Hearts of Avengers

by lyokoMARVELanime

Instead of Traverse Town, Sora lands in New York after Destiny Islands fell and just moments before The Breakout happens. One superhero team-up later, and the Keyblade Hero is now a member of the Avengers. It's the story of Kingdom Hearts with a marvel of a new spin. Just see how Sora and the Avengers will affect both of their adventures, now.

10. Arrival on Spira

AN: For the record, this mainly took a long time because of the world that the team's visiting this time, and I'm pretty sure that this is why we never saw any actual worlds from the Final Fantasy games in the Kingdom Hearts, like Spira, Gran Pulse, and the like. At least, not in the sense we've got here.

Yuffie: Excuses, excuses. Just admit it. It took you longer than you thought because you spent too much time overthinking on how to properly adapt the story of Final Fantasy X into this story.

AN: Well...maybe a little, but here's the good news: the newest chapter in the Kingdom Marvels saga has now been posted!

[audience applause]

Yeah, exciting, and we're going to be seeing all your favorite FF10 heroes to appear in Kingdom Hearts showing up here, and then some from said game series, and not only that, but our old pal Spidey and his gang are coming back for more too! I think that the web-head's second appearance in this story is actually happening sooner than it did even in the Code Avengers Series, and he's a major supporting character in that.

Sora: Well, maybe it has to do with the fact that you're clearly making Spidey a much more important character to the story here, in a role beyond just being a love interest or something.

AN: DAAAAH! SORA! Where did you come from?!

Sora: Oh yeah, sorry I'm late, but the uh...traffic from Destiny Islands was...a lot worse than usual. I...I think somebody crashed a boat...into the docks, during rush hour.

AN: Uh-huh. I think you mean something that definitely involves Kairi in some way, right? Like just so much as spending time just gazing into her eyes like you in a blissful dream, or maybe even making out like your lives depend on it, or something else?

Sora: Well...Maybe...But I wouldn't go that far with the description of the last one.

Wasp: I'm just glad that you two have finally calmed down and stopped with constantly beating up Xe-

Riku: NO! [suddenly tackles Wasp before clamping a hand over her mouth; whispering] They may not feel the need to constantly beat him up now, and may be better at holding it in while he's in the room for a short...short time, but saying that particular bad guy's name around Sora and Kairi is now a serious taboo unless you want them to get back to wailing on You-Know-Who nonstop again.

Wasp: [glances at Sora for a minute, who's just looking at the two in confusion as if he's trying to figure out what's going on before finally nodding and being let go] Sorry.

AN: Don't worry about it.

Sora: Uh...What's Janet apologizing for?

AN: Like I said, don't worry about it. It's not important any more. Here's what is important though: the review answers.

Yuffie: Oh! How about the one that "Soulofnone911" posted?

AN: Sure. While you do have a point about Yuffie getting a hero name, the problem there is...I have no idea what that name should be. Believe me, I have been trying my hardest to come up with something for her, but every idea I've come up with so far is proving to be...well, none of them are good, to put it nicely.

Yuffie: Well, guess that's everyone cue to start lending a suggestion.

AN: I get the feeling they all would, even if we didn't ask. But I am asking, so go for it. Anyways, "Spiderfan626", there is a chance I might do a one-shot series for this story like the one I'm doing for the Keyblades Unleashed series, but that may be a little ways away from now. Probably after I've at least finished this story, so I'm afraid that we wont' be seeing a "Kingdom Marvels Extras" from me any time soon. Also, what makes you think that Sora and Peter are the only ones who will be getting "the look"?

Spider-Man: Well, that's not ominous or anything.

AN: Rolling on over to "theIrishWriter"...

Roxas: Honestly, I kinda like the KH3 version of that song.

Xion: Yeah, same here. It doesn't feel as depressing as the original. And I'm just saying that because of the fight I normally think of whenever I heard that song.

Roxas: I am. Sure, there's a sad undertone to it, but with the new way that it was arranged, you get a feeling that something great has come out from a place where sadness and despair were forefront, and a new happiness is born.

AN: Wow. That's deep. And to be honest, you took the words right out of my mouth. As for what you said about the reasoning for Sora being gamma-proof, well that's exactly reason why he's gamma-proof, or at least a large part of it; they just don't know it yet. Sora is still learning about his powers right now. In regards to your questions about Night Hunter, he's got plenty of reasons for hanging around on Earth, but I'm afraid most if not all information about our dark KH villain will not be coming until it is revealed in the story. Oh, and no, Sora's not going to go to the world of FF8 at any point. In this story, his dad is from Radiant Garden/Hollow Bastion. So there's that.

Rolling on over to "TvFan2244", yeah, I had a feeling some people would be happy to see the team from Agents of SHIELD. And I don't really know how much we'll see of the rest of the team, but I can guarantee that we will be seeing a good deal more of Daisy in later chapters, make no mistake about that. Of course, there's a very big reason as to why that is. And of course, I'm going to keep Trip around for a good long while. That dude's awesome.

To "Guest" of 3/12/2019, as I'm sure I've mentioned in previous author's notes of other stories, my main focus at the moment is on anything relating to Kingdom Hearts, so it might be a while before you see another update to the stories you requested. I will try to update some non-Kingdom Hearts stories as soon as I can, but I'm not going to make any promises that I can't keep.

Moving along, "Althea Sirius", yeah, you could say that, but considering what happened in those particular scenes, can you really blame me? I mean, I'm pretty sure the number of people who took those scenes well can be counted on one hand. Moving on to the story related questions, One) I had considered having Sora's glider being similar to Ven's, but we've seen several stories where that was the case many, many times before, so I wanted to do something a little more original. Plus, you can't tell me that the image of Sora on a flying motorcycle doesn't look cool, can you? Two) Like that name, and I'll keep it in mind for a later date, just in case. And...wait, I think that's all I can really respond to...well, besides just saying things like "good to know" and the like, which all of that information is, and thanks for the wish of good luck.

Next up is, "Bellatrix Lestrange-TheDarkOne", Yeah...given your reputation, I'm not so sure that would be highly recommended as a good idea. (jk. gotta keep the fun going with those kind of comments you know)

By the way, "The Keeper of Worlds", don't worry about that. It was just a little minor mistake, considering that some of the last bits of the previous chapter were copied over from my Code Lyoko&Avengers EMH crossover. I've already fixed that, but thanks for the heads-up.

Moving down the list again, "UNKNOWN", while I did like Captain Marvel, because seriously, great movie. You need to see it if you haven't already, at the moment, I'm actually thinking of leaving the Skrulls as they were in the original version of the show. I am brainstorming on a few ways that I can adapt the stuff from the movie into here, but it's slow going. Though that movie did give me a few other ideas that I would like to go forward with in this series as well, so keep an eye out for that.

Finally, "GuestWithIdeas", that is all really impressive information, and I like the detail you put into it all. I don't know for sure if we'll be seeing such a training session taking place, but you never know what will happen later on down the line. If I can find the time, I will try to look into all the stuff you mentioned to me, so thanks in advance for all of that.

Okay, so let's get things rolling, cause it's time for Part One of the adventure in Spira!

Sora: And you do mean it this time when you say that it's part one, right?

AN: As a matter of fact, I do. There was no way I was going to be able to fit the events of a Final Fantasy world's story into one chapter, you know. To be honest, I'm not sure if I'll even be able to fit it all into two. Avengers, to the chapter!...

I do not own anything from either the Kingdom Hearts or MARVEL franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story.

---

Chapter X

In the weeks that followed the Gamma World incident, the Avengers felt that it was probably a good idea to take a little down time, just to make sure that they were in top shape and did not end up with any lingering side effects from their exposure to the gamma rays that the doctors might have missed. Sure, Hulk had let Banner out to help confirm that everyone had a clean bill of health, but you could never be too careful, so life slowed down to a more normal pace for the heroes of Earth. Of course, there was also the fact that they now had to get used to having another person living under the mansion's roof, and frankly, some of the residents of that mansion found living with Hawkeye came with some difficulties. Sure, they understood that he was not really up for joining the team originally, and he was likely still sore about how his last team and teammates had betrayed him, but they did still wish that Barton would let up on his complaining a little.

For the most part, Hawkeye did not really have too much to complain about, beyond what everyone else did, like how Hulk always seemed to eat all of the food without leaving anything for anyone else, or how Sora, Cap, and Yuffie were always in the training room whenever they had a moment to be in there and work on their respective skills, the kids more so than the captain. That did not stop him from finding some faults in other places too, and he had no problem letting his opinions be known to everyone he felt would listen, which more often than not, turned out to be T'Challa and, sometimes, even Yuffie. Apparently, the three were forming something of a bond being the most recent additions to the Avengers; though, Clint did prefer to spend more time around the Wakandan than the ninja girl. It was partly because of that fact that the others were able to quickly learn about why Hawkeye thought the Avengers were a disaster waiting to happen. Sure, he was not entirely wrong about the faults he had pointed out in each of the members, but it did seem like he was judging them a little prematurely. The only one he did not have something negative to say about was Captain America, but then again, it was a little hard to really say too much of anything bad about the super soldier of World War II.

Even with Clint's need to complain and constantly point out faults in how the Avengers operate, or just in the characters of the team's members, the team all managed to carry on like nothing had really changed, and for two particular members, that included the hours spent within the halls and classrooms of Midtown High. Surprisingly, Yuffie's complaints about going to school had died down a bit after Gamma World, but considering what she went through with being mutated and turned into a mindless slave of the Leader, no one could fault her for wanting to step back from such action-packed and dangerous scenes for a few minutes. Of course, one could argue that it was also because she did not have to go back right away, like Sora had, but Yuffie would neither confirm nor deny that, even if she did say as much with a suspicious grin when asked. Sora on the other hand, was a little more relieved to just relax in a regular classroom with his non-superhero friends, even if it did come with the stress that all teens suffer through when getting through classes in high school, plus he felt that it was only fair, since Yuffie had been forced to attend classes at Midtown while he was being held at the mansion in order for the team to better study and understand his power to reach other worlds. That did not stop some of his classmates from asking him about everything that had happened during the Gamma World incident though, and while Sora did not go into full detail, knowing that SHIELD probably wanted to keep a few things quiet, and that some of those things were better kept hidden for the sake of his civilian friends' ease of mind, he did eventually indulge them in an abbreviated account of those events. In point of fact, he had just been in the middle of telling Miles and Anya about the whole thing again at lunch, when Peter and Gwen came over to join them.

"Hey you guys," Miles greeted the two seniors with his usual smile. "Ready for the three-day weekend?"

"You have no idea," Gwen replied with a tired smile. "Be glad you guys aren't seniors yet, because sometimes, I'm not even sure how Pete and I manage any of it. Between studying for all these exams, our internships with Doctor Warren at ESU, and everything else that we deal with…" She then let out a tired sigh before admitting, "I'm kinda surprised neither of our GPAs have suffered any from all that we do, especially in Peter's case."

"Well, what can I say? Guess being the Spider-Man photographer for a little over a year does have the advantage of helping you learn how to multitask," Peter sheepishly shrugged. He then put on a much more appraising smile as he added, "Besides, I doubt anything would keep you from making valedictorian, Gwen. You're way too smart for that to happen."

When Gwen shyly grinned at Peter, though with a slight blush, Sora could not help but smile at the sight. It was hard to believe that a month ago or so, this was the same guy who was trying to shut himself off from having friends, and now, Peter was regularly spending lunch with him, Miles, Anya, and Gwen, when the blonde decided to join them. Even better, it looked like he and Gwen were becoming good friends again, despite whatever drama had unfolded between them last year. Sure, Peter never really went into full detail on what had happened between the two of them, but Sora figured that it did not matter so long as the two were getting along now. On the other hand, Gwen was now the one that left Sora a little mystified, because there were some days when she did not show up on time, and when she did, she tended to look a little…frazzled for lack of a better word. Not to mention, there were times when she looked really nervous for some weird reason, constantly glancing around when she thought no one was looking. At first, Sora figured that Gwen's state was because she was worried about what her boyfriend would think if he saw her hanging out with Peter and the rest of them, but Peter had told him that Harry had actually been forced to drop out of Midtown in order to receive "better education" to ensure he would be ready to take over his dad's company when he turned eighteen, so that could not be it. Of course, that did not rule out the idea that Harry might have something to do with Gwen's odd state, either.

He put that aside though, mentally filing it with the other things that he would be looking into later, when Anya suddenly said, "Oh, by the way guys, I'm sorry to say this, but my family's actually going to be taking me to visit some relatives over in Harlem for the weekend, so not only will I be unable to make it to the study session, but we can't have it at my place."

"Man, that sucks," Miles groaned. The five of them had been planning to use the extended weekend in order to better help one another in studying up on any subjects that they needed help with, more so in the cases of Sora and his fellow underclassmen, while Peter and Gwen just bounced their own notes back and forth to be ready for any future tests or exams that they may have had in their classes. Unfortunately, Doctor Warren had said he would be taking a business trip out of town for a while, so the lab was going to be closed off to everyone, which meant that they had to find a new place. Anya had happily volunteered her place earlier that week, but this news definitely killed that idea.

"Well, where else can we meet, because I'd rather not have this in a stuffy library or at the Silver Spoon," Peter questioned, hoping that the others had an idea.

"Why can't we just go to your house, Pete? I mean, it's been a while since I've last been over, and maybe even longer since I last saw your aunt. Plus, I'm sure she'd love to meet all the rest of these guys," Gwen offered up.

"Sorry, no go. Aunt May's actually going on a trip with Anna Watson this weekend, and she made it pretty clear that I was not allowed to have anyone over for anything," Peter revealed with a sigh, though Sora could have sworn that the older boy had tensed up a little at first when Gwen had first suggested the idea. He was about to ask about this when Peter gave his own idea. "Why not at your house, Gwen?"

"NO," Gwen immediately jumped back in fright, startling the others with her sudden outburst. Realizing this, she quickly tried to recompose herself, but ended up just stuttering when she did. "I-I mean, no, th-that's…that's probably not a g-good idea. 'Cause…Because, my dad is, uh…has been a little edgy since…you know, the Breakout, with the supervillains, and…yeah…"

Since Gwen's father was the NYPD police captain, the others could understand why he would be that way, but it still seemed like a feeble excuse with the way Gwen said it. They were about to call her out on that, when Anya noticed how the blonde was rubbing her left arm in an odd way, and had to ask, "Is there something wrong with your arm, Gwen?"

"What," Gwen asked before turning to see what she was doing. Apparently, she had not even realized it until Anya said something. "Oh, no, it's nothing…just, slept on it wrong last night."

"Then you won't mind letting me have a look," Anya questioned, and before the blonde could pull away from her grasp, Anya had already slipped up Gwen's sleeve to reveal a rather nasty looking bruise that had previously been hidden. "Gwen, what happened?"

"Nothing," Gwen insisted as she jerked her arm back and fixed her sleeve. "It was just…just an accident."

One look between each other was all that the three boys at the table needed to know that she was trying to hide something from them, but none of them were too willing to pry just yet. Anya looked like she was going to, but Miles quickly stopped her by silently grasping her shoulder and shaking his head. Seeing this, Anya let it go with a huff and returned to her seat, while Sora stood up and made his way over to Gwen. "Would you mind if I tried to do something to make it better," the Keyblade hero offered.

"Can you," Gwen questioned.

"I can at least try," Sora shrugged, summoning out his Keyblade as he did. After a minute or two, Gwen hesitantly nodded and offered her arm to Sora, at which point, Sora pointed his Keyblade at the bruise, took a deep, calming, breath, and whispered, "Heal."

What happened next had surprised everyone at the lunch table, as the Keyblade's tip seemed to glow with a faint, green light, while what looked like an image of falling flower petals dropped over both Gwen and Sora, and a minute later, Gwen's bruise had completely disappeared like it had never been there. The blonde flexed her arm for a minute, just to see if there was any lingering any pain, and let out a quiet gasp before saying, "Good as new. Thanks, Sora."

"Hey, no big deal. I'm just glad it worked," Sora smiled in return after he dismissed Kingdom Key and sat down again.

"I'd say it's a pretty big deal. I didn't know you had healing powers, Sora," Miles stated with an excited gleam in his eyes.

"Well, neither did I until just recently," Sora admitted, surprising the others a bit. Knowing that they were now silently asking for him to elaborate, Sora sighed and said, "You see, the other day, I was running a program in the training room with Yuffie, Black Panther, and Hawkeye when Clint landed on his foot wrong and twisted his ankle a little. We immediately stopped the program to make sure he was all right, but then, the next thing I know, I felt…well, I guess you could say it was some kind of instinct coming over me, and I was suddenly raising my Keyblade up, casting a new spell, and then, Clint's leg had been completely fixed."

While it was an impressive story to the others, what Sora did not mention was that the instinct that came over him had actually been another vision of Ventus, Aqua, and Terra, this time showing him various moments of the three casting that healing spell in order to patch up any battle injuries that they had. Most of the flashes had shown Aqua as the one to cast the spell, but Ven and Terra did seem to at least know the spell well enough to know how to use it themselves, so Sora took that to mean that it must have been a basic spell that every Keyblade wielder needed to know, but that was only a minor detail in Sora's mind. From where he was standing, it seemed to Sora that these visions of the three senior Keybearers were becoming more and more frequent every day, and he still had no clue as to why he was getting them. Yes, he had told Thor about that first one he had, but he had still not shared any information with anyone about the other visions he had been getting since then. Sure, that was mainly because a good number of them made it seem like he was watching things through Ventus's eyes, almost like he was the blonde wielder himself, but he was also a little worried about what the others would think even without that detail. Would they start thinking he was crazy, or that he had lied about not knowing the three after they asked him that first time when he had not, or would someone try to suggest that he try to force the visions to tell him what had happened to the three? Sora just was not sure, and he was a little scared to find out, so he continued to keep quiet for now.

He intended to continue doing just that now, because Sora decided it was time to get back to the matter at hand, both to get everyone's attention off of his newest magic power and whatever was going on with Gwen, and said, "Okay, so Peter and Gwen's places aren't an option, and no one wants to go to the library or anywhere public, right? What does that leave us?"

Gwen sent Sora a discreet smile of thanks, knowing that he was moving them away from any topics that she was uncomfortable sharing about at the moment, and Sora only replied with a silent nod that he was sure no one noticed over hearing Miles's input. "Well, we can forget about my place. My folks are always insisting that it's not even big enough for me to have so much as one friend over to hang out, let alone three. I mean, they're not entirely wrong, considering we're all constantly dancing around each other in the morning before we all head out for the day, but still…"

"Oh! That reminds me," Gwen suddenly said. "My dad was wondering if you could ask your dad to tell him about where he got that coffee from that one time they were on a patrol together."

"Sure thing," Miles nodded. This was one of the reasons why he liked hanging around Gwen aside from the fact that they were both nerds. The two of them were also both the kids of a cop, and he would always insist to Sora that they had a kind of comradery that no one else could get if they were not also a Cop-Kid. Sora just thought it was silly, but that may have had something to do with the fist-bump that the two shared when Gwen had jokingly agreed with him on that.

It was at that point that Anya finally thought of something that the others seemed to be ignoring. "Hey, how come you don't all just meet up at Sora's place," the Latin girl asked.

Everyone fell silent at that point, each of them wondering why Anya had asked that. She did have a point in saying that Sora's place was the only one they had not considered, but to some of them, the reasoning for that was pretty obvious. "Because I live at Avengers Mansion, remember," Sora asked.

"So," Anya asked, not seeing the problem.

"As in I sleep just down the hall from the Hulk," Sora added on. When he saw that did not give her any reason to let up on her disbelieving look, he also stated, "And besides that, it's also the headquarters of the world's biggest and most powerful team of superheroes, not just a fancy mansion where we have parties all day and night."

"Then it's a good thing that we're not asking you to throw a party. We just need some place to meet up so that we can have our study group," Miles pointed out, clearly siding with Anya on the matter now.

"They've got a point, Sora. You do seem like the only option we have at this point," Peter informed the kid.

"I just…I don't know," Sora muttered. "I'm not sure if Tony and the others would really be okay with this."

"With what," Yuffie asked as she popped in from out of nowhere, startling the others when she did. "Hah! That never gets old," the ninja chuckled at seeing everyone's reactions to her surprise appearance.

"You know, you could just walk up and say hello like any other person," Anya told her the junior with a hint of a growl. She really was not a fan of Yuffie's antics.

"Why? That's no fun," Yuffie scoffed like it was the silliest thing she had ever heard. "Anyways, what're you guys talking about?"

"We're trying to settle on a location for our study group this weekend, and Sora was just saying that he wasn't sure if you and the other Avengers would have a problem or not with us being at the mansion," Gwen stated.

"Why would you want to have it there," Yuffie asked in total bewilderment. "I mean sure, it's a mansion and you'd have the chance to meet the other members in person, but living with them isn't as glamorous as you think, and there is a chance that the place could be attacked while you're there."

"So? Even if the place is attacked, you guys will be there, along with all the rest of the Avengers to keep us safe," Miles pointed out.

"Well…not all of the Avengers. Hank's still in Wakanda doing some research with Princess Shuri, and I think Wasp said something about getting ready for a fashion show she's doing this weekend," Sora revealed. "I'm not really sure what Tony, Hulk, and Thor are doing though."

"I think Blondie said he was going on a date with that Jane Foster woman he's always hanging out with," Yuffie revealed.

"Either way, it's not like the whole building will be blown into space or something," Gwen interrupted. "Besides, we don't really have any other options since we don't want to go anywhere public."

Yuffie hummed in consideration at that, before smiling and said, "In that case, I don't see why you guys can't come."

"What? Yuffie," Sora snapped, not entirely able to believe she just said that without even checking with the others if it was okay or not. "Don't you think we should at least tell Tony or Steve about this first?"

"Sure," Yuffie nodded. "But you know they're likely going to say yes anyways, so why bother with the hassle?"

Sora was about to point out any number of the reasons why they needed to bother with the "hassle," as she put it, but before he could the rest of his friends let out soft cheers and sighs of relief, happy that they were not going to have to cancel their session after all. "Thanks you guys," Miles said. "Now this definitely shows you're real heroes."

"Yeah…Happy to help," Sora weakly chuckled in response, even though on the inside he was feeling more than a little nervous. 'I have a really bad feeling about this.'

---

"I thought this was supposed to be a headquarters for our team, slash home for Cap, me, Hulk, and the three crazy people, not a daycare center," Hawkeye could be heard grumbling early the next morning as he, Steve, and T'Challa all watched as Sora raced around the mansion in an attempt to make sure everything would be okay for when his friends arrived.

"Hey, it's not like I told Yuffie to go ahead and set this up without talking to you guys first," Sora protested. "Besides, we didn't have anywhere better to go for this because everyone else had some kind of hang-up or reason to say no."

"And you don't? Again, superhero headquarters, not a playground."

"Look, it's not like this is going to be a regular thing, or we're planning to have a huge party while inviting everyone from the school. It's just a study group, and frankly, I could use all the help I can get on some of this stuff. Our resident geniuses aren't exactly all that readily available all the time you know, and some of them aren't really the best at explaining some of these subjects to me," Sora tried to reason. He then quickly turned to the resident Wakandan and added, "No offense, T'Challa."

"None taken," T'Challa replied.

"Just try and be nice, and don't freak them out too much, for me please," Sora pleaded. He knew that he did not need to ask that of Steve and T'Challa, but in Clint's case, he felt that it was necessary. He had already convinced Hulk to try and not do or say anything to scare his friends, so getting Clint to at least attempt to be nice to his friends was more tiring than it was challenging.

Clint was silent for a moment before he finally sighed and said, "Fine. I'll try and be a good babysitter."

"Thank you," Sora nodded as he finally set one last thing into place, right when JARVIS announced that Peter, Miles, and Gwen were at the door. "Okay, now all that's left to do is cross our fingers and hope that my Keyblade doesn't suddenly decide to zap me to another world while this is happening, or worse, that it does do that and ends up dragging my friends along for the ride."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say," Clint muttered with a roll of his eyes. Sora did not seem to hear him, but then again, it was not like he was unaware of Hawkeye's greatest hang-up about the wielder of the Keyblade. Everyone knew.

"You still don't believe him about being from another world," Steve questioned, though it was really more of a statement.

"Hey, Thor I can believe, but the kid? Not to mention all of that other crap about how Disney characters actually exist on another planet? No way," Hawkeye insisted. "He not only looks it, but he acts way too human to be from another world, even without his ridiculous choice of footwear, weird hairstyle, and freaky powers and weapon. Despite what Star Trek and other pieces of science fiction would lead you to believe, there's no way there are aliens out there that could look that much like us. Plus, Mickey Mouse giving us that warning about the Heartless? Come on."

"You do know that Nick Fury himself was the one who confirmed that," T'Challa asked.

"Yeah, and I also know that I wouldn't be the first to think that he's getting more than a little crazy after sitting up in the big job as director of SHIELD after all these years," Clint countered.

It had been like this ever since Sora and Yuffie had revealed their other worldly origins to Hawkeye, along with Sora's mission as a wielder of the Keyblade. Now when it came to anything relating to the Heartless, Hawkeye had no problems with believing it, having seen the creatures firsthand at the Vault during the Breakout, but the idea that there was a chance that places and characters from a major media franchise actually existed, or even that other worlds like the ones Sora and Yuffie described to them did, were all things that he refused to actually buy at face-value. This is the one thing that made living with Hawkeye hard for Sora, because no matter what he said, or how many times he insisted that it was true, Hawkeye just refused to believe it. Sure, he believed that Sora was an island boy, but that was it. In Clint's mind, there was just no possible way an entire world could be made up of a small set of islands. It was pretty obvious that it was going to take a lot to convince him otherwise, and for Sora's sake, the others hoped that the needed proof would come soon, because the kid could barely take so much of that skepticism on the matter from the archer as it was.

That was all an aside for now, as Sora had just come back into the room, with Peter, Miles, and Gwen in tow, though the three Avengers were a little curious as to why the blonde was wearing a scarf right now. Apparently, Miles, Peter, and Sora were just as confused, considering the suspicious looks they were throwing towards that particular piece of Gwen's attire, but the other odd thing was that Miles was carrying a small box in his hands as well. Before anyone could question either kid, Hulk came stomping into the room, gaining everyone's attention when he did. All was silent for a minute, until Hulk sniffed the air, and marched over to Miles, who could not help but shrink a little under the intimidating gamma giant before him.

"What's in the box," Hulk questioned the kid.

At this point, Miles's worried features melted into sheepish ones as he admitted, "Well…it's kind of embarrassing, really." He then opened the lid to reveal the contents, which made Hulk's face light up a little when he got a look. "When I told my folks I'd be coming over here to study, my mom kinda, sort of…made cookies for me to give you guys. She said that it was a little something to say thanks for saving the city, and you know, all that other stuff. Silly, right?"

Hulk had stopped listening after he heard Miles say that the cookies were for the team, and instead just dug right in, making Miles glad that his mom made so many. He had to question if it would be enough though when Hulk suddenly stopped and said, "Keep 'em coming."

Miles just nodded in reply, but the next cookie Hulk grabbed was soon snagged by one of Hawkeye's grapple arrows, and pulled over to the archer in question. "Ah, ah, Jade Jaws. How about letting the rest of us at least get one before you devour all of them," the archer quipped.

Hulk just growled in response, not liking the fact that someone had swiped his food, but he knew that the archer had a point. He was not going to give Clint the satisfaction of knowing that though, and just crossed his arms as he waited for Miles to give one to Cap and T'Challa as well. He tried to offer one to Sora, but the kid insisted that he was good for the moment. Still, Miles did brighten up a little when Sora told him that he had just earned himself a spot as one of Hulk's favorite people just from doing this, and he had no problem letting Hulk take the rest of the box from him afterwards. The big guy did promise to try and save one for the rest of the team whenever they got in, but some of them had to wonder if he would be able or willing to keep that promise.

While the Avengers were enjoying their snacks, Peter noticed a distinct lack of energetic ninjas, and had to ask, "So where's Yuffie? Or Mister Stark, if you don't mind my asking? I know that she and Sora told us that Ant-Man, Wasp, and Thor were all busy today, but what about the rest of your teammates?"

"Tony's in the middle of a business meeting. Apparently, Miss Potts finally managed to find a moment where she could get him into the office for more than a few minutes to do some actual work," Steve revealed. "And as for Yuffie, she actually got roped into helping Janet with her fashion show."

"How'd that happen," Gwen asked, truly intrigued as Yuffie did not seem the type to be into things like fashion.

"Let's just say that one of Yuffie's pranks went wrong, and Janet really knows how to hold a grudge," Sora replied, not wanting to go into further details on the off-chance that he ended up laughing at the memory and Janet somehow found out. The others were having a hard time suppressing their own laughter as well, but the task was soon much easier to pull off when Sora's gauntlet started beeping really rapidly and loudly. A minute later, the Kingdom Key flashed into the boy's hand, and the resident heroes all knew what that likely meant. "Oh no, not now," Sora groaned, even as the Keyblade's tip began to glow.

"What? What's wrong," Peter asked.

"We don't have time to explain," Steve stated, suddenly glad that he had been polishing his shield at the time so he had it with him. "Hawkeye, get the kids out of here."

"Why? Because Spiky's wacky sword is going a little crazy," Clint asked. Clearly, his skepticism was now leading him to make poor decisions, or it just did not help him register the distressed state of his teammates.

"Just go, Barton," Steve almost shouted, but the sudden increase in the intensity of the light coming off the Keyblade made one thing clear even before Sora opened his mouth.

"It's too late," Sora cried out. "Brace yourselves! We're going for a ride!"

That was everyone's cue to start screaming as the light finally blinded them all, and in a flash, the four Avengers and their three visiting guests all vanished from the room. Hulk then came rushing into the room, having heard the screaming, but when he arrived and saw no one there, he only paused for a moment until he realized what must have happened. Reaching that conclusion, Hulk could only think of one thing to say right at that moment. "Uh-oh."

---

Despite going through this twice now, Sora still was not too fond of the fact that he apparently needed to worry about being blinded whenever the Keyblade teleported him to another world. When he opened his eyes again, he barely even paid the slightest bit of attention to the mountain trail that he had landed upon, or the sounds of the softly crashing waves against a nearby beach, because his heart had quickly sank when he saw who had been dragged along with him. Yes, he had three of his fellow Avengers here, and that was a good thing, but when he saw Peter, Gwen, and Miles had been brought along too, Sora could not help but mentally curse the Kingdom Key for not trying to be a little patient before it zapped them away. More than that, he knew that the three were likely going to be all out of sorts, and there were now a few questions that he had no choice but to answer truthfully.

"What…what just happened," Gwen stuttered as she rubbed the spots out of her eyes.

"Better question…Where are we," Miles asked.

Clint glanced at their surroundings for only a minute before looking to the resident Keybearer and saying, "Okay, Sora, I get that your powers aren't the easiest thing to control at times, but this is a little ridiculous, so how about you just teleport us back to the mansion, now, okay?"

"Uh…I can't," Sora stated.

"What? Not enough juice or something? Fine, I'll just call Stark," Clint shrugged while pulling out his ID card. Either he was not really getting what was happening, or he was just in denial of the obvious truth, but the rest of Hawkeye's teammates knew that this was going to be just the proof that Hawkeye needed when it came to that one aspect of Sora's story that he had refused to believe up until now. It did not keep him from being persistent in trying to call the other Avengers though, as he tried again and again to call up the mansion, only to get the same results. "What's with this thing? Is it already busted? I thought Stark said that these things were tied into his satellite network, and can do the same for a number of others as well if needed."

"It's not going to work, Clint, because we're not anywhere near a place that is within range of those networks," Sora informed him.

"And why not," Peter asked as he tried his phone, only to see that he had no signal on that either. Looking to Gwen and Miles, Peter saw that they were doing the same as him, and had just as much success, but they all stopped short of trying to get a signal when they heard Sora's answer.

"Because it doesn't extend to other worlds. I should know since that was one of the first things that Yuffie and I tried the first time my Keyblade zapped me to another world," Sora revealed with a sigh. "Just be glad that we'll still be able to use the ID cards to stay in touch with each other. It may be a shorter range of communication, but it's still better than nothing."

Clint still was not ready to buy it, because he had immediately scoffed, "Yeah right. For the last time, I'm not buying that 'other worlds' crap you keep going on about, so get serious already will you?" When he turned to Cap and T'Challa for backup in his words, he saw that they were both shooting him even expressions that made it clear that they knew Sora was not joking, and that was when it finally sank in. "Oh…You are serious. You mean to tell me that…that this whole thing about other worlds, Keyholes, and all that other crap really is…"

"YES," all three of the other Avengers shouted. Sure, it may have been a little out of character for Steve and T'Challa, but even they were getting a little fed up with Hawkeye's skepticism on that particular matter.

"Whoa, whoa! Hold on a minute! Rewind," Miles interrupted before the Avengers could keep going. "What're you guys talking about? Other worlds? Keyhole? What's…I don't really…"

"Someone explain. Now," Gwen demanded as she gave each of the Avengers a hard, even stare with one eyebrow raised as if demanding that anyone say no to her.

When he saw that, Peter flinched back a little, raising Miles's curiosity when he did. "What?"

"She's giving them the look. You do not want Gwen to give you the look in general, and now, she's giving it to the Avengers," Peter whispered to his younger friend. In his head though, Peter could not help but think, 'That's actually…kinda hot. Whoa, whoa, whoa, easy there, Parker. Don't forget about what's going on around you, or why you and Gwen can't happen right now, if ever. Still…'

Whether they heard Peter or not, the four Avengers still seemed to flinch back a little from the way that Gwen was looking at them, but it did not stop Sora from stepping forward. They were his friends, and they were only in this because of him and his inability to stop the Keyblade from teleporting them to another world, so he felt that he had to be the one to explain what had just happened, along with everything else. "All right, you guys might want to sit down for this, because it's a really long story, and it may be a little hard to process," Sora cautioned.

"Hey, I take Spider-Man's pictures for a living. I think I can handle it," Peter pointed out. He still found a rock to sit down on though, just to be on the safe side, with Gwen and Miles following his lead soon after.

Sora just nodded in reply before he took a deep breath and told them the whole, honest story. Everything from how he had first gotten the Keyblade, to the true reason why he was in New York and had become part of the Avengers, about the Heartless, his previous journeys to other worlds, and all of the other details that he had left out when he had told them his back story at a point that seemed like a very long time ago, now. When he was finally finished, all three Midtown High students had to admit that he was right when he had told them to sit down, because they were all feeling a little dizzy after hearing about all this new information. In fact, they were so stunned, that none of them had spoken a word after Sora had finally finished, and that was probably a little more worrying for him than anything else.

Eventually, Miles was the one who broke the silence, but he could not say anymore than, "Wow…You weren't kidding. That was a long, unbelievable story."

"Yeah. I take back what I said before. I'm definitely glad that I sat down for that," Peter breathed out, apparently not realizing that he had forgotten to breathe for a moment.

"So you're…what, you're like an alien or something," Gwen finally asked Sora.

"No, I'm human. I'm just…not from Earth, or Midgard…Marvel-topia…well, whatever name you want to use," Sora reassured her. "Who was the genius that decided a world should have more than one name like that, anyway?"

"Still, I can't imagine what it must be like. Suddenly having your whole life turned upside down like that and then getting such a huge responsibility dropped on you…How are you not crazy," Miles asked.

Hearing that comment made Peter glance off to the side in deep thought for a minute, but as to what he was thinking, none of the others could say. At least for the most part, but Sora got the feeling that somehow, Peter did have something of an idea about what that was like. He was not going to pry though, because whatever the reason, it was not any of Sora's business. Peter would tell them when he was ready, or if it became necessary to tell them. Shaking that off, Sora just shrugged and said, "I'm actually not so sure I haven't, considering some of the stuff I've been doing recently."

His little joke did seem to do the trick in lightening the mood a little, given the smiles that his school friends gave him, but it did not distract anyone from the big problem that they were facing right now. "Hey, so, how do we get back," Hawkeye asked. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm pretty sure that a few parents won't really be too fond of their kids being on another world full of who-knows what kind of danger."

"Like I said, the only way we can get back is to find and close the Keyhole of this world, or stop whatever it is that made the Keyblade decide that I had to be here," Sora repeated, having gone over that detail when he had recounted the events that had taken place while he and Yuffie were on Atlantis.

"Why not just call your two friends that are looking for their king and ask if they can get us home," Gwen asked.

"We have no idea where they are right now, or if the Keyblade won't just zap me back here after they pick us up, and this time with them along for the ride and leaving them without any way to leave and keep looking for King Mickey," Sora pointed out.

"Still not sure if I can really believe that Mickey Mouse is actually real," Clint muttered under his breath, and no one could blame him for saying that. After all, that was one of the details of Sora's story that was going to need the most solid, hard proof in order for anyone to believe it.

"But Gwen does have a point. You should at least try to call them and see if they're nearby and able to help out any," Peter countered.

"He's right. It would be best to take all of our options into consideration before we make any hasty moves," Steve agreed.

Sora nodded in reply and reached to pull out the Kingdom Caller from his pocket when they all heard someone screaming in fear. Acting on instinct, the four Avengers immediately turned to where the mystery person's cries had come from and raced off to see what the problem was. Not wanting to get left behind on a strange world they knew nothing about, Gwen, Miles, and Peter all chased after the heroes as well, but the last of the three slowed his pace a little to grab something from his bag and then slap it onto his wrist, out of everyone else's sight with a hesitant, yet resigned look on his face. Clearly, Peter was hoping he would not end up needing to use the devices, but he had a feeling that the old Parker Luck was not going to grant that wish.

After a few more minutes of running, the group quickly spotted a man in long ornate robes with long, light blue hair that ran down his back and was styled in a way that made it look similar to two long horns, as well as two other men carrying swords, which were being brandished towards none other than the familiar, shadowy, beady eyed creatures that were the Heartless. Seeing this, Sora immediately activated both his gauntlets and helmet, summoned the Keyblade, and charged forward, slashing at the closest Shadow the minute he was in range. The other Avengers had soon followed after their young teammate after making sure that the civilian kids had taken cover somewhere safe, or at least as close to safe as they could find in the area, and they immediately went to work in destroying Heartless left and right. Whenever one tried to jump his teammates or the people the dark creatures were originally attacking, Captain America was quick to intervene with his shield ready to both block and counterattack, and to make sure that they kept a good distance, Hawkeye easily let loose a barrage of quickly drawn arrows, be they regular or trick variety. T'Challa and Sora were the ones who got up close and personal in the fight more than anyone else, but mostly because they were the only ones among the heroes who did not possess an easy means of providing extra cover or protection. Sure, T'Challa could probably blast a few with his vibranium daggers, but he was not one to go right to using such tactics when better opportunities were available to him.

Meanwhile, the three people that the Avengers had just rushed in to rescue could only look on at the heroes in surprised awe, indicating that they had never seen anyone like them before or they were just surprised by the team's sudden appearance. Not that they really had the time to question them on which of the two it was, because the Heartless were not going to let up in their attacks just so they could have a Q-and-A session. Thankfully, with the Avengers' help, the Heartless were quickly destroyed, and they were all able to breathe a little easier, giving the previously endangered citizens a chance to finally speak up to the heroes from another world. Even if all the talking was left to just one of them.

"You have my thanks, strangers," the blue haired man nodded, his voice giving the Avengers uncomfortable chills for some reason, and from the way he was looking at some of them, they could not help but think that he was trying to hide some form of annoyance beneath that far-too-pleasant smile of his. "I have no idea where those fiends could have come from, but it is a lucky thing that such skilled warriors such as yourselves happened along when you did. You've done a great service to both Spira and the Guado today."

"Hey, don't worry about it. We're just glad we could help," Sora casually waved him off with his usual smile. "Still, you should probably be a little more careful if you run into anymore Heartless. Those guys are nothing but bad news."

"I will take that advice into consideration, my young friend," the man nodded in reply. His escorts on the other hand seemed a little put-off by what Sora had said. Then again, maybe it was the way that he had spoken that had surprised them.

"You should be showing a little more respect to Maester Seymour, young man," one of the two obvious bodyguards said, and looking at said bodyguard, everyone could tell that he was not human with his oversized hands, and wooden, elvish appearance. "He is a great figure of hope for both humans and guado alike."

"Now, now, that's enough of that," Seymour waved off his guard. "If anything, I find this young man's laid back attitude rather comforting. It's not every day I meet someone who greets me as though I were any other individual after all."

The Avengers all shared a look as Seymour continued to speak with his guards, having clearly picked up on the clues that they had just learned. Whoever this man was, he was clearly someone of great importance, and apparently, everyone should know that, meaning Sora had probably just gotten them into trouble by talking to the man so casually. Even the young Keybearer seemed to recognize this, as he quickly said, "Oh, I'm sorry. My friends and I are all new around here, and we don't really know too much about local customs or leaders."

"Oh? I thought everyone on Spira was aware of our customs and leadership," Seymour hummed in thought. Hawkeye had soon narrowed his eyes a little at the man when he said that. There was something about the way he had said that last statement that made Clint uneasy, and if he were to look over to Peter, he would have seen that the young man was just as tense and fixing a hard look on Seymour as well. The maester did not seem to notice though, as he merely crossed his arms in thought. "Still, I can't help but wonder…if those Heartless, as you called them, were able to come this close to one of the temples of Yevon, could they have also gone into the temple as well?"

Hearing that sent up warning bells for the Avengers at once, and especially for Sora. He remembered that Thor had once told him that the Heartless find their targets through the amount of darkness one holds in their heart, and darkness was in every heart. Not only that, but according to the Asgardian, and the information that Fury had received from Ansem and King Mickey, the Heartless were also drawn to places where there were a lot of people, so if there was a temple nearby that a lot of people visited, then the dwellers of darkness were likely going to go there for their next targets. One look amongst each other and the Avengers all knew that they were thinking the same thing, so they immediately nodded to one another before Captain America looked to Seymour and told them what they planned to do.

"If you don't mind, sir, we'll head over to this temple and investigate on whether or not the Heartless are there," the super soldier stated.

"That would be very kind of you, sir, but I wouldn't want to trouble you," Seymour tried to say, despite the fact that his creepy smile had not dropped in the slightest, almost as if he knew that the heroes were going to do that.

Even so, that did not change the facts, as T'Challa soon stated, "It would be no trouble at all, I assure you. Protecting the innocent is a duty that we would uphold without a second thought, and the Heartless are not something that are easily dealt with if you do not possess the necessary means of doing so."

"Very well then. If you insist," Seymour nodded in defeat before waving his arm towards the fork in the road and the path that led to the right. "You'll find the Djose Temple down that road there."

"Thank you, sir," Sora nodded in reply and with that, the Avengers took off down the indicated path.

"Hey! Wait for us! You do remember that we don't have crazy powers or training like you guys, don't you," Miles called out as he, Gwen, and Peter chased after the Avengers once again, none of them ever noticing how Seymour was grinning devilishly at their backs the whole way.

---

The team did not get very far down the path before they had encountered the Heartless again, because just minutes after parting from Seymour, a number of Soldiers, Large Bodies, and Shadows had materialized before them, along with a few smaller ones that had fire, ice, or lightning powers. That did not stop the Avengers though, as they merely pushed their way forward, eliminating the dark creatures as they ran, while doing their best to keep the three civilians safe. Not that it really seemed like they needed to, because for the most part, Peter managed to get away unscathed when most of the attacks came his way. He had brushed it off as just being lucky, but Cap and Hawkeye were not convinced. The way the kid had been moving told them that he had experience in dodging attacks at a moment's notice, and a lot of times, he should not have even seen some of those attacks coming. It was almost like he had eyes in the back of his head, but they did not stop to question him on it. They were still in the middle of fighting dangerous monsters after all.

Eventually, they did come to the temple that Seymour had mentioned, and while they were impressed by the massive structure that seemed to surge with electricity while massive boulders orbited around a central pillar, it was a small distraction from the cries of terror as people ran scared from the attacking Heartless. A quick toss of Cap's shield, followed by an explosive arrow from Hawkeye and a pair of Black Panther's vibranium daggers soon announced the team's arrival, and they all immediately set to work in destroying the Heartless. This time, Gwen, Peter, and Miles did not just sit back and watch, but instead, they did what they could to help people get to safety while doing their best to steer clear of the fights that were happening between the Avengers and their dark opponents. That did help Sora to breathe a little better, knowing that his friends were being careful and able to stay calm enough to help them out, but he was still worried about what the Heartless were doing here all the same. His worries grew a little more when he overheard Gwen talking to someone who had been injured and was unable to get away on his own.

"What sort of fiends are these creatures? Not only are they able to approach a Temple of Yevon, but some of them actually entered the temple itself, and even went so far as to get into the Cloister of Trials," the man had despaired, truly shocked and frightened by this fact for some reason that Sora could not think of.

Gwen was curious as well, but there was a more pressing matter to worry about. "Was anyone in there when the Heartless got in," the blonde asked.

"Yes. A summoner and her guardians had gone inside so that she could pray to the fayth as part of her pilgrimage," the man stated.

Hearing that, Sora immediately took action, and raced towards the temple. "I'll go take care of the Heartless inside," he shouted as he ran. "Think you guys can handle these guys?"

"Yeah, no worries. We've got this covered, kid," Hawkeye boasted with a sly smirk, even as he shot an arrow at a pouncing Soldier without even looking at it.

At another time, Sora probably would have accused the archer of showing off, but instead, he just nodded and turned to go in. Just as he was approaching the entrance though, he heard the man Gwen had been talking to yelling after him. "Wait! You can't go in there! It's forbidden for anyone other than a summoner and their guardians to enter the Cloister of Trials!"

"I don't think that's going to matter if the summoner and her guardians are attacked by the Heartless. If I don't go, they'll most likely end up losing their hearts," Sora shouted back without thinking, and as such, he missed the startled and shocked gasps from the local citizens as he disappeared into the temple.

"That's gonna come back to bite him and us later on, isn't it," Hawkeye asked.

"Stay focused, soldier. We can worry about any consequences that our actions may or may not have later. Right now, our job is to deal with the Heartless out here," Captain America informed Clint as he swung his shield through any Heartless that got too close to him. Unfortunately, since he had been distracted by talking with Hawkeye, the captain never noticed that a small group of Shadows were creeping up behind him, ready to pounce the minute they rose up from the ground. Someone else did though, and when he reacted, the Earthlings were all left very surprised by what they saw him do.

"Cap, watch out," Peter shouted, and before he could even think about what he was doing, he ran straight towards the super soldier, and jumped at least five feet in the air, spinning around as he did. While airborne, Peter immediately aimed for the Heartless with his wrist devices, and snagged them all in a pair of webs. By the time Peter had landed and pulled the Heartless into one another, destroying all of Captain America's would-be attackers when they collided, everyone from Midgard had begun looking at him with eyes that were as wide as dinner plates, making him audibly and loudly groan when he realized what he had just done. "Well, the secret identity was fun while it lasted," Peter muttered to himself, not noticing that a Red Nocturne Heartless had snuck past his notice and threw a fireball at him until it was too late.

"PETER," Gwen and Miles both shouted in horror, while Hawkeye fired off a retaliatory arrow at the Heartless that had just attacked the kid. When Peter stood up again, everyone was both relieved and surprised. Part of the latter was because Peter did not seem to be all that much worse for wear, but the main reason was because of the familiar red, blue, and web-themed suit that was now revealed from beneath the burnt remains of his clothes.

"Well, this is…unexpected," T'Challa commented, even as he slammed his fist into another Soldier. Neither one of his fellow Avengers could think of anything to add to that, as they were both too stunned to speak, and from the looks of things, Peter's friends were not any better.

"No. Way," Miles gasped in awe.

"Peter…You…You're actually," Gwen stuttered, barely able to get a sentence together.

Peter merely glanced down at what was left of his casual attire, before he simply sighed again and ripped his ruined clothes away, after retrieving his gloves and mask from his back pocket. "Look, I know you guys probably have a million different questions, but like Cap said, we've got more important things to worry about right now," Peter stated as he pulled on his gloves, flexing his hands a little to make sure that they were comfortably in place. He then looked to his best friend since childhood and his underclassman friend before saying, "But I'll go ahead and get the big question answered now…" He then pulled on his mask, completing his transformation from civilian to the infamous superhero of New York and adding a dramatic flair to his next statement as he did. "I am the spectacular Spider-Man. Now, who's ready to start round two?"

The Avengers were still surprised by the revelation that Spider-Man was actually a high school teenager, and had been right next to them the whole time without them ever knowing it, but when they heard him mention a round two, they quickly put their focus back on the fight at hand. Gwen and Miles, on the other hand, took a little longer to get over their shock before they got back to work, but as she glanced back at Spidey, Gwen mentally swore to Peter that they would be talking about this the minute, no, the very second that the chance came to them, and judging by the slightly annoyed scowl on her otherwise beautiful face, Miles had a hunch Peter's explanation was going to have to be really good if he wanted to avoid the blonde's wrath.

---

Deep within the Cloister of Trials, right outside the chamber of the fayth, the guardians that the man had spoken of were fighting for their lives against the Heartless, and while their efforts were valiant, nothing they did seemed to have much of, if any effect against their dark opponents. To be quite honest, the most any of them had managed was a small bit of damage thanks to the magic spells that one of them had thrown out, but sadly, she was also the only one who was a regular practitioner of magic, and she could not be expected to keep throwing out new spells to destroy the invading Heartless forever, which left the guardians right back at their original problem. Of course, no one was more frustrated than one of their newest members, as they could tell by how he huffed angrily when his blitzball just seemed to pass right through the Shadow he tossed it at.

"Are you kidding me," Wakka growled as he caught his trusty ball before tucking it under his arm again. "This is just like that night on the islands, except without the weird storm."

"No kidding, only this time, we're not going to get blasted off to another place like before," his best friend, Tidus promised before rushing forward and trying to cut down a Soldier with his new, shimmering blue hook-sword. His attack failed to do anything though, and he was soon forced to raise his small shield up in an effort to block the retaliatory slash that the Heartless threw at him. The Soldier was soon blown off when the oldest member of the group of guardians jumped in and blasted the Heartless aside with his sword, and Tidus quickly nodded in thanks, even though the guy just smirked at him as if he was amused.

"Bold words, but it's a shame you can't seem to do anymore in acting on them than the rest of us," the old man said.

"Doesn't mean I'm not gonna try you know," Tidus retorted.

That earned him a brief laugh from the man before he commented, "You really are Jecht's son."

"Urgh, really? You're bringing up my old man now, of all times," Tidus groaned.

"Perhaps you should both focus on the task at hand," the rather strict woman in black that served as their team's black mage scolded both men.

"You heard the lady. Worry about the fiends for now," the blonde girl piped in before she tossed a grenade at a group of Heartless. Not that it really did too much, but she felt like she should get some props for trying at least.

All manner of self-praise was quickly banished from the blonde's mind, when their large, lion-like friend had to step in and bat away another Heartless with his spear, growling lowly at the offending creature before he attempted to destroy it once more. Not that he was having much better luck than the others, but you could not help but admire his determination to try and get a job done. Tidus was about to rush over and assist the animalistic brute when another pair of Shadows jumped at him, and made him pause so that he could raise his shield again. When nothing collided with the shield, Tidus turned to see that the Heartless were gone, and then looked around to see a black blur racing across the room while something seemed to slice through the Heartless as the blur passed them. When the person in question came to a stop at last, everyone in the room was stunned to see a man in a blue helmet with matching gauntlets, and a strange outfit that did not fit anyone they knew on Spira, crouched down with his arm held outwards like he had just sliced through an opponent with his strange-looking weapon.

No one got a good look at his odd sword for long though, as Tidus's rescuer was soon dropping into his own battle stance before he charged the Heartless again, while shouting, "Stay back! I'll handle the Heartless. You guys just make sure that you're all okay before trying to jump into the fight again."

No one argued with him, but Wakka and Tidus both could have sworn that this person's voice was really familiar. Still, they quickly set to work passing out Potions and Ethers to anyone that needed them, and once everyone was rejuvenated to a satisfactory point, the guardians all got back into the fight. Much to their surprise, all their attacks seemed to have become able to affect the Heartless now, and they could only think that the reason for that was the man who had just rushed into the room to aid them. Not that anyone was complaining, mind you, but it did add a few more questions to everyone's minds. It also did not stop some of them from glaring at the mystery man a little, but he did not seem to take any notice, considering how focused he was on taking down the Heartless.

When the last dark creature was destroyed, the man dismissed his weapon in a flash of light and turned to the group of guardians. "Everyone okay?"

"We're fine for the moment, but you shouldn't be here," the black mage stated, almost sounding like she was scolding their rescuer for something.

"Hey, lighten up, Lulu. The guy did just save our skins, so I doubt anyone's going to get into too much trouble, ya," Wakka attempted to reason, but all he got in return was a fierce look that made him flinch back a little. "Sheesh, okay, okay. Have it your way."

"Wait a minute," the mystery man suddenly gasped, making everyone turn to him as he studied two of their number in surprise. "Wakka? Tidus?"

"Uh…have we met," Tidus questioned, with Wakka silently repeating it with his confused expression.

"What do you mean 'have we met?'? Of course we have! Weren't you the one who once said there's no way someone would be unable to recognize…" The man started to say only to stop short when he realized why the two had not instantly figured out his identity. A minute later, the guardians were all watching as his helmet retracted from his head all on its own, letting a familiar mane of brown spikes pop out from beneath it, while the boy let out a cheesy grin that instantly drew gasps of surprise from Tidus and Wakka both. "Sorry about that. Guess I forgot I was still wearing that helmet for a minute there."

"SORA," Tidus and Wakka both cheered before rushing up and exchanging high-fives and bro-hugs with the Keyblade wielder.

"I can't believe it! I was beginning to think we'd never see another person from Destiny Islands again, man," Wakka happily admitted while ruffling the younger boy's spikes, despite Sora's humorous protests.

"No kidding. Where've you been all this time, bud," Tidus asked.

"It's a long story," was all Sora could say at the moment.

"Friend of yours," the swordsman that had mentioned Tidus's father asked.

"You better believe it. We've told you about him, remember? Sora may be a couple years younger than us, but he's still an awesome fighter," Tidus reminded the man.

"Come on. I'm only a year younger than you, and two years younger than Wakka," Sora reminded Tidus.

"Doesn't make the statement any less true, though," Wakka pointed out, to which Sora had to agree. At least until Wakka added, "Sora here's the second best fighter on all of Destiny Islands."

"Hey! Whaddya mean 'second best,'" Sora demanded.

"Riku," both boys replied in tones that stated it should have been obvious.

Sora just crossed his arms in a huff, and the whole exchange likely would have been amusing had it not been for the fact that at least two of Tidus and Wakka's new friends were still glaring at Sora. The Keybearer figured that they were mad at him for breaking the temple rules, and he was about to apologize for doing so while giving his reasons for doing so, when the door to the chamber of the fayth opened, making everyone turn just in time to see a young woman stepping out. From where Sora was standing, this girl was very beautiful, from her fair skin and shoulder-length brunette hair, to her rather exquisite attire that made Sora think she was someone from great nobility. Said attire consisted of a black camisole underneath a white sash that wrapped around her neck and over her chest, tucked into a yellow sash that was tied into a bow at her back and wrapped around her middle, while her arms were left bare save for the white sleeves that reached from the middle of her upper arms down to her wrists. Along with that, she also wore a flowing, purple pleated dress with flower patterns running along it, and a pair of black boots with small, almost unnoticeable heals. To complete her outfit, Sora saw that she also wore a blue-beaded earring on her right ear, though it was mostly hidden by a lock of her hair, with said earring being woven into blue beads with gold rings around a larger bead in the middle, along with a silver pendant hanging around her neck on a thin necklace. He was about to ask who she was when the large, feline-like man suddenly rushed over to catch her before she had fallen over.

"Are you all right," the woman Sora had heard Wakka call Lulu asked as she rushed to the girl's side.

"I'm fine," the girl replied in a soft voice. "I just…I just need a minute."

"Take your time, Lady Yuna. There's no rush," the swordsman stated.

Sora on the other hand, had a different idea, and quickly summoned out his Keyblade again as he offered, "Maybe I can do something to help out with that."

Lulu turned back to him, her angry look returning soon after, and looked ready to tell Sora off until she got a look at his weapon and gasped in shock. Hearing her gasp made the rest of the guardians take another look at Sora, and aside from Tidus and Wakka, they all soon let out their own shocked reactions of their own at the sight of his blade. "It…can't be…" Lulu whispered.

"You've gotta be kidding me," the blonde girl said.

"And so another one comes to Spira," the swordsman commented to himself. "This story gets more and more interesting by the day."

"Keyblade," the feline-like man quietly growled in a deep voice.

"Whoa. You got Kimahri to say at least one word after just being around for a few seconds," Wakka told Sora, apparently think that was something worthy of great praise.

"Well what do you expect? This is Sora, remember? He can make friends with just about anyone he meets," Tidus reminded his best friend.

Yuna seemed to ignore the bantering boys before she smiled and nodded to Sora, saying, "I would be very grateful if you would lend some of your services, Keyblade master."

Sora was a little surprised that all of these people knew about the Keyblade, but he quickly shook it off and focused on what he had originally planned to do. So, after holding the Keyblade close to Yuna, he took a deep breath, and cast the same spell he used just yesterday to heal Gwen's bruise, and like that, all of Yuna's exhaustion seemed to fade away into nothing once the green light of Sora's newest spell had washed over her. With her strength now returned, Yuna easily stood up on her own, and performed a slightly elaborate bow while saying, "Thank you very much, Keyblade master…um…"

"Sora," the Keybearer supplied for her.

"Oh," Yuna gasped while her eyes lit up a little in excitement. "Are you the same Sora that Tidus told me about when he talked about his friends on the Destiny Islands?"

"I…guess so," Sora shrugged. He then took notice of Yuna's exact words, and had to ask, "What about Wakka? Didn't he ever say anything about me?"

"Well, uh, yes, he did, but I just…I mean…" Yuna stuttered in response, barely able to finish a complete sentence as her face started turning a little red, much to her guardians' amusement.

"As entertaining as this is, perhaps we should go now. I don't think we would want Sora getting into trouble before his nature as a Keyblade wielder is revealed to the people outside the temple," the swordsman stated.

"But what about those weird fiends? What if there are more of them outside," the blonde girl asked.

"There aren't," Sora reassured them while activating his helmet again so he could access its scanners. "I took care of all the Heartless back there on my way in, and from what I can tell of these readouts, my friends have managed to take care of the Heartless that were still outside."

"Heartless," Yuna questioned, reminding everyone that she had missed all the action from before.

"We'll explain later," Lulu promised. She then gave Sora a pointed look as she finished, "All of us will."

Sora just nodded in reply, and then followed the group out of the chamber, towards the exit. He knew that Lulu was basically saying that he would be telling them his story the first chance they got when she threw him that look, and he was perfectly fine with doing so if it meant they would be ready for the dangers that came from dealing with the Heartless. Sure, he had just done so with Peter, Miles, and Gwen, but he did not mind repeating the story. He just had to hope he did not have to do so again for a little while longer, because going over all of those details was a little tiring.

---

Sora was relieved to see that the rest of his friends were okay and had managed to finish the remaining Heartless without any trouble, but he was also a little worried when he also found out that Tidus and Wakka's new friends were not wrong about him likely getting into trouble for his reckless stunt of running into the Cloister of Trials like he had. "You heathen," someone from the crowd angrily shouted, while the rest of them began jeering at him.

"Get away from the summoner," a woman demanded.

"You're a bad man," what sounded like a young child had added on, and that comment seemed to rile up the Avengers and Sora's other friends from Marvel-topia. In fact, it almost looked to Sora like Hawkeye was about ready to put an arrow in some of these people's eyes for their words, while Gwen and Miles looked ready to hold some of them still for the archer, when the swordsman from Tidus and Wakka's new circle of friends spoke up, his voice even, yet loud and booming all the while as he practically scolded them.

"You should all watch your mouths. This so-called 'heathen' is in fact a chosen wielder of the Keyblade, much like those who aided myself, Sir Jecht, and Lord Braska ten years ago," the swordsman declared, and like that, the shouting and jeers turned to stunned gasps and excited whispers.

When Sora did nothing to react, Lulu gave him a small nudge from behind and whispered, "Show them the Keyblade. It'll serve as all the proof anyone needs."

Sora decided to take the black mage's word for it, and held his hand out before him so that when Kingdom Key materialized, everyone was able to see it clear as day. The minute the legendary blade had appeared in his hand, more shocked gasps followed, but this time, the excited whispers had grown louder to the point where several people were practically cheering for the boy before them, and some of them even performed the same bow to him that Yuna had earlier.

"It's true! He does possess the Keyblade," declared a man that looked a lot like a priest to Sora and his friends.

"Praise be to Yevon! The chosen Keybearer of legend," several other people muttered amongst themselves.

Sora could not help but grin a little at this new development, but it was mostly to mask his discomfort at seeing so many people looking at him in the way these people were. If he did not know better, he would think that they were considering him to be some kind of holy savior or something, and the next person's question definitely did not help in abolishing that idea. "Do you intend to assist Lady Yuna in her pilgrimage like those three wielders from ten years ago did her father?"

"Um…I don't…" Sora started to say, until Wakka suddenly came up from behind him and grabbed him in a headlock. "AH! Hey! Wakka!"

"Of course he's gonna help out," Wakka replied on Sora's behalf. "This guy here would help anyone with just about anything at the drop of a hat if he could. I should know, since me and him were good buds even before he got that fancy sword of his."

"It's true and the same goes for me as well," Tidus informed everyone, and their news seemed to bring a great deal of joy to everyone. Although, Yuna appeared to be a little concerned for Sora, since she had not even thought of asking him about that yet, while Lulu and the swordsman just shot the two boys irritated looks for speaking on their friend's behalf like that. It was hard to really say what Kimahri was thinking, but the blonde girl was definitely entertained by the scene before her, if her giggling was any clue. However, it was the other Avengers' reactions that Sora was most concerned with.

"Excuse me," Hawkeye finally called out as he pushed through the crowd, with Cap and Panther right behind him, and the other three following soon after. "Yeah, not to interrupt the little party here, but we've kinda got some prior responsibilities to deal with. Namely finding the Keyhole and getting home."

"Hey, come on, Clint. These two guys are my friends from back home. Besides, they've been here a while, so maybe they might have a clue on where the Keyhole is, or maybe their new friends do," Sora reasoned after he got loose from Wakka's strong grasp. Say what you would about Wakka, but there was no denying that the guy was definitely packing a good deal of muscle thanks to his many years of playing Blitzball.

The guardians all looked at the archer and the rest of the rather colorful group that had just stepped forward before Lulu asked, "Do you know these people, Master Sora?"

Sora sighed in response, before saying, "First off, it's just Sora. You don't have to call me 'Master.' And second, yes, they're some new friends I made very recently." He then proceeded to introduce the Avengers to his old friends, saying, "Guys, this is Tidus and Wakka. They're friends of mine from Destiny Islands. Tidus, Wakka, meet Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye, T'Challa the Black Panther, Captain Steve Rogers, better known as Captain America, Gwen Stacy, Miles Morales, and…" Sora was about to say Peter's name when he noticed that in his place was actually the same crime fighter that he had met on his first day at Midtown. "Spider-Man! What're you doing here? And…how are you here? Wait, where's Peter?"

"Uh…well, you see, the thing about that is…" Spidey stuttered, apparently trying to come up with some kind of lame excuse, and that seemed to draw eye-rolls from the other Avengers, while Miles just chuckled and Gwen irritably huffed.

"Peter, just tell him. It's not like you can hide it now, despite the fact you already did for over a year," Gwen ordered, making Spider-Man sigh before he removed his mask to reveal his face to a very stunned Sora.

"What?! Peter, you're Spider-Man," Sora exclaimed in surprise.

"Yeah…Uh…Surprise," Peter sheepishly shrugged.

"I'm guessing this something you didn't already know," Tidus asked.

"Not until now," Sora admitted.

"Yeah, so much for being innocent while the web-head was still at large," Hawkeye remarked, quoting a Daily Bugle headline from several months back.

Sora did not really know what the archer was talking about, but he did not get a chance to ask when Tidus interrupted. "Well, I guess that means we should take our turn to make some introductions."

"Agreed, but maybe we should continue this conversation somewhere a little less public," Captain America suggested.

"That's fine. We can talk on the road, since we need to get moving right away," the swordsman agreed.

"Really? You guys are leaving now," Sora questioned.

"It's essential if Lady Yuna wishes to complete her pilgrimage and defeat Sin," the swordsman explained, but that only served to confuse the Midgardians even more.

"We'll explain that on the way too," Wakka promised.

Everyone could only nod in response before they all proceeded to march out of the temple, pausing only for Yuna and Sora both to bow in return to some of the people around them as they went, after Sora managed to get the prayer bow right of course. Either way, it looked like there was going to be one more story to tell once they were well on their way.

---

A short time later, the group had gone a fair ways down the dirt road and was now well away from both the temple and any prying eyes or ears. There were a few Heartless in their path along the way, including some monkey-like ones that Sora quickly identified as Powerwilds, but for the most part, the journey was somewhat uneventful. At least until they finally got enough peace to just talk about their respective groups, said group's mission, and the people in the groups. It did not take too long for Sora to explain his new mission as a Keyblade wielder to Tidus, Wakka, and the rest of their new friends, or the mission that he had taken on as a member of the Avengers, but that was mostly because he was trying to keep everything as brief as possible for the sake of his Midgardian friends. Thankfully, the abridged version seemed to be enough to satisfy the locals of this world they called Spira, and when Sora finished, they all took their time in introducing themselves.

To start things off, Tidus made it a point to properly introduce Yuna to Sora and the others, and while they were surprised to hear that she was probably one of the youngest summoners in ages, they were much more impressed by what being a summoner meant. Apparently, the summoners were people that underwent special training to gain the ability to call forth powerful creatures, known as aeons, and at the end of their training, assuming they were successful in becoming a summoner, they would take on a journey across the world of Spira in order to obtain many other aeons so that they could try to defeat a dangerous monster that threatened all of Spira for good. Those who at least managed to succeed in destroying this monstrosity, known as Sin for a short time, were given the title of High Summoner, and apparently, Yuna's father was the last person to become High Summoner. Knowing this quickly told Sora's group that Yuna was taking on a much greater burden than most other summoners, because she was also doing so while attempting to live up to her father's legacy. Still, it was impressive that she seemed to be able to carry all of that and still soldier on with a smile, so the Midgardians had to believe that she did know what she was doing.

The next person in the group was introduced by Wakka, and he made it a point to mention that this person was easy to anger. Lulu did not let him get away with doing that easily, but the Midgard group all felt that she had really just proved his point. Apparently, Lulu had known Yuna for years, right to the point where the two of them considered each other as sisters, and when Yuna decided to become a summoner, Lulu revealed that she had insisted that her surrogate sister take her on as one of her guardians. That had been Miles's cue to bring up the question of just what a guardian is at last, and Tidus did his best to explain it to them. From what Sora and his friends from Marvel-topia could gather, a guardian was basically like the summoner's bodyguard for the duration of their pilgrimage, and a summoner could ask any number of people to be their guardian, so long as they trusted that person with their life. Hearing that, Sora could not help but feel that Yuna made a smart choice in asking for Wakka and Tidus to be her guardians, because from his experience, those two were definitely someone you could count on in a situation that big. He could still remember how the two had helped him with a couple of bullies the first time they met many years ago.

The next person that the two had introduced was Kimahri, who they explained was a member of other feline-like creatures known as the Ronso tribe. The Ronso were supposedly some of the strongest creatures and warriors on Spira, but for the most part, they remained at their home on Mount Gagazet, safeguarding said mountain from anyone who would dare to threaten its sacred ground, and making sure that only summoners on pilgrimage could pass through to the ancient city that lay beyond the steep climb. Hearing about this ancient city, Zanarkand made Sora wonder if they would find the Keyhole there, but he decided that they should wait and see about that at a later date. That became a lot easier when he learned the name of the blonde girl in the Spiran group.

"You're gonna love hearing this," Wakka whispered to Sora, confusing him on what the ginger haired man meant until Tidus made the introduction.

"Anyways, this is Rikku, Yuna's cousin," Tidus introduced, leading the girl to give a mock bow in response with a smile on her face that reminded Sora and the others of Yuffie a little.

"Wait. Your name's Rikku," Sora gasped in shock. "My best friend's named Riku, too."

"Yeah, I heard," Rikku admitted, apparently having expected this to come up if she ever met any of Tidus and Wakka's other friends from home. "Tidus and Wakka were pretty surprised when they found out my name, and when I heard about your friend, I immediately thought that they were thinking of another girl, at least until they told me he was a guy. My name's pretty much spelled the same way as your friend's, but with an extra 'k.'"

Sora nodded in understanding, but he still had to admit, "Still, that's probably going to get a little confusing if you and Riku ever met up with each other. Especially if you're both in the same room or area a lot."

"Tell us about it," Tidus nodded in agreement. "Me and Wakka have already had a lot of trouble addressing her as Rikku without thinking of the Riku we know from the islands. That's why we mostly just call her Ri."

Sora nodded in reply to that, mentally deciding that he would be doing the same, especially if they ever found out that Riku was here on this world and met up with him, before all attention was finally brought to the swordsman that had stood up for him back at the temple. The swordsman's name was actually Auron, and it turned out that he was one of the guardians that served Yuna's father. It was actually rather admirable and very kind of Auron to become the guardian for his previous charge's daughter if you were to ask Sora, and when he heard that Auron was mainly doing so because he had promised Braska that he would look after Yuna, Sora felt his admiration grow for the swordsman a little more. What really shocked him though was that the man had apparently known Tidus's father, Jecht, and that his friend's dad had been Braska's other guardian.

"Guess that old theory of yours wasn't so crazy after all, huh Sora," Tidus casually remarked once he had finished the explanation behind Auron.

That made the Midgardians stop and stare for a minute, until Peter asked the question that they had all started wondering. "What're you talking about?"

Wakka and Tidus both looked to the members of Sora's group before the blonde of the two asked, "You didn't tell them about that?"

"I…wasn't really sure how to bring it up," Sora hesitantly admitted with a slightly shameful expression. That definitely caught his teammates' attention, because they never once thought that Sora could have been keeping anything secret from them. The guy wore his heart on his sleeve after all, and from what they knew, Sora had told everyone on the Avengers everything that there was to know about himself, or at least every important thing, so to hear that he may have left out a detail or two was certainly a surprise.

"How to bring what up," Steve asked.

"The first reason why he wanted to travel to other worlds in the first place," Wakka replied in the spiky haired teen's place.

"Oh, we know about that. It was because he and his buddy wanted to get out and have a few real adventures," Hawkeye dismissed, feeling a little disappointed after getting his hopes up on hearing some kind of new details that he could have used to embarrass Sora later on. When he noticed that Sora was not saying anything to confirm that, he started to think otherwise, and immediately started catching onto what was being implied here. "You mean that…there was something else besides that?"

"Yeah," Sora replied. He then took a deep breath and finally admitted the truth about his real first reason for wanting to explore other worlds to his friends and teammates. "I wanted…to try and find my father."

"Your father," Steve repeated in question.

Sora just quietly nodded in response and then went on to explain in a little more detail. "He disappeared one day when I was really little, and for the longest time, whenever I asked Mom about where he went, she would always just tell me that he was doing something that would keep both us and many others safe. It wasn't until about a year or so before Kairi showed up on the islands that she finally told me that…he had actually left to travel other worlds, thinking that something bad was happening and that he needed to try and help somehow."

"But what makes you think he actually did get to other worlds," Miles questioned. He did not doubt what Sora was telling them, but it did seem like a bit of a stretch to think that the guy had gone to another world just because he had disappeared one day.

"Well for one thing, Destiny Islands is a really small world, so if anyone had seen him, Mom and I would have heard something long before now, and for another, I actually found a few photographs of places the two of them had been to before I was born, and they definitely didn't look like any place that you could find on the islands. Of course, I found one picture a little more recently that definitely proved he was on Marvel-topia at one point," Sora revealed. He then looked to the resident super soldier and asked, "Cap, do you remember that photo that Tony gave you? The one of you and his father?"

"Of course. A couple of my old comrades were in it as well, one of which was my partner, Bucky," Steve confirmed, though a small frown did cross his face at the memory of his late, young partner.

"The other guy in the picture was my dad," Sora revealed, surprising everyone when they heard that. "I'm sure of it. He looked way too much like the man in all the pictures I ever found at home, and the ones that Mom had shown me to be anyone else."

"Are you sure, Sora," Steve asked. "When I met the man, he had told me that he wasn't seeing anyone at the time, let alone married with a kid on the way."

"I'm positive," Sora confirmed. He then lowered his head a bit and admitted, "This is actually why I didn't say anything sooner. I was worried you'd think I was just trying to grasp at straws in an attempt to find my father, or that I was just being a pathetic little kid who just wanted to reunite with his old man because daddy left him when he was really little."

At that point, the other Avengers fell silent, not sure what to say. They could all understand where Sora was coming from. If he had told them any of this beforehand, some of them probably would have thought something along those lines. After all, if the other man in Cap's picture really was Sora's dad, then that would have meant that Sora should most likely have been close to the same age as Tony by now, even with the time-differences between worlds. Still, from what Steve could remember, the man he had fought alongside of was very young, and he could have married much later on in life before having Sora, but all the same, the idea that Sora's dad had disappeared to another world, or had even traveled to Marvel-topia at one point did seem like a bit of a stretch until now. All of this made it hard for any of the Avengers, Gwen, or Miles to try and say anything that might cheer Sora up, but thankfully, there was one person who had an idea of what to say.

After hearing Sora's explanation, Peter had stepped up and placed a hand on the younger boy's shoulder to get his attention, and said, "None of us would've thought anything like that, Sora. But if any of these guys did, I wouldn't have." Sora immediately looked Peter in the eye, prompting him to explain, "My parents died in a plane crash when I was really little, and if I ever learned that there was a chance they could still be alive, while I would probably be doing everything I could try and find them, I would be just as nervous about telling other people about it as you were about telling us. Trust me, those kinds of things can make anyone skeptical, but it does help to let others in on that so that you can at least give them a chance to try and share the burden with you. You can count on us to have your back in that, or at the very least, you can count on me to do so."

Sora smiled in thanks to Peter, and looking to the rest of his friends from Midgard, who were all giving him reassuring smiles, he knew that they all felt the same way. Cap made that point hit home when he stepped up and said, "I did once say that you looked a lot like that soldier in the photo, so I guess it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to believe that you're his kid. If you want, I could tell you few old war stories later on, just to be sure."

"I'm not sure how much help that would be, aside from telling me what the man was like when you knew him, given that Mom never really talked about hers or Dad's past too much, but I do appreciate that, Steve. Really," Sora nodded in return.

"So Jecht's son comes to Spira to become a guardian for a summoner like his father did for that summoner's father, and you end up fighting alongside an old ally of your father. It seems that your stories are far more interesting than you could have ever believed until now," Auron commented, smiling a little as he made this observation.

"Seriously, one of these days, you need to tell me what it is with you and stories," Tidus told his father's old friend. He then looked back to Sora and said, "But what I want to know is if we can hold off on having Sora take us back to the islands until after Yuna has defeated Sin."

Sora immediately cringed a little when he heard that, having skipped over that particular detail in his explanation about how he became a Keyblade wielder and started fighting supervillains and Heartless with the Avengers, but he knew that there was not going to be any hiding it now. "Um, guys…there's something you should know," Sora admitted, and Wakka and Tidus both started to look worried upon hearing how sad Sora's voice had become. That did not stop him from pressing on, as he revealed something neither one of the older boys wanted to hear. "Destiny Islands…It's gone, guys. Our home's gone. The Heartless plunged it into darkness, and now…"

"What…Our home's…" Tidus stuttered, barely able to stand at hearing this news. He likely would have fallen into the nearby stream had Yuna not rushed over to help steady him as best as she could, with Rikku joining in a few seconds later, knowing that her cousin could likely use an extra hand keeping Tidus upright.

"What about everyone who lived there? Your friends, Selphie, or my little brother, Chappu," Wakka questioned, clearly wanting to hear some kind of answer that would give him a little hope for the people he listed.

Sora would have to crush that hope a little, because he admitted, "A friend I made on Marvel-topia told me that it was hard to know what happened to people who lost their world to the Heartless, but as far as I know, most of the people on the Islands are gone, too. I've been trying to find Riku and Kairi since then because they were the only ones I had actually seen before the world and I was thrown over to Marvel-topia. I kinda figured that everyone else had been taken by the Heartless since my Keyblade was the only weapon that was capable of destroying them. I'm sorry."

Now it was Wakka who could not stay on his feet, but unlike Tidus, he had ended up dropping down into a sitting position on a nearby rock, with Lulu quickly coming to his side in an effort to comfort him. Meanwhile, Auron and Kimahri both hung their heads in sorrow for the three islanders, and they were soon joined in that by the three Avengers, and Peter, Miles, and Gwen, too. They all felt that they needed to keep silent while showing some form of sympathy and respect for the three boys. Sure, Wakka and Tidus were only just learning about the fate of their home, but they could all tell that it probably still hurt for Sora to so much as think about it, let alone having to tell his friends, so it was a little while before they all started to get moving again on their journey to find the Keyhole and assist Yuna with her pilgrimage.

---

It actually did not take as long as everyone thought for Wakka and Tidus to get it together again, but the two were constantly badgering Sora for some information that would give them a little bit of hope for undoing what the Heartless did to their home, friends, and family. Not that Tidus really asked too much about that last one; he had lived with Wakka and his family since his mother passed away, due to the fact that his father had mysteriously vanished a couple years prior to that, but still, they needed to know if there was a chance. Sora just wished he had a better answer for them. As far as he knew, there was no way to bring the islands back or anyone who was lost to the darkness with them, assuming everyone, or most people on Destiny Islands was lost, and he was not going to give his friends false hope by lying to them. All the same, none of it had distracted anyone from their current tasks, and they were all soon moving along the trail again so they could reach the next destination on Yuna's pilgrimage.

Their travels had actually led them into a very startling situation, as a massive, blue elephant-like creature soon crossed their paths, prompting Hawkeye to draw his bow and ready an arrow out of instinct, thinking that they were about to be attacked by a vicious monster. Thankfully, Auron was able to step in and stop Clint before he fired the arrow and stated that there was nothing to worry about. Clint was still skeptical though. "You're sure that this…this…thing isn't going to attack us," Clint asked as he studied the massive creature with wary eyes.

"Positive," Auron tiredly replied for what seemed to be the tenth time. It was only the fourth though, as Sora, Peter, and Miles could easily tell you since they had been the ones who were counting.

Lulu apparently found the archer's concern very amusing, as she chuckled a little before she gave her own reassurances to the group at large, or at least the members who were not already aware of the information. "Relax. The shoopuf is harmless," the black mage said. "The Hypello use them as pack animals in order to carry travelers over the Moonflow. Should any travelers ever fall off, the shoopuf will more than likely lift them back out of the water again and into its saddle with its long nose."

"And you're sure that riding these things are safe," Peter asked.

"Said the man who, apparently, swings around New York on a very thin web, while doing all kinds of crazy stunts and acrobatics," Gwen sardonically pointed out with an angry look in Peter's direction.

Peter could only let out a sheepish chuckle at that remark while glancing away, not wanting to look directly at the angry blonde, but that exchange seemed to go widely unnoticed, as Yuna merely chuckled before she answered his previous question. "Don't worry; it's perfectly safe, and a lot of fun, too." She then let out a wistful sigh as she added, "I haven't ridden one in so long."

"You've been on one of these," Tidus asked in surprise.

"Well, just once. Ten years ago, with Kimahri," Yuna admitted, turning to the Ronso in question to see if he remembered that.

Apparently he did, as he let out a small smile before he revealed something that Yuna seemed to have forgotten. "Shoopuf shook. Yuna fall in water. Shoopuf scoop up Yuna with long nose. Yuna jump in three more times for fun…Kimahri worried."

"Ehehe…Whoops," was all that Yuna could say in response with a sheepish and embarrassed smile on her face, while the others found themselves trying not to laugh at the image of the rather polite and proper girl doing something so silly like that.

"Yuna had fun. Kimahri happy," the Ronso then added in an attempt to reassure his friend. Judging by her small smile, it did seem to drive away any sheepish feelings, but it did nothing for her embarrassment.

With all of that said and done, it was not long before everyone had boarded the next shoopuf to head over the Moonflow, and with that, they all felt that they could relax a little more. Of course, with this sense of peace, there also came a tense silence that told everyone that now was the time to be revealing a few other details as well. Out of all the topics that they needed to discuss, everyone knew that the biggest issue was the one revolving around the web-head that was just recently unmasked before them all, and the look Gwen was throwing at Peter made it clear that she was not going to wait any more.

"Okay, okay," Peter appeased, raising his hands up to show he was willing to cooperate. "What do you want to know?"

"Do you really have to ask," Gwen questioned.

"Perhaps it would be best if you simply start at the beginning, Mr. Parker," T'Challa suggested.

Peter nodded in reply, but no one missed the sad look in his eyes when he did, and they could all tell that this was probably going to be a lot harder for Peter than they thought. "Well…I guess if we're going from the beginning, I should explain how I even got my powers in the first place," Peter figured. "Gwen, you remember that field trip we went on back in sophomore year to the lab at ESU?"

"Like I told Professor Warren, it wasn't something I could ever forget. Why," Gwen asked, not sure where he was going with that.

Looking around, Peter could tell that none of the others were getting it either, but it was a lot more understandable in their cases. "Back then, the lab was run by Doctor Curt Connors and his wife, Martha, and they were doing some incredible work. The most important thing, at least in the case of this story, is one of their genetics experiments. Namely, the fact that they had managed to genetically alter their collection of spiders in order to combine the most impressive traits from multiple different species into fifteen super spiders."

"Hey, I think I remember seeing those whenever we met up with you for tutoring at the lab," Miles noted with excitement.

"Yeah, but there were only fourteen spiders. One of them was missing," Gwen pointed out.

"It wasn't for long," Peter admitted, surprising him a little. "I ended up finding out where the spider went to right after it bit me."

Everyone was silent for a minute, until Clint's eyes widened, indicating that he figured out what Peter was leading into. "Oh, you've gotta be kidding me," Clint groaned. "Are you saying that you got your powers from…"

"From that spider bite, yeah," Peter finished. "Things were a bit hazy afterwards, mainly because of the splitting headache I had for what seemed like hours, but eventually, that headache turned into more of a buzzing or tingling sensation, like something was trying to warn me, and when I turned to see what could've been causing it, I saw a car barreling right towards me. I jumped out of the way on instinct, only to end up with the surprise of sticking to the side of a building, and quite a few feet up from the ground too. Out of curiosity, I started trying to go further, and I found that I was not just sticking, but able to climb the wall without any kind of footholds or anything. When I got to the roof, I grabbed a metal pole to help pull me up, and the thing crumbled in my grip, and the thing is, I was barely even squeezing that much, if at all. My shock at seeing that caused me to lose my grip and then drop down, and hit a flag pole before crashing through an awning."

"Ouch," Sora, Rikku, Tidus, Wakka, and Yuna all said while everyone else just winced a little.

"Why didn't you just spin a web," Miles asked, clearly confused as to why he did not do that. "I mean…you can spin webs right? Didn't you try and do that before you could hit the ground?"

"Uh…no, I can't spin webs. At least, not on my own," Peter revealed. He then pulled off one of his gloves so that everyone could see the web-shooter underneath, and removed one of the cartridges of web-fluid from it so that he could show it off. "I found out pretty quickly that spinning webs was the one spider ability that I didn't get, and that's why I have these wrist devices, which I call my web-shooters to spin webs. I make the web-fluid that's stored in these special, pressurized containers, and until they're exposed to air, the webs remain in a liquid state, though they still retain their adhesive properties."

"In English, Peter," Sora requested.

"Or Yevonnite, or even Al Bhed," Tidus added on.

"Basically, the capsules keep his webs from becoming like spider webs until he shoots them out, but they're still really sticky even while they're in the capsules," Rikku filled in.

"Exactly," Peter confirmed with a snap of his fingers, feeling a little impressed that Rikku was able to figure that out. Feeling a sudden need to show off his technical genius, he then went on to explain a little more about the devices themselves. "The web-shooters also have a rotating carousel that can help me load a fresh cartridge when one runs out, but I do still carry extra cartridges on my utility belt just in case they all run out while I'm swinging or in the middle of a fight. The trigger is actually this pressure sensitive electrode here in the palm of my hand, which requires exact pressure from my two middle fingers in order to activate them. That's what keeps them from accidentally going off when I make a fist or grab something. By adjusting pressure at the nozzle, I can fire a strong, thin web-line, or a fine, wide spread."

"Can you show us," Yuna asked, feeling rather curious, and from the looks on everyone else's faces, they were actually pretty eager to see the devices in action.

Peter just nodded in reply, and then aimed at an empty area of their carriage before firing off a few webs, until an image of his masked face had been made in that very spot. "Impressive," Lulu admitted. "Though I can't help but wonder if these devices of yours would be one of the forbidden machina or not."

"Machina," Sora asked.

"That's what they call any form of technology on Spira," Tidus clarified. "Apparently, a good deal of it is bad in the eyes of everyone who follows the teachings of Yevon."

"Got it," Sora nodded in reply.

"I think we should be more concerned about how hard it will be for the Hypello to clean that out of the carriage," Auron stated.

"Don't worry. It's biodegradable like actual spider webbing," Peter reassured him, only to get blank looks that said they had no idea what that meant. "It means that the webs will dissolve in about an hour, two at the most."

"That explains why SHIELD was never able to find any at the places you were spotted in when they went in to investigate," Hawkeye remarked, remembering a few reports about those investigations, and a few times when they had him brought in to look around those very locations. "How'd you figure out how to make that web-fluid stuff anyway?"

"I came up with it myself," Peter admitted. "I sometimes think that when the spider bit me, it transferred some instinctive knowledge of what chemicals and enzymes to combine in order to make various types of webbing."

"So you made the web-fluid, got your web-shooters, and then you decided to be a superhero, right," Gwen questioned, evenly. She was impressed with what Peter had figured out and his technical skills, but she was still pretty upset about her best friend keeping this secret from her.

"Uh…not exactly," Peter admitted. "When I got my powers, I wasn't interested in catching bad guys. I just wanted to find some way to cash in on my new talents."

"What do you mean cash in," Steve asked, not entirely sure he liked what was being implied.

"Well…after my parents died, my Aunt May and Uncle Ben had raised me like their own son, but they weren't really financial wizards, so I figured that I could use my powers to help with that. When I found an ad in the paper offering a thousand bucks for winning a wrestling match, I figured that would be my big chance," Peter admitted, making Gwen's face finally turn a little more sorrowful, knowing just how important Peter's family were to him. Peter did not seem to notice, as he just kept on with his story. "I didn't want anyone recognizing me though, because…well, it'd be a little strange if 'Puny Parker' suddenly became tough enough to take on a big wrestling champ, so I made this costume, and when I stepped into the ring, I did so as the spectacular Spider-Man."

"I'm guessing you won the fight, ya," Wakka asked. "I mean, it would make sense unless the other guy was able to do all the same things as you, or something better."

"You'd be surprised how often I've won against guys that were tougher or more powerful than I am, but yeah, I did win, and very easily at that. Too bad I didn't get anything to show for it," Peter revealed, confusing everyone with that last bit. "While the guy running the whole thing was willing to give me the money, I had to sign an exclusive management contract with him first. I wasn't really planning on making the wrestling thing a regular gig, and when I told him as such, he said that I wasn't going to get any money out of him at all otherwise."

"What?! That's not fair," Sora snapped in protest.

"Yeah, I said the same thing, and all he said was that it wasn't his problem, so I didn't think it was my problem when he got robbed like two seconds later," Peter shrugged. "I mean, I didn't really need to do that much in order to stop the crook, heck, I didn't even need to use any of my powers to stop him, but I was still pretty upset about getting cheated, so I figured this was just karma giving the guy what he deserved." Peter then paused to hang his head a bit before he finished in barely more than a whisper, "I never would've thought that I was going to be the one who was being set up to get hit by some bad karma, though. At least, not until I got home that night."

"What do you mean," Rikku asked, and everyone else was wondering the same thing until Gwen's eyes suddenly went wide.

"Peter…was that…was that the night…" the blonde stuttered, now looking very concerned for her friend.

"Yeah. When I got home that night, I found Aunt May crying, and I found out it was because…the police had recently been by to tell her that my uncle had been shot, and…he didn't make it," Peter revealed, pulling gasps of shock from everyone. "At that point, I was really pissed. I didn't care about anything else. All I knew was that someone had stolen the life of a good man; a man with a loving family, all for his lousy car, and I wanted to get even. Sure, Peter Parker may not have been able to do much, but nothing was going to stop Spider-Man."

At that point, no one was sure if they wanted him to continue, and Cap was the first to step up and say something. "Peter, if you feel like you need to stop and take a breath for a minute…"

"No, I'm fine. Really," Peter attempted to reassure the super soldier. Steve did not seem to really buy it, but he could tell that the kid wanted to keep going, so he sat back down and let him. "I managed to track down and corner the guy easily enough, and I was more than ready to just take him down and leave whatever was left for the cops. When the moment came though and I had him dead to rights, I finally got a look at his face, and at that moment, only one question went through my mind…All I could think was…'What have I done?'"

"Why…why would you think that," Miles asked, his mouth suddenly feeling really dry, and from a look at the others, he could tell that they were not that much better off.

"Because…it was the crook from the arena; the one I should've stopped but didn't," Peter revealed. If the gasps from before were just startled, then the ones that came out now were definitely horrified, and the only one who had not let out such a reaction was Gwen. All she could do was just sit there and silently stare at Peter in both shock and sadness, while tears began building up in the corners of her eyes, not for her, but for her best friend and what he must have been going through in that moment of his life.

Thinking of all that, Gwen could not stop herself from moving to sit next to Peter and place a reassuring hand on his as she tried to say, "Peter, it wasn't your fault. There's no way you could've known what would happen."

"Maybe, but it doesn't change the fact that I ignored Uncle Ben's most important lesson, and he had to pay the price for it," Peter insisted. "After that night, I swore on his grave that I would never forget that with great power comes great responsibility, that I would never look the other way again, and it started by letting Uncle Ben's killer live so that he could pay for his crimes in prison. I wasn't going to forgive that man for what he did, and there's a chance I never will, but I'm never going to become something that he wouldn't approve of. That was the moment when I truly chose to be Spider-Man, no matter what may happen."

"But why keep this a secret from everyone? From your aunt, from your friends…from me," Gwen questioned, still not quite getting that particular detail.

"Well for one thing, Aunt May had a heart attack just from being in the area of my first fight against the Sinister Six, so imagine how she might react if she found out I was risking my life fighting bad guys every time I step out the door," Peter told them, and Gwen had to admit that he had a point. May Parker was a gentle, kind soul that should not have to worry about things like that, and while she was strong in her own way, she was prone to overestimating her own strength at times, much like her nephew, in Gwen's opinion. "But more than that, I had already lost Uncle Ben because of my being Spider-Man, and I was afraid that…that if anyone else found out, they could end up getting hurt. It's not that I didn't want to tell you, Gwen; there were so many times that I came close to actually doing so, but if there was a chance that it could put you in danger…I just…I couldn't live with myself."

Gwen was truly touched by how much Peter cared about her, and apparently, so was everyone else, as Yuna, Rikku, and even Lulu let out small coos of adoration at how cute the whole scene was, while most of the boys all just smiled at the sight of the two and how touching this little moment between them was. The only ones who showed no visible reaction were Auron, Kimahri, and T'Challa, but the last of three was only like that because he still had his cowl on. If you were to ask Tidus, he could have sworn up and down that Auron was actually finding their moment rather sweet as well, but it was hard to really say what Kimahri was thinking. At least until the Ronso finally spoke up, breaking the moment between the two.

"Peter strong," Kimahri stated, confusing everyone a little. "Peter let criminal live, despite what criminal had done to Peter's uncle. Kimahri would have killed criminal without second thought if Kimahri were in Peter's place, but Peter decided to let criminal pay for crimes in prison. Kimahri think Peter's uncle would be proud of Peter."

"Yeah, I think so, too," Sora agreed. "And besides, from what I've heard, you've done a lot of other good things since you became a hero, and a lot of lives were saved because of you. New York would definitely be a lot worse off without Spider-Man, so I'm sure your uncle would be proud of you, Pete."

Looking around, Peter could tell that everyone agreed with the two's words, but it was not until he saw the way Gwen was smiling at him in agreement that he finally believed them. Hearing all of that from everyone, combined with getting so much baggage off his chest, Peter had to smile in relief and said, "Thanks you guys. Really, that means a lot."

"You deserve that kind of praise and a lot more with what you've had to endure, son. If anything, New York owes you far more than it does the Avengers," Captain America stated, adding his own two cents.

"Well, maybe not that much more," Clint started to joke, only to get a sharp elbow in the side from Sora in response. "OW! What? I was just kidding."

They all got a brief laugh out of that, and when it finally ceased, Auron decided to move to the next matter of business on their plate. So, turning to Sora and the Avengers, he got right to the point and said, "So, now that we've heard your friend's origin and reasons for doing what he does, and you know the reason for our journey, I think it's high time those of us who don't know about your quest were brought up to speed. What exactly is your reason for being here, Keyblade master?"

"I told you already, just Sora is fine," the Keybearer in question insisted. He waited a minute to see if anyone protested that request, but when he heard none, he decided to dive right into the shortest version he could give of the explanation. "There's this guy, Night Hunter, who's working with a lot of really bad people, going around and setting the Heartless loose on other worlds. Because of the Heartless, a lot of worlds have fallen into darkness, and more will as well, including this one, but if we can find the Keyhole for this world and close it with my Keyblade, we'll be able to stop them from drowning Spira in darkness like they did Destiny Islands."

"Sounds easy enough," Wakka commented.

"Trust me, kid. It's never that easy," Hawkeye disputed.

"He's right. Night Hunter's no push-over. I should know, I've fought him twice now, and he's really good. I think there's a chance he's just as good if not better than Riku," Sora revealed. Hearing that definitely made Tidus and Wakka worried, especially since they knew just how skilled Riku was in a fight, having fought against him in a three-on-one match with Sora at one point, so to hear Sora say that someone might be better than Riku, they would have to be crazy to not be a little worried. "Not only that, but on some of the worlds he's gone to, he's also given other bad guys the power to control the Heartless, so there could be a chance that he would do the same thing here."

Apparently, Lulu found that to be a reason to relax a little bit, because the first thing she said after hearing that last piece of information was, "I don't think we have too much to worry about then. The only 'bad guy' we have on Spira is Sin."

"Trust me, bright eyes, there's always some form of bad guy, especially beyond some crime against certain religious teachings or whatever," Hawkeye countered.

"No, not that sin. She means this giant, mega-powerful monster that's literally named Sin. You know, the one we told you about that Yuna has to defeat," Tidus corrected. "It's been threatening Spira for thousands of years, and even when it seems like it's been defeated, after a short time, it always comes back again to bring a path of death and destruction in its wake."

Hearing about that very creature again reminded the Avengers of how worrying the beast had sounded to them the first time they were told of it. How could something so powerful and dangerous be allowed to go on a nearly uninterrupted rampage like that for thousands of years? Surely someone would have found a way to permanently stop such a creature by now, right? Looking around at the folks who were native to this world quickly told the Avengers and their young friends that was not the case, but there was something else to the sadness behind Yuna, Lulu, Rikku, and Kimahri's eyes that they could not quite put their finger on at that moment. They had to worry about that later though, because they needed to be absolutely sure that there really seemed to be no way of stopping Sin.

"Hasn't anyone tried to do something? Like build some kind of mega shield to protect the cities or a canon that can weaken it," Miles asked.

"You forget, a great deal of machina are forbidden by the teachings of Yevon, so no one's really considered using them for such a purpose, at least not all that often," Auron reminded the young boy.

"You actually just missed a huge operation where several warriors tried to destroy Sin using one such forbidden machina," Wakka revealed, and Sora could not help but note the heavy amount of sorrow in his voice that just seemed so out of place for his older friend. "The whole thing was a disaster. Not only did Sin get out nearly unscathed, but the number of people that were seriously wounded was only exceeded by the number of people who died."

"Yuna must have performed the sending for several hours straight without any rest afterwards," Rikku added on.

"The sending," T'Challa questioned, with the rest of his companions wondering the same thing he was.

"It's a special ceremony that summoners perform in order to guide the dead into the afterlife. If they don't, those who died will likely come back as fiends, or some other horrible monster," Rikku explained. She then paused to think for a minute before admitting, "Come to think of it, I think that some of them have actually come back as those Heartless things you told us about."

"Huh," Sora hummed in response, now wondering if this sending ritual would work on the Heartless as well. Then again, considering that Rikku said the sending needed to be performed before someone was transformed into a fiend, he doubted that was the case.

"So if there aren't any weapons or defensive measures, does that mean that summoners are the only ones able to so much as defeat this Sin," Captain America asked.

"That is the purpose of the summoner's pilgrimage," Auron replied as simply as he could, while Rikku just seemed to look off to the side with a bit of a scowl. Only Clint seemed to notice that though, but then again, he was called Hawkeye for reasons other than the fact that he never missed a target.

He filed it away for later, as everyone decided to just leave it alone for now and focus on the more important things; namely, a list of possible individuals who would likely ally with Night Hunter and the Heartless. "Perhaps the man we met when we first arrived on this world could be such a villain," T'Challa offered.

"You mean that creepy looking guy with blue hair? What was his name? Say-yore," Miles asked.

"Seymour," Sora corrected. "And I do have to agree with you on that. There was something about that guy that gave me a bad feeling in my gut."

"Surely you don't mean Maester Seymour Guado," Lulu questioned in surprise.

"You know the man," Steve asked in wonder.

"All of Spira knows him just as they know of all those who hold the title of maester," Lulu explained. "They are people of high authority and those who lead the people of Spira, or at the very least, they lead some part of Spira's governing body. Lord Seymour is actually the leader of his people, the Guado, like his father before him, Maester Jyscal. He holds as much desire to see peace brought to Spira and an end to Sin as anyone else."

"Though one must wonder just how he plans to aid in that endeavor," Auron pointed out.

"So either way, there's a good chance he's off the list of possible enemies," Gwen asked.

"I don't know about that," Peter suddenly said, turning all attention to him. "Remember what I said about my Spider-Sense? About how it's like a buzzing or tingling in my head that warns me of danger, basically acting like a sixth sense for trouble? Well, when we met Seymour earlier, it was going pretty crazy even after all the Heartless were destroyed."

"Maybe it was just going off because his guards were so nervous about us," Sora offered, wanting to stay optimistic, even if he did get some bad vibes from the guy himself.

"No, that's not likely," Peter dismissed. "Trust me, my Spider-Sense wouldn't have gone off just because someone was a little nervous. It only reacts when it picks up on an actual, honest to god threat, be it an attack, or just an enemy that's close by."

"I hardly think that's a valid reason to be accusing a man who serves as a leader for his people of betraying us all," Lulu pointed out, clearly refusing to believe that a maester of Yevon would consider such an action.

"It's still a possibility to consider, unless you have a few other suspects in mind," Captain America calmly pointed out, trying to play peacemaker before things got heated.

"Perhaps…the Al Bhed," Lulu offered.

"The what," all the Avengers chorused as one, not noticing the downcast look that appeared on Rikku's face upon hearing that accusation.

"The Al Bhed are people who do not follow the teachings of Yevon, but instead, make their home out in deserts and on the ocean, while salvaging for old machina so that they can attempt to get them working again. Most times, they are successful, but it does not change the fact that they go against the teachings of Yevon by doing so," Lulu explained. From the way she spoke, it was clear that she did not approve of what the Al Bhed did, but they did not get the impression that she hated them either.

Yuna then seemed like she had something to add to that, but hesitated before she spoke. "I'm actually half Al Bhed, myself, on my mother's side. Many people doubted my father would be able to defeat Sin because of the fact that he had married an Al Bhed woman, but he seemed to just laugh it all off and say that it would be interesting to prove them wrong."

"From what you have told us, it seems that he did just that," T'Challa noted. "You must be very proud of him."

"Yes…Yes, I am," Yuna admitted, but no one could miss the sad note in her voice. The Avengers were about to question her on it when the shoopuf finally came to a stop on the other side of the river, and they all began to off-load from the elephantine creature.

"Well, when it comes to the Heartless or bad guys that may be working with them, I guess we'll just have to watch our backs for now, huh," Hawkeye figured.

"Pretty much," Sora shrugged, not really knowing what else they could say or do at this point.

"Then for now, perhaps you would all consider joining us on the rest of my pilgrimage," Yuna asked.

"I'm not sure we have much of a place to be doing so," Captain America admitted. He wanted to help protect the young lady while keeping Sora from being separated from his long lost friends again, but at the same time, he was not sure that they really had a right to help on this since they were not officially part of Yuna's group.

"Captain America has a point," T'Challa stated before anyone could argue with him. "From what you have told us, only a summoner's guardians may travel and enter the temples with them on their pilgrimage, and while we are all powerful warriors and protectors in our own rights, none of us are guardians. Not to mention, Sora's status as a wielder of the Keyblade would likely prevent him from becoming a guardian."

"He wouldn't need to. Keyblade wielders are an exception to that rule," Auron revealed. "I should know, since Braska, Jecht, and I worked with three Keyblade wielders during Braska's pilgrimage, and they were allowed to enter the temples with us without anyone so much as batting an eye."

That comment seemed to leave the Avengers in shock, each of them wondering if those three wielders could be the same ones that they had heard about so often before now, but in Sora's case, it also caused a sharp pain to suddenly flash through his skull. It passed very quickly though, so no one really noticed, but he knew that it was likely a sign that he was due to have a vision again at some point soon. Not that anyone had much of a chance to do so, as Yuna quickly took the reins of the conversation again with an offer of her own.

"If it really worries you that much, then…I would like for each of you to become my guardians," the young summoner requested.

"All of us," Peter asked as he gestured to his group. "Including Miles and Gwen?"

"Yes," Yuna nodded. "Is that…too much trouble for you?"

"I speak for all of us on the Avengers when I say we'd be honored if you'll have us, but as for Spider-Man and his friends, that's up to them," Captain America stated, with T'Challa and Clint both nodding in agreement.

"I'm in," Peter immediately agreed, surprising everyone by how quickly he had. "What? I did say that I swore to never look the other way again, and not doing everything I can to help out here definitely feels like I'm looking the other way. But…well, I'm not so sure that it's a good idea to let Gwen and Miles do this."

"Peter Benjamin Parker, are you saying you don't think we can help," Gwen demanded, sounding more than a little mad at that.

"No! No, I'm not saying that at all," Peter rapidly insisted. "But…well, Gwen, you and Miles don't have any powers or special skills. Not like me and the rest of these guys."

"That doesn't mean we can't help," Miles insisted. "Like you said, great power comes with great responsibility, and I'm not just going to sit on the sidelines if I can help somehow. I mean, sure, I can't really help with fighting too much, but I'm sure there's some way I could help out."

"Same goes for me," Gwen added. "Besides, my dad's the police captain for NYPD, remember? Self-defense classes are a must, and that became even more true after I was kidnapped by Doc Ock during his whole Master Planner thing last New Year's, as you should know since you had to dive in and save me."

Peter was not sure what to say to that, and it showed in how he could only rub the back of his neck in a sheepish manner, as if trying to think of some other excuse. Finally, he sighed in defeat and said, "Okay, if you guys want, but just promise me you'll be careful. I…I don't want you getting hurt."

Even though the statement was for both Miles and Gwen, no one missed how Peter was looking directly at his childhood best friend when he said that, or the way Gwen blushed when she noticed this, even as she silently nodded in return. At another time, a great deal of teasing would have likely followed, most of it coming from Sora, and probably Rikku since she seemed to be the type, but no one did so. Partly because the moment just felt far too serious to be spoiled in that way, and partly because they still had a trip to continue.

"Well then, let's get going everyone. To Guadosalam, and from there, to the temple in Macalania," Yuna cheered, and everyone let out their own exuberant cheer of agreement in reply. All the same, some of them still could not shake the bad feeling that they were getting about all of this right now.

---

While the heroes were all having their exchange of information and stories, and simultaneously getting the wheels turning on their team-up adventure, there were things in Guadosalam of a much more shady nature taking place. So shady in fact, that you could swear that it was dark enough to be night time, but then again, that may have had to do with the guest that Seymour Guado was currently entertaining in his home at the moment. "You know, I was under the impression that you would be able to keep the boy from interfering in our business on other worlds," Seymour remarked to said guest as he swished his drink around in his hand. "And yet, not only has he interfered in your attempts to drown Atlantis in darkness, but he also brought an end to Hades's little scheme at the Olympus Coliseum. Now, he's suddenly appeared here with some of his colorful friends, and while I am grateful that he appeared when he did, I can't help but wonder why that is, or even why the Heartless suddenly decided to attack me for now reason."

"Loki warned you, didn't he, about letting the darkness get too close to your heart," questioned the rather laid-back looking Night Hunter. His helmet mask was currently off, but his voice still remained in its distorted state of sounding like two people talking at once, while his actual face was well-hidden in the shadows to the point where no one could make it out without having seen his face before. "You should've known that your little stunt at Mi'ihen would have spurned the Heartless into acting. You may have convinced others of your performance, but the Heartless can still smell whenever the darkness in one's heart begins to stir more greatly than usual."

"Hmm, you almost sound worried for me," Seymour noted with an amused tone, showing he did not seem to care about that little warning. He then turned serious again and said, "That still doesn't explain the boy's presence though. I thought you said that he would be unable to reach other worlds without the aid of the king's men."

"Well, it seems he found a way around that problem using the Keyblade. Either way, it doesn't matter. As long as you do your job right, he won't be a problem," Night Hunter shrugged off.

"Yes, but then again…perhaps he could be of some use to me," Seymour mused while a devious grin started to creep up on his face.

"You can forget about involving him in your little plans for that summoner you're so obsessed with. He may be a child, but he's not that gullible," Night Hunter dismissed, but the Guado maester could have sworn that there was a hint of a threatening undertone in his voice.

"Why I haven't the faintest idea what you mean," Seymour tried to casually play off, but he was not fooling the dark swordsman one bit. When he realized this, he merely moved on to another topic and said, "Besides, I am not obsessed with Lady Yuna. I merely desire the power she possesses, and being the daughter of Lord Braska, along with what I've already seen of her abilities, I'd say that there's no better candidate for my ambitions than her."

"Oh of course. No signs of being a creeper in the slightest, here," Night Hunter sarcastically countered. "Just make sure you don't forget about your agreement with Loki."

"Isn't that why you're here," Seymour questioned. "After all, why else would he send his little errand boy than to play nursemaid when you could be doing something so much more important or better with your time, such as carrying on with your own little quest?"

The next thing that Seymour knew, Night Hunter's demonic-looking blade was at his throat, startling the maester with how quickly the young man had closed the distance between them, yet leaving him very impressed with the swordsman's control over his power. "You would do well to keep out of things that have nothing to do with you, Guado," Night Hunter snarled. "Don't forget, unlike me, you can easily be replaced."

Seymour sneered in response to that, but he knew that the young man was not wrong. There was just something about Night Hunter that set him apart from the rest of the members on Loki's little Council of Villains, and it was not just his skills with a blade, nor his control over darkness. There was a certain presence to the young villain that Seymour found to be a little disconcerting, or at least that was as much as he was willing to admit to anyone when it came to his feelings about the boy before him. Still, that did not mean he appreciated being bullied like this, especially when the person trying to push him was a child. Before he could call out Night Hunter on the matter, there was a knock at the door that broke the tension, and Night Hunter had put distance between them again, dismissed his sword, and replaced his helmet on his head all within the time it took for Seymour to recompose himself and grant the person outside entrance.

"Forgive the interruption, Lord Seymour," Seymour's retainer, Tromell apologized. "But it would seem that Lady Yuna and her party are just moments away from entering Guadosalam."

"Ah, that is good news. Won't you do me the courtesy of extending an invitation to them, Tromell? There's something I would very much like to discuss with the lady summoner," Seymour requested.

"Right away, sir," Tromell bowed in return, and he quickly left the room to carry out his master's request.

Night Hunter could tell that it was time to make himself scarce, so he summoned forth his usual dark portal and prepared to leave, but not before Seymour called out, "You know, I am curious, how are your efforts in locating her developing?"

Night Hunter paused just as he was about to set one foot through the portal, but he kept silent all the same before he glanced over his shoulder with what one could only assume was a cold expression as he said, "Just remember to guard your heart well against the Heartless, lest you suffer a worse fate than Hades had. And remember…the Keyblade wielder is mine."

Seymour just smirked at the boy's response, even as Night Hunter left. Despite the fact that the young man did not give a straight answer, Seymour still got all the information he needed from the lad, and that helped him to ensure he was completely calmed down from the insult the boy had dealt him while he prepared to meet with the young summoner and her party of guardians.

---

AN: If I was a follower of Yevon, this would be the part where I would say Praise be to Yevon, because whoo-wee, that took some doing! But hey, it's all out now, and we've gotten a look at this series' iteration of Spira. Now, let's go over the differences on the Final Fantasy side of things before we do anything else: first off, Rikku's already part of the group before they got to Guadosalam, this is partly because Wakka is a Destiny Islands native, and I felt that it was necessary for Yuna to have another good friend on Besaid besides Lulu and Kimahri. Also, Auron is here too, but don't think that means he won't somehow find his way to Olympus and the Underworld, if I decide to go that route with this series. Finally, it looks like Keyblade wielders are considered just as important as summoners on Spira, huh? And look at that, Yuna's dad worked alongside three particular Keyblade wielders. Now who do you suppose that could be?

Sora: Yeah, I don't think it's going to take too much guess work to figure that one out.

AN: I know that. Moving right along, already the Avengers have had an encounter with Seymour, and they did not get a very good first impression. I'll admit, a bit of that was self-projection on my part, as the first time I saw the guy, I got a pretty ominous and creepy vibe from him too. The dude just doesn't scream friendly at all, even when he's pretending to be a good guy, which, to be honest, he kinda fails at most of the time if you ask me.

Sora: Speaking of Seymour, it looks like he's having some trouble when controlling the Heartless.

AN: Well, that's to be expected, because as we saw in the first Kingdom Hearts game, not all of the members on the Villain Council could handle controlling the Heartless. Prime example: Jafar. I just felt that it would be necessary to have more than one person on the council being that susceptible to the Heartless's dark powers. Who better than Seymour?

Hawkeye: You know, I've gotta ask, in the original Final Fantasy X game, Tidus, Wakka, and all of those other guys are a lot older than they were in Kingdom Hearts, so what're you aiming for with their age here?

AN: Well, I didn't want to age them down too much, as that would make a few story factors a little more difficult to work with, but I still wanted some of them close to Sora's age. The end result is what you read here. Tidus is close to the same age as Riku, and Wakka is a year older than that. Yuna and Rikku about the same age as Tidus, just so you guys know, and for those of you who may have been worried about the Tidus&Yuna pairing here. That is going to happen, by the way. Like I'm going to break that up.

Speaking of Rikku, I know some of you were probably hoping to see Yuffie and her meet at some point, because, come on! Like we don't all know what kind of excitement would follow that, am I right? But, sorry to say, it's just not in the cards this time. Also, yeah, every time that the Destiny Island crew talk to her, they'll refer to her as "Ri" (pronounced "Ree", in case you couldn't figure that out on your own), since they're so used to their Riku, and that will be how they refer to her if she and Riku are ever in the same room/area together. I know you all will be able to tell the difference, but just keep in mind that the nickname is for the sake of the characters more than anything else.

Finally, Night Hunter returns with his little ominous scene with Seymour. If you've played Final Fantasy X, or at least know the game's story, I'm sure that you are all familiar with what Seymour's plans were, so I won't go into too much detail on that. Though I will say that there may be some changes since he can control the Heartless.

Spider-Man: Hang on. Aren't you forgetting something? Like anything involving my end of the spectrum?

AN: What's there to really say? You gave them your origin story, showed off your smarts by explaining details about your web-shooters and the web-fluid, and it looks like any ill feelings Gwen had about you keeping the secret were easily dealt with.

Spider-Man: How about the reason for that bruise Gwen had at the beginning of the chapter? Or even why you had Sora learn healing off-screen?

AN: Well, you can't expect to see Sora learning all of his spells in the middle of the story, or a fight, and this was the perfect time to debut his healing magic. As for the matter of Gwen's bruise, well...let's just call it foreshadowing on events that are soon to come. Very soon.

Spider-Man: I'm still really worried.

AN: I'd be concerned if you weren't, considering that this is your first love we're talking about here, but no time to go into any more on that now. We've got wrap things up and send everyone home until next time, so Onto the Preview!...

The adventure in Spira seems to be filled with so many twists and turns, that Sora and his friends may end up feeling a little dizzy long before they can even get halfway through the journey on this world. A short stop in Guadosalam leads to an encounter that has left Yuna both flustered and confused, and Tidus rather agitated, while moments later, their paths cross with the Al Bhed people at last. Not only that, but it seems that there are dark secrets lurking around every corner, so it's no wonder that there are so many Heartless coming after them. At the end of the day though, where will the darkest thing that they encounter come from? Will it be from their enemies, or perhaps, from their friends? Beliefs, values, and more will be called into question, with our heroes caught in the middle, all in the next thrilling chapter.

Okay, just to be clear, I am going to do my best to take a Kingdom Hearts approach on the story of Final Fantasy X, but don't think that means we'll see the end of that story by next chapter. Honestly, I'm thinking it just may extend into three parts, myself, just so we can have everything that I plan to have in here. But anyways, that's for another time. For now...

Please read and review, and see ya real soon, fellow true believers!