Chapter One: Resemblance

"Iona, dear, please be careful on your journey."

"Aww, don't worry, Your Highness! I'll be fine!"

I grinned at Queen Minnie in an attempt to reassure her. In the ten years since she and the King had taken me in, I'd never seen her so worried. Then again, there hadn't been this much trouble in all those years—the King had left on a mission to save the worlds, and both Donald and Goofy had gone after him.

We hadn't heard from any of them since. And now here I was, about to leave this world for the first time since I'd arrived—all in the name of finding my long-lost twin brother.

My brother…

Perhaps the only thing I remembered from before I came to Disney Town. We'd never met, never even known about each other, but my adoptive parents had told me of his existence before they died. So I simply had to find him. Both because he was my brother, and to honor the only memory I had of the people who'd adopted me.

'I wonder what he looks like…if he looks like me or not,' I thought, glancing at my reflection in my bedroom mirror. Hair the color of the moon, and eyes that seemed blue until I stood by someone with blue eyes—then they looked green. Aqua-green, I'd always called the color. My light hair only made my ivory skin seem paler, which really made my eyes stand out.

'Completely different than anyone I've ever known…if he looks like me, I'll definitely know.'

"Iona?" I jumped slightly. I'd forgotten that Queen Minnie was still in the room with me.

"Yes, Your Majesty?"

"I want you to have this. It'll take you to the other worlds—but be warned: when and where you go is not up to you to decide." She placed a star-shaped object in my hands.

"Thank you! But what is it?" Minnie laughed.

"It's a star shard, dear. The King's, to be precise. But don't worry; he'd be fine with you using it." I looked to the Queen, a smile on my face.

"Awesome!" Then I glanced at my half-packed backpack. "I'd better finish packing, then. Before this thing whisks me away…"

"Okay. Good luck, Iona," she replied before exiting the room and leaving me to finish getting ready.

I hurriedly finished packing my backpack—the only things I was taking with me were the ones I'd deemed vital: potions and esunas, of course, as well as my phone, my MP3 player, and Thorne, my dagger.

This last item was perhaps the most important one of all. I'd been training under the King, Donald, and Goofy since my first day in Disney Town—Mickey had insisted that I be able to protect myself. Magick had proven itself to be beyond my capabilities, for the most part; I'd only mastered the most basic of spells.

But swordplay and hand-to-hand combat were a different story. I excelled in both, though I preferred hand-to-hand. So the King had made a fifteenth birthday present to me of Thorne.

I zipped up the bag, then turned to change clothes. 'Hmm…well, there's no use trying to dress nicely. I'll probably be fighting Heartless most of the time. So…dress for comfort.'

I pulled on a pair of black skinny jeans, black knee-high boots, and a black tank top. A few belts and gloves completed the ensemble. 'A little emo, but it won't show wear and tear so much.'

I grabbed my pack, slid it on my shoulders, then jammed the star shard in my pocket. A few minutes later found me walking out of the castle and into the streets of town. "Hmm, what should I do? Since I dunno when the star shard'll take me…" I contemplated aloud. Eventually, though, I decided to walk to the ice cream shop and by some sea-salt ice cream. My favorite.

"Hey, Chip. Dale. Where'd Huey, Dewey, and Louie get off to?" I asked the two chipmunks at the shop. Chip- the serious one- shrugged.

"Beats me! They left before we got back. We still don't know where the King, Donald, Goofy, and Pluto are." I sighed softly. So many people were missing from this world. Donald, the head mage; Goofy, the captain of the guard; King Mickey; and even his dog, Pluto. Now the triplets.

"Well, I hope they're safe—wherever they are. In the meantime…you think you guys could get me some sea-salt ice cream?" I put my munny on the counter. Dale laughed.

"Sure! Hold on one second!" He dug around for a few moments before producing a bright blue bar of ice cream from the freezer.

"Thanks, guys!" I said cheerfully, taking the ice cream. At that moment, there was a slight buzzing noise and I looked town to see the star shard in my pocket begin to vibrate and glow. "Uh-oh, looks like it's time for me to leave. You guys let Queen Minnie know I'm gone, 'kay?" I said hurriedly. Chip and Dale nodded.

"You got it!"

"Thanks, gu—!" I never got a chance to finish my sentence, for whatever powered the star shard chose that moment to whisk me away to a new world.

OoOoOoO

I was on a beach. The warm, salty sea air and the sound of the ocean were the first things to greet me upon regaining my sense of self. Then I opened my eyes to find myself standing on the shoreline, sea-salt ice cream still in hand. "Huh…I wonder where I am. It seems so familiar…" I said to nothing in particular. "Ah, well." With a shrug, I took a bite of my ice cream and decided to explore this new world.

It turned out the place was a small chain of islands—and I'd ended up on the main island where everyone lived. It also seemed that I'd arrived just as the students were getting out of school; multiple kids my age passed by in their blue-and-white uniforms. One of them, a boy maybe a few years my junior, stopped me.

"Hiya! You lost? I haven't seen you here before." I couldn't help smiling—his grin was infectious.

"Nah, I'm just wandering around. But, yeah, I am new here. The name's Iona. What about you?" His blue eyes lit up.

"I'm Tidus! And I'm gonna be a famous blitzball player one day!"

"Nice to meet ya, Tidus. So…what is this place?" I asked, falling in step with him as we walked down a dirt path.

"This is the Destiny Islands!" he replied with a laugh. Then he spotted another, older boy a ways ahead of us. "Yo! Wakka! C'mere and meet my new friend!" The boy- Wakka- paused and allowed us to catch up with him.

"Heya," he said, "what's up?"

"Hey, this is Iona. Iona, this is my buddy, Wakka," Tidus said cheerily. I smiled.

"Nice to meet you." Wakka was tan, and looked to be very athletic, but he was surprisingly soft-spoken.

"Nice to meet ya, too. Y'know, you remind me of some—" He was cut off by a pair of very feminine screams coming from a path that lead back to the beach. "That sounded like Kairi and Selphie!" Wakka exclaimed. Tidus nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, and it sounds like they're in a lot of trouble!" I couldn't resist the urge to roll my eyes.

"Well, then what are you waiting for? Let's go help them!"

We raced down the path and onto the beach, where we were greeted by the sight of two girls being cornered by a mob of Heartless. "Crap!" I growled, grabbing Thorne out of my pack and rushing forward. My two companions snatched sticks off the ground and followed suit.

"What are these things?!" Tidus exclaimed as he whacked on over the head with his stick.

"They're Heartless! Guys, don't let them near your heart! And guard your backs!" I cried, stabbing a Shadow with my dagger.

"Got it!" both boys replied. Then we got down to business, and within a few minutes, we'd managed to dispose of all the Heartless with relatively no trouble. 'Goddess, I hate those things,' I thought, standing up straight and wiping the sweat from my brow. Then—

"Riku?!"

'The hell?!'

I turned towards the source of the voice, only to find myself face-to-face with one of the girls I'd saved. Her red hair was short, and violet eyes wide with shock. Slowly, her expression morphed from one of excitement to one of embarrassment, and her face flushed.

"Oh…I'm sorry. I thought you were someone else."

"Ah, it's all good. The name's Iona, though." The girl nodded, still looking at me intently. I had to admit, there was something eerily familiar about her…but I couldn't place what it was.

"She does look like Riku, ya?" Wakka piped up, making me jump. The other girl- a brunette with bright green eyes- nodded.

"Uh-huh, it's kinda scary. No wonder you mistook her for him, Kairi." I furrowed my brow.

"Okay, just who is this 'Riku' that I supposedly look so much like?" I finally asked, a little disgruntled. What on earth made me look like him? Unless…

"C'mon," Kairi said softly. "Selphie, Wakka, Tidus, you guys come, too. I'm gonna show Iona who Riku is."

OoOoOoO

"So, lemme get this straight: you're from another world?!" Selphie asked, wide-eyed, as we sat in Kairi's living room. I nodded.

"Yep. I live in a world called Disney Town."

"Cool! Do they play blitzall there?"

"Ya, do they?"

I chuckled slightly as both Tidus and Wakka inquired about their favorite sport. Then I shook my head.

"Nope."

"Okay, I found my photo album," Kairi said, walking back into the room, a large scrapbook in hand.

"Wow…" I murmured to myself. Talk about keeping your memories close. She flipped open the book, turning a few pages—until she paused on one.

"Here," the redhead said, pushing the book over for me to see. "This is Riku."

"Thanks, Kai—" I cut myself off midsentence, instead gaping down at the photo. There was no way I could deny the resemblance: we shared the same hair color, the same sarcastic smirk…everything was identical, down to our eye color. Aqua-green. If he'd been a girl, or I a boy, we'd have been clones. But as it was…

"Did I…tell you why I came here?" I finally choked out. The group shook their heads, and there was a chorus of 'no!'s. Slowly, I looked up at them. "Well…I said I was raised in Disney Town. But before that…until I was about six…I lived in a place called Radiant Garden.

"I don't remember anything from my time there—the world was destroyed by Heartless, and my parents died. I was injured then…something that has affected my memory ever since. The only thing I remember from before Mickey saved me was my parents telling me I was adopted…that I have a twin brother. I left Disney Town to find him…" I trailed off, gently stroking the photograph.

All was silent for a moment, then Kairi spoke up.

"Are you trying to say…Riku is your twin?"

"I dunno…I guess I am. I mean, I'm only basing this hunch on the pictures here, and what y'all have said…but I trust my heart in this matter." Then and idea popped into my mind. "Wait. If this is his home world, then I could talk to Riku's parents—" The redhead cut me off, shaking her head sadly.

"No…Riku's parents are dead." Selphie nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, they died in a boating accident."

"It was when we were all really young. Tidus here was too young to even remember," Wakka added. My heart sank.

'An orphan…no family…growing up alone.'

"Crap!" Tidus' voice brought me out of my thoughts. "Speaking of parents, I gotta go! It's really late, and they'll kill me if I'm not home before dark!"

"Yeah, we should go," Selphie agreed as she, Tidus, and Wakka gathered their belongings. "Later guys!" And with that, they left, leaving Kairi and I alone.

"So, who's this other boy?" I inquired, pointing to a photo of a boy with spiky brown hair and sapphire-blue eyes.

"That's Sora, Riku's best friend. The three of us have been friends ever since I first came here," the girl replied, blushing slightly.

"Ah! So you have a crush on Sora? And you came here from another world, as well?" Kairi nodded.

"Yes, to both questions. But I don't remember what world I came from. Just that I woke up on the beach one day, to Sora's voice." I nodded pensively, then asked,

"So…if these two are your best friends…where are they?" Kairi sighed.

"That's a long story. But I'll explain it as best I can…"

"It all started when we built our raft. Sora, Riku, and I…we were gonna set sail, leave this world and explore the others. Then the Heartless attacked the night before our departure. I lost my heart…so the rest of this is based on what I was told.

"I lost my heart, and the boys were whisked away to other worlds. Sora ended up meeting Donald and Goofy- you know them- and they traveled together to find Riku and I. But Riku, he was found by the evil witch, Maleficent. She convinced him that Sora had replaced us, didn't care about us.

"He began to learn to wield Darkness, along with another kid our age—a girl he'd saved. They fought with Sora when their paths crossed, up until they arrived in Hollow Bastion. Then the girl, Iva was her name, saw how wrong everything was and joined Sora.

"They found Riku, whose body had been taken over by Ansem. Then…Sora found out he had my heart. So he unlocked his, so that I could have mine back…"

She trailed off momentarily, looking down. All I could do was stare at the redhead in a stupefied silence. Finally, she composed herself and finished her tale. "Sora disappeared when I woke up. But I found his Heartless and, somehow, brought him back.

"Then he beat Ansem…and had to shut the door to the Realm of Darkness. Riku…he and King Mickey were behind the door. But they promised they'd find a way out. I don't know what happened to Iva after that, only that the worlds returned to normal, and I came back here. Sora's promised he'd be back once he found Riku and the King."

Silence enveloped us once she concluded her story. 'It all makes sense now…why Donald, Goofy, and the King haven't returned. The King…could he know that Riku's my brother?'

I stood, glancing out the window. It was starting to get dark—dusk, my favorite time of day. I looked back at Kairi.

"I want to go after them…to find Sora and help him rescue the King and my brother." Her violet eyes lit up with surprise.

"You'll go? And you've decided to believe that Riku's your twin?"

"Yes to both," I replied with a nod. "I just can't get past how much we look alike. Honestly…it's his eye color that made me believe. Aqua-green…I've never seen the color anywhere else. So, where do I need to go?"

Kairi was silent for a moment, chewing on her bottom lip as she thought. Then a grin lit her features.

"Our island! It's where everything started…so it's the best place to look. You can borrow my boat. I can't go there…not yet." I smiled.

"Thanks, Kairi. And I'll tell them you're still waiting, once I find them." She nodded, standing up.

"Thank you…for going to find them. I…I want you to have this." Here, the girl pulled the photograph of Riku out of its sleeve and handed it to me. "So you know what he looks like…though you could just look in a mirror."

We laughed, then I followed Kairi out of her house and onto the dock where her small boat was tethered.

"Good luck," the redhead said softly.

"Thanks," I climbed into the boat and set my bag down. Just as I was about to leave, Kairi called,

"Iona! If you find that girl…Iva…thank her for me! Thank her for helping my friends!"

"I will!" I yelled back. Then I grabbed the oars and rowed my way to the island.

The island was completely deserted. 'Granted…that's probably because the kids are in school. I'm sure the place is packed during the summer.' Despite the creepy aura gave off due to the lack of life, I had to marvel at the huge clubhouse that the place had become. Many of the island's children could probably live there during vacation.

'Hm, where should I go?' I thought as I wandered up and down the sidewalks, ladders, and bridge. Then I noticed a small cave near the waterfall. "Huh…a cave?" I murmured aloud. That definitely merited an investigation.

Upon entering the small cavern, the first thing I noticed was a set of chalk drawings that looked to have been done by young children. 'Hm, maybe it was Sora and Kairi.' As I walked further in, the drawings disappeared, until the only out-of-place thing was a door on the wall opposite of me.

"How…did a door get here?!" I exclaimed aloud. Eventually, curiosity got the better of me, and I made my way over to examine it. The mahogany wood was smooth and cool beneath my fingertips, and the wood grain was clearly defined. 'Wonder if it's unlocked…' I thought, twisting the door knob.

That was when I heard the hissing that could only mean one thing—Heartless. I whirled around, only to find myself surrounded by a hoard of Heartless greater than any I'd fought before. 'Damn!' I thought harshly. 'There's way too many; I don't stand a chance. But I refuse to go down without a fight!'

As I charged forward, the creatures surrounded and attacked me, as well. In all honesty, I lasted for only a few minutes before they overpowered me. There was a sharp pain in my back, then another- greater- pain in my chest. My knees hit the ground and my vision began to fade rapidly.

'Riku…my brother,' I thought weakly. Then all was dark.

OoOoOoO

Pain.

Burning and intense, it was all I knew as I floated in an endless sea of black. Parts of my being slipped away, abandoning me to the strong current of the invisible ocean. Memory after memory floated by me, some I'd rather forget, but others I treasured.

Mickey giving me Thorne…

…growing up in Disney Town…

…meeting Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie…

…Kairi and her scrapbook full of photos.

Photos of…

Riku.

My brother.

That single thought became a sort of anchor, a reason…no, a need to keep fighting. To will myself out of the sea. Another wave of pain, this one greater than all the others before, washed over me, numbing me.

Then my eyes snapped open.