Chapter One

"I'll come back for you, I promise!"

"I know you will!"

Her voice rang through my ears and out into the early morning sky. My senses tingled with the pleasure of her words. I swear, there were times that I could feel her slim body resting next to mine, moments where I expected to be knocked on the head for not doing what she had told me to...and those were things that I knew deep down would not happen for a while...not until I found Riku. Then, and only then, could I go back to the days where I felt truly alive; all I wanted was to be happy with my friends, back on Destiny Islands with my family... I sometimes imangine myself, beating Riku in a race (finally) and then having Kairi be so impressed by my strength and agility to present the idea of sharing a Paopu fruit with her. All I can do right now is relish in dreams, for all reality has done is tear most of my hope into many tiny, little fragments.

The Darkness...that's what did all this. It made things so hard for me for this past year. All this pressure from being the one who weilds the Keyblade comes from the Darkness. I know I have the power to save people, I know that I hold the weapon of wonder and ruin, but then...why do I have this power? Why was I chosen? Riku was the original master. I can still see why, with his wit and muscle that always put that Selphie into a swoon, the bravery and confidence he held deep within his heart that still shone though he gave his soul to the Darkness. And look at me, the boy that cried after seeing a stupid little spider. I was a guy who felt as though I could never go truly home except when I was lain on the ground and swept away into a dream. I might have a pure heart, as my mother once said, or might do good...but what does being good have to do with anything?

I wish I could protect everyone. The people that I love most always get hurt. And most people are lucky that they are protected by a family member, boyfriend, friend, even maybe a pet. But look at me. No one is standing here in front of me, guarding me from the dangers that lie ahead in my future. I'm alone in this. I've got to sacrifice my life and my heart so people of these worlds can thrive. I think to myself at times, when looking up to the night sky, "One day...is it possible I could die?"

"Sora! Come on, wake up!"

"Ah-hyuck! Uh, Donald, are ya sure he's not dead?"

"He's not dead Goofy! Just sleeping!"

"Sleepin'? Well, wake 'im up then!"

"THAT'S WHAT I'VE BEEN TRYING TO DO!"

"Sora! It's Goofy. Ya gotta get up..."

Sora's eyes fluttered slightly as he felt his body leave the ground. He felt so peaceful...like there was no worries surrounding him. A bit of drool escaped the side of Sora's mouth.

"WHA-! HE DROOLED ON ME!"

The brunette opened his eyes to a disgusted Goofy and a laughing Donald. Sora looked down, still feeling quite weightless, and noticed he was three feet off the ground.

"Goofy..." he murmured in a soft voice "COULD YOU PUT ME DOWN!" Sora spat a bit as he yelled the last word. Goofy then fell over, dropping his friend very painfully on the ground and began to wipe at his face.

"COULD YA TRY NOT TER SPIT?" Donald helped disgusted Goofy off the ground, and used a quick swipe of his stafff to wipe the dirt from his shirt. Sora gave somewhat of a sheepish smile and wrapped his arm around Goofy.

"I didn't know you hated spit so much." Sora teased.

"Hmph." Goofy wrung out his hat in fear of more saliva. "It's any kinda water. It's all because of tha' Atlantica place. Being a turtle isn't exactly my ideal animal..." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Though they are kinda cute..."

"Yeah, you did look really adorable back there, Goofy." Donald said hastily, hoping not to be seriously injured with a blow to the head by one of Goofy's metal sheilds. Goofy didn't. Instead, he blushed and twisted his hands together shyly.

"Ya think I was adorable?"

Donald smacked Goofy with a strong Thunder attack. "GET YOUR HEAD STRAIGHT! We have much more important matters to talk about." The duck crossed his arms with an air of importance.

Sora rubbed his head, still feeling a bit sleepy. "Great and all, but where are we?"

"Traverse Town. You've been unconcious for a while." A young girl by the name of Aerith stood in the doorway to the Red Room, holding a tray of tea and small green vials. "I've just arrived from Hallow Bastion. We heard from King Mickey we'd find you lying around here somewhere. So we came and brought you to the Hotel." She walked in briskly, and placed the tray on the oriental style table and sat on the bed. The green-eyed beauty smiled at Sora for a moment and reached her hands out to him. "Come here."

Sora walked over slowly, and grabbed both her hands. Her face shone as she looked Sora from head to toe, examining him. The brunette's face turned a slight shade of pink.

"W-what are you doing, exactly...?" The words sputtered out with shyness tagged on to them.

"I'm just looking at the boy who defeated Ansem." Her eyes glimmered with renewed hope. "You risked it all to save people from the Darkness and you realized that Kingdom Hearts was light. I'm so proud!" She whispered the last few words as two tears fell to her cheeks. Sora felt abashed. Sure, he had defeated the ruler of the Darkness, but did he really need this much attention? He opened his mouth to retaliate, to tell her that it was nothing, until he saw Leon in the doorway flash him a half smile. Sora then grabbed onto Aerith's hands tightly and graced her with a small "Thank you." He was surprised at his own voice, sounding so small and squeaky like he too was about to cry. He instead bit his lower lip and bowed his head, and Aerith then let him pull away. He felt a hand on his shoulder, strong and secure. I can't look at Leon like this... He tried to blink away tears that threatened to leak out. Sora then gave out a sudden, but dry sob that lasted less then one second.

"CUMMON! YER CRYIN'? YA BIG PANSY!" Sora felt the hand thump him on the back, causing him to almost die of oxygen loss. He turned to face a joyous Cid, who was smiling and laughing. "I never thought ya could do it boy, but ya did! I always thought that huge key of yers was a tad to big for a kid like yeh, but I was wrong! Good work, Sora!" Cid ruffled Sora's hair a little too roughly, perhaps only to cover what happiness that could explode out of him at any second. Sora stepped back with a evil grin on his face.

"Nice to see you too, Gramps." He said, not forgetting that Cid had called him 'kid'.

Cid then gave him another smirk as Aerith then grabbed him and pushed a potion into his hands. "Drink it up quick, it'll help."

"So..." Sora took a quick swig of the potion, feeling energy flow through him. "Where's everyone else?"

"Yuffie's back at the Thrid District. She's helping people reopen some shops." Aerith smiled at the thought.

"So people are actually returning back here now?"

"Yeah, naturally." Leon stepped out from the doorway and made his way over to a chair. "There's no Ansem to fear anymore, and since all the worlds went back to their places, everyone wants to go back home, don't they?"

Home. The word echoed in Sora's head and panged his heart. "Yeah, You're right."

"So now you have to find king Mickey, huh?" Leon whipped out his Gunblade and a rag and began to polish his weapon gently.

"And Riku." Sora added in a calm yet annoyed tone.

"That's right. The one Ansem controlled for a while."

Aerith stood up from the bed. "Where do you think they could be?"

Sora opened his mouth to answer, but Leon beat him to it. "Don't know. So many worlds out there, you're never gonna know until you check them all, I guess. I've been using a gummi ship for a while, checking the other worlds. I haven't seen any sign of the king." Leon glanced at Sora. "Or Riku."

"Oh dear. They must be somewhere far." Aerith murmured gently.

"Well, while we look for the King and Sora's friend Riku," Donald piped up "We have to find a way to get Sora back home, to Destiny Islands."

The whole room looked to Sora. He stared into each of their eyes, and he knew that they needed him here. He could not go home until his title as the Keyblade master was fuffiled. Not to mention he didn't want to look like a total wuss. The brunette puffed up his chest bravely and placed his hands on his hips. "I'll go home on my own time. Just don't worry about me, worry about those who need help."

Aerith smiled and Cid clapped him on the shoulder. "That's a good kid." Maybe he knew that Sora was just lying?

"So now...there's one thing left to address..." Leon's Gunblade disappeared and walked toward Sora. Just then, a excited Yuffie peered over Leon's shoulder and whispered "Squall loves Sora..."

Leon jumped a foot in the air, all the while trying to teach Yuffie how to say his name with the accompaniment of several curse words. Yuffie giggled as cat lips appeared on her face. "Ah, you know I was just kidding. So, Sora..." She bounced over to him joyously and shook both his hands. "CONGRATS ON DEFEATING MR. DARKY-PANTS! I mean, Ansem..." Yuffie glanced over at an irritated Leon and giggled nervously. "But Squall was right...one more question..." The ninja leaned over so close that she was able to whisper into Sora's ear "Didja kiss Kiari yet?"

Sora's eyes got huge as she pulled back and smiled adorably. He felt his cheeks go red as he yelled "NO! Who said I even had a crush on her!"

Yuffie sat in a chair, feeling nonchalant about Sora's feelings at all, just casually said "I was just wondering."

Sora's stomach fluttered with butterflies at the thought of having Kiari pressed up against him, their warm lips brushing eachother gently...

Leon stifled a small growl and inquired "What does Kiari have to do with any of this?"

"I was just curious, Squall. No big deal." Yuffie poured herself a cup of tea from the tray Aerith had brought in earlier. "Plus, Kiari does have alot to do with it, she was one of the Princesses Of Heart. She helped save us too. It wasn't only Sora."

"That's true." Leon muttered, not liking the fact that Yuffie was right.

"But right now there's one thing to worry about." Aerith said slowly. "Sora, you need to find the King. And fast."

Sora stared at Aerith as though she was lying. "Yeah, okay." He laughed heartily. "Like I'm gonna believe that!"

Just then Goofy gave him a sad smile, and placed a hand bracingly on his arm. "We gots some bad news..."

"What do you mean 'bad news'? I just defeated Ansem! What could possibly go wrong here?"

"We feel..." Cid took a deep breath. "We feel that something...we dunno what...but something is happening. I really dunno if it's Ansem comin' back or wha'..." He scratched the back of his head. "It seems that Kingdom Hearts has been reopened. The Darkness is slowly leakin' it's way back out and..." Sora's head swam with thoughts. "We have reason to beleive that it's swallowing up worlds again."

"TELL ME MY WORLD IS SAFE!" Sora yelled, practically falling over.

"I...I can't gaurantee that your home will be okay." Aerith said in a low voice. "The light is so strong now, that shadows have become stronger too, taking in people as alliances and making them do things against their will. It's terrible..." Her voice trailed off into deep thought.

"But we can't let anyone know yet." Leon said in a strong tone. "We need to protect the-"

"World border!" Goofy chimed.

"'ORDER!'" Donald corrected him.

Leon gave somewhat of an annoyed smile. "Yeah. The world border."

Yuffie stepped in. "The sad thing is that I helped these people move in today when they might be moving out again rather soon. We're still trying to use Traverse Town as a safe haven for those who can not go home." The ninja stared intently at the ground. "We're probably gonna be packed..."

"At least we're not digging graves." Leon stood tall and began to walk to the door.

Sora jumped quickly. "If you're going to fight Heartless. I'm with you!"

Leon gave a small chuckle and almost whispered. "Who said we were fighting others?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"It's just like what you were muttering in your sleep..."

"YOU HEARD ME SLEEP TALKING!"

"Yeah. And you said something that made me realize how dangerous it is out there. In other worlds." His brown head turned to a vase, and looked at it as though it were very interesting.

"You said 'I'm alone in this.' And you spoke truly." Leon skulked out of the room, and Aerith winced as the door was slammed shut.

Sora put his hands to his hair, running his fingers through it stressed-like. "I can't do this. I can't." Just then, Kiari placed her graceful arms around his neck. Her firey hair brushed Sora's cheek, and she whispered into his ear. "It's okay. I am always with you."

The brunette jumped at the voice and attempted to grab at the girl who was never there. He opened his eyes, and with another burst of confidence, said "I promised I would help. And I'm not alone." He grabbed Donald and Goofy by the arms and hugged them.

"I have my real friends with me."