Kingdom Hearts does not belong to me, though that should be obvious.

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Nothing's Forever

Nothing could've been worse than this. Nothing. For twelve straight hours on the road in between the worlds I've heard nothing but constant arguing from my three friends. Domino and Asher would go at it like siblings in a heated argument and Rika would always try to calm the two down but to no avail. We were barely making any progress. For a whole two hours I had to sit back or lay down on the uncomfortable crystallized ground below me whilst plugging my ears and humming one of my favorite tunes to drown out the three's senseless arguing. I had completely lost track of time. Did the realm in between worlds even have a flow of time?

What were Domino and Asher even arguing about? I hadn't even bothered to remember what started this fight. Asher said some things, Domino retaliated, and they've been going off and on for forever. I should have known that traveling together would have been a bad idea from the get-go. Domino stomped his foot childishly, marching away from Asher and crossing his arms, looking off into the distance angrily. I went up to Asher to ask what was going on between those two, but he refused to answer me and looked the opposite way, staring out into the open space.

Rika got bored with the two of them and casually swung her Darksouls through the air, dark energy sparking as the blade sliced through the cold air of space.

I wished things could be better. I didn't know who or what to pray to exactly…I just wanted things to be better. I clutched my heart, feeling a sudden pain wash over me. I wanted things to be simpler. I wanted it to be just the four of us again…me, Domino, Tara, and Kale. Back when things were simple and clean. Nothing could've been better. I felt a tear escape my eye. I hadn't ever realized how truly heart-wrenching it was to lose not only Tara but to say goodbye to Kale as well. I slowly muttered under my breath, "Please make things better. Please."

I closed my eyes. For a full minute, I sensed nothing. Domino's voice broke the eerie silence. "Uh, Kane?" My eyes snapped open. I followed his, Asher's, and Rika's gaze passed my head. Turning around, my eyes were temporarily blinded by a shining column of light standing at eight feet tall before me. Reaching my hand out, my hand passed harmlessly through the light. I felt a sudden warmth as if everything was going to be alright. I felt calm and…happy. I smiled. Had something just answered my prayer? Without warning the others, I stepped into the light, the other three calling after me.

I lost track of my surroundings. I couldn't tell where I was. When the light died down, I was surrounded by pitch blackness. I felt myself lying on my back, a blanket on the lower half of my body with some of it on the floor. A soft pillow lay under my head. I was in a bed? I reached my hand out and felt a string which I then pulled. A light illuminated to my right. It was coming from a small lamp that was on a desk to the side of my bed. My satchel was on the floor next to the table and my journal was lying open underneath the light of the lamp, a small quill dipped in ink on top of it, a bottle of ink to the side.

I took a look at my surroundings. A bookshelf was lining every wall, filled with various novels and manga. A TV sat on a table in the corner of the room straight ahead of the bed. A pile of DVD cases and videogame cases were scattered in front of the television. Hooked up to the TV was a PlayStation 2 with my favorite game of all time, Key of Destiny, inside.

I hung my legs over the side of my bed and allowed my bare feet to hit the shaggy carpet covering the wooden floor. I yawned loudly. How long had I been asleep? I scratched my head, feeling how messy my hair felt, and I slowly stood up. A ringing sound echoed off of my eardrums. I slapped my ear to get rid of it. Looking around one last time, I realized I was in my bedroom back in Utopia. I was in Kamikaze Home.

I made my way to the door on the side of my television and wrapped my fingers around the doorknob, twisting it and opening the door. After stepping through, a strong scent infiltrated my nostrils. Not a bad scent, either. It smelled like…chicken.

I walked down the hallway outside my bedroom, running my hand along the wall as I walked. I stepped into a kitchen. The scent was strongest here. The table in the center was neatly made, plates set up with juicy looking chicken on each plate, a glass of the blue Sea-Salt soda next to each plate. Standing over a stove and frying another pot of chicken was a girl, her brown hair tied up professionally so that no hair went below her shoulders. When she heard me take another step, she turned towards me and stared at me with those blue orbs of hers. It couldn't be! I took a step back.

"You're awake," the tan-skinned girl said, walking over to me and wrapping her arms around me in a tight embrace. Her hair made her over a foot taller than me; I had always complained at how the thirteen-year-old was taller than me in the first place, but this really bugged me. But I was too stunned to say anything. She released me, gazing into my eyes once more. "What's wrong, Kane? You look like you've seen a ghost."

Maybe I was seeing a ghost. I wasn't sure how this was even possible. Tara Skye had died back in Salem…she shouldn't be here. The ringing in my ears was back. I decided not to worry about it.

"You've been sleeping all morning," she said, turning her back to me and working on the chicken once more. I couldn't believe I was able to see her again, to hear her soothing voice, to feel the radiance she gave off. She was like a sister to me. She looked back to me and smiled. "Cat got your tongue?"

"Tara," I muttered, almost surprised to hear the name escaping my lips. I didn't think I'd ever have to say her name again. Domino and I had a silent agreement not to mention her so the both of us wouldn't dwell on the past. Yet here she was…in the flesh. "How—"

"I know what you must be thinking," she said, walking away from the stove and sitting at the table. She looked up at me and smiled. "It must be weird seeing me like this." I'll say, I thought. She rubbed her cheeks and said, "I normally wait until the summer to tan." My heart nearly skipped a beat. I had thought she was actually going to say that she came back from the dead. Oh well. "How do I look?"

Not dead! Feeling my breathing grow rapid I muttered, "Tara…what day is it?" I wasn't sure if I was right. I could've been dreaming about all of this. Pinching myself didn't help.

Tara darted her eyes to the side as if to think, and she responded with, "It's the first of September." My heart dropped.
"Tomorrow you'll start school, remember? Today's freshman orientation, I believe." The first day of school…September first!? This was the day everything went south. The day that Domino started becoming secretive, plotting to get out of Utopia. The day he asked me about the outside world. The day all this mess with the darkness and the Keyblades started. The day our journey truly began. "Eat up. The chicken's getting cold."

Instead I ran back to my room to grab my journal, searching for my journal entries that I've recently wrote about. But our entire journey…everything about the Keyblades, the darkness and light constantly battling one another, the arrival of Rika and Asher…everything was gone. The last page I wrote on was yesterday's entry, saying how I was going to enjoy this new school year with Domino by my side.

I stuffed my journal inside of my satchel and carried my bag out the door. I put everything down at the kitchen counter, quickly devoured the crunchy and juicy chicken Tara had laid out for me, and ran outside, sitting myself on the steps outside of the foster home.

Opening up my satchel, I took and clutched my journal in my hands as I listened to the sound of blue birds chirping overhead. They were almost invisible in front of the blue sky above. I willed myself to wake up…but didn't. In a fit of anger, I ripped out every page that I had written on and crumpled them up, tossing them to the side as the wind took them away from me like the ball of paper were a tumbleweed.

Taking an ink pen from my satchel I wrote on the next—well now it was the first—available page. This all seemed familiar. This entire setup. It was as if my journey had never existed. Thinking back on this journey…was there really any good that came from it? I had originally thought that I were in the middle of a dream…but now I was thinking my entire journey could've been a dream. It's possible, isn't it? Dreams can seem so long but may only last minutes or even seconds.

I took my hair in my hand and held it in front of my eyes…my hair was black. It was normal. I had my father's black hair…not my mother's silver. That saddened me a little, but I could deal. I couldn't think of the words to write in my journal now, so I threw away the page. I closed my book and clutched it close to my heart. Was that entire quest really just a dream?

And then I heard footsteps. Walking to the side of me from the house across the street was Domino. Domino! His purple swayed back and forth as he walked, his silver eyes looking ahead in total confidence. It looked like he was strutting as he walked. His stride was broken by a misplace pebble on the ground. He tripped over ungracefully, falling passed me and breaking his fall by pressing his hands into the glass of the window to the side of the door. His right hand went straight through the window. He immediately pulled it out, blood dripping down and onto the ground below along with some shattered glass.

Almost instantly, a man walked through the door. It was…Ibiki Kamikaze. He looked nicely dressed and cleaner than he did when I last saw him in Enix's world. I jumped to my feet and got into a battle stance, but he simply walked to Domino and began wrapping bandages around Domino's hand as if expecting him to crash into the window. Whoa! This almost mirrored what happened on September first, when he crashed into the window with his Glider!

"Domino, how many times must I tell you…" Ibiki said as he continued to wrap Domino's hand up. "Be a little more careful around the foster home! This is the seventh time this year you've tripped and broke the window."

"I'm sorry, okay?" Domino spat back, sticking his tongue out at Ibiki childishly. Seeing him like this made me smile. Maybe our entire adventure and all of that heartache and anger we've endured had never really happened. It was all just a dream, an illusion. This was reality. I was back home. Domino was normal. Well, as normal as Domino could be. "You need to learn to lighten up. And someone fix the stones outside…they're always making me trip."

Ibiki sighed and smiled sadly at Domino, "You've got to understand, Domino, that you must be careful around here. You may accidentally hurt the little ones." Ibiki was saying this speech as if he's said it to Domino about a thousand times. But Domino had only tripped…uh…seven times this past year. It wasn't his fault.

"Kane, let's go," Domino said, motioning me to follow him as he walked away from the foster home. Ibiki tapped his foot angrily as Domino dismissed him as he kept walking forward. I followed him, and the two of us went onto the bridge and looked ahead at the Lake of Destiny. He looked to me with those shining eyes. "Why do you live there again? You can just come live with me!"

Instinctively I replied, "You're parents wouldn't let me anyway. Besides, my home is with Ibiki and the others." This conversation, these words, had come so naturally to me. This mirrored our conversation before. I looked beyond the Lake of Destiny at the bright setting sun, the sky glowing an orange that illuminated the water in a yellowy glow.

Domino stood up straight as the wind slowly and calmly swept his hair to the side and out of his face, his long hair blowing behind him in the wind. Looking towards the orange sun he said, "Ever wonder what's out there? If there are other places besides here? My parents used to tell me stories of other worlds…other planets, universes…a whole different place. It makes me wonder where they've heard these stories from. Ever wonder if we can leave this dump?"

"No, I usually never wonder," I said instantly. "Other worlds…they don't exist." The realism slowly started to sink in. If all that before was a dream…then worlds couldn't exist. Everything was different. Domino didn't even have a Keyblade…I must've dreamed that up as well. A single tear dripped off of my cheek, and Domino looked to me in worry. I shrugged it off and said, "And if they did, I doubt I could travel to them."

"Hey," Domino said, changing the subject. "Can I check out that orphanage again?"

"Foster home."

"Same difference," Domino said back. "Tomorrow night, I wanna have dinner with you guys. I can be a polite person! And I'm sure Ibiki would love to have me over! He knows I'm your best friend, so I'm sure he'll let!" Domino was going to have dinner with us tomorrow night…if all of that was a dream, then why are the same exact events happening…just without the Keyblade parts?

"Fine, you can come over," I told him. A dinner with my family and Domino would be nice…and fun. I had to have fun. My life has given me a second chance at happiness. I had to take it.

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I couldn't really remember much of what happened after Domino and I turned in for the night. I now sat in Mr. Brunner's classroom on the first day of my junior year of high school. Sitting in the desk to the side of me was Domino. The two of us among around fourteen other students were forced to listen to Mr. Brunner's lecture on Utopian history… so boring!

The teacher lazily looked up at Domino and I who were almost half asleep, but before he could say anything more the bell rang. It was time for the rest of our classes. In my dream he had assigned us a project on the Keyblades—which we had never finished, by the way—but this time he just assigned us a worksheet and sent us on our merry way. A normal teacher for once. I was able to quickly get over the fact that Mr. Brunner was still alive.

Domino and I headed for wherever we were going.

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"Hey, Kane, welcome back!" Tara Skye greeted me in front of Kamikaze home. School had ended hours ago, and Domino and I had done nothing but hang out at the bridge, the park, and finally the Lake of Destiny. But now we were ready to go into the foster home to eat dinner as planned the day before. Tara looked to Domino with dull eyes and muttered, "And you brought Domino…what's he doing here?"

"We're having dinner together," I told her with a smile, and she grunted distastefully. "Go tell Ibiki." She stuck her tongue out at me and I shoved passed her and into the large house. The smell of chicken filled the air again, and Domino's eyes lit up. Before he could say anything more, two kids pushed passed him, each with toy guns in their hands and pretending to shoot each other with them.

I hadn't seen them the night before because Ibiki let them sleep at a friend's house, but now that I was able to see them…I'm not ashamed to say this, but I fell onto my knees and almost wept. Tears flooded from my eyes. I didn't think I'd see the two of them ever again.

Ty Skye and Kale Kamikaze looked up at me for a moment, and then looked back at one another and continued their combat. Tara quickly stood in between those two and yelled out, "That's enough, boys. Man, I wish parenting was simple. No wonder Ibiki doesn't have an easy time with us."

Ty and Kale laughed at Tara. Domino followed the smell of chicken into the kitchen, and Tara, Kale, Ty, and I headed in as well.

And we ate chicken.

Unlike in my dream, that night Domino didn't take me for a ride on his Glider to the Lake of Destiny. He left for home, and I settled down and went to bed. After that the next day, nothing really happened. From what I remembered, that was September third, the day Mr. Brunner went crazy and killed a lot of the students in our class. No such thing happened. I was glad.

That night when I headed off to bed, the ringing was back in my ears. I was unable to shake away the sound. I covered my head with my pillow in order to escape that awful noise…it now sounded like a knife scraping against glass, echoing in both of my ears. I was almost positive this hadn't happened in my dream. The sound of rain was heard outside…followed by a few strikes of lightning illuminating the sky with a roaring thunder following soon afterwards.

With each flash of lightning my room lit up. I tumbled out of bed, a mess of blankets and sheets tangling around me. I broke a single arm free and tried to untie me but it was almost impossible. Some force was keeping the blankets wrapped around my body. Suddenly the blankets felt hotter…they began glowing white, white flames sprouting up from them and lighting my carpet and bed on fire. The fire didn't burn me but the light was hot enough to make me wince in pain. In a flash, the blankets around me vanished and I scrambled to my feet.

Within a second my room was a burning inferno, white flames covering the walls and floor around me, extending to the ceiling that suddenly seemed miles above me. And so I dashed towards my door. It seemed like the way to my bedroom door was infinite. Finally I seemed to do it. I jumped through my door, slamming it behind me. When suddenly Kamikaze Home began shaking violently.

After it stopped shaking, I sensed an eerie calmness around me. I couldn't sense anyone in the house. Ibiki, Ty, Kale, Tara…none of them were there. Finding my way to the front door of the mansion-sized house, I opened it and stepped out, the door behind me vanishing along with Kamikaze Home. What was happening!? I thought everything was a dream! I stared at the empty lot where Kamikaze Home once stood. I didn't worry about that. Suddenly every house and building was gone. Even the Lake of Destiny had vanished. All that was left was an expanse of white.

Ahead of me, the only thing here besides me that wasn't completely white, was the familiar back of Domino. He walked ahead, the bridge soon materializing within the white void. Domino stepped onto the bridge. I quickly ran after him, reaching only a few feet from Domino.

"Domino!" I yelled out. "What happened to everything!?" I looked at my surroundings…nothing but a large white void.

Domino slowly turned around, and as he did, my vision became full of static. It looked almost as if I were watching an old television with static covering up most of the screen. As he turned and the static intensified along with that infuriating screeching in my ears, his clothing seemed to change and his body type seemed to alter. The static and the screeching vanished as he now looked me in the eyes. Except it wasn't Domino. His face was now that of Diantha's. Destati. Her eyes were shining white.

"Surely you didn't think any of this was real?" Destati's voice muttered through Domino's sister's mouth. "This isn't what destiny has in store for you."

"What are you talking about?" I yelled out. I didn't want this reality to end. It couldn't end. The happiness I felt seeing old faces that I probably wouldn't have seen again otherwise…it was so heartwarming and happy…I didn't want it to ever end! "What happened to Utopia!?"

Destati smirked and said, "Have you immersed yourself so deeply into this illusion? You know as well as I do that this is not real! You were destined to fight in a war! And fight you shall."

"Leave me alone!" I jumped forward, extending both of my hands, expecting fire or ice or lightning to shoot from my fingertips. Unfortunately, they didn't. I stopped right in front of Destati. "Leave me here! I need to stay happy!"

"You cannot achieve happiness by lies and illusions, child," Destati muttered, holding a hand out to me. "Once you stepped through that portal of light, I found my way into your heart. This was all a test to see if you had the strength in your heart to break through this illusion. And you failed. You are not worthy."

"But you just said I'll fight in the war!" I yelled at her. "How can I be not worthy then!?"

"I said you'll fight in the war," Destati started, turning Diantha's back to me. "I didn't say you'd be the one to counteract Domino."

"What does that mean!? Can't I just be happy right where I am!?" Everything in my mind was screaming to break through this illusion, to find my way to the real Domino and stick by him until the end of this war. But my heart cried and wept, longing for the life I couldn't have. I couldn't stay in this illusion…Destati was right. I lowered my head. "You're absolutely right…I can't stay here. I must go. I must fight my way out."

Destati chuckled. Turning back towards me she said, "You have to believe that in your mind, your heart, and your soul. Only then will you find the strength to escape." The bridge beneath us vanished, and we were now floating in an endless expanse of white. She held her hand out to me. "If you cannot find the strength within your heart during the next trials, then you will not be worthy as the one who will counteract the darkness. Keep fighting. Think of your next moves with your mind, deal with the emotions within your heart, and make sure you never give up with that pure soul of yours. Using all three will bring us closer to victory. If not done correctly you are of little use to the light. Do we have a deal?"

I brought my hand closer to hers. What would happen if…I couldn't find the strength in my heart to let go of the past again? What if I screwed up? How will I be of little use? What will Destati do? Without realizing it, I clutched Destati's hand.

"Now, child, go forth towards your destiny," Destati said in a loud voice that echoed off of the invisible walls around us. Her eyes started burning hotter than ever. "And I'll leave behind a parting gift." The glowing white in her eyes vanished…they now had Diantha's silvery eyes. Diantha fell to her knees on an invisible ground, barely awake. I fell to my knees and wrapped my arms around her. Destati's voice echoed off of the walls, "If you need anything, child, you can find me within the depths of your heart."

All at once, the white around us dimmed to a pitch blackness. And my eyes opened. I was lying in a comfortable bed with my arms wrapped around Diantha. Her eyes slowly began to open before closing again. Her breathing was faint. I sat up and looked at my surroundings. I was in a mysterious room with bookshelves lining every corner. In between each bookshelf were windows shaped like crescent moons. The walls were colored tan and the carpet was a dark green with tannish designs all along it.

I stepped out of bed, my bare feet hitting the comfortable carpet. Perched against the wall was my satchel, shoes, and socks. I kept walking forward until I noticed something that I was almost certain wasn't there a minute before. Towards the back wall was a desk. Sitting behind the desk was a man, a quill dipped in ink in his hand as he drew something in a sketchbook laid across the table.

The man had short brown hair and a small brown mustache. He wore rounded reading glasses as he studied his drawing for a minute before beginning to draw once more. He was wearing a nice looking dark blue suit, with a white shirt underneath and a black tie to finish off his professional outerwear. Something about him seemed to radiate power unlike anyone I've ever known. It wasn't as hot as Destati or as cold as Rika…it just told me he held a strong heart.

He looked up from his sketch and smiled.

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Did you enjoy this chapter? Who is that man at the end? What was Destati meaning by saying Kane wouldn't be worthy to counteract the darkness? Find out if you stay tuned!