Another Side, Another Story

Sora hit the ground with a thump as the dark gate deposited him on the other side, into a place Sora had never been. Getting up he looked around, taking in the surroundings, it was night and the tall buildings around him were lit up, the screens on the tallest appeared to be inoperative, showing only static.


Soran was dreaming, he could usually tell when he was dreaming. He was walking along a beach towards a figure sitting on a rock, wearing the strange grey trenchcoat he had received on his birthday, as he neared he could see that the figure on the rock was also wearing the same coat and as he stopped just beside him the unknown figure turned to face him and spoke,

"He looks just like you" he said, turning back to gave out to sea

Soran considered this, and was about to ask the figure to explain himself when there was a burst of light and he saw a familiar person fall from a doorway into the central plaza of Otherworld. He smiled. Sora had arrived.

He woke up and hurriedly got dressed, picking up two grey objects from his workbench as he stole out into the night, heading for the central plaza before the biggest building in Otherworld.


Sora was wandering around the plaza when he felt something impact the back of his head, he flew forwards for about 3 feet before hitting the ground, he felt something fall out from under his jacket.

Quickly getting up he could see his attacker, and he froze, Unknown's words coming back to him, 'He looks just like you'. The person standing in front of him could have passed for his twin, except his hair was blonde, not brown and he had a paler, bleaker version of the kingdom key in each hand,

"Who are you?" demanded Sora, the Ultima appearing in his hand, it was then he noticed what had fallen out of his jacket, two keychains, one a black stylised crown, similar to the necklace he wore, the other a child's hand stitched representation of a Poupu fruit, Kairi's lucky charm.

He dove towards them, but was too slow; the other kid had grabbed them before he could, attaching them to his Keyblades to transform them into paler versions of the Oathkeeper and Oblivion.

"Who are you?" Sora asked again, grabbing Ultima with both hands

"I am Soran, I am you on this side of Kingdom Hearts and I shall be the one to defeat you," shouted back the youth, gripping his purloined Keyblades tight, leaning back on one foot, ready to spring

Sora was puzzled, "If you are me, then why do you want to defeat me?" he asked

"Because If I can defeat the keyblade master from one side of Kingdom Hearts, then I can defeat the Keyblade master on this side," He screamed, diving at Sora, Keyblades singing as they cleaved the air before them.

Sora defended, flipping Soran over him and, spinning round to deliver a counter attack, he found two Keyblades blocking his swing, locking his keyblade between them. He brought his foot up to deliver a kick to the side of Soran's head but he ducked, releasing Ultima, leaving Sora free to continue in a cartwheel and bring the freed keyblade up and round, scything for the other boy's head, but that was blocked by one keyblade, the other coming found so fast that Sora barely had time to fling himself away.

The two sprung at each other again and again, blocking swings, Keyblades bouncing off each other, sparks lighting the plaza in flashes as the two fighters clashed, Sora starting the Ars Arcanum sequence in an attempt at overwhelming his opponent, Soran managing to block and deflect most of the blows but having to duck and dodge the last few. He struck back with rapid swings of the Keyblades, alternating between left and right to keep Sora pinned down under a relentless hail of blows, only stopping when the Keyblade master kicked him in the chest, flinging him away, allowing Sora some room to breath.

Sora glanced at his weapon, the blade was chipped, the filigree cracked and twisted and the heart was bending slightly, this wasn't what the keyblade was designed for, it wasn't meant to be used against another keyblade, fighting Riku's dark keyblade had almost totally wrecked Metal Chocobo, the keyblade formed from the keychain he had won from Cloud in the Pegasus cup.

Bringing Cloud to mind caused him to remember his other gift, the Sonic Blade technique. Readying himself he tensed, and leapt about an inch off the ground but began to superglide towards Soran, Ultima held along his side away from the other boy, picking up speed as he went, as he passed by Soran he swung the keyblade with all his might, Soran having to defend with both Oathkeeper and Oblivion, there was a shattering sound and when Sora turned back to his opponent he found himself holding the hilt of a shattered Kingdom Key, the golden heart of Ultima lying on the ground.

"What the hell?" he exclaimed, staring at his broken weapon, then up at Soran, who's Keyblades had disintegrated entirely, leaving the two keychains on the floor beside him.

"What happened? Where are my Keyblades? What did you do?" he glared at Sora, who was beginning to understand something,

"Soran, you are me on this side right" he said, getting a nod from Soran, "then we are exactly equal, this match is a draw because we are the same" he told the other boy who's head and shoulders drooped in defeat,

"Yeah, I guess" he replied, raising his head he picked the two keychains off of the floor and walked towards Sora, giving them back, "Here, these are yours, I'm sorry I tried to beat you, but on this side I'm not Keyblade Master like you are, I just make artificial Keyblades"

Sora looked at him in shock, "you make what?"

"Artificial Keyblades, come with me, I'll show you," he said, walking off towards his workshop home.

Sora followed him in, looking at the three grey, dull, and drab looking Kingdom Keys lying on a work surface, Soran handed him one and he took it, it began to react to him, glowing brighter, the colours returning to the same as his true Kingdom Key, but it continued to glow, the colours getting brighter, more vibrant until the whole thing became bright white light and disintegrated.

"I think it reacted with your heart, trying to become a true keyblade, but it just couldn't take it and disintegrated under the strain" Soran said after pondering the phenomena for a while, "you should be able to use this though, I found it a few weeks back, just before the Keyblade Master appeared"

Soran handed Sora a very familiar weapon, it was a red, black and blue sword, shaped like a demon's wing, Riku's sword. As Sora touched it, the blade elongated to the length of the Ultima keyblade, the hilt extending to match.

"You might like these as well," Soran said, handing him some pieces of paper, Sora recognised the handwriting on them, Ansem's reports.

"You know, now that the door to Kingdom Hearts has been opened its only a matter of time before the heartless come pouring out, I can handle here, but what about other worlds, they need a protector. What do you say? You want another adventure?" Soran asked, holding out his hand to Sora

"Just point me to the Gummi ship" Sora said , grabbing his other self's hand

"About that…"