Hello one and all! Sometime ago I sat down to type out a KH story, but then somehow I started a new one. The idea for De:Coded popped in again, so I got the first half of the start. Then it sat in my notes for a long time and I forgot about it, till now. It's not my best writing and it's pretty messy here and there, but I thought I'd share this anyway. So yeah, here is the point and summary for you all as well as the opening scene of the story (which isn't finished yet). So yeah, enjoy the story!

NOTE/SPOILER WARNING: It takes place AFTER KHIII, specifically Melody of Memory! Also uses Uχ/DR information, as well as finale ideas. So if you're not caught up, you've been warned.

Enjoy!

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Title: Kingdom Hearts De:Coded

Type: Story

Summary: A year has passed and there is still no sign of Sora's whereabouts. But through Kairi's memory and Riku's dream, they found a lead. Kairi arrived at The Land Of Departure to receive lessons from Aqua, but Aqua had stumbled onto a brand new mystery, a strange book that may shed some light on what's happening now.

Idea: Aqua finds the BoP in a hidden section of Master Eraqus's Old Study. The pages are worn, the text faded and it's nearly illegible. But a clue in those pages may lead to the answer of what is to come.

Main Point: Data-Sora going through the adventures of Daybreak Town before the Keyblade War.

Date: March 22, 2022

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It's been awhile since they went back to The Land Of Departure. For the past several months [which only felt like several days], Terra, Ventus, and Aqua had been in and out of the Realm Of Darkness searching for clues on Sora's current whereabouts. Unfortunately, much of their search yielded fruitless results and they often return empty-handed. Though this was suppose to be their moment of reprieve, an unkempt castle awaited the trio which caused them all to be hit with the cleaning bug. Terra handled the main hall, bedrooms and living-rooms, Ventus handled the kitchen, bathrooms, and the outside training grounds, while Aqua handled the hallways and every other miscellaneous room. They had been cleaning for a few days now and the castle was looking as clean as the day they all returned home.

Aqua was coming out of the classroom with several bags of waste in hand. As she made her way to the castle entrance, she spotted Terra cleaning one of the many living rooms. She smiled and continued on. Once outside with the bags of waste, she placed them in the incinerator. While it burned, she took a moment to take in the sight. The training grounds were no longer dirtied with overgrown plants and overturned soil thanks to Ventus' hard work. She remembered seeing him in the Kitchen cooking lunch with Chirithy who was watching his every move. Apparently, Chirithy knew a few recipes and was instructing Ven on how to cook them. She giggled as the the cat-like creature scolded Ven for not adding spices or not mixing smoothly enough. The day Chirithy came into their lives, they had just finished their memorial service in honor of their Master. Ven had turned around when he heard some murmurs and squeaks, that was when their eyes met. He admitted to Terra and her later that he had opened his arms to Chirithy because the creature felt like an old friend even though he didn't remember. Chrirthy seemed sad at first, but perked up when he told the cat-like creature that even if he doesn't remember in memory, his heart never forgot. Ever since then, they had been rekindling their friendship day by day.

Aqua's thoughts continued to wander while completing the task of throwing out the remaining bags of waste. Just where had Chirithy come from? Chirithy seemed like a young child, but whenever words were spoken, it was as if the creature was ancient. Something in the way Chirithy carried itself, it just was mysterious. Come to think of it, she had gotten those feelings from Ventus in random moments well before they met Chirithy. Ventus, though young, had moments of feeling older than he seemed. It wasn't in maturity, but an unexplainable vibe that radiated off of him when she least expected. As if the era he was living in was that of the past. What had Master Eraqus called it? Ventus feels like an old soul?

Aqua's thoughts came to a halt when she realized she had walked too far into the back of the castle. Her feet carried her to the hallway leading to the Library and the Master's study. None of them have opened the room since they first left more than ten years ago. They meant to if simply to clean it, but never did. Perhaps it was the lingering bits of mourning left over, a thought that if they open the door, he'd be right in there studying as usual. Even if they got to say goodbye in that place, it still didn't mean they wouldn't feel the after effects. The hopes of seeing their master in the next room or the phantom memories coming alive only to be gone in the blink of an eye, they didn't want to deal with it. But it's been so long and surely the room needed to be cleaned. She took a deep breath, hand placed on the door handle and pushed it open.

The room was dark, the curtains closed, and the air was still. As Aqua went to draw the curtains, a beam of light revealed the layers of dust that caked the room. Her master's books were still scattered about on the desk as if he were still coming back to complete his readings. The rest of the room was filled floor to ceiling with books and scrolls abundant in knowledge. This was always her favorite place to hideaway when she wanted quiet time and a chance to study. Master Eraqus never minded her in his study and often encouraged her to read some of the material as much as she desired. Terra would tease her for being a bookworm when they were younger, but she ignored him cause the books were filled with many stories and studies of tactics. When she finally bested him in battle, Terra started reading books too. According to his logic at the time, "You're not suppose to beat me. Those books must have done something to you. So I'm going to read them too, then I'll be stronger than you again." She smiled and never said a word, eventually he enjoyed reading too and was able to level up his skills in his own way with the readings as a guide. All the while Master Eraqus enjoyed the new edition of Terra in his study and enjoyed the fact he was quiet and not training quite loudly.

She laughed at the memory, but then this is when something caught her eye, an odd glimmer coming from the bookshelf. She walked toward it and noticed something odd. It was a book that looked just like every other book, but a small gemstone was loosely sticking out of the book's spine, looking like it was about to fall out. As she adjusted the gem, the whole book glowed and the bookshelf disappeared revealing an entryway. This startled Aqua as she yelped and nearly fell on her bottom, eyes fixated on the newly revealed room.

"What is this?"

"Aqua?" It was Terra, she guessed he was nearby.

"Are you okay, I heard you yell… what is?" Terra mouth was agape as his eyes focused on the missing bookshelf that revealed a passageway.

"I know. It just appeared when I touched one of the books on the shelf that use to be here."

"What's in there?"

"I don't know. I only discovered it just now." Terra walked up right next to her, eyes still fixated on the area.

"Well, I guess we should find out."

Aqua nodded in agreement and the two walked in. The room was dark but once they set foot inside, lights came on automatically revealing several items incased in glass as well as several portraits hanging on the walls. Upon closer inspection, they noted that the pictures were of a younger Eraqus with several other children and one they could assume was a Younger Xehanort who studied alongside him in the ways of the Keyblade. The glass cases contained various items like old Keyblade armor, training materials, and even some old documents. It was like a mini museum.

Both Terra and Aqua were silently admiring this secret trove of memorabilia when her eyes fell on one display that didn't have a glass casing. She walked up to it and Terra followed behind. There was a blue book upon a wooden podium that was old and faded. On it's front was a fancy box design bordering the edges and on the center was a familiar symbol that she recognizes as something from her studies of past Keyblade Wielders. It was of a heart with a bat wing and an angle wing on it's left and right and the overall design reminiscent of a compass rose. She opened the book to find, just like the exterior, the interior of the book was faded and hard to read. From the few characters she could see, they were clearly not the current written language that was used today. It was the writings of the ancient keyblade wielders. Truly a remarkable item. Aqua, for some unknown reason felt this book was important but couldn't explain why.

"Aqua." Terra had placed his hand on her shoulder grabbing her attention.

"Uh, what is it Terra?"

"You weren't responding, just intently staring at the book."

"Oh, sorry. It's just, I can't help but feel this book is special."

"Yeah. Master Eraqus did keep it in here, so it must have been something precious."

"I think… I think I'll take this book with me and see what made it so special for him."

"I guess, but… are you sure, Aqua?"

"Admittedly I'm not, but…" No more words were said as they exchanged looks of understanding with one another. The two walked out of the room with book in hand and exited the hidden room. The book case reappeared as soon as they were out and then they went out of the master's study.

"Let me know when you find out what's in that book Aqua. I want to know what made it so special to the master too."

"Maybe it's the Master's journal and we'll find out some of his embarrassing moments." Aqua joked and they both laughed together.

"Alright. Well, better get back to cleaning, we should tackle his study again when we finish all the other rooms. Oh and we should include Ven too."

"Yes, we should."

:

Kairi had told Master Yensid that she wanted to study with Master Aqua and immediately she, Mickey, Donald and Goofy had made their way over to the Land of Departure. Mickey was given his own mission to prepare for, so he dropped her off there. Really, he wanted to come and walk her inside, but she turned his offer down saying that she was alright. The truth was, she was very excited as well as nervous. She barely knew the bluenette master, but from the past battles she heard about, she was gifted in the area she needed to strengthen. Her magic. They were similar in that, what they lacked in power and speed, they could make up for in that area. She was looking forward to learning but also hoping that she did well enough to impress her. When she arrived at the door, it was Ven and Chirithy who greeted her. Ventus was a wearing dark green apron over his clothing with a whisk in one hand and a bowl in the other.

"Hello Ven, Chirithy, what's cooking?"

"Actually, what's baking. I'm teaching him how to make desserts like cookies and cakes." Chirithy answered proudly.

"Wow, that's fun! Can't wait to try them Ven."

"Ah thanks Kairi. I'm doing my best." Ven flashed a grin toward her, it reminded her so much of Sora.

"So, where's Master Aqua?"

"Aqua? Oh, she's just upstairs in the throne room area just above us."

"Okay, then lead the way Ven!"

"Will do!"

While they walked, Ven was still whisking away beating the eggs. According to Chirithy, his technique has steadily improved since the first time he was learning. It's nowhere good as a professional, still Ven was doing quite well.

"Why are you learning this, Ven?"

"Oh, we all cook meals on our shifts, but I want to make something better than Aqua or Terra can make, so they can be blown away by it." They both laughed.

"Here we are, there's Aqua. I gotta get back to the kitchen, see you at lunch Kairi."

"Thanks Ven!" As Ven left, she focused her attention on Aqua who was sitting on one of the thrones intensely studying the book in front of her. She slowly walked up to greet the blunette.

:

A few days had passed since Aqua found the book and now she was getting frustrated. Many of the pages were just illegible to the point that the faded ink made it look like a blank journal. The characters she could make out took hours to decipher leaving her with broken sentences. Not very helpful to understand what kind of content it contained. It did confirm that this wasn't the Master's Journal, but an older piece of literature. But just how old is the question? The few bits she was able to translate didn't quite match up to the modern written language. It was quite a puzzle. Also there were some pages that were so stuck together, they wouldn't separate for some reason. Maybe if she used…

"Um, hello Master Aqua." Aqua's eyes widened at the sound of the voice. She looked up from her book to meet Kairi's curious gaze. "Oh Kairi! I'm sorry, I forgot you were coming. Were you waiting long?"

"Oh no, I actually just got here. Ven and Chirithy let me in."

"Oh that's a relief."

Kairi observed the book and noticed the faded pages. "What are you reading?"

"Oh this, it's a book I found in our Master's old study. I've been trying to decipher it for a few days, but it's too difficult and faded."

"May I see the book?" Aqua nods and hands it to her. Kairi flips through the pages and sees Aqua is right. Nothing could be read properly and the language wasn't something she was familiar with. She kept turning pages until she came to one that made her gasp.

"What's wrong Kairi?"

"That… That's… Sso…"

"Kairi?"

"Sora's… that's Sora's keyblade."

"What?!" Auqa looked at the page, it was one she hadn't seen before. Everything was also faded, but it was more clearer on the image. It was the shape of the Keyblade both Mickey and Sora wielded. The Kingdom Key and it's counterpart Kingdom Key D. Whether this was Sora's or Mickey's, she wasn't sure. But it really did look like that particular blade. Just how could that be?

"Where did you say you got this book Aqua?"

"In Master Eraqus' old study, which doubled as the library. Terra and I actually found a hidden room which held many items from his time as a young wielder, this book included."

"But how did your master get this book? Also why does it have Sora's Keyblade?"

"I don't know. The book is rather old and I haven't been able to glean from its content successfully."

Kairi looked thoughtful for a second and then her eyes widened a bit as she remembered something. "You said this book can't be read easily, right?" Aqua nodded and she continued, "I remember awhile back, King Mickey had told us a story about a time when Jiminy's journal wasn't able to be read properly. So they created a device to digitalize the book and recover the lost pages. Maybe if we ask, they could do it again for this book as well."

"Is that possible?"

"If they all haven't left yet. It's worth a shot."

:

The event that followed after was a phone call to the Disney Trio who were fortunately still at the castle. Of course they were shocked when they saw the image, but after it wore off, they immediately arranged plans with Chip and Dale to prepare the computer once again. Remembering the mission they had been given by Master Yensid, it was decided that they would bring the computer to Radiant Garden and allow the tasks to be delegated to the scientists, after Chip & Dale taught them what to do. Ansem the Wise and his apprentices all agreed, willing to help since the book presented possible clues into the current status of the missing Keyblade Wielder. So it was a few days later when the preparations were set and they were ready to begin the process. The Birth By Sleep trio along with Kairi all arrived together at the Radiant Garden Computer Room. The computer that Chip & Dale had used was now integrated into the main computer system and from there, everyone could observe the data of the book. Meanwhile in space, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Chip & Dale all watched the events unfold from the Gummi Phone.

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So begins the adventure of Kingdom Hearts De:Coded!

TBC?

Okay, it's really a rough draft and if I come back to this idea, I'll fix it up plus add more. In any case, this is the start of how Aqua comes across the BoP which somehow ended up with Master Eraqus after all those years of being passed down. Now, as for Why I wrote Ventus cooking / baking, I probably was hungry and just wrote down whatever I thought. Yep, that's the reason... I think?

If you like this or any of the story concept, by all means, go for it and write your version of this story! I'd definitely like to see someone's take on this idea. Just let me know in the reviews, cause I'd like to read it if you do.

Well, that's all for now! If you have any questions, comments, etc. for this story, feel free to let me know! Thank you so much for taking the time to read my burst of ideas! :D