Disclaimer: The following series and characters belong to their respective corporations: Nintendo, Disney, and Square-Enix, including their respectful developers. The following characters of this fic: Kyle Nasher, Dirk Lionheart, Alana (Lana) Blade, Drew Devin, and Nived Werd belong to author Mace the Manakete in agreement to his written consent.

Nintendo. Disney. Square-Enix
Kingdom Hearts Chronicles: Vol.1
KINGDOM BLESSINGS

—CHAPTER 14—
The Keyblade's Purpose

Kyle looked up the sky as the Keyblade disappeared from his hands, "he's gone."

"Yes, but on what cause?" Mario mentioned the fallen allies.

"Kyle! Mario!" Goofy called them. Kyle and Mario went to him. Goofy had a smile on his face, "They're not gone. They're still breathing."

Kyle brought up a hopeful smile, "What? Really?"

"Are you serious?" Mario asked.

"Yes! They were only unconscious but they aren't gone!" Goofy said.

Bowser slowly rose from the ground and dawdled to their directions.

"What can we do to help?" Kyle proposed.

"I just happen to have something from the market…" Bowser spoke. Mario, Kyle, and Goofy turned to face him. Bowser opened up a small pouch and took a scarlet golden-trimmed feather from the pouch. "I don't know what it does but the person who sold it to me told me it possesses some essence that bring back lost vitality."

Mario, Goofy and Kyle picked up a feather as well and examined it, "Gwarsh…how does it work?" Goofy muttered.

"I dunno. Maybe…" Mario shook the feather and red sparkles spread on the ground and onto Luigi, Donald, Dirk and Link. Bowser panicked, "Hey! Be careful! We don't want to waste it!"

Mario quickly noticed the feather had lost its color. "Oops. Does this happen all the time?"

Luigi, Link, Donald and Dirk slowly opened up their eyes and rose up to sit. They were still looking exhausted, but they were fine.

"What…happened?" Luigi muttered.

Mario, seeing his brother was all right jumped to hug him, "Luigi! You're alive!"

"Oh! Mario!"

Donald groaned, "Am I in heaven?"

"Donald! Buddy!" Goofy picked Donald up and swung him around happily. Donald felt dizzy, "Goofy! Stop that!!"

"Kyle, what happened?" Dirk asked.

Kyle helped Dirk on his feet, "Welcome back, buddy."

Dirk cocked his head on one side, "Welcome back? Was I dead?"

"Let's just say you were out like a light."

"Princess…Zelda…" Everyone turned their attention to Link. The elf boy looked around in panic, "where's… is she…" Link faced the heroes, "Where is…?"

The heroes lowered their heads. "I'm sorry, Link." Kyle told him, "Those who claimed Princess Peach has taken Princess Zelda as well."

Link froze, "Zelda…"

"But don't worry, Link." Kyle reassured him, "We will not rest until she is rescued."

"Please." Link pleaded, "Zelda is my friend. Make sure those crooks pay for doing her harm."

"We will." Dirk said assertively, "And it's not only Zelda we will save."

Link was surprised, "She's not the only one?"

The heroes hesitated. They faced each other before facing Link again and nodded. "We're searching for our Emperor too, as well as Princess Peach and King Alexander." Donald said.

"We're also searching for our other friends, Lana and Drew." Kyle said, "But primarily, we're searching for the four elemental crystals."

"The elemental crystals?" Link exclaimed, "You mean the crystals of Venus, Mars, Mercury, and Jupiter?"

Kyle got into a state of surprise, "You know about this?"

"It had been spoken by legends." Link said, "Each warrior of Light shall wield an elemental crystal: Venus, Mars, Mercury, and Jupiter. Only one will wield the Keyblade. Only one will seal the door… and free the Light."

Everyone stood silence. They were thunderstruck to find out that even Link was aware of the legend. Link went on, "So the legend is coming true. That Gate of Darkness in the sky, that Keyblade you're wielding, Kyle. Zelda. The Dark League."

"The Dark League?" Everyone said.

"Yes. The Dark League is a group of scientists from different worlds in the Gathered Worlds dressed in ivory cloak. Legends confirmed that they are responsible for the Gates of Darkness to be opened."

"Dark League? Gate of Darkness? Okay, you are making me dizzy here Link." Dirk said.

"Wait a minute! Raven!" Donald exclaimed.

Everyone turned to face Donald. Donald explained, "Goofy and I, we met Raven in Hyrule and she told us that she had a vision of the Dark Gate to be opened by that White Witch!"

"Right!" Goofy added, "But then she told us that this Keyblade is able to seal it!"

"What? Are you serious?" Kyle said vehemently. He looked up the sky to see the keyhole. The Keyblade reappeared in his hands, "All right, let's give this a try."

Kyle aimed the Keyblade at the keyhole in the sky. Nothing happened. He glanced at the Keyblade, "well that's odd."

"Try it again!" Luigi said.

Kyle aimed the Keyblade at the keyhole once more. Nothing.

"Something's wrong." Kyle shook the Keyblade, but then the Keyblade disappeared, "Hey!"

"I'm sure there's gotta be an explanation." Link said.

"There is." An old wise voice spoke from behind the heroes. They turned around to see Kaepora Gaebora approaching them alongside Raven.

"Master Kaepora." Link greeted the owl.

"You must be Raven." Kyle spoke to the psychic teen. Raven nodded. Kyle cried, "Why is my Keyblade not sealing the keyhole?"

"Boy, you are impatient aren't you?" Raven smiled, "I can't give you much of the answers, but Master Kaepora will explain it all."

Kaepora Gaebora rocked his head back and forth before speaking, "The Sacred Keyblade currently has no power to seal the Gates of Darkness, even thought its purpose is to seal them all. Nasher, you noticed the Keyblade's appearance several times right?"

"Appearance… oh, you mean." Kyle summoned the Keyblade again and showed it to the owl, "that ghostly look?"

Kaepora nodded, "Its missing its true essences: the four elemental crystals. If these crystals are fused into the Keyblade, the Keyblade will reclaim its former glory and will no longer be translucent. Therefore, it will be able to seal the Gates."

"But you got to hurry up, guys. The Dark League has their eyes set on the crystals as well." Raven warned, "Jadis, the White Witch you fought earlier with Vaati is part of the Dark League. Vaati wasn't."

"He wasn't?" Mario exclaimed.

"He was simply their pawn." Kaepora said.

"But tell me, who's the League's leader?" Dirk asked.

Raven suddenly stared into space again. After a brief second, she snapped back to reality and faced the heroes, "You'll be seeing him soon." She said.

"You had another vision, did you?" Donald asked.

"Yes, and you better be on the lookout." She said, "He's no easy sorcerer to underestimate."

"Wow." Bowser breathed, "For the first time in my entire life, I feel scared."

Everyone turned to face Bowser, "You are?" Luigi asked.

Bowser snorted, "No. That's just to spook ya." He laughed, "Man, I can't believe you fell for it!"

"After everything we've heard, I don't think we have to spend another second here." Mario said, "We must board back into the magic ship and be on our way. The Gates must be sealed."

"Right." Kyle said.

"But before you go, take this with you." Raven handed a map to Kyle, "It's a descriptive magic map that will help you locate the location of the elemental crystals."

The heroes examined the map. It was huge. Holographic pictures of the elemental crystals floated above each world. Mars was above the Land of Dragons, Mercury over Antarctica, Jupiter by Angel Land, and Venus was over Agrabah.

Kyle faced Kaepora Gaebora and Raven and smiled, "Thank you Master Kaepora. Raven." He then faced Link, "And Link, don't worry about Princess Zelda. We'll save her."

Link smiled. "Thank you Kyle, Dirk, all of you. I hope you also find the others."

"Restore our worlds to full grace." Kaepora said.

"Good luck, y'all." Raven said.

-??-

Mickey walked down an immense hallway towards a huge portal. The emblem of two hands, hovering about a keyhole over a crescent moon-shaped emblem wearing a crown was tattooed in the middle of the portal. Mickey stood in front of the portal and gave it a good stare. As he was about to penetrate through the door, he saw a figure appearing in front of him.

The figure had a dry and pale skin tone with his short perm hair as bright as blond, resting on his shoulders. Like a typical member of the Dark League, he also wore an ivory cloak. His hands were also dried and pumped-in veins, and his eyes were creepily and inhumanly radiant golden. One striking feature about this stranger was that he resembled Drew. Mickey, at the presence of the figure, did not move a muscle nor flinch. His expression showed nothing but seriousness and banal.

"You're not thinking what I'm thinking are you, Your Excellency?" the figure spoke a croaky voice.

"What are you thinking, Nived?" Mickey addressed the figure.

"Oh nothing in particular." Nived replied, "Nothing except the thought of your greed of possessing these pure blessings for yourself and not your fellow League. Or perhaps, I'm thinking… a hint of betrayal."

"If I was betraying the League, I would have been out a long time ago." Mickey countered.

"Ouch." Nived held onto his chest as if he got hurt, "You wounded me, Your Excellency."

"Aren't you supposed to be somewhere else?" Mickey asked.

Nived Werd smiled, "Don't worry, Your Excellency. My place is secure. Very-well secure."

There was a slight pause between the two individuals. Nived continued, "So, how many of them do we need?"

"By them you mean the Nobles?"

Nived nodded.

"Just a few." Mickey replied, "My research shows that the Year 2121 could be the next place to find another one."

"Oh?"

"But bear in mind," Mickey continued, "That as the day comes, no one in the Gathered Worlds, even the Dark League, will survive this ordeal. No one."

Nived smiled, without saying any words. Mickey left Nived without saying a word.

Nived smiled. No one even the Dark League heh? Well, that's where you're wrong, Emperor Mouse. That's where you're wrong.

Dirk: Okay. So we are facing against the Dark League. But what is Emperor Mickey up to? And who's this Nived guy? We prob'ly might get some answers soon, I hope.

The epic continues.

NeXt ChApTeR