Kingdom Hearts does not belong to me, though that should be obvious. This is the first chapter I've written since I got back to school. If I'm not quick, expect a new chapter every weekend. If I amquick, two chapters twice a week and POSSIBLY one on the weekend. How's school, college, or work going for you guys? Anyway…what else to say? Starting Chapter 20 we should be getting into the more Disney-esque worlds, so expect a lot of filler chapters and arcs as far as that goes. If you think there are any Disney worlds that would work FANTASTICALLY in this fic, feel free to give me some ideas on what Disney worlds to use here. It cannot be one that was in a Kingdom Hearts game already, unless it's something like how I put the Olympus world in this fic because, well, the gods live forever. Any ideas are appreciated! I'm still accepting dark-OCs, so feel free to send me some if you WANT to. Okay, on to the chapter!

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Reach for the Stars

Walking along this crystalized road, I thought to myself. About all of this. Now that we were out of Traverse Town I had some breathing room to think about what had gone on there. That dream I had was so vivid, it was like I was actually there. But if it was more of Destati's magic, then it had to be a prophecy unfolding before my very eyes. Domino was obviously straying from the path of good…he was heading down a dark road where nobody could stop him. And Rika was by side. Sometimes I questioned why I was still friends with them. They were both always helping not only each other out, but me as well. They didn't even seem evil like I had always thought the darkness to be. But it didn't matter. I would end up on the opposite side—rather right or wrong, I did not know.

I looked to Asher—someone who's chased us around for some time just to kill Domino. The way he changed sides so quickly was almost as if fate had pulled the strings and controlled him at that moment. Phoenix Asher was our enemy, an enemy to both the light and the dark. But here Asher was, traveling with us and disobeying his master. His role in my dream was what surprised me the most…he was on my side, the side of the light. He was helping the light to vanquish Domino and the darkness. He would obviously turn out to be a great friend.

"So why aren't you guys using your Gliders to travel world to world this time?" Asher asked, walking right on the side of me.

"How often do you get to walk in space?" Domino replied, which shut Asher up. He looked to the sky. "How did you track us so easily all of those times? I'm pretty sure Kane threw away that button."

"Your fedora," Asher replied, walking ahead of me and throwing his arm around Domino. "Uh…I mean my fedora. It used to be mine, remember? I can track that sucker down. But now, the only time I'll need to track you is if we're separated or if I think that you're in trouble. That's what friends are for, right?"

"We're friends, are we?" Domino asked back, pushing Asher away from him. "You called me the Dark Lord. You choked me with light. You tried to kill me, Kane, Kale, and everyone else in Enix's world. How do you call that friendship?"

"Blame Ibiki, Domino," I told him, walking up to them. "Ibiki will do anything to make sure you're dead. But…he thinks we're dead, eh?" Asher nodded. "We have to make sure we don't run into Ibiki. He'll attempt to kill us all."

After I said that, everything became quieter. Of course I would have to ruin the mood with something like that. As we walked I wrote in my journal. I had just finished off what had happened in Traverse Town, so I picked up my journal and put it in my satchel

A Glider sped past our heads, entering another world as quickly as it appeared. Several more flew through the Skies, each going into their own destined world. It still amazed me how many Keybearers there were. Utopia only had twenty. But all of these came from places like Daybreak and Sanctuary. What other worlds harbored Keybearers? I wondered. Each of these many words—that I could see clearly now—looked so cool and it was hard to choose where our next destination would even be.

And then I saw it. Out of the corner of my eye, a hot flash of light grew brighter and brighter. Whipping my whole body around I saw a white comet streaking through the sky, vanishing into the distance and twinkling in the darkness of the vast universe. It was gone in a flash. The white hotness…as soothing and warm as it was in my dream. It was that same comet—the one in my dream in which I felt a pair of arms grab onto me from within the comet…I could barely see the person's face from within. What—or who—was inside of that comet?

"Did you guys see that?" I asked, looking to where the comet disappeared, hoping that it would return. Sadly, it didn't.

"See what?" Rika asked, following my gaze into the unknown. How had they not seen it?

"Never mind," I replied. As the four of us walked onward towards an unknown destination, my gaze never drifted from the corner of the sky where the comet had vanished into. I was almost feeling sadness from seeing it go. Looking at the comet was like looking at a friend who had gone away for a very long time. It filled my spirts with hope. The light was warm, forgiving, loving. I hadn't realized it then, but a single teardrop glistened in my eye. I blinked it away, tearing my vision from the sky to look at the backs of Domino, Rika, and Asher who all walked a few feet ahead of me.

I studied Domino's back, and the way his shoulders moved every time he took a step, and the way his waist occasionally wobbled back and forth, and the way his long purple hair fell over his shoulders and swayed behind him. He walked on with confidence…he was every bit as brave as he was when I first met him. He took no time in becoming my friend.

Three years ago I was all alone, with not a friend in the world. I was a target for bullies. They made fun of me and picked on me because I always wrote in my journals. Since a young age I've been blessed—and cursed—with a sort of identic memory. I could remember anything anyone says or does. So I wrote down my entire childhood in a set of journals. But the other kids didn't like me because of it. They were either out playing sports, hanging out with their girlfriends or boyfriends, or were the select few who chose to stay behind and torment me, reminding me every day that I wasn't like everyone else.

I'd like to see the looks on their faces if they saw where I was now. I grinned to myself, staring up at the star-filled sky in happiness. I was here in the realm between worlds, visiting places you'd only see in the movies—places no other Utopian has dared to go. And Domino made it all possible.

Thinking back on it, Domino was always the odd one in the school. He showed up one day without anyone questioning why he was even there. He sat towards the back of the class, he didn't get along with the other students, and, on occasion, he'd backtalk to the teacher just to earn himself a detention. He was really quiet when he wasn't arguing with the teacher. If anyone tried talking to him he'd stare blankly at them and refused to answer.

One day I got up my courage and walked up to him to start a conversation. He looked up at me and smiled. I was shocked. He'd never smile at any of the other students. I had asked him where he came from…and all he could tell me was that he was from another world. I asked him which world he had come from, but he said that he couldn't remember. He couldn't remember anything.

And the two of us became friends. I'd moved to the back of the classroom away from the other students so I can talk to Domino more often. In fact, when I was around him he'd never shut up. Mr. Brunner had always sent us straight to the office and we'd get detention quite frequently…but it was all worth it. I met an amazing person. He was always there for me.

And then, after a few months of hanging out, he said some very special words to me that I had never forgotten. "You and I will be together forever. You just watch!" Ah, his spontaneous and witty personality I've grown to love over the years never ceased to amaze me. But now…there was something different about him. He was the same old Domino, but he looked…more mature. He seemed to get sad, angry, stressed…when all he used to be was a happy kid.

I was shaken away from my thoughts when I bumped into the back of my purple-haired friend, noticing that the three ahead of me had stopped walking. "Sorry," I quickly said, backing away from Domino. Domino, Rika, and Asher had their eyes pointed towards the sky.

I looked up as well to see eight Gliders flying around in circles above us. Streams of both light and dark twisted and twirled out of the backs of their Gliders. The way they flew and made a spectacle in the sky was breathtaking—light and dark in perfect harmony.

One of the Gliders strayed from its circular path and nosedived towards us. Its rider wore black leather pants, a black leather jacket with a black t-shirt underneath. He wore a helmet with a dark visor covering his face. How could he see out of that thing? The Glider slowed down when it approached the crystalized road. The Glider vanished into light, the person riding it lightly falling to his feet.

"I knew we'd find you eventually," the person said with confidence. He put the both of his hands on the sides of the helmet and pulled it off, letting his spikey, pale violet hair bounce up and down as he shook his head to free himself from the sweat that I could see flying off each individual strand of hair. His silver eyes glistened in the light of the stars. His helmet vanished into light. "Domino."

"Damian!?" Domino's mouth widened in awe, his eyes nearly bulging out of head. Damian? "You're…you're here!?" Domino grabbed my hand and raised it into the air. "Kane, I'd like you to meet my older brother, Damian. He was born a year before me. He's the only one in my family not born as a twin or a triplet. He's a special case." He studied the Gliders above, and then back at his brother. "I don't understand though…I thought Diantha was the only one who got a Keyblade?"

"Oh, so you met up with Diantha?" Damian asked with a grin. "Where is she? Is she here? She left a couple of months ago to look for you." Domino lowered his head, avoiding eye contact with his older sibling. Diantha probably wasn't even alive right now. Destati's light was probably eating away at her soul. The eighteen-year-old's eyes widened. "Did something happen?"

"Want an honest truth?" Domino asked, finally looking Damian in the eyes. "I don't know where she is right now. I was with her, and then she left. That's the truth." Well, he wasn't lying, but that wasn't the whole truth either. "She's going to be alright though. She could be a great fighter. Now…let's see if you're ready to be out here on your own. Fight me!" What was he doing!? Was he just trying to get Damian's mind off of Diantha? "Let's see who's stronger."

"Always with the competitions," Damian snickered, holding out his hand. In it appeared a Keyblade of his own. The guard and Keychain were rose-like, with thorns and roses that decorated it. The teeth of the blade seemed to look like claws of some monstrous beast. "Rumbling Rose!" Damian and Domino faced each other, Asher, Rika, and I stepping backwards to avoid being in the middle of this confrontation. "Remember when we were kids…the two of us would always compete over everything. Food, money, chores, girls…the occasional guy…now we can test our strength."

"You know Diantha always cheered me on," Domino retorted.

"Did not," Damian replied with a sinister-looking smirk. "If she were here now, she'd probably root for me. Am I right?" Domino jumped forward, slashing his hand through the air as Starlight appeared in it. Damian blocked the attack with his own Keyblade, kicking Domino in the stomach and making the younger brother jump backwards. "Always on the offense. You need to be a little more defensive and maybe you'd win for once in your—"

"Don't tell me how to fight, Damian," Domino snapped back. "I've gotten stronger over the past three years. You…you and Diantha just got Keyblades not that long ago, right?"

"Not just us," Damian replied. "Darius and Dominick also got their own Keyblades. But enough about them! Let's see who the stronger brother is!"

Damian leapt forward and performed an aerial slash towards Domino, who deflected the attack with Starlight. He swung his Keyblade low, hoping to hit his brother in the leg. Damian jumped over the swing, coming back down with Rumbling Rose. Domino quickly shot his hand up, grabbing the blade with his bare right hand. The claws cut through his skin, and I watched horrified as the bright red liquid, his blood, ran through his fingers and dripped down, staining the crystal road.

Gears turned in my mind. Memories triggered, crawling their way to the surface. It was eight months since I met Domino. We had started to hang out more frequently after school, but I had never taken him back to Kamikaze Home. It was that day that he showed me his magnificent Keyblade, Starlight. He said it symbolized the light at the end of the tunnel, and the promise of seeing the stars one day—up close. He had showed me his Keyblade Glider that day as well. He offered me a ride, but I was too afraid of getting on that thing. Good thing I didn't, too. After a few donuts through the air, he crashed into a window to someone's home. I guess it's no surprise as to whose house it was.

It was the Kamikaze Home, taken over by Ibiki Kamikaze. When Domino crash-landed, he held his hand out to shield his face from the glass. In the process he had gotten his hand scarred up, blood running down his fingers and dripping to the floor. He had almost crashed into a younger Kale. This was the moment he met Ibiki. Ibiki was both shocked at Domino's presence—and a little bit curious. Ibiki didn't know any Keybearers personally. At least I didn't think he did, anyway.

Ibiki bandaged up Domino's hand and showed his frustration towards the boy. And little Tara came in and yelled at Ibiki and Domino to quit screaming at each other. The way Tara blushed upon seeing Domino for the first time, I could tell she was probably in love with the guy. So she always pretended to hate him. Later that night I had met and invited Domino's parents over to the Kamikaze Home, where Domino, his parents, Ibiki, Tara, Kale, baby Ty, and I ate together at.

I looked back to Domino and Damian's battle, though no time had passed. Domino quickly released Rumbling rose held his bloody hand in front of his face, and a green light washed over it, the blood and scars disappearing in an instant. As Domino jumped forward with Starlight outstretched, Rika immediately began cheering for him, calling out stuff like "You rock!", "Show him who's boss!", and my personal favorite, "Make him bleed!"

Asher backed away until he stood behind me, making sure Domino and Damian wouldn't shop him to pieces in the crossfire. He whispered into my ear, "Do you hear that?" Those words sounded pretty ominous. I shrugged, raising an eyebrow as I tried to listen harder. I heard something then. It sounded like a thousand tiny claws scratching against metal, thousands of tiny little whispers that sounded like nothing but gibberish.

Rika stopped her cheering, her nose twitching as she looked into the black void above us. "I can't be the only one getting that weird feeling," she muttered, Darksouls instinctively appearing in her hand. In Asher's hand appeared his gun-blade. Domino and Damian traded one last blow with their Keys until they both halted, staring into each other's eyes.

"What's the matter?" Damian asked, walking closer to Domino. "In our battle, you began to slow down. What's wrong?"

Domino's nose twitched, and he muttered, "I smell…darkness. Everybody brace yourselves!" As soon as he yelled that, the crystalized road beneath us began to tremble as if something was shaking it from underneath. Rising from the black depths below the road came a giant, muscular black hand, grabbing onto the edge of the road. Another hand followed it, and the dreadlock-hair attached to a giant head rose up as well. "It's that giant heartless!"

"A Darkside!" I yelled. Asher looked at me rather angrily when I called the monster what Asher had called it back in Traverse Town. I felt something behind me. Whipping around, I saw the head of another Darkside rise opposite the first one. They had us surrounded on both sides of the road. "Two!?"

From the ground in a circle around us slithered out many Shadows and Neoshadows, all circling around us and staring at us with their beady yellow eyes. "I thought we got rid of every last one of them!" Asher screamed out. "Where are these things coming from!? What do they want?"

"The light," Destati's voice whispered in my head. "They come from the darkness to take the light. They thrive on it. They devour it. Keep your hearts safe."

What did she mean? I held my hand high above my head, and lightning rained down from invisible clouds above me, slamming into each Shadow and Neoshadow around us. They each vanished into darkness. But that wasn't enough. The claws of the Heartless rose from the ground and grabbed onto my legs, tugging me downward. A black portal of darkness appeared below me, sucking me into the darkness. My knees had just gone under. I couldn't fight it. I couldn't kick away. They had a strong hold on me. But then I felt the warm hand of Domino embrace my own. Looking up, I saw Domino try to pull me up, struggling against lots of Heartless that were tugging on my legs from below.

A Neoshadow had jumped at Domino from behind, but it was slashed in half by Darksouls. Rika jumped and twisted in the air, slashing Neoshadows that had surrounded her. Each of them disappeared. Asher flew into the air and had bullets of artificial light rain down upon the Heartless, getting rid of most of the Shadows and Neoshadows, but more and more kept appearing. It was a never-ending raid of Heartless.

Finally, Domino gained the strength to pull me up, and he did. I was pulled free from the Heartless' grasp. Suddenly surrounding Domino and I were other Heartless. A different kind of Heartless. It had a spherical body that was pitch black and streaked with dark blue. Its glowing, yellow eyes were rather small. The inside of its mouth was blue, and the mouth itself was a jagged, toothy opening. It had three thick, black and blue tentacles with frayed, pink tips sprouting out of its body, two on its top and one on its underside. These…Darkballs each flew at us at once. We had no time to react.

Their jagged mouths closed around my arms, biting into my skin and drawing blood. I winced from the pain. Domino kept hacking and slashing the ones surrounding him, so they were unable to bite him. It took him a second to realize that there were seven Darkballs all clamping their jaws around my arms and legs. I tried swatting my arms and legs through the air to get rid of them, but they stayed clamped on, drawing more and more blood. I looked closely at one. It had as many rows of teeth as a shark would have. And that's a lot.

Domino grabbed a Darkball with both of his hands and yanked it off, only to find that it wouldn't let go of me so easily. He stabbed it with Starlight, and it wailed like a dog, vanished into darkness. He did the same with the rest that covered my arms and legs. When they were all gone, I fell to my knees into the small puddle of blood that was created by the blood that ran down my arms and legs. Holding a hand out, Domino Cured me. I stood up. But they just kept coming.

Shadows, Neoshadows, Darkballs, and even two more Darksides rose from the dark depths. I thought all hope was lost. All four Darksides began to slam their fists simultaneously into the crystalized road. Wouldn't that destroy the road? Before they could, I saw something white shining in the sky. As it flew forward, I noticed that it was that comet I had seen earlier, as well as the one from my dream. It flew inches away from my face, blasting towards the black void on the opposite side of where it had just come from.

Each of the Heartless cocked their heads to the comet in the sky. The comet…it made me feel happy again, rejuvenated, as if all of my sorrows had gone with the wind. I thought I could see the black, silhouetted outline of a person on the inside of the comet. The comet vanished into the unknown. The Darksides each sunk back into the depths below, followed by the Shadows and Neoshadows. The Darkballs flew away from the road and towards the unknown where the comet had vanished. Destati, who had somehow spoken in my mind, was right. They were attracted to the light. And the light from within that comet had just saved us.

"What was that?" Rika asked. Finally someone sees it.

"Is it over?" Damian asked. I hadn't realized it, but he spent the whole battle doing barely anything to the Heartless. At once, everyone dismissed their Keyblades. It made me feel a little weird, being the only one here who didn't have a Keyblade. Damian made a Glider appear beneath his feet and he said, "Domino, I'm going back home to tell the folks that you're alright. Maybe we can send out a search party for Diantha. Hey, where are Mom and Dad?"

Domino lowered his head. "I'm sorry," he said, a genuine tear trickling down his cheek. "But they passed away a while back."

Damian lowered his head in a moment of silence, and then his mouth broke out into a grin. "I know they'll rest in peace knowing that their kids all have Keys of their own to protect themselves! Well, I've gotta get going. I'll see ya when I see ya." And then Damian took off, vanishing beyond the sky on his way home.

"So we're off again?" I asked the rest of the gang.

"Yep," Domino replied, and he and Rika began walking off together. "We've gotta reach for the stars! Let's go to every one!" Asher quickly followed them, followed by me.

Asher lifted up his cell phone and answered it. I hadn't even heard it ring. He answered with, "Hello?" How could he get calls in, well, outer space!? He hung up his phone and looked at the ground grimly. I was about to ask what was the matter, but he quickly said, "Lucina just called. She tried taking over as leader of the Hunters, but Ibiki forbade it. He has a more elite commanding officer taking over my role as we speak. He's far less forgiving. And according to her, this commanding officer is suspicious. He doesn't think we're dead as Lucina said."

I suddenly felt a splitting headache, unlike anything I've ever felt before. The world felt like it was spinning around me. My head felt like it was burning up. My vision became white. I could only see the black silhouetted outlines of my three friends walking ahead of me, unaware of what I was going through at that moment. I suddenly saw several people surrounding me, flying around me in circles. I heard the shouts of Asher, Rika, and Domino coming closer to me as I realized they were running towards me, trying to help me out.

It was useless. In an instant, my whole world turned black. I was unconscious.

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How'd you like the chapter? Sorry for the cliffhanger, haha. Next chapter will be out either later in the week or next weekend. Also, I just realized that so far every one of Domino's siblings has a D beginning their name. I didn't realize with Diantha, or even with Damian, but I realized it when I mentioned his two other brothers. Anyway, see ya next time!