The Time Break Saga 3D: Asleep at Dawn

by The Unplanner

Organization XIII was defeated, Kingdom Hearts was destroyed, and the Time Breaks are all closed, but it's too early to celebrate. Unfortunately, it's also to early to send the newest Keyblade wielders off to war. Can Kairi, Lambda, and Xion stop tripping over each other's weapons in time to stop the Keyblade War?

2. Sleep Over

Asleep at Dawn

Chapter 2: Sleep Over

-"I Never Finished Explaining..."-

A/N: Here we go with Chapter 2! Did you miss me?

I'm not going to even bother going through the menus in OpenOffice to insert the Greek letter χ so many times. When you see the word "X-Blade" in this story, please just mentally replace the capital X with a [chi].

But first, there's a bit more setup and exposition to get out of the way.

Rather than reproduce Mickey's letter verbatim, let's just summarize...

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Destiny Islands: Food Court...

After Sora finished reading the letter from Mickey aloud, he took a deep breath and asked, "Did anyone else understand that?"

Riku mused, "He could be saying there's more to do, congratulating us on what we already did, inviting us to go meet someone, or...something."

Lambda summarized, "I think he's found new information about previous Keyblade wielders who are somehow important to Sora, and he wants Sora and Riku to go meet him in person to discuss it further. Maybe we can find out what happened to those other wielders."

Namine spoke up, "He must have deciphered the clue I left in Jiminy's Journal!"

"Oh, right, you did mention that once, before your brief stint in our party," Riku recalled.

"You mean about the other person in Sora's heart?" Lambda asked.

"What?! Another one?" Kairi yelped. "Geez, Sora, how many hearts do you have?"

Sora awkwardly objected, "I dunno! I don't remember absorbing any hearts at all! I didn't realize I got yoursuntil WAY later, and I was definitely awake when it happened."

"Well, it looks like Mickey would currently be the best guy to ask," Riku decided. "Does it say how we should reach him? They kinda took the Gummi Ship with them."

Right on cue (again), another bottle materialized on the table. Sora whipped out the letter inside and unrolled it. "'Whoops! I forgot to mention what you should do next! I'll swing by with the Gummi Ship at noon tomorrow. (Lambda, use that World Clock thing to know when! I'll try to match it to the time on Destiny Islands.) Yen Sid wants to meet Sora and Riku as soon as possible, but I convinced him that you've all earned at least a bit of a break!

Yours, [mouse head symbol]'."

Sora finished reading. "Well, that settles that. I guess the next adventure's starting pretty soon!"

Selphie whined, "Aw, Sora and Riku are going away again? But they just got back!"

"More importantly," Xion added, "are Sora and Riku the only ones who will go?"

"No," replied Kairi.

Sora started, "But it'll be dangerous-"

Kairi interrupted, "No, Sora. I need to talk to Yen Sid, too. If he trained King Mickey, maybe he can train me, too! I want to get stronger, so I won't be left behind when you and Riku go on your adventures anymore!"

Xion added, "And I want to know where my Keyblade went, and if I can get it back. Riku got his back, but my case is a bit different..."

"In that case, all of us had better go," Lambda decided. "I really, really want to learn how to wield the Keyblade without tripping over myself. If we have this power, we should learn how to use it properly. Plus, it can only be a good thing if one of the Princesses of Heart can defend herself, right, Sora?"

Sora relented. "Yeah, you've all got a point. At least Yen Sid wouldn't put Kairi in any real danger...I hope."

Riku sighed. "And just when we got back home, too...well, we have at least a day to rest before we go. Before that, though, I have something I need to take care of..."

"A haircut?" Kairi teased.

Riku blinked in surprise; that was exactly right. "How'd you guess?"

"It's kind of hard to miss, dear," Lambda answered while flipping Riku's bangs out of his eyes. "And it has been about a year since your last haircut."

"Are you getting a haircut too, Lambda?" Xion asked. "I mean, my hair's already pretty short, but you have so muchhair. Doesn't it get heavy?"

"I probably shouldn't cut it, actually. I can move it around, see?" Lambda swung her ponytail in a full circle behind her head without moving her neck, causing everyone to stare. "I bet I can get some use out of it if I keep it long."

Riku was the first to speak up. "...I don't know whether to be fascinated...or kinda creeped out."

Lambda blushed in sudden embarrassment. "Well, it's a part of me, so I don't want to just keep it a secret. But if you think I should cut it..."

Riku replied, "No, you're right that it could be useful. Anyway, I guess I'll look around to see where I can get a haircut. Kairi, can the newcomers stay at your place?"

Kairi responded, "Sure thing. I've never had a sleepover before, but I'm sure my dad will be okay with it."

"Will all three of us fit?" Lambda asked, indicating herself, Xion, and Roxas.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you that Kairi was adopted by the mayor when she washed up on the Islands. Her house is pretty big," Riku remarked as he walked off.

Xion nodded. "Right. Come to think of it, I have Sora's memories about that. He never saw the inside of your house, though."

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Kairi's House...

In the end, Kairi's dad agreed to let Lambda and Xion stay over, but adamantly refused to host any sleepovers if Kairi would sleep with boys, so Roxas had to make arrangements with Sora. (Kairi decided to postpone informing her father about her new relationship with Sora until after the meeting with King Mickey.)

Kairi led the other girls up to her room, which had pink walls, a pink rug, a pink dresser, and a pink king-sized bed with pink covers and pink pillows. Kairi had managed to use nearly every imaginable shade of pink to decorate her room. The only non-pink items were a few stuffed animals sitting next to the pillows, such as a bat, a lion, and a dolphin.

After seeing Kairi's room, Lambda and Xion both had to stumble away and sleep on the couch in the living room, rather than endure all that pink for a whole night. Kairi was not amused...until the next morning, when she woke up first, moved her alarm clock (which was also pink) right next to her guests' ears, and set off the alarm. "Rise and shine, you rude, lazy bums! Time to eat breakfast and get ready for our meeting with the King!"

"Ow..." Lambda rubbed her ears and fumbled around for her hair tie. As she tied her hair into a ponytail, she grumbled, "Is this about us sleeping out here instead of your room? I didn't think you could be such a vicious prankster..."

"Oh, no, this was Namine's idea." Kairi smiled over her shoulder as her way of acknowledging Namine's presence, although that presence came from within instead of from a particular direction.

"One of the perks of not having a physical body is that I'm relatively immune to any retribution when I act up. I think I'm getting more confidence in myself like this!"

"Good for you," Xion mumbled before collapsing into a plate of toast (thankfully, she hadn't spread jelly on it yet), "but let me sleep for five more minutes..."

Xion had no time to catch up on sleep; the doorbell rang. Kairi opened the front door (the atrium was right next to the kitchen) to reveal Sora, Roxas, and Riku.

Lambda exclaimed, "Whoa, you look really different with short hair, Riku!" This detail actually managed to wake Xion up. Indeed, Riku had shaved off most of his hair, leaving him with just enough silver hair to graze the tops of his ears. It still managed to keep the layered look it had before, though. As for Sora and Roxas, they still looked exactly the same as they did yesterday, ultra-spiky hair and all.

Riku grinned. "I like to think of it as a new start for me. Anyway, since Mickey didn't say where he'd be meeting us, I think we should all head out to the other island again so he can see us from the air."

Lambda checked her World Clock, which required summoning her Black Coat first. "All that effort to pick out a new outfit, and I don't even have any pockets...not that I had any before. Anyway, we have about an hour before he's supposed to show up, but knowing Mickey, I bet he's going at top speed, so he'll get here really early. Xion, can you hold onto the clock for me?" She passed the item to Xion, who stuffed it in one of the pockets on her shorts, then dismissed the Black Coat, leaving her in her new dress again. Everyone thanked Kairi's father (a kindly old man, although he ran a very strict household), then filed out of the house and down to the beach to take boats to the smaller island.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Destiny Islands: East Beach...

As Lambda predicted, the thrumming sound of the Gummi Ship landing drowned out the local seagulls about twenty minutes before noon. A Magitek circle appeared beside the Highwind, and King Mickey appeared in the circle. "Hey, fellas! I would say 'long time no see', but, y'know..."

Riku chuckled. "Yeah, we know. 'A hero's work is never done,' and all that. Even when there are so many heroes to help get the work done."

"Are all of ya comin' along?" Mickey asked Sora, Riku, Kairi, Xion, Roxas, and Lambda.

"Yes, Your Majesty. We all want to be trained to use the Keyblade," Kairi replied.

Mickey rubbed his nose. "Gosh, there's no need to be so formal! But I'm sure we can work something out when we meet with Yen Sid. You're all welcome to come along!"

Xion asked, "Okay, Mickey. What happened to the cool Gummi Ship you had last time?"

"Oh, the Falcon Peak? There weren't any Heartless or Nobodies in the Gummi Routes I took, so I decided we didn't need to come here in a heavily armed warship. Don't worry, we added more seats to the inside, so now it's kinda like a space bus."

"It was also a fruitless attempt to slow yourself down, right?" Lambda teased.

King Mickey bashfully rubbed his head. "I just can't help it. Anyway, all aboard!" He dashed (still at full speed) back into the teleporter, and all the heroes followed in single file.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

The Mysterious Tower: Study...

The Gummi Ship ride back to Yen Sid's lopsided tower was uneventful. Like Mickey said, no enemy ships accosted the Highwind on its journey. It was good to note that a set of Gummi Routes still connected Destiny Islands, Disney Castle, and the Mysterious Tower, but Lambda noted that all the other Gummi Routes had disappeared again. The last Gummi Route was the same space the Ghost Train traveled through to connect the Mysterious Tower to Twilight Town, which provided a calm and relaxing backdrop to the voyage.

Now the heroes were packed into Yen Sid's personal study. They could barely all fit in front of the old sorcerer's stately desk.

Yen Sid rose from his chair, and everyone else bowed respectfully...resulting in Sora and Riku bonking their heads against the desk. "My apologies to all of you. When I designed and conjured this tower, I never expected I would have to host this many guests at once. Mickey, I only requested Sora and Riku's presence today. Why did you bring so many of these children along?"

Kairi spoke up instead of the King. "Master Yen Sid, we are all chosen wielders of the Keyblade. None of us wanted to be left on the sidelines while there's a new threat to the worlds. But I need training before I'll be ready to follow Sora on his next adventure, and the same goes for Lambda, Xion, and Roxas. Can you help us?"

Yen Sid stroked his beard as he considered Kairi's request. "First of all, I am no longer a Keyblade Master myself. I once was, however, and I do possess knowledge of the ancient methods by which the Keyblade Masters of old trained their apprentices. Unfortunately, the task for which Sora and Riku were called here will demand my full attention, so I will not be able to personally oversee your training."

The four would-be apprentices' expressions fell, but Yen Sid continued talking at his own deliberate, unhurried pace. "Worry not. I was watching you board the Gummi Ship, and I predicted your request. I have already contacted an associate of mine, Merlin the Wizard, along with three good fairies from the same world as Maleficent. Merlin's plan is rather unorthodox, but if it succeeds, their combined magic will be able to compress months of training into mere hours. He and the fairies await your arrival beyond that door," Yen Sid's sweeping hand indicated the room on his left, where Sora had acquired his very special outfit during his previous adventure, "But first, you should all be aware of the task for which I called Sora and Riku hither."

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

A lengthy explanation...

Yen Sid proceeded to discuss, at great length, a long series of events that started in the age of fairy tales, and came to a head almost twelve years ago. The original Xehanort, who was one of the most powerful Keyblade Masters ever known, had tried to recreate a terrible event that was deliberately hidden from history: the Keyblade War, fought by wielders of those weapons in order to claim the X-Blade (pronounced "Key Blade", confusingly enough), which would in turn unlock the door to the one true Kingdom Hearts.

Back when all the worlds were one World, there was an abundance of Light in everyone's heart, and there was no Darkness to speak of. People believed this Light was a gift from a world called Kingdom Hearts, which was sealed away from the World by the X-Blade. People forged their own Keyblades in the image of the true X-Blade, then turned them on each other as weapons of conquest, hoping to claim the X-Blade, Kingdom Hearts, and ultimate power.

They fought for a whole spectrum of reasons, but in the middle of the fighting, Darkness was born in their hearts, and that Darkness swept the World away, shattering the X-Blade into twenty pieces. The real Kingdom Hearts was lost in the Realm of Darkness, but eventually, the last little fragments of Light came together to remake the World as Sora and friends knew it: a multitude of tiny worlds, kept divided from each other by thick walls of Light so the terrible Keyblade War could never be repeated.

"That story smells really fishy," Lambda interrupted with a furrowed brow. "Who had the X-Blade originally? If the whole World was lost in Darkness, who was left to rebuild it? And if Kingdom Hearts is the combination of all hearts, then who would be left to wield that power?"

Yen Sid sighed heavily. "As I said, even Keyblade Masters are forbidden to know the whole story. I only know what Xehanort said to the Keyblade wielders who opposed him when he tried to recreate the X-Blade himself."

Lambda rolled her eyes. "Good to know Xehanort is as dumb as those precursors; maybe we have a chance to beat him. Go on."

"Indeed. Xehanort was stopped in his machinations, but the Keyblade wielders who stopped him were brought to ruin by the effort, and in the process, he managed to transfer his heart to a younger vessel. Riku, you have experienced this technique firsthand; you know of its terrifying power and implications. By jumping from host to host, Xehanort intended to remain alive in the Realm of Light until he succeeded in gaining control of Kingdom Hearts. Even now, he likely seeks another vessel to inhabit."

Xion asked, "But he was eliminated, right? Sora beat both his Heartless and his Nobody. He should be dead."

Yen Sid shook his head. "If only it were that simple. Xehanort's heart, once seized by his Heartless half, has been released by the power of the Keyblade, and his body, which had taken the form of his Nobody, has been eliminated. Now that his two halves have been freed from the grasp of the Darkness, he will almost certainly become whole once more. And a man like Xehanort will have left many roads open to reach his goal. We cannot expect him to give up after all this time."

Sora scratched his head. "So, when you beat a person's Heartless and Nobody with the Keyblade, that person becomes whole again? That actually makes me feel a lot better. I haven't killed any of those members of Organization XIII; I just saved them. Hopefully, the same goes for the lesser Nobodies."

Yen Sid smiled and nodded at him. "Indeed it does, but only if their hearts had become part of Xemnas' Kingdom Hearts before he was defeated. On behalf of those thousands of innocent people who now live again, I thank you for your efforts, Sora and friends. However, Organization XIII was originally formed from Xehanort's willing collaborators; some of them may still give Xehanort their allegiance. If that is the case, then we must be ready to fight them again.

"Regardless, there is still the matter of the three Keyblade wielders who stopped Master Xehanort's original plan. Though they were able to stop Xehanort from laying claim to Kingdom Hearts, they were all lost in Darkness - a Darkness in which they still slumber. Through the test Sora and Riku shall take, we may acquire the power to awaken them. Which brings us to the task at hand.

"In your first adventure, Sora, you restored many worlds that had been lost to the Heartless. However, some of those worlds never returned completely. Instead, they fell into a deeper slumber, sealed off from even the Heartless' grasp, locked within the Realm of Sleep. Sora and Riku, your task is to enter these 'Sleeping Worlds' and find the seven 'Sleeping Keyholes' that correspond to the seven pure hearts. By unlocking these Keyholes with your Keyblades, you will gain the power to awaken any heart from even the deepest slumber. Do this and return here safely, and I will name you both...true Masters."

"Sounds easy enough," Sora replied. "Just you watch, we'll both pass this test with flying colors!"

"I'll make sure Sora doesn't get in over his head," Riku added, then laughed Sora glared at him.

Yen Sid held up a hand to silence them. "It is not so simple to enter the world of a dream. You will not be able to fly there on the Gummi Ship. Instead, I will send you back in space and time, to the very moment when the Destiny Islands were swallowed by the Darkness. There, you will be able to unlock the first Sleeping Keyhole and enter the Sleeping Worlds proper. From that point on, you need only follow the currents of the dreams as they drop you from one Sleeping World to the next, but be vigilant. The Sleeping Worlds contain their own form of Darkness, called Dream Eaters. They come in two varieties: the evil Nightmares, which consume happy dreams, and benevolent Spirits, which consume the Nightmares and can be powerful allies to you. As the Heartless once guided you to the World Gates, let the Dream Eaters guide you to the Sleeping Keyholes. Good luck, and may you return swiftly with a new power in hand."

Kairi spoke up, "Time travel? Isn't that really dangerous?"

Yen Sid made a calming gesture. "You need not worry for Sora and Riku's safety; I know a few forgotten secrets of my own. Among them is a limited method to travel through time without risking a paradox or other difficulties. There are restrictions to its use, but fortunately, all the prerequisites are already met: a version of Sora and Riku existed at the place and time to which they need to go, and the Sleeping Worlds are exempt from any destined events that would resist being changed. The only true danger in this test should come from the Nightmares."

Lambda sighed in relief. "That's good. They've proven they can handle a few dark monsters."

"Ah, but to truly master the Keyblade, they will need to forget their self-taught lessons, and start anew with a blank slate."

"What? Again?!" Before Sora or Riku could protest further, Yen Sid waved his hands around to call on a massive amount of mana, and the boys vanished from the present day.

Namine reassured Kairi, "Don't worry; They can both handle starting over from the bottom in terms of power. Sora had to do that at least twice already, and Riku had to start from scratch in Castle Oblivion, too."

"That's still going to be a huge pain in the neck," Lambda grumbled in sympathy. "But there's no point worrying about them right now; we have our own training to start. Thank you for all the info, Yen Sid. If it's okay, we should head over to meet Merlin and the fairies."

Yen Sid nodded. "You are dismissed, Lambda, Kairi, Xion, and Roxas. May you find the power you seek, and may the stars watch over us all."

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

The Mysterious Tower: Changing Room...

The four new Keyblade wielders bowed to Yen Sid one last time, then filed into the next room. Another wizard was waiting for them in the cozy chamber; his blue robes were simpler than Yen Sid's, but the wizard Merlin's unassuming garb belied his magical prowess, which far exceeded the other sorcerer's. With him were three kind old ladies in color-coded outfits with tiny but functional wings on their backs: the three good fairies who had given Sora his magic clothes.

"You're the ones who wanted to learn how to wield the Keyblade, correct?" Merlin said in a tone that implied that he already knew the answer. "Goodness, this batch is even younger than those ones! Well, it's a good thing you have our experience to draw on!"

The red fairy introduced everyone. "Hello, dears. I am Flora. The green one is Fauna, and the blue is Merryweather. And this is the wizard Merlin. We're all old friends of King Mickey and Master Yen Sid. It's very nice to meet you as well."

"Okay, let's talk about how this is going to go," Merryweather spoke up. "The four of us will combine our magic to create a space pocket, which we'll fill with illusions. The inside the new space will be much, much bigger than the outside..."

"...And time will also pass much more slowly. You could spend ten months in there, and only a day would have passed outside. Time passes differently on different worlds, but this space we'll create is special," Fauna finished Merryweather's sentence.

Merlin finished the explanation. "I call the testing ground we'll create, 'the Training Worlds'. There will be seven worlds to complete in total. On each one, you must locate a certain powerful Heartless, defeat it, and unlock the 'Practice Keyhole' that appears afterward. In other words, this will be much like Sora and Riku's test, since they obviously gained great power from this process. However, I've taken the liberty of making sure the worlds you'll explore are brand-new to everyone; after all, it wouldn't be fair if some of you had prior experience! Everyone stand back, now, to the edges of the room. We wouldn't want any of you to be caught in the spatial expansion!"

Everyone moved away from the center of the room, with the trainees by the door and the magicians by the far window. The fairies and Merlin produced four wands, seemingly from nowhere, and twirled them in unison, then flicked the wands forward. Red, blue, green, and white beams of sparkly magic collided in the very center of the room, forming a brilliant globe of multicolored light that grew larger until it was large enough for any of the room's occupants to stand completely inside. A sort of filmy bubble developed around the ball of energy, slightly dimming its glow and stabilizing the rift. Merlin called, "It's ready! Have no fear; step into the bubble, and you will be transported to the Training Worlds!"

"Okay, let's go, then!" Roxas rolled his shoulders. This was the first time he'd spoken since they all arrived; he was getting restless.

"No, not you, Roxas!" Flora called.

"Aw, why not?" Roxas complained.

Fauna replied, "Your skill with your two Keyblades - and my goodness, what a unique talent! - is already more than equal to Sora's, so you don't need the same kind of training the others do. Instead, we'll train you with the power that was given to you by Lambda: the power of an Observer."

Merryweather added, "You'll be Observing Xion from here, and once you can handle it, you can try Observing the rest of them as well. This is a very, very important task; if you lose track of them, you and Xion will disappear!"

"Don't worry, my boy," Merlin reassured, "You're being taught by the best! I've already figured out exactly what this Observation is, and how it applies differently to our world than it did to the Azure Timeline. I'll teach you everything you need to know. As for you, Xion, you'll benefit from this as well. Here's a little spell to get you started... Ala-kazaa!"

Merlin flicked his wand upward twice, striking Xion and Roxas with faint, white streaks of magic. A similar streak briefly wound its way between the two recipients, connecting them by their eyes. They both gasped simultaneously as they felt an ethereal connection with each other being forged and strengthened. "And there you have it: the two of you now share a life-link! Now, the only way either of you could possibly die is if you both died at once. The life-link is permanent, but if either of you wants out, you can ask me after your training. You may experience some inconsequential side effects, too."

Lambda instantly bumped her opinion of Merlin upward by three brackets. Observation wasn't even possible in the Heart Timeline before Lambda showed up, and Merlin had already surpassed Lambda's grasp of the mechanics. He hadn't even watched Lambda Observing things directly! He only saw the results, in Xion and Roxas, for a few minutes - during this very conversation - and he could already initialize a life-link, when that process still eluded Lambda completely.

Roxas blinked as the magic line between Xion and himself faded from view; to the shock of the other trainees, his eyes had turned a much lighter, more vibrant shade of blue. Even more noticeably, Xion's eyes were now a vivid green, like Axel's had been. (Lambda guessed the difference was because Roxas was the primary Observer, which would normally make him closer to the Azure.) Merlin tutted, "Now, the rest of you, go on! Enter the Training Worlds, and work hard to gain the powers and skills you'll need! We'll send you instructions as you go - you'll know when you get them."

"Thank you, Merlin!" Kairi skipped into the bubble, which rippled around her to let her inside. She vanished from view completely.

"Thank you as well, fairies!" Lambda walked purposefully into the bubble.

"Good luck, Roxas! I'm counting on you!" With one last smile, Xion ran headlong after her new friends.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

The Training Worlds: Hub...

The three (three and a half?) girls appeared in the middle of a large, round room with nondescript, gray walls. Evenly spaced along the wall were six sets of ornate, white double doors, each with a black square above the frame. One of the doors had a glowing sign in the square, which read:

Training World 1:

Midnight Town

Before the girls could enter the first Training World, though, a bright, golden spark of Light dropped from the blank ceiling in the very center of the room. It flashed once as it settled on the ground, transforming into a letter in a bottle just like the ones King Mickey used.

Kairi picked up the bottle and tapped the letter out, which was marked with two simplified Keyblades crossed over each other. "It must be from Roxas," Xion guessed.

Kairi opened the letter and read it aloud. "'Hey, girls: Good luck in there! I'll send you a note like this every time you beat a world, but Merlin says I can't send anything in the middle of the tests. But it's okay to tell you that this first test should be easy: just wander around town until a giant Heartless jumps you. There will be people wandering around town, but they're just illusions; don't be surprised if they don't have much to say. You can buy stuff from them with the Training Points (TP) you earn from beating Heartless, though!

"Running out of space here, but...' The letter cuts off at the bottom there," Kairi finished reading.

Xion giggled. "Roxas, you hopeless blockhead! Maybe he'll plan a better speech next time."

Namine noted, "It's too bad we can't send anything back to them; how will we know if we've improved?"

"Well, if we don't get beaten up by the Heartless, that's probably a good sign," Lambda replied. "After all, Sora became so strong because he was thrown headfirst into his quests without anyone to hold his hand."

"What about Donald and Goofy?" Xion asked.

"Well, he didn't have anyone competent to hold his hand." Lambda remembered Sora, Donald, and Goofy's tendency to end up piled on top of each other.

Kairi ran over to the active door and yanked on the handle, spurring the group into action. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's try to get as strong as Sora!" A bright Light burst out from the open door, pulling all the girls toward their first trial.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

A/N: Finally, all the exposition is out of the way! Any more will be in bite-sized chunks between worlds, via letters from Roxas. Sometimes, the POV will briefly cut over to the characters waiting in the Mysterious Tower at the end of a chapter.

By the way, when visualizing the new eye colors of Roxas and Xion, think of Mu-12 and Noel Vermillion, respectively.

And yes, both of the old wizards are massively underestimating the dangers they've sent their Keyblade wielders to face. Sora and Riku have only the canon problems to worry about (and they're the only ones who need to worry about those, since Xehanort couldn't have known about the Training Worlds group from his Book), but Lambda's party isn't off the hook completely when it comes to villains...though you may be surprised at what I've got planned!

...Lied "The Unplanner". I'll probably be the most surprised of all by my own writing, but I do hope I can keep this idea of mine on track. As usual, it'll probably take a long time to get even that far.