Hey! Sorry if the last chapter sucked. I have never written romance before. Hope this installment is better. (Most likely because it has a lot of action.) Enjoy!

Chapter Three

The Awakenings

"A day off from school," Sora shouted with a grin. "How about we practice sparring for the whole day on the islet?" He stared back and forth at Riku and Kairi enthusiastically.

"But I'm tired Sora!" Kairi complained. "Can't we do it tomorrow?"

"Kairi," Riku said. "If you don't practice, you'll be a sitting duck against the Heartless. We don't want to lose you again."

"I guess you're right, Riku. Let's go train!" The three of them headed towards their rafts and sailed over to the islet.

Sora, Riku, and Kairi all locked the blades of their toy swords together. They pushed themselves back. They began to slash and parry each others attacks. The two boys locked blades and nodded to each other. They charged at Kairi and raised their swords. She knelt down and grabbed their legs causing them to flip forward onto their backs. She started laughing hysterically. She walked over and brought her hands out to help her friends up. Sora and Riku grabbed her hands and yanked her down into the sand. They started laughing hard and began to lie down in the warm sand.

"I thought you two said no ganging up on one another?" Kairi chastised.

"That takes all the fun out of fighting!" Sora replied.

"Heartless also attack in swarms," Riku added on. "You'll need to learn to fight multiple enemies." As he finished, he noticed Sora close his eyes. Riku laid his head down in the sand. Kairi did the same and they closed their eyes.

Suddenly, Riku felt like he was freefalling. He spotted Kairi and noticed they were falling through darkness. He looked down and saw a stained glass-like design below. Kairi opened her eyes and looked down as well. It was black and purple all around with white specks as stars. In the middle of the design was a heart-shaped moon; Kingdom Hearts. The two were now falling upright and floated down gently. They finally touched the glass-like floor and were surprised it didn't break.

"Riku," Kairi asked. "Where are we?" She looked around became frightened.

"I don't know." He replied. "Hey, what's that?"

Two flashes of light shone in front of them. A shield and a staff took the place of the light. The shield was black with a red outline and three circles that made up King Mickey's seal. The staff had a green handle and on top were three blue spheres that also made up the King's seal. Riku stepped forward and grasped the shield. Kairi hesitated, but she grabbed the staff. The two weapons disappeared and suddenly Riku's hand flashed a brilliant light. A Keyblade appeared in his hands. The blade resembled a black and red demon wing with a cat-like blue eye at the bottom of the wing. On the sharp side of the key was a sky blue angel wing. The armguard had a demon wing on one side and an angel wing on the other. There was a keychain connected to the Keyblade that had a black heart-like pendant with a red outline, the Road to Dawn Keyblade. Kairi became disappointed. Riku gave her a Keyblade four months before this and now it didn't appear.

"You have to search in your heart for the Keyblade's power." Riku told her. She closed her eyes and brought her hand to her chest. She brought her hand out grabbed the air and a flash of light shone. Her Keyblade appeared. It had an orange, purple, and red blade that resembled an evening sky. On one side of the blade, there were orange, pink, and purple flowers. The hand guard had one side like water and on the other side was sand to represent a beach. The keychain was a red string connected to a yellow star-shaped charm that had a small green leaf on one of the points; the Destiny Blossom Keyblade. "See? That's all there is."

Kairi smiled and suddenly had a shocked look on her face. She pushed Riku out of the way and slashed a small black creature. It had a round head, short antennae and bright, round, glowing yellow eyes. A small body with two three-clawed hands and small pointy feet. It was a creature known as a Heartless. There were many types, but this was the weakest of all of them. Five more rose from the ground and slowly closed in on the two Keybearers.

Riku thrust his Keyblade past Kairi. She got an angered look on her face and turned around and saw a skinny white creature. It had an emblem that resembled somewhat of an upside-down heart with three points at the top like a cross on its head. It had belts strapped around its long pointed hands. There was a black head that had a strange smile on it as well. This was a Nobody. A group known as Organization XIII controlled them and used them to fight Sora and his friends four months before. There were thirteen types Sora had seen, but there could've been more than those. This type of Nobody was a Dusk, the second weakest of all the Nobodies.

Two Shadows leapt at Kairi while three Dusks were tip-toeing around her. She slashed one of the Heartless and it disappeared in a puff of black smoke. One of the Nobodies bent its body into a wheel and rolled down to run into Kairi, but she dodged out of the way and slashed it in half, making it disappear in a flash of light. Kairi felt a sharp sting in her left arm. A Shadow had scratched her when she attacked the wheel Dusk. She spun and extended her Keyblade out and destroyed two Heartless and the last Nobody.

Riku had two Dusks and three Shadows in front of him. He was far more experienced in fighting than Kairi. He rushed the group and swung his Keyblade horizontally and destroyed a Heartless and a Nobody. The last Dusk tried to head butt Riku in the gut, but to no avail. Riku jumped into the air and a purple and white flame formed in his left hand.

"Dark Fire!" he shouted as he brought out his hand and launched his attack. The flame grew as it flew towards its target and consumed the Dusk and when the flame cleared, there wasn't a Nobody standing there. Riku thrust his Keyblade behind him and destroy another Heartless and quickly turned and slashed the last Heartless.

Riku and Kairi stood still for a few minutes catching their breaths. Riku was impressed with how well Kairi handled herself. He then noticed her scratch wound and pointed his Keyblade at it.

"Cure." A green light flashed over the wound and it healed completely.

"Thanks." Suddenly, two doors appeared on the other side of the platform. One door was black and white while the other was white and pink. "Riku, do you think we're going to be separated if we enter those doors?" She asked.

"More than likely," he replied. "But don't worry, as long as you believe in your abilities and think about Sora, I'm sure you'll be fine." She felt relieved by those words and nodded at Riku. She walked over to the pink door while it opened up by itself. Riku followed and his door opened as well. They looked back at each other and nodded.

Kairi appeared on a new platform. It was just a simple stained glass design with no importance. She looked ahead of her and saw a man she could never forget. He had long silver hair that pointed in three directions at the top a dark tan, and bright amber eyes. He wore a white coat, black boots, and silver gloves.

"It's wonderful to see you again, Kairi." He said in a sinister voice.

"Xehanort!" she shouted.

"Surprised to see me?" He grinned.

Kairi summoned her Keyblade. "You've have caused so much sadness in all the worlds. You destroyed my hometown, and I was separated from my family. You've taken all of my past away from me!" Kairi dashed at Xehanort. A huge black creature covered in white bandages appeared behind him. It had bright yellow eyes and blue lines on its face. On its head were long antennae that zigzagged down its back. Xehanort started hovering over the platform.

Kairi continuously slashed at Xehanort with extreme prejudice. The guardian-like creature grabbed her Keyblade and flung her away. Kairi used her blade as a brake to prevent her from falling off the edge. She threw her Keyblade at Xehanort and hit him in the chest. Kairi ran forward and grabbed the key as it came back to her she jumped over the Seeker of Darkness and decapitated the creature behind him. Huge tendrils of darkness burst from the guardian and embraced Kairi. Xehanort sent a beam at her. Kairi's eyes widened as the blast of energy came surging right at her. A bright light came from her and surrounded the two of them.

When the light cleared, Kairi saw Xehanort clutching his arm. She charged at man and slashed him. He disappeared with an enraged expression on his face. Kairi knew she would see him again in her nightmares. She noticed a portal where Xehanort was before and walked towards it.

Riku appeared through a portal and looked around quickly. He noticed a blond-haired boy around Sora's age standing with his back turned to Riku. He wore a black trench coat, shoes, and gloves. In each hand, he carried a Keyblade. The one in his right was black with chains within the center of the blade. It had a silver point at the top. The hand guards were bat-like wings and the keychain was black with a black crown pendant, much like the one Sora wore around his neck. It was the Oblivion. The key in his right was white. The hand guards were angel-like with a star pendant. The blade was separated into two: one part shaped into a heart, the other into a star-like shape. This was the Oathkeeper.

The boy turned to face Riku. He had the same color eyes as Sora, even his face looked like Sora's. It was Roxas.

"Roxas!" Riku looked in awe. "You're my opposition?"

"If you mean your test, then yes." He lowered himself into a battle position. Riku followed up and brought his Keyblade up. "I was the only person you couldn't defeat with the light." He leapt forward and swung both Keyblades at Riku, but he jumped back and braced himself for the next attack. Roxas slid over towards Riku's position and had his blades in a scissor-like form. Riku put the blade in-between Roxas' Keyblades. He dropped to the ground to trip Roxas, but he did a back flip away from him. He ran back at Riku while Riku also ran towards Roxas and they clashed blades one right after the other. They locked their Keyblades and struggled against each other's strength.

"I have to admit, you have become stronger, Riku. But I'm still more powerful!" Roxas pushed Riku down to the ground and brought the Oblivion down to strike. Riku quickly got back up and slashed Roxas in the arm with the Oath Keeper. He used the point of the Way to Dawn to grapple onto the Oblivion's chain center and pulled it out of Roxas' hand. Riku flung it to the other end of the platform and brought the Keyblades up like a pair of giant scissors towards Roxas' neck.

"Finish him, Riku." Said a familiar, malevolent voice. It was Maleficent. He didn't know why she was talking to him. "You will always be a mere puppet to me. Finish this Nobody and destroy Sora!" He could just hear her cackling even though she wasn't. He screamed at the top of his lungs and threw the Keyblades to the ground. Roxas looked in concern. Riku was never like this, even though he hardly knew him like Sora did.

"What's wrong?" the Nobody asked.

"It's nothing, really." Riku replied. "It's just a migraine." Roxas knew better. If it were a migraine, Riku would have wanted that since this was a dream world.

"I guess you've become a great fighter in the light. Also, I just want to say this to you, Sora should be proud to have a friend like you." He smiled at Riku with confidence. A bright light formed around the two and Riku woke up back on the beach. Kairi started to stir and sat up squinting in the bright sun. She blinked a few times to help her eyes adjust to the light. She looked over to Riku.

"So," she started off. "Who'd you go up against?" she asked in a mournful voice.

"Roxas, but I heard…" Kairi looked at him in concern. "Never mind, it's not important. Anyways, who'd you go up against?"

Kairi let out a sigh. "Xehanort's Heartless…"

"Did you lose!"

"No, Naminé summoned up light and weakened him so I could finish him off."

"Naminé? Well I'm just glad you're still able to use the Keyblade."

Sora yawned and sat up brushing the sand out of his hair. "Boy that was some nap! I had the strangest dream that involved you two."

"Well, it actually happened." Kairi told the Keyblade Master. She stretched her arms out and yawned. "I'm tired, let's head back to the main island."

"Yeah! I feel like going to bed now." Riku told them.

"Okay, but I wish it was the weekend tomorrow so that the next day we see Donald and Goofy." Sora complained. The three of them laughed as the walked towards their rafts.

Hono was hidden in the bushes near the secret spot. He was wearing a tan trench coat and black jeans. He was scheming about something. Suddenly he heard soft footsteps behind him. He slowly got up and turned around to see an ally of his. A man in a black suit.

The man had blood red eyes and messy, jet black hair. He had a pale complexion that complimented the black outfit he wore. Over the outfit, he wore a long, tattered, blood red cape. His left hand was encased in a brass gauntlet that had sharp fingers like a demon's claw. His boots were covered in brass plates and the plate over the toes of the boots pointed.

"When are you going to bring this 'great plan' of yours into effect, Hono?" He asked in calm and collected voice. His face showed no emotion and his eyes shown tragedy.

"Tomorrow," Hono replied. "That is when I will kidnap Kairi. Don't worry, Vincent!"

"My boss is a very stern man, Hono. I wouldn't test his patience if I were you. He is very finicky when it comes to perfection."

"And he will get great results. He wants Sora and Riku, then Kairi is the perfect bait." Hono smirked. Vincent closed his eyes and walked off. The tattered end of his cape looked like a slow flame and the different ends seemed to fade and reappear. 'I never fail.' Hono said to himself.