Prologue

The figure passed rows of bookshelves. He strolled up the staircase, which curved to the right as it went up. When he reached the top, he stepped off onto the green-tiled floor and perused the bookshelf to his right. His eyes rested on a book with an ornately-designed black cover. On the spine read a Latin title: "Historia Omnia"— "The History of All". He used two fingers to slide the flanking books to the side, then grabbed the black book and pulled it off of the shelf. He sat down at the reading table, placed the book in front of him and turned on the reading lamp. Placing his index finger on the underside, he tipped the book up at an angle so he can get a look at the open end where he can see the pages. He smirked at what he saw.

There was a latch pinning the last section of pages to the back cover, preventing him from opening to that section.

The man had read through to the end of the book years ago, and had checked again several times since, finding the latch newly sealed every few years, sometimes even months after he last unlocked it. A locked section of the book indicated that a new chapter had been written in history. The last time he had to unlock a new chapter was more than one year ago, and he checked the book four times since.

He had been listening to the affairs in his own world in between those intervals of time. The last time a new chapter appeared, it was shortly after the shadows were driven out.

Ah, that was an exceptional day… he mused.

It was in the old guard tower when he first saw it. Looking up into the morning sky, he saw a fuzzy silhouette appear, floating high above. A light emitted from the silhouette and shot down to a position not far from his base. That was when he knew that the chapter was coming to a close.

Nearly a decade before then, the shadows had overtaken the castle, so even the scholarly hermit who studied there beneath the noses of the wise man and his disciples had to flee. For years, he studied the stars from an old guard tower, one of the few still standing after the invasion, one which overlooked the area where the water rose up the surrounding cliff and proceeded a more natural course out into the world. Sometimes he looked up at night to find that the picture above was shy a few crystals of warmth, while other times he saw one or two of the dots twinkle brighter than usual and then wink out. He did not worry about the state of the universe. Whatever those stars were, they were insignificant in the grand scheme of this era of the universe. It was the stars that still shone that defined the course of events, as there were a few individuals who lived there that would come to shape history.

If one looked closely enough, he might see that some stars are slightly brighter than others at times. Of course, the light of each individual star always shone with equal brightness, it was the light of its inhabitants that made the difference. The scholar wondered what his world would look like to the others, how bright its star would shine.

One fateful night, he looked up at the night sky and saw one of the brighter stars begin to twinkle brighter than before. He was prepared to mark it down as another casualty to the shadows as the force of nature spread across the worlds, but took interest when he saw a thin dart of light shoot out from the star and soar through the sky, following a straight path right into a different star. A moment later, the first star's light died down until it was gone.

The scholar, bewildered, ran over to his table and studied his star chart. He came to conclude which world had just had its light snuffed out: it was called Destiny Islands, at least according to the Book. He then drew a line on the chart with his finger to locate the star that the strange dart went to. He was intrigued, as this was a star that had not been on the map until nine years ago, shortly after the shadows came to this world. He had concluded that this new world may have come into existence because several worlds were being compromised by the shadows, their stars being extinguished and the worlds themselves fading into the darkness. As a result, what was left of these worlds came together to create a new one, a refugee camp for those who survived the destruction of their worlds.

On that day, he examined his book and found that the latch had reappeared, closing off the last section of pages.

The chapter in which the worlds were being extinguished had ended, and a new chapter was beginning.

He looked up into the night sky, deciding that perhaps the world that had just been snuffed out may have been the most important one in the sky.

Now, as the mass above the world sent down its beam, he noticed three figures materializing on a platform within the Rising Falls. The two standing on either side were inconsequential, as he saw it, but the one in the middle had such a strong light. He was shorter than he might have expected from a hero, but that detail merely confirmed his suspicions about the world from which he came: few worlds have a food supply that is satisfactory for the well-being of their inhabitants while stunting their ultimate height, and the island world with the star-shaped fruit tree was one of them. He saw the spiky-haired boy's strength of heart, and also sensed that he possessed a power that stood separate but went hand in hand with it, and he knew for sure that he was the one who was sent to the refugee world, the one whose introduction to the plot marked the beginning of a new chapter.

Yes, whatever happened that day would bring about the end of this chapter in history, and the scholar will be able to learn exactly what transpired over the last few months.

That was the day when the Hero of Light arrived on his world, and a few days later the castle was liberated, as the former refugees of this world returned to restore what the shadows destroyed. The man had decided to wait out a few more days while the returning soldiers explored the castle, and he ultimately returned to his hideout in the castle after all citizens, save for the wise man and his disciples, returned on the same day that the stars blinked back into existence. That was the day when he checked the Book to read that latest chapter.

Now, there was another chapter to open.

He decided to reread the previous chapter to refresh his memory before delving into the new one, as he was certain that the new chapter was influenced by the same boy that influenced the last one.

He opened the book, using the thumb of his left hand as an anchor point off of which he pushed up every page in front of the latch. He opened the palm of his right hand and placed it flat in the middle of the open book. The text shimmered with the colors of the rainbow, then the individual letters launched themselves off of the pages, accompanied by a mighty gust of wind that caused the sleeve of the man's robe to flutter. The letters shaped into individual words and then rearranged themselves several more times as they swirled around the man. White mist spewed from the book, filling the room and blotting out everything from his view. Images appeared in the mist, depicting events from the previous chapter.

He saw a trio of teenagers sitting on the horizontal trunk of a tree bearing star-shaped fruit:

"But how far will a raft take us?"

"Who knows? If we have to, we'll think of something else."

"So, suppose you get to another world. What would you do there?"

"Well I haven't really thought about it. It's just, I've always wondered why we're here on this island. If there are any other worlds out there, why did we end up on this one? And suppose there are other worlds… Then ours is just a little piece of something much greater. So, we could have just as easily ended up somewhere else, right?"

"I don't know."

"Exactly. That's why we need to go out there and find out. Just sitting here won't change a thing. It's the same old stuff. So let's go."

A cave filled with chalk drawings, with an odd wooden door in the back corner:

"This world has been connected."

"Wh-What are you talking about?"

"Tied to the darkness… soon to be completely eclipsed."

"Well, whoever you are, stop freaking me out like this. Huh? Where did you come from?"

"You do not yet know what lies beyond the door."

"So you're from another world!"

"There is so very much to learn. You understand so little."

"Oh yeah? Well you'll see. I'm gonna get out and learn what's out there!"

"A meaningless effort. One who knows nothing can understand nothing."

A jungle cave where one could hear the sound of waterfalls reverberating through the cavern.

The far wall is covered in butterflies, which flutter away as six figures approach, revealing a keyhole-shaped indentation in the wall. The spiky-haired boy in front summons what appeared to be a giant key and holds it up, pointing it at the keyhole. A beam of light emits from the tip and goes straight into the keyhole, causing the indentation to be consumed in a bright light. A piece of a strange material shaped like one quarter of a sphere pops out of the hole. The light dies down, but instead of revealing the hole again, the space is occupied by nothing but rock wall.

An underground cave with ornately-carved columns and monkey-shaped statues holding large colorful gems. In a crevasse in the far wall, a platform leads up to a specially-carved wall with another keyhole in the middle. Standing on that platform are a horned witch wearing black robes and a dignified-looking man wearing robes with a cape and a staff that resembles a snake. A young woman in a light blue outfit is lying unconscious on the floor. Not far off, a large blue figure with a wispy tail floats dejectedly. The three heroes that arrived that day more than a year ago charge in to confront them, joined by a young man wearing a purple vest, a red fez hat and white pants that become baggy toward the bottom before closing back up at the ankles.

"Wait a second. Are you- Maleficent?"

The witch conjures a portal of shrouded darkness and steps through. The portal closes up, and the witch is gone.

"Jafar, let Jasmine go!"

"Not a chance. You see, she's a princess—one of seven who somehow hold the key to opening the door."

On the deck of a pirate ship, the spiky-haired hero stands at the end of the plank hanging off of the ship, egged on to jump by the shadows taking the form of pirates, accompanied by an older human who appears to be one of the pirates. In the water below the plank, a crocodile has its jaws open, eagerly awaiting its incoming treat. The hero's companions are surrounded, standing with their hands raised in surrender.

"Fly Sora! Just believe, and you can do it."

The boy jumps backward off of the plank, and just as the crocodile is about to snap its jaws shut and consume him, he soars up and flies over the deck, landing safely.

In the grand hall of the castle in which the scholar resides, the boy approaches a girl who appears to be his age— one of his friends from his island home —who is lying catatonic. One of his companions joins him, but the other runs into an invisible barrier and falls back, dazed. Overlooking the stage that they are on is a massive structure shaped somewhat like a classic heart design, with an aura of swirling colorful energy and chaotic streams of electricity flowing within. Sitting on top of that is the boy's other friend from the islands, this time wearing a dark blue armor meant to resemble a human muscle structure, with a design shaped exactly like the structure emblazoned on the chest and what appears to be a white-and-blue hula skirt around the waist. This young man is carrying something that vaguely resembles the hero's weapon, though much more sinister-looking.

"Kairi! Kairi! Open your eyes!"

"It's no use. That girl has lost her heart. She cannot wake up."

The boy lets the girl lie back down as he stands up to face what appears to be his friend. "What? You… You're not Riku."

"The Keyhole cannot be completed so long as the last princess of heart still sleeps." The figure taking the form of the boy's friend floats down to the ground.

"The princess…? Kairi's a princess?"

"Yes, and without her power, the Keyhole will remain incomplete. It is time she awakened."

"Whoever you are, let Riku go! Give him back his heart!"

"But first, you must give the princess back her heart."

Something within the boy reacts. He puts his hand to his chest in pain and collapses to his knees.

"Sora!" The boy's companion is concerned, checking to see if he is okay.

"What's-?"

"Don't you see yet? The princess's heart is responding. It has been there all along. Kairi's heart rests within you!"

"Kairi… Kairi's inside me?"

"I know all that there is to know."

"Tell me. Who are you?"

"It is I, Ansem, the seeker of darkness." He approaches the boy. The boy's companion charges at the enemy to attack, but the enemy calmly swats him aside, knocking him off of the platform and outside the barrier. He points his weapon at the boy. "So, I shall release you now, princess. Complete the Keyhole with your power. Open the door, lead me into everlasting darkness!"

The enemy raises his weapon to strike the boy, but a light blinks through his chest, doubtless a cry from the princess's heart pushing the boy to fight back, and the spiky-haired hero raises his own weapon to block his foe's sword.

"Forget it! There's no way you're taking Kairi's heart!"

Minutes later, the boy attempts to seal the Keyhole within the aura of energy, but there is no effect. He notices the sword left behind by his defeated foe and picks it up, points it at himself, and pulls it into his chest. He drops the weapon, which dissipates into darkness, releasing six captive hearts and returning them to their hosts. Two hearts fly out of the boy's chest. One returns to the comatose girl, waking her up, while the other floats off into space.

The girl stands up and sees her friend fading into the light. "Sora!" She runs up to catch him, but he dissipates just as she gets to him.

"Sora! Come back, Sora!" The boy's companions mourn his loss as the light particles that once made up his body float off.

A twisted landscape that appears to have been what is left of the boy's island home which fell into darkness. The blue water has turned purple, as have the leaves on some of the larger trees in the back. The smaller islet and the bridge connecting to it have vanished completely. The boy and his two companions in adventure stand on the beach, their gaze directed at the form of the boy's childhood friend, still wearing the armor of their enemy.

"Take a look at this tiny place. To the heart seeking freedom, this island is a prison surrounded by water. And so this boy sought out to escape from his prison. He sought a way to cross over into other worlds. And he opened his heart to darkness." The young man's form shifts into a taller man with darker skin and an imposing silver jacket. Floating perhaps an inch from his chest was the insignia of the shadows.

"Riku!"

"Don't bother. Your voice can no longer reach him where he is. His heart belongs again to darkness. All worlds begin in darkness, and all so end. The heart is no different. Darkness sprouts within it, it grows, consumes it. Such is its nature. In the end, every heart returns to the darkness whence it came." He now teleports behind the spiky-haired boy and his companions, taking the boy by surprise. "You see, darkness is the heart's true essence."

"That's not true! The heart may be weak. And sometimes, it may even give in. But I've learned that deep down, there's a light that never goes out!"

"So you have come this far and still you understand nothing. Every light must fade, every heart return to darkness!"

In a dark expanse, there is a landing upon which a massive door rests. The boy and his companions float in the expanse, having just fought a great battle with their enemy, who is still floating there, not ready to give in just yet.

"It is futile. The Keyblade alone cannot seal the door to darkness. Kingdom Hearts! Fill me with the power of darkness…" The doors crack open, and dark smoke begins to pour out. "Supreme darkness."

"You're wrong. I know now, without a doubt, Kingdom Hearts… is light!"

The doors open further and a jet of blinding light shoots out, striking the villain, who is clearly in pain at this.

"L-Light! But… But why…" The villain explodes from the overload of light power.

"Come on!" The boy and his friends immediately run up to push the doors closed, with great difficulty.

One of the companions looks through the opening and gasps in horror.

"Stop staring and keep pushing!" the other one scolds him, but then looks to see what his friend has seen and is horrified as well, as shadow monsters are marching toward the door from the other side.

"The Heartless!"

"Hurry!"

"I can't…"

"Don't give up!" Suddenly, the boy's friend, whose body the villain had been controlling before, appears to help him finish the job. "Come on, Sora! Together, we can do it!"

"Okay!" The boy keeps pushing the door while his friend pulls from the other side.

Just then, two giant shadow monsters rise up.

"It's hopeless!"

Someone destroys both monsters in one strike each. The hero and his companions look through the door, and a silhouetted figure with a round head and two circles for ears leaps into view.

"Your Majesty!"

The new ally pulls out his own weapon, which resembles a palette swap of the boy's weapon. "Now, Sora, let's close this door for good!"

"Close it, quick!"

"But—"

"Don't worry. There will always be a door to the light."

"Sora, you can trust King Mickey."

"Now! They're coming!"

"Donald, Goofy, thank you."

The heroes close the Door. The boy's friend turns to say his parting words to him. "Take care of her." The boy nods in agreement.

The Door is closed. The boy and the king raise their weapons and each send out a magic beam. The Door disappears into light.

The scholar removes his hand from the book, and the mist and images dissipate. Yes, he mused, that was the first adventure of the Keyblade wielder. But he vanished shortly after. I have heard that he returned recently. I wonder what sort of stories this new chapter has for him…

He pulled a red crystal from his pocket. The crystal was three inches long with a half-inch diameter. At each end, the cylinder was capped with a cone-shape. He held it up so it glistened in the light. He then put one end of the crystal into a circular hole in the latch and turned it clockwise. There was a popping sound and the latch disappeared.

He turned the next page, the first one to be unlocked, and found that instead of text, there was an image covering both pages:

The boy sleeping in a large device that resembles a flower that has yet to bloom. Below that, the scenery is replaced with a town filled with brown and orange buildings, the atmosphere washed with the warm radiance of the setting sun. There is a clock tower, with appendages on the roof holding bells at the ends. Right above the clock face, which is made up of a large circle that creates the space where the clock would be, only for the actual clock to be much smaller than the opening and attached to the upper-left edge of the opening, three characters sit on the ledge. The figures are wearing matching black coats with hoods. Each of them is holding a stick with a block of light-blue ice cream. The man on the left has red hair which is even spikier than the hero's hair. The girl on the right has black hair, and somewhat resembles the hero's female friend. The scholar noticed that she appeared to be transparent. He doubted that she was always a phantom. What happened to the girl? he wondered. Putting that question aside, he turned his attention to the boy in the middle. His left eyebrow shot up.

The boy in the middle was the spitting image of the hero from the previous chapter. He was not an exact clone, but the similarities were unmistakable. The scholar could tell that this boy had his own legend to tell, but it would merely be a side-story to set up this great chapter in history.

Much like the tale of how and why the hero of light went to sleep.

The scholar placed two fingers on the top image, and the room was once again filled with mist, and he saw the events that transpired in a mysterious castle.

One scene stuck in his mind. The spiky-haired boy and his two companions converse with a blond-haired girl. The girl is wearing a one-piece sleeveless dress that goes partway down her thighs, as well as a pair of light-blue sandals. They are standing outside of the sleeping pod that the boy is to be sleeping in.

"To remember again, we have to sleep in that?"

"Yes. It's going to take a little time, but I'll take care of you."

"Gawrsh, when we wake up, we won't remember who you are anymore…"

A small green creature wearing a well-kept suit climbed out of the boy's hood and stood up on his shoulder. He was carrying a book that seemed small to humans but normal-sized to him. "Don't worry about that. I'll just make a big note in my journal. And it will say, 'Thank Naminé'."

"Oh, good. That makes me feel better."

"Well, good night then, Naminé."

"Good night, Goofy." With that, the boy's companions leave to find their own sleeping chambers. "You too, Sora."

"Okay."

"All of this may have started with a lie… but I really am glad that I can meet you, Sora."

"Yeah, me too. When I finally found you, and even when I remembered your name, I was happy. The way I felt then— that was no lie."

"Goodbye."

"No, not goodbye! When I wake up, I'll find you. And then there will be no lies. We're gonna be friends for real. Promise me, Naminé."

"You're going to forget making that promise."

"If the chain of memories comes apart, the links will still be there, right? So the memory of our promise will always be inside me somewhere. I'm sure of it."

"Yeah, you're right. Okay, it's a promise."

"Good. Until later."

They step up to each other, link pinky fingers, and shake on it. The boy waves goodbye and jumps into the sleeping pod.

"A promise… Huh… Sora, some of your memories' links are deep in the shadows of your heart and I won't be able to find them. But don't worry. You made another promise to someone who you could never replace." The pod's "petals" begin to close. "She is your light. The light within the darkness. Remember her, and all the memories lost in the shadows of your heart will come into the light."

"Another promise…"

"Look at the good luck charm. I changed its shape when I changed your memory— But when you thought of her just once, it went back to the way it was."

The boy removes a star-shaped trinket from his pocket. It is constructed from shells and stitched together with string. A piece of paper cut into the shape of a crown is stuck into the middle between the five shells. There is a sketch at the tip of one of the shells: a smiling face with bits of brown at the very tip, signifying hair. A length of string loops around off of that end. The boy studies it, working to remember the friend who gave it to him.

Just then, the pod closes shut. The boy holds his trinket close to his heart as memories of his friends begin to come back into focus.

Yes, that was why the hero went to sleep. His memories had been taken apart due to a villainous plot, but he was put to sleep to repair the memories when the villain was defeated.

However, by the scholar's calculations, the restoration process should have only taken a few months at most. So why did it take the better part of a year? He looked down at the picture of the three figures on the clock tower. Perhaps, he thought, their tale might hold the answer. He placed his fingers on the bottom image, and he was shown images from their story.

In that same town, in front of a train station to which the clock tower is attached, the young man in the coat is stumbling, exhausted and dazed, while his female friend collapses to her knees and stares at the ground, weak.

"Who are you… again? It's weird. I feel like I'm forgetting something really important."

"You'll be… better off now… Roxas." She collapses, but the boy stoops down to catch her. Her body begins to dissolve into crystal flakes, fluttering up toward the sky.

"Am I… the one who did this to you?"

"No… It was my choice… to go away now. Better than, than do nothing… and let Xemnas have his way. I belong with Sora. And now, I am going back… to be with him. Roxas… I need you… to do me a favor. All those hearts that I've captured… Kingdom Hearts… Set them free."

"Kingdom Hearts… Free them?"

The girl's feet begin to be covered in ice, the frost crystallizing around her boots and up her legs. "It's too late… for me to undo my mistakes. But you can't let Xemnas… have Kingdom Hearts… You can't. Good-bye, Roxas. See you again. I'm glad… I got to meet you. Oh… and of course, Axel, too. You're both my best friends. Never forget. That's the truth."

The boy's eyes turn from confusion and uncertainty to recognition, and he remembers who the girl is. "No! Xion… Who else will I have ice cream with?"

The girl freezes up completely, with spikes of ice growing out of her body, before it all dissolves into specks of light which float away. When she is gone, the boy sees a single shell, much like the ones in the hero's good luck charm. He picks it up, and a tear runs down his cheek.

"Xion…"

Next, the scholar saw a city enveloped in darkness, the night sky shrouding everything. The only light comes from massive projector screens attached to the top of a skyscraper. Rain is pouring down, sparing nothing from the sheets of water droplets. The streets are overrun with shadow monsters, each one the size of a human, with pulsing veins running along their arms, legs and head. Two long horns extend from the back of each head, then turn down at a sharp angle near the tips. A figure steps out of an alleyway. He is wearing a black coat, with the hood pulled up so the shadows conceal his face. In each hand he holds one of the unique weapons, one looking different than the other. As he treads along, more shadow monsters materialize and climb out of the ground behind him. Soon enough, he is surrounded. Another figure stands on top of the skyscraper. He also wears a black coat, but the hood is left down. The figure has long silver hair. He wears a black felt blindfold over his eyes, but is nonetheless aware of the other character's arrival. The shadows take notice of the hooded newcomer and run toward him. The first to reach him raises its clawed hand to strike, but the newcomer cuts it down with his black weapon. The monster explodes into a cloud of shadow, which dissipates into oblivion within one second. Next, the warrior cleaves through three shadow creatures with his white weapon, then proceeds to slay each and every one of the creatures.

The hooded figure looks up and notices the blindfolded man. Dodging the lunging shadows, he dashes up to the skyscraper, jumps up past the entrance threshold, and runs vertically up the front of the building. He throws the black weapon in his right hand up to the blindfolded man, who leaps off of the top of the skyscraper and catches the sword. The man gasps as he is overcome with memories of the black-haired girl. The hooded warrior senses the man's recognition. As he runs up and the other falls down, they cross paths in front of the building's primary screen. He lands on top of the skyscraper while the other man lands on his feet in the street. The blindfolded man is almost immediately surrounded by the shadow monsters. The hooded man jumps down to join him and together they vanquish all of the shadows. They then take notice of each other and jump backwards to create some distance between them.

"Who are you?"

"What does it matter? I'm here for you."

"Why are you trying to stop me?"

"Because I want back the rest of Sora's memories."

"Sora!? Enough about Sora!"

"Do you have some kind of plan?"

"I'll set Kingdom Hearts free! Then everything can be the way it was! She'll come back… and the three of us can be together again!"

"You mean Xion. It's a struggle just to remember the name now… Either way, I can't let you go do anything crazy."

"I'm freeing Kingdom Hearts, and I'm going to find Sora! I want Xion back. I want my life back!"

"If you try and make contact with Kingdom Hearts, the last thing you'll get is your life back. The Organization will destroy you!"

"Enough!"

The hooded man with the white weapon charges toward the blindfolded man with the black weapon. They fight fiercely, but the hooded man is able to knock his opponent down. The blindfolded man drops his weapon beside him when he lands on his back. He pushes himself up so he is in a sitting position, facing his adversary.

"Why? Why do you have the Keyblade?"

"Shut up!" The hooded man strikes at his foe, but the blindfolded man picks up his weapon and deflects the blow, tossing the hooded man backwards. The warrior's hood falls down, exposing the face of the boy who resembles the hero. He lands on his back, stunned.

The blindfolded man approaches him. He throws his weapon at the ground next to the boy's head, embedding it a few inches into the asphalt.

The boy awakens and grabs the black weapon out of the ground. He charges at his foe. The blindfolded man conjures an orb of bluish-black fire and throws it, but the boy deflects it and swings his weapon at his enemy, who jumps out of the way.

"Why don't you quit?"

After a pause, the blindfolded man smirks and taunts the boy. "Come on, Sora. I thought you were stronger than that."

Confused by the quip, the boy replies. "Get real. Look which one of us is winning." He gasps in surprise, wondering where that came from.

"So it's true. You really are his Nobody. Guess DiZ was right after all."

"What are you talking about? I am me! Nobody else!" He calls forth his white weapon into his left hand to wield alongside the black weapon, and runs toward his foe, enraged. He strikes. The blindfolded man conjures an energy shield to block him, but the boy's attack is so strong that he is pushed backward, causing him to groan in irritation and fall to one knee. "How many times do I have to beat you?"

"All right. You've left me with no other choice."

"What?"

"I have to release the power in my heart— the dark power that I've been holding back." The man unties and drops his blindfold. "Even… if it changes me forever."

The man calls forth a great pillar of dark power to envelop him. He levitates a few inches off of the ground as the transformation occurs. When the aura dissipates, a larger man with darker skin floats in his place. He is still wearing the black coat and he retained his blue eyes, but otherwise he looks like the enemy that the hero and his companions fought months before. A hulking black monster with horns sticking out of its head horizontally floats behind him. The monster is covered in long streams of bandages.

The man and the monster teleport and reappear immediately in front of the boy. The monster grabs the boy with one massive hand and lifts him up, squeezing. The boy screams in agony and drops his weapons, which dematerialize upon hitting the ground.

"I have accepted it." The monster drops the unconscious young man, letting him lie on the ground.

The scholar removed his fingers from the book, and the mist and images dissipated. Now he understood why the hero had been out of action for a year, why nobody had heard anything from him. These episodes with the castle and the boy in the black coat answered his questions.

Now it was time to read the rest of this new chapter.

He turned the page and placed his hand upon the open pages. Just like before, the text came to life and swirled around him, and mist filled the library. Moving images materialized, and he studied them intently.

A blank white room. Its walls are covered with crayon drawings. In the middle of the room is a plain white table with a chair at either end. A young man, the boy who fought in the dark city, stands at the door, looking around at the drawings. He is no longer wearing his black coat, but rather two layers of zip-up tee-shirts, the black shirt zipped up all the way and the white shirt with a red collar and a two-row checkered pattern across the chest and shoulders on top left open, slacks that are black at the top but tan in the legs, and a pair of grey sneakers with red straps. A blond girl in a white dress, taller than she was in the earlier vision but otherwise unchanged, is standing next to the chair on the right. The boy notices a sketch, hung directly to the left of the window, of a young man in a black coat with light-brown hair— depicting him —and a similarly-dressed taller man with spiky red hair, together on the right side of the page, with two other figures, drawn to be further away, with their details hard to make out, standing on the left side.

"This is… me? And Axel's here too."

"You ARE best friends."

"Very funny."

"Don't you want to know the truth about who you really are?"

"No one knows me better than me."

"Of course…"

"But… I don't get what's been happening lately." He walks to the other side of the window and examines a sketch of a spiky-haired boy standing next to two people with odd-looking faces, one of which is taller than the boy and dressed in green and yellow while the other is shorter than the boy and dressed in blue.

"You know these three, don't you?"

"Yeah. Sora, Donald, and Goofy. They're from the dreams."

"About a year ago… some things happened, and I had to take apart the memories chained together in Sora's heart. But now… I'm putting them all back exactly the way they were. It's taken me a long time, but pretty soon Sora will be his old self again. The process has been affecting you too, Roxas."

"You mean… the dreams?"

"Yes… You and Sora are connected. And… in order for Sora to become completely whole again…" the girl gestures to a back-view sketch of the spiky-haired boy and the boy in the black coat standing next to each other. "He needs you."

"Me? What for?"

"You hold half of what he is… He needs you, Roxas."

"Naminé?"

The girl gestures for him to sit in the nearby chair. He complies, and she then walks over to sit in the opposite chair.

"Naminé, who are you?"

"I'm a witch with power over Sora's memories and those around him."

"A witch?"

"That's what DiZ called me. But I don't know why I have this power… I just do. I'm not even sure there's a right way for me to use it."

"Hmm… I can't help you there. It's funny… Suddenly I feel like I don't know myself at all… I guess I would like to know. What do you know about me… that I don't?"

"You… you were never supposed to exist, Roxas."

"What…? How could you even say such a thing… even if it were true?"

"I'm sorry. I guess some things… really are better left unsaid."

A blank white room with the hero's sleeping pod in the center. The young man enters the room and begins to approach the pod. A man in red and black robes with bandages covering his face stands between him and the pod. His arms are crossed behind his back.

"At last, the Keyblade's chosen one."

"Who are you talking to? Me? Or Sora?"

"To half of Sora, of course. You reside in darkness. What I need is someone who can move about the realm of light and destroy Organization XIII."

"Why? Who are you?"

"I am a servant of the world." He laughed to himself. "And if I'm a servant, then you should consider yourself a tool, at best."

"Was that… Was that supposed to be a joke? 'Cause I'm not laughing!" He summoned the special weapon, this time resembling the one that the hero used, and charged at the bandaged man. He sliced through him while still running, but he passed right through him. The image of the bandaged man flickered briefly with glowing white rectangles floating around it. The boy looked back at the image, not hiding his surprise, but he quickly reverted to an expression of rage.

"My apologies. This is only a data-based projection."

The boy turned his head upward and screamed in anger, then continued to slash right through the hologram until he was too tired to keep attacking. The hologram disappeared in a swirling field of glowing digits and reappeared a few feet behind him.

"Come, over here."

The boy turned to glare at the figure. "I hate you so much!"

"You should share some of that hatred with Sora. He's far too nice for his own good."

"No! My heart belongs to me!" He struck out at the hologram, but it disappeared as he got to it.

The boy looked up at the pod as it lit up and opened. Steam poured out from the machine as the "petals" in front came to a halt, exposing what was inside. The boy could see a sleeping figure floating inside the pod. The hero had certainly grown a few inches since he went to sleep.

"Sora… You're lucky. Looks like my summer vacation is… over."

A cliff of purple and black stone, overlooking a large canyon. In the middle of that canyon stands a fortress of seven stone towers lined with machinery. On the outer face of the tower in front, there is an image of the insignia that can be seen on many of the shadow monsters. A grey-haired man in a black coat stands at the edge of the cliff. The hero and his companions, along with a short character with two large circles for ears wearing clothes similar to the hero's first costume and wielding a differently-colored version of the hero's special weapon, approach the man.

The shorter character addresses the grey-haired man. "Xehanort!"

"How long has it been since I abandoned that name?"

"Out with it, Nobody! Where's Kairi? Where's Riku!?"

"I know nothing of any Kairi. As for Riku… perhaps you should ask your King."

The hero looks to the small king in confusion, but he is preoccupied with the man conjuring a dark portal to escape. "Stop!" The king chases after him and disappears into the portal along with him. The portal disappears, much to the hero's dismay.

"He's gone." The hero falls back onto his rear and starts punching at the ground in grief. His taller companion places a supporting hand on his shoulder.

"Sora, Goofy."

"Way to fall right into their trap." The hero and his friends turn to see where the voice came from and find a man with spiky red hair leaning against a rock wall. He is wearing a black coat similar to the mysterious man that the king pursued into the darkness. Beneath each green eye is a purple tattoo in the shape of an upside-down teardrop. The trio steps up to the man and gets into a fighting stance.

"C'mon, it's a set-up by Organization XIII. Xemnas is using you to destroy the Heartless— that's his big master plan."

"Xemnas?"

"The guy you just saw. He's their leader. Got it memorized? X-E-M, N-A-S."

"Organization XIII wants to get rid of the Heartless?"

"Man, you're slow. Every Heartless slain with that Keyblade releases a captive heart. That is what the Organization is after."

"So what are those guys gonna do with the hearts?"

"I'm not telling."

"Tell us!"

"You… you're the one who kidnapped Kairi!"

"Bingo. The name's Axel. Got it memorized?"

"Where is Kairi?" At this, the stranger's confidence falters, and his expression betrays a sense of guilt. "Please. Just tell me!"

"Look, about Kairi… I'm sorry."

"Axel." The red-headed man's guard goes up upon hearing the new voice. A blue-haired man with an X-shaped scar on his face materializes in front of him. He is also wearing a black coat.

"Uh-oh!" The redhead teleports away. The hero runs up to stop him, but the blue-haired man puts his arm out as a gesture telling him to stop.

"We'll ensure he receives the maximum punishment," the newcomer informs the hero.

"I don't care about any of that! Just let me into the realm of darkness, okay!?"

"If it's Kairi you're worried about, don't. We're taking very good care of her."

"Take me to her."

"Is she that important to you?"

"Yeah. More than anything."

"Show me how important."

The hero dejectedly gets down on his knees and plants his hands on the ground, much to his companions' shock. "Please."

"So you really do care for her. In that case— the answer's no."

The hero immediately jumps back up onto his feet. His fists are clenched in rage. "You rotten…!"

"Are you angry? Do you hate me? Then take that rage and direct it at the Heartless." The blue-haired man snaps his fingers, causing four of the shadow monsters, resembling armor-clad knights, to appear behind him. The hero and his companions bare their weapons, ready for a fight. "Pitiful Heartless, mindlessly collecting hearts. And yet they know not the true power of what they hold. The rage of the Keyblade releases those hearts. They gather in darkness, masterless and free… until they weave together to make Kingdom Hearts. And when that time comes we can truly, finally exist."

A new voice joins the conversation. "What in the world do you think you're prattling on about?" The horned witch in the black robe materializes in a flare of green fire. "Kingdom Hearts belongs to me! The heart of all kingdoms, the heart of all that lives. A dominion fit to be called Kingdom Hearts must be MY dominion!"

"Maleficent, no! No more Heartless!"

"I do not take orders from you!" With a wave of her scepter, five smaller shadow monsters appear around the blue-haired man.

"Fool." The man snaps his fingers and summons a five white, semi-humanoid monsters which immediately strike down the shadow monsters. The white monsters turn toward the hero, but the witch teleports in front of him and conjures up a wall of green flame to separate the heroes from the man and the monsters.

"While I keep these creatures at bay, you devise a way to vanquish them—forever!"

"Maleficent!"

Two of the white monsters jump on the witch, wrapping themselves around her.

"Do not misunderstand me. I shall have my revenge on you yet." More of the monsters lunge at her, tackling her to the ground.

"Maleficent!"

"Leave! Now!"

"I don't take orders from you!" The hero starts to run to the witch's aid but his smaller companion grabs him by the wrist to stop him.

"Sora, c'mon!"

"But… what about…" But when he looks back, the witch has disappeared under a pile of monsters. Her wall of fire dies down.

"Now then. Where did we leave off?" The blue-haired man snaps his fingers, and the white monsters disappear, instead replaced by knight-type shadows and shadows that resemble floating robots with guns for hands.

"Which side are you guys on anyway?"

"The Heartless ally with whoever's the strongest." To demonstrate, he throws his hand out, bidding the monsters to attack.

The hero strikes down two of the monsters, but stops when he notices two glowing hearts floating up into the sky.

"Yes, Sora. Extract more hearts." The blue-haired man conjures a dark portal around himself and disappears.

The hero watches as the two freed hearts are enveloped in shadows and vanish. "No! The hearts!"

An open-air skyway made of some kind of white-silver metal. Lines running along the floor light up with a white color scrolling down the line. The skyway looks out onto a night sky, in which a massive heart-shaped moon floats. The moon does not appear to be too far off into the distance. A tall man wearing red and black robes is hunched over a complex machine halfway up the skyway. The machine stands on three legs and has a laser gun-type apparatus attached to the top, and is firing a green beam of light into the center of the moon. The mouse king is standing beside the man. The laser beam starts crackling, unstable. The machine also begins to shake uncontrollably in the man's grip.

"Ansem?"

The man chuckles. "I'm a fool. I've spent years studying the workings of the heart. Yet it seems I still haven't learned a thing!"

"What d'ya mean?"

"The process of encoding hearts is incalculable. The inhabitants of my Twilight Town were data created from real hearts. I was convinced that they would think and behave the way I had envisioned— but I couldn't have been more wrong. A heart is so much more than any system. I saw it when Roxas and Kairi crossed paths. I knew. But I was too stubborn to accept it. It's always the same. I try to wrap my mind around things my heart already knows, only to fail. While I was trying to bring Sora back, I had so many plans in store. But once Sora was an acting force, they fell apart. All my research amounted to nothing, compared to that one boy's heart."

The machine begins to emit sparks of uncontrollable electricity. "Ansem! The machine!"

"All the more proof that hearts cannot be contained by data. Run, my friend! It's going to self-destruct, and anything could happen."

"But…"

"Your Majesty!" The hero, followed by his anthropomorphic animal companions, the dark-skinned and blue-eyed man in the black coat, and the hero's female friend, runs up the skyway ramp, approaching the man and the mouse king.

The man turns to face the hero. "Sora, the rest is up to you. And Roxas— I doubt you can hear me— but… I am sorry."

"Ansem!"

"My heart is telling me what I must do. Please allow me to do what it says!"

"No!" The dark-skinned man approaches the mouse king and reaches down to tap him on the arm. The mouse king turns to face him. "Riku!"

"His heart's decided. We can't change that."

They both turn in the direction of a newcomer, materializing in a dark portal. It is the grey-haired man whom the hero had confronted on the cliff. The man was facing toward the heart-shaped moon.

"I was wondering who would dare interfere with my Kingdom Hearts. And look— Here you all are. How convenient for me. Ansem the Wise… You look pathetic."

"Have your laugh. I deserve as much for failing to see you for the fool you are."

"Students do take after their teachers. Only a fool would be your apprentice. After all, none of this would have happened without you. YOU are the source of all Heartless. It was your research that inspired me to go further than you ever dared."

"I admit… My disregard brought chaos to more worlds than one. But what were YOU seeking? You erased me from the world, only to take my name and continue research better left forgotten… Is this the answer you've been looking for?"

"All that and more. I'm carrying on what you yourself began, and I'm creating a brand new world, one heart at a time. I thought you'd praise me, but all you ever do is hold me back. I understand though. Unlike me, you have a heart. And you're powerless to control it. Consumed, by the jealousy you feel toward the student who surpassed you."

"Xehanort. Foolish apprentice of a foolish man. You have surpassed nothing— only proved how little we both know. We may profess to know the heart, but its essence is beyond our reach. We're both ignorant— as oblivious as when we began. I'm afraid that any world that you try to create…" The man turns back to glare at the grey-haired man in the eyes. "Any world of yours… would be an empire of ignorance. That is why you and your creation are destined to fall!

"We've said enough! Riku, you know what to do! King Mickey, my friend, forgive me! Farewell!"

A blinding light bursts from the device. The hero runs to the man's aid, but his transformed friend blocks his path and shields him and the others from the blast. The machine explodes, sending up a pillar of light. Another blinding light envelops the skyway.

The heart-shaped moon was broken, a large part of the front face having exploded off, exposing a vortex of black and purple energy. Hearts descend through the air. As they approach the ground, many of the white monsters wave their arms about like children surrounded by fluttering confetti, as if attempting to catch them. As the hearts touch the ground, they disappear into orbs of darkness, from which shadow monsters form.

The six heroes lie on the ground, dazed. The silver-haired villain has already vanished. Five of them come to, and the hero sees that his best friend, still unmoving, looks different from the way he was a moment ago. He runs over to check on him as he starts to get back up. The hero is relieved to see that his friend has somehow regained his true form. He is still wearing the black coat, but he also is wearing a black blindfold. His other friends take notice and surround him in awe. The friend realizes that his vision is obscured by the blindfold, and he understands what just happened.

"Ansem did say 'anything could happen'…"

The hero notices that his friend has not touched his blindfold. "Riku, you gonna take that off?"

"Oh." With one hand tugging on the front, the silver-haired young man removes his blindfold and opens his eyes.

"What was that?"

The mouse king approaches them and joins the conversation. "His eyes couldn't lie."

"Lie? And who were you trying to fool? Huh? Huhhh?"

"Myself."

"Riku… C'mon, man! Why did you try to do so much on your own?" The hero runs towards their four other friends, turns around, and spreads his arms out, gesturing to the assembled group. "You've got friends… like us!" All five of them grinned in agreement.

"Have you forgotten? I'll tell you why. 'Cause I'm not a total sap like you!"

"Say that again!"

The cheerful conversation is interrupted when they all notice the broken moon. They then look down off the balcony and see a legion of shadows on the lower platform, crawling up the castle at surprising speed.

"What should we do, Riku?"

"We must defeat Xemnas. He's the Organization's last survivor."

"Right!"

The silver-haired man tears off his black coat and threw it to the wind, revealing his white-and-yellow short-sleeved zip-up shirt, black undershirt and blue jeans underneath. The black color of his shoes burns away, turning them into grey sneakers. All six heroes march up the skyway to confront their foe.

At the highest point of the castle, on a circular platform where the grey-haired man in the black coat stands.

"Ohh…my Kingdom Hearts…ruined. Now I'll have to start all over again. Warriors of the Keyblade! Go forth and bring me more hearts!"

"No!" The hero, his silver-haired friend and the mouse king summon their weapons and point them at the grey-haired man.

"Denizens of light, answer this: Why do you hate the darkness?"

"Aw, we don't hate it. It's just kinda… scary. But the world's made of light AND darkness. You can't have one without the other, 'cause darkness is half of everything. Sorta makes you wonder why we're scared of the dark."

"It's because of who's lurking inside it."

"Then allow me another question. You accept darkness, yet choose to live in the light. So why is it that you loathe us who teeter on the edge of nothing? We who were turned away by both light and dark— never given a choice?"

"That's simple. It's because you mess up our worlds."

"That may be… However, what other choice might we have had?"

"Just give it a rest! You're Nobodies! You don't even exist! You're not sad about anything!"

"The man in the coat laughs. "Very good. You don't miss a thing. I can not feel—sorrow… No matter what misery befalls the worlds. No matter what you think, no matter what you feel, or how you exist." He raises his arms and calls up an aura of energy, conjuring a blinding light. The hero covers his eyes, and when he can see once again, he is in what appears to be the square in front of the skyscraper in the dark city below. However, when he looks around he sees a floating gray aura encircling the area, and he realizes that he is in an illusion created by his opponent.

The man stands in front of the hero to taunt him before disappearing to the top of the skyscraper. The hero summons his weapon and runs up to the door, vaulting over the porch and jumping up to the wall above the entrance. His feet connect with the side of the building and he makes a vertical dash up to meet his enemy. The man in the coat reveals a pair of red energy staves sticking out of his sleeves and jumps from his perch and descends upside down until he meets the hero halfway down. The hero lashes out, connecting blows with the man multiple times until he manages to land a solid hit and knocks him out of the air. The fierce duel continues, and the hero dodges blasts of energy and parries laser blade strikes as he moves in for the assault. The grey-haired man conjured an energy wall to block the charge, but the hero simply jumped over the eight-foot panel of solid light and threw his weapon down at his foe, connecting hard with his shoulder. The two fought hard, and in the end the hero won the duel, knocking his enemy onto his back. A dark aura materialized around the man and he disappeared. Moments later, the illusion fell, and the hero was once again standing on the highest point of the tower, surrounded by his friends.

But that was not the end of the final battle. First, the hero and his friends had to face their foe as he tried to appropriate the power which he had been scheming to harness, and then, when most of the party were heading home, thinking that the battle was over, the hero and his silver-haired friend had to face off against the grey-haired man, who was at that point more powerful than ever. In the end, the two friends prevailed against their enemy and they were finally allowed to return home.

The scholar smirked in satisfaction. The worlds are no longer divided by impassable barriers and there are no crises that will impede his agenda.

He closed the book and carried it back over to the bookcase, sliding it neatly back into place. He then stepped over to a bookcase against the wall. He pulled a book halfway out of the shelf, hooked his fingers into a notch carved into the cover, and pulled it to the left, sliding the "bookcase" to the side and revealing a passage in the wall. He stepped through and entered a large section open to several floors going all the way through every floor of the castle. Metal platforms are set up at every level. There are no railings, but force fields keep people from falling off. The scholar steps up to a floating spiked object floating above a spire poking out of the floor. He waved his hand in front of the object and it glowed with red electricity. A bronze platform appeared just outside of the force field. Energy bubbles surged around it and also blurred the scholar's vision, and one second later he is standing on the circular platform, facing in the direction where he just was.

The platform began to rise, following a course set by a laser path which the platform electromagnetically follows. The scholar waited patiently, watching the floors go by, until he finally reached his destination. The energy bubbles appeared again, blurring his vision, and he is suddenly standing on the lift stop, facing the elevator platform once again. He left through the passageway directly behind him and stepped out onto the High Tower. He stared off to the horizon, watching the people of his world go about their daily tasks. The townsfolk, appearing to be smaller than ants, sell their goods, socialize, and bludgeon the occasional shadow monster with a large stick or a fancy sword. He looked even further, staring beyond the empty expanse of cliffs and ravines until his eyes settled on a series of decrepit towers standing in a circle.

One thing which the scholar has learned from Historia Omnia is that there are many who desire power, and are willing to use dark means to achieve it. Perhaps they will be easy to draw to his side, and they will follow him to the end.

He turned his head up to the sky and stares in what he knows to be the general direction of a certain world.

What a noble and brave young man, he thought to himself. Such determination to fight for what he believes in. I have a feeling that we may have had much in common. It is a shame that we must meet as enemies.

The scholar turned back around to return to his study.