A/N: I'm back! I know it's been a long time since I last updated this story, and I apologize for that. I've been kept busy over the last 9 months applying for teaching positions, working on my other two stories, (Voldemort's Victory and Kingdom Keepers: The Search for the Great Power), and I recently started my first semester of graduate school! I haven't forgotten about my other stories, (I'm writing the current chapter of KKTSFTGP now, and hope to update it and VV very soon), so please bear with me and be patient a little while longer! In the meantime, thanks to everyone who has reviewed, followed, and/or favored my stories or me as an author in the past few months! Much love to all of you! Enjoy Chapter 1 of The First Keeper!

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Keepers...yet...

Chapter 1: Nightmares

Finn was petrified with fear, though he tried not to show it.

He was kneeling on the floor of an enormous library, surrounded by hundreds of Overtakers. His hands were shackled in magical chains behind his back. If they had been ordinary manacles, Finn would have had no problem escaping from his captors. He could have simply gone All Clear, and his DHI state would have allowed him to make his getaway…

Finn almost dared to laugh out loud.

Escape was impossible. Even if his DHI had worked, he was still dangerously outnumbered. The two pirates who had their swords pressed against his throat made sure he wasn't getting any bright ideas.

"Still alive then, boy?"

Finn felt a shiver run down his spine.

Here we go again, he thought.

Hades, God of the Underworld and leader of the Overtakers, emerged from the shadows. Although his voice was calm and steady, the look in his pale yellow eyes showed that he was not pleased. After all, the last time he and Finn had crossed paths, the teen had sacrificed himself to save his fellow Kingdom Keepers.

The other Overtakers seemed to sense his displeasure. Several of them pressed themselves further into the fake bookshelves.

"Well, you know me, Hades," Finn smirked, "I'm like a bad penny. I keep turning up."

"So it would seem," Hades growled as he approached Finn.

The pirates' grip tightened.

Hades reached out to Finn and grabbed his chin. Finn reluctantly stared back into his enemy's angry face.

"Now, my young captive," Hades whispered, "tell me where I can find the First Keeper…"

Finn shot up in bed, drenched in sweat and panting as if he had been running a marathon. It took him awhile to realize that he was in his own bedroom instead of the tiny, dark cell in which he had been kept nearly two weeks ago.

As his breathing and heart rate slowly returned to normal, Finn tried to remember what had happened in his most recent nightmare.

It was the same one he had been having night after night since his fellow Keepers had rescued him. They always started differently. Sometimes he was being ambushed by a troop of Green Army Men in front of the Sorcerer's Hat. Other times, he was chained to a pole on the Hollywood Studios main stage being tortured while the OTs laughed at him.

But, no matter how the nightmares began, he always ended up back in the library of the Tower of Terror.

Helpless. Hopeless. Friendless.

Tonight's horror, however, had one major change.

Tonight, when he had found himself once again kneeling on the library floor, Hades had said something unexpected.

"Tell me where I can find the First Keeper."

The Keepers still found it hard to believe that Walt Disney, the man behind the theme parks, Snow White, and Mickey Mouse, was alive and well nearly 40 years after his supposed death.

On the night they learned of Walt's return, their mentor sent each of them a text message.

Imagineer1: This stays between us. For now.

Finn sighed. The morning after the reveal had not been easy. He had to make up a lame excuse at breakfast when his father asked why he was so cheerful.

Finn had then shared an explanatory look with his mother.

Although she understood his secrecy, he had found it extremely difficult not to be able to confide in the one family member who knew about his life as a Keeper. His father and younger sister would think they had both gone insane.

Soon, he silently promised her. I'll tell you very soon.

Finn glanced at his alarm clock.

2:30 a.m.

Bringing himself back to the present, he laid back down and soon drifted off to a dreamless sleep.

A/N: And that's Chapter 1! What did you think? I know it's a bit of a short chapter, but I couldn't think of anything else to add to it. Hopefully, those of you who loved Finn's Battle have and will stay with me long enough to see the rest of this journey through. I have a few ideas about how I want the rest of this story to go, and am planning on it being a possible trilogy. Let me know how you like this chapter and if it was worth the wait! See you soon, my lovely readers!

Love, Mickeygirl20 :)