I only made it to 4 re-done/edited chapters before life happened. So, I'm holding on to the edited chapters and just putting these back to how they were. I tried *Shrugs*

Did anyone even read/like my edited chapters?

As Sora lay awake in his old room the night before his island was destroyed, he made plans. (After a well deserved freak out session and a very long session screaming into his pillow.)

Not taking the second chance he was given for granted, he decided on a different approach to the upcoming war.

He tried getting involved before. He was a Keyblade wielder, it was in the job description to keep the balance after all.

But as he thought of everything, he realized that Xehanort was secure in the knowledge that everything was set in stone.

He smirked.

So, that just means he had to be as unpredictable as possible! Shouldn't be too hard. While not even trying, he heard many enemies say he's a wild card!

But now, he knows the end game. He knows what's up. He's done playing dumb. The Organization won't know what hit 'em!

But how?

It wasn't until the next day as he saw Kairi in passing in school that he got the answer!

The Princesses! (That, and he was very guilty about this fact, Kairi had no training and was kidnapped repeatedly as a result.) Hmmm…

~/~

"Hey, Riku! Kairi! Can I talk to you for a sec?" Sora called out to them on their way to school. They slowed their pace as Sora caught up to them.

Smiling, they continued on. "So, I was thinking. There are many things wrong with our raft idea."

"Oh?"Kairi started. "How so?"

"Guys." Sora deadpanned. "Why are we building a raft when we have actual boats at our disposal?"

Riku and Kairi slowed as they thought about that, they faced each other hoping the other had an answer.

"Also, what do we do when we do get out there? What if we get separated? What do we do? Should we find somewhere to meet up?"

"Those… are good points Sora." Riku conceded. "What brought this on?"

"I was just trying to find ways to make this easier for us. But I'm also not done. What about defending ourselves? Me and Riku have practice with wooden swords, but what if we're attacked? Kairi, you rarely join us. What would you do if you get separated from us and have to defend yourself?"

She stared in horror having not thought of that.

"I… I don't know."

"Look, I get the whole point of us building the raft is to see other worlds and figure out where Kairi came from, but we need to be smart about this. A lot of things can go wrong."

Riku crossed his arms. "Ok, then. It looks like you really have put a lot of thought into this. What do you suggest we do?"

"First, what to do if we get separated. Where should we meet up? Second, Self defence. Kairi, you're joining us for sparring after school, and you will listen to our advice, no buts!" He told her very seriously. She sensed that and nodded. Sora sighed relieved. "Third, and most importantly-" He faced them (mostly Riku). "We're travelling to other worlds! That means going to new places and meeting a bunch of new people. I want you to make friends! We'll always have each other, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with making friends outside of each other, ok?"

He does NOT want Maleficent to sink her claws in Riku again!

Startled at Sora's near pleading, Riku and Kairi faced each other in silent conversation.

Smiling, they faced him again.

"Ok, you're right. It would be nice to talk to some else for a change." Riku teased as Kairi giggled.

Sora took it with a huge weight off his shoulders.

~/~

The Island

Needless to say, both Riku and Kairi needed a lot of work!

Honestly, it was really surreal to go from the almighty badass Riku and a confident Kari fighting beside him to…

Well…

Playing with wooden swords as if they were normal non-Keyblade swords.

It was weird.

(Riku and Kairi definitely noticed his strange mood, etc. but thankfully chose not to comment.)

Meanwhile, Sora was stressed, the storm was tonight!

"Sora?" Kairi's concerned tone snapped him out of it. "Talk to us. Something is clearly wrong. Please, tell us."

"You really want to know?" Sora crossed his arms with a raised brow.

The duo nodded.

"Okay~. But you might not believe me." He grumbled. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves. Figuring, why not?

"Okay. Riku. Kairi. I'm actually 16 years old, I use a weapon called a Keyblade to fight creatures of darkness called Heartless and Nobodies. And more recently, Unversed. There's a storm tonight that destroyed our home. Riku here somehow opens a portal where he, ironically, wakes up on YOUR home world, Kairi. By the way, it's called Radiant Garden."

"Wait, what?!"

"Yup! But then a crazy old man named Master Xehanort started an interplanetary invasion that started there and left it in ruins and the residents scattered. Basically when you came here, Kairi. It was later renamed Hollow Bastion. Anyway!"

Meanwhile, Kairi was left reeling from that.

"After the storm happened, we got separated."

"That's why you brought it up earlier!" Riku jumped in trying to keep up. Sora nodded.

"You wound up there, I woke in Traverse Town and Kairi went missing.. it turns out your heart was literally inside mine while your body went comatose. Long story." He cut her off as she was opening her mouth. "Anyway, a crazy witch named Maleficent manipulated you into thinking I replaced you with new friends." He glared at Riku. Said boy's eyes widened catching on. "You also accused me of not caring what happened to Kairi here!"

"W-wait, I-!"

"Moving on! After that a whole bunch of stuff happened which eventually led to me waking up here last night in my younger body. I'm not kidding when I say it's a long story."

"Right…" Kairi mumbled.

Sora felt a little bad for overwhelming them. But that wasn't even a fraction of the story!

"Guys, look… I'm sorry for overwhelming you, but I'm a little stressed. That storm is tonight. It destroyed this place and I really don't want things to repeat themselves." He begged them to understand.

"Let's say you're right, start with this. Can you show us this Keyblade?" If its anything like Terra's when he was a kid, then Sora's telling the truth. This is way out of character for his friend.

Sora smiled and held out his hand.

In a flash, the Kingdom Key appeared.

Kairi stared in wonder, while Riku stared in dread.

Sora really was from the future.

Sighing, Riku faced him.

"I believe you. Can me and Kairi wield it, or just you?"

Sora grinned. "Both of you can! In fact, this will be such a relief for me! Here!"

The next few hours until sunset was Sora giving them both a crash course on how to use it.

And also, the two took to being sounding boards to Sora trying to one up a clearly senile old man.

There was much giggling and laughing at the more outlandish plans and pranks.

But there was something Kairi took seriously. It was her role as a princess.

And Xehanorts obsession with balance.

"Hey, Sora?"

"Hm?"

"Why not teach the other Princess of Heart to use Keyblades? If I can, they might as well right? And… what if you asked their respective bad guys to train them? To mix things up further?"

That got his attention.

A slow grin formed on his face.

"Thats brilliant Kairi! Two birds with one stone!"

At this point Riku had to cut in. "How are you going to convince them? Do we even know if they can use a Keyblade?"

Sora crossed his arms in thought. Then, he had an idea. "Aqua!"

"Who?" They both asked.

"Aqua! She was one of the three missing Keyblade Masters that vanished 10 years ago! Aqua, Terra and Ventus! Aqua is currently in the realm of Darkness. Terra is currently the giant Heartless that hangs around another Heartless calling himself Ansem, Seeker of Darkness. And Venus is stuck in Castle Oblivion. Formerly the Land of Departure where they actually trained. His heart is currently fused with mine since I was a baby to help him heal." He then sees their horrified faces and winced.

"Yeah..anyway, we can work with that. Aqua should actually be the easiest. Riku, when we seal the doors to Kingdom Hearts, she was right there in that area with you. If you get stuck there again, just run to her side! Before, we had no idea and she eventually fell to dispare thinking no one was going to rescue her. Find her and just tell her whats up, the rest will go much smoother. Or we can literally drag her through the door if we have to. We'll just meet you at Castle Oblivion anyway."

"Right…" Riku rubbed his head. "I get that we have to rescue them, but what does she have to do with giving away Keyblades?"

"Simple! They taught her how to pass them on to successors! The plan is simple. Kairi. With you trying with the other princesses, it will make things so much harder for Xehanort! The princesses old and new were his back up plan to start another war. By teaching you to defend yourselves-"

"We'll be harder to kidnap, harder to manipulate. And the villans?"

Sora's grin screamed mischief.

"He wants balance? You can't get more balanced out than 7 women with pure light and their villains with a lot of darkness at their disposal. Also, bragging rights."

"Bragging rights?" This time Riku raised a brow, amused.

"Yup! Bragging rights. How many bad guys can say they have an all powerful weapon handed to them and told to have fun with it?" He put his hands behind his head with a grin.

Riku facepalmed. Kairi simply shook her head. He's right though.

"Right...can you explain what you want us to do tonight again?" She asked exasperated.