Ah ok so here we are with our first real chapter! Heads up that this is actually a rewrite of the original Chapter 1, which was more or less a rewrite of the ending of DDD. This is much better, I think, much more original and creative. I hope you enjoy it!


Chapter 1: Heart's Descent

How did I live in a kingdom of thieves?

It begins without another soul around to see it.

Thirteen thrones sit empty, save for one. Only the sound of steady footsteps echoes through the pristine room, approaching that throne, the lowest among them all. The master stops at the edge of the dais, smiling down at the boy sitting before him. A boy who's all but lost to the depths of a ceaseless, dreamless slumber.

"How remarkable," the master speaks, but still the boy doesn't stir. With a smile, the master descends down to his level. He slides several gloved fingers under his chin, tilting it upward to get a better view of the child's unconscious face. "You really do look so much like him. And even more like her…"

The master's smooth smile slips, for only a second, as he pulls his hand away. He turns his back on the boy, still speaking to him as if he can actually hear a single word he's saying. But even so, the master continues, knowing that even if the boy's mind and body don't hear him, his heart will.

"You wait, in the empty abyss of sleep, for rescue to reach you. And rest assured: that rescue is on its way. Your friends, gallant and true, are making their brazen charge to this very room to retrieve you, even as we speak. When they find you, they will liberate you from our grasp, carry you off to safety, and awaken your slumbering soul, allowing you to continue to bask in the light your life has always been lived within. A satisfying end to a tale that's hardly worth telling." The master pauses, grinning back at the boy. "That is how this whole affair would go, if not for this moment here and now. Because you see, child… I have something of a different plan in mind."

The master fully turns to face the boy again, a dark, twisted Keyblade flashing into his grip. "Do not think I am trying to derail your destiny," he says, closing his eyes in cool contemplation. "If anything, my aim is to put you on the proper path. You could say… it's the path that's always meant to be…"

The master raises his weapon, raw darkness radiating around its tip. He takes aim toward the boy, still completely unaware of the incredible danger he's in. Unaware of anything at all, just as the master needs him to be. "Thirteen vessels, each bearing a piece of my own heart, are what I require," he explains, his tone as even and calculated as ever. "Twelve others have been prepared, their hearts already eclipsed by mine. Only one remains, though unlike all the rest, the identity of my final vessel cannot be left up to chance or convenience. Not when the role the thirteenth will play is the most vital, the most essential of them all. A role that only you and you alone have ever been meant to possess."

He presses in closer, the edge of his blackened weapon hovering only a few short inches above the boy's chest. His breathing is natural, his slumber quiet and peaceful. And in that slumber, he doesn't have the faintest idea of what's about to befall him. Of the path the master is preparing to push him onto, a path he'd never, ever want to take on his own.

"Whatever measure of pain this might cause you will pass, my boy," the master goes on, his voice quiet, almost comforting as he prepares to unleash his devastating power. "Darkness already dwells within the deepest depths of your heart; all I aim to do is awaken that darkness, and awaken you to your fullest potential. In time, you will take pride in what you are about to become. This is what you were born for, the very purpose for which you exist. And… once that great purpose is fulfilled, then, and only then, shall the Kingdom finally come to be..."

A brief bout of silence lingers, one in which the master stops to wait for something. An intrusion, an interruption, something that might keep his plans from proceeding. But as he had expected, none arrive. Because no one, not even any of his other vessels, not even any of his alternate selves knows of this particular part of the plan. None of them know that he has decided to undertake the most important part of it as early as he possibly could. And in doing so, he's all but assured that he will succeed.

"The only thing that is still needed now," the master finishes, his words hanging heavy in the otherwise empty room. He lightly places the tip of his Keyblade against the boy's unmoving body, against his heart, as he readies to transmit the final piece of his own into him. "Is the Key to that Kingdom…"

It happens in a single, silent second. With a stark flash of darkness, a small, almost inaudible gasp escaping the boy's slightly parted lips. And just like that, it's over and done. The boy still sleeps, like nothing ever happened, while the master grins proudly, already feeling the darkened connection forging between the child's heart and his own.

And yet… even then the master finds his influence met with some form of resistance. One that doesn't come from any external forces, but rather, from within the boy's own heart. From the trio of lost hearts that have already made it their home.


It begins when the sky turns dark and the sea ceases to be.

They could have never seen it coming, never could have foreseen the storm that surges upon them so swiftly. It tears through the illusionary island they dwell upon, ripping it to pieces in a raging torrent none of them can escape from. In the aftermath of that swift and devastating hurricane, they're abruptly dropped onto a stained-glass station. The very center of his heart and the most vulnerable piece of it by far.

They don't know what's happening, aren't aware of much of anything at all that happens in the outside world. What they do know is that the boy had been forced into slumber, and now, they're starting to learn exactly why.

They don't even have time to reorient themselves to their new surroundings before the station rattles violently beneath them. Each of them struggle to maintain their footing against the inexplicable upheaval, but between the tremors, they still notice three things. Each other, though they're obscured and unclear to the point that they can't even make out any faces or features other than their own. The boy, standing alone on the far side of the station, his body unmoving and his eyes half-lidded and dazed. And then, there's something new, something none of them have ever seen here before.

Darkness, pure and raw and ruinous. It rises up from somewhere beyond the station in thick, ink-like tendrils, surging high above them before it begins to dive down. Toward them, but even more specifically, toward the boy.

And at that instant, just before that darkness can devour him, not a single one of them thinks twice. They act, on the same drive, the same impulse, the same noble resolve to do one thing and one thing alone: to stop these invading, invasive shadows, regardless of where they might have come from or why they're here. To save the heart that's so selflessly sheltered each of their own.

They charge forward together, Keyblades forming in each of their hands as they make it right on time. The darkness races for him, but it never touches him. Instead, it's beaten back by four different Keyblades, all of them slicing through the shadows seconds before they can even come close to their target. With an almost startled hiss, the darkness backpedals, though it still hovers over the station as it observes its newfound opposition with what almost seems to be some level of curiosity. And then, after a moment of breathless, bitter tension, it speaks.

"Well, what do we have here…?" it wonders in a voice that only one of them recognizes. And the moment he hears it, a burst of frigid fear courses through him. Because now he knows where this darkness is coming from, knows just how dangerous it really is.

And, above all else, he knows the master's malicious influence has no place here. Not somewhere that's filled with so much love and light.

"What a fascinating discovery. Not one, not two, but three of you?" the master muses. His voice echoes from seemingly nowhere and everywhere all at once. "The boy's heart truly can hold so much within it, can't it? Such a rare and unique ability. All the more reason to make it my own."

They all try to protest such a horrid plan, only for their voices to be overwhelmed as the darkness begins its second strike. It twists and turns, weaving itself into a spire that towers high over the shimmering station. And yet, even despite how daunting that darkness is, they still stand their ground, forming a protective perimeter around the boy. Refusing to let the master have his twisted way with this noble heart.

"What a peculiar collection the three of you make," he says as the darkness bears down upon them again. They fend it off brazenly, blocking each and every attempt it makes at drawing close to the boy. It's a fight they're not quite used to, a kind of battle none of them have engaged in in quite some time. But it's a fight they're all more than willing to undertake, a fight they know they have to win, lest they'll lose it all.

"A defective Nobody…" The shadows lash out at him, trying their best to shove him away. But he won't be knocked down so easily, not as long as his other's heart, his very life itself, is at stake. "A purposeless puppet…" She lets out a fierce shout at such a mocking claim, defying it in actions over words. Her Keyblade cleaves the darkness, light pouring from its tip that she refuses to let go out. Not now or ever again. "And of course… my former apprentice." He tries to push his fear back, to shove it as far under the surface as he can. But even then he can't deny how terrifying it is to be faced with his wicked, corrupting presence anew after all this time. To see him threatening to cause some much harm to someone else he's come to care so much about.

"I suppose it only makes sense that each of you would take refuge here," the master remarks, as if he's barely engaging in the violent brawl unfolding. Largely because, by almost all accounts, he is. "Weaker hearts always have a tendency to flock to one that's stronger to survive. And surviving is all that you do here, in a faint, fleeting sort of half-existence that's barely worth maintaining at all. You may continue to cling onto the fragile hope that he will free you, that he'll allow each of you to continue the lives you used to know; but the truth is, he doesn't even know most of you are here. So why then do you still strive to stand for someone who will never save you? Someone who won't even be able to free himself?"

None of them heed his cruel, manipulative rhetoric, mostly because they can't spare much attention to listen to it. Their Keyblades move swift and steady, in a true test of every skill each of them has ever learned. And yet, for as unyielding as they are in this struggle, the master's aggressive approach is even more so.

The darkness changes tactics, deciding to go in low rather than darting down from above. Numerous dark, deadly spikes burst up from the base of the station, fortunately not shattering the glass but still entrapping the trio as they hold their sturdy defensive line against it. They narrowly dodge and deflect those spikes the best they can, their Keyblades working rapidly to guard them away from the boy, who stands between them as still and silent as ever. Completely unable to protect himself while trapped in the inescapable slumber the master is so cruelly keeping him under.

"You should all see this event as cause for celebration," the master's voice echoes through the void, his tone almost oddly cordial. "For if he will not liberate you from this hollow prison of a heart, then I shall be more than happy to. I'm sure we can agree, there isn't quite enough space here for all of us here."

"You're right," one of them finally speaks up, his tone fierce as he grips both of his Keyblades tightly. "It's not. So why don't you get lost already?!"

The master merely laughs at this, and as he does, the darkness seems to retreat a bit. It allows them to momentarily catch their breath, but of course, the reprieve doesn't last long. Not as the shadows begin congregating again, forming itself into a curling, massive wave that threatens to fall at any given second.

"I'm afraid the only ones who are about to be lost are the three of you," he says simply. And for once, he doesn't say much at all along with it. "Farewell."

With this, the wave is pushed into motion, crashing down toward them in full, deafening force. Two of them stand firm, light glistening over their Keyblades as they prepare to stand their ground against it. But the third among them has another strategy, one fueled by fear and prompted by panic. He turns to the boy, reaching a hand out toward him, and in the short seconds before the wave descends upon them, something passes between them. Something that he knows the boy will be needing far more than he does right now.

As a result, he's the only one of them left defenseless against the darkness. When the wave slams into them, it pushes him back, nearly knocking him off the station entirely as it starts to suffocate him from the outside in. The other two remain standing, the light from their Keyblades banishing the immediate shadows away. Even then, they're able to do little to fend off all of it, especially as the wicked current curls toward the boy above all else. The darkness hungers for him and him alone, only seeing the hearts protecting his as mere obstacles to be swept away like shells into the sea. It ripples past the pair, and with a shared, horrified gasp, they find it approaching him undaunted, unstoppable. Only for it to be warded off once again, this time by the shining armor suddenly encasing his entire body.

Miraculously, it's a perfect fit, something he can't help but smile about as he catches sight of the boy from the far side of the station. He struggles to stand again while watching the darkness try and tear the armor away, brutally beating down upon the boy as the other two race in to stop it. But even then, it doesn't reach him, not as long as the armor stays strong to shield his heart from the damage it desires to do to it.

Or at least… it would if the master actually played fair. Which, needless to say, he doesn't.

"You poor, deluded children…" he admonishes condescendingly. The rampaging malice slows at this, settling upon the armor as it tries to seep in through whatever cracks it might be able to find. As soon as he sees this, he's fully on his feet, intent on joining the other two and finding a way to rid the boy of this vicious, relentless threat once and for all. "Do you really think any of you can protect him against something that's been a part of him all along?"

Suddenly, his approach is stopped dead in its tracks, the other two pulled slightly back by a force that's initially unseen. As each of them looks down to the stained glass surface below them, they see the sickening sight. Shadows of an entirely different sort, swelling up not from somewhere beyond the boy's heart, but from somewhere within it.

From those shadows, something suddenly emerges. Something every bit as sinister and mysterious as the murky blackness it originates from. A large, clawed hand bursts upward, an equally twisted, terrifying body soon following. The creature lets out a fearsome, piercing roar as it fully pulls itself out of the shadows, towering over the trio as it gazes down upon them with soulless, empty golden eyes. But what's most horrific about this monster by far is just how much it looks like the boy… while looking nothing like him at all.

"For all this time you might have spent inside his heart, even the three of you do not know what truly lies within it," the master taunts as the monster swiftly swings its claws at them. It harshly knocks one of them away, sending her flying to the far side of the darkening station. The other two rush past the boy to attack the creature head on, only for its incredible strength to show them the same severe treatment. "Don't you see? This darkness isn't mine at all; it's his," the master continues as the monster begins to approach the boy. They try to stop it, try to do anything in their power to even just slow it down. But the master's shadows sweep in to keep each of them pinned to the colorful ground, powerless to put an end to this madness. Powerless to pull the boy away from the dangerous, deadly darkness that he's somehow the very source of.

"And so this heart, already a wellspring of darkness and light alike, shall belong to one worthy of possessing its power," the master proclaims as the armor begins to blacken. Cracks start etching their way across its surface, growing deeper and more divisive as the monster slowly reaches a hand out toward the boy. And the moment it so much as touches him is when the armor shatters completely. "It shall belong to me!"

"No!" they cry in frightened unison, each of them stretching a desperate hand out as far as they can. None of them know how they do it, nor do they understand how it happens, but it's nothing short of a miracle when it does. Pure, powerful light pours out from each of them, driving the shadows surrounding them away. Still, they don't waste time wondering where their second wave of strength might've come from. Instead, the very second they're free, they race back over to the boy as fast as they can possibly go.

Yet even then, they don't make it in time. As the now-broken pieces of the armor fall away and disappear, the monster's claws rest lightly against his chest, against his heart. And, before any of their Keyblades can collide with it, the creature abruptly disappears into countless iridescent black flecks, all of which immediately plunge into the boy's body, weaving their way inside of him without meeting any sort of resistance at all.

At long last, the boy's eyes finally open. But when they do, they're every bit as golden and vacant as those of the monster that's now bonded with him. A monster none of them can hope to vanquish now that it and the boy are now one and the same.

The master is oddly silent for a change as his darkness closes in, inky tendrils latching onto the boy, slithering around his arms, coiling loosely around his neck. They stand before him, torn between anger and despair as they fear that they've lost, that it's already too late, that it's all over in a matter of mere minutes. And yet…

The station below them stays the same. It's mingled between blotches of darkness and light, but it's still untouched, unbroken, still his. For whatever measure of malice the master might try to be tainting it with, something deep down inside of him is still resisting it, even as he sleeps.

And if he can resist it, then that means they can too. They have to at least try; after all this time, it's only fair that they give back to the boy who's given each of them so much.

"His heart will never belong to you," one of them says, his voice stern as he brandishes both of his Keyblades.

"Not as long as we're around," she continues where he left off, standing strong alongside him.

"And we're not going anywhere," the final one finishes firmly, his former fear replaced with a bold sense of courageous resolve. "Not until we find a way to drive you out first!"

The master says nothing for feels like ages, his shadows neither progressing or regressing. They know he won't give up that easily, and none of them expect him to. What none of them see is how the boy is still fighting back on his own, even if he's completely unaware that he's even doing it. But the master knows, the master feels the boy stubbornly refuse to accept a piece of his heart, unlike how he so warmly welcomed the other three in the past. Even so, the master also knows he can't hold out against him forever; everyone has their breaking point, after all. Including the so-called "Hero" of the Keyblade himself.

"Very well…" the master surprisingly concedes. They're surprised when the shadows start to slither away from the boy, when his eyes slip shut once more. As for what the master says next, they're not sure if it's directed at them, the boy, or all of them combined. "If you're brazen enough to make this your final stand, then far be it from me to disappoint. But know that this stubborn rebellion will not go unpunished. In your struggle, you will suffer; and through your turmoil, I will transform you into exactly what I need you to be. And as for the rest of you…" The darkness peels back to the outer edges of the station, forming a blackened ring around its shining surface. Evidence that while its corrupting influence has been suppressed, it's still not going away any time soon. But that's fine; because neither are they. Not as long as he still needs them. Not as long as they still have such a lofty debt to repay. "Let's see just how long you can manage to keep that fading light of his alive…"


It begins in the Graveyard.

Xehanort puts on quite a show at the castle, and his other vessels, all but unaware of what he's already done, fall in line. He pretends to indulge their opponents, anticipating each and every move they'll make almost perfectly. And at the end, he pretends to admit defeat, making a graceful retreat and letting them get away with his prize, at least for now. After all, he doesn't require the boy's presence, not for the time being, not while there are still three outstanding obstacles slowing him down. So instead, he's willing to adapt his plans, to bide his time and let the child return to his friends. To let them all think that they had won, to make them believe exactly what he wants them to: that the boy has truly been saved. All so he will actually believe that himself.

Still, that doesn't mean Xehanort isn't interested in checking in on his thirteenth vessel from time to time.

He calls for a meeting at the Graveyard, one that's only intended for the highest echelons of his new Organization. His younger self, Heartless, and Nobody arrive right on time, congregating in the crossroads between countless lifeless Keyblades. Vacant silence lingers throughout the desolate wasteland for what feels like ages as Young Xehanort, Ansem, and Xemnas all look to the elderly master expectantly. Yet for his part, Xehanort says nothing as he surveys the vast stretch of brittle earth before them, not speaking a single word to why he's called them here in the first place.

In the end, Ansem is the one to voice the question they're all thinking. "What exactly are we waiting for?"

Xehanort doesn't turn to face any of them as he offers a simple response. "Our newest member."

"Really?" Xemnas inquires curiously. "You've already found someone to replace the boy? So soon after he slipped through our grasp?"

The master smiles at this, his back still turned to his other selves. "When it comes to the role our thirteenth is meant to play, there is no replacing him. He is the only one in all existence, past, present, or future, that is capable of what we have chosen him for. And that is precisely why I decided to ensure that he fulfills that role by setting the path to our victory in motion early… and alone."

While Xemnas and Ansem exchange a quizzical glance at this news, Young Xehanort adopts the same sort of broad smile his elderly self is already wearing. Whatever wonderings that hang in the air are soon answered, however, as the master extends a hand out, calling a dark portal into existence several feet away.

"Before our opponents were even made aware of what was happening, they already lost the prize they now think they've won," Xehanort keeps his hand stretched outward, shadows coalescing around his open palm as his power reaches through the in-between. Through that power, he summons someone bound for the Sleeping Worlds, redirecting their path in the same way that he's already begun to redirect his very destiny itself. "And yet, that prize isn't entirely ours to claim either, at least not yet."

Between the curling darkness of the portal, a lone silhouette appears, and each of the others know exactly who it belongs to before his shape even becomes clear. "Due to… unforeseen circumstances, I'm afraid I have no choice but to take my time with this one," the master crooks a single finger back, wordlessly beckoning their new arrival forward. And, just as he expected, the boy obediently obeys. "Still, I'm nothing if not a patient man; I've waited this long for my plans to proceed. I can afford to wait just a little longer."

"It doesn't appear as though you'd have to wait very long at all," Ansem muses, watching the boy's silent, steady approach. "From where I'm standing, it seems as though the boy is already well under our thrall."

"He wouldn't be here otherwise if he wasn't," Xemnas concurs, catching the indelible gold gleaming in the boy's eyes, taking the place of what once was pure ocean blue. "Which means that what happened back at the castle-"

"Was merely a diversion," Young Xehanort finally speaks, fully understanding his older self's scheme. "One that none of them will know the full extent of until it's far too late for anyone to stop it. Not that anything could stop it, even now, when it's only barely begun."

"It's true," Xehanort keeps his sights set on the boy as he finally comes to a stop just before the group. His expression is dull, his falsely-golden eyes unfocused and unseeing, his ears all but deaf to the conversation unfolding around him. "And yet even then, his current state is hardly ideal. His body obeys while his mind is locked away in heedless slumber once more. But his heart still resists the pull of my power. And he's not the only one; three other hearts dwell within his, and they've made it more than clear that they want to waste their time fighting for an already lost cause."

"They shouldn't be a pressing problem for long," Young Xehanort says, his tone haughty and dismissive. "There's only one of two outcomes to their foolish struggle. Either he finds a way to set them free or… they'll be destroyed by the darkness, whether that darkness is ours or his own."

"So until that happens," Ansem begins, crossing his arms. "What do you intend to do with a boy who will unquestionably rebel against us the moment you so much as loosen your hold over him?"

"For now, he can return to his beloved friends," Young Xehanort says, nearly sneering on the word. "A new journey awaits him, one that will be to our benefit as well. And as he embarks on that journey, we won't be far behind, watching and waiting for him to find his way to where he belongs."

"Why bother waiting that long when we already have him exactly where we want him?" Xemnas asks, clearly pleased by the boy's still-submissive state.

"I have no interest in keeping him like this," Xehanort clarifies, looking over the boy's blank expression once more. "I want him awake, and I want him aware of what's to become of him. And above all else, I want him to be himself, even as his steadfast spirit inevitably shatters under the weight of his own suffering. Because it is only through that suffering shall he be forged into what he's destined to become."

"And in the end, when we have need of his heart, here we shall gather with our most important member by our side," Young Xehanort nods to the boy as Xemnas and Ansem finally share the sinister smiles of their other selves. "In the great conflict that's to come, the missing piece will fall into place to call upon the Kingdom. And so it will be exactly as foretold: 'on that land shall darkness prevail and light expire'."

"It all starts and it will all end with you, my boy," Xehanort warmly hails the boy, issuing him the unspoken command to turn around. He does so, still completely unconscious of where he is or what's happening to him, all but unknowing of just how far the master has set him up to fall. "At long last, here you are…" Xehanort proclaims as he extends his arms out wide to welcome the child. As he sets the most important piece in place for the game he's been eagerly waiting to play for 15 years straight. A game that, as far as he's concerned, even now, he's already won. "My final vessel: Number Thirteen… Sora. You are the one who will open the door..."


AN-Ooooo so yeah some pretty interesting setup here. Next chapter is also another rewritten one, setting up what our heroes will be doing to start the story off! Anyway, as usual don't forget to follow/favorite/and most of all REVIEW if you liked this! Until next time!