Disclaimer: All characters and names are copyright of Square-Enix and/or Disney Corporation. This is a non-profit endeavor for entertainment purposes only

--

Sora lay on his back on the soft white sand, gazing up at the sky. Now protected by a thick coat of sunscreen, the blazing sun didn't seem quite so bad. He could hear the sounds of his friends splashing in the waves a few feet off, and he relished in the feelings of peace and contentedness that had seemed unlikely he would ever get to experience again just two years ago.

A body suddenly blocked the sunlight out, and Sora squinted to make out whom the silhouette belonged to. It was Kairi. Water was dripping out of her dark red hair and down her body, clad in not more than her sky blue two-piece. Sora swallowed hard. He wasn't sure he trusted his voice just then.

"Why is it that when I go looking for you, I always find you lazing around on your back on the sand?" She asked, one corner of her mouth twitching as she fought down a smile.

"It's…" Sora cleared his throat. Why did his voice crack like that? He should be done with this puberty nonsense. "It's not being lazy. You just always catch me at repose." He nodded his head. "Yeah, that's it."

Kairi snorted out a laugh and brushed at her forehead, where a few of her wet bangs were sticking. "Well, 'repose' later. We're trying to get a game going and we need you to make the teams even."

"But Selphie hates Blitz." Sora sat up, brushing some stray grains of sand from the backs of his arms."

"Yeah, but she'll also do anything that Tidus wants to do."

"Ah, of course. How silly of me to forget." Sora stood and motioned to the water. "Shall we?"

Kairi smiled and took his arm, leading him down the sand. Sora swallowed again. Even the slightest contact with Kairi gave him tingles down his spine. Riku was forever pestering him to just ask her out already. Sora very much wanted to, but there was always some niggling doubt that kept the words locked in the back of his throat. What if she only saw him as a brother, like she did Riku? His friend said he was daft, and that Kairi's interest in him was anything but familial.

But then Sora was a teenage guy, and they've never been accused of possessing powerful higher brain functions.

Sora, Kairi, and Wakka were matched against Riku, Selphie, and Tidus. It seemed fair to have a person who actually played Blitzball on each team. It was also decided that the rules would have to be modified somewhat, since only Tidus and Wakka had the training that allowed them to hold their breath underwater for extended periods of time. What they actually ended up playing was closer in style to water polo, which worked against Tidus' team, as the conditions didn't allow for him to make good use of his speed. In the end, Sora's team ended up winning by three, and the six retired to their towels, worn out but in good spirits.

"Does anyone hear that?" Tidus asked, raising his head and looking around.

"Hear what?" Selphie asked, shaking her head. "I think you're losing it."

"No, I'm serious. It sounds like hoof beats." Tidus insisted.

"Dere ain't no horses on the islands, bruddah." Wakka laughed off his teammates concerns.

Tidus sat and fumed while Wakka and Selphie laughed at him. Sora sat up on his towel and tilted his head to one side. Come to think of it, he thought he might've heard something too. He glanced at Riku to see his best friend looking intently at some point in the distance. Kairi was looking back and forth between Sora and Riku, chewing on her bottom lip. She could tell by their postures that something wasn't right.

In a shower of sand, something burst from under the ground. The six scrambled to their feet as a massive black horse reared on its hind legs before them, snorting smoke from its nostrils. It's rider swung from the saddle and dropped heavily to the sand. The teenagers gaped at the apparition, dressed in intimidating black armor, and completely lacking in a head.

The perceived handicap didn't appear to hinder the rider at all. It drew its sword, an evil looking blade of jagged, serrated metal. It pointed the tip directly at Sora as it advanced on the six.

Riku was the first into action, surging forward with the Way To Dawn materializing in his hand. "Sora! Get the others to the canoes! Make sure they're all right!" The Horseman brought his sword around in a diagonal slash. Riku intercepted the blade in a shower of sparks, and the two began to trade blows. No matter how much Riku danced around his opponent, the Headless Horseman followed his movements, somehow able to track him without eyes.

Sora was herding the others towards the dock the canoes were tied down to. He was anxious to get everyone, specifically Kairi, out of danger, and then get back to help Riku. Casting a glance over his shoulder, he could see his friend still engaged with the headless rider.

"What's going on?!" Selphie shouted, near hysterics as she clung tightly to Tidus' side.

"Just get back to town, we'll take care of it!" Sora assured her as he helped Tidus get her into a canoe.

Kairi grabbed his hand and pulled him around to face her. Her blue eyes looked slightly frightened, but determined at the same time. "It's happening again, isn't it?"

Sora pursed his lips. "I don't know. Maybe. Look, just make sure the others get away safely."

Kairi frowned and began to protest. "Sora…"

"Just go! I'm counting on you to watch over the others. Riku and I'll be fine."

"Don't you dare think about leaving me behind again."

"I promise we'll be back. Now go. Go!" He pushed her toward the boats and took off back up the beach, Ultima forming in his fist as he ran.

Kairi clenched her jaw as she watched him go, then turned and helped Wakka push the canoe into the waves.

--

Riku jumped backwards as his Keyblade threatened to become locked on one of the jagged pieces of metal that comprised the Horseman's sword. His right arm was beginning to ache. The Horseman was unnaturally strong, and every time their swords met, it sent painful jolts up and down Riku's arm. It was all he could do just to hold on to the Way To Dawn at every exchange.

His opponent didn't seem to be tiring either. Riku surmised that if he could function without a head, it was highly likely his body wasn't constrained by the normal human limits of fatigue.

Riku brought his Keyblade up to meet the Horseman's sword as it came down towards his head. The force of the blow drove Riku down to his knees in the sand, and he had to brace one hand against the flat of his blade as he struggled to keep to Horseman from splitting his cranium open.

Suddenly, the weight was gone as the Horseman's sword whipped around to catch Ultima as it came in to strike at its flank. By now, it hardly surprised Riku that the Horseman had been able to sense Sora's blow coming, even though his friend hadn't made a sound. Riku climbed to his feet as Sora dueled the Horseman, leading his opponent up the beach away from both Riku, and from where their friends were making their getaway.

Riku rolled his shoulder, trying to work out the stiffness that had formed from his fight. He knew Sora wasn't likely to be able to beat the Horseman on his own. While Riku privately acknowledged that Sora's skill with a blade outmatched his own, Riku was still physically the stronger of the two. And if he could barely hold out against the Horseman's superhuman strength, Sora wouldn't last nearly as long.

It seemed Riku's instincts were correct. Sora was holding Ultima with both hands as he blocked and parried the Horseman's strikes. Every time their blades made contact, Sora would wince as the blows jostled his entire body. Sweat was beginning to bead on his forehead, and he feared it would soon roll into his eyes, much like it had done in the garden that morning. Except this time the consequences would be potentially lethal.

Riku came charging in, and the Horseman shifted his feet and brought his sword around in a sweeping arc that parried Sora's Keyblade off to one side and stopped Riku's in mid-swing. Sora caught his balance and went on the attack again. The Horseman's blade danced back and forth, intercepting the boy's attacks with a master's skill. Both could feel their limbs growing heavy with fatigue. They had to find a way to end this battle soon, or else the Horseman would.

Then something most unexpected occurred. The Horseman lashed out with an armored leg, catching Sora and Riku in the abdomen and sending them sprawling to the sand. The Horseman turned with a flourish of his cape and caught the reins of his steed as it came galloping up. Heaving himself into the saddle, the Horseman rode to the edge of the water. The Horseman rode on without pause, the hoofs of his steed kicking up small splashes as it rode across the top of the water as easily as if it were pavement.

Sora sat up painfully, holding his stomach as he fought to catch his breath. His head whipped around as he tried to find out what had happened to the headless horror they had been fighting. He finally caught sight of the black apparition steadily shrinking as it rode across the surface of the water. Sora's heart skipped a beat once he realized where the Horseman was headed.

"Riku! Riku, get up! He's headed for town!" Sora scrambled to his feet and tore down the beach to where the other canoe was tied up. Riku rolled to his feet and took off after him. The two boys worked double-time to get the boat in the water and were soon paddling as fast as humanly possible after the Horseman.

"We're not going to catch him before he reaches town!" Riku called in between panting breaths.

Sora merely grit his teeth and paddled faster, praying his mother and Kairi would be all right.

--

Maleficent sat back in the large, white marble throne that had once belonged to Xemnas, the Organizations Number I. The abandoned council chamber in the depths of the Castle That Never Was made the perfect location for the first meeting of Maleficent's new allies.

Hades sat to her right, looking thoroughly bored with the proceedings. Maleficent knew that if they weren't having a discussion that involved planning the deaths of Sora and/or Hercules, then the Lord of the Dead generally wasn't interested. It was for those reasons that the god was content to let Maleficent take charge, despite his vastly greater powers.

Seated to the right of Hades, dressed in an impeccably tailored, navy-blue suit, was the tiger businessman Shere Khan. Maleficent had recruited the President of Khan Industries for his incredibly sharp mind and hunter's instincts, as well as his nearly limitless funds. In return, Maleficent had promised Khan access to the Heartless research conducted by Ansem, or rather, Xehanort's Heartless, for his own purposes.

In the Number IV seat was the massively imposing figure of The Horned King. Easily eight feet tall and as thick as a tree trunk, dressed in blood red armor and wearing a great horned helmet from which he took his name, The Horned King commanded a vast demon army with which Maleficent hoped to bolster her own forces. For his help, Maleficent would help the King track down the Black Cauldron, an artifact of tremendous power.

The famed hunter, Gaston, sat lazily in his chair, legs thrown over one of the arms, picking his teeth with a chicken bone. All Maleficent had to do to ensure his loyalty was promise him revenge against the Beast, who had embarrassed, defeated, and left him for dead once before.

From a parallel world called the Negaverse, Maleficent had recruited that world's master, the supervillian known as NegaDuck. Although dangerously unstable, Maleficent promised NegaDuck and outlet for his unending appetite for destruction on a much larger scale than he was used to. NegaDuck had asked in return only that Maleficent help him end the life of his virtuous counterpart.

Jafar's spiritual successor, the wizard Mozenrath, rhythmically clenched and unclenched his gloved left hand as he waited for the proceedings to begin. Maleficent had wanted another powerful magic user who didn't share Jafar's shortsighted obsession with Agrabah. It was much easier to convince Mozenrath of the bigger picture, and how his great powers could be put to use to much grander ends.

Maleficent had found another powerful mage, and one who posed a physical threat as well. Tapping one sharpened talon against the marble armrest of her chair, the blue-skinned, immortal gargoyle Demona cast a stony glare at her companions. It had taken some amount of convincing on Maleficent's part to bring Demona on board. It seemed the gargoyle had some trust issues after several betrayals by past partners. Maleficent finally got Demona to agree to her plans by promising her command of some powerful Heartless to use against her enemies.

Fidgeting slightly in his seat, the 'mad' scientist Dr. Drakken looked at the eclectic band gathered around him. They were some of the singular oddest people he had yet to lay eyes on. The massive man in the red armor looked like he would rip your arms off as soon as look at you, and the winged female with the blue skin kept sending nasty looks his way. Drakken couldn't imagine what it was he possibly could have done to make her angry. He glanced over his shoulder, mostly to reassure himself that Shego remained at her post. Her presence helped bring a small sense of normalcy to the weirdness he now found himself in.

"Are we ready to start yet?" Hades asked. "The Underworld doesn't run itself you know. I can't trust Pain and Panic to take care of anything while I'm gone and poor Cerberus is just lost without me..."

"Patience my friend. We're only waiting on one more of our colleagues, and then we can get under way." Maleficent assured him.

No sooner had she finished speaking then an odd sound echoed off the cavernous chambers walls. They were footsteps punctuated with a loud thump every other step, as though the person walking had a heavy limp.

A large, misshapen form rounded the corner near one of the last unoccupied chairs. It wore a long coat that appeared to be made out of seaweed. A bulbous sack stuck out from the back of its head underneath a tri-cornered hat. The large lobster claw in place of its left arm clicked rhythmically.

"Captain Jones, welcome, welcome. Thank you for joining us." Maleficent said graciously, nodding her head to the newcomer.

"JONES?!" Hades roared, shooting to his feet, the flames on his head flaring red. "NO! Nononononononono! Absolutely not! Do you know what he does?!" Hades rounded on Maleficent, jabbing an accusatory finger at Davy Jones. "He steals souls, MY souls! So he can have more fishsticks to crew his ship!"

Jones smirked and limped closer to where Hades was literally fuming. "Ye can hardly blame 'em. Considering they're faced with an eternity of starin' at yer face, is it any wonder they fear death?"

Hades bellowed as his hands erupted in flame. "I'll give you reason to FEAR DEATH!"

"Gentlemen, please." Maleficent said as she stood to interpose herself between the two as Jones made to draw his sword. She knew the two immortals could battle for eternity, and she didn't have time for that. "Hades, we have need to Captain Jones' ship and his crew. Remember, everything we do is for the sake of or glorious vision. So please, put aside your differences for now. Once we achieve victory, you two can have at each other until time ceases for all I care."

Hades glared back and forth between Maleficent and Jones for a while, then his flames turned blue again and he returned to his seat with a huff. Jones bowed mockingly to Hades, then turned and stumped to his own chair, settling down next to Drakken, who shifted away after getting a close-up look at the writhing mass of tentacles that comprised the bottom half of his face. The others, who had been watching the situation with varying degrees of interest, now looked to Maleficent, giving her their undivided attention, with the exception of NegaDuck, who simply looked disgruntled that there hadn't been a fight.

"Esteemed associates." Maleficent began. "Though our ideals may differ in many ways, we are all gathered here under a single banner. Power. It is the pursuit of it that drives us on, even when we may suffer setbacks. And I have brought us together, for I believe that by combining our might, we can achieve the ultimate power.

"Kingdom Hearts. The door to the Heart of Worlds. Beyond which lies a most ancient power of epic proportions. This prize can be all of ours, if we have only the wit and the will to seize it.

"Two obstacles stand in our path, however. The first is the Keybearer. One, miserable child who has stood in my way time and again. It is he who holds the Keyblade, which we require to open Kingdom Hearts. He must be brought to kneel before our feet, and the Keyblade turned to our uses.

"Second is the insufferable King of Disney Castle, Mickey. Always he seeks to stick his pointed nose in my business. Fortunately, we do not require him to be alive. Before our work is done, his castle must burn and he along with it!"

The Horned King got to his feet, towering over everyone else assembled. "I will deal with the mouse king. I will raze his castle and bathe the rubble in his blood."

NegaDuck let out a sinister chuckle. "Oh, I like this guy."

"An excellent idea." Maleficent agreed. "While that's being taken care of, we can turn our attention to other matters. Mozenrath, I have something in particular I'd like you to see to."

The meeting continued without incident, though Hades did spend the entire time pouting and shooting sour looks at Davy Jones.

A/N: Here's the second chapter right away, since I had it done. R/R, thanks!