Chapter 1: The Horizon

To clear up any possible confusion, the settings for each realm are as follows:

Kingdom Hearts: Following Kingdom Hearts II's story and the "Blank Points" video from Birth By Sleep.

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: In the Explorers series, following the true ending and about most of the things in the post-game. Has relevance to a few special episodes from Explorers of Sky.

Disclaimer: I don't claim possession over characters originating from the franchises of Square Enix, Disney, Game Freak, and The Pokémon Company. They belong to their rightful owners. Few characters are original.

Now would be a good time to mention the SPOILERS WARNING.



"Entity of Nightmares..." A voice came from the deepest darkness. It was a low, passionate voice which resonated throughout the blind abyss. It was the only sensation this entity experienced. There was nothing to see, and nothing to feel. The entity itself was nothing. "You have been cast away by the light..." The deep voice paused for a few moments, perhaps letting these words be repeated in the unseen entity's mind for that amount of time. "You and I are similar... Our realms have been sewn close together in this endless sky by the Great Will. And you and I share a similar fate: We have been thrown into the darkness" Again, the voice paused. The tone of this voice seemed to mend into a a more hushed state as it continued to echo into the blackness. The entity began feeling a new sensation. It was anger. It was emotion. Vindictiveness. "Entity of Nightmares," The voice repeated, "You have been abandoned. You have nothing left. You are Nobody... But you have left behind something far greater than yourself. In a current of time, you left behind a world of darkness. It recovered, yet it still existed... And that will give you and I the momentum to sprout forth from this endless darkness. Come, entity of Nightmares... New worlds await all of us. Let us reclaim what is ours."

"Kingdom Hearts."

The voice's resonance throughout the abyss came to an end. And with it, something else...

…

In a dissimilar darkness, the sound of waves crashing upon a shore were heard. Further contributing to the dissimilarity of the darkness was the increase in sensations. Not only were these waves heard. They were seen. The waters which they originated from were onyx black, glistening in the rays of a solar light over the dark horizon. As the waves crashed upon a dark shore, it became evident that figures were watching the glow of the light between a spiny, peculiar structure within the water that encircled said light from their view. One wore a cloak of black with his face concealed in a raised hood. The other was a blue-haired girl with what appeared to be combat mage-like attire. Blue eyes watched the black ocean in silence, just as unseen eyes focused upon the radiance.

"Tell me, Aqua..." The hooded man spoke. His voice was deep, more so than the voice spoken in the more complete darkness. At the sound of this, the girl named Aqua turned her head to face the man. An inquisitive look made itself evident on her face. "In this Dark Margin... What do you believe lies across these waters?" The question was vexing enough to invoke a momentary silence. Aqua stared off and sighed through her nose, her response on the tip of her tongue. She felt oddly confident about it.

"What's beyond the waters..." She repeated the man's question in her own words. "I believe there's a world out there. It's so far... but so close." She stretched her legs forward, both palms now flat against the dark sand as she leaned backwards.

"A world, you think?" The hooded man asked, now facing Aqua. His face was still concealed in blackness.

"Mhmm." The girl nodded once, a smile upon her face. It was a smile she felt she had no control over. The thought of this world beyond the darkness brought about a vision of vivid happiness and a hope that perpetually pierced even the greatest despair. Aqua had never felt so sure of something so surreal in her entire life. It was almost a facetious thought, however, and she knew it. "It sounds silly, but I think there's a very upbeat world nearby."

"Hm..." The man pondered over this for a couple of seconds before speaking, his attention now on the crashing waves. "This world... Do you long to see it?" The question left Aqua slightly puzzled. It was not a difficult question to answer. The girl wished to see another world. She wished to see any other place that was not remotely similar to this Dark Margin she had wandered within for an unknown amount of time. Even still, she hesitated to answer, and it was because she felt safe within the darkness. It was not death, yet it seemed to be her ultimate destination. Anywhere else under this vast sky would have undoubtedly greeted her with ordeals. But if this was her ultimate destination, would she not simply return upon being bested by an evil force? She thought not.

"Yes." Again, she nodded. She breathed deeply before closing her eyes and trying her hardest to vividly imagine this beautiful world untouched by the darkness—the horrors—she has witnessed befall those close to her. But the times she has spent with them have been an unparalleled pleasure. It has made her journey and her fall to darkness worth it. The images of friends experiencing the same joys she had the privilege of doing so manifested within her mind; within her emotions. Those friends—not of hers—were living on this world she so wished to see: This world beyond a dark sea... Aqua opened her eyes. "Do you think Sora has been to this world?" Her gaze upon the waters did not waver.

"Sora..." The cloaked figure began. "The boy has seen many worlds, including this one. But I doubt he has pondered over the possibility of a world neighboring the shores of this void, let alone been to said world. If he hasn't... hm... perhaps he will be seeing it quite soon."

"I hope he does." Aqua spoke soon after the man...

"Do be careful what you wish for..."

…

The skies shifted from a hazy dark purple to a twilight scarlet, however the setting's physical shift was not as dramatic as the atmosphere. It remained a calm beach—an island—off the shore of a large town. This island consisted of a small beach with a large array of trees behind it. On a small risen platform near the shack, which appeared to be built into a large tree, three figures stood. They watched their fiery star as it painted the clouds all passionate colors of the rainbow, shining down upon the radiant waters. One of the figures sat upon the bend in the Paopu tree. He wore a black sleeveless jacket, and his hair was brown and spiked in all directions, while his two friends simply stood by one another. One wore a yellow muscle shirt and possessed long silver hair. He dwarfed the girl next to him, who had red hair, and wore pink summer attire: a short pink dress. The boy who sat one the star-shaped fruit's tree was carrying a likewise star-shaped object. It was the color of grapefruit and had facial features drawn on it at the uppermost star tip. Additionally, he was also holding a bottle and a note.

"Sora." One of the voices started. It was the girl's voice. She turned to her friend, being closer to him than the other, taller boy. "Before you see your friends again, you should rest."

"Yeah." The boy called Sora agreed, staring into the scarlet sunset. "I know... I just already can't wait to see them again."

"Seems like you're always missing friends, huh?" The silver-haired boy asked, his arms now crossed.

"Heheh, it's what happens when you go to so many worlds and meet so many new people." Sora explained, placing the palm of his empty hand to his heart. "I miss them all... But I can't ever forget them. I never forget about you guys either. That's part of the reason I made it this far... Riku... Kairi." as the boy mentioned each of their names, he turned to face both of them. They returned the warm expression with smiles of their own.

"It's why we're all here together." Kairi stated, her focus shifting back to the sunset. Riku and Sora did this in unison soon after her... This moment continued until the evening darkness was sure to come within minutes.

"C'mon guys," Riku began. "Let's get back to the mainland before it gets too dark." At this suggestion, Sora dropped from the Paopu tree and turned to his two friends, smirking.

"Hey, I thought you liked the dark." He mocked, joining Riku and Kairi as they started for the wooden bridge.

"Right, and I know you guys don't." Riku chuckled after he spoke, looking down at the sands beneath the bridge. Rather than heading through the shack, he dropped down from the bridge with a brief grunt. "So, if I were one of you, I'd hurry it up!" He looked back slightly as he spoke before running off to the sailboat the three of them have constructed. Sora and Kairi glanced at each other momentarily, Kairi giggling at Riku's comment.

"Oh, Riku..." The girl shook her head. "Let's get the boat ready." She stated before carefully dropping down to the sand herself. Sora smiled, watching her walk up to Riku. The two were laughing about something that he wasn't quite able to make out. He hesitated before joining them, staring at his star-shaped item that Kairi had made for him. It was called a Wayfinder; a special charm that was viewed upon by Sora as many things, such as a good luck charm and more. Ultimately, he felt it helped keep he and his two close friends together. But, as he mentioned, he had many other close friends out there. They resided upon very different words, yet they all shared the same sky. If it were not for the catastrophes that befell his own home world, Sora would never have been able to meet them. He would never have been able to grow close to them in combat with the Heartless, which had always been his number one enemy, despite his encounters with the Nobodies. Sora had only just recovered from an adventure very recently, and it was believed he would soon be departing for another, as the note from a fellow Keyblade wielder had suggested. This wielder of the Keyblade was known by many as King Mickey... Sora had let his thoughts consume him once more. He faced forward and hopped off of the bridge, running to join his friends in their brief departure back to the mainland located close on the darkening horizon.

As the three set sail upon the quiet seas, a new face appeared upon the shores of the location dubbed Destiny Island in an all too familiar way. An swirling oval of blue and black vapor sprung from the ground. From the central point of this corridor of darkness emitted a figure dressed in a black cloaked similar to the man's from the Dark Margin. The heavy dark vapor dripped from this coat and dissipated as it touched the sand... The cryptic figure watched as late dusk became night, and as Sora, Riku, and Kairi sailed to the mainland on the gentle breeze... His face was concealed by the hood. There was an otherworldly aura about him that might not have been so intimidating if he lacked the cloak. The figure crossed his arms at his lower chest.

"Hm... Maybe I'm being too reckless going out onto these worlds... After all, I don't know how the Keyblade will react with..." He paused, staring at one of his gloved palms. His voice was not too deep. It sounded as though he was a boy in his late teens; sightly older than Sora and his friends. The fact that he wore the black coat alone would have definitely raised their suspicions. I would have raised anyone's. Yet, he remained unseen. This world—this realm—was completely new to him and his weapon so out of place. Abiding by these rules was no simply task. His purpose was unknown, although it would soon be known to residents of the worlds with hearts... And, at the moment, it was even unknown to his own realm's worlds: the worlds with souls. Even he had little knowledge as to why he had been conjured for such a journey. He was not complaining, although he had been forced to leave his own friends and family for a new adventure so far from home.

...Time was in turmoil...