"Why is this happening?" Sora thought bitterly, staring up at the shadowy monstrosity and the dark sphere floating ominously above their heads.
Just yesterday he and his friends had been preparing to set sail on a raft in search of other worlds and now… Now Riku had been swallowed by the darkness, Kairi vanished into thin air and their home was being destroyed by the monster from his dreams. Tightening his grip on the strange sword, 'Keyblade' he mentaly corrected, he shifted into his preferred fighting stance and faced down the towering shadow.
"I'll save my home and then I'll find my friends. You won't stop me!" with a yell he charged as the monster swung its fist to meet him. Rolling out the way of the blow before quickly leapt back into the fray, Sora swung the Keyblade down slicing into the creature's wrist. Rearing back it made another swipe only for him to dodge again.
"It may be stronger than me but it's also way slower" Sora thought as he landed three more strikes on its hand. Seemingly realising that this approach wasn't working the giant leant back as dark energy began to gather in the heart shaped hole in it's stomach. Once the energy had built up the giant fired three blasts at its young foe, with a startled yelp Sora began to run, dodging the first two shots before countering the third with the Keyblade, sending it back at the creature and striking it in the face.
With a wordless growl of pain it slumped forward, head hanging low. Seeing his chance Sora sprinted forward and thrust the Keyblade directly into the beast's head. Time seemed to slow as Sora pulled the blade free, then it threw its head back, bellowing in rage and pain as it tried to retreat. Unfortunately Sora had no time to enjoy his victory as the dark sphere pulsed and grew larger, drawing what little remained of the islands towards it. Sora desperately attempted to hang on even as the giant's body was pulled into the sky, as the force of the sphere's pull increased Sora watched in horror as his grip finally slipped, and so with a terrified scream Sora was pulled towards the sphere and into darkness.
Meanwhile in a world far away two individuals were making their way towards a brightly coloured ship. Donald Duck, the royal court magician, and the Goofy, the Captain of the guard. Earlier they had found a letter from their King explaining how he had left to investigate the disappearance of stars from the sky and how he needed them to find 'the key' to their survival. Grumbling that his majesty had run off alone, again, Donald quickly focused on the task at hand. They needed to go to Traverse Town and find a man named Leon, who the King said would be able to help them.
Entering the hanger the two spotted their ship, the Highwind, and gave a wave at the control tower to open the hatch. As the hatch slid open the sound of something running echoed down the stairs.
"Pluto slow down!" Queen Minnie cried out as the King's faithful hound barreled down the steps towards the now panicking wizard. With a panicked squawk Donald grabbed the arm of his oblivious friend and pulled him out of the way, watching as Pluto sailed past them and into the ship's now open hatch.
"Gawrsh that sure was a close one" Goofy chuckled while helping Donald back to his feet. Before the duck could reply an automated voice rang out.
"Autopilot engaged. Launching in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1" Donald watched in muted horror as the Gummi ship's hatch slid shut before the ship dropped out the exit hatch, vanishing into the space between worlds.
For what felt like an eternity no one made a sound, looking around Goofy noticed the worried look on the Queen's face, the exasperated one on her handmaiden's face and the slowly building fury on Donald's.
"Uh I don't suppose we've got another of them 'dummy ships' around do we?" he asked, scratching his head.
The only reply he got was Donald exploding into a wordless tantrum.
Traverse Town was a peculiar world. A world that existed to shelter those who had lost their own worlds, that's what Merlin had told them anyway, despite people's best efforts the place never could shake off a feeling of perpetual sadness.
Yuffie sighed as she gazed up at the night sky and noted that there were even fewer stars in the sky than before. Just as she was about to head back to the hotel a flicker of light caught her eye. Yuffie let out a muffled gasp as not one, but seven stars blinked out one after the other.
"Oh no, oh no no this is not good. LEON!" sprinting back towards the hotel she began calling out to her friend/boss "Leon get your broody butt out here we're about to have a lot of company!"
The first thing she noticed was the pain. That was good she supposed, it meant she was still alive. Voices from nearby caught her attention, a mix of panic and..pity? With a serious effort the young woman began to push herself up, her actions drawing more attention from the voices nearby. As her eyes blinked open and adjusted to the light she found three individuals, a rather rotund man, a child and a young woman in a fashionable dress watching her with concern.
"Steady there miss, no need to rush yourself" the man said as the young woman stepped forward offering her hand. After a second of consideration she accepted the help and was slowly pulled back onto her feet.
"Any serious injuries? Can you remember your name?" the young woman asked while guiding her over to a nearby seat. Some kind of inn she wondered?
"I'll live" she replied taking in her surroundings "And my name is Ciri" the sound of metal against wood let her know her sword was still with her. At least some good news. The young woman offered a slight smile before it quickly fell away.
"Will you be alright by yourself for a few moments? We need to check on the other arrival"
"Other arrival?" Ciri questioned, following her gaze across the plaza towards a large armoured figure lying slumped against a wall.
"Yeah, never seen so many stars go out at once. It's gonna be a mess trying to explain everything to them" the man sighed.
"Wait, what do you mean by stars going out? And what does that have to do with me waking up in this place?" Ciri asked with a feeling of unease filling her "I remember…Geralt said he needed to see me and then…!" with a sharp breath she shot to her feet, startling the three civilians.
"Geralt! Those monsters had us surrounded, where is he?" desperately looking around she felt a hand gently touch her shoulder. The young woman gave her a sorrowful look.
"I'm sorry Ciri, but your home is…it's gone. Those monsters have swallowed it like they have all our homes. I don't know who this Geralt is but, if he's not here then.." she trailed off, unwilling to finish the statement.
"No..no NO! What do you mean they're gone? It can't..HE can't be.." collapsing back into the seat Ciri held her head in her hands "I don't understand" she whispered.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of metal scraping against stone. As she and the three villagers attention was drawn back to the armoured figure across the plaza, slowly rising to its feet. Resting against the wall it shook its head and began to gaze around at the area before it noticed them. Rising to her feet once more Ciri prepared to reach for her sword, seeing this the figure held up a hand motioning for her to stop.
"Wait" it said, it's voice sounding masuline but with a strange echo to it "I don't mean you any harm, I just want to know where I am and..who are you?"
Still on edge, Ciri moved in front of the others, her own concerns on hold in the face of a possible threat. "My name is Ciri as for where we are..I'm afraid I'm in the dark about that too. Now how about you tell us who you are"
The figure paused, seemingly considering its options before reaching for its helmet. With a faint hiss the helmet was lifted from his head revealing a man, roughly 30 if she had to guess, with short, unkempt brown hair and stubble.
"My name is Nate Delaney, and I have a feeling I'm a long way from Boston"
Within Traverse Town's second district a young man staggered through a dimly lit alley. Running a hand through his blonde hair he tried desperately to make sense of his situation.
"Okay Jaune focus" he muttered, focusing on his own voice helped his nerves "You were in Atlas on your way to find Ren and Nora when those…things…appeared"
They were unlike any Grimm he'd seen before, small things lacking any of the bone like coverings of the rest of their kind, while being able to sink into the floor like the shadows they spawned from. He'd fought back but there'd been too many, he could hear gunfire from around the base indicating that the Atlas forces were under attack as well. He'd tried to fall back and regroup with his team or team RWBY when a feeling of weightlessness overcame him. He remembered watching helplessly as he was pulled into sky, Atlas tearing itself apart around him.
"Was it Salem? Were we too late?" he thought "And where am I? This place doesn't look like Mantle..was I thrown into another Kingdom?"
A shifting of shadows caught his attention as he looked up. In front of him was a small swarm of the shadow Grimm, their yellow eyes glowing ominously as they crept forward. Drawing his sword and shifting its sheath into its shield form he prepared to defend himself. Before he could even think about swinging his sword the shadows were struck by two glowing objects, decimating the swarm as they swept back and forth.
Once they were dealt with the glowing objects reeled back towards a new figure. A short girl with a long red ponytail, a white dress that also featured a strange helmet with a digital visor covering her face from view.
"Hello" the figure greeted cheerfully "I am Sophie humanity's companion, pleased to meet you"
Back in the first district a silver haired figure watched as Ciri and Nate began to explain their situations to each other. Resting against the mystical branch that he'd fashioned into a spear the figure turned his attention towards a small side alley behind the item shop. His gaze focusing on the boy lying unconscious behind some crates, with a Keyblade gripped tightly in his hand…
