Kingdom Hearts: Sin Angel
Episode 1: Sin Angel… Live
Three months ago, they had won one of their greatest victories.
Three months ago, the Darkness had succeed where Light had failed, and Evil had finally triumphed over Justice, or so said the more dramatic villains. The Keyblade masters had been defeated on Planet Earth, and Shishio had successfully scattered the rest of the heroes – some had already been eclipsed into the Darkness. Slade had been disappointed that the Titans hadn't been on either of those lists, but they would fall eventually. Terra reported that they had split up in hopes of "finding help" or some other weak excuse. Neither of them really cared.
Slade knew, however, that the victory they had scored was too good (and too simple) to be completely true. There HAD to be some factor that he and the rest of the villains were forgetting. Though the other villains were content with resting on their laurels, thinking of the darkness they had sent to swarm countless worlds, Slade was carefully reviewing the intelligence Terra gave him. Brother Blood and his army of light were playing a defensive game, so they weren't his immediate concern.
The only other villain to share Slade's worry was Ridley, and he only cared because he hadn't had the pleasure of hearing any sort of news about his archnemesis, Samus Aran. The Space Pirate leader flew in, apparently furious about something. "This is SHIT!" he screamed, pounding his fists in rage. Slade kept calm, but this seemed to anger Ridley even more, since he started screaming at Slade again. "Within the past three months there's been NO WORD on the Hunter, that Princess of Heart with a Keyblade just evaded us for the thousandth time, and Kraid's STILL eating us out of all of our food!"
"Calm yourself, Ridley," Slade answered in a monotone. However, something crossed his mind. "Repeat that little speech again."
"I SAID, 'This is shit. No word on Samus, that princess with the Keyblade is still evading us, and Kraid needs to keep his fat ass away from the fridge.'"
"Princess with a Keyblade…" Slade glared. "How come we didn't know this? I didn't know this?.!"
"Hey don't look at me! They only told me a few days ago that there was a Princess of Heart with a Keyblade on Little Planet! Do you know what this means!"
"I know perfectly well what that means – all of our plans will go under and our victories will mean less than nothing if that Princess manages to succeed where the other Keyblade masters failed," Slade paused, pondering his next move. "Unfortunately plunging Little Planet into darkness wouldn't be a strategic move. Our numbers are still too weak there to launch a takeover."
Suddenly, a large racket interrupted their meeting as a lone, panicky space pirate entered their lair. "Sir!" He panted, facing Ridley.
"WHAT." Ridley glared at his subordinate, snarling, and teeth gleaming. "This better be good."
"We have intruders in Hades' lair."
"Intruders? In this place?.!" Ridley gaped. He turned to Slade. "Hades is gonna try and kill us for this."
"Guys, guys, relax!" The Lord of the Underworld himself appeared, gliding across the floor towards the other two. "One of those Chaos Saint guys told me two of his sidekicks were supposed to be showing up here around this time. I'm guessing this 'attack' would be them."
"The Chaos Saints?" Slade asked. The Chaos Saints were even more mysterious to them than he himself had been to his cohorts. Three months ago mysterious hooded figures had showed up on Earth, sometimes helping them (giving them advice about the Keyhole) and other times getting in their way (one helped defeat Captain Hook.). All villains agreed that their enigmatic actions had become a nuisance. This meant only one thing: they needed answers. Immediately. "They're falling right into our laps. I'd say that's a good thing, but keep your guard up. I have a feeling they're not here to audition for a sidekick role."
"I got that covered," Hades grinned. "Pirates! Come with me," Hades snapped his fingers and disappeared in a swirling blaze of fire. Ridley nodded towards his cohort, giving consent to the temporary change in command. The Space Pirate scampered off.
"This is an act too good to miss." Walking towards the cauldron, Slade snapped his fingers, activating the device, which showed two cloaked strangers entering the Underworld. "Let's be a good audience and watch." Ridley perched opposite of Slade, eager for the show to start.
------
Earlier that day, HAL Laboratory had finally reached completion.
Well, it looked complete, at least. As far as Riku could tell as he and the purple-haired Raven approached the mighty building, the imposing structure was done. From what he could see from the outside, it was a technological wonder, created from the nearby ruins of Eggman's former lair. The silver-haired boy noticed an uncanny resemblance to the Olympus Coliseum in one of the sections.
Both he and the Titan Raven were draped in the Sin Angel uniform, a faded black overcoat adorned with gleaming silver pull-strings that bore the Sin Angel insignia. The symbol, which looked like a swirl with lined wings, was just small enough to fit in Riku's hand as the teenager looked at it yet again.
It'd been some time since he'd become a member of this shady organization, which he had first joined when he and King Mickey had been trapped inside Kingdom Hearts. He couldn't quite figure out what they were trying to do, just that they had a means of helping him controlling his growing powers of darkness. King Mickey agreed to join simply to follow Riku, seeing as "the darkness wasn't all bad", as the king had once said.
His current understudy, Raven, while not one of the 13 Chaos Saints, had joined the group shortly after the fall of Earth. She claimed she was looking for answers about the Heartless and her own darkness. Riku suspected she had another motive, but decided to plead her case to the big boss anyway. The rest, as they say, was history.
Now the two of them stood before the doors of HAL Laboratory. Miss Oni, the head Chaos Saint, had told them to check on things and distract any would-be villains while the other Chaos Saints went to Little Planet to assist Kairi. He was disappointed that he didn't get to protect Kairi himself, but he was glad the girl had survived the last three months without getting injured. "Here goes nothing." Riku knocked on the door sharply three times. After the third knock, he noticed the door creak open a little. "Ummm…" Riku blinked.
"That looks inviting," Raven droned in her usual sarcastic manner.
They walked into the foyer, a grand room which had neatly organized chairs and an office desk/window towards the left of the room. There were three doors, two small ones that led to either side of the front door and one very large one right to the back. The grayish-white room sat in silence, with only the hum of technology reaching the teens' ears.
That, however, didn't last long as the big door began to open up, creaking and groaning. Riku and Raven tensed, not certain on what was on the other side of the looming doors.
The door opened further… and out backed a short man, wearing a red shirt and blue-jean overalls. He adjusted his red cap as he backed away from what seemed like an invisible enemy.
The short man looked back. Seeing Riku and Raven, he barked in a slight Italian accent, "Get back, it's-a coming!"
Riku backed away, not sure why he was listening. "What's coming?"
Just then, a humongous ghost faded into view. As ghosts go, it was rather unusual. It had four arms, each holding a large candle. It had what looked like two antenna sticking out of its head. However, Riku recognized it as a Heartless; it bore the Heartless symbol on its chest and it had the trademark bulbous yellow eyes and jagged mouth. The creature known as the Grand Spectre hissed, and all four candles lit simultaneously.
The short man got into a fighting stance. Seeing this, Riku and Raven ran to his side. "We can help fight this thing." Riku said. Raven answered by letting her hands flare with her dark power.
The man nodded. "Fine with me."
The creature struck first. It extended an arm, trying to smash the three of them with a flaming candle. All three jumped out of the way in different directions. Riku shot his hand forward, yelling. "Ya!" he shouted, and a searing blast of dark energy, known to him as Dark Firaga, plowed into the ghost, who flinched back from the dark flames. Raven whipped her hands in a sweeping motion, sending dark waves towards the creature.
Unfortunately, it dodged, and charged right towards Raven with its arms outstretched. The girl flew to the left, quickly evading the attack. "That's not gonna work," she taunted as the ghost charged her again. Sweeping her arm again, she blocked a round of punches from the Grand Spectre with a barrier of dark magic.
The short man made an adept leap all the way to the ghost's face and smashed it with a fire-laced punch. The Grand Spectre flew back quite a distance before stabilizing itself. The ghost brought its four candles together. It puffed up with air…
…and blew at its candles, creating a mighty flamethrower. Riku scrambled back before the flames could devour him, the short man back-flipped repeatedly out of harm's way, and Raven created a shield around herself.
When the attack was over, Riku saw that the furniture and the floor remained undamaged. "The furniture's fireproof!"
"Thought of it myself," the short man answered as he dodged yet another swipe from the Grand Spectre. He chucked a fireball at the creature, but it blocked the attack. It swiped at him again, but this time Riku interfered, blocking the strike. The short man grinned as he delivered another punch to the ghost's face.
Unfortunately, the Grand Spectre was getting pissed. Focusing its power, it hissed, and the flames on its candle grew bigger. It swiped at the short man and Riku, who both underestimated the reach of the attack, and as a result, crashed into the ground.
Raven took the moment that the ghost was ignoring her to focus her powers. She reared both hands back before chanting, "Azarath… Metrion… ZINTHOS!" With a mighty burst of dark energy, Raven fired a dark beam that tore into the ghost and damaged it severely. The Grand Spectre countered with another flame thrower, but Raven dodged the attack, quickly flying in another direction.
The mighty ghost focused its powers again. This time it waved its candles separately, gathering power and forming a giant fireball. It weaved its magic, turning the mass of energy into a giant wall of fire and sending it straight towards the other three! Raven calmly countered by making her own wall, sending it against the ghost's and locking it into a stalemate.
Riku recovered, and examining where the ghost had burned him, remarked sarcastically, "That's going to recover well." Surprisingly, the burns were minimal. "Okkaaayyyy maybe it will," he added as he saw Raven trying to hold back the wall of fire.
Raven looked back at Riku. "Can't do this all day, you know!"
"Don't worry, we're on it!" The short man said in his accent. He started running towards the wall of fire.
"What're you doing?.!" Riku asked as he ran after him.
"Follow my lead," the short man answered. Picking up speed, the man rolled through the fire and darkness mixture to the other side.
"I could've thought of that," Riku muttered to himself as he followed suit.
Both stood up and looked towards the creature, measuring it up. "It's-a weak. Let's-a finish it!" The short man said. He shot his fist forward, unleashing a large fireball.
Riku followed suit with a burst of Dark Firaga. Both attacks combined and plowed right into the creature's side, stopping its fiery assault. It began to shake uncontrollably before it faded out of existence, its stolen heart flying to freedom.
The chaos having ended, Raven flew down to the ground, meeting Riku and the man in red. "Thanks for your help!" The short man said. Taking a look at the two of them, he asked, "But who are you two anyway?"
"I'm Riku, and this is my… apprentice, Raven," the silver-haired boy answered. Raven added a brief "Hi," internally amused at Riku. "We're looking for friends here."
"Ah," the stranger nodded in understanding. "I'm-a Mario, one of the top officers of the Super Smash Brothers games." He then whispered in a conspiratorial fashion to Riku, "I'm also the unofficial head plumber here."
Riku, not sure of what to make of this news, simply chuckled. "Nice. Our umm… boss told us a bit about this place."
"Can we see it?" Raven asked bluntly, taking the words right out of Riku's mouth and adding a lot of straightforwardness to what he would've said.
"Of course you can!" Mario answered. "Come this way," Mario turned around and pushed forward the large doors, revealing the main Coliseum. Riku and Raven stared in awe as they took in their surroundings.
The Coliseum was both an aesthetic and technological wonder. Its bleachers were a gleaming, pleasant silver and the Coliseum's silver floor was lined with what looked like a slightly glowing green grid. "This is our Main Coliseum. Ninety-nine percent of our battles take place here. Doesn't look like much now, but wait 'til you see it in action! HEY GAME AND WATCH!" Mario called to the other side of the stadium.
Riku heard something click and beep in response. He looked to the other side to see a vague shape inside the window. The vague, black, humanoid shape that was Mr. Game and Watch waved to Mario. Mario then shouted, "Show them the Fountain of Dreams stage!" The black shape clicked, giving a thumbs-up, before tapping some buttons and throwing a switch.
At once the Coliseum began to morph. The bleachers extended backwards, and a good portion of the stadium began to rise up from the ground. The scenery changed as well, forming into a beautiful fountain with a gloriously multi-colored tree sprouting on one side of it, the branches extending over the fountain. Running water gushed from the illusory fountain and sustained three floating platforms. Riku blinked in amazement as the Fountain of Dreams reached completion.
"To say that I'm impressed is an understatement," Riku continued to blink in awe.
"I was impressed even when there was nothing…" Raven added.
"Why Mario!" The three of them turned to see a young, blond woman walking towards them. If her pink dress, large brooch, and shapely body didn't show her femininity, then her voice sure did (so much that Raven's eyes began twitching). "You didn't tell me we were accepting challengers already, I could've greeted them by the door!"
"Peach!" Mario greeted his friend (friend or girlfriend, Riku couldn't decide which, although he'd have to be a fool for it not to be the latter). "They weren't here for the competition, I don't think." He glanced towards Riku, looking fro conformation.
"The competition?" The teenaged boy asked. "When's it starting?"
"We were hoping to start within the end of the week," Mario explained. "Unfortunately we've had Heartless swarming from somewhere nearby. Us Smashers have had our hands busy trying to smash them down."
"Hercules says Hades might have something to do with those Heartless," Peach pointed out. "He says there's a connection to the Underworld nearby here!"
"What? Why didn't he say something!" Mario exclaimed.
"I didn't say anything because the Underworld's my responsibility!" Riku looked to his left to see the visage of the mighty Hercules himself in the distance. The demi-god dropped down from the bleachers before walking boldly to the small group. "And besides, if all the other Smashers learned about the Underworld they'd try to lead a full frontal assault, and Hades and his band of Heartless would doom us all on his home turf."
"You got a point there," Mario muttered, remembering the general aggressiveness of the Smashers.
"Hey, I haven't seen you two around here before," Hercules looked at Riku and Raven. "What are your names?"
"I'm Riku," the teenager shook hands with Hercules. "I've heard about you, at least, back in the days when I thought Hades wasn't the bad guy," Riku shyly admitted.
"I'm Raven," the girl stated flatly, clearly bored. "I'm with him."
"Don't worry about it, you know Hades is up to no good now, right?" Hercules grinned. "Besides, you need to help me to convince Mario not to let the other Smashers get wind of the Underworld, they might try to take it over."
"Umm… about that… Raven and I actually have to GO there," Riku confessed, shrugging.
"That's insane!" Hercules exclaimed immediately. "Why?"
"Distract him. He's sorta expecting us, so we decided to show up while we have someone else on a mission," Riku explained. "Those clowns in the bad guy department have been scratching their heads over who we are. After many months of planning, we're ready to go universal."
"Sin Angel's going live," Raven recited a tagline she once heard one of the members use before. A very faint grin played on her lips. "And we're open for business."
"Sin Angel?" Asked the other three, their interest immediately captured by the mention of something they'd never heard of.
"Yeah," Riku grinned. "We're what you would call… entrepreneurs. And our first order of business is to usher in the return of the legendary Keyblade Master Sora. We need to distract Hades so he doesn't catch on what our friend's doing and interfere."
"Sora's going to return?" Hercules asked, somewhat disbelieving. "A couple of Smashers say he was on Earth when it fell to darkness. You're saying he's going to come back?"
"Yeah," Raven confirmed. "That's why we need to go distract Hades. Will you tell us where the Underworld is?"
"Okay…" Hercules finally said. "I can't follow you or guarantee your safety beyond the entrance. The Heartless seem to gravitate towards me…"
"Don't worry about it," Riku gave Hercules a reassuring grin. "We got it from there."
"I hope you two can take care of yourselves as good as you say you do," Mario looked at the teenagers skeptically. "You lasted against that Grand Spectre Heartless, but against Hades' elite?"
"We're not planning on fighting Hades' elite," Raven responded. "I think he'll let us get in scot free when we show him an offer even he can't refuse."
"I'll take your word for it."
"Take care," Peach added pleasantly as Hercules and Riku turned to leave, causing Raven to flinch in annoyance. She quickly flew up and followed Hercules in a hurry to escape Peach's sugary voice.
----
The Underworld wasn't the most inviting place in the universe. There was a welcoming committee to greet Riku and Raven, but a welcoming committee was uncommon.
Unfortunately, said welcoming committee was in fact, a brigade of Space Pirates, and all were anxious to tear the cloaked intruders a new one. Riku and Raven had barely entered the Underworld before they started to fire rapidly at Riku and Raven. No wonder Hercules was reluctant to lead them here, let alone the Smashers!
The dark-haired Raven reacted first and put up a barrier, blocking the rapid fire of the Space Pirates. Riku thrust his hand forward, letting loose a dark Firaga that took out the Space Pirates that had run ahead of the rest. The attack billowed smoke all over the place, obscuring the vision of the other Space Pirates.
That's when Raven shot forward and attacked.
A swipe of her dark power and a Space Pirate instantly fell. The others saw their comrade fall and began shooting in her general direction. Riku followed from behind with a slice from his Soul Eater and taking down another Pirate. Of course the intergalactic brigands countered with their own weapons fire, but the two teenagers were far too quick to hit. More waves of darkness and slashed from the Soul Eater ended more Pirate lives.
However, the empty stillness that greeted the two of them after they had killed the last of the Space Pirates was only a false sense of security. Five seconds later, Riku and Raven were staring down the business end of over fifty Space Pirate weapons.
"You know, this whole house guest thing is overrated, so Ridley let me borrow some of his troops to waste the guests with," Riku heard a familiar voice.
"I thought you had better manners than this, Hades," Riku raised an eyebrow at the Lord of the Dead, who appeared in a spectacular flash of flames.
"Riku! Hey, how's it goin'? Long time no see!" Hades greeted the teenager like an old friend, much to his (or Raven's) surprise. Spotting Raven, he turned to her as well. "And who's this lovely dark lady you've brought with you?" He shook her hand almost enthusiastically. "Hi, I'm Hades, Lord of the Dead, hi howya doin'?"
"Yeah… I'm Raven," Raven blinked, not quite sure how to greet someone possibly just as terrifying as her father.
Hades suddenly shifted conversation by addressing Riku's statement. "I would've thought YOU had better manners than barging in my lair without knocking, and killing off Space Pirates, no less." The groans of the fallen Space Pirates seemed to make a chorus in response to Hades' statement. The Pirates still standing roared in anger over their fallen comrades. "So what brings you to this lovely abode of mine, eh? 'Fraid I can't let you trash Captain Hook again, I've got a nasty little friend of mine who'd tear you to pieces. That Cloud learned that the hard way."
Riku almost growled in anger, having heard of the many losses from Earth, including Cloud's fall into darkness. He pushed down his anger before calmly saying, "We've got something for you. You remember the Chaos Saints, right?"
"How could I forget? Didn't one of you nearly compromise our operation in the Mansion of Souls?" Hades pretended to think. "Oh yeah, it was YOU, WASN'T IT?.!"
"He catches on pretty quickly," Riku murmured to Raven, who nodded in agreement. He then turned back to Hades with a lopsided grin. "Yeah, about that whole Captain Hook thing, I apologize. Hey, I can even make it up to you! Anyway, the Chaos Saints are finally ready to throw away the cheap, overused mystery corporation idea and we're now ready to offer our services to the universe."
"What kind of services?" Hades eyed them skeptically.
"You name it," Raven added, her monotone much darker than normal. "Power, resources, information…"
"Your plans have been going successfully so far, but I don't think that lucky streak's going to last," Riku said. "Over the last three months most of your men have been getting cocky. I bet you don't even know Brother Blood has his own Keyblade apprentice, and as of right now has been playing a defensive game merely to throw you off. As soon as you start moving on to other planets, his little band of school children are gonna start schooling your leftovers and snatching all that precious power you hoarded. Not long after that they may even figure out how to destroy you on your home turf, and that's something that even I can't do!"
"WHAT?.!" Hades flared, not believing Riku's words. "That's not POSSIBLE! Tell me we didn't overlook TWO people wielding the Keyblades!"
"Taking down two Keyblade Masters in one fell swoop is impressive enough," Raven answered calmly. "But the dual wielder is not your average Keyblade child. In fact, aside from sealing keyholes, he lacks the potential of the original two you defeated. Slade knew this, and that's why he never led you in search of him."
Hades seethed, but Riku continued, ignoring him, "Seeing how you're acting now, Slade was actually pretty smart in keeping that a secret from you. But enough about that. We the Sin Angel are here to help you with mistakes and solidify your victories." Riku grinned again.
Hades calmed down, and with exaggerated hand motions, restated their offer in his own terms. "Alright, alright, alright, lemme get this straight. You guys are here to help us out and get more knowledge about everyone and everything because you can, right? So what's in it for you?"
"By helping you we help ourselves," Riku answered, but not two seconds after the sentence rolled out of his mouth he groaned in annoyance. "Ah, gods, that was corny. Gotta find another way to say that."
"In other words, it'll be obvious by the time we're done," Raven said.
"Hmm… dealing with shady organization in exchange for near unlimited information and power…" Hades thought it over. "I like the sound of it! It's a deal!" The Lord of the Dead shook hands with Riku, who was grinning triumphantly
Riku stepped back to stand next to Raven, who told Hades, "Expect one of our agents to show up on your doorstep within the next two days. We've still got other business to handle, so we can't stay," Raven forced a very small smile as she concluded, "Nice doing business with you."
"Oh, and one more thing," Riku added carelessly. Hades and the Space Pirates turned to him, waiting to hear what he had to say. "By the time we finished that conversation, the Keyblade Masters had escaped from the darkness." He flashed them a cheeky grin. "Have fun dealing with them. We know we will!"
"WHHAAAT?" Hades roared. Apparently the Space Pirates felt his fury, as they trained their weapons on the two Sin Angel members of the darkness.
"Aww sh—" Riku cursed, but Raven effectively cut him off by making them both disappear into the darkness, the flurry of attacks from the Space Pirates barely missing them.
-----
"That was interesting…" Slade remarked.
"I think we just got 'schooled'," Ridley added, complete with air-quotes for "schooled".
"Clever indeed. Even when they helped us their main goal was to keep us away from their precious Keyblade pawns," Slade pounded a fist into his palm in resolution. "Let them have their short victory. Once we fully figure them out, they won't have it for long."
-------
Fading memories...
The red-haired girl somberly trekked through the crystalline remains of Little Planet. The end of time was a lonely place - not even the Space Pirates chasing her knew of anything of where she was. It was just her and her memories here.
Reconstructed memories...
She remembered when things were simple, back on the island, where she played with her friends. Simple adventures, their rivalry… back before the Heartless. Even when they came, it was still more of a romantic adventure—she stayed within the confines of his heart, experiencing all his exciting adventures without the pain and hard work.
And a dream—
Kairi still remembered that fateful day, that day three months ago when Sora fell into the darkness. She hadn't seen it or even heard it, but she knew when it happened, for a terrible feeling in her heart emerged and wouldn't let go. She nearly fainted from the shock and horror.
A dream of you... In a world without you...
So when Riku came back and announced he had found a way to rescue Sora, naturally she was slightly dubious. She had managed to rescue him from the darkness once, so Riku's theory (or at least the theory of the Sin Angel) had been she could do it again.
Walking this road without you...
Willing to take the risk of reviving her hero, regardless of price or danger, Kairi agreed, after realizing she would regret it for the rest of her life if she didn't at least try. The terrible forces of darkness in her path were surprisingly weak—either that or she had become ruthlessly strong. However, she didn't count on the aching loneliness she felt in this part of the world… the end of time on Little Planet.
to remake forgotten promises...
She couldn't forget what she had promised – that she'd protect Sora as he had protected her. It was only a matter of time before she began to feel Sora's heart again… it was nearby. How he got here didn't matter. Riku was right… he was here, and the only way to awaken him out of his dark sleep was to connect to his heart.
and meet you at road's end...
It was here, atop a crystalline mountain, that she finally saw Sora. His features were etched in a peaceful form of sleep. Kairi also noticed two others. Just opposite of Sora was a dark-skinned boy, his features not unlike Sora's. He too was frozen in crystalline darkness.
The third wasn't as buried in the darkness as the other two. The blue hedgehog's features felt more like he was trying to ignore a terrible pain, keeping a strong vigil despite his frozen nature. Kairi stared for a moment, feeling for all three. She had to help them.
She stepped forward, but a piercing laser shot collided with her back, throwing her down painfully.
Kairi couldn't even cry out as she crashed into the ground. However, when she tried to stand, she saw herself facing about five Space Pirates, each aiming their weapons at her. One spoke, "It ends here, princess."
Kairi swallowed, not quite sure how to deal with this. She couldn't fail, not when she had gotten so far…
They aimed their weapons…
… only for them to meet a flurry of fierce lightning bolts. The Space Pirates flinched and dropped their weapons amidst the confusion.
Without warning, one Pirate crashed under the weight of a mighty shield.
"C'mon!" Goofy's famous battle cry shook Kairi out of her shocked daze. She hadn't been powerless either, as she summoned her Divine Rose Keyblade and split it in two smaller Keyblades. The first Space Pirate to taste her fury, a nervously twitching creature near her, was sliced down with a whirling combo.
Goofy and Donald didn't waste time either. Donald jammed his staff into one brigand's eye and smashed another one where the sun don't shine. Goofy did the poor Pirates the mercy of finishing them both.
Soon enough the Space Pirates were no more. Kairi panted, the quick-paced battle having tired her out along with the hours of monotonous walking. The pain from the laser wound was still smarting, so Donald took the time to heal her wounds.
"Got here just in time!" The duck said as his Curaga washed away her wounds. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah…" Kairi stood up. "I still have to rescue… Sora…"
"Who's that guy?" Goofy blinked, seeing the dark-skinned youth trapped in the crystal on the right.
"I don't know…" Kairi took a moment to focus, trying to feel the boy's essence.
She jumped back in a shock after she managed to come in contact with his aura. "It's… it's darkness! And yet… not the same darkness we fear… it's almost like Riku's..." She stepped back. "That's it. I'm going to free both of them."
-----
"How long do we wait?"
"Huh?"
"How long do we wait in the darkness?"
"I don't know… We'll find a way out. That's all I know."
"We can't just sit here!"
"Easy for you to say. Darkness is all I've ever known."
"Well, I'll show you the light! You can come with me!"
"The light… the light hurts my essence… You know this."
"Don't worry… the light is good. I'll protect you if it's truly painful to you."
"I'll trust your word. I'm not afraid of the light… even if darkness is my only power I still remember the light that protect me from myself in my childhood."
"…Yeah."
"…Cool."
"…! Kairi! KAIRI!"
"Who's Kairi?"
"Kairi! Kairi's my… my friend! She rescued me from the darkness before! She can save the both of us!"
"…really?"
"Yeah! Kairi! We're over here!"
A light grew from both of their hearts, eroding the darkness they were trapped in, leaving a path of freedom.
The dark child was hurt, but only a tiny bit. He withstood the light. Perhaps it wasn't as dangerous to him as he thought…
The light led into eternal brightness… freeing them from their prison in darkness…
-----
Sora began to blink his bleary eyes. He was… in some place, where it felt like time stopped. He opened his eyes fully… and saw Kairi.
"Sora!" Kairi gave the awakening boy a heartfelt bear hug. "Oh thank God Sora, you're alive, you're alive!"
"Kairi!" Sora hugged back. "It's so great to see you again…"
"Sora!" Donald and Goofy ran in and joined on the hug as well.
"Donald, Goofy!" Sora greeted each as he returned their hug. "Long time, no see."
"We were worried sick about you!" Donald admonished.
"Yeah, I know… but at least I'm all right…" Sora lowered his head and sniffed his clothes. "I need new clothes. This smells, and it's pretty small…" He suddenly snapped up as if he realized something. "Hey, where's…?"
The dark youth he was concerned about was alone, staring somberly at the blue hedgehog standing in frozen, pained vigil. Sora walked over to him.
"Sonic…" the dark teenager whispered.
"Sonic? Wasn't he the one that—"
"Sonic was a legend on my former world," the boy began. "He saved us both. Without him we wouldn't have stayed sane in the darkness…" He began to reach out. "Is there anything we can do to help?"
"Nuh uh uhhhh!" A voice rang out. Everyone whipped around to see the red-haired Axel standing behind them. "It's not time to awaken his body."
"What do you mean?" Sora asked, leering at Axel.
"His heart's gotta wake up first," Axel explained cryptically. "He hasn't really been fighting at his potential… it's why he's felt like he's failed so many times." He rested a hand on the crystal, close to Sonic's forehead. "It's time to change that."
"What are you doing?.!" Donald asked, nearly furious.
"You'll see him again. I just need to borrow him for a while," Axel gave the group a grin. "After all, he's the last Chaos Saint."
"He's one of you?" Sora asked incredulously.
"You could say that," Axel grinned. "Farewell." Both he and Sonic disappeared within a bright flash.
"Gone… just like that," the dark boy breathed. "I just hope Axel keeps his word."
"We should get going… there's people we need to meet, ahyuck!" Goofy said.
"Yeah, let's go," Kairi began to walk back towards where she came. However, she stopped, paused for a moment, and then looked at the dark child. "Who are you?"
The teenager turned back, his neon-orange eyes regarding Kairi with a calm, amused look. "You can call me Cygnus."
(This concludes episode 1. Next time: Sonic the Hedgehog Dives into the Heart. What results could be the fate of our blue hero's destiny... or at least his sanity.
Seeing as this is one of the largest crossovers I plan to write, from now on I'll be listing names of people not native to the Kingdom Hearts universe.
Slade, Raven: Teen Titans(T.V version)
Ridley, Space Pirates: Metroid
Mario, Peach, Mr. Game and Watch: Super Smash Bros. Melee
Sonic: Sonic series
Cygnus: My own creation
Enjoy.)