Kingdom Hearts does not belong to me, though that should be obvious. All OCs in this chapter belong to me.

…

New Divide

The tapping of water echoed off of the walls around me. The air shook and my entire body felt numb. High pitched screaming deafened me, and I clutched my hand into a fist to grab onto anything I could. It was futile. I felt nothingness all around me. A boom filled the air. Sounds of the shattering of glass filled my eardrum as I felt my head hit the floor.

I grabbed at the floor, but couldn't get a grip on anything that could help me up. Following the boom, the ground shook violently and I felt as if the ground would split in two underneath me. And then my eyes snapped open. I was laying on the ground next to my bed.

The floor was wet from the rain that was outside, and I saw that the window next to my bed had shattered, revealing the dark sky above. Every second, a new strike of lighting shot from the sky and hit the ground with such force that it destroyed everything in its path. Since my window was now completely open, the wind from outside blew my hair around my face as I tried to stand up. I slipped, fell over, and hit my head on the side of my bed.

I heard my door open, and the screaming of Tara came soon after. I was rolled onto my back so I could look into the eyes of Tara, who soon helped me to my feet and grabbed me in a hug. "Kane, what's happening!?" Tara screamed, looking genuinely frightened. "We never have weather like this!"

"I don't know," I replied silently, taking my cellphone off of the table to the side of my bed. I dialed Domino's number, but the usual answer machine took over, and I hung it up, upset. I looked to the broken window and another strike of lightning escaped the dark clouds above and slammed against the ground outside, sending a wave of painless yet definitely noticeable electricity through me and Tara's bodies. "Damn!" I shouted as the shaking that followed soon after knocked me off of my feet.

I tried standing again, Tara once again helping me up. Ibiki had stepped into my room then, both Kale and Ty on each of his shoulders, wrapping their arms around the man's neck as he pulled no sweat keeping the two up. "We need to get to shelter, Kane, Tara!"

Tara nodded, but I released myself from her grip and yelled out, "I have to go find Domino!" Before I allowed Ibiki and Tara to protest, I rushed past them and fled out of my room, stomping my way downstairs and into the living room where glass and wood littered the ground. The door had blown right off of its hinges, the chandelier that normally hung above had crashed into the ground, and each of the windows was shattered.

I ran outside…big mistake. A wind stronger than anything I've encountered before had pushed me to the side, and I flew back into the house. I stood up again and made a mad dash for the outside. This time I had more luck and was able to get across the street, where Domino's house was, the door gone and each window shattered. The roof was caved in.

"Oh god," I said between shaky breaths. I cautiously stepped into the house. Things were scattered everywhere. I looked above to where the ceiling and roof caved in, letting rotting wood and things from their attic scattered across the living room floor. Underneath a pile of rubble was someone I recognized…Domino's mother. "No!" I ran to her and saw her more clearly. Her eyes were wide open in shock as if she had just seen something that would've scarred her for life. Her left eye was bloodshot, and blood leaked from under the rubble that crushed her.

She was dead. "Stop…him…" a raspy voice said from behind me. I whipped around and saw Domino's father in the corner of the room, covered in blood, as he began walking, or rather, limping towards me. "Kane Carter…stop him."

"Stop who!?" I yelled out, rushing to him. But it was too late. The man fell over before we reached each other, and his head hit the floor. His mouth opened in shock as blood dribbled down his lips. He was dead as well. In his bare back was a gash that looked as though he was stabbed. Blood poured from the wound. I winced at how horrible the sight looked.

I then heard the sound of cracking glass. I looked to the source of the noise. The only thing in the house that was still intact. On a broken shelf in the other corner of the room was a glass picture frame with a photo of Domino and I in it. Domino wore that cheesy grin of his with one arm around me. This was maybe around a year ago. Had he still kept that old photo?

The cracking sound came from that picture frame. A large crack had appeared in between the two of us. I walked closer to it when it happened. The side of the crack that Domino was on shattered, while the side with me on it remained calm and intact.

"What the hell?" I asked myself. I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I looked to my side and saw Tara, staring up into my eyes. "Tara?"

"You want me to help you find Domino?" she asked. Why would she even want to help him? I thought she hated him to death. "Let's go check the Lake of Destiny."

That was a good idea. "Where are Kale, Ty, and Ibiki?" I asked, now realizing they weren't here.

"Basement," Tara replied. "Let's go now—" What sounded like an explosion erupted outside, and jolts of electricity filled my body and I fell to the ground. "It struck the house?"

"Come on!" I replied, standing up, grabbing Tara's hand, and the two of us ran out of Domino's house and headed for the bridge that overlooked the Lake of Destiny. Once on the bridge, we looked off of the edge to the lake. The water looked almost purple in the dark underneath the clouds. The waves were rushing fastly because of the fierce winds that threatened to blow Tara and I away. The water looked ready to overflow and escape that lake.

What was weird though was that sixteen people stood around the left side of the lake, each with a Keyblade in hand and pointing towards the sky. Among them though was not Domino. I couldn't see him anywhere. As if reading my thoughts, Tara said, "Um, I found him."

I followed her gaze to the center of the lake. A few feet above the lake, floating in the air, was Domino, his Starlight pointed towards the sky and his right hand towards the water. How the hell was he even floating like that without his glider?

I looked at all seventeen Keybearers. Shouldn't there have been twenty? Oh, that's right! Flashes of Mr. Brunner dying by his own Keyblade, and of Domino's parents in their dying states flashed through my head. Three Keybearers were dead, and seventeen remained.

"Ah, Kane, you've made it!" Domino shouted out, his eyes darting from the sky to me. His lips curled around his cheeks in a wicked smile as he said, "Oh, I see you brought Tara with you."

"What are you doing, Domino!?" I shouted towards him, and he flew from where he was straight to the bridge, placing his bare feet on the ground as he was now face-to-face with me. "What is this?"

"The true destiny, Kane, so behold!" Domino shouted, motioning his hand to the other sixteen Keybearers. From each Keyblade came a dark light…no…it was darkness. Each beam of darkness shot to the sky and escaped beyond the clouds. "Behold what I was always destined to do! Opening up the barrier!"

The clouds directly above the lake parted, revealing a circle of light in the middle of all of the dark clouds, shining a bright light upon the lake and making it glow from purple to pink. "What the…" Tara said to the side of me. "Domino, stop whatever it is you're doing!"

"You mean creating a destiny designed just for me and Kane!?" Domino asked, staring at Tara. "Kane and I will live on beyond this world! Now…the barrier shall be crushed!" He clenched a fist, and what I heard next pierced through my eardrums. The shattering of glass was heard all around me, and Tara and I immediately clutched our ears at the loud noise. The rain poured full throttle now. Waterspouts started to funnel out of the lake and towards the now black sky. "Side by side with light is darkness, the entity that truly makes up our world!"

"Domino!" a voice yelled, and running onto the bridge and to where Tara and I stood was Ibiki, with Ty on his shoulder and Kale to his side. "What are you doing!?" He never got his answer. Domino held a hand out and blasted darkness from his palm, which collided with Ibiki's body and sent him and Ty flying off of the bridge and into the lake.

"Ty!" Tara shouted, staring out to the blackening water of the lake. The heads of Ibiki and Ty bobbed up and out of the water. Good, they were safe. "You monster! And I thought you were my friend." But she hated the guy! "If Ty gets hurt because of something you did, I will end you."

"How?" Domino asked with that smug smile of his. "You don't have any powers. I have the Keyblade on my side, and what do you have? Oh, that's right. Nothing." Tara scowled at that. Domino rose ten feet into the air and said, "Kane, you're coming with me to the outside world! We can be together forever! Without anything stopping our true destiny!"

Against my will, my feet lifted off of the ground. With Tara screaming underneath me for me to come down, I noticed that I had risen into the air to where I was even with Domino. His long purple hair blew dramatically in the wind, and he reached his hand forward, grabbing my hand in his. The clouds above me parted to reveal the black sky that was beyond it. Without warning, a black strike of lightning shot from the opening in the clouds and slammed into my body.

What I felt was unreal. A loud booming in my ears, each hair on my body standing on in, and more importantly, a burning sensation on my scalp that felt as though my hair was being lit on fire. My ears were ringing as my teeth shook and my entire body tingled from the massive amounts of electricity entering my body.

"KANE!" I heard the voice of Tara scream below me. I opened my eyes. I was lying in Domino's arms as he blasted himself towards the sky like a rocket. I looked below me…to see Tara hanging on to Domino's foot, trying to keep herself from falling. Handing onto the back of her shirt was Kale who decided to try and help Tara out, screaming her name over and over again.

"Tara!" Kale Kamikaze screamed out, and Tara had finally realized that the kid had latched himself onto her without her realizing.

Domino looked down, scowled, and then smiled as we inched ever closer to the black sky. "I guess you'd like to have friends along for the ride, eh, Kane?" I decided not to answer Domino. "That's okay! As long as we're together!"

I shook my head, recovering from that shock the lightning had given me, and looked below. The lake was completely overflowing. The water had risen so much in so little time that the water had barely passed over the bridge. Ibiki and Ty were somewhere below, but I could not see them any longer. The sixteen Keybearers below had all vanished. I could not see where they had gone.

And then we broke through the clouds. Beyond the clouds was nothing but blackness. I closed my eyes, hoping the ride would soon end. When I opened them again, I was sitting on a flat surface, with Domino standing by my side and Tara and Kale lying on their backs, utterly exhausted.

"Where…" I muttered, but soon realized where I was. From the looks of it, we were in…space? No, that's not the word for it. Domino had called this something before…I remember it. It was the Lanes Between, a mystical road leading to every other world imaginable. I stood up shakily and ran over to Tara and Kale. The three of us took in the sights together.

The sky was black, but thousands upon thousands of shining stars littered the entire place. The ground we were standing on looked like a road. It looked shiny like a crystal, and it went forward, spiraled, and zigzagged, many different crossroads heading off to the many different stars. I looked back to Domino, who stood in front of the bright shining star that I guessed was our home of Utopia.

The barrier that separated our world from the Lanes Between had been shattered, and the road now connected to the ball of light. I had always thought that stars would burn you up if you got close to it. But this one…as close as it may be…just gave off a fresh, warm light. But that feeling of warmth faded and was replaced with an eerie, dark feeling. The white of the star fade away to black, until it was just a swirling ball of darkness.

"What happened?" Kale asked in that innocent voice of his.

Domino answered, "We broke through the barrier. We now have unlimited access to the rest of the worlds! The road we stand on now is one of many roads within the Lanes Between. Each road leads to a different world. This mast multiverse is just waiting for Kane and I!"

"What the hell kind of story are you making up?" Tara asked, stomping her way over to Domino. "We cannot be off of our world…right, Kane?" I stared at her blankly. I was at a loss for words. She lifted up Kale and put him sitting on her shoulders. "Ibiki and Ty…they're…"

"Sacrificed," Domino replied. "Shattering that wall that divided here and there needed a worthy sacrifice. You three are not a part of that sacrifice. And now the other Keybearers can be free forever. Not locked up in that prison of a world. Welcome to the outside!"