The dark smell of smoke and the damp smell of stone filled Sora's nostrils, there was little sound besides drops of water against stone nearby, and the sound of soft foot steps coming towards him. The boy's body was aching horribly, his skin felt itchy and cold, yet despite all these overwhelming sensations, and despite him being incredibly uncomfortable where he sat, Sora couldn't move. No matter how he tried, no matter how many times he mentally ordered his body to "move," or his eyes to "open," neither obeyed.

Finally the foot steps stopped, signaling whatever had been walking towards him had reached its destination, Sora could hear the creature begin to sniff, he could feel its wet nose press deliberately against the skin on the back of his hand. "I guess it's some kind of animal," he thought to himself bemusedly, "Maybe a dog?" A rough wet tongue dragged itself across the unconscious teens face, causing an expression of disgust and bewilderment to appear.

"It's a fucking dog alright."

Without thinking Sora moved his hand and held it as a barrier between his face and the dog, relief washed over him as he realized that his body was now once again under his control. Opening his eyes slowly, Sora blinked a few times until his vision came into focus, allowing him to see what seemed to be a bright yellow hound dog. The dog was sitting back on its haunches, panting happily with its head tilted to the side as it looked on at Sora expectantly. Nearly immediately, flashes of what had occurred over the course of the last few hours flashed through Sora's mind.

He winced as he leaned forward, unceremoniously dropping his head into his hands as he allowed his thoughts to settle.

The last thing the teenager could remember was fighting against the rather large dark creature, after losing Kairi and Riku to the darkness. A sigh escaped his mouth as he leaned back and rested his head once again on the brick wall behind him, finally observing his surroundings, it would seem he was in an alley way. Though as he leaned his head further back to glance at the sky, Sora knew the answer must be more complex than that, he'd never seen a starry sky like the one he was witnessing tonight.

"I guess . . . It wasn't a bad dream after all. Riku, Kairi, where could you guys have gone off to?" Silence seemed to descend on the dank alley in direct correlation to Sora's falling spirits, until it was interrupted by a rather loud sneeze from the large yellow hound dog, who until then had been sitting with a cheery expression, tongue lolling, blissfully unaware of the teen's foul mood, completely irreverent. Sora jumped in place, before huffing in amusement at himself, a boyish grin breaking across his face, "Enough moping, I need to figure out where I am, and what exactly happened to Riku and Kairi and our home." A strange idea sprung into Sora's mind, without stopping to contemplate, he squared his shoulders and turned to the yellow hound dog.

"Excuse me, umm," Squinting his eyes, Sora searched the hound's collar. "Mr. Pluto, but you wouldn't happen to know where we are would you?" The yellow hound dog tilted its head as if confused, then he stood, licked Sora's face once more, and then bounded off back down the alley and around the corner to the right. Wiping his face of the gratuitous dog slobber, Sora took a deep breath before sighing loudly through his teeth, sounding like a steaming kettle.

"Brain to moron, dogs are still dogs, even when in another world."

He snorted to himself, his mood raising a bit as the invasive voice echoing in his mind once more touted its wisdom. "I'll keep that in mind," Sora replied out loud, chuckling once more before adding under his breath, "Also I'm not a moron, you jerk." Wiping the excess slobber from his cheeks, he dusted himself off, taking inventory of all his clothes and belongings. At first glance he seemed to be uninjured if a bit sore, the clothes he was wearing were still dirty, stained black in some places, and torn full of holes.

Sora shrugged, nothing he could do about that part of his situation right now, he'd have to look for a clothes store on his way to finding Riku and Kairi. Besides that he hadn't lost any of his belongings, Kairi's good luck charm was in his pocket, he still had the bundle of mushrooms he'd gathered for their voyage, and he had a crumpled piece of paper which he had no memory of stuffing into his back pocket. Written on the crumpled and salt water stained page were three words, "It has opened." Sora read, his brow rising at the meaningless words, "Meaningless to me at least, where did this note come from?"

Placing his belongings back in their respectful pockets, Sora then became more serious, widening his stance he held out his hand, allowing his heart to call out into the universe. He felt a tug on his heart in response, a flash shone in the air and without any fanfare the Keyblade appeared once again in his hand. Sora's brow furrowed, a memory came to mind as he held up the Keyblade in front of his face, inspecting it more closely now that his life wasn't in immediate danger.

"Pick up the Keyblade you moron, it chose you, don't let it sit there in the dirt!"

No matter how many times Sora recalled the memory of the Kingdom Key appearing in his hand, he couldn't recall anyone else being there who could have spoken to him. Not just that, but he couldn't remember even questioning the experience when it had happened, the voice had resonated so deeply. Slowly he was becoming more aware of the mysterious interloper, having heard the same voice again only moments earlier.

It was as natural as his own voice, as if it came from inside him. Sora shook his head, allowing that line of questioning go for the time being. Holding the Keyblade firmly in his left hand, Sora allowed the blade to disappear once again, feeling more confident now with the knowledge he could call upon it at any time. With that he made his way out of the alleyway and into what looked like a town square, a variety of colorful and well lit stores surrounded the central area, it all looked rather lovely, especially with the warm glow of candlelight shining from the windows. Except for the fact that the town seemed to be empty, or at least this part of it, doors of homes left ajar, business with no one inside, and no passerby walking the streets at night.

"Hello?" Sora cupped his mouth and called out into the night, a shiver stole over his body as the air seemed to grow colder in response. Candles on tables at a nearby dinner all sputtered out without even a whisper of wind. "Anyone there? I could really use some help! Please?" Sora's hackles raised as the skin on his shoulders and upper back began to prick uncomfortably, "no, not again." Taking a deep and deliberate breath He attempted to calm his racing pulse and quash any fear or frustration building inside before the darkness could escape from him again.

After a few minutes of calm breathing the darkness receded, the relief was short lived for Sora when he heard the sounds of dark portals appearing behind him.

"Heartless."

The thought came to his mind unbidden, he had never given names to these creatures, yet somehow he knew that indeed these creatures were the Heartless, just as he knew that the darkness he manifested were the Unversed. "Fuck it," the teen cursed under his breath in aggravation, left hand raising to catch the summoned Keyblade from the air. Sora took a wide stance, the Keyblade held out to his left, his eyes narrowed at the enemies in front of him, something was off about these Heartless compared to the ones he had fought before.

The Heartless he faced now were larger than their counterparts, they wore knights armor and had symbols on their chests that resembled a hollowed heart. Sora shifted his Keyblade to the front of him, holding the hilt in both hands to bolster his defense and guard his front better, he took a moment to steel his nerves and charged. His blade easily swept through the first Heartless's body, the two handed swing carrying enough force to dispel the creature with only one hit.

He made his way behind the group, breaking their line, this allowed him to separate them into a more manageable number to fight at once. The rest of the fight was harsh and crass, though Sora had been trained in sword play, the Keyblade was heavier and more unwieldy than a sword. The blade's balance being further towards the front of the weapon rather than the hilt, still he was adjusting well, allowing his intuition to guide him through the battle which ended just as quickly as it began.

"I'm Lucky these armored heartless aren't any more dangerous than the ones I faced at home. The only difference I can see is that they take longer to dispel, and they seem to almost fly for short periods of time." Vanishing the Keyblade from his hand once more, Sora quickly made his way up the stair case that lead to the town hall, outside of the official looking building was a map that showed where he was at the moment. "Section Three. . ." Sora mumbled to himself as he traced his finger over the red "X" that was supposed to mark the position of this directory on the map. Below the sign was a poster with bold print, it stated that due to the increasing number of Heartless appearing in the streets they had closed Section Three and evacuated this portion of the town.

Tracing from where the notice board was located on the map, Sora figured that the gate into Section Two was only a few blocks away. All he needed to do was take a right at the building marked Town hall, and a left at the mini mart, "And boom, I'm at the gate for Section Two." Grinning proudly, Sora stood a bit straighter, "I bet Riku would be surprised if he found out I didn't get myself lost first day in a new world." Sora snickered at the thought, "Kairi would probably just laugh and say I shouldn't get cocky. We'd both be lost without her around, God I miss them."

Shaking his head the teenage boy sighed to himself before turning and setting off, it wasn't a very long walk, a few Heartless beset him on his way but Sora took care of them easily, though he did run into a new type of Heartless, small blue floating heartless that cast blizzard magic at him. He'd had to figure out a reliable aerial strike he could use before he could dispatch those fuckers. Not very strong in the long run but they were annoying as hell, and could be dangerous if he ignored a large group of them when he was fighting other ground based enemies.

Soon enough he found himself at Gate Two, with a few new scratches and holes in his shirt but also a good amount of knowledge added to his repertoire. Sora knocked on the large door, in response he could hear a sharp intake of breath followed by a loud thud and a muttered curse. Holding in a snicker at the guard's expense he quickly cleared his throat and leaned forward, calling through the door, "Hello? Is someone there, I'd like to be let into this section . . . It's rather lonely where I am, and I could really use some help please!" For a moment there was only silence, then a rather nasally voice called back in response.

"You're not one of those, shadowy things, are you?"

"You mean a Heartless? No, I'm not, I'm just a, um traveler, seeking shelter, that's all." Another moment of silence that was honestly a little too long for Sora's taste.

"Sorry but, we can't let anyone in or out of these gates without permission from a member of the Restoration committee. If it's really urgent, you could look for Squall, he left an hour ago to go scouting in Section Three, usually he looks for any survivors or "travelers" and brings them back while clearing out the uh, Heartless along the way." Sora felt his annoyance rise, but at the same time his interest peeked,

"This restoration committee, are they in charge of, um." He groaned, tapping his head with his knuckles, "What's here called?" Uncomfortable silence.

"You mean Traverse Town? The world were in right now?" Sora sighed, now smacking his forehead lightly in aggravation.

"Shut up you moron, not every one knows that there are other worlds out there!"

"Yea, of course I'm sorry, I'm just really exhausted, and have something important I need to do. Of course I know we're in Traverse Town, I know this town like the back of my hand, in fact I'll go look for Squall right now, thanks for your help." Sora let out the huff of frustration he'd been holding in and turned to make his way back towards the town square, and away from this awkward conversation, hopefully he could start his search there.

"Hey Kid," Sora stopped in his tracks, and turned back around,

"Yes?"

"Be careful okay, don't do anything you feel like you won't make it back from, if you can find Squall you'll be safe, he's a strong guy." A warmth filled Sora's heart, these last two days had been long, and harrowing, and full of only stressful emotions. He smirked and went to say thank you, but instead a snarky scoff exited the boys mouth.

"Don't worry about me, I'm not the one hiding behind a wall, unable to help a lost kid because they're too afraid. I'm gonna go find this moron Squall, no question about that, let's just hope I can get to him before the Heartless tear him apart." With that parting phrase the teenager turned on his heel and stalked off, making his way back the way he came. "What the fuck was that?! What is wrong with me?" Sora attempted to take a deep breath, slowing his fast paced march back toward the town square, taking a cursory glance at his hand he cursed under his breath, dark tendrils wiggles tauntingly under his skin.

All of the anger and irritation and the fear and confusion was boiling inside of his heart like a pressure cooker with the lid screwed on too tight; Sora muffled a scream with his hand as his skin began to stretch and strain as creatures began to burst from his body. Dark vapor trailed off of him as the tiny rapid monsters that Sora had named "The Flood" began pouring out of him, he groaned as a few of the red ones clawed their way out of the skin on his back and he shivered as some of the twisted skeletal looking creatures crawled from his chest. After five minutes of him writhing in place as disgusting creatures tear their way out of his body the seemingly never ending onslaught stopped.

Sora was finally empty, he felt exhausted, his mind was clear emotionally and yet he felt slightly delirious as he looked at the horde of monsters in front of him. The smaller feral creatures he would call the Flood, because they were the creature he spawned the most of, they came from pain or irritation. The strangely twisted skeletal creatures with long claws he would call Scrappers, because of their long shredding claws, they are formed from his fear and insecurities. Lastly were the Red orbs, very similar looking to the flying heartless he had seen earlier, these creatures could use fire magic and were made from his irritation and anger, he'd call them red hots.

Sora slowly stood from his position kneeling on the cobblestone, holding out his left hand he summoned his Keyblade with a thought, as he caught the magic blade it seemed heavier than before. He couldn't simply leave these Unversed to wander around Traverse Town. Already there were too many Heartless wandering around, and while the Unversed weren't Heartless as far as Sora could tell, they were still made up of negative emotion and that meant they were more than likely dangerous to other people.

"I'm sorry," he whispered quietly, about to swing at the Unversed closest to him when suddenly a scream broke the silence, it was a pained scream, a human scream.

Immediately the Unversed began a mad rush toward the sound, "No," Sora cried out, leaping through the air, he landed atop of a majority of the Unversed. Once his body made contact with the creatures an extremely uncomfortable feeling came over him, the Flood began to dissolve, absorbing them selves back inside Sora and crawling back underneath his skin. The previous negative emotions that had left when he had expunged these creatures was now returning along with extreme nausea. Swallowing the bile in his throat Sora powered through the pain, dashing around the corner and down the badly lit street after his Unversed.

Once Sora had made it back to the stair case in the Town Square he had absorbed all of the Unversed bar a few Red Hots. Red Hots which were hovering around a man surrounded by a large group of Heartless at the bottom of the stairs. "Squall," the name flashed across Sora's mind, it made sense that the lone adult wielding a sword against a mob of Heartless must be the committee member the guard had spoken of. Sora was about to call out but choked on his words as a spike of pain followed by a rush of frustration suddenly washed over him.

The man had spun and struck out, dispelling one of Sora's Red Hots floating close by, a unexpected feeling of rage began to burn within the teenager as he stood up straight after his brief moment of weakness, he leveled his eyes hotly at the man standing below him. "Calm down, he doesn't know, he doesn't even know that there are different forms of darkness. Let go of your frustration Sora, let go of your rage." Sora felt his breaths even out, his anger slowly evaporating with every breath.

"Calm?! I'd castrate the moron, who does he think he is? Make him hurt Sora!"

Again came the voice, and the furious words once more resonated inside him, attempting to burn away his logic, his calm, but Sora grit his teeth and held his ground. "No." After giving himself another moment to release his anger, he turned his attention back to the man, dashing down the stairs to help him.

"Squall!" The man startled, turning his head to catch sight of Sora descending the stairs out of the corner of his eye, Sora could see it as his eyes widened in surprise. Leaping from mid way down the stairs, Sora flipped once and struck with his blade, dispelling a good number of the flying Heartless and the last three of his Unversed. He winced as pain and a flood of anger assaulted his senses, with a great amount of self control he held back and attempted to shrug it off and focus on the fight. Landing deftly on sure feet, Sora kept his guard close to his chest and struck out at the surrounding Heartless, side stepping he made his way around Squall until they were back to back.

The fight finally beginning in earnest, the two swordsman fought off the mob of heartless, striking them down one by one until Squall took the final blow; fluidly twisting under Sora's final piercing strike to unleash a elegant fire spell incinerating the final creature. Sora was panting heavily, left arm feeling even heavier after the battle, he swiped some of the sweat off his brow with the back of his hand, smiling when he spotted Squall equally exhausted, hands on his knees as he tried to slow his breathing. Attempting to regain some composure, Sora cleared his throat and approached the older man, making sure to keep his hands in view. "You're Squall right, part of the restoration committee?"

The man now known as Squall, responded by nodding once followed by straightening and stretching his arms above his head before allowing them to fall back to his sides. Turning to face Sora, he tilted his head and narrowed his eyes, for a moment he wondered if this strange guy was trying to look through him. "You have the Keyblade."

Sora could feel his heart stutter in his chest, the first emotion to well within him was relief, "Finally, someone who may actually know what's going on, heck he may even know what happened to my home." Sadly that feeling quickly disabused, because the glare Squall leveled at him with anything but friendly. Unconsciously Sora tightened his grip on the blade's handle and took a step back. "Yes, it chose me."

"Pshh," Squall snorted, an amused look flashed across his face before it once again took on a serious expression. He crossed his arms and began speaking again in a more stern tone, "The Keyblade chose you? A child, with no experience in another world, or in battle, do you even know where you are?"

Sora felt his heart rate pick up as frustration began to leak from him in the form of dark vapor, with great effort he stomped down hard on his runaway emotions and forced himself to remain calm. "Yes, I'm in Traverse Town, a world outside of my own. I'm from The Destiny Islands. A world that may have been, destroyed. The Keyblade appeared to me, it saved me from dying with my world, that's why I'm here, because it chose me."

"It chose you," Squall's face had become slack as he listened to me, the relaxed expression really brought attention to the aged lines of his face. "It's just too sick of a joke, why would the Kimgdom Key, the one to unite all worlds, the one to open Kingdom Hearts choose you? You're a child, you can't carry this burden." He held out his hand, palm facing up, expectantly, "Hand me the Keyblade, I will find one who is worthy."

Sora could understand Squall's point, he didn't have to stretch far mentally to connect the dots and see things from the older man's perspective. A young teenage boy shows up, wielding a weapon of apparently infinite potential, a Key so important it would link all worlds. Could he carry the burden, Sora felt his heart begin to speed up again and took a long measured breath, did he feel worthy of this honor. Should he simply give it up?

"No!"

"No."

"What? What do you mean No?!"

"No, The Kingdom Key chose me, I wield the Keyblade, no one else. How dare you ask me to give up on everyone, how can I give up on the worlds, how can I give up on my friends? If I have to fix the connection between the worlds and open this Kingdom Hearts, then I fucking will." For a moment after I spoke Squall looked at me, a bewildered expression on his face, then the look became determined. He slowly drew his sword from the sheath on his hip and leveled it at my chest. There was a hint of sadness in his eyes, there was a hint of resignation.

"I'm sorry you've chosen this path, if you won't give me the Keyblade willingly, then I'll have to take it from you." Sora felt his body become numb, a smirk crept its way onto his face, he switched the blade to his right hand and shifted his stance. The Keyblade poised, raised over his head with the tip of the blade pointed at Squall.

"You can try to take it from me, but don't blame me when you get hurt."

For a moment everything slowed down, every heart beat felt as though it lasted an eternity, each time Squall blinked seemed slower than the last, Sora took a deep breath, and dashed forward. Squall cried out loudly as he swung diagonally, the broad of the blade flashing as he swung to decapitate the boy. Only Sora wasn't standing in front of Squall, he had lunged low under his guard and rounded behind him, Sora fluently twisted on his toe and leveled a kick into Squall's lower back causing him to stumble and fall. Squall crushed the flat of the blade to his chest when he fell, avoiding stabbing or cutting himself needlessly, rolling he soon launched himself from his back into an upright position and made a mad dash at the teenager, who seemed to have changed dispositions.

Where before the brunette had seemed earnest and solemn, now he seemed amused and full of himself, every smirk and narrowed gaze was as if the boy was sprouting insults directed at Squall, even though he never spoke, only laughed. As Squall lunged into a pointed strike aimed at the boy's ungaurded chest, the boy simply stepped aside quick as lightning, the Keyblade flicked out with tremendous force knocking Squalls blade out of his hands and sending it skittering across the cobblestone square.

"Do you concede, or are you a moron who thinks honor is more important then living?"

The boy's key blade was held at Squall's throat, his smirking face leaned out to the side to place it just in view, the man could feel his rage boiling under the surface at the humiliation of someone two decades his junior defeating him so soundly.

"You underestimated me, I'm sorry I don't meet your expectations, but that doesn't give you the right to attack me." Back were the earnest eyes and honest smile, the Keyblade was removed from his throat before he could even answer. He watched as the boy walked in front of him to pick up his sword and return it, holding it in front of Squall, hilt out in a show of respect. "Truce?"

Sighing, Squall reached out and took his sword back from Sora, sheathing it before standing up, "Truce. Hey maybe I was wrong about you being unprepared, but you are still just a kid, so I'm weary to simply send you off with the worlds' hopes on your back, all alone, follow me."

"Where are we going?" Sora asked as he fell into step beside the taller man.

"There are someone otherworlders here, two more to be precise, sent by the King to find another Keyblade wielder, and they have a ship to travel between worlds." He watched as the boy nodded to himself, obviously figuring out for himself where Squall was taking him and why. "By the way kid, what's your name?" The brunette smiled, a bright face splitting grin that made a warm feeling bloom in the usually stoic mans chest.

"I'm Sora!" Squall smiled, nodding as he hummed to himself.

"Nice to meet you Sora, I'm Leon. I think, you may just be the right person after all."