Back at it again with another chapter! Sorry if this is a shorter one but I wanted to put out something before I moved on to the big battle at Radiant Garden. This is a different 'take' on the first secret ending of KH3 (with the Foretellers and Luxu's appearance). So happy about the feedback this has gotten thus far. Thank you for sticking with me :).

I highly recommend you play the track 'Destati ~ Organization XIII Cutscene' theme, as it really sets the mood.

In the Keyblade Graveyard, a battle concluded that was fated to happen, leaving the fabled battlegrounds abandoned once more. At least, that's what should have happened. Four figures slowly walked across silent paths, their booted feet stomping the pathways they moved across. Eventually, they huddled around the tired body of a man in black, carelessly leaning on a large black box as if he carried it for eons.

The man, his hood covering a scarred face, smirked seeing old friends once again. "Now, take it you know why I summoned everyone here?" He narrowed his sole eye, sighing in slight irritation. "Well, mostly everyone."

"What is this madness?!" The first traveler spoke up, his booming voice somewhat echoing beneath a rather large bear mask. His yellow and white robes gently moved from the dusty winds, betraying the rage his masked eyes portrayed. His hands clenched into tight fists as he marched toward the hooded figure, who simply threw back his own hood. Xigbar made a toothy smirk towards his former friend. "You summoned us after… After we all endured such torment Luxu!"

"Now, calm down Aced, lashing out isn't going to give us answers…" A woman with a snake mask said gently, Invi's voice seemingly soothed Aced's rage. A faint smile forming on her lips before a thin line formed on them upon seeing Luxu. Her blue robes and a calm posture masked whatever anger she could've had. "But answers would be appreciated, old friend."

"Yeah," The next figure commented, his voice more boyish than Aced's. He donned brownish-grey robes, having a more playful posture. "But Invi's right, we did deal with a lot… Never found that 'traitor' mentioned in the Book of Prophecies." He lamented, his white leopard mask looking down somberly at his feet.

The final figure of the four simply folded his arms as he stood inches away from Luxu… Xigbar, his white unicorn mask and simple presence towering over Luxu. "I trust you will be honest with us, considering the four of us are tired of lies uttered by you and our former master." Ira's voice wasn't booming like Aced's but carried the authority of a leader.

Luxu back up slightly, holding his hands out and letting out a tired sigh. "Come on guys, you are acting like I'm the bad one here." He said harshly, continuing with, "I lugged around this stupid box for eons while you four slept like babies. And you think I like this body?" He gestured to his black robe. "Kinda sick of the black coat by now."

"You were the Master's favorite, so you get no sympathy from me," Aced spat, folding his arms unamused. The other four remained silent as Luxu simply summoned the No Name Keyblade, earning shocked looks from the group. "So that was the keyblade…"

Luxu looked over his newly possessed No-Name. A genuine smile formed on his face as he brushed his gloved hand over it. "I've missed having a Keyblade, tell you that much." He looked at the box and tapped it with his free hand. "Now, our favorite person of the hour is gonna wake up soon, so say ready to say hello to our teach."

"W-Wait a second," Gula stuttered, a rarety for the Foreteller. "Our Master is in that?" Luxu nodded, looking around the group to gauge reactions. "It's a shame Ava couldn't be here with us…" He said somberly, earning a collective silence from the group. Luxu even bowed his head, as if honoring her death.

"She… She will show up when the time is right," Luxu said softly, his sole eye looking guilty. "You could blame me for her not being here right now, but just like the old coot and his band of idiots, she will be restored soon enough."

"Old coot?" Ira asked in confusion but Invi simply patted his shoulder, as if to say 'don't bother asking'. The black box slowly glowed, with Luxu gesturing everyone to step back as the lid opened up. Coming from the box, was a man donned in clothing that shocked Luxu, his sole eye wide as could be. Spiky brown hair, somewhat messy from bed head, showed itself first. His head turned toward the group, scarred blue eyes narrowing intensely before they became soft. He vaulted over and landed with grace on the ground, his rugged yellow combat boots nearly bouncing from the impact. Patting the dust off him, the Master of Masters, stretched his sore muscles with a grin on his face. "Master…"

"Okay, this isn't right," Luxu said in frustration, he jabbed his keyblade right in the Master of Master's chest. "You look just like the kid. And I am not dealing with 'another' Sora after dealing with one for this long." Luxu kept his glare with 'Sora' going, until the later's grin became dark, standing tall with hands behind his back. Luxu backed away, familiar with that dark expression. "M-Maybe I was mistaken, after all, it's been eons and all that…"

The group bowed right away, a surge of fear coming over them. Master Sora kept his glare before turning around and letting out a deep breath. He swung his keyblade at his students, everyone ducking as a wave of light struck something, as a loud scream got everyone's attention. "H-How did you notice us?" A faint, witchy voice uttered. The group looked toward the voice, seeing Maleficent in her dark robes on her knees. Sora turned his attention toward a rock, simply muttering 'Stopza' as the cartoonish cat Pete froze mid-run.

"One moment students, need to take care of some pests," Master Sora gave his iconic smile, calming the foretellers down as he stood before the downed witch of darkness and her bumbling fool. "Listen, idiots, I'm not in the mood to play repeat again. Get out of my way or I end you both right now."

"I-I'd listen to the kiddo, he's no weakling," Pete said in utter fear, his voice trembling. Sora felt pitty for the idiot, letting Pete out of his Stopza spell and Pete tripping as he ran off into the sunset. Maleficent simply spat out black, clawing at the ground as her body shifted into that of her dragon form. Master Sora frowned unamused and simply pointed his weapon at her, letting a powerful beam of light utterly eviscerate the dragon. All that was left, was a gust of darkness, that of which Sora used a weak Aera spell to get rid of. He turned back to his students, them in utter shock at their master's display of power. Master Sora simply looked around, hands folded behind his back and had a warm smile on his face.

"So, time to go over our plan of action," He snapped his fingers, making five pillars of ice appear out of the ground beneath each foreteller, the five now suddenly sitting like students in a classroom. "I owe my return to an old friend, one I'm pretty sure Luxu is well aware of."

Luxu's eye went wide once more before he sighed. "You tricked the Princess to use…" Sora mouthed 'yep' and held out his hand, forming a heart symbol. "Sorry to disappoint you, but the old coot tried activating Kingdom Hearts. You and your friends prevented him from doing any real damage."

"Ah, attentive as always. No wonder you are my favorite sometimes," Sora winked, earning a grown from Luxu. "Regardless, this heart… Is Sora's." Master Sora crushed the heart, leaving fragmented pieces hovering in the air, a total of eight. "See, this piece is currently in a little world I hand-crafted. It has a lot of charming people, so he's got good company." Master Sora waved his hand around, making a single string connect the other heart pieces. "But the rest of his heart is fractured. Going down the forbidden path is a hefty price, glad I never had to do that."

"But you… Were… I guess are, Sora… Right, Master?" Invi asked, her mask hiding the genuine confusion on her face. Master Sora gave her a faint smile before shaking his head. He started pacing, something she and the others recognized whenever he was in deep thought.

"...Remember the lessons about World Lines?" He asked earnestly, earning collective nods aside from Luxu, who simply folded his arms and rolled his eyes. "I'm from a different worldline than the one this Sora comes from." He pointed at the now empty box, everyone turning toward it. "I needed to come to this worldline, but I didn't know how. But I found a brilliant idea to make my heart sleep in a safe little place. But considering I didn't have a nobody or heartless, I couldn't be reformed so easily like our old friend, right Luxu?"

Luxu stood up, body trembling. "Y-You were the one that he talked with, weren't you?" Master Sora nodded, pacing once more but a frown was on his face this time. "Talk about small worlds…"

"Tell me about it, didn't know the guy would… Go that far. Just gave him some pointers! But nope, he had to torment innocent students and make them suffer unimaginable horrors. What a fool." Master Sora looked toward his pupils, seeing heated glares burning a hole into his skull. "...I'm not much better but anyway, the point is his little war gave me a chance to hop into this worldline."

Ira tapped his chin, pondering a thought. Master Sora grinned, knowing the thinker of the group was already at work. "Master, you want us to gather these heart fragments before others do, is that my understanding?"

"Correct!" Master Sora replied cheerfully before his face became more stern. "I had to tell the Princess of our plan sadly, otherwise I couldn't be here with you all right now. You know, scratch one's back and they scratch yours."

"You have plans for the girl," Invi said knowingly, with Master Sora remaining tight-lipped. Invi tried reading his trustful face, but his blue eyes didn't give any answers. "...Is this linked to Ava not being with us?"

Master Sora looked at his boots, a frown evident on his face. "...Yes, sadly. Unlike your hearts, which went to sleep upon the original Keyblade War, poor Ava kept looking and looking," He closed his eyes and opened them, a dark red taking over his blue. "Unlike myself, who willingly joined with their darkness, she didn't."

"Darkness?!" The group shouted in unison, except for Luxu, who just laughed heartedly. He slapped his knee seeing those familiar red eyes.

"I can't believe it, so that's what the moody one was talking about," Luxu wiped a lone tear from his eye, Master Sora's eyes turning back to their original blue. He coughed, composing himself once more.

"With all that explained, it's time to send you all out on some fun adventures!" Master Sora said gleefully, everyone standing up as the icy seats melted. "Invi and Gula, you two are too go to these worlds." He passed them special charms, them radiating a bright light. "They are Sleeping Worlds, so they act a wee bit differently than a usual one." Both nodded as they pocked the charms. He then walked toward Aced and Ira. "You both, are going to keep the other Sora occupied. Not sure how long a new friend of mine will be a 'challenge' to dear Sora. After all, if he shares my name, he's bound to be powerful."

"And let me guess, we are going to continue pestering the kid's friends, huh?" Luxu said in slight annoyance, with Master Sora simply throwing his arm around Luxu, ruffling his hair. "Come on, you know I hate that…"

"Nah, you love it champ. But yes, the fun times continue, whenever you like it or not," Master Sora grinned as he walked toward the box. "But come every one, I have some gifts for you all." The foretellers followed, standing feet away from the box as their master dug through the seemingly endless abyss. He carelessly threw a few key chains, the foretellers gabbing them as they came down like rain.

Luxu simply stared as his Master had a bunch of books in his arms. "I think we are all sick of books, Master." Master Sora tisked at his pupils attitude, passing each book to the Foretellers.

"Before anyone asks, everyone's pages are the same. We need to be on the same page this time out." He finished handing the books out, everyone flipping through them. "This should fill you all in on this worldline's worlds and people. It's not too different from my own Worldline, aside from… Well, stuff I don't want to talk about." Luxu saw Master Sora's eyes darken for a split second before they were bright once more.

"Interesting…" Gula mumbled, seemingly lost in thought. Invi looked equally interested. Ira and Aced just flipped through it as they shoved the book into their robes. Luxu just tucked the book in his robes as well, figuring he knew the story. Master Sora gave him a knowing look, making Luxu raise an eyebrow but he shrugged the thought off.

"Now, to keep things from getting too confusing around here…" Master Sora threw on a black robe and fixed on a familiar hood, feeling snug in the anti-darkness coat. "Luxu, we don't mention to the kiddo's who I am just yet, they are recovering from stress after all."

"But I'm sick of my robe, so I'm wearing my old get up, got it chief?" Luxu commented, with Master Sora holding his hands up on defeat before finishing fixing his robes on. He turned toward his students and held out his arms. Everyone stood still, unsure of what he wanted. "...You want us to hug you? Come on, we are adults."

"Yes, we are. But I haven't seen my family in years. Come." Master Sora ordered playfully, with everyone huddling around him. Gula and Invi broke down, sobbing slightly holding on to their master. Ira simply relented, while Aced only half-heartedly reciprocated the embrace. Luxu was shocked at how at peace he felt. Faint memories of his past life played, part of him happy at his master's return, even if he shared a familiar face.

The group hug ending, everyone went off on their unique missions, leaving only Luxu and Master Sora alone. The later simply brushed his gloved hand over the box, frown hidden beneath the hood. "...This is going to be your toughest mission yet, are you ready?" Luxu was taken aback by his Master's stern tone. "We… We are going to have to pull off some questionable things, to restore balance."

"So you really are trying to do what the old… What Xehanort failed at. What changed your mind?" Luxu asked earnestly, leaning on the box with his arms folded. Master Sora closed his eyes, going into deep thought.

"Not… Exactly Xehanort's plan. But he was right," He turned toward Luxu, determination present on his cloaked face. "Someone needs to lead this worldline. And if not him, then a Sora."

"A Sora…" Luxu repeated before he scoffed. "You want the kid's heart so you can become him in this worldline." Master Sora remained silent, before shaking his head and clasping hands behind his back.

"One of us will be the ruler of Kingdom Hearts when all's said and done." He held out his hand, making a Corridor of Darkness. It's darkness poured into the Keyblade Graveyard, Master Sora focused on the portal. "May the best Master win this race." He entered the portal first, with Luxu looking up at the sky blue sky, before closing his eye and following his master.

Before I move on to review responses, some context as to why I more or less spilled out the Master of Master's plan instead of keeping it a mystery. A big issue with the original narrative was how I wasn't super clear on if the Master of Masters was a good person or bad person. With this, I hope I made it very clear the kind of character I'm writing this time out.

I responded to everyone via DM's but some more detailed responses, considering a few guest accounts left review (thank you guys for that :D!)

hcbnc - Yeah, those Data Battles are waaaaay to difficult, so wanted to play up how Riku would react doing them. On Standard, I imagine they aren't too bad. But Proud? I got my a** handed to me hard. Hoping to actually finish them one of these days...

Guest - I have a LOT of grand battles envisioned. This story is more or less both my take on an 'intermission' game (ala Dream Drop Distance) and a mainline title (KH4). So you will see grand stuff happening.

Hero of Neutrality & 7 - Thank you :).