Here's the next chapter. Thanks to those who took the time to review, this is well appreciated, and those who put this story on their alerts and favorites, a big THANK YOU to you. The story will now switch over to another character, this will happen a lot on the story since I want to focus on everyone.


Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts


Kingdom Hearts: Race to the Keyhole

Ch.2 Lingering Dreams

A blond with spiky hair walked through the streets of the large Twilight Town. This town was one of the biggest in the area with its tall buildings, population and the landmark that was the Twilight Clock Tower, said to be there even before the town had been founded.

The blond carried a school bag on his shoulder as he loosened up a blue tie around his neck. He wore a white buttoned up shirt under a blue jacket, dark blue pants and black shoes. He had just gotten out of his school, Twilight Town High, one of the best in the area. His grades had gotten him there, his parents had never been more proud, remembering their reaction made him want to give school his all. This resulted in him being in the top ten percent of the school with a bright future ahead.

Of course this had a negative effect on his social life since he was seen as a nerd or geek by his peers. He was usually picked on and had little friends. Being a teenager he worried about his social life but he would do nothing about it, he decided to be the bigger person. If he got friends then it would mean that they liked him as a person. He didn't want to gain them by being someone he was not. He wouldn't pretend to be someone else, doing that would lose the meaning of having friends in the first place.

He tightened the grip on the bag as he continued his trek through the streets, a sudden wave of disappointment washing over his face. Today had been the day where he would talk to Namine, his crush, and he had gathered all of his courage the night before. However, fate didn't seem to be on his side since he had completely forgotten about the sports festival that was scheduled earlier that day. In the end he ended up completely tired and approaching Namine was out of the question since she was surrounded by friends, some of them rather intimidating blitzball club members.

"There's always tomorrow…" he sighed out. He turned a corner, a terrifying scene waiting for him, showing itself so suddenly that he couldn't help but gasp. The giant, intimidating, horrible and cruel monstrosity sat there quietly as if taunting him. He gritted his teeth and took a deep breath, he had to do this.

The teen's right eye twitched as he stared at the tall and long hill that led to his neighborhood. It had slipped his mind for a second that this spawn of hell would be waiting for him. His body was still sore from the sports festival, he guessed that it just wasn't his day.

The blond dragged himself through the hill, groaning as he did so, until he finally reached the top. He released a sigh of relief before continuing his walk, his feet protesting with each step. He reached a crossroads almost turning to the right before he caught himself and taking the left road, today he wouldn't stop at home first.

His best friend had been absent from school. Like the good friend he was, on his humble opinion, he had copied an extra set of notes for her to use. They had a test at the end of the week and missing notes would hurt her grade. Her house came into view, much to his relief, and he quickly reached the door.

He reached under the single mat reading 'Welcome' and took out a key. He entered the home to see the simple living room with a set of stairs on the side. Not bothering to check the house for anyone he made his way up the stairs to arrive at a small hallway before entering one of four doors.

Upon opening the door he was greeted by the sound of explosions and shooting coming from the single TV that shone in the darkness of the room. He found his friend sitting in front of the TV with a controller on her hands, a blanket wrapped around her small frame and a light blush on her cheeks.

"Hey Xion," the teen greeted as he sat next to the girl, dropping the book bag on the floor. He knew not to expect an answer since she rarely spoke to anyone while in the middle of the game, since she said that it ruined her concentration. The blond simply settled for looking at his friend with a small smile. Her short black hair was messy under the blanket, her pale skinned seemed even paler and her blue eyes shone against the screen of the TV. From the looks of things she was pretty sick.

A few moments later Xion turned off the game and threw the blond a smile, happy to have company. "Hi Roxas, what are you doing here?" she asked before walking over to her bed and sitting down with her legs crossed. Roxas grinned and reached for his bag, taking out a red notebook before waving it in her face, "What's that?"

"I took notes for you," Roxas explained as he skimmed through the notebook before handing it over to her, "You didn't miss much since we had a sports festival but we still have a test on Friday." Xion nodded as she looked through the notebook, "I'll help you study if you want."

"Thanks," Xion replied with a small smile, she put the notebook on the bed before crossing her arms and giving Roxas a serious look, "So tell me, how were things with Namine? You did talk to her, right?"

Roxas instantly blushed and looked down. "I didn't…" he muttered in shame. Xion furrowed her brows and threw him a confused look, putting a hand around her ear showing that she hadn't heard him. "I said I didn't," the blond said a little louder, earning a loud sigh from Xion. She plopped down on the bed and ran a hand through her hair, "I tried but she never left her friends."

"You're hopeless Roxas," Xion sighed out in desperation, "It's been months and you haven't made a move on her. I'm starting to think I should help you with her after all."

"No, I'm alright," Roxas countered instantly with a frown on his face. He ran a hand through his hair and cleared his throat, "I just need a better opportunity."

Xion sat up and crossed her arms with a thoughtful look on her face. "Then what are you going to do? From the look of things you aren't getting anywhere."

Roxas shrugged. "I don't know maybe I'll get a chance to talk to her," he turned away from Xion and looked through his school bag. He pulled out a textbook and gave her a grin, "For now I'll help you with your homework."

"Alright," Xion nodded and skimmed through the red notebook once more, quickly reading over the homework assignment.


It was dark when Roxas left Xion's home. A few hours after visiting Xion her parents had gotten back from work, instantly rushing over to the girl and feeding her medicine that would help. She had denied the medicine with a frown but after seeing her mom's teary eyes she took it. After that he had excused himself, ignoring his friend's pleading looks, and left the home.

Roxas smiled at the memory. Even though they didn't spend much time together, Xion and her parents had a deep bond and cared for each other. He had known this for a while but it didn't hit him until now. Since he was Xion's friends he had met her parents a few years back, he spent many days on her home and grew close with them. It was good to visit them but they still got under his skin sometimes with their teasing, for some reason they pestered him on having feelings for Xion when he clearly didn't. She was a good friend but nothing else, he had made sure to tell them this but they still teased him from time to time.

With a sigh Roxas arrived at his home, opening the door and dropping his schoolbag. He walked to the living room to see his parents sitting on a couch, huddled together, with a movie on the TV.

"What took you so long? We were getting worried," Roxas' mom asked from her spot on the couch.

"I went to visit Xion," he explained, throwing a curious glance at the movie and noting that it was a romance, "She was sick today so I helped her with her schoolwork."

"That was very thoughtful of you," his dad said with a firm nod, making Roxas chuckle nervously. His dad was rather intimidating. He had short brown hair, piercing blue eyes, a mustache and to top it all of he was pretty tall.

"Right," Roxas muttered before turning away from them, "I'm gonna go to my room, I'm really tired."

He was glad that they didn't stop him, in all honesty he didn't think that he would be able to stay in the same room as them. He loved his parents but whenever they watched a movie, on top of that a romance, they would get rather... cuddly.

The teen shuddered as he made his way to his room, quickly closing the door just in case they called him back. His room was rather plain, it was medium-sized and had a single window with a view of the lower part of town. His bed sat next to the window and a bookshelf stood next to the door.

Without thinking twice, he threw himself on his bed with a groan. His body ached and creaked from the earlier abuse it had taken. For some reason he ended up playing almost every sport in school, it wasn't because he wanted to but because he had been trying to get away from someone. It was a teen called Isa who, for some reason, hated him and who's whole purpose was to make his life a living hell. Participating in the sports gave him the perfect excuse to be looked after the school staff and thus, avoiding him any trouble. It was a rather cowardly thing to do but he didn't care much, he just looked after his well-being.

He pushed those thoughts aside as he started to slip into unconsciousness. He would deal with all of these in the morning, for now he needed to sleep.


Roxas found himself in front of the clock tower, in the small plaza that stood before it to be exact, with everything around him black and white. He furrowed his brows in confusion and looked around the area, the sun was not out, yet the area around him was completely visible. The sky was plain with no clouds, in fact it was just a dull gray. There was not a single sound in the area, it was as if he was cut off from everything.

He took a step forward but winced when his foot made a loud echoing thump when it made contact with the floor. The sound filled the area before coming to rest, the place going back to its utter silence. The teen frowned and took another step, ignoring the loud noise his feet made. He continued to walk until he reached the railing of the small plaza and looked at the town.

Everything was completely still, he could clearly see a train on the train tracks but it didn't move, a cloud of smoke stayed still on top of the train. A few birds were frozen in mid-flight and even the faraway cars in the middle of the street didn't move.

Roxas took one more step but gasped when his feet didn't make the usual thumping noise but it creating a loud rumbling sound. He took a few steps back and the town began to shake violently, the gray sky suddenly became full of black cracks and the clock let out a loud chime. The teen watched with wide-eyes as the sky emitted the sound of breaking glass before shattering into millions of pieces, revealing a sky covered by a pure black and dark purple cloud.

Everything began to move again, the train in the distance, the birds and the cars. Darkness shot out of the ground and began to envelop buildings or anything else it came in contact with. The teen watched as a giant vortex appeared in the middle of the sky, swallowing everything on sight. He tried to scream but found that his voice was gone. With no idea on what to do he decided to run, run away from whatever was happening.

He broke into a sprint with no particular direction when he suddenly felt something slam against his back. Roxas fell to the ground with a thud before turning around, finding that everything was full of color once more. The buildings around him were covered in darkness and a small dark creature stood before him, squirming in place.

Roxas punched the creature away before quickly running away. He managed a smile when he saw that he was nearing his neighborhood when it was suddenly covered in darkness. The floor in front of him suddenly shattered and fell into a dark abyss. The teen stopped dead on his tracks and stared at the dark abyss in shock, just what had happened?

He tried to run once more but was tackled to the ground. The teen closed his eyes as he fell on the ground, his back hurting from the impact. Something moved on his chest, making him gasp and snap his eyes open. His shirt suddenly ripped in half, revealing a squirming darkness on his chest.

Roxas tried to scream in terror but nothing came out. He begged for help when the darkness on his chest took shape but nobody heard him. He tried to move as the darkness took the shape of the small creature he had encountered earlier but his body was completely immobilized.

His body shuddered as the dark creature glared at him with its piercing yellow eyes that seemed to burn into his very soul. The creature hissed as it bared its sharp teeth, squirming as it leaned back with its eyes focused on the teen before it pounced at his face.


Roxas woke up with a start, feeling his heart pounding against his chest. He gripped his chest and let out a hiss of pain, something strange was going on. His chest felt like it was in pain but not a physical one, he couldn't describe how it really felt. His throat was dry and his head was full of sweat, he didn't know what was wrong with him.

He quickly walked over to the bathroom and turned on the water of his sink, splashing it on his face. The teen looked at himself in the mirror, his skin seemed a little paler and there was a light blush on his face. From the looks of things he was getting sick.

'So that's it…' he sighed out in relief. He had simply caught whatever Xion had, it was obvious since he had spent so much time with her. This would also explain his weird dream and symptoms, he would need to speak with his friend later.

He finished up cleaning up and went down to the kitchen, finding his father sitting in a small counter and his mom making something on the stove.

"Are you alright son?" his dad asked with a frown on his face.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine," Roxas replied with a light nod. He went to sit on the kitchen counter and rested his chin on his hands, letting out a yawn.

His mom turned away from the stove and frowned. "You know that you don't have to go to school if you're feeling too bad, right?" she asked with a worried look, "If you're too sick then just tell us and we'll take you to the doctor."

"No I'm fine," Roxas assured with a smile on his face. It was always good to know that his parents cared about him even if they got too annoying sometimes.

"Oh by the way," his mom began with a finger on her chin, "Your uncle and aunt called to tell us that Sora would be staying over in a few days. You haven't seen him in a while so show him around town when he gets here."

Roxas nodded with a small grin, he remembered his cousin from some time ago. Sora had always been a happy-go-lucky kid full of energy. Seeing him again would be great, they had been like brothers and it would be nice to have him back.

"Are they still like that?" Roxas heard his dad ask in a firm tone. The blond turned to his parents with his head cocked to the side, not knowing what they were talking about.

"Yeah," she replied with a sad smile.

His parents got quiet and turned to what they were doing. It seemed a bit suspicious bet he knew not to stick his nose in other people's business, it they wanted him to know then they would tell him. Right now he had more important things to worry about.

He didn't know what his earlier dream had been about but he somehow recalled every single detail and couldn't get it out of his mind, it had been way too vivid. The small creature was what freaked him out the most, those yellow eyes and the way it had prepared to attack made him feel uneasy. He really needed to talk to Xion, maybe it would clear his mind.


"… and then the weird creature just jumped at my face," Roxas finished his story before throwing his hands in the air.

He was currently walking next to Xion, who looked a lot better than the night before. She wore the female student uniform that consisted of a gray skirt with blue square patters and a white buttoned up shirt under a blue jacket. The two had met on the crossroads that led to their homes and went down the hill that led to school.

"That's creepy," Xion stated with a frown on her face. She crossed her arms and pouted her lips, trying to think of what the dream could have meant.

"Tell me about it," Roxas muttered with a sigh, running a hand through his hair. He frowned before closing his eyes, enjoying the feeling of the light breeze against his skin. There was a sudden tap on his forehead, making him open his eyes to see Xion smiling at him with her hand moving away from his head.

"Don't worry about it Roxas," she said in a calm tone. A teasing grin appeared on her face as she rested her hands on her hips, "You have enough to worry about being a school outcast." Roxas groaned, making the girl giggle, "But that's not a bad thing, you're different and some girls like that."

Roxas found himself blushing slightly as he gave Xion a grin. "Right," he muttered as he walked ahead of his friend, "Maybe I need to be different if I want to get Namine to notice me."

The blond found himself filled with determination, he decided that his confession would be today. So engrossed with his thoughts, he failed to noticed the hurt expression that crossed Xion's face as he walked further and further away from her.


Roxas' classroom was full of life. Students walked in and out of the room, other gathered in groups around desks and talked while some more reserved students settled for eating lunch in peace. There was a cafeteria in the school of course but a large portion of students preferred to eat in the classroom since they didn't have to worry about being late to class afterwards.

The blond teen sat on his desk with a bored look on his face, he had finished his lunch and had nothing to do. He simply gazed around the pale brown classroom, walls filled with charts and motivational posters, and a large desk sitting opposite of the desks.

The blond sighed and rested his chin on his hands before hearing the door slam open. He turned to the source of noise to see Xion standing there with an exited smile on her face. The students in the classroom watched in puzzlement as her eyes scanned over the room. Her gaze fell on Roxas before she hurriedly walked over to him, the smile never leaving her face.

"Hey Roxas," she greeted with a small wave. She took the seat in front of him before turning to face him, "Guess what?"

"What are you doing in my classroom?" he deadpanned.

Xion frowned and crossed her arms. "I told you to guess something, you don't have to be rude," she muttered before breaking into a grin once more, "I came here to ask you a favor."

Roxas' ears perked up. "What is it?" he asked. It was rare for Xion to just ask him for a favor, she was a pretty independent person and wouldn't ask for help unless it was an important matter, "You're not in trouble are you?"

"Of course not," Xion replied with a wave of her hand. Her face grew serious and she leaned in closer to Roxas, making him blush lightly from the closeness, "I have a project in my class that's worth a large portion of my grade. I just wanted to ask if you wanted to help me with it."

"Sure," Roxas said with a shrug. He assumed it wouldn't be too much trouble since his schedule was fairly empty, "What's the project?"

Xion dug a hand into one of the pockets of her jacket before taking out a folded piece of paper. "This is it," she waved the paper in front of the blond before handing it to him. Roxas took it in hand and began to unfold it, "We're supposed to research certain parts of town for something."

Roxas read over the contents of the paper and sighed. "Xion…" he began with his right eye twitching in annoyance. Xion cocked her head to the side in confusion, "This project was due today."

"Don't worry," she waved him off with a sigh, "The teacher said that since I was sick I could turn it in tomorrow."

"But you're starting the project today, when the paper says it started last week, right?" he growled. Xion smiled and nodded, making the blond sigh, "Xion, sometimes you're just too calm when it comes to school."

"Hey, what's the point of stressing over school anyway," she argued, "Things are going to get harder when we get older so why stress over school?"

Roxas stared blankly at Xion before slowly breaking into a grin. He ran a hand through his hair and chuckled, sometimes she made a lot of sense. "You're right," he agreed, making his friend smile, "There's nothing to worry about, I'm sure we'll finish the project if we start as soon as school is over." He read over the paper once more and broke into a grin, "Looks like our first stop will be the train station."

"Right," Xion nodded with a smile on her face.

Images of the dream were still present on Roxas' mind but, thanks to Xion, he wasn't as concerned about them. Her relaxed attitude was contagious and he appreciated her for it. It had just been a dream with no deep meaning or anything, so why should he over analyze it?

Life was good and calm with no worries, it was perfectly normal.

Ch.2 End

That's the second chapter guys. Next chapter will show why this story is rated M and will set things to motion. I have another story to work on so the next chapter might take a little longer to come out, but Ch. 3 will be out before next week is over.

Thanks for reading and I hope you liked this chapter, remember to leave any questions if you have any.