Hello, fellow readers! Welcome back to Key of Light! Now, let us see what we got:

Spartastic 4: Glad it wasn't, I wanted to keep everything nice and neat. I really want more interactions to open up more aspects for character development, as well as some interesting conversations. I work hard to make fights cool and fluid, so thanks for the support there. Don't worry, the character moments don't stop here.

Lightkirinhuruname: I already got it, as this is the proof.

Haxorus Knight: OK, I'm just gonna say it flat out, this series isn't a romance type deal. I want to give a great story with excellent action... BUT, I may allude to pairings that make the most sense in the canon series and maybe some here, but that's it.

BlitzNeutral69: Thanks. Please refer to previous sentence.

So, let's continue!

Chapter 1: Heart of a Lion

"You also lost your world too?"

Terra asks this as him and Merlin enters his house. Merlin puts down his bag as he answered, "That's right. We tried our best, but had no choice other than escape."

Terra clenched his fists at this. In his absence, more worlds fell as the darkness spread. No doubt his corrupted self had a role in causing it.

"However, I know that with people like you here, this chaos will end. But first, we need to find your friends." Merlin reassured.

Terra nodded in agreement, "Right."

"Just let me unpack and we'll get started." Merlin then performed a spell that opened the bag, tiny furniture floated out and grew bigger as they spun around in a circle. It didn't take long before the place was decorated completely. Terra looked around as Merlin seems to be annoyed at something.

"Confound it, I know I'm missing something." He muttered to himself as he stroked his beard.

"What's wrong?" Terra asked as he noticed Merlin.

"Give me a moment, it must be here somewhere."

Terra watched as Merlin opened the drawers and cabinets, moving stuff out and floating in the air until he found what he was looking for.

"Here we are! Now, this is just a feeling I had, but I believe this belongs to you." To Terra's shock, he was holding his Wayfinder!

"W-Where did you find this?" He asked, taking it as he does.

"I took a simple stroll one day and found it. I was curious as who the owner was, but I held on to it in case they ever appeared. Looks like my intuition was correct." Merlin explained as he returned the stuff he pulled out back to where they were.

Terra simply looked at the Wayfinder, having a good idea of where it was, dropped as he and Aqua fought Xehanort in Radiant Garden.

"Now, let us see here..." Merlin then opened a spellbook and conjured a magical cloud which then opened to show his friends like a projection.

Terra sees that Aqua was walking with a young girl dressed kinda like a ninja as Ragna and Sora are...

"Oh dear, what has Leon done to provoke them?" Merlin sighed as he said this.

"It must be a misunderstanding." Terra guessed, "Do you know where they are?"

"Those three are in the First District while Yuffie and your other friend is in the Third. Don't worry, a simple teleport will save time." Merlin answered.

He then conjured another spell, making him and Terra disappear in a puff of smoke.

Leon was on the defensive as Ragna rained down power blows, mostly dodging them and blocking a few before Sora jumps at him from behind. Leon simply performed a spin slash to catch them off balance, sending the two back. Ragna retaliated with a Dead Spike, the beast head rushing at Leon as he sees it in shock.

"Darkness!?" He thought as he quickly leaped to his left to dodge.

He then notices Sora spinning on one of the nearby poles and launches himself off with a spinning attack. He waits and swings at the right moment to reverse Sora's rotation, knocking him off balance and flying. As Sora lands, Ragna closes the distance with a Hell's Fang that Leon blocks. The force pushes him back a bit as Ragna follows it up, hitting Leon through the defense. As it does, Sora lands a strong swing against his back.

A bit ticked, Leon performed one of his specials, pushing Ragna off and does a complete spin almost instantly, Sora barely ducking and Ragna finding himself face to face with the blade's tip. Leon then pulled the trigger, firing off an explosive round that sent Ragna flying into a pillar.

Sora got to his feet and swung at Leon in anger, only for Leon to sidestep it. He swings again and again, Leon blocked and deflected each time before going on the offense. Sora now finds himself in trouble as he couldn't really handle all of Leon's swings, barely keeping up to avoid severe damage. Leon then launched a quick flurry of thrusts as Sora tried to reduce the damage, having no way to dodge fast enough. He then got sent flying once more by the finish, rolling on the ground before stopping on his knees.

"Guess that gun part isn't just for show." Leon looked at where Ragna was, seeing a small puff of smoke blow away on his face as he got up.

"You're tougher than you look." Leon commented, "But why do you use darkness?"

"This again..." Ragna muttered before answering, "Just used to it, really."

Leon narrowed his eyes at that, knowing there is more to it. He then lunged at Ragna to deliver a horizontal slash, only for Ragna to roll out of the way. Leon didn't stop, now firing fireballs at Ragna from a distance. Ragna simply dodged them as he tried to close the gap, even slicing the last three before leaping at Leon. The blades clashed once more, the two showing impressive speed as each slash collided.

The two then knocked themselves away, Leon quickly casting a Thunder spell that sent a vertical wave of purple bolts that caught Ragna off guard and pulled him in. Leon followed up with a savage string of slashes that landed successfully, even ending with a trigger finisher that dealt more damage. During that, Ragna was actually paralyzed a bit before the finish sent him flying. He landed on the ground and rolled back up to his feet, channeling darkness into his arm before doing Dead Spike again.

Seen this attack before, Leon decides to surprise him by channeling light energy into his blade and performing a rising slash to send him into the air. Unfortunately, he didn't expect Ragna to actually jump at him as well, but also have his sword transformed into a scythe. The scythe swung in full force, damaging Leon and sending him back down into the ground. Ragna landed as Leon got back on his feet, a bit dazed from the attack but held his ground. With scythe in hand, Ragna swung at him to keep distance as Leon blocked the attacks. He then stepped closer and blocked again, retaliating by pushing the scythe off and swung as Ragna transformed the scythe back to sword form to clash blades once again.

"That's enough, Leon!"

"Stop, Ragna!"

The two then heard familiar voices as Yuffie, Merlin, Terra and Aqua appeared near Sora, who has recovered from his wounds. The name Leon got Ragna's attention.

"You're Leon?" He asked.

"Yeah, and you're Ragna?" Leon responded with.

"Pretty much."

Suddenly, dark creatures jumped at the two as a group, only for the pair to quickly dispose of them. More of the creatures appeared and started to surround the others, most wearing a steel helmet and are more of a short humanoid.

"Heartless!" Yuffie called out, throwing her shuriken to take out a few.

"That's what they're called?" Sora questioned as he kept his guard up.

"Come, you two! I'll teleport us out!" Merlin ordered, which Ragna and Leon agreed to.

They took out any heartless that got close to them as Aqua performed a Blizzaga to disperse some of the swarm along with Terra firing a Dark Firaga. Besides Ragna and Sora, the others were surprised at three keyblade wielders in the same place. Before anyone can say anything however, a large heartless came down in between the duo and the group, patting its hand against its fat belly before charging at Leon.

"Out of the way!" Leon then charged energy into his blade and lunged at the big guy with a powerful thrust, not stopping in motion as it pushed the heartless until it disappeared. Leon stopped right in front of the others as Ragna caught up right after.

"Let's go!" Ragna said, Merlin responding with the teleport spell to get out of danger.

The group now finds themselves in a room at the Hotel, Sora moving to lay on the bed from exhaustion.

"OK, that was tense. Mind explaining what's going on here?" Ragna spoke up, sitting down on one of the chairs at the table.

"Yeah, I'm a bit confused from this." Terra scratched his head as he said this.

"All right, we can spare some time. Get comfortable." Leon said as he leaned against the wall.

After a bit of seat arrangment, the group listened intently as Leon started an explanation.

"You obviously know there are other worlds, connected by the lanes between them? Well, the lanes were supposed to be sealed to keep the worlds safe. The heartless now use these to travel to each world, consuming them one by one."

"And the survivors end up here, as we experienced." Ragna added.

"As far as we know, the key will be the one to stop the heartless." Leon continued, looking at Sora.

Sora then looked at the keyblade in his hand, then looked at Aqua and Terra. "What about them? They also have keyblades."

"I think that's just a lucky coincidence." Yuffie shrugged off.

"Either way, three keys are better than one. But, I think the problem is why the king only mentioned one." Merlin mentioned.

"Wait, the king? As in King Mickey?" Aqua questioned.

"Why, yes. Did you know him?"

"Yes. How is he? Is he here?"

"No. He has business to take care of as we handle the key hunt." Leon answered, "Though, he's doing fine last time we saw him."

"I see." Aqua simply said. She's glad at least Mickey is here to protect the worlds during their disappearance.

"Actually, I'm curious about something. What is the Keyblade?" Sora asked.

"We don't really know much about it, unless the guests have info for us." Leon answered, looking at Aqua and Terra. Terra decided to speak up this time.

"Well, we don't know that much from what you already knew. From our master, he said that the Keyblade is a sentient weapon that is attracted to the strength of a person's heart. With enough training, they can transform it for various uses. But, there are very rare cases of a person dual wielding keyblades."

"Like, two at once?" Ragna questioned.

"Yes, but they have to be skilled and powerful to use it effectively." Aqua answered.

"Fascinating..." Merlin commented as he stroked his beard.

"Either way, we have to save the worlds. But first, we need transportation unless we can go through space." Ragna pointed out.

"We used to be able to, but we don't have our armor anymore." Aqua mentioned.

"Don't worry, the king's friends got here using a gummi ship. Which reminds me, where is Aerith?" Yuffie said.

"She went looking for them, but should have been here by now. We better see if they're all right." Leon answered.

"Then in that case, we should get going. Terra, you and your friends can go and find the source of this swarm. It should cause the heartless to scatter for the time being." Merlin briefly explained.

"Got it." Terra agreed.

Leon, Yuffie and Merlin then teleported out of here as Sora and the others converse with each other.

"So, any clue of where the boss might be?" Aqua asked.

"Best bet, probably the Third District." Ragna guessed.

"Yeah, that shadow from earlier might have brought them here." Sora agreed.

Suddenly, a soldier heartless appeared in the room, catching their attention.

"Back off!" Ragna then actually kicked the heartless out the window, shattering the glass as it fell to the ground.

"OK, that's one way." Aqua commented as Ragna then hopped out the window with the others following close behind.

And done! So, there's more to go over.

1. Vs. Leon - Force Your Way (FF8) (Nice track for a battle theme, either version is your choice.)

2. As you saw in the fight, I gave Leon a few new tricks. That's because I decided to give some Final Fantasy characters their Dissidia movesets. However, it doesn't mean this is their Dissidia counterparts, just that I like a clear set of skills for characters when they fight.

Challenge: Guess what moves Leon used in this fight, some are more obvious than others.

3. Two of the changes I did with the canon material is included. For more clarity:

A. The Keyblade is sentient that chooses a wielder by the strength of their heart. With training, they can transform it for uses in battle and even traveling. Those with powerful hearts and skills can actually dual wield, but it's extremely rare as of current events.

B. The Lanes Between has a special seal that protects the worlds and keeps them secret from each other. However, due to them being unlocked for years, the darkness used them to travel to countless worlds, consuming them one by one.

C. As for inheritance, only the Master Keeper and Xehanort's keyblade can be passed down. Others are either from a realm exclusively (Ex. Kingdom Key from the Realm of Light) or one that suits the wielder. As for the keychains, I think that's just for gameplay purposes, not story.

More changes will be explained later in the story, so yeah. Feel free to give me your thoughts and whether or not you like them. Until next time, see ya next chapter!