Sora's eyes shot open. He immediately bolted upright and smacked heads with someone else. Hard. They yelped, "Ow! Well, now I know he's gonna be okay!"

"Kairi?" His vision cleared and he saw Kairi rubbing her forehead.

"Yeah, it's me. Ugh, is your forehead made of steel? That might actually bruise!"

"Oh. Sorry."

"It's fine. Riku appeared and knelt beside him, "Feeling better? Because we have some questions for you."

"Now, now, don't be so demanding." A familiar voice cut in, "Poor thing just woke up! What- are y'all gonna challenge him to a race down the beach?"

"Ms. Aro?" Sora massaged his temples, trying to soothe a major headache. "What's going on?"

"We could ask you the same thing." Riku muttered.

Sora took a moment to glance about his surroundings. They were still in the Drama room, but there were no Heartless in sight. The remaining glass from the broken window had been swept and thrown away. Some of the wooden floor had dark stains on it, and he remembered crimson clouds.

Remembering what Riku had said, he looked at his friend in confusion, "Uh...what?"

Ms. Aro bit her lip, "...your weapon..."

"I had a weapon?!" Sora flinched so hard he nearly knocked himself over, and his headache flared up. "...ow."

"The key."

"Eh?"

Kairi knitted her eyebrows. "You don't remember?"

"Well, my head's on fire right now, so sorry," he huffed.

Ms. Aro sighed, rummaged around in a satchel she was wearing, and handed him a vial that looked oddly like the acid he'd seen her use earlier. "Drink this, all of it. It'll make you feel better."

"Isn't this acid?"

She shook her head, taking notice of his observation. "No, this is darker in color."

Sora thought about it, and decided to trust her. He popped the cork off and drank it all in one gulp. Immediately his aching temples cooled off, and he felt refreshed. "Oh, wow. That's effective. How does it even work?"

Ms. Aro chuckled and took the empty vial back, not bothering to answer his question.

Kairi swiveled her head to look back at him curiously, "You had some kind of key weapon and you killed those Shadows in one hit!"

"...I did?"

"I got the rest." Ms. Aro said, patting Sora on the shoulder.

"You still haven't explained that, either," Riku snorted. "And since Sora's awake now, can we have the answer? That was the deal. Because apparently both you and Sora can summon giant flashy keys."

"What?! I don't get it!" Sora complained.

Ms. Aro hummed slightly, "Well, alright, then. Come with me to the principal's office and we'll talk about it there."

Principal Berry nodded at them in acknowledgement when they came in. She gestured to three seats. "Please, sit."

They did, and Ms. Aro remained standing, leaning against the wall near the principal's desk. Riku noticed someone else in the room, and cocked an eyebrow. "Uh...Principal Berry, why is Mr. Creftar here?"

"Why wouldn't I be here?" snorted the old History teacher.

"Uh..."

"They're gonna help me explain to y'all what these shiny keys are." Ms. Aro summoned the strange blade for a split second before making it disappear again, barely giving them any time to admire it. "Ain't that right, Liat? Orson?"

"You're going to do it as well, Candace," Liat Berry snapped. "I'm not the one with the quote-unquote 'shiny key', nor do I have any experience in that field whatsoever."

Mr. Creftar seemed totally indifferent and said nothing. Ms. Aro shrugged, her ever-too-bright mood not dampening even a smidge.

"Well, let's get started, then! Orson, you have that History book of yours?"

"Here," he grunted, taking it out and plunking it on the principal's desk, rattling some of the nearby items. Liat frowned at the disruptive half-slam and surreptitiously dusted part of the area surrounding it. Sora briefly wondered how Mr. Creftar was able to carry it around when he was a rather skinny old man.

Ms. Aro cheerfully flipped to the page with a picture of weird weapons similar to hers on it. The entry was titled, 'The Keyblade'.

"Ya see," she elaborated. "The thing you were able to summon is known as a Keyblade. As the name suggests, it is a special key-shaped weapon that is mainly used for repelling darkness. You're supposed to inherit one through a specific ceremony, so ya must've come across some wielder who passed down the Keyblade to ya. But that is rather strange, considering I thought I was the only one here."

Sore paused. Something about his mind felt different.

And then a memory hit him in the face.

He remembered being on the beach when he was about four, playing hide-and-seek with Riku. He'd come across a strange woman who'd helped him hide. She'd showed him a Keyblade, handed it to him, recited some sort of mantra, and then placed a hand on his forehead. She had said that she was glad to have met him, and then said another strange rite. He remembered his vision fading to black...then nothing else.

She'd replaced his memories?!

It felt like it had happened only yesterday- it was so fresh in his mind now despite being so long ago.

"What do you mean, you thought you were the only one?"

She shrugged, "There are very few wielders here, if any at all, besides myself. The others are in different worlds."

"Different worlds?" Riku and Kairi echoed.

"You know the legend, right? It's in the book." Ms. Aro tapped the pages. "The legend of the other worlds? It's true."

"But then, how have we never heard of them?" Sora inquired, "I remember the woman who gave me my Keyblade-thing. I haven't seen her since."

"There's a special world order, which has been kept for a very long time. Non-wielders are completely unaware that other worlds exist. Only those with the Keyblade know, and usually only Masters or senior trainees are allowed to travel between them." Ms. Aro chuckled. "The woman who passed her Keyblade to you was probably from another world, as am I."

"You're from another world?" Kairi stared at her in disbelief.

"Indeed I am! Quite a lovely place too. Perhaps I can take y'all there one day."

"Wait," Riku knitted his brows. "You said non-wielders aren't supposed to know about other worlds. Well, Sora's the only wielder out of the three of us."

"Wrong!" Ms. Aro chirped, and to their shock, she gestured to Kairi. "Your friend over there is also a wielder! I can sense it- she just hasn't been able to summon her Keyblade yet."

"I-I am?!" Kairi exclaimed at the same time her friends shouted, "You are?!"

"Yep!"

"This is a waste of time." Principal Berry muttered hotly.

Mr. Creftar was watching them with his normal unreadable expression. "I would say otherwise, Liat. Those Heartless aren't fooling around."

"Hmph. How are we going to explain this to the other students?"

"Simple!" Ms. Aro replied without missing a beat, "We won't!"

"But they saw the monsters-"

"Hush now, Liat. I have it under control. That woman replaced Sora's memories- I'm sure we'll be able to do the same!"

"Replace the memories of over a hundred students, plus parents, other teachers, and police?"

"I have my ways," Ms. Aro waved her hand flippantly. "Don't you worry about it."

Sora glanced to the side and noticed Riku's expression. It was a mixture of surprise, doubtfulness, and...jealousy?

'Oh.' He wasn't a wielder. Sora felt a rush of sympathy for his friend.

"I can see that face of yours!"

All three jerked their heads up in surprise at Ms. Aro's exclamation, "Huh?"

She chuckled, "Riku. It's quite alright. I understand. But seeing as you already know about the other worlds...I've made a decision. What's a trio without the third person?"

"Uh- what?" Riku shot her a bewildered look.

Ms. Aro stretched out her hand, and in a large gathering of light, her Keyblade flashed into her hands. It was Sora's firs time seeing it up close. It was a dark green, smooth and polished, and the hilt had a dragon head carved into it. The end- the part used as a blade- was shaped into multiple points that resembled jagged claws.

"This is Draconian Emerald," she said. "Grab the part that isn't sharp, Riku."

Confused but not objecting, he did so.

Liat cocked an eyebrow, "Seriously." she stated, not as a question. She didn't sound disapproving. If anything, she was surprised.

Mr. Creftar leaned forward slightly. "This is intriguing."

Ms. Aro chortled. "Riku already knows about the other worlds. I'm not making him a wielder just because of that, or because I feel sorry for him. He has potential. I can tell."

Liat shrugged. "I don't care who you choose as your successor."

Ms. Aro turned her gaze back to Riku, her eyes unfocusing slightly as she seemed to think back and recall words she had memorized long ago. "In your hand, take this Key. So long as you have the makings, then through this simple act of taking, its wielder you shall one day be."

There was a split second pause, and then the Keyblade- Draconian Emerald- glowed for a brief moment. When the light faded, Ms. Aro grinned. "Now you have the ability to wield a Keyblade as well, Riku." She let out a loud cackle, making all of them give a start. "Guess y'all should address me as Master Candace now!"

"I don't care if you're a 'Master'. You have always been and always will be a child." Principal Berry scoffed.

"WHY THANK YOU-" She yelled louder just to spite her.

Riku paused, thoughtful, then asked, "How do you summon a Keyblade?"

Ms. Aro grinned in her usual way. "Well, this is how I was taught: imagine having light at your command. Think of it flowing into your hand and taking physical form, and it will come to you. At this point, I'm able to do it on instinct, and one day you will too. Sora here summoned his last time because he was under pressure and his Keyblade responded to his distress."

The trio exchanged glances, and held out their hands in the way they'd seen their teacher do. Sora closed his eyes, the illustration of the light particles coming to mind. He thought of them filling his hands with their gentle warmth, shaping themselves into a weapon with a-

Shing!

Feeling metal between his fingers, Sora's eyes shot open and he saw a Keyblade- his Keyblade.

It seemed a little plain, but radiated a kind of soft light he found himself growing fond of. The blade itself was silver, shaped like a crown at the end, while the hilt was golden and made the entire thing look more like a key.

He gazed at it in awe, before noticing his friends had summoned Keyblades as well. Kairi's was rather pretty and ornate- one side of the hilt was formed in the shape of a breaking ocean wave, while the other was formed into a beige vine of sand that wrapped around the shaft, which was colored like a sunset. The sand vine connected to a bouquet of colorful flowers, which formed the blade's teeth.

Riku's was a red, purple and blue blade shaped like a dragon-like wing. The Keyblade's guard was composed of two wings: one white and one dark. Another wing- colored a dark silver- was positiooned on top of the blade and seemed to be the teeth.

Ms. Aro clapped her hands together, "Daw, they all look amazing! How does it feel to be new trainees?"

Sora grinned and opened his mouth to respond, but at that moment there was a brisk knock on the door.

"How do we unsummon?!" Kairi hissed as quietly as she could, looking panicked.

"The same procedure you use to summon, but backwards!" Ms. Aro whispered in response.

They got the hang of it quickly, and the Keyblades vanished from sight. Principal Berry frowned, "Come in."

The door opened, and a woman stepped inside. She had long black hair and a serious expression. Her calculating amber eyes flickered about the area she had entered, taking in all the details.

In Sora's opinion, she was kind of terrifying.

"Greetings," the woman said, her voice clean and silky. "I heard there was an attack here at the school by strange creatures."

"You are speaking to the school's principal right now," Principal Berry replied, her expression equally guarded. "And would you be an officer? I don't see a name tag or uniform."

She didn't look like an officer, Sora agreed silently. She was wearing a black vest, a zippered grey shirt underneath, and a studded belt around her black skirt.

Not so surprisingly, the woman shook her head. Mr. Creftar piped up, looking annoyed. "You a reporter or some'n? 'Cause I hate those guys."

"I am not an officer nor am I a reporter."

"Then who are you, Miss?" Candace inquired.

She reached into a pocket in her vest and pulled out a badge holder, showing it to them. "The one who's in charge."

They looked at the badge with surprise. Sora heard Kairi gasp quietly. They all recognized it: the symbol of a silver dandelion.

During an Advisory-exclusive class from last year, they'd been learning about certain laws, and it had been drilled into their heads that this particular badge showed that someone was of the utmost authority. They triumphed over senior officers, government officials, the likes. When asked why they had such a special emblem, the instructor had merely replied that the information was classified, but it was widely assumed that they were special agents.

Liat's expression turned sour. "May I ask your name?"

"Skuld. Pleasure to meet you." Her tone was cool and distant, giving an opposite feel to her words.

Ms. Aro stepped forward, looking a bit shocked. "Now, hold on! I know that symbol!"

"Don't we all?" Liat said acidly.

"Hush." She turned towards the woman, Skuld. "You're a member of the Dandelions!"

To their surprise, Skuld's eyes widened with surprise and her mouth dropped slightly, breaking her aloof facade. "Wh- how do you know that name?"

The Chemistry teacher reached out and summoned Draconian Emerald. "My parents hail from Scala Ad Caelum, and I from the Land Of Departure, where another Dandelion lives."

"There's a Keyblade wielder here?"

"I'm not the only one."

Liat scoffed, "We just gained three more. How quaint. Small world."

A rather unhelpful thought popped up in Sora's head that Principal Berry did not have the best reactions for every situation.

Skuld's eyebrow shot up. "Are they here?"

As if they shared the same thoughts, the new wielders immediately summoned their respective Keyblades.

Skuld shot them all surprised looks. "Oh, wow! I didn't know there were any other wielders in this world." She frowned and glanced pointedly at Liat and Orson. "What about them?"

"Liat's an old friend. She's seen the Heartless and is aware of the situation," Ms. Aro replied. "And Orson has experienced much more than we all think."

The woman's frowned remained in place. "Well, while I question your...methods of going about this situation, I suppose I can't do much about it. You don't seem like the kind of people who would easily leak this sort of information. And you say that you just gained them?"

Ms. Aro nodded, "Why don't you explain yourself first, Sora?"

Jumping when she said his name, Sora immediately gave a fleeting look at Skuld, unsummoning his Keyblade. He still thought she was a little intimidating...but her expression had softened a little and she didn't seem as cold anymore.

"Um, the Heartless attacked our hiding spot, and I guess I summoned the Keyblade on instinct. I didn't even know I could do it, but I passed out after killing a few Shadows. I remember when I was four...I was playing on the beach and I came across this woman who was watching the sunset.

"I don't really know why, but she decided to pass down her Keyblade to me. And then she said some sort of rite and replaced my memories so I wouldn't remember. I only remember it now, but I'm not sure why...I guess summoning my Keyblade triggered it."

Realizing he'd started to ramble, Sora turned red, "Uh, s-sorry, I didn't mean to talk so much..."

But Skuld was leaning forward, her amber eyes alight with interest. "No no, it's alright. Certainly an interesting story...do you remember the spell this woman cast in order to make you forget?"

"Y-yes...?"

"Could you tell me? I might be able to explain a few things if I recognize it."

Sora gave her a surprised glance, and called the memory to mind. "...You may not remember what has transpired, but your memories will nor truly expire. They'll be hidden and locked away, until one certain day. When they are needed again, you will find them, my friend. But for now, let these thoughts and new ability be hidden. When the danger comes alive, to your heart you'll dive, and the lock will be overridden."

He found himself on the receiving end of bewildered stared from his friends. He stared back, "What?!"

"That sounds kinda cool, but really weird." Kairi said.

"Yep." Riku agreed.

Sora pouted at them in response. Skuld, a thoughtful expression on her face, spoke up. "Okay, I recognize that spell. As you've already deduced, she replaced your memories with fake ones, locking them and your ability to summon the Keyblade away. But because of the Heartless attack, you remember it the way it really was, and you can use the Keyblade. But the line 'to your heart you'll dive'..."

"You don't know what it means?" Sora asked.

"I have an inkling. Tell me, when you were getting attacked, in the window of time before you summoned your Keyblade, did you see something? Experience something?"

His eyes widened, remembering the ocean that turned into doves; his surreal experience. "Y-yes! I was standing on some kind of pillar of stained glass, I think. I thought I was just hallucinating!"

"That was your Dive To The Heart," Skuld said. "You usually access it while asleep, but I guess in your case, it happened during an important event."

"I'm sorry, it was my who to the what?"

"It's complicated." She laughed a little, which was rather nice and helped Sora relax.

"How complicated?" inquired Kairi.

"Do you want me sit here and talk at you for about half an hour? Because that's what happened when my teacher explained it." Skuld shrugged, "And what's your story?"

"Not much," Kairi admitted. "I don't remember either, and nothing was triggered. But Ms. Aro said that she could sense that I'm a wielder, and apparently she was right."

The black-haired woman hummed a little. "Alright then. So your ability to summon your Keyblade was never locked, but you had to be aware of it and actually try in order to do so." Finally, she looked at Riku. "What about you?"

"Ms. Aro made me her successor," he replied, summoning his Keyblade and smiling when it obediently appeared in his hands. Sora felt happy for him.

"Just Candace for now!" Ms. Aro chirped.

"Er- I'll try." Riku said respectfully.

She laughed. Skuld nodded thoughtfully. "Well, it's always good to have more Keyblade wielders. Especially since the darkness seems to be returning to all the worlds. First: what do you know about Heartless?"

"They're ugly monsters who wanna eat you." Sora couldn't help grumbling, a memory of his recent near-death experience with the Shadows coming to mind.

She actually laughed at that, "Interesting description. The Heartless are creatures who are born from the darkness in people's hearts. Usually they are locked away in a special realm, but they seem to have escaped somehow. They look for hearts with light, and light in general, seeking to devour it. There are many kinds of Heartless, but we won't get into that just yet. Now, do you know what Dream Eaters are?"

The children shook their heads. Sora had never heard of such a thing, and thought that they sounded a little weird.

Skuld shrugged, "I suspected you didn't. They don't appear as often as Heartless do these days. There are good Dream Eaters- called Spirits- who usually serve as companions. Then there are Dream Eaters who have been tainted with darkness- those are Nightmares." She scowled, "Horrible things they are, really. Sort of sad as well. If a Spirit's master turns to the darkness, they turn into Nightmares. Do you understand?"

Taking a glance at each other as the information sunk in, the trio nodded.

Skuld smiled, her dark mood gone. "Good. Now, I was wondering..." She looked pointedly at Sora and Kairi. "...if we could track down the Masters who passed their Keyblades down to you. Kairi, do you remember any incident from when you were younger in which you may have encountered a Master?"

She shook her head in disappointment. "No, I don't think so...I only knew I was a wielder because Ms. Aro-"

"Candace!"

"-er, Candace said she could sense I was."

Skuld stopped, her serene and meditative expression abruptly turning into one that conveyed that something had dawned on her. "Wait," she said, turning to Candace. "You said you could sense it?"

"Mhm!" The green-haired woman nodded merrily.

"Usually you can only sense another Keyblade wielder if you are familiar with their presence and know that they're a wielder..." Skuld's eyes widened slightly. "Hold on- you said you hailed from the Land of Departure?"

"Indeed!"

"So if you sensed that Kairi was a wielder, despite not being her predecessor...that means you must have been familiar with the presence of her Master!" Skuld exclaimed. "So Kairi's Master must be somewhere on the Land of Departure!"

"Ooh, that makes sense!" Candace chirped.

"My Master is from where?" Kairi chimed in, confused.

Skuld turned to her, "Your Master is from the Land of Departure. It's a special world that is in between this realm and the Realm of Darkness, where the Heartless are at home. Light and darkness are balanced there, and it has been guarded for many generations. This makes it easy- I only know a few Masters who are from the Land of Departure.

"There is Master Eraqus, Master Xehanort, Master Aqua, Master Terra. However, Terra became a Master only recently, so that places him out of the question since Kairi seems to have inherited the Keyblade when she was young. Then we have Master Eraqus. He may be the one, but he only had three apprentices, all of whom he raised in the castle. I very much doubt he passed the Keyblade down to a young girl from another world, and then left her there. He wouldn't do that.

"That leaves Master Xehanort and Master Aqua. They are both potentially Kairi's Masters. It's unknown whether or not Master Xehanort has any apprentices, but since he is usually travelling from world to world, and frequently returning to the Land Of Departure, it wouldn't surprise me if he dropped off his Keyblade on a few people and just didn't tell anyone.

"On the other hand, we have Master Aqua. She apparently hasn't trained anyone, and she only leaves her world if it's for a mission. I wouldn't count her out just yet, though. She's very skilled as a mage and it's possible that at some point in her Masterhood, her missions brought her here and she decided to pass her Keyblade down to someone and removed their memories."

Skuld took a deep breath, ending her speech. She blushed a little, "I'm sorry, I think I just rambled."

Candace laughed, "I quite enjoyed it! It was like seeing your brain work on the outside!"

"In short," Skuld regained a brisk demeanor. "Kairi's Master could either be Master Xehanort or Master Aqua."

"...wow." Kairi said quietly. "So, you think we could go find them?"

"Of course. But first," she looked at Sora. "I want to see if I can recognize your predecessor. You do remember, right?"

"Uh, yeah! Hold on..." Sora concentrated, calling back the memory of the kind, smiling woman. He frowned when he realized her appearance. "I know she was wearing these fancy pink robes...but I can't see her face because she's wearing a mask."

"A mask?" Skuld tsked a bit, but when Sora opened his eyes (which he hadn't realized he'd closed), he saw unreadable emotions warring in her expression. "What kind of mask?"

Thinking about it, he replied, "Um...it was kind of silver with some purple accents. Its eyes were yellow. It looked like either a wolf or a fox."

"A woman in pink robes and a fox mask?" Skuld repeated, her eyes wide with realization.

"Uh, yeah."

"Wha- that sounds like- but-" she was sputtering and looked utterly shocked.

"Who?" Sora stared at her nervously, "Is she a bad person?"

"N-no! Quite the opposite, really." Skuld cleared her throat and smoothed down her shirt. "Your Master is someone I know very well. The symbol I have is the symbol of a group of exceptional Keyblade wielders known as the Dandelions. The founder and trainer of this group is known as Master Ava. She trained us and she completely fits your description.

"Sora, your Master is the founder of one of the most elite wielder groups there are!"

After they got over this revelation, Skuld tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Okay, I think I know what to do. We'll take you guys- and Candace as well, since she's Riku's Master- to Scala Ad Caelum first, where you can meet Master Ava and maybe even some of the other people who live there. Then we'll travel to the Land Of Departure and see if our guesses on the identity of Kairi's Master is correct. How does that sound?"

"Goooood..." Riku drawled, "Except for one thing."

"Hm?"

"What are we going to tell our parents?"

Sora and Kairi cringed. The former had completely forgotten about his mom and felt bad about doing so.

Skuld blinked, and pondered this for a minute before grinning. "Oh, don't you worry. I have it under control. I just came up with the perfect cover story."

"So you're going to lie to our parents?" Riku stared at her disbelievingly.

She snorted. "Not completely. Just go along with it."

The trio shared uneasy glances before agreeing.

Skuld laughed, "Great! Now, if Principal Berry could call the wielders' parents here, I can sort everything out."

"Wait," Sora interjected, remembering his schoolmates. "What about all of the other people who saw the Heartless attack?"

She smirked, "Taken care of. I replaced everyone's memories of the incident before I came up here."

Liat roughly hushed their shocked clamor as she dialed for Sora's mother first.

The ruse was that they were going to be interning with the Dandelions. Sora kind of perked up at this. That sounded relatively convincing, but after Skuld explained it, his mood was dampened after Riku just had to make a teasing comment: "I bet your mom will be surprised when she finds out you got a special internship with your grades!"

To which Sora had retorted, "At least I have a better grade than you in Chemistry, Mr. My-Master-Is-The-Chemistry-Teacher!"

And then they'd started to wrestle a little before Principal Berry barked at them to stop fighting in her office. (Ms. Aro thought it was absolutely hilarious, Mr. Creftar looked entertained, Skuld shook her head affectionately and Kairi scolded them.)

A couple minutes after they calmed down, their parents came inside, looking a little puzzled. Sora's mother took one glance at her son and his friends, looked up, and exclaimed, "Did he get into a fight with Riku or something?!"

'Almost did,' Sora mouthed jokingly to Kairi, to which she rolled her eyes.

Principal Berry seemed to think the same thing, but merely shrugged and nodded at Skuld, who took over. "Actually, we have very good news for you all."

"What kind of good news?" Kairi's father inquired.

"My name is Skuld, and I'm pleased to say that your sons and daughter have been accepted into a private internship. It's bound to give them a great deal of experience in the future, however, it is an extremely classified ordeal and you won't be able to meet with them for a while. You are allowed to call and text, but they will not be allowed to tell you about the internship."

Sora mentally noted how convincing she was making it. Her tone was brief and professional, and yet let in enough warmth so as to show respect.

The listening adults nodded slowly, but Sora's mother spoke up. "It certainly sounds promising...but I'm not sure if this is completely safe."

"It will be safe, ma'am." Skuld assured her, taking out the symbol of the Dandelions and showing it to them. There was a small gasp from them all. She continued, "You have my word. Any harm that comes to these children can be put against me personally."

Sora's mother hesitated, then nodded. "Okay, then."

"You have our support." Riku's parents smiled.

Kairi's mother and father were nodding a little too, seeming pleased that their daughter was going to be interning for such a high-ranking position.

"Great." Skuld smiled as well, snapping the badge holder shut. "We'll start tomorrow. Meet me at the front of this school at nine AM, and you can say your goodbyes there." She gave a small, respectful bow, and walked out of the room.

The next day, they were indeed at the front of Destiny Islands Academy. Sora's mother held him in a tight grip. "Make sure you call or text me every once in a while, okay?"

"Yes, mom," he mumbled into her shoulder. He was going to miss her, but this would only be temporary, he reasoned.

Kairi and Riku broke off from their parents. Sora let go of his mom at last and grinned at her, "Well, if they let me, I'll video call you."

"That sounds nice." She smiled, waving him away. "I'll be seeing you."

"Thanks, mom! Love you!" He ran off to join his friends.

"My parents are really happy about this internship," Kairi told him. "How does your mom feel about it?"

"She's happy for me..." Sora waved at his mom as Skuld led them away. "...but I think she's gonna be a little lonely. I hope I'll be able to give her a video call every once in a while."

"You will," Skuld reassured them, rounding a corner and bringing their parents out of sight. She summoned her Keyblade- it was mostly black and chartreuse, with parts that were gold and blue. Pretty simple, yet regal. She pointed it at a space of seemingly empty air, and the sharp tip glowed, increasing in intensity until they had to shield their eyes.

When they glanced over again, there was a strange ship. "How did you-" Riku started to say, but was cut off by Skuld.

"I cloaked it so no one could see it," she said firmly. "This is a Gummi Ship. It'll take us to the other worlds. Come on, let's get inside."

Deciding not to question the name of the ship, Sora allowed himself to be ushered inside along with Riku, Kairi, and Candace. Looking around, it was a little small, but homey. Skuld closed the entrance and made her way to the cockpit. "Okay, sit tight. I don't need you guys getting hurt when we take off."

Obediently they sat. Skuld started the ship, which shuddered before starting up. With a supersonic roar, it shot to the sky. Sora felt gravity immediately attempting to push him down at the abrupt flight, but failing. He felt a little dizzy, but it was over in a matter of seconds.

The weight suddenly disappeared. Swaying a little, Sora called out, "W-what happened?"

There was a click, and a concerned Skuld came out of the cockpit. "You okay?"

"What happened?" he repeated.

She steadied him. "Sorry. Should've given you more warning than that. We just got to the Lanes Between."

"Beg your pardon?" Sora heard Kairi ask.

"The Lanes Between are how us Keyblade wielders travel to other worlds," Skuld explained, gently plunking Sora down on a comfortable chair. "They can only be accessed through extreme speeds and are individually unlocked via a Keyblade at the same time. Takes some practice, but relatively easy once you get the hang of it.

"But now I'm taking you all to Scala Ad Caelum."

Sora felt his spirits rise. He was excited.

No one noticed Skuld's fond expression toward the young wielders as she thought of herself. When she had told their parents that any harm that came to them could be held against her personally, she meant it. She wondered if she should be getting so attached to the bright-minded youths. She wasn't too certain, but one thing was for sure.

If any of them got hurt, she was pretty sure she wouldn't forgive herself.

Review Responses!

Minty220 (Chapter Two: Creatures Of Darkness): Thank you for reviewing! I'm happy you like the story, and I hope you enjoyed this one too!

verdance: I'm glad you have a positive view on rewriting lore. Hopefully the changes below don't scramble your brain, because they sure did ruin mine even more than writing this chapter did. Yes, your first guess was correct! I found your other one interesting, and I can definitely see how you would think that. I could probably trick myself into believing that, haha!

If that was a breather, you should take your time to get that air, because now we're diving into the depths and it is gonna be crazy. (Mostly because I only have like half of the next chapter written and I don't really know what I'm doing.)

Aaaand we are kicking things off with this story! Just like how I kicked Shizukana out of the studio! :D

You mean with supersonic force and speed? *giggles*

Yup! Oh, and that's Krisatala by the way. Our OCs spice things up a bit and make a lot of stuff funnier, so they're gonna be making regular appearances in my A/Ns. Hope y'all don't mind.

Anyways, here is some of what's going on/what is different with May Our Hearts Be Our Guiding Keys compared to Kingdom Hearts!

What is the same:

- Keyblades still exist
- Kingdom Hearts is also legit
- We still have Heartless and Dream Eaters
- Most canon characters exist, albeit in VERY different ways

What is different (these points were a doozy):

- Most civilizations and people are much more modern and technologically advanced
- The Lanes Between got an upgrade to its access system (lol!)
- SOME worlds are combined. There are different regions, representing different worlds (e.g. Destiny Islands and Radiant Garden would be part of one world, Disney Town and Disney Castle would be part of another world, etc.)
- KEY DIFFERENCE 1: The MoM wasn't a freaking manipulator. He stayed with his apprentices. The Book Of Prophecies didn't say anything about a traitor; Gula's role was to aid Ava by eliminating any threats to her training the Dandelions. Additionally, Luxu wasn't sent away and instead was given a similar role to Invi.
- KEY DIFFERENCE 2: The Foretellers and MoM traveled with the Dandelions and were able to survive to this day while maintaining their youthful appearances.

(I'm still debating whether or not the Keyblade War happened. If it didn't, the only reason it's in the History book is because of the MoM's war prophecy, which was somehow passed down and became the legend. And as to how everyone is still alive, they either time traveled- I saw a theory having to do with the Foretellers and time travel- or maybe the KH3 event is similar to this. I dunno.)
- KEY DIFFERENCE 3: The X-Blade wasn't destroyed and split apart. Therefore, we don't have any evil Xehanort seeking to, you know, destroy the world, and we don't have most of the BBS events. (Whether or not Vanitas appears, we'll find out, since this is modern-ish.)
- KEY DIFFERENCE 4: Nobodies don't exist! Well- duh, we knew that, but I mean that they actually don't work out here. No Nobodies. As for the Sea Salt Trio...if you have suggestions for how they can work out here, I'd love to hear them, because otherwise we won't be seeing anything! :D

There are probably more but I forgot. :p A lot about this is different, so if anyone has questions, just review and I'll answer them. Same with requests! If you have one, I can look at it and as long as it doesn't interfere with the little bits of ideas I have in mind for this story, they will most likely be accepted!

Phew this is long. Welp.

somibel, OUT!