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KINGDOM HEARTS:
THE STARDUST OF OBLIVION
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PROLOGUE:
THE CROSSCURRENTS OF DESTINY
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Author's Notes: I dedicate this Fanfiction, which I'm beginning to Post on the Twentieth Anniversary of KINGDOM HEARTS before 12:00 AM Midnight, Eastern Standard Time, in honor and commemoration of KINGDOM HEARTS' Twentieth Anniversary, to the now Account Deleted Mirriem, one of the truest friends who a person could hope to have, whose friendship and whose writing are among the largest reasons I'm the person and the writer I am today.
I also give a very special thank you to Cori Shadowfang, for letting me know today is the day of KINGDOM HEARTS' Twentieth Anniversary.
I wouldn't have thought this story up, if you hadn't told me that, far less Posted its Prologue before KINGDOM HEARTS' Twentieth Anniversary is over, at least on the East Coast.
For the purposes of this story, all of KINGDOM HEARTS is considered canon
As with my other Fanfictions, I highly recommend you listen to the same Soundtrack pieces or MP3s as I am as I'm writing each scene to get the full mood of each scene. The piece for the Prologue is 'Destiny,' from the FINAL FANTASY XII Original Soundtrack, Disc Three. It can be found on Zophar's Domain.
Sora started violently as the portal he'd opened with the power of waking reconstituted itself below his feet into the transparent watery surface of The Final World.
He scowled, but he refused to let the rush of worry and fright burgeon into genuine terror.
No matter what his eyes told him, he wasn't going to believe it was over, and give up.
Behind him, the humanoid feline known as a Chirithy sighed in resigned exasperation.
"I should have known this would happen," he spoke in a voice that was more irritated at himself than at anyone else.
"Do you know how time travel works?" he queried.
Sora's guard rose, and he called upon Wheel of Fate to somersault all the way back before the remains of Namine's heart in a guard position, alert for Young Xehanort to appear and strike at her at any time for possible blackmail, perhaps with Kairi as blackmail he'd already acquired.
And if Kairi is incapacitated, that may mean Riku, a–
Sora pushed the thoughts as far to the side as possible.
"I know a little," Sora answered, turning and tracing his gaze warily over his surroundings.
"Under regular conditions, you need to have a version of yourself at your exit point, and entry point. I know of one exception, a door cast into a river of time by a talented wizard who is a friend of a former Keyblade wielder," Chirithy's eyes widened in shock at what Sora had just revealed about Merlin, further confirming Sora's suspicion of just how adroit with spellcasting Merlin really was, "But he shouldn't have had the means to get anywhere near the place I came from."
Terror attempted to surge.
Sora pushed it away, as well.
Anna.
Elsa.
Rapunzel.
Had the Xehanorts targeted them because the assault by Terra-Xehanort, and the Demon Tide, had cost all of them their hearts without allowing the Xehanorts to claim them in the process?
Or had the Xehanorts believed they'd come up short during the first battle, or, even with how arrogant they could be, become so intimidated by how well they'd defeated the first throng of Heartless, along with their accompanying Nobodies and Unversed, they'd decided upon prudence, for once, and just decided to slaughter them while forging the Kye-Blade from the New Seven Hearts?
As this was Master Xehanort they were talking about, perhaps he'd specifically taken them all hostage while the guardians of light were tied down here.
Or, perhaps the New Seven Hearts had been his true goal all along, and he'd merely wanted them to believe he sought hearts from the guardians to pull them out of position so he could bother Anna and Elsa, and the other seven hearts, with less trouble.
No.
You're not going to second guess now; and it's just a bunch of Shadows this time, not a whole Kingdom and mountain suspended in endless ice, no matter how dancy fancy their bark is when they do their best turkey caliber imitation of my comedy routine with Donald and Goofy when we get in each others' ways.
Kairi and Riku and Donald and Goofy and the others need you.
It's my turn now, and I genuinely can make a whole pint without Donald and Goofy.
"It's not anything anyone else has done," Chirithy continued as he hovered after Sora.
Sora nevertheless felt himself become a little lighter.
He didn't drop his guard at all, though.
If he'd just utilized time travel in some way, it was very possible Young Xehanort would be tasked with investigating, if that hadn't already happened.
"When you used the power of waking, you just sent a version of yourself into the past to return the hearts of your companions to their bodies before they were taken, and the portal closed because that past version of yourself succeeded."
Aches avalanched in upon Sora's insides, and outsides, from everywhere, but he still kept his guard up.
Namine's star was still turning and scintillating behind him.
"What about Kairi?" he questioned.
Chirithy sighed in mild disappointment.
"You're not as quick on the uptake as my old friend," he said, sadness in his voice now.
"Your past version protected those past versions, including Kairi.
"And because you used the power of waking to do it, you didn't bring them to this future; you created an entire alternate worldline where time is now flowing along a separate course, and that's where you and the others are in a position to rally against your foes."
Sora didn't realize his mouth was hanging open until he processed air was brushing against the inside of his mouth.
That could be done?
The buoyant exhilaration and euphoric wondering need to tell Kairi, Riku, Donald, and Goofy about this as soon as possible fell away at the knowledge he'd need to think of, or discover, another method to reach their hearts in this timeline, however.
Sora turned around to include Namine in his question, but he kept his guard up for Young Xehanort, or anyone else, to attempt to crash this party.
"I can't think of any worthwhile way to contribute to this," Namine supplied, with so much contained powerless guilt in her voice it caused Sora's insides to contort.
"I can trace my ties to Kairi to keep the other hearts from fading the rest of the way out of existence, but that's all."
Sora gave her a confident, open mouthed grin, refusing to let his disappointment manifest within himself, far less on his features.
"Then you've got this just fine.
"This also isn't the official thank you, but thanks once again!"
The shifting and glimmering of Namine's starry heart fragments just became lest restless for several seconds, however.
Sora sighed heavily.
Maybe she'd feel better once she had a life, and freedom, of her own, once more.
And, if not then, perhaps Roxas, Kairi, or Riku could get through to her.
But, for now, it appeared he could just focus on solving the larger problem.
"There's only one other way I know of to preserve a broken heart," Chirithy answered.
More lightness asserted itself within Sora.
"But I'm not sure it will work on hearts who have been as fragmented by darkness as everyone's but yours, and Kairi's, have been."
Then that'll just be the third time I need to refuse to believe it's hopeless and give up, and I climb back up this mountain.
I can't know that won't work until I give it a shot.
"As with what happened with my friend, you'll need to put them to sleep inside someone else's heart, preferably one for each heart, until they can recover."
It took an unknown number of seconds for Sora to realize he was aching all over once more, although not as agonizingly as he had when he'd believed they'd lost.
No way.
They hadn't lost, yes, but this meant he was going to need to pull back from the Keyblade Graveyard with Kairi, talk to Yen Sid, and attempt to come up with a way to search for lost hearts all over once more, for the fourth time in less than two years.
And if they fell back – not retreated, it wouldn't be a retreat – then the Xehanorts, and the Real Organization Thirteen, very likely would go after Anna, and Elsa, and Rapunzel, and the other new Princesses.
While Kairi would get a double target painted on her back.
"Sora, you don't believe that. I know you don't."
This wasn't happening.
Not this time.
Sora wasn't pulling back to Yen Sid's until he knew for certain there was no way to recover Riku's, Donald's, Goofy's, and the others' hearts in this time.
"Namine, can you talk to Terra's real heart to even a small degree?" Sora questioned, keeping his tones understanding, reassuring, encouraging, and assuring. "I was able to do that with Riku, when the fake Ansem stole his body, and Riku was almost turned into a Heartless then, while Terra, as far as I'm aware, is just a prisoner in his own heart."
"Riku almost became a Heartless, but it wasn't at the hands of a Keyblade Master," Namine answered, sounding guilty and powerless for different reasons now.
"I can't get through to him at al–"
Namine's embers sped up their rates of rotation, and danced excitedly.
"Now that I've traced his memories better, there's a third heart inside Terra's; a complete one, that's awake, in addition to the fragment operating his body."
Surprise, and hope, surged.
"I can't tell who it is, or reach that heart, but you should be able to at least free Kairi from the darkness in the present," Sora needed to reposition himself to keep his knees from giving way, "That should give me a brief window to talk to him, her, or it when my heart is healed, and my abilities are restored in total, but before I've wholly returned to Kairi."
Sora dragged up as much light confidence as he could think of doing at this time.
"Then that's what I'll do," he said.
He turned, Wheel of Fate was aimed at the watery surface in front of him, and below, and another multi colored and cascading portal of the colors of dreams had broken into a kaleidoscope before him.
"This still isn't the official thank you," Sora spoke, flooding his voice with reassuring and assuring gratitude.
"But you really may have come through this time.
"Thanks a total ton, Namine.
"I'll get things set up for you to talk over Xehanort in a jiffy."
Chirithy sprang up into the air violently, and then he dropped into a hover, his wings fluttering in incredibly discomfited fright with a very worried expression on his face that was mostly directed at himself.
"Did you just say you're going to speak into the heart of a Xehanort?"
Before Sora could understand anything else, however, or ask what had upset Chirithy this much, everything disappeared within a rush of white.
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Begin
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BOOK ONE: HIGH TIDES OF THE ECLIPSE
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"But in saving our planet from the death Lavos was going to bring about, they also changed the course of history…"-Miguel
"At that very moment, this whole future time axis ceased to exist. Call it cause and effect… It is just a problem of possibilities, after all… In this world, there are no such things as absolutes or certainties."-Lucca Ashtear
CHRONO CROSS