Well, here's the next chapter for Dawn to Twilight.

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts and Dissidia are all products of Square Enix.

Chapter VIII: An Ancient Legend

Sora and his friends soon return to Radiant Garden. There, Squall met up wit the brunette hero"Did something happen out there? The sky got kind of dim, but not completely dark. Last I checked, it was still mid-morning."

"It's a long story, but we're investigating the eclipse. Then, there is this artifact called the Stone of Secrets" said Sora.

Yuffie and Aerith, who were accompanying Squall, were astonished. The brunette girl shrugged"I read about something like that once, it's an old myth. Oh, and Sora, Kairi was waiting to here from you and Serenia."

Sora nodded"I thought she would, but I won't be here for long. Lightning, Quinn and Terra are here to board another Gummi Ship and try to find clues about the eclipse. Cosmos told us what the effects might be, but it's nothing to worry about. Caius and Sanhille are the ones we're dealing with."

"Sanhille... Riku mentioned him. That man is one big enigma. It is well known in the history of the World Order here in Radiant Garden that he fought on the side of light in the Keyblade War. There's an old book in the castle library about the war, but it's merely speculation" said Squall.

Sora smiled"Thanks for the information, we'll check that out later. Aerith, could you tell Kairi we're going to be gone for a while longer?"

Aerith nodded"I'm sure she'll understand, but she is most worried about Serenia."

The teenage red head shrugged"I'll be okay, I have my father and some friends with me."

"With optimism like that, you're definately just like your old man" said a voice as Riku arrived on the scene.

"What about this Caius guy? Who is he?" inquired Yuffie.

Noel, who accompanied Sora with Serah, replied"He's an old aqauintence of mine. Not sure what his plan is exactly, but Caius is apparently not the guy I once knew."

"The World Order is so full of secrets, but it's like those secrets aren't for us to know" mussed Aerith.

"But we have to try for the one that Sanhille's bunch is looking for, heard of the stone of secrets?" inquired Noel.

Aerith shrugged"The Stone of Secrets... You mean the Twilight Crystal? Most people believe it to be a myth, but given the unusuall eclipse causing this abnormal twilight, the legend might be true."

"What's the legend?" piped Serenia.

The brunette woman sighed"I don't know for sure, I doubt even Master Yen Sid knows the exact details. The books that talk about ancient legends in Radiant Garden's library is written in an unknown language. It's not easy to translate."

"Well, whatever the Twilight Crystal is, it could be dangerous whether we find it or our enemy does" said Riku.

"I agree" shrugged Squall.

"Sora, my group and I just spoke with Cid, and he's lending us your old Gummi Ship, will that be all right?" said Terra.

Sora nodded"No problem, the Ragnarok II has never let us down yet. Good luck, but where are you headed?"

Lightning responded"We will gather the rest of Cosmos's availible warriors and meet at the Order Sanctuary. I'm not saying that Chaos will return, but it's best to prepare now and devise contingency plans."

"Then the rest of us will gather information and try to locate the Twilight Crystal. I might even visit some of the other worlds, assuming we're not on a time limit" said Sora.

The Warrior of Light acknowledged the two"A well concieved plan, but this may not fully solve the mystery of the Twilight Curse. Nonetheless, it seems like the best one we have so far. Let us move and may the light shine upon us all."

Sora smiled"Good luck to you, too."

As Lightning, Terra and the Warrior of Light left, Sora addressed Squall"Any chance you can come with us this time?"

"No, but I saw Cloud and Tifa head for the market earlier. They could be of some help while Yuffie, Aerith and I protect Radiant Garden" replied the older brunette man.

"I have to say and wait for King Mickey, don't get killed out there Sora" piped Riku.

Sora gave Riku and thumbs-up and raced to the market. There, a blond man and a brunette woman were shopping in the area. The Keyblade Master addressed them"Cloud, Tifa, I need a favor."

"Hm? Oh, what is it Sora?" inquired the Martial Artist.

Sora explained away the current situation"Basically, we're trying to solve the mystery of the Twilight Eclipse and find the Twilight Crystal. Can you join me and my group?"

"Not interested, I'm sure you have enough people in your group" said Cloud.

"Oh, come on Cloud. I know Squall, Aerith and Yuffie have things covered, it can't hurt to go on another adventure, don't you think?" challenged Tifa.

"I suppose. All right, we're in" said the blond swordsman.

The three rejoined the group near the Gummi Ship hanger. As they made ready to take off inside the Ragnarok II, Cosmos appeared before Sora"Surely the archives at the Land of Departure holds more answers that you seek."

"Really? There's an archive there?" said Sora.

The Harmony Goddess nodded"Yes, and I sense that the vortexes from your previous quest are becoming more active. Universes you've never been to have made themselves known, as I have previously told you. The Realm of Sleep has merged with the Realm of Light."

"We'll check out those worlds once we're done gathering information at the Land of Departure" said Sora.

"Good luck" said Cosmos.

Cid addressed Sora"Sounds like we might just be in over our heads. Sora, we're headed back to the Land of Departure, right?"

"Yeah, there may be an archive or something" nodded the brunette hero.

"All right, let's take off" said the pilot.

On the rooftop, watching the scene below, the shadow of a light purple haired man murmered"Everything is acorrding to plan. Even should Sora find the Twilight Crystal, he is in for an unpleasent surprise."

"Master Sanhille..." said a voice nearby.

The man addressed his companion"Arlene, preparations have been made for the invasion of Radiant Garden, no?"

"Indeed" said the blond.

Sanhille nodded"Too long has it been, since my self-imposed exile. Sora has yet to walk into my trap, and I have plans for the princess of heart as well."

"Is it about the pendant by any chance?" said Arlene.

"Indeed, now we should return before we're spotted. With the heroes of the realm of light frantically searching for clues, we proceed with my plan. But do not attack Radiant Garden just yet" said the man.

The blond woman rolled her eyes"Just when WILL you permit me and Lumaria to strike? My last superior never was one to wait."

Sanhille raised his hand"Patience, when the time is right, we will strike. I must be precise, otherwise we fail. While I'm at it, I must warn you that while I do tolerate failures, I won't hesitate to send you back to the dead."

"Ha, I wasn't dead, I was merely turned into a nobody" scoffed Arlene.

"We can call each other's bluff as much as we want back at headquarters" said Sanhille, vanishing.

The return to Radiant Garden was smooth, as Sora and his group parked the Ragnarok II at the courtyard. Roxas landed the Radiant Light next to it. Sora, Ventus, Cloud, Tifa, Serenia and Tyler left the ships to head for the castle.

Aqua was relieved when she saw Tyler and the others"Welcome back, did you find anything? I was starting to worry when I saw the clear blue sky turn a kind of yellowish orange."

"It's a curse, we have to do some research at the archives here" said Sora, hastily.

Aqua frowned as she lifted her gloved hand to inspect one of her exposed fingers"Now that you mention it, a sun and moon symbol appeared on my hand a few hours ago. The defense force members here are on the edge."

Serenia shrugged as she glanced at the eclipsed moon in the sky"Well, we'll figure it out, right?"

"Probably, I was reading a book just now in the study, I just found it at the archives. The book reveals some kind of a ancieng legend involving a Twilight Crystal, or the Stone of Secrets as it is also called."

"Really? Can we see it?" said Sora.

Aqua nodded"Yes, it's in the study."

The group went into the castle study, where a old leather-brown book lay open. Sora picked up the volume and looked at it, eyes widening at the text.

"What does it say, Sora?" pressed Tifa.

Sora gazed at the paragraphs and read it aloud"Of all the powers of Light, Darkness, and Nothingness, there is one that foreshadows the rest. The Twilight Crystal, an ancient relic which is the source of the Twilight Eclipse spell. It is the spell that enhances the properties of both Light and Darkness."

"I have a bad feeling about this, want me to wait outside?" whimpered Tyler.

Aqua put a hand on her son's shoulder"It's okay, we'll let you and Serenia know if it gets too scary."

Cloud was surprised"Hm, I can't seem to believe what we're learning."

"Sora, continue reading" urged Tifa.

Sora shrugged as he read"During the Keyblade War, a Twilight Eclipse occured twenty years before it ended. Those with extreme darkness in their hearts were 'cursed' with an aura of black and white. But as the eclipse dragged on, two Keyblade Masters, both on the side of light, sealed the Twilight Crystal Away. It was a temporary solution, as the eclipse would again."

"So if Sanhille isn't at fault, whose was it?" piped Serenia.

Sora shrugged"We don't know for sure, but if this Twilight Crystal is the source, we'll destroy it."

"Wait, there's more" said Aqua.

Sora glanced at the text"Hm, the reading is definately cryptic, now that you mention it. Hundreds of years would pass before another Twilight Eclipse. The two Keyblade Masters' names were lost to history, but their lingering wills proved stronger then the ravages of time. While dealing with the eclipse, a man named Yoran had defeated the leader of the dark Keyblade Masters."

"Remember when I mentioned Yoran Sanhille's name? Those events actually took place before his name was lost to history."

"Yeah, but who was the dark Keyblade Master the guy defeated?" inquired Serenia.

Sora glanced at the book one more time and sighed"It just ends right there, it sounds like this 'Sanhille' guy was already dead. How could he still be alive? And just who was that dark wielder?"

Aqua shrugged"Who knows? But we got some information out of the book about the Twilight Eclipse, I guess the ancients didn't want to record how to find the sealed Twilight Crystal."

"My, my, it looks like you found quite the damaging info there" said a voice, as a silver haired man with a sword appeared.

Cloud drew his blade at the sight"Sephiroth?"

"In a manner of speaking, Cloud. My name is Kadaj" sneered the man.

"What are you after?" said Tifa.

Kadaj smirked as two more men appeared from the shadows with him"We stole materia from Cloud's alternate universe, behold the resurrected form of your nemesis!"

Before Sora's eyes, Kadaj pulled out a vial and drank it, vanishing into green light as he did. Before Cloud's eyes, Kadaj had vanished, leaving none other then Sephiroth in his place.

"How-? We defeated you in the last war with Chaos's forces" said Tifa, astonished.

Sephiroth smirked as he spoke"That was just one road for me to take. Cloud cannot escape his past."

The other two men stood on either side of the silver haired swordsman, a brunette smirked"I am Loz, and my other counterpart is Yazoo."

Aqua brandished her keyblade"Those with dark hearts will never take this place!"

"We're with you" Lea and Isa entered the room, joining Sora and the others.

Sephiroth grinned maliciously"This world is the first to succumb to the eclipse. My spirit was summoned the way Kuja happened to be, prepare to meet your end."

"Not on your life!" said Sora, summoning his keyblade.

"Now what?" said Ventus.

Sora turned to address the other blond"Let's lure these creeps outside and defeat them!"

"Good call, I'll distract them!" said Ven.

Sephiroth strode forward a bit"You still have a bit of fight in you, this should prove quite interesting." Loz and Yazoo followed their leader, while Ventus readied himself for a decoy duel with the silver haired Chaos warrior.

Cliffhanger time, sorry for the wait. I will include another world in the next chapter, following this section. As for why I included Kadaj, I thought I should include him and Weiss. Advent Children takes place before Dirge of Cerberus after all.

Oh, and I don't have any hard proof, but I read from an author note in the fanfic Tales of the Heart that is in the process of deleting thousands of fics, this site is getting too strict apparently.

You can stop it by signing a petition, I will post an explanation below this. It's been copied from Chris 'Pushy' Putnam's auther note in Tales of the Heart's third chapter, which isn't really a chapter.

-FF is trying to enforce restrictions on yaoi, yuri, violence, etc. I'm not really a fan of that myself, but every author has their own interest.

-Stop this by signing the petition on DarkHeartInSky's profile page.

-Stop this by participating in the Black Out Day

I'm sorry if this scared anyone, but I just thought you should know. To be honest, I was almost scared to update or post anymore beecause of this, but I will continue anyway. Oh, and Black Out Day is over, so the former option might be our best bet.

You can ignore it if the issue is already dealt with or if you want to. But if you care, please sign the petition, the more poeple sign, the more likely 's staff will take our thoughts into consideration.

Please feel free to review.