Chapter 1
Shattered Hearts
The sound of running echoed throughout the castle halls. Marluxia grinned— everything was going according to plan.
A boy, a duck, and a dog rushed in. Their names were Sora, Donald, and Goofy. They had been searching for their friends and had wandered into this place: Castle Oblivion.
Marluxia was put in charge of the castle and had plans to turn Sora into his puppet and overthrow the organization.
"You've defeated Axel." Marluxia laughed. "The Keyblade's power... How I've longed to make it my own."
"Let Naminé go!" the boy, Sora, shouted.
"You've no chance of winning." Marluxia taunted. "Naminé... Erase Sora's memory."
The others gasped.
"But if I do that…" Naminé went quiet.
"That's right." Marluxia confirmed. "Sora's heart will be destroyed."
"His heart, destroyed?" Goofy said, stunned. "You can do that?"
"I'd rather have preferred him unmarred," Marluxia explained "but he can be rebuilt… more to my liking with time. Naminé, do it."
"No." Marluxia glared at Naminé, but she stayed defiant. "Sora forgave me even when I deceived him. So how could I destroy his heart? There's no way! I don't care what happens to me. I won't hurt Sora! I won't do it!"
"Then you will—"
"Do it, Naminé!" Sora exclaimed. "I don't care! You can erase my memory!"
"Sora, why'd you say that?!" Goofy screamed, horrified.
"Because who will I look after if I don't have Naminé?" Sora explained. "So just do it!
Erase my memories. Destroy my heart. I promised! I'll always protect you! You
have to believe me!"
"You bet!" Donald exclaimed, "Even if Sora forgets it all, Goofy and I won't forget!"
"Donald's right." Goofy proclaimed "He and I can remember everything for Sora!"
Marluxia knew this wasn't possible; however, he kept quiet so Naminé would go through with it.
"If you say so…" Namine put her hand to her head and closed her eyes.
Sora felt a sharp pain in his head. Everyone he knew, and cared about faded away. They didn't matter anymore. He groaned and put his head in his hands "my head…" then he collapsed!
"SOWAH!" Donald screamed, rushing towards him. "HEAL! HEAL! HEAL!"
No matter how many times Donald cast the spell, Sora would not get up.
Goofy shook Sora, trying to wake him, but it too yielded no results.
"No!" Naminé panicked. "No, no, no! What have I done?!"
With a blast of cherry blossoms, Marluxia summoned his pink scythe.
"WAK! Goofy, we've gotta get out of here!" Donald screamed, grabbing Goofy by the vest.
"But Sora!" Goofy protested, trying to run back.
"WE DON'T HAVE TIME!" Donald exclaimed. "We need to get someone who can save Sowah!"
"Right!" Goofy exclaimed and rushed forward, causing Donald to fall flat on his face.
Goofy rushed out the door and ran to a blue orb that could teleport you to any floor of the castle. With a flash Donald and Goofy were gone.
Marluxia walked over to Sora's lifeless body "I have many plans for you."
Riku, another young boy that had wandered into the castle, walked through the halls. He had once betrayed Sora and turned to the darkness. Riku had eventually wised up and broken out of the darkness. However, he still felt guilty for what he'd done and was trying to fix his mistakes. The castle began to shake and Riku had to steady himself. A giant ball of light illuminated the whole room.
Once the light was gone standing there was King Mickey. Riku smiled.
"King Mickey!" Up to that point Riku had been communicating with a transparent Mickey that was still in the realm of darkness but now he was really there.
"Riku!" Mickey exclaimed "once I heard the news I was so distraught that my light was strong enough to bring me here!"
Riku's smile disappeared "what news"
Mickey's face fell "oh gosh are you sure you're ready to hear-"
Riku cut him off. "Yes! What's wrong?!"
Before Mickey could answer something rolled across the floor. It was a severed head! The face looked to be of a 20 year old man. He had long blue hair and a look or pure terror on his face.
Mickey screamed and tried to run away. He smacked his head against a pillar causing a vase to fall on his head shattering it and spilling Moogle points all over the floor.
Riku looked up at the door, there with a blank expression was Sora, with blood on his keyblade.
"Sora?!" Riku couldn't believe Sora would kill someone
"That's not Sora!" Mickey explained running up towards Riku "that was the news that Marluxia broke his heart, he is now a puppet. Only here to carry out Marluxia's orders."
Riku looked up at Sora stunned.
"He's right you know" Marluxia stepped out of a black portal "he shall only carry out my orders! Now Sora… Slaughter him!"
Sora ran at Riku with his keyblade in hand.
Mickey grabbed Riku's arm and ran to the door on the other side of the room.
He pointed his keyblade at it and a ray shot out. The door no longer led to more basement floors, it led to the exit. Riku and Mickey ran out the door and across the field. Mickey turned around and closed the door with his keyblade.
Riku sat down, crying.
"Sora…"
The gummi ship flew through space with a very distraught Donald and Goofy in it.
"So who do you think can save Sora" Goofy asked
"I don't know" Donald said, "but we've got to try!"
They sat there in silence for a few minutes. Then something caught Donald's eye.
"Wak!" He ran to the window "it's Twilight Town!"
"The real one?" Goofy asked
Donald smacked his head "of course the real twilight town! Maybe someone there can save Sowah!"
"Uh, Donald"
"What is it?"
"Who's driving?"
And with that they crashed into Twilight Town.
Roxas, Xion, and Axel were best friends. They hung out in Twilight Town and ate ice cream; they'd met through the organization Marluxia was so eager to overthrow. Today only Roxas and Xion were there, as Axel was in Castle Oblivion. They walked down the street laughing with ice cream in their hands, walking to the clock tower. Just as they were about to get there Roxas collapsed.
"Roxas!" Xion exclaimed
Roxas groaned "The memories…." Roxas gasped "I can remember now! I have all my memories back!" Roxas smiled but his smile soon fell. "Wait… I remember Marluxia breaking my heart!"
Xion gasped "why would he do that?!"
Roxas stood up and began to think "well according to my memory Marluxia is planning a coup against the organization!"
"I can't believe he would do this!" Xion exclaimed
Roxas gasped
"What is it?!"
"A-a-a" Roxas struggled to get the words out of his mouth "Axel is a part of it too!"
The ground shook, knocking Roxas and Xion over.
"Ugh what's going on?" Roxas asked running towards the source
There in the middle of the sandlot was the gummi ship!
"Hey!" Roxas exclaimed recognizing the ship "that's how I traveled to different worlds!"
"Look!" Xion pointed at Donald and Goofy fleeing the scene.
"After them!" Roxas gave chase
Roxas and Xion caught up to the pair pretty quickly.
"Wait, don't go!" Roxas explained "It's me Sora!"
Donald and Goofy looked at him unimpressed.
"Yeah," Donald dismissed him. "You just want to mess with our heads!"
"No!" Roxas insisted "I'm still the same Sora! I'm just a nobody now!"
"Well there's one way to tell that you're not him!" Goofy pointed at the coat "you're a part of the organization!"
"Well we just want to give our members hearts!" Xion exclaimed
"No!" Donald exploded "YOU JUST WANT TO MAKE SOWAH YOU'RE PUPPET AND NOW YOU'RE PLAYING A CRUEL JOKE ON US!"
"Wait!" Xion cried "I think I know what's going on. Roxas, I think Sora's still out there!"
"But I am Sora"
Xion shook her head "you were once but Axel left for castle oblivion recently right, and you have memories from then!"
"I guess you're right!" Roxas exclaimed "we must coexist, and the reason I have all of Sora's memories is because his heart was destroyed!"
"Oh Roxas"
Everyone ducked under a bridge.
"That's Marluxia!"
"Roxas I found your somebody!" Marluxia laughed "it's time that he disposed of you. After all there can only be one!"
Roxas shook with fear.
All of the sudden Donald grabbed him and made a run for it.
"Where are we going!" Roxas exclaimed
Donald stopped "look we might not be on the same page but it's clear Marluxia's after us both so truce?"
Everyone put their hands in the middle.
"Truce!"
Roxas began to walk to the ship but Donald stopped him.
"Wait you're not going on our ship with that frown!" Donald exclaimed "this boat runs on happy faces!"
"Well I don't know" Roxas explained "I've just learned a lot of shocking news and—"
Donald pointed his staff at Roxas threateningly "Why so serious…"
Roxas put his hands in the air and gave a very large, very forced smile.
"That's better!" Donald let him on the ship and a few seconds later Roxas was in gummi space.
"Well I didn't find that friend of yours" Marluxia announced walking into the dark room "such a shame it would have been nice to see you two together again! Oh well."
Up on the wall was Axel chained up by cherry blossoms.
"Don't hurt him" Axel groaned "he's like a son to me"
Marluxia laughed "You think I care about that?! Well a soul for a soul!"
"What are you talking about?!" Axel demanded
"Your little friend's somebody killed Larxene" Marluxia explained "Once she's a nobody again, I think she'll like a word with your friend!"
"No!"
"Sora!" Marluxia commanded "destroy him!"
Sora summoned the keyblade and pointed it at Axel.
They stood there in silence for a few seconds.
"Why aren't you doing anything boy?" Marluxia questioned
Axel looked up "Well this just got a whole lot more interesting."
"WHAT?!" Marluxia demanded
"Don't you remember what the superior told us." Axel chuckled "a broken heart will bend to it's master's will, unless, a strong bond keeps them from committing those dark deeds!"
"Huh?!" Marluxia exclaimed baffled
"Let me spell it out for you" Axel explained "the kid is in love."
"WHAT?!" Marluxia screamed "WITH WHOM?!" Marluxia gasped "Namine… I'LL DESTROY HER! THEN WE'LL SEE WHO'S LAUGHING!" Marluxia stormed off, quickly followed by Sora.
Axel chuckled to himself, knowing full well that Sora was in love with the hero of darkness, Riku.
