Chapter One

--My name is Kija. I am the first Commander of the King's Special Forces. I have been on the front lines for only five months, but I have seen the worst of things, including seeing the death and conversion of my only brother. I have been entrusted with the protection of Traverse Town's Keyhole, and I have proven my worth time and time again.

I am often considered weak, due to me being shorter than most, but I have shown that being short can be an advantage as much as a disadvantage. I have dirty-blond hair, my physique, to my eyes, is smaller than it should be. I wear no helm, for it would hinder my eye-sight, my armor is a small silverish light plate with shoulder pads. I am the only one in my troop that wears leg-guards, only because that my height gives me a speed advantage. I have no Keyblade, but my sword has kept me from failure from time to time again, so I cannot complain.

The Heartless have never stopped at attacking Traverse Town, for its Keyhole is always in plain site. The town itself has been laid to waste by the constant raids of our foes. Our numbers have been constantly dropping in every battle, and we have yet to hear from the Keybladers. We fear that they have also been defeated. I for one, cannot be stopped by this, my men need me as much as I need them. But a guy can only do so much, right?--

We ran into the field, with our hopes held high. We knew that the only thing that stood between the Keyhole and them was us and only us.

"Leon, we must be careful! I have seen what they are capable of!" I could not longer see Leon in the mass of Shadows. Everywhere I turned, I was being swarmed by them. The only thing that kept me going was having the ability to see the Keyhole from time to time, seeing that it was still there.

"HA! You really think these are something to be fearing? You have grown soft, Kija!" I knew not what he meant, but I dared not think at that time.

After only moments of fighting, I started to become winded. I feel unusally drained of my energy. I became slower, sluggish, and began to strike lightly. I looked around to see the cause, but I couldn't find any. All I could sense were Shadows, and the stench that they brought. Suddenly, I could feel the reason I became weak.

Darkside.

There he was, standing in front of the Keyhole. He was taller than the Behemoths, and that was something to fear. He was of the same color as the rest of the Shadows. He was a bit awkward in standing, for he seemed to bend forward toward his foes. His hands were often used to summon other Shadows, or as I have seen in the past, rip the hearts of his enemies away from their present body. He has a heart-shaped opening in the center of his body, which is ironic, for he has no heart.

"Leon, Darkside! He is right at the Keyhole! I am going to try to get to him!" I wasn't really sure if I was able to reach him in time, but I had to try. Jump, slash, keep running. That was the pattern that I somehow kept as I was heading for the Keyhole. I kept running, running on fear, hope, and the desire to see morning.

But I was too slow. He was already pulling back his arm, steading himself to strike. "Never will you finish what you are trying to achieve, Darkside!" He slowly turned and looked straight at me. Suddenly, he swung his arm at me, instead of the Keyhole. I felt the pain, as he cracked my armor and sent me flying into the wall. I looked up and thought that the pain made me imagine what I was seeing, for I would not believe it.

A Heartless. Standing in front of Darkside. With a Keyblade. No, not a Heartless, but a mixture of Human and Heartless. He wore a light armor that most of us wore, a silver light plate with shoulder pads, except that it had a light imprint of the King's seal on the front. He wore no helm, had a black shade of hair, with a pair of Heartless antenna peering from the middle. His eyes appeared to be the same as a normal Human, except that his eyes had a faint yellow glow to them.

"I am sorry to do this, Darkside, but you shall not pass! By the order of the King, I shall close this world's core from the Heartless once and for all!" He then turned nad held out his Keyblade and a light appeared on the tip of the blade. The light then shot toward the Keyhole, and everyone of us heard the sound that we had hoped for since we joined this fight. The click of the world being sealed from Darkness. Darkside then swung at the Keyblader in hopes of ending him, but stopped short. There was someone standing on top of his head, readying for the death blow. I heard a faint roar of our forces cheering this person on. I quickly tried to clear my vision a bit more to see who the person was, and I was suprised to see him here, helping us.

Cloud. I had not seen him since the Clocktower had fallen. He stood on Darkside's head, holding his sword for the blow. He caught a quick glance at the ground below, searching for something, and then struck. Darkside dissappeared in a quick vapor and Cloud landed with a soft touch.I steaded myself and headed toward our forces, hoping for no interference on getting there.

"Kija! Are you alright?" My Captain came to me with a quickened pace and helped me into one of the tents.

"Yes, I am alright. Have there been any casualties?" I wasn't very concerned about myself at this time, only the members of my force.

"No sir. There are no reports of casualties, but there are many that have been wounded, and will not be able to fight for the next few days. Here, let me help you out of your armor, it appears that it may need some repairs." It would seem that he was trying to make a joke, but I was in too much pain to notice. "There. I will see if I can find a smith around. Oh, and before I go, Cloud wishes to have a word with you." I could only help but wonder what he would want to speak to me about. But amidst all my thinking, I never even seen my Captian leave.

A few minutes later, Cloud opened the tent and walked in, with the mysterious Keyblader right behind him. Cloud is tall campared to my size but might not be as tall as Leon. He wore a light black plate mail armor, but to everyone else, it would appear to be a shirt. He adorned a cape that, even with no wind, seemed to wave around vigorously. On his right hand, he wore a glove that had a gold-colored claw on each finger. He also had a pair of black pants that seemed to be well-worn. On his back, his sword rested. it was a large sword that was wrapped in a bandage, which we all figured symbolized something, but then again, none of us ever asked.

"I see you have seen what our little friend here can do." Cloud spoke as if I knew him personally. The Keyblader just walked around the room, inspecting every little thing about it. "Kija, he has been personally sent by the King himself."

The Keyblader walked up to me and sat down in the chair that was next to the bed. "I would introduce myself to you, Kija, but I have no name. You can of course, call me Zee, though this is not my true name." He held out his hand toward me and I gladly accepted his handshake. "I am being sent to the worlds that surround the Kingdom, closing their Keyholes. But I was also sent to Traverse Town for another reason." He looked at me with his yellow eyes, and I couldn't help but flinch a little inside. "The King has sent me to recruit your services to aid me in this quest. Also, I was assigned to give you this, Kija." He held out his hand and handed me something that resembled a keychain.

As I held it, I felt a strange power weld up inside of me. Suddenly, the keychain began to change shape. It went from a small object to a weapon. I was holding one of the fabled weapons. The Keyblade. I looked at Zee. "What does this mean?"

He looked down at me and made a smile, or something that resembled a smile. "You are now a Keyblade Master. Of course, that means that you have the ability not to accept it, if you so choose to."

"Are you crazy? Of course I accept being a Keyblade Master."

Cloud bent down toward the bed and leaned in toward me. "I have things to do right now, but I will be back in a while. I hope, by then, you shall be well rested, no?" With that, he left us to be alone.

"He seems to be a bit uptight, no?" I could only laugh. Zee wasn't so bad, I figured. "Well, I'll leave you to rest. I do hope you are feeling a bit better when he gets back, he does tend to a bit angry when things aren't up to his speed." Zee left the tent and closed it ever so slightly behind him. I couldn't think of reason why Cloud was wanting to talk to me. Slowly, my eyes began to close, and I accepted the sleep that soon followed.