Sora was awoken by the sensation of something licking his face. He groaned as he opened his eyes to see a very cartoony looking, yellow dog panting at him. "What a dream..." He mumbled as he started to drift back off. "Ah!" The dog then pounced him on, causing him to fully wake up. "This isn't a dream?!" After staring at the weird looking dog for a moment, who simply stared back at him, Sora got up and looked around. For some reason, he was in an alleyway. How did this happen? Last thing he remembered was...having that horrible nightmare with shadow monsters and the island literally falling apart. Of course, none of that could have happened but then how did he end up here?

"Where am I?" Sora asked himself before the dog suddenly ran out of the alleyway. Sora then followed the dog to see that he had somehow ended up in some kind of victorian-esque town that didn't look like anywhere he'd ever been on the islands. There weren't many people around but the ones that were there looked rather depressed. He wasn't still dreaming was he? How on earth did he end up here, unless...unless what happened was real. No, that's not possible. Maybe if he asked around, he might have an idea of where he was and what had actually happened as he entered a nearby jewellery shop.

Upon entering the small shop, he was greeted to a blonde man with a toothpick in his mouth, wearing goggles above his eyes. "Hey there, how can I... Aw it's only a kid."

Ignoring the remark, Sora asked. "Sorry, I just woke up here and I have no idea how I got here. Could you please tell me where I am?"

"Huh?" The man then sighed. "Oh, you're not from this world, are ya?"

Sora gave him a confused look. "What are you talking about?"

The elderly, 32 year old man sighed again. "Look kid, you're in Traverse Town. A lot of folks end up here after they've lost their worlds."

"Lost their..." Sora remembered what happened before he ended up here again. It was all real , wasn't it? The island falling apart? That was literally the end of the world that he was seeing.

The man scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, I'm not really the best guy to break this to you but..." He gave Sora a look of concern. "H-Hey, are you okay kid."

Sora was staring off into space as everything started to sink in. "So my family. My friends. Everyone I ever knew. Everyone on the planet. They're all dead. Aren't they?"

"WHOA! I-I never said that! A lot of people from the same world have turned up here. Maybe you'll find people you know if you have a look around."

Sora then remembered what happened to Riku. How he was talking about going to other worlds and opening doors and other insane ramblings. Maybe he's around. Maybe his parents and Kairi were around too. Sure, there were seven billion people on the planet so the odds of finding anyone he knew were astronomical but hey, if he was lucky enough to survive the apocalypse, why couldn't they?"

Sora laughed nervously. "Hehe. You're right. T-They're probably out there right now. I'm gonna go look for them. Thanks!"

The man scratched the back of his head, starting to get worried. "Um, don't mention it. Name's Cid, by the way. Oh, and be careful of the heartless out there."

Sora gave Cid a perturbed look. "H-Heartless?"

"That's what they're calling those shadow monsters." Cid explained. "You'd best stay clear of them. Luckily, they don't pop up too often. Especially indoors, so if you ever feel like you're in danger, you can always come back here."

Sora gulped before nodding at Cid and stepping back outside. So, those monsters are here too then? That wasn't very comforting to know. Wait, what was that thing he used to fight back against them again? A keyblade? As he thought about it, the keyblade then suddenly materialised in Sora's right hand. He groaned. At least he'd be able to defend himself against them at least. He looked around again. I guess they couldn't be that dangerous if people could just go outside like this.

...

Sora wondered into the second district, only to see a man run by before tripping over. He stared up in horror as his...heart came out of him? Except it looked like the kind of heart that you drew instead of the heart that was actually in your chest. The man faded away while the heart floated over to some black mass before turning into a heartless (though this one was wearing armour somehow) and disappearing. Sora stared wide eyed at what just happened with his mouth agape.

...

Cid gave Sora a worried look. He was currently curled up onto the floor of his accessory shop, rocking back and forth, whimpering every now and then. "Uh...you doing okay there, kid?"

"I JUST WATCHED A MAN DIE!" Sora cried.

"Ergh." Cid cringed. "Yeah, those heartless are pretty dangerous."

"Why are people just going outside with those things around?!" Sora asked. "Isn't there anyone around to protect people from these things?"

Cid scratched the back of his head. "Well, Leon and the others should be out there, fighting off those things." Granted, even Cid knew Leon, Yuffie and Aerith weren't enough to protect the whole town. There really should be some kind of special forces team out there to help protect the citizens. Cid noticed Sora shiver, still shaken up by what he just saw. "Look, I understand if you want to stay for a while but you might be better off staying at the hotel that's nearby. Since you're a kid, I think they'll let you stay there for free.

...

After spending an hour trying to get over watching a man die, Sora stepped out of the accessory shop into the now empty first district. Before he could make his way to the hotel, he suddenly heard a voice behind him. "They'll come at you out of nowhere."

Sora turned around, seeing a long haired man with a dour look on his face. "A-Are you talking to me?"

The man ignored Sora's question. "And they'll keep on coming at you." He then pointed towards Sora's keyblade. "As long as you continue to wield the keyblade." He then put a hand on his head. "But why? Why would it choose a kid like you?"

Sora stared at the man in confusion. "What are you talking about? What do you want from me?"

"Never mind. Now, lets see that keyblade." The man started to approach Sora with his hand stretched out.

Oh great, another creeper. Sora went on guard. "Hey, stay away from me!"

The man then got out an odd looking sword that looked like a mix between a sword and a gun. "All right, then have it your way." He then aimed his sword towards Sora.

Sora's eyes widened. This guy was going to kill him. He immediately turned around and started to run off. "Someone help! There's a crazy person trying to kill me!" He shouted, though it didn't seem like there was anyone around to hear him. What kind of system was this town being ran by? Who was even in charge? He panted as he hid behind an alleyway. He could hear the man's footsteps slowly get closer to him. Once he realised that he was just around the corner, Sora jumped out before kicking the man in the groin.

"Gah!" The man spluttered before falling into his knees, holding on to the injured area.

This was becoming too much for Sora. First he'd found that everyone he ever knew was possibly dead. Then he saw a man die before his eyes. And now some emo looking guy was trying to kill him. Sora went dizzy for a moment before passing out, falling over backwards.

Leon stood back up as he heard someone laughing from behind him. "Ha! Wow, I did not see any of that coming."

He glanced back, seeing his ally Yuffie, before looking back at Sora. "Kid's better at defending himself then I thought." He said, trying not to sound like he was still in pain. "Still, looks like things are worse than we thought. A lot worse."

...

"Come on, lazy bum. Wake up."

Sora sat up from the bed he was lying on and looked to the side to see...Kairi? "You okay?"

Sora stared in disbelief. "K-Kairi?"

"Kairi? Who are you talking about? I'm the great ninja Yuffie."

"Huh?"

Sora rubbed his eyes. The girl at the side of his bed was actually a black haired girl in ninja garb. She gave him an odd looking before turning to the man who had assaulted him earlier, Leon, who was leaning next to the door. "You must have really rattled him, Squall."

"That's Leon." He replied.

Sora's eyes widened as he looked around. "You guys kidnapped me?"

Sora moved to try and escape before Yuffie put her hands up to stop him. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! You got it all wrong. Listen, you know those creatures out there? They're after you because of your keyblade. But it's your heart they really want, because you wield the keyblade."

Sora was starting to get exasperated. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Yuffie sighed in annoyance. "Ok. I'll go a little slower for you, then. You know those creatures out there? They're after your heart."

"My heart?" Sora recalled the 'heart' coming out that man earlier.

Yuffie nodded. "Yep. And not because you had that keyblade," she pointed towards the keyblade, which was now leaning against the wall, next to Leon. "What they really wanted was your heart. So we had to take it away from you to shake them off."

Leon folded his arms. "It was the only way to conceal your heart from them."

Sora narrowed his eyes as he tried to process this. "But...what do they want with that thing?"

Yuffie rolled her eyes. "It's not the keyblade they want. It's you. Because you wield they keyblade. You get it now?"

Sora shook his head. "No."

Yuffie stared at Sora for a moment before turning to Leon. "Leon, please help me out here."

Leon picked up the keyblade. "Hard to believe that you of all people are the chosen one."

"Chosen one?" The keyblade disappeared from Leon's hand before reappearing in Sora's.

Leon approached Sora. "Well, I guess beggars can't be choosers."

"Could you guys please just start talking sense?" Sora asked, annoyed.

Leon closed his eyes for a moment before speaking. "You know that there are other worlds, right?"

"I guess?"

"Well, they used to be a secret. Because they've never been connected." As Leon explained, Yuffie went to sit next to Sora on the bed. "But everything changed when the heartless came."

"The heartless." Sora frowned.

"Those without hearts." Leon explained.

"The darkness in people's hearts. That's what attracts them." Yuffie continued.

"And there is darkness within every heart." Leon finished.

"What...do they want with people's hearts?" Sora asked apprehensively.

Leon shook his head. "We don't know for sure but those that have been attacked by them, have become them."

Sora's eyes widened. "So what you're saying is...they're basically zombies."

There was a moment of silence. "Huh. Never really thought of them that way but yeah, they are kinda like zombies." Yuffie admitted.

Sora shook his head. Interdimensional zombies that are destroying worlds. He really was living in a fantasy now. A horrible, nightmarish fantasy. "How do you guys know about all of this?"

Yuffie turned to face him. "Well, have you ever heard of someone named Ansem?"

Sora shook his head. "No? Was he someone from my world?"

Yuffie pursed her lips. "Ok, yeah, that was a dumb question. Ansem was someone that studied the heartless. He made a report about everything he knew about them."

"Do you have it?" Sora asked.

Yuffie shook her head. "It's pages got scattered to different worlds."

Sora raised an eyebrow. "And, how did that happen?"

Yuffie shrugged. "Wish I could tell ya. The reports also talk about the keyblade."

"The heartless have great fear of the keyblade." Leon explained. "That's why they'll keep coming after you, no matter what."

"Hey, I didn't ask for this!" Sora snapped.

"The keyblade chooses its master and it chose you." Yuffie explained.

"So, tough luck." Leon said as he went back to leaning against the wall.

Sora groaned. "So, what happened to my home? Is it just gone forever?"

"You know what? I really don't know."

Sora glared at Leon. What was this guy's problem? "Gee, thanks."

Yuffie cleared her throat. "I also heard the keyblade can unlock any lock. You should try that at some point."

"So, what was the point of kidnapping me and trying to take this thing away if I'm the 'chosen one'?" Sora asked.

There was a moment of silence before Yuffie spoke. "We...thought it might have been worth a try?" Leon sighed at the ninja, almost looking embarrassed.

Sora frowned. "Shouldn't you guys be out there fighting against those heartless?"

Leon nodded. "Yes. If you're ready, then let's go."

"Huh?"

"Sooner or later, the heartless will find you. You'd best prepare yourself. Are you ready to go out there?"

Sora grimaced. Was this his life now? Fighting against what were basically zombies with a giant key? Well, he hoped his time playing sword fighting with Riku will have come to good use. He sighed. "Ok. I'm ready."

Leon turned to Yuffie. "Yuffie, let's go join Aerith. She should be there by now with the other visitors."

"Leon!" Yuffie yelled as a heartless then suddenly appeared in the room.

Leon stepped in between the heartless and Sora. "Yuffie, go!" Yuffie then ran out of the room. It might have been Sora's imagination but he could've sworn that door made a quacking sound. "Sora, lets go." Leon then slashed at the heartless, causing it go flying through the window before Leon and then Sora went outside where more heartless were waiting. "Don't bother with the small fry." Leon ordered. "Find the leader. Let's go!"

Leon then ran off, leaving Sora to fend of the heartless by himself. With little time to think of how he had just told him to not bother with the heartless that could potentially kill people or the fact that they somehow had a hierarchy, Sora went ahead a slashed his keyblade at each of the heartless. He still had a lot of questions about all of this but he decided to just go along with whatever was happening here. These heartless were monsters that were killing people anyway so he did not feel bad about taking them out.

...

Eventually, he wondered into the third district, which had a wide open space. Suddenly, he heard two people screaming (or one person screaming and what sounded like a weird quacking noise). He turned around before a giant duck and a giant...dog maybe, crashed into him from above. Both Sora and the two groaned before the duck and dog both exclaimed. "The key!"

After recovering from what just happened, Sora threw the two off of him, stood up and pointed his keyblade towards them in fear. "What the heck are you?!" Other worlds were one thing but he really didn't expect giant mutant ducks and dogs to start falling down on him.

Suddenly, there was a small earth quake. The three of them looked around nervously as blocks suddenly came up from the ground, blocking the ways out of this square before heartless then appeared. Forgetting about the mutants for a moment, Sora fought back against the heartless. To his surprise, the mutants appeared to be helping him out as the duck was using...magic on them (causing Sora to groan inwardly) while the dog was fighting back with a shield.

Once he thought the heartless were gone, giant pieces of armour fell from the sky before assembling. This appeared to be a giant heartless, though it's head, arms and feet appeared to be separate from his body, which was floating along with its head and arms. Sora gulped. This was the leader, wasn't it? And since Leon and Yuffie were no where in sight, he'd have to fight this thing himself, along with the mutants, wouldn't he? This really was the worst day of his life.

Sora was taken out of his thoughts as it spun its arms around it, scratching Sora in the process. "Gah!" That really hurt! He'd have to take this one extremely seriously or he was actually going to die.

"Cure!" Sora thought he heard as suddenly felt no pain at all. Did that duck do that?

The heartless' arms then floated away from its body and tried to strike at Sora again, only for the dog to block its attack with his shield. He then gave Sora a reassuring smile. "Don't worry!" He reassured with a very goofy sounding voice. "We're on your side."

Sora blinked in surprise at the talking animal before focusing on the heartless. He attacked its arm a few times before it eventually faded away, though the rest of the parts were still there. Seeing what they needed to do, the three attacked each of the parts that made up the heartless until only its head and body were left. After a few more strikes to it, it eventually started shaking before its head fell to the ground a heart floated out of his body and into the sky (which begged the question, why were they called heartless if they still had hearts in them?). The heartless then faded away as Sora then took some deep breaths to calm his nerves.

Now that that was out of the way, he could now address the giant duck and dog. "Ok, who and what are you two?"

The two gave each other unsure glances before the duck asked. "Uh, you're the key, right?"

"...what?" Sora could barely understand what the duck just said.

The duck groaned in annoyance which may have meant he was used to this before he repeated. "The key!"

"We've been told to look for a key." The dog explained.

"So, you were looking for me?" Sora asked. The two gave him affirmative nods.

"They, too, have been seeking the wielder of the keyblade." Sora turned around to see Leon and Yuffie behind him. Leon had his arms folded while Yuffie had her hands on her hips.

Sora gave them annoyed looks. "Hey, where were you two this whole time?"

Leon sighed. "Sorry, we couldn't make it in time."

"Hey, why don't you come with us?" The dog asked. "We can go to other worlds in our vessel."

Sora blinked in surprise. "Whoa, hey wait. I'm just trying to find my friends." He turned to Leon and Yuffie. "Shouldn't they be in this town?"

Leon shook his head. "Many people who have lost their worlds have ended up here. But that doesn't mean everyone has." He stepped forward. "Sora, go with them. Especially if you want to find your friends."

Sora frowned. "Um, how many worlds are there out there?"

There was a moment of silence before the dog asked the duck. "Um, do you know, Donald?"

Donald gave the dog an annoyed look. "How should I know?"

Sora sighed. Well it's not as if he had anything better to do. His entire world was gone and so was every one he ever knew. So why not go adventuring to other worlds? Maybe he'll get lucky and find them. Sure, the chances of that were insane but, hey, why not? "Ok, I guess I'll go then."

"But you can't come along looking like that. Understand?" Donald said. "No frowning. No sad face. Okay?"

Sora gave Donald a tired look. "My entire world's been destroyed. How can I not be sad?"

"Ah..." Donald stepped back as the two shared unsure glances.

The dog then gave Sora a sympathetic look. "Gawrsh, we're sorry. We didn't know about that. But maybe if you had a couple friends to talk about it, it might help you feel a little better. After all, we're trying to look for a friend of ours too. The King. How does that sound?"

He made a good point, Sora thought. If he stuck with these guys, he'd at least have someone now. He perked up slightly. "Ok, then."

Donald raised his hand. "Donald Duck."

"Name's Goofy." Goofy put his hand over Donald's.

Sora sighed. This was kinda silly but eh. He put his hand over Goofy's. "I'm Sora."

"All for one and one for all!" Goofy exclaimed.

...

After preparing for a bit, the three were seen off by Leon, Yuffie and another girl named Aerith. Donald and Goofy had apparently encountered this girl sometime before the three of them met. "This is from all of us." Aerith said as she handed Sora a pouch of munny. "Spend it as you see fit."

"So, every world has the same kind of currency?" Sora asked, skeptically.

Aerith nodded, smiling. "Well, from our experience, yes."

"Good luck!" Said Yuffie."

"I hope you find your friends." Said Aerith.

"Look out for each other." Leon added. "Keep your spirits up."

As the three left, Donald then turned to Sora. "The gummi ship is outside that gate." He gestured to the large door, leading to the outside of town.

Sora gave him an odd look. "The what?"

"That's our ship."

Goofy smiled. "Wait 'til you see it!"

Sora then followed the two out of town, only to see what looked like a giant toy ship. "Pretty amazing, huh?" Goofy asked.

Yep. This was his life now, Sora thought to himself.