Disclaimer: The following story plot, OCs, and headcanons belong to Spirit of Writing. Kingdom Hearts, Disney, and other type of media belong to their rightful owner(s).

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Author Note: A special thanks to my dear friend, HinataOc. Without her help then this chapter would've taken forever to finished.

I hope you guys enjoy today chapter since there was a certain character that I wanted to be part of this story for such long time.

Chapter 5: An Unknown Guest

Around late noon, Alan and Sorin were sparring in the backyard of their home. Both of them were using custom made wooden swords that matched with their fighting style. They had been blocking one another attacks as they tried to find an opening to break through their defense. While Sorin was young and able to perform quick slashes, Alan was more experienced and blocked every move his son made.

They had been doing this since late morning. So far, their training had really helped Sorin to improve his move sets. Alan could already tell that his son was putting a lot of effort into his attacks since he could feel the added weight push against his weapon. Whenever Alan tried to land a hit, Sorin would step away or block the attack that he made. There were times he could find an opening, and thrust his weapon at him. However, Alan always had a trick up his sleeve since he could redirect the attack.

When Sorin thrusted his small sword, Alan used his wooden broadsword to deflect the strike. Leaving his son exposed for the time being. Alan was about to attack until a massive black blur appeared out of nowhere. It took a while for Alan to realize that standing between him and his son was none other than, Scary. The king shepherd was in a defensive position with his lips pulled back, showing off his sharp white fangs and making a threatening growl.

"Scary, no." Sorin dropped his weapon, and knelt down beside his dog. "You know dad and I are just practicing."

Somehow, Scary understood what the boy said to him, as his pointed ears flattened against his head and let out a sad whimper. He was fully aware that he had somehow upset his young owner for intervening.

"Don't be upset at our dear friend, son." Alan stepped up."He just wanted to protect you."

"But your weren't hurting me." The golden-haired boy, pointed out.

"And so what? It just shows how much he cares about you." Alan countered, giving the king shepherd a deserving pat on the head.

"Yeah, you're right." Sorin scratched his dog behind his ear. "Then again, Scary is part police dog, so that makes him a guard dog."

"A good one, in fact." Alan chuckled, making Scary to let out a happy yip.

After the sparring match, Sorin was breathless. He looked up to his father standing tall, and noticed he hadn't broken a sweat like he did.

"Geez, dad." Sorin let out a deep, tiring sigh."You really are strong."

"You did excellent as well, my son." Alan commented proudly, "You handled this match as much as you could, unlike the previous ones. A good sign of growth from you."

"Really?" Sorin's eyebrow quirked up, while panting.

Without any warning, Alan ruffled up his son's golden brown hair."You sure did, but you still have a long way to go."

"Aw man…" Sorin sighed in dismay. Then suddenly, the king shepherd stood closely to Sorin's side and rubbed against his leg affectionately. "Thanks, Scary."

Alan chuckled in amusement until he heard a ringing sound from inside his pant's pocket. Using his free hand, Alan pulled out his screen phone to see it was on timer mode. He deactivated it with a press of a button, and then went back to the home screen with a digital clock that read that it was past 12:oo pm.

His brows furrowed, Akira should have been home by now. Alan already made two phone calls, but hadn't got any response from her. A part of him wanted to give her a benefit of the doubt. And yet, this troubled him since Akira always picked up the phone whenever he called her. Unless something happened to her phone that was preventing it from receiving any calls from him. He wondered if he should call her again to make sure she was okay, Alan was about to press the call button until a familiar phone number popped up.

It was Akira's phone number.

"Is that big sis?" Sorin asked.

"I believe so." Alan quickly glanced up at him.

"Finally! What took her so long?" He sighed with a mixture of relief and a bit annoyance.

Without responding, Alan answered the call. "Hello, Akira?" There was no answer from her. Only the sound of faint breathing.

The lack of response made Alan to grow concerned. It was so unlike her to remain silent. She always answered back, but still, he wanted to give her benefit of the doubt that she was fine.

"Hey, Al…" Finally, Akira began to talk. "I-I'm sorry… I didn't call you sooner. The signal was pretty bad over there."

Alan couldn't help but feel somewhat relieved, though she did sound a bit odd.

"That alright, but what about you?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She quickly replied, "Just... tired from hiking all day."

"I see," Alan scratched his trimmed beard. As much as didn't want to, his suspicions of her began to grow. "Are you sure that's all?"

"I…I…" Akira tried to say something, but it sounded like the words are stuck in her throat.

"Akira-" Alan tried to speak.

"I'm sorry, but I'm so tired. Can we talk about this later, please?" Akira sighed with exhaustion. "I promise, I'll tell you everything." She sounded a bit desperate at the end.

Alan thought for a moment. His worries began to grow again.

"Alright," he agreed, "Just be home as soon as possible."

"Okay, I'll be back home soon." She assured him. "And Al, I'm…sorry…"

Alan blinked, "...For what?"

"Um...Nothing, bye!" She stammered.

"Now hold a second-" he tried to talk, but was only met with an ended call as Akira hung up.

He stared at his phone, wondering what had just happened. With a sigh, he put away his phone then turned to look at his son, that looked equally as worried as he did.

"Is she okay, dad?" Sorin asked.

"I can only hope..." He looked at the phone again to see time, past 1:00 pm. "We should be head back inside. I don't think I have enough strength to continue."

"Oh, okay..." Sorin's eyes downcast with disappointment.

By following his lead, Sorin helped his father put away their practice weapons back in the shed. They made sure to put it all away in the right places, so they wouldn't get disorganized. Alan closed the shed door with a lock to make sure nothing could get stolen, before turning away with Sorin.

Together they walked back to the house, where they would spend the rest of the day indoors while they waited for Akira to come home.

Meanwhile, at the edge of a neighborhood, Akira had made the long journey home. The walk was agonizing because she was so tired, and her entire body ached all over. Her throat was dry, but she had run out of water a while ago. It was a miracle she had made it this far without collapsing.

During the walk, Akira couldn't help but feel extremely dumb. She was too focused on going after an illusion of Terra. Not only that, but she had broken one of the rules that her uncle had taught her; to never stray away from the path no matter what. And speaking of her uncle, the thought of Alan made her scared since she broke one of his rules. There was no way she could lie to him since he could tell from a mile away.

She could already feel how embarrassed she was going to be when she told them about the forest illusion and how easily she has fallen for them. Sorin would no doubt make fun of her, or even call her crazy like last time.

The incident left her mind in shambles. Everything that happened in the woods was surreal. She has seen Terra, but then in the next second he was trying to kill her. Him being an illusion had really messed her up. She was still shaken up by the entire event and it caused her head to throb as she made her way back home.

Another thing that bothered her was Kitigin and the other two teens. Something about them didn't seems right. The two teens acted suspicious. They always stood on the sideline, and whispered to each other, giving her strange looks.

And then there was Kitigin, the strangest of them all. Akira had the feeling that Kitigin was hiding something from her, but she hadn't expected it to be too much out of the ordinary. She could never have imagined that an odd looking girl was capable of such unbelievable feats of magic. Akira clearly remembered how Kitigin created a barrier when the fake Terra tried to attack them. Then somehow used her magic on her to return to the forest path. She wondered if Kitigin had some kind of connection with the outside world... like her brother.

Thinking about all those things at the same time only made her head hurt even more. Sometimes she wondered if anything was real or not. Deep down, she hoped all of it was a horrible dream when she hit her head on the forest ground, or having biggest daydream she had ever had. The bruise hiding behind her bangs, and the nasty scar on her right palm told her otherwise.

Without realizing it, she had arrived at the front yard of her home. For a brief moment, Akira was taken aback since she was so focused in her own thoughts. She had forgotten she was still walking the whole time, making it feel like she magically teleported here.

Seeing her own home she grew up in kind of frightened her. It was as if the house was looking down at her for coming so late. It caused Akira to grow anxious.

Once she went inside, there was no turning back. She had to face her uncle whether she liked it or not.

"Here we go…" Akira whispered, taking a deep breath to calm her nerves.

Nervously, Akira walked up the small steps to reach the entrance. She paused in front of the door for a moment. With some courage, she use her scarred hand to knock at the front door. It wasn't long until she heard the click of the lock, and the door began to open. Her heart pounded against her chest. She wasn't ready to face her uncle. The only action she was prepared for was keeping her scar hand clenched, so her uncle wouldn't see it.

However, it wasn't her uncle who opened the door, it turned out to be her so-called younger brother, Sorin. She almost sighed in relief, but she held it in.

"Finally, you're here, sis!" He chimed, placing his hand on his hip. "What took you so long?"

"Traffic," she answered shortly.

"Yeah, right." Sorin narrowed his gaze at her. "Why didn't you answer any of Dad's calls, huh?"

"I was in the woods, Moron! Did you really expect there would be any good signal!?" Akira snapped.

The two of them were locked in a glaring contest. Akira and Sorin were ready to argue against each other, until a familiar grown man came towards them. Akira changed her expression before he could see it.

"Eh-hem." The sound of a voice being cleared up caught their attention. It turned out to be Alan, standing behind Sorin, his arms crossed.

"Um, hi, uncle Al…" Akira spoke nervously.

On cue, Sorin stepped aside to let Akira enter the house. Then left the two of them alone in the living room, so they could have their discussion in private.

Once his son was gone, Alan began to speak, "I'm glad you made it back home. Even though you're a bit later than usual."

"I know, I'm so sorry..." Akira lowered her head.

"Don't be... all that matters is that you're here. There is no need to get upset over that."

Akira was surprised to see him with no hint of disappointment made her feel a bit of relief.

"O-oh, okay..." She stuttered.

"However, I would like to know what happened to you? You're weren't acting yourself when you called me. You sounded so distressed." He looked her over

"To be honest...I'm not sure."

"What do you mean by that?" He questioned.

Akira deeply sighed, rubbing her right forearm. "Well, I…I wandered off the path, and got attacked by something."

Alan's face contorted. Though he managed to suppress it, there was still sign of concern obvious to Akira.

"Who attacked you?" Alan spoke calmly, so he wouldn't add too much pressure to her fragile state of mind. However, Akira didn't respond. She looked a bit scared because of his small reaction. "Please tell me, Akira." He placed a hand on her shoulder, hoping it will make her speak and be calm.

"To be honest, I'm not sure..." Akira rubbed the side of her head. Thinking about it still gave her a headache. "It just came out of nowhere, and it…it…"

"It what?" Alan tried to understand what she was trying to say.

"You're not gonna believe this, but somehow it looked like Terra." Akira blurted out. "Everything... from his hairstyle, eyes, and clothes; they looked exactly the same as when I last saw him."

Alan's eyes widened in surprise. The idea of someone, or something, impersonating his surrogate nephew, then attacking his only niece made his blood boil. And yet, something about it didn't sound right. The way she described Terra sounded like he haven't change at all.

It's such a strange tale that even he had hard time believing it. Even though he knew information beyond that world, it made the grown man question certain things.

"That doesn't sound right. How could Terra look same? It's been ten years, and I doubt anybody could stay the same." Alan shared his thoughts.

"Yeah, you're right." Akira agreed while rubbing her forearm. "I'm so stupid to believe that thing was my brother." She placed a hand over her eyes, shaking her head in the process.

Alan shook his head,"No, you only made a mistake."

"But I-" her words stuck in her throat.

"It's alright. I understand now." Alan reassured. "I'm glad you told me this. However, for now you'll no longer be going places far from home."

"Okay..." Akira agreed. "Hey, can I go now? I'm so tired now." She rubbed her eyes, and almost let out yawn

"Of course," Alan allowed.

And with that, Akira moved away from him and headed towards the stairs that were next to them. Alan could only watch his niece go up the stairs until she no longer in sight.

As soon she was gone, Sorin came back to the living room with his dog in tow. "So…" Sorin started out awkwardly. "Is everything okay with big sis?"

"Apart by the fact that she broke one of my rules and ended up getting injured in the process, she is somewhat alright for now."

"Ooh…" Sorin said faintly. "So is she in trouble?"

"No, she has dealt with enough problem for today." Alan answered back.

"Geez," He expressed, "was it really that bad?"

"If only you knew." Alan murmured.

After that, the day went by fairly normal. Pretty much everyone in this house was doing their own thing to pass the time.

Alan sat alone in the kitchen, staring down at the table where there was a opened book with sketches of strange creatures and words alongside it. He read it quietly until he reached a certain page that caught his interest.

There on the page was a sketch of human like being in watercolor that made it look a radiant, along with a few orbs of flaming light beside them.

"Illusionary: similar to a will-o-wisp, they would lead travelers to the wrong path in the forest. However, unlike the will-o-wisp, they have two forms depending how old it is. In their younger form, they appear as orbs of light to lure them. While their older form, they gain the ability to take shape of loved ones from their target's memories.

Once the Illusionary tricked their victims, it would be already too late for escape. They would instantly burn them alive, or in some rare occasion; in their human-form they can create tools out of light to make it a quick end. Then they would feed on the victim's negative energy to help them from burning out.

After reading those two paragraphs in one sitting. A memory was brought up into his mind. Showing him some images of two boys and an adult, standing at the entrance of the forest. From where they stood, a ball of light could be seen in the distance.

The memory only lasted for a second until he snapped out. Seeing it made the grown man feel a mixture of emotions. First he was feeling nostalgic, and then, sadness came kicking in.

A part of him couldn't help but chuckle at himself. "Funny, I believed in other worlds. And yet, I struggle to believe in this world phenomenon." He said to himself. "I wonder if anything is possible now a days?"

With a quick glance, he checked his watch on his wrist. It was getting close to 4:oo pm.

"Well, better start making dinner." He sighed, pushing back the chair a bit to stand up. Then put back the chair to its place.

He grabbed the book from the table, and exited the kitchen. He went directly to living room, where he saw his son playing a video game on the television, stting on a coach with his dog next to him.

For a moment, Alan stood there to watch as his son played the game about a mouse in a castle of some sort, wandering through the halls until he reached a door. The mouse pulled out a red diamond to make it open, entering the room, it replaced the castle, settling on an indoor forest.

The grown man was intrigued by the gameplay that he had forgotten that he was still standing. He shook his head to remind himself of his priorities to make dinner.

Before he could take another step, a snarl came from his son's direction. Alan turned his head to see the king shepherd springing up on the couch and hopping off of it, nearly knocking his son over in the process.

Alan only watched as the massive black dog ran up to the front door. Then stood up on his hind legs, and began to scratch up the wooden surface with it shard dewed claws.

"Scary, no!" Sorin yelled.

Immediately, he got up and abandoned the game he was playing. Sorin tried to pull Scary away from the door by grabbing the red collar, but couldn't make him move.

Alan noticed the hassle and went over to them, dropping off his book on the couch in the process.

"Dad!" Sorin turned to look at his father. His leaf green eyes filled with concerns of not knowing what to do. Never before had he seen Scary's violent behavior.

"Let me handle this." And with that, Alan joined in the struggle.

Not wanting to hurt the dog, he used half his strength to pull Scary's red collar. Luckily, he was able to bring him down on his four legs again. Though Scary was still acting stubborn by struggling against his grip, Alan managed to hang onto Scary.

"Calm down, Scary." Sorin went down to knees, and tried place a hand on his dog.

However, he continued to be restless. Scary didn't want to comply to anybody.

"Careful, son." Alan warned.

"But…" Before Sorin could say anything, he was cut off by another sound.

It sounded like a knock coming from the front door, which grabbed both of their attention.

"Huh? Visitors at this hour?" Alan wondered out loud.

The sound of knocking only made Scary struggle against Alan's grip to free himself.

"Scary, please. Stop it now!" Sorin demand his dog drop his bad behavior.

"Ngh. I don't think he's gonna listen." Alan grunted as the king shepherd tried to escape from his grip. "I think you should take him outside."

"But-"

"I'm sorry, but I won't allowed this kind of behavior in this house. Scary could actually hurt someone." Alan reasoned.

"Oh, okay." Sorin's head dropped, sadly.

And with that, Alan passed down the grip to his son, showing him how to hold onto the collar tight. Then he watched his son take the dog to the other side of the house as Scary continued to protest and whine at his owners until it grew faint once they were out of the room. Alan relieved a breath, them to deal whoever was outside his home.

He opened the door with caution until fully open. Standing on the front porch was a young man around the same age as Akira's. The boy had long, silver hair that passed down his shoulders, and sea green eyes. He was dressed in a strange, black-leathered coat that reached down to his ankles, with some silver pull strings decorated near the top, and a big hood attached to it.

Simply by looking at him, Alan could already tell that this boy was not from that world...though he going to put up an act that he was not aware at all.

"Yes, can I help you?" Alan asked.

"Sorry to bother you, but can I ask you some questions?" Said the black-coated boy.

"What kind of questions?" The grown man wondered.

"You see, I'm looking for someone who lives around here. But so far, I haven't found him." The silver-haired boy explained his problem. "I wonder if by any chance, you know this person."

"Mhmm," Alan hummed, "Can you tell me, who is this person that you seek?"

"His name is Alan Royale." He revealed.

There was an awkward silence between the two. Alan didn't know how to respond to this boy. Wondering how in the world this boy knew his name. Though he was surprised, Alan still managed to keep his surprise in check.

"Why yes, I do know this man."

"Really? Can you tell me where he is?"

Alan couldn't hold back a smirk, "You're looking at him right now."

It took awhile for the teenager to catch on what he meant, making his sea green eyes nearly pop out in surprise.

"Wait… you're Alan Royale?" The boy was taken aback by the revelation.

"The one and only." He said with dry humor. "And what about you, boy? What's your name?"

"Oh, it's uh, it's Riku," The boy answered, clearing his throat.

"Well then, Riku. What do you what from me?"

"I'm looking for answers."

"For what questions…?" Alan wondered why Riku was not giving him details.

"Well," Riku rubbed the back of his head, "It's complicated."

"Oh, don't worry. I have dealt with many complications in my life." Alan chuckled, motioning inside, "How about we take this discussion indoors? Can't let you be freezing to death." From his point of view, Alan could see the poor boy shivering as the chilly winds grew stronger.

"T-that would be great," Riku agreed with a soft smile. "Thank you, Mr. Royale."

Alan returned the smile as he allowed Riku to enter his home, still making sure to keep up with his charade for a little longer.

When they were about to head to the next room, Sorin came running in.

"Hey, dad! I put Scary in the-Woah, who is he?" Sorin pointed at Riku in surprise.

"I'm-" Riku was about to respond, but Alan cut him off.

"Oh, he is just a guest of mine." Alan gave the answer for him. "Also can you go to your room. I need discuss this privately, understood?"

"Sure thing, dad." Sorin agreed with him. "Oh, yeah! I almost forgot to tell you that Scary is staying in the garage tonight. I don't want him to get cold."

"That's alright, son." Alan understood. "Now go, and don't come down until I call you down for dinner."

"Okay!" With that out the way, Sorin sprinted up the stairs, leaving Alan alone with Riku.

Riku looked at him, "Scary?"

"He's our our dog." Alan replied.

"Huh, kinda a weird name to give him, don't ya think?"

"It's a funny story." Alan chuckled, leading the way to the kitchen, where Alan pulled out a chair for Riku to sit. "Would you like something to drink?"

"No thanks-" Before he could say it, Riku made a dry cough. Making him scratch his throat with his gloved-cover hand. "Okay, maybe a glass water would be fine."

"As you wish." Alan went to the cabinet to grab one of the glasses, filling it with water and bringing it back to the table.

"Thank you." Riku took a sip from the glass.

"So tell me," Alan started, "What brought you here, and how do I have something to with it?"

Riku gulped down the last drop of water, and wiped off the remnants from his lips. "I'm hoping to find some answers from you. It might help me find some hidden truths."

"Help you with what?" Alan questioned him further.

"It's personal." Riku answered.

"Sound like you have a vendetta, don't you?"

"I-well, not exactly." Riku denounced it. "I'm doing this as a favor for someone else."

"Then how come this someone is not with you? Unless you're their personal delivery boy." Alan pointed out.

"That's not-" Riku almost rose up from his seat, but stopped himself from doing so. Instead, he took in a deep breath to keep himself calm. Then he fell back to his seat. "Look, I just gotta ask you if you know a guy named Xehanort?"

"Xehanort?" Alan scratch his bearded chin. Something about that name sounded familiar to him. It was brief, but a memory flashed in his head; showing him a grown man with silver hair reaching out for him. As his vision was clouded by bubbles and lungs filled up with water.

It only lasted for a while until Alan found himself back to reality. He turned to look back at Riku, seeing him still waiting for him to answer his questions.

"Well... yes and no." Alan replied.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Riku gave him a confused look.

"You see… I only met him once in my lifetime, when I was just a boy." Alan did his best to explain. "Though my memory is a bit hazy, I still remember him the day he saved me and my brother's life."

"But how can that be?" Riku seemed more confused than ever.

"What do you mean?" Alan questioned.

"It's just...well it doesn't match with the Xehanort that I know." Riku did his best to explain.

"Hmm. Care to explain, Riku?"

Alana had never thought that today could get any stranger than this. All he could do was to listen Riku's side of the story

Inside her room, Akira struggled to sleep. Something in her mind was preventing from doing so. Her body was tossing and turning, her senses going haywire again.

Sweating with heavy pants, Akira sprang up from her bed, gasping for air. Looking around, she found herself in her room. She got out of her bed, pacing around the room, only wearing a white tank top and tanned cargo pants.

Akira's sensed strange vibes that ran deep to her bones. She tried to ignore it, but it only got stronger. She paced around the room like an animal trapped in small cage. Hoping it would go away, but it didn't.

"Why does this keep happening?" She questioned herself, getting sick and tired of her senses going wild. First it started with the strange encounter in the alleyways from yesterday. And then today, she stupidly followed her instincts to go after something that wasn't real at all. Now, she was getting weird vibes in her own home.

She tried to calm her mind by taking in a deep breath; however, she would make dry coughs. Akira had forgotten that she hadn't had any water for a while. She was so focused on going to her bed rather than quench her thirst. Maybe if she got something drink, it would make the headaches go away.

Without any further question, she walked out of the room and made a sharp turn towards the stairways. Heading down the steps, she tried to compose herself from still feeling shaken by her own senses. It was becoming more irritating as she descended down stairs. It took a lot willpower for her to repress her senses that had been all over the place.

Once she finally reached to the bottom step, she took a left turn that lead her towards the kitchen. Just when she about to enter, Akira froze when she saw her uncle talking with someone. She remained silent as she watched Alan. He was in the middle of conversation with a silver-haired teen she had never seen before.

Akira tried to walk back, but she accidentally stepped on loose floorboard that made a high creaking sound. Alan and the other person looked back at her directly.

"Ah, Akira!" Alan spoke up. "Is everything alright?"

"Um, yeah, I just need something to drink." Akira said while rubbing her dry throat. "Also...who the heck is he?" She pointed at the young man wearing a black coat.

Alan resisted to groan from hearing her attitude, "Why don't you introduce yourself?"

"Really?" Akira gave him serious look.

"Go on, he doesn't bite." Alan persuaded.

Akira held back her own groan, and went up to the strange looking teenager. As she took a step forward, he automatically got up from his seat, and went up to her too.

"Hi, my name is Riku." The young man revealed, stretching out a hand.

"Akira," She answered.

The moment their hands touched Akira's night blue eyes widened in pain. A powerful jolt struck her entire mind and ran across her body, numbing all her senses that she could no longer feel the ache in her head. Instead she saw images rapidly playthrough her mind. Showing her an island being consumed by a black hole, a strange figure dressed in a brown robe, and a boy with a key-shaped weapon.

Akira couldn't take it anymore. The images overwhelmed her, making it impossible for her scream out in pain. Instead, she felt her body falling back. She couldn't stop herself from falling also her vision began to cloud with darkness. The last thing she heard was Riku and Alan crying out for her. Until everything went silent as she sank into darkness.