The sun shined brightly into the tree house once again, but this time Ren didn't need Kairi to wake him from his slumber. The excitement of finishing the raft was all he needed to get him started on the day, and he quickly left the tree house to join up with Riku and Kairi, who were securing the logs of the raft together with water-proof rope that Riku brought to the island, along with a cloth for a sail. After about an hour, the three of them had fully assembled the raft together, though admittedly Kairi mostly supervised the two boys as they did most of the heavy lifting.

"Since we got the raft fully assembled, we can go as soon as we gather enough food", Riku declared. "Though we might need to wait until tomorrow. I'll have Sora do most of the gathering, but I might have you help a bit, Ren, if you don't mind."

"Considering he might only gather the bare minimum, it's probably better I help out", Ren admitted, laughing a bit. He was very cheery today, the thought of leaving the island forever giving him hope and happiness for the first time in a while, even if deep down he knew that a raft probably wasn't going to get them anywhere. He even gave Riku a friendly pat on the back, as he walked off to explore the island and gather as much natural food as he could find, though he got the feeling one of them was going to have to go back to the mainland and get some food somewhere else.

Suddenly, Ren felt dizzy, and quickly leaned against a tree to prevent himself from falling over. This did not help though, and he tightly shut his eyes before falling onto the sand, but for some reason the sandy feeling on his arms never came. In fact, Ren felt like he was standing up again. Ren opened his eyes and gasped, finding himself surrounded by nothing but pitch, black void. When he looked down, he found an image of himself on a stain-glass platform, with two, black circles that seemed to be missing something, though what they were missing Ren was unsure. The other, mysterious thing about this stain-glass platform was that it seemed to be both black and white, swirling together as if melding into a single color, though not quite enough that a third color could be seen yet.

Your journey is about to begin…

"Who's there!?" Ren shouted, glaring up at the sky.

There is no need to be afraid, for your heart already knows the way.

"My… heart?" Ren asked, confused. "What good is that thing?"

It is everything. Now, step forward. Can you do it?

What kind of question is that?, Ren thought to himself, effortlessly stepping forward before suddenly he stopped, being started by a stone pillar emerging from the ground. Embedded in the top of it was a sword, a dark grey handle with a purple, glistening eye-looking gem with a black cat-like pupil at guard of the handle, separating it from a blade which shinned metallic silver on the outer, cutting edge, with a neutral grey middle, which wasn't quite as dark as the handle itself.

"A sword?" Ren asked, hoping the disembodied voice would respond.

The sword your heart calls out for. Your heart is half light and half dark. Twilight, a perfect balance of Light and Dark. The blade is meant for you, for it is your destiny to wield it.

I don't know what this voice is talking about, but I guess i should draw the sword, Ren thought, stepping up to the stone pillar and reaching out, grasping the blade handle and tugging up. The blade didn't even resist, effortlessly being freed from the stone, which instantly vanished.

Suddenly, Ren found himself surrounded by black, ant like creatures that seemed to emerge from the ground out of nowhere, their glowing yellow eyes locked onto him in hunger. Ren took a moment to allow himself to be shocked, but it didn't last long as one of the creatures lunged for him. His reflexes kicked in, his sparing sessions with Sora and Riku having trained him, and he sliced the shadowy creature in half instantly, causing it to evaporate. Ren quickly dispatched the other creatures as well, and after about ten of them were slain no more appeared.

"Is that it?" Ren asked, looking up. "I thought there'd be more."

Then, a feeling a dread surrounded him, and as he turned around, he wished he didn't say anything. A large, black creature had appeared behind him, a muscular figure and tentacles for hair, a giant hole in his chest resembling an elongated heart. The creature swung his massive arm, and Ren had to dive to the side to avoid the attack. Ren stood up and slashed the creature's massive arm, though it only left a scratch as he lifted his arm back above his head, before punching the ground, barely missing Ren who dodged to the side. Five more ant creatures came from the ground, appearing from the portal his fist made upon hitting the ground. The creatures were no match for his sword, and he got a few hits in on the giant figure too. It rose it's arm up again, but this time Ren was ready. Leaping into the air, he jumped from the arm, then onto the creatures head, and with a mighty swing sliced through the creature's head a few times. Suddenly, the creature exploded into darkness, surrounding Ren and swallowing him until there was nothing left of his body, and all he knew was black.

"Ren! Wake up!" Ren's eyes snapped open, and the sandy feeling on his arms hit his brain. Ren groaned, sitting up to see a girl with a yellow sundress standing above him, with brown hair and brown eyes.

"Selphie… hey", Ren muttered, sitting up.

"Are you ok?" Selphie asked, looking concerned at him.

"Eh, guess I just took a nap, that's all", Ren replied, standing up fully and brushing the sand off his clothes. "Though I don't even remember the last time I ate, maybe I just need some food."

"You seemed to be having a nightmare", Selphie stated, watching as he dusted himself off. "You kept moaning and groaning in your sleep."

"Selphie, I'm fine, I promise", Ren dismissed her with a hand wave. "Well, I will be fine, once I get some food in my stomach. Tell ya what, to prove it, I'll take on you, Tidus and Waka at the same time after I get some grub."

At this, Selphie had to laugh. "Are you serious? Even Riku struggled to take on all three of us at the same time! You sure you got this one?"

"Positive", Ren smirked. "I'll even take out Tidus last! If Riku can beat you three fighting him all at once, then so can I."

"Bold claim", Selphie declared, "But alright! Don't say I didn't warn you though!"

XxXxXxX

Alina signed as she flipped the page in the spell book she was reading, the lamp by her table flickering a little due to the age of the bulb inside of it. She couldn't concentrate that well, constantly looking out the window towards the castle, looking for any signs of activity, though the castle exterior seemed to be silent other then the two front guards.

"Miss Alina, would you care for a snack?" Gamma asked, walking over to her with a plate filled with cheese and crackers. Suddenly, a sharp three knocks sounded on the door, and before either of the two could move the door opened and a guard walked in, looking around tensely at both the girl and the robot before sighing. "I'm sorry, Alina", the guard hesitated before holding out a tattered chunk of a blue robe, covered in blood stains that Alina just knew wasn't Garland's. "This is all we could recover before Garland unleashed his assault on us."

"If there was no body, then there might be a chance", Gamma replied.

"Something is telling me not to be optimistic here, Gamma", replied the royal knight, clearly indicating he knew more, but did not wish to reveal anything.

Alina only stared in silence at the chunk of the robe, tears falling from her eyes. Silently, she had prayed and hoped that Garland couldn't defeat her master, but now she had to face the reality that her master was no match for Garland, and now he paid the ultimate price for attempting it. Suddenly, a flash of light shined from her hand, and a white staff appeared in her grasp. Gems adored the staff, all red in color, one at the base end of the staff, and three more at the head, with a large, red orb at the top where the staff was pointed at the top. "Right… I'll return later, but don't wait up!"

"Alina, stand down", the guard ordered, putting a hand on her shoulder as she stood up, with Gamma grabbing her wrist. "You cannot let your emotions rule over you. Garland is too powerful for you to handle."

"But-"

"Think for a moment, child", a voice came from the other room. Everyone turned to see an elderly woman with a cane walk into the room, her piercing blue eyes looking directly at her, her blue robe wrinkled in a few places just like her skin. "If Garland could defeat your master, then do you really think you stand a chance against him? You'd be walking into your own grave."

"Grandma…" Alina muttered, tears welling up in her eyes. "I-I can't just s-sit here and do nothing."

"Your master would not want you going there", the grandma stated, smiling sweetly at her grandchild. "Greve as you need, but do not throw the long life you have ahead of you for revenge."

Alina began to sob uncontrollably, her staff being dismissed in another flash of light. She run over and threw her arms out, hugging her grandmother tightly, who wrapped her arms around her and pulled her close. The guard only nodded, taking his leave as Gamma closed the door behind him. Gamma looked at the window after the royal knight, before turning to the teenager and her grandmother. "Garland will be brought to justice. I will try and join the next strike team against him. The creator might recommend to send me, Alpha and Beta anyway. Since we are robots, we cannot be killed and can be recreated if necessary."

"D-do you think you can take him?" Alina asked, staring at Gamma.

Gamma didn't reply for a moment, only looking out the window for a few minutes before finally letting out a small sigh. "That remains to be seen."

XxXxXxX

"D-damn, Ren, when did you get so good?"

Ren smirked, holding his wooden sword and looking down at Tidus, Waka and Selphie. All three of the children were panting with exhaustion, beads of sweat dripping from them as they weakly attempted to get back on their feet. Tidus was the first to get back on his feet, putting his stick over his shoulder and smiling at the older boy. The other two also finally stood, Waka holding his ball underneath his arm and giving a sigh as Selphie frowned at her jump rope, which was currently tangled up from the fight.

"You might even be good enough to take on Sora and Riku", Waka admitted, shrugging a little. "Not at the same time, mind you, but one on one…"

"Sora, maybe", Selphie admitted, finally getting her jump rope untangled. "But I am not sure about Riku, since… well, he's probably the strongest on the island."

"I dunno about that one", Ren twirled his sword a bit, looking at the three other kids. "Riku might be King of the Island, but for all we know, I might be better then him now."

"Well, if you want to find out, go ahead and take him on", Tidus shrugged, grinning a little. "It would be interesting to see you two go at it again."

"Nah", Ren shook his head, looking up at where the sun is. "It's getting a bit late, and I'd rather save all my energy for tomorrow. We're probably finally going to go on the raft."

"Oh, you four are actually doing that?" Selphie asked, tilting her head. "Thought it was all part of a game… well, you think you really can go to another world with a raft?"

"Probably not", Ren admitted, staring over at the raft, which was complete with a cooler sitting by it, full of some food Sora and Riku had managed to acquire. "But worth a shot, isn't it? Besides, even if it doesn't work, it would be interesting to see what happens, and if it does work… well, I'm sure it'll be an amazing experience."

After bidding farewell to the three kids, Ren wondered back to the raft, lifting the cooler and looking inside. He didn't know what to expect, but even he had to admit the food they had gathered was not going to last them anymore then a single day. Thinking to himself that perhaps he should gather more food before they disembarked tomorrow, he shut the cooler lid and suddenly froze, looking over at the hole in the rocky cliffs where the secret place resided. He could sense something from the hole, but he knew that place was a secret between Sora, Riku and Kairi. As much as he just wanted to go in and see what could possibly be going on, he wasn't going to invade their personal business.

Ren sat down on the beach front and watched the sunset, his mind blank as he watched the glittering sea before him. Suddenly, a ting of guilt entered his mind. As much as he hated the island and his life here, there were a few things that he was going to miss should they succeed in making it to another world. First thing was the beautiful sunsets that he got to watch almost daily. The second was for sure going to be the breeze that came off the sea, which felt refreshing on his face, his eyes shutting as his hair blew around in the wind. He opened his eyes, suddenly realizing that he was lying on the ground and that night had fallen. Blinking, he sighed as he sat up, looking at the moon reflect off the water. After a few moments, he figured that he might as well begin packing the few belongings he had left to put into the gym bag that he had brought to the tree house, sitting up and stretching a bit.

Suddenly, the feeling he had gotten before entered his body again, but this time it wasn't coming from just the secret place, but instead seemed to be surrounding the entire island, almost suffocating him with it's presence. Despite the night providing barely any light, shadows suddenly began to appear on the ground, before seeming to rise forth and take the shape of black ants with glowing, yellow eyes. "T-the creatures from my dream!?" Ren shouted in shock, staring with disbelief. "I-I must still be dreaming!" However, he suddenly was lunged at, one of the creatures sinking his claws into his arm, as he cried out in pain. This wasn't a dream, the pain was all too real and unbelievable. More creatures suddenly dog piled him, as Ren began to struggle and squirm, but it was all in vain as he suddenly began to start sinking into a black void that appeared underneath him. This was it, he was going to die here and no one was around to figure out what happened to him. Deeper and deeper he sunk, and just as he finally accepted his fate, shutting his eyes and preparing to face whatever awaited him on the other side, he heard the voice again echo in his head.

You aren't giving up already, are you?

Why not?, he thought back. I am going to die anyway. It's not like I can pull that sword from my dream, right?

You would be surprised what you can do if you put your mind to it. After all, what are dreams but windows to opportunities. Search your heart, I'd think you would find that the power you need to get out of this situation already is with you.

Ren didn't know what this voice in his head was talking about, but now that it was mentioned, he could almost feel a presence deep inside of him. Ren reached out mentally, and suddenly found himself feeling like his hand was able to grip something. He closed his hand, and suddenly a flash of purple energy shot forth. Ren found himself standing back on the island sand, no longer sinking in the void, his right hand grasping something tight. He looked down and couldn't help but gasp at what he was holding.

The sword from his dream was back in his hand, only this time it had taken more to it's form. Two handle guards had appeared, the first an angelic wing and the second one a demonic bat wing, but jetting out of the side of the gem and curving down to the bottom of the handle. The blade end had taken more details on, the blade curving just near the tip on both sides, with a gap on either end separating the actual blade from the new curved sections of the blade that made it resemble more of an axe in appearance. The side that was on the angelic wing had three spikes on it, a center black spike and two white spikes on either end of that. The side with the devil wing had a bigger curved blade part, and five spikes. A center black spike, two white spikes on either side of that center black spike, then two black spikes on either end. At the end of the handle was a keychain, with a token that resembled the yin-yang symbol hanging off the end.

Keyblade. The voice echoed in his head, as the black creatures once again leaped at him, only this time Ren was ready. Gripping his new weapon, he swung and instantly slayed the creatures in a few rapid swings, effortlessly slicing as if his weapon was guiding him. With no time to be shocked, Ren continued slaying the ants as he ran off, hunting for any sign of life on the island, though it seemed like no one else but him was here until he reached the docks.

"Three more boats…" Ren muttered. "That means Riku, Sora and Kairi must be here! I need to find them, and fast! They won't stand a chance against these creatures on their own!"

Ren ran off again, panting a little in exhaustion as he slayed more of the ant like shadows. Although he was used to fighting, the weight of the new weapon was much more then his standard wooden toy sword, and without this being a dream, his physical body was feeling the brunt of the fighting as opposed to his mind. Still, at the same time, he couldn't help but feel like the new weapon was familiar to him, which was somewhat helping with the weight of battle.

"Sora! Riku! Kairi!" Ren called, before suddenly the island seemed to split. Much of the island suddenly gave away, disappearing along with the water. Sora suddenly flew out of nowhere, landing on the ground and groaning a little in pain. Ren ran up to him, though he couldn't help but gasp in shock as Sora, too, was holding a key-shaped weapon, only this one had a square, golden guard around the handle, with a silver, rod like blade sticking out and crown shaped teeth with three points, a blue band separating the blade from the guard. Sora looked up at Ren, before both boys shouted at the same time, "You have one too!?" A strong presence was felt by Ren, as he turned and saw the large creature from his dream appeared once again, as muscular as ever. Once again, both boys shouted at the same time. "You again?! …Wait, you know this thing!?"

"There's no time to compare notes!" Ren shouted, gripping his keyblade tightly. "Sora, you with me?"

"Yeah, let's do this!" Sora yelled back, dashing at the creature with his keyblade held high, with Ren following shortly after him. Fighting together, the two boys were able to fight much better then alone in their dreams, with one attacking the arms as the other covered the ant like creatures that came out from the void that the punches he delivered spawned. The giant, however, had tricks different from the last time it battled the boys, scooping up a ball of darkness that he shattered to rain down from the sky, and also fired dark homing orbs from his chest, forcing the boys on the defensive. Eventually, Ren and Sora both leapt into the air and delivered a fatal slash to the tentacle mess head, which stunned the giant into defeat.

Suddenly, the giant black creature was lifted into the air, flying higher and higher until it was sucked into the giant orb in the sky, which now seemed to be sucking in everything from trees to sections of the ground. Sora and Ren both managed to grab onto a chunk of the ground that remained, however Sora couldn't hold on for too long, and he eventually let out a scream as he flew upwards before vanishing into the orb.

"SORA!", Ren shouted, looking shocked as he lost the only friend that he seemed had left. Ren shut his eyes, before he realized that, no matter what he tried to do, he too would eventually be swallowed up by the orb in the sky. Gritting his teeth and accepting the inevitable, he let go and flung himself into the orb, accelerating at a rapid rate by tucking his arms into his body, praying silently to himself that it wasn't to his death that he was heading.

And then, darkness was all he knew.

A/N: So, yeah, figured since I am not the best at explaining things, I would use this authors note to point out that my Deviant Art page has images of Ren, Alina and their weapons. The keyblade was hand drawn by me (hence why it's eh looking), but it does a good job at showing what the weapon is supposed to look like. As for the two character images and Alina's weapon, I managed to get the bing AI to create them prefectly to what I imagined them to look like, ablit with some small editing. My deviant art name is Cykumma, or you can find a link to my page on my profile.

Thanks for reading, and reviews are appreciated!