Kaze opened the door to the shop, holding the door for Walt and Nanaki. The boy then looked around at his surroundings.

Weapons surrounded him. Staffs and swords and axes and spears and flails and maces and gods knew what else were all around him. He shuddered instinctively.

Walt, on the other hand, looked like a hobo who had just seen an unguarded ham sandwich. "Wow," he exclaimed in a whisper. Kaze wondered if he imagined the drool. In any case, Walt wandered over to the counter, which was occupied by the town's signature stuffed cat.

Nanaki looked over to the human boy, "You're nervous. You shouldn't be. All of these are displays. Cait Sith is concerned about someone taking a sword from a stand and robbing him with it. None of these could hurt more than a beetle."

Kaze nearly jumped, "I just don't like places like this…"

"You are a warrior. Shouldn't you be familiar with weapons?" Nanaki asked.

Kaze looked to the ground. "I've been a warrior for about a day. I used to just be an ordinary kid. Suddenly, I stepped into a dark tunnel, fought some Heartless, and I was given this… this thing…" he willed the Keyblade into existence, looking at it was interest and disdain.

Nanaki raised his good eyebrow, "You performed with bravery. You strategize well. I assumed you were trained."

"I didn't know what I was doing. I just went into battle without thinking. Until you showed up with that… Wait, what DID you do back there? That green light? I thought I was gonna pass out…" Kaze questioned Nanaki.

"I simply used a Cure spell on you," Nanaki stated.

Kaze choked, "Cure spell! What you did was magic!"

Nanaki nodded curiously, "Of course. You didn't recognize it?"

Kaze shook his head furiously, "No! I thought magic was a fairy tale! You can cast magic?"

Nanaki smirked slightly, "You think those fireballs weren't magic?"

Kaze glared at him without malice, "Your tail is ON fire. It wasn't that much of a stretch to you throwing fireballs…"

Nanaki nodded, "I see your point…" Then he pondered for a bit, "Would you like to cast magic yourself?"

Kaze sighed, "I would LOVE to cast magic myself."

"You can do it…" Nanaki said.

Kaze blinked.

"Your Keyblade is obviously a magical device. It could serve as a focus to let you cast spells. My species is inherently magical, so I act as my own focus, using my headdress as an amplifier. You have the focus to cast spells; you just need the power…"

Kaze absorbed that, and then asked, "How can I get the power?"

Nanaki closed his eye and concentrated. Kaze felt a burning sensation in his extremities for a few seconds, before Nanaki stated, "It is done."

Kaze blinked, "What the…"

Nanaki opened his eye, "You now wield the power of Fire. I am skilled enough in that magic to give it to you. I could not do the same with, say, the healing magic."

Kaze blinked and looked at his Keyblade, "I can't wait to try it…"

As the boy and beast were ruminating, Walt walked over to Cait Sith, whose Moogle-like steed waved alongside the cat.

"Good afternoon," Walt said to the odd stuffed cat.

"Afternoon already, lad? Here I thought it was still morning, Eh, time ain't too consistent here. What can I do for ya?" The cat said cheerfully.

"Well, I was out combating a massive drake in your town's commons, though in the fray, my rapier was rendered in twain…"

"What was that laddie?"

"My sword broke," Walt said simply, dropping his noble act for a second, before returning, "But, since I am about to stride headfirst into certain peril, I thought that beforehand, I would be wise to acquire new armaments before my journey could commence…"

"What?"

"I need to buy a new sword," Walt said, clearing his throat.

"Ah, certainly, lad!" Cait said, "What can I get for ya?"

Walt stroked his chin, "I've always wanted to try out a flamberge…"

Cait shook his head, "Sorry, lad, we've no flamberges…"

Walt nodded, "No worries, a claymore then…"

"Never at this time of year, lad. They make 'me hot from the smithy in several months…"

"Well then, sir, a trusty falchion, if you don't mind!"

"Been on order for weeks, I was expecting them today…"

Walt frowned, "Not my lucky day, is it? Then I'll try a cutlass…"

"Sorry, lad."

"Saber?"

"Sold the last one yesterday."

"Ah. Scimitar?"

"No."

"Shamshir?"

"No…"

"Grossmesser?"

"No."

"Kreigsmesser?"

"… No."

"Barong?"

"No"

"Katar?"

"Sorry…"

"You do have SOME swords here?"

"Of course! We have…" Cait began.

"Oh, don't bother; I want to guess on my own… Gladius?"

"No…"

"Dao?"

"No…"

"Jian?"

"No…"

"Zwiehander?"

"Ah, yes, we have a zwiehander!" Cait said, jumping up.

"Excellent. I'll take it straight away!" Walt said, clapping his hands.

Cait looked below the counter and said, "Uh, its heavy…"

"I like heavy weapons," the mouse responded.

"No, I mean it's REALLY heavy…"

"No matter. Fetch me der Schwert auf Deutschland, bitte!"

"Well… I actually think it's heavier than you can lift…"

"You'd be surprised, sir," Walt said, any form of glee fading, "Now hand it over!"

Cait said, "Certainly, I'll… oh no, lad, termites got into the handle!"

"Termites." Walt said doubtfully.

"Real mess of a problem round these parts."

Walt sighed, "Nodachi?"

"No…"

"Odachi?"

"… No…"

"Kodachi?"

"Not today, lad…"

"Spadone?"

"Nope"

"Pulwar?"

"Never on Wednesdays, sir…"

"Tulwar?"

Cait thought on that for a while before saying, "No…"

"Kris? Dirk? Espada? Rapier? Epee? Cinquedea? Estoc? Shaska? Maquahuitl? Katzbalger? Bolo?"

"No…"

"Bastard sword?"

"Yes?"

"Excellent! I'll take it!"

"Oh no, lad, I thought you said 'Bastard store', like, you were asking if the store was a bastard to run. It sure is."

"…" Walt stared at the robot cat.

"You didn't ask about butterfly swords…"

"…Is it worth it?" Walt asked tersely.

"Only one way to find out…"

"Fine. Have you any butterfly swords?"

"No sir."

"Not a surprise there. Well, let's keep it simple… how about a katana?"

"I don't get much call for the katana here, lad…"

"Don't get…" Walt exploded, "It's only the most popular sword in use EVER!"

"Not round this town, lad," Cait responded.

"So… tell me… what is the most popular sword round THIS town?"

"That'd be the Onion Sword, lad."

"Onion Sword…" Walt placed his face in his palm, "So, do you have any of THOSE?"

"Yyyyyyno…" Cait responded.

"Well, that was to be expected. Foolish to even pose the question…" Walt took his hand off his face, "Tell me, do you have ANY swords in this shop?"

"Of course, lad!"

"Really?"

"No, not really, lad. I've been deliberately wasting your time here…"

There was a pause and then Walt said, "You realize if you had any swords here, I'd use them to DECAPITATE you…"

"I'm aware of that, lad."

Kingdom Hearts: Origins
Written by Ryan Griffin
Kingdom Hearts and all elements within are the properties of Square-Enix and Disney. All characters from the Final Fantasy series are the properties of Square-Enix. Kaze, Hino, Koori, and Prince Walt are my own creations and may not be used without my permission.
The three of them left the shop in disgust.

"Tough break, huh?" Walt and Kaze stopped with a start as they turned to see a figure behind them.

It was a young man, a few years older than Kaze. He was incredibly lithe and wiry, and his fingers kept twitching. He wore simple blue pants and a blue vest over a white tank top, and his hair fell in bangs over a blue headband. He smiled at the three of them.

Nanaki knew this man, "Locke. How are you faring you old thief?"

Locke looked at them with disgust, "That's treasure hunter, Red, and don't you forget that…" ignoring the beast, he crouched down to see Walt eye to eye, "So, you need a sword, huh?"

Walt snorted, "Yeah, and if this backwater place had a decent smithy, I'd be able to get one…"

Locke shrugged, "No one here really can work as a blacksmith… but, my own particular skills can come in handy in this circumstance…" he reached into a small bag and, amazingly, was able to pull out a four-foot long sword from it. As Walt and Kaze gaped, he handed the blade to Walt, "Take a look at it. Hold it for a bit, and see how you like it…"

Walt unsheathed the blade, and liked how it fell into his palm, how its weight fit his swings perfectly, and he asked, "What kind of sword is this?"

Locke smiled, "THAT is an Onion Sword…"

Walt boggled, "This? But I thought…"

"… Onion Swords would be weak little things? Mostly yeah, they are, but not this one… this is an original, plucked it out of some cavern in the middle of nowhere… kept amazingly well."

Walt sheathed it and said, "This is perfect… How can I thank you?"

In a blink, Locke had swiped the sword back and flippantly said, "Ten thousand munny…"

Kaze made a choking sound.

Walt, however, just took out a bag and said, "Done."

Now, Kaze gasped and actually did choke on his own spittle. Walt slapped him on the back until he coughed and started breathing again, "Where… where'd you get that kind of munny!"

Walt looked conflicted, and then looked to Nanaki, whose single eye burned him accusingly, and he said shyly, "On my world… I'm nobility. Ten thousand munny's really not a lot for my family… I'm still poorer than other clans, but…"

"But you are no church mouse," Nanaki finished.

"Why didn't you tell us before?" Kaze said.

"I… didn't want you to think I was… different…"

Kaze said, "You're a talking mouse, he's a red lion thing with a flame at the end of his tail, and I'm a guy with a big key sword, and you were worried about that!"

Walt sighed, "Look, can we just get on with it?"

Locke was finished counting through the munny before he turned to Kaze, "Wait, key sword? You're not the one Barrett was talking about back at the bar, were you?"

Kaze stood up, "Word spreads quickly, I guess. Kaze."

Locke took his hand, "Nice to meet you. Believe me; anyone who can take on those Heartless is fine by me. Hope all goes well…"

Nanaki nodded, "I will make sure that it does."

Locke looked at the beast, and said, "So, you're leaving?"

Nanaki nodded, "I must. If I do not, I will be unable to live with my failures."

Locke shrugged, "You did as well as all of us, Red…" he turned to Kaze, "You're a bit young for this sort of thing, kid…"

Kaze nodded, "I know, but this key has a power I don't understand. And this power is deadly to the Heartless, so that means I can bring these guys down…"

Locke smirked, "Well, I'll give you something to help you along…" and he began fishing through his pockets.

Nanaki blinked, or winked, given his one eye, "You… you don't mean…"

Locke extracted a red gemstone, and held it out. Kaze extended his hand, and Locke dropped the gem into it, "That's just about the only freebee you'll ever get from me, kid…"

Nanaki was flabbergasted, "You'd willingly give her up?"

Locke shrugged, "It's a disservice to let her stay her, cooped up in that thing…" he turned to Kaze, "Now, kid, listen up. A good friend of mine fell to the Heartless, but she was too strong for them to take her. She turned into this. I'm pretty sure she's still in there, but I don't know how to get her out. I trust Nanaki. He's got a good head on his shoulders, and he wouldn't trust you without a good reason. I think you'll be able to free her. And I'm sure she'd be able to help you out. So, take good care of her…"

Kaze stared at the gem, taking in the words and the significance of the gift. He then looked to his belt. Without a word, he pried one of the clear stones off of it and replaced it with the red gem.

"I'll take care of her."

Locke darkened his expression, "You better".

"Oh my…" Kaze touched the ship, and was surprised to see it jiggle upon contact, like a plate of gelatin.

"We call those Gummis back where I come from," Walt said, "It's about the only material available that can travel well through interspace."

Nanaki scratched his ear with his hind leg, and then said, "This might be a boon to our people. The materials we used did not travel very well. By the time we reached this place, the ships were falling apart."

Walt nodded, "The humans on my world had all sorts of magic and technology that they used together, this ship is just one example…"

Kaze noted Walt's words, "You said had…"

Walt sighed, "Yeah… I did…"

Kaze and Nanaki looked at each other.

"Let's get in," Walt said.

Both did so, and found that the vessel was much larger than it looked from the outside. There were actually three suitable quarters for creatures their size, or even much bigger if necessary.

"Cockpit's this way…"

Of all of the ship, the cockpit was perhaps the most interesting. There were three seats, each of which looked like they would fit the tall boy and the quadruped as easily as they would fit the mouse.

Walt looked to them, and said, "Well, we have a lot of variety among my people… we wanted to make sure no one would be uncomfortable…"

"Huh," Kaze finally uttered.

Walt took out a small disk, "Barrett gave me this… it's a star chart with worlds designated on them…

He popped the disk into a slot, and on a screen appeared a group of worlds, each scattered through space, represented by odd looking symbols.

"So… where to?"

Realizing Walt was asking him, Kaze pointed to the world that looked oddest to him, a symbol of a rising sun made of gold.

Walt nodded, and punched a few buttons, "Strap yourselves in, fellas, this is gonna be a bumpy ride…"

With a small flash of light, the mouse, the beast, and boy all landed near a village high in a mountain. The air was cool and crisp, with lowland jungles visible beneath.

Kaze celebrated by losing his lunch.

Walt, in response, rushed over and patted him on the back, "Are you all right?"

Kaze coughed, and then took a large leaf off a nearby tree and wiped off his mouth, "That was not a pleasant experience… what was that?"

Walt shook his head, "It's a teleporter. We use it to travel to places with a high concentration of mana, which tends to be near settlements of sentient beings."

Nanaki looked out into the distance, observing the small village consisting of nondescript huts, "We have been here…"

Kaze and Walt looked at the beast oddly.

"This was one of the places where we stopped; trying to find a place to live after our home world was destroyed."

Kaze looked at the place, "Seems like a nice world, why'd you leave?"

"It wasn't our choice… we sent a group, led by Barrett, to find the ruler of this world and beseech him to let us form a settlement. He refused, and we were forced to leave. We left a world torn apart by war; we did not wish to start another."

Kaze nodded, "I can understand… there were Heartless here, right?"

Nanaki nodded, "We warned this kingdom's Emperor of the plague of Heartless and how it was quickly spreading. He was uninterested, and dismissed it as irrelevant."

Walt snorted, "Sounds like a pretty pathetic leader."

Kaze nodded, "In any case, we'd better find out where the Heartless are concentrated and try and prevent them getting a stranglehold on this world…"

With that, Nanaki and Walt's ears twitched. Kaze raised his eyebrows, before he too heard a warping sound, and saw shadows move through the underbrush.

Without a word, one of them pounced.

Kaze managed to shake it off with the Keyblade, and he got a good look at it. It was a cat, about Nanaki's size. If not for the smoky smell and the hollow yellow eyes, he might have said it was a normal black panther, but it was obvious what this creature was.

Kaze ran and smacked the thing with the Keyblade, which caused the thing to yelp as the key struck it. It reached at Kaze with his claws, but Walt rushed forward and raised his shield, blocking it. Nanaki leapt over them into the brush, going claw-to-claw with the Heartless cats. Walt and Kaze raised their swords and kept cutting into the cat until it relented, showering them in gold and green orbs. Kaze looked to Nanaki, outnumbered by the cats, and tried to rush over and help him. Unfortunately, more cats ran in the way, snarling as they encircled Kaze. Upon seeing Nanaki fall, Kaze looked to his Keyblade.

"Hope this works…" he concentrated on the Fire power he knew now lived inside him, trying to channel it, as he continued, a cat leapt up towards him.

Without even thinking, Kaze shot a fireball from the end of the Keyblade into its stomach, destroying it.

Blinking at his discovery, he aimed the blade at a cat about to claw up Nanaki and fired another blast, sending the cat flying, then dissolving into the gold and green orbs.

Laughing, he kept firing fireball after fireball into the cats, until, he was facing another cat. With a manic grin, he aimed the Keyblade.

With some dismay, he found out that his magical power was depleted.

Suddenly, he realized that the cats were converging on him. Walt and Nanaki were on the edge of the group, but it was taking a while. Kaze slashed through one of the cats, destroying it. He gulped as he realized that he wouldn't be able to get through all of them.

He prayed for a miracle.

And he was somewhat surprised when he received one.

Barreling through the forest came a large man and a small llama, crashing into the horde of cats and sending them flying as the two of them crashed into a boulder nearby.

Exploiting the confusion, the three of them made short work of the cats.

When all of the cats were gone, he reached over to the man and the llama, helping the man up before attending to the llama, "Are you all right?"

"No… touchy…" Kaze noticed the voice was coming from the llama.

"Hmm… so the llamas talk here?" Kaze asked as he dropped the llama, causing him to thump on the hard stone ground

"They did not when I was here…" Nanaki mused.

The man looked about to answer when he saw Nanaki and Walt, his jaw dropped, before turning to Kaze, "Um… I think we've just got a collision of five types of weirdness here…"

Kaze laughed, "Story of my life as of last week… My name's Kaze…"

The man extended his hand, "Pacha," the two of them shook hands.

Walt looked over to the llama, "This little guy looks like he went through the wringer. Poor animal…"

With that, the llama appeared to regain consciousness, "Hey, watch who you're calling animal, fuzzy!"

Nanaki's ears perked up, "That voice sounds familiar…"

The llama righted itself, "Hey… I remember that thing. That's the weird jaguar thing those weirdoes who wanted to live here brought with them!"

Nanaki looked to Kaze with a modicum of alarm, "Hm. It appears we have a little dilemma here."

As soon as he said that, there was another warping of the air and once more, they were surrounded by a pack of cats.

Pacha sighed, "Great, more demon jaguars. Better get ready to run…"

Kaze shook his head, "We're here to get rid of these things. I'm not about to run…" no matter how much I'd like to… Kaze added silently.

Nanaki scratched along his mane and tossed a small vial of blue liquid at Kaze with his mouth, "That's an Ether. It restores your magical strength." And, with that, he ran towards one of the Jaguar Heartless, destroying it.

Kaze drank the Ether, feeling a tingling sensation as he lifted his Keyblade and began slashing at the cats anew. Walt stood by him, covering his back and keeping the panthers at bay as Kaze tore through them.

Once they were finished, seeing Pacha and the llama staring at them stunned, Kaze said, "Let's get out of here before they attack again. Then maybe we can explain our respective weirdnesses."

Nanaki looked at the llama awkwardly shambling down the dirt path beside them, "So, you are the same Emperor Kuzco that barred us from living here."

Kuzco spat, "Hey, I'm a busy absolute monarch! Can't let a few weirdoes in some kind of silver bird-machine walk around causing trouble with the common folk…"

Pacha attempted to change the subject, "So those jaguars were actually a type of these things you call Heartless. And if too many of them breed, the whole WORLD could be destroyed?"

Kaze nodded, "It's why we're here."

Pacha shook his head, "I had no idea it was that serious…"

Kuzco snorted, "It's not serious at all. None of my advisors so much as mentioned the Heartless, beyond telling me it was nothing for me to worry about…"

Walt gave him a sideways glare, "Out of curiosity, how many times have your advisors fed that to you?"

Nanaki shook his head, "For all you know, one of them could have done this to you…"

Kuzco laughed, "Please, I hand-picked my advisors myself, and my excellent sense of judgment told me that there was no way I could expect any treachery from them."

Walt and Nanaki shared a knowing glance.

"In any case," Kaze said, "The Heartless are here in this world. If there aren't many of them, that'd actually be a good thing. We'd rather clean this place up before they get out of hand…"

Pacha nodded, "That's always a good idea when you're getting rid of a pest in your home…"

Kuzco grinned, "Hmmm… Maybe you have other ways of getting rid of pests in your home, considering that my future home is, well, all covered with your little village and all…"

Pacha snorted, but Kaze, Walt, and Nanaki screeched to a dead halt.

Finally Kaze asked, "Could you please say that again?"

Kuzco scoffed, "What, are your ears broken? Well, basically, I'm building this colossal and ultra-cool summer home for my birthday extravaganza, but, of course, it just happens to be where Tiny here has his little town thing built, and there was some yelling, and unpleasantness, and now, I'm a llama and he's trying to do some kind of lame Saving-Me-So-I'll-Spare-His village thing…"

Nanaki looked to Pacha, "And you? Is what he says true?"

Pacha sighed, "Well, Kuzco's said repeatedly that he's not going to spare my village… but I can't just LEAVE him here. He doesn't know the way… he almost got killed by those Jaguar Heartless before I showed up…"

Walt said to Kuzco, "And, what have those people done that would give you cause to destroy their homes?"

Kuzco waved a hoof dismissively, "Please. I'm the Emperor, my will is law, their lives are forfeit, yadda yadda yadda. I don't need to explain my actions to you…"

Walt glared at him, "And I don't think I need to waste my time on your little empire. Come on guys…"

With that, he grabbed a hold of one of Kaze's hands and the scruff of Nanaki's neck and walked them off.

"Wait, what's going on?" Kaze said as he and Nanaki struggled against the mouse's startlingly strong grip.

"Did you hear the same things I did? We're going to go through all this trouble to save a tyrant? Let the Heartless consume him and his empire. He shall see how absolute his commands are then…"

Nanaki tried to say something, but he was choking, and Kaze stuttered out, "Well… he doesn't seem cruel… just clueless. Maybe getting a taste of how the other half lives will help him out…"

Walt skidded to a halt and let them go, then said, "Listen guys, you're not like me. You haven't dealt with royalty, but I have. And I know that bozos like that llama emperor have the worst entitlement complex. Those are the worst people to put in a place of power, in charge of peoples lives…"

Nanaki and Kaze looked at each other, and Kaze said, "That may be… but what about Pacha? Maybe Kuzco would have taken away his village, but the Heartless will take his family, his friends, HIM… He shouldn't have to suffer because of his emperor's actions… either directly, or because they piss off the people who can save him…"

Walt's eyes widened, then looked down, ashamed, "I just can't stand people like him…"

Nanaki nodded, "It is a problem we may be faced with, those we save may not always be those who deserve it…"

Kaze sighed, but Nanaki and Walt's ears both twitched. "Heartless," they growled in unison, and the trio took off.

A few token Shadows appeared, but sword, claw, or key cut through them, and they found the main source of the problem.

On a rickety old rope bridge, Kuzco and Pacha were surrounded on all possible sides by Shadows. Pacha took a step back, and his foot broke the old board. It was a miracle he reacted quickly enough to stop from falling through.

Without thinking, Kaze ran towards the duo. Walt called for him to stop, but followed him any way, Nanaki loping off behind him.

Just as Kaze reached the platform, he felt a surge of weird energy tingling through his sword arm, and, acting entirely on instinct, he hurled the Keyblade towards the duo. It flew in arcs like a buzzsaw, cutting through the Heartless like balsa wood.

Kuzco shrieked and jumped into Pacha's arms. Pacha also screamed as the Keyblade stopped within an inch of their faces and then, as if pulled back by an invisible rubber band, spun back and landed in Kaze's open hand.

Kaze stared at his hand as if it did something on its own. Then, looking up, he leapt towards Kuzco and Pacha, hoping to reach them in time and save them.

Nanaki and Walt just approached the bridge, and ran on it just as the combined weight of the five of them proved too much for the old rope. With a resounding snap, the bridge broke entirely and the five of them were sent tumbling into the water below…

Author's Notes –

All right, it's been a while and the passing of KH2, and this fic is, contrary to the evidence, still alive. I've just been toying with how exactly to make this make a lot more sense with the new additions to canon.

If you're reading this chapter without checking out the previous two first, you are missing out, as they've been nearly completely rewritten.

If anything there isn't clear, it hopefully will become so as I continue writing…