

"Ah, well, what's done is done," he said. Then he turned to Harry. "I don't believe I've met you before, tell me, just who are you?"

"My name is Harry Potter," he said. "Are you really Merlin?"

"Why of course!" he replied. "Then you've heard of me?"

"Heard of you? You're the most famous wizard to ever live…at least…where I'm from. But can you be the same Merlin from my world?" Sora said in wonder.

"Ah…I see," said Merlin slowly. He seemed extremely surprised. "In truth, I'm not certain I can answer that question. However, I can and will look into. But first…business. You should know, Sora, why you've been brought here."

"Is there something wrong with this world?" Sora asked.

"Yes…and now. I have, for some time, been watching that which has been going on around here. But you cannot stay here for long…we must get you to the City."

"What city?" Sora asked.

"Station City," said Merlin. "From there you should be able to catch the train to other worlds. But first," Merlin winked, "you'll have to find a ticket."

"Wh…."

Sora hadn't finished when the four friends were sucked up into a vortex of sorts. A moment later they were spat out on a hard cobblestone road. Harry slowly got to his feet, rubbing his backside.

"That's twice in less than two hours," Harry said out loud. He readjusted his glasses, which had slid halfway down his nose, and looked around.

They were standing in what looked to be a fairly metropolitan area, with tall stone buildings and neon lights flashing in the distance. Sora too was looking up around them.

"Station City?" said Harry. "Have you ever been here before?"

Sora shook his head. "It's nothing at all like Traverse Town," said Sora. Of course, Harry had no idea what Traverse Town was, or what it had been like, but then again he had to agree…nothing could ever be like the place they were in.

"Sora? It's you!" Harry looked up just in time to see a girl in tan shorts, wearing a long green scarf, jump down before them. She threw her arms around Sora, making him laugh nervously.

"Good to see you too, Yuffie," he said. Harry looked away from the two of them just in time to see a tall, lanky man dressed in black with long brown hair walking towards them.

"I don't know how I knew, but I always expected to meet you again," he said.

"Leon," Sora nodded to him, "Tifa."

A tall girl with brown hair, wearing a pink dress, emerged from behind Leon. She smiled at the group. "Hello," she said, suddenly noting Harry's presence. "And who are you?"

"This is Harry. It looks like his world has gone too."

Tifa frowned and looked closely at Harry's face. Suddenly she gasped. "Leon, it's him!" she said.

Leon turned quickly and looked at Harry. "Harry…Harry Potter…a friend of yours told us about you."

"A friend?" Harry stepped forward quickly. "Who is it? Where are they?"

"Her name is Hermione. There's a young man with her, named Ron, but he hasn't woken up yet. He was really hurt when your world was taken."

"Take me to them!" said Harry suddenly.

Leon was quiet for a long moment. Finally he nodded. "All right. We need to talk, anyway. I have a place in that high rise over there."

He pointed to a smaller building. They looked like apartments to Harry, but then again he wasn't entirely certain what to expect with this place.

They entered, taking the elevator to the eighth floor. They knocked and a rather frazzled looking girl with even more frazzled brown hair answered. Harry had barely gotten a look at her before he felt the wind knocked out of him.

"Hermione, you're crushing me!" he said.

She smiled as she let go, wiping tears from her glistening eyes. "Oh, I'm so glad that you're all right! Leon found us at the train station. I don't remember what happened, though. Harry, I've been telling them about Voldemort, about how he has to be behind all this…"

They entered, arranging themselves on the few seats there were in the room. Harry had been right, after all, they were in a small apartment. A small bed was arranged nearby. Harry felt his heart pound in his chest—Ron was lying there, pale, unmoving. Willing himself not to think too much about it, he though again about what Hermione had said.

"It isn't just Voldemort," said Harry quickly. "There's this other guy, too. They might be in on it together. His name…his name is Ansem. I saw him."

As if on cue, Leon and the two girls all looked at him in shock. "You definitely saw him?" said Leon quickly.

"He was tall, gray hair and amber-colored eyes. He fought with this boy named Riku…"

Leon shook his head. "As soon as the worlds began mixing again, I knew something was wrong. I knew it. But I never wanted to believe that Ansem was behind it once again."

"Why aren't you in your world?" Sora asked, remembering Hollow Bastion.

Leon laughed, a hollow sound. "It might have survived the first time through, but it was destroyed early on. Somehow we were able to catch the train here."

"What is this…train you keep talking about?" said Sora.

"It's made out of gummies," Leon said. "Cid examined it a while back. We don't know who's piloting it, it seems to go wherever it wants to. The one thing that we do know is that it's found a way through the barriers between worlds. We've tried using Gummi ships, they just won't work."

"Merlin said something about a ticket, though." Sora said with a frown.

Leon shook his head. "I can't tell you anything about that. All I know is, I wouldn't get on that thing. You never know where it's going to go, I wouldn't want to end up somewhere I won't be able to escape from."

"I wonder what the ticket is?" said Harry out loud.

Sora shrugged. "Beats me. Knowing the way things work, I'm certain it's not just a piece of paper. Then again, knowing the way things work, it could be precisely that. We'll just have to poke around a bit."

"I suppose we should just go to the train station," said Harry. At this a sudden look of dismay crossed over Hermione's face.

"Harry? You're going with them?"

"I have to. I was brought here for a reason. Not the same reason you and Ron are here," he said.

"Then…I'll go with you!" she said with a frown.

"No. You have to stay and take care of Ron until he gets better." He looked again at his friend, who hadn't moved an inch since they got there. "That is…it's okay with you, Sora, if I go with you, isn't it?" he said.

"We aren't going to turn down extra help," he said.

"And…well, who are you?" said Hermione.

"My name is Sora, and these are my friends Donald and Goofy.

"H-yuck, nice ter meetcha," said Goofy.

Despite herself, Hermione giggled slightly as she looked at the pair of them. Then she turned back to Harry.

"As long as…as long as you promise me you'll be okay…" she said slowly.

"I promise, Hermione…"

She slowly put her arms around him again, and this time a strange thing happened. A bright light engulfed the two of them, and a shower of sparks began to emanate from Harry's wand. Suddenly, it began to extend, transforming into a giant key.

Everybody was staring at him in wonder. "A Keyblade…" said Sora slowly.

"It doesn't look like yours," Harry said. Indeed, it didn't. Harry's was gold, but the handle was made of a deep scarlet color. The keychain at the end of it resembled the Gryffindor seal.

"It's still a Keyblade," Sora said.

But right as he said that, the keyblade melted back into the shape of Harry's wand. "How did that happen?" said Harry quizzically.

"Harry…" Hermione frowned slightly. "I think you can change it…back and forth."

"Really?" Harry said. He focused on changing it back, and after a few seconds it began changing shape again.

"That's amazing!" said Donald.

"So…so now we have two keyblade masters on our side?" said Goofy. "Well, wait'll King Mickey hears about this!