The walk to home was an uneventful affair, in the best way possible. Matsuda and Motohama wanted to walk with me home, but my insistence to be alone for today managed to convince them to leave me alone.

I am still feeling disturbed by the odd dream and the walk helped me clear my feelings… whatever there was. I had a strange feeling that I was missing something. Like a piece of me was lost.

Maybe I just went crazy, or watched too many anime. I have no idea.

"Why am I even here now?" I lamented to myself, reflecting on the odd dream and… why did it affect me so much? There was something about it that bothered me so much.

The images on the platform… They were so familiar except for my friends (obviously since they were with me all the time). The only reason I knew Rias was seeing her in school… I had not paid attention to her at all didn't I if I didn't immediately recognize her.

But the urge to find her and talk to her was strong, borderline obsessive. It's a very scary feeling that I am possessing right now, like a possessive lover wanting their lover for themselves… a Yandere.

Oh god… what the hell happened to me?! Am I going crazy?

I need to go home to get my brain back together. I wonder what did mom ma-

'BEHIND!'

I immediately turned around to see a pool of darkness forming, the same creature in my dream emerging from it. A Shadow, if I remember it right.

Wait, if they are real then… SHIT!

"Look out!" A female voice yelled at me before I was being pushed down, avoiding the oncoming attack from the Shadow. I can feel her warm body pressing on me, especially her big bo-

NOW'S NOT THE TIME! I'M IN MORTAL DANGER!

'RUN!'

Yeah I know, Draig! Without a word, I pushed off the girl and quickly pulled ourselves up to run away. "Let's get out of here!" I pulled her by the wrist as we descended the bridge's stairs.

"Go back to the Old School Building. We got the thing to take out the Heartless." She told me before outrunning me, pulling me along this time. Her red hair and fair skin made me recognize who was helping me.

"Rias Gremory?"

"Not now Ise!" We ran faster, much faster than I could keep up. Shit, how can she run so fast? And was it me or there were more Shadows chasing after us now?

It doesn't matter, our lives -no- our Hearts were in danger. These things, Heartless as Gremory called them, were aiming to take out Hearts. I don't know how I know, but these things just come to me naturally.

But if what Gremory said was true about having the thing to take these bastards down, that would mean…

"You guys got some magic weapon or something to take them out in our school?"

"Yes." We passed by the school gate, which thankfully had no one guarding it right now. I don't want anyone to get involved in this mess now. "At least a replica of it. You'll see later."

Just as we turned to the next corner, a Shadow intercepted us and forced us to pause for a second. Damn it, these things were trapping us now.

However, the next thing Gremory did shocked me. Her body was coated by a crimson aura and a black ball formed in her right hand before she threw it without hesitation. The ball flew without any resistance and touched the Heartless.

As soon as it went in contact, the creature literally disintegrated into nothing. Not even a residual of smoke. Once the creature was gone, we continued our way to the Old School Building.

"What was that?"

"My power." She quickly answered while the sight of the forest came into our view. "It disintegrates anything it touches except atoms itself."

Wait, so basically she annihilated the Heartless? "Why didn't you do that before?"

Her face scrunched up. Oh no, did I pissed her off? "For one, I don't want to expose regular people to my powers. And two, I can't take it out permanently. It has to be the weapon that we are getting in a moment."

That's fair. But what were we getting that could really take it out? The dream only showed me the shield that I chose and the gauntlet that could take them out. Maybe it was only a dream that I could beat them.

What about actual real life? What if I can't even take out a single Shadow? And where was the stupid gauntlet when I needed it?!

'Focus. Power will come in time.'

Oh gee, thanks Draig.

By the time we reached the building, another beauty was there holding a large box waiting for us. Akeno Himejima, if I remember correctly. How did she know we were coming? I had no idea but I'm glad (and Gremory too if I thought about it) she was there.

We stopped right in front of her before looking back at the incoming Shadows. They were still hot on our trials, but the forest seemed to slow them down for a bit.

"Open it." Gremory commanded Himejima.

She quickly opened the box to present something familiar. It was a sword that was molded into the appearance of a pin tumbler lock key. The blade was silver, with two parallel grooves running the length of the blade at the center; several circular intents were etched along each edge asymmetrically. The blade juts out and then cuts back in just before it connects to the guard, which was black and blocky.

This weapon… I recognized it…

"Braveheart." What's it doing here? I had the feeling it belonged to someone else, yet it was here now.

Gremory did say it was a replica. So someone managed to replicate Braveheart?

"How do you know the name?" Gremory asked as she took it out of the box before shaking her head. "Doesn't matter, we'll talk later. Go with Akeno while I take out the Heartlesses!"

"It won't work!" I shouted at her before I realized what I said. But the next words came out naturally, like a script that came into my mind while my mouth moved like under a marionette's control. "The Keyblade replica has to resonate with someone with the potential of being a wielder to bring out the full potential."

Afterwards, I immediately snatched Braveheart Replica away from Gremory's hand and took a stance that was natural for me. The weapon was in front of me while my left arm was raised to my chest level like holding a shield.

"Bring it Heartless! I can take you all out!"

As if responding to me, one of them lunged towards me only to be met by the tip of Braveheart Replica as I thrust it forward. The blade stabbed through its head before it turned into a smog and a heart shaped crystal floated into the air before it vanished.

My first Heartless kill. It's rather fulfilling and-

I immediately felt Rias's orb flew past me, nearly touching my hair. What the hell?! I turned back to her with her retracting her hand after firing off her orb. "Are you trying to kill me?!"

"Don't get distracted by one kill!" She quickly threw another one, this time it wasn't near me and touched another Shadow.

Okay, back to killing these monsters. I swung the weapon again when another Shadow came near me. Like the one before, it released another heart shaped crystal before it vanished.

I let myself be controlled by my instinct for now. Another swing of the weapon which kills another Heartless told me it's a good idea. I don't know why but… all these moves felt so natural, like recalling something I forgot.

Not all are good as some movements felt awkward, like jumping into the air to bat one of them back to the ground only to nearly trip when I landed.

I'll just stick to the ground to save my leg.

A streak of lightning hit a Shadow, giving me the opportunity to take a quick stab at it to finish it off. I turned around to see the source of that attack, who was Akeno Himejima. Electricity crackled around her hand and there was a tinge of the smell of ozone.

I nodded to her, thanked her assistance before going back to the battle. This was a battle of attrition, where we were defending ourselves as the horde continued to swarm to us.

Things were becoming a blur to me. I found a natural rhythm after a few minutes of slicing and stabbing the enemies, thinning out the horde. A few times the girls helped me to either immobilize or take them out to cover me.

I am glad someone was with me for this battle. I highly doubt that I could survive this at all given how many of these Heartless I've fought. The thinning number meant a small hope inside me rose up. The end was near.

Another Shadow swiped their claw at me, only to meet metal as I held Braveheart Replica in front of me to block the attack. Without hesitation I pushed it back and cut it down with a slash.

The last few Shadows began to retreat as if it knew it was a losing battle. I can't let them get away. Even a single Heartless escaping meant the potential danger they posed.

So without hesitation, I pulled my arm back and channeled my energy into the replica. It was bathed in a mix of light and darkness before I chucked it to the escaping Heartlesses.

"What are you doing?!" Gremory's hysterical scream entered my ear like a banshee. Yeesh… keep it down woman.

The weapon sliced through the air and hit one of them, then the other, and another. It bounced between the remaining hordes until the last one turned into a smog. When the last one was defeated, Braveheart Replica came back to me like a boomerang.

I turned around to give Gremory a smug, reveling in her gobsmacked expression. I guess she never knew of this.

"I thought you forgot how to do Raid…" She mumbled. Raid? That's what I did? "But a Reflect Raid? You weren't taught that."

"That's Reflect Raid?" I guess it made sense. Reflect meant to repel so bouncing each other off meant Braveheart repealed itself to the next enemy.

But what did she mean by not being taught that? Did she know something I don't?

The red head shook her head and took a deep breath. "That doesn't matter now." She gestured towards the Old School Building, inviting me to go there. "We got a lot to talk about tonight. Come with us."

Well, I got nothing to do tonight anyway. I'll definitely find an excuse for my parents later. "Lead the way, Princess."

What could possibly be worse than dealing with a bunch of Shadows?

Thanks for reading the chapter! This is my first Kingdom Heart story so any help like constructive criticism would be appreciated. Hopefully we can walk this journey together to the end.

And also thank my beta for some ideas and checking my work.

Note: This is also available in AO3.