Chapter Text
Three keys were stuck in the dusty ground of a wasteland, surrounded by older, more rusted keys. The sun struggled to pierce the ashy clouds and shine light on a place where the air itself felt infused with darkness.
Keep smiling.
The corners of the boy's mouth lifted as the wind ruffled his hair like a familiar, comforting hand. Sky blue eyes opened to see a dark gray and yellow key stuck into the ground in front of him. Joy and sorrow welled up inside him, and, as if on instinct, he reached out his hand, closing it around the handle and pulling it from the ground. The moment the key's teeth left the ground, it dissolved into light, transforming into a green star in his hand. Looking up, he saw he stood in a circle with two others: a girl with a blue star in her hand and a boy with an orange star in his.
Suddenly, the wind picked up, becoming a forceful gale that knocked him off his feet and sent him tumbling into a column of dark, churning clouds.
The inside of the storm was pitch black, and the winds seemed to circle and press in on him until he could barely breathe. With nothing else to hold on to, the boy clutched the green star tightly to his chest, only for it to change once again, becoming a round shield.
The power of the guardian. Kindness to aid friends. A shield to repel all.
A light then appeared in the distant darkness, growing closer and brighter until the boy could make out its shape.
There's always a light in the darkness.
It was another boy- the same one who'd been holding the orange star, only now his hand gripped a gleaming sword as he barreled toward him. The boy raised the shield just in time as the blade came down on it with a ringing clang and a flash of light.
Sora became aware of his surroundings slowly- first the cool stone he was lying on, then the heavy stillness in the air, and finally the total silence surrounding him. Rolling onto his back, he opened his eyes, settling on a dark and empty sky, the black expanse interrupted only by the pure white buildings on either side of him. Carefully, Sora pushed himself up, taking stock. He wasn't in any pain, didn't even feel sore from lying on stone for however long, but his whole body felt... weird. Numb, almost. He was in some kind of alley, with white, marble-like buildings lining a path of jet black stone which seemed to lead to a larger street.
Wherever he was, it definitely wasn't Destiny Islands.
"Where am I?" he asked the air. "How did I get here?"
He searched his memory. He remembered the dream he'd had and the terrible sense of dread that he'd felt upon waking, the overwhelming need to run that had him bolting from his bed and tearing down the street until he'd come to the end of the dock and had nowhere left to run. It was only then he'd realized he was still wearing his clothes from yesterday- he must have fallen asleep reading again- and felt thankful he hadn't just run through the town in his pajamas. Riku had found him there and asked about the dream, and he'd... maybe sorta lied about it. But how do you tell your best friend you had a dream about them attacking you? Then Kairi had come, and the three of them had spent the day relaxing, until Kairi had asked if he wanted to go to the island, just the two of them. He'd felt bad about abandoning Riku but needed to be alone with Kairi so he could tell her about the dream where their other best friend wouldn't overhear. So, they'd gone to the island, and then...
And then he'd woken up here.
No, that wasn't quite right. There were memories in between, but they were fuzzy, disjointed. He could pick certain things out from them: the sky turning dark, Kairi's hand in his, Heartless surrounding them, running to the Secret Place...
"The darkness came," Sora muttered. "Did it take the island?"
Pushing to his feet, Sora crept to the end of the alleyway, the silence putting him on edge. The street was empty, no sign of life anywhere. The town seemed totally abandoned.
Daring to raise his voice, Sora called out, "Kairi?! Riku?!" No answer. "Anyone?!" Silence. Wherever he was, he was alone. Despite the lack of cold, he shivered. "Where am I?" he asked again, despite no one being there to hear him. "What is this place?"
"This is the Realm of Darkness," answered a voice from behind him.
Sora spun around. He could have sworn the alley was empty just a moment ago, but now there was a man there. He had tan skin, what little of it Sora could see. His face was covered in some strange red mask, from which a single golden eye peered, and the rest of him was covered in dark clothing and a red cloak.
"Who are you?" Sora asked, heart pounding. "And- wait. Did you say the Realm of Darkness?"
"I did."
"But- how? Did the islands fall? Was I dragged down with them?"
"I can't answer that, I'm afraid. I didn't see you arrive." The man paused, his eye scanning Sora up and down. The boy wanted to cringe away from that golden gaze, but resisted the urge. If this person meant him harm, he couldn't show fear. "You must have a strong heart, to keep hold of your humanity."
Sora glanced down at himself, then back up to the man's covered face. He seemed human enough, but had he been deformed somehow, warped by the darkness? "Who are you?" he asked again.
"An ally. The only one you're likely to find in this realm. You can call me Obscurum."
"Okay... My name is Sora."
"Sora..." The man man seemed to consider the name a moment before nodding to himself. "Tell me, Sora, do you wield a Keyblade?"
"Um... no? At least, I don't think so."
"Would you like to?"
Sora blinked. "Wield a Keyblade?"
"Yes."
"Just like that?"
"Just like that."
"I mean... yeah, I guess, but-"
"Good. Follow me."
The man brushed past Sora and began walking purposefully down the street. The boy hesitated a moment, then jogged after him. Catching up, he asked, "Hey, you haven't seen anyone else here, have you?"
Obscurum glanced at him briefly, but didn't slow his pace. "No, just you."
"So... that must mean Riku and Kairi are safe, right? They didn't get pulled here?"
Obscurum stopped, so suddenly Sora almost ran into him, and turned to look at him.
"My friends," Sora clarified when he didn't speak.
"...I see," Obscurum said, before turning and resuming his walk. Again, Sora jogged to catch up. "I can't speak to their safety," the man said after a moment. "But if they're not in the Dark Realm, they're probably in the Realm of Light." He paused for a moment. "Of course, the Realm of Darkness is a big place. It's possible, if unlikely, they landed somewhere else within it." Glancing at Sora again, he continued, "But if your friends are strong of heart and didn't fall to darkness, they probably made it off your world."
Sora breathed a small sigh of relief. It wasn't much, but Riku and Kairi were two of the strongest people he knew. If anyone could survive the fall of a world, it was them. He was sure of it.
The two continued in silence for a while, until Sora spoke up again. "So... what is this place, anyway?"
"I told you, the Realm of Darkness."
"No, I know that, but what about this place, this town? It's so... empty."
Obscurum cast his eye around their surroundings. "The Realm of Darkness has many worlds, like the Realm of Light. This place is a nexus, of sorts, where those that do not belong to any of them end up. I believe there's a similar town in the Light Realm- it's where your friends likely would have ended up if they survived the fall of your world."
"They did." Sora refused to believe otherwise. "So, does this town have a name?"
"There are very few who can survive in the dark without losing themselves." Obscurum glanced meaningfully at Sora. "So this town has no occupants to name it. But I've taken to calling it Transit Town."
"Oh." Sora paused. "So then... how did you get here?"
"I fell."
Sora got the distinct impression he didn't want to talk about it. "Sorry."
Obscurum didn't say anything more, and the two walked in silence until they reached what seemed to be the town square. A fountain adorned the wall opposite them, though it was completely dry. It was decorated with a mosaic- a four-pointed gold star against a black background. Obscurum stopped in front of it. "There are three towers surrounding this square," he said. "You must climb each one and ring its bell once. Then the path to the Keyblade will be revealed."
"Okay..." Looking around, he indeed saw three buildings taller than the rest. "Wait 'til I tell Riku about this," he said to himself as he began walking to the nearest one. He could feel Obscurum's golden eye on his back. "He's never gonna believe it."
The first tower was white, like every other building in Transit Town, with a black door that seemed to be made of the same stony material. Expecting it to be heavy, Sora leaned on it hard, only to stumble through when it swung open as easily as any normal door. He managed to catch himself on his hands and knees, only to scramble to his feet the moment he looked up. Five pairs of beady yellow eyes stared at him. Shadows.
For a moment, Sora stood there, staring back at them and preparing to run the moment one so much as twitched. But none of them moved, aside from the slight sway of their stance. They had to see him, but they weren't attacking. They just... stared.
Slowly, as if any sudden movement might snap them out of whatever trance was keeping them passive, Sora took a step forward. They didn't move. Another step. They stayed where they were. Carefully, Sora walked past them. Their eyes followed him for a moment, then turned back to the door. Unsettled, Sora started climbing the stairs.
There were a few more Heartless on the staircase, but they didn't attack either. Soon, Sora reached the top. There was the bell, right where Obscurum had said it would be- huge and made of some black metal. Sora had to use his full body weight to pull the cord, but it rang, letting out a single chime before falling silent once more. Sora held his breath, wondering if this was the moment the Heartless would come charging up the stairs to attack him, but nothing happened. He made his way back down the stairs, finding none of the Heartless had moved. They still didn't attack him, but Sora remained on edge until the moment the black door shut behind him. Obscurum was still standing at the fountain, eye fixed on the fountain mosaic, now showing a gold star with five points, and Sora jogged up to him.
"There were Heartless in there," he said.
"Of course there were," the man replied, "This is the Realm of the Darkness."
"But they didn't attack me."
Obscurum looked at him out of the corner of his eye. "You're here, aren't you? The darkness has already claimed you. Why would they attack?" He paused as Sora stared. "Although... that will probably change once you claim the Keyblade. Do you still want it?"
Sora thought back to the Heartless invading the island. He hadn't been able to protect Kairi, but if he'd had a Keyblade... He nodded.
"Good. There are two more towers to go."
There were more Heartless in the second tower and even more in the third. But like the others, they didn't attack, allowing Sora to ring the two remaining bells unimpeded. Once he'd exited the final tower, he returned to Obscurum. The mosaic at the back of the fountain had changed again; a gold key now adorned the black background, and as Sora approached, the fountain disappeared, revealing some kind of tunnel.
"Well done," said Obscurum. "Now go, the Keyblade awaits you."
Sora frowned. "You're not coming?"
The man shook his head. "No. You have rung the bells- the key is yours to take. You must go and claim it alone."
"Okay..." Sora stepped toward the fountain, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him.
"One more thing," Obscurum said. "What awaits you in there is no ordinary Keyblade, but the Kingdom Key of the Dark Realm. The one who claims it becomes the protector of this realm, and of the balance between light and dark. That balance is greatly upset now. Some dark power commands the Heartless, drives them to consume world after world and drag them into the dark. Once you claim the key, you will no doubt be brought into conflict with this power. Do you understand?"
Sora's hand slipped into his pocket. After a moment, he looked up at Obscurum and nodded.
"Good." Obscurum's hand fell away from his shoulder. As Sora stepped into the tunnel, he heard Obscurum say, "May your heart be your guiding key."
"What?" Sora whipped around, but the way had closed behind him.
There was no light in the tunnel, as far as Sora could see, but the walls and the path ahead were clear to him all the same. The sound of his footsteps echoed, and every time he stopped, a silence descended that set Sora's teeth on edge. So, he kept walking. As he did, he wondered about that phrase: "May your heart be your guiding key." It had felt deeply familiar, but as he tried to remember where he'd heard it, he couldn't put his finger on it. It must have been when he was a kid, but there was a lot he didn't remember from then, so the specifics were hard to pin down. Maybe it would come back to him?
Eventually, the tunnel opened into some sort of cavern, in the middle of which, letting off a soft, golden glow, hovered the promised Keyblade.
As Sora made his way toward it, he looked around the cavern, finding himself reminded of the Secret Place. If he closed his eyes, he could almost hear the sound of waves. And yet, something tugged at the back of his mind. When the darkness descended, he and Kairi had run to the Secret Place to hide. What had happened there? Did they even make it? They must have gotten separated somehow, but was she alright? And what about Riku?
Sora shook his head. Wondering and worrying weren't going to help his friends. He had to get back to them, back to the Realm of Light.
But first, he needed a Keyblade.
Sora stepped up to the Keyblade, glowing and golden just like the mosaic on the fountain. He reached out his hand, then paused. It can't be this easy, can it? Sora thought of the Heartless, of Kairi. He wrapped his fingers around the Keyblade's handle.
Some energy seemed to race up his arm and into his chest, inquisitive, then accepting. The Keyblade stopped glowing, allowing him to see its silver-white handle-guards and yellow-gold shaft, ending in teeth cut so their negative space made the shape of a crown. It seemed fitting, for what Obscurum had called 'the Kingdom Key'. The Keyblade's weight settled into his hand, and Sora knew it was his.
The next instant, Shadows materialized from the dark, surrounding him. For a moment, they paused, seeming to regard him with something like curiosity, but then the moment passed and they leaped at him. Sora swung his new weapon on instinct, years of practice-fighting with wooden swords finally paying off. There was a hard impact and a satisfying THWACK, and the first Shadow dissolved, its heart floating away and disappearing. Grinning, Sora turned to the rest of the Heartless, and before long, he was alone once more.
Straightening from his fighting stance, Sora relaxed his grip on the Keyblade, watching as it disappeared in a flash of light. Still, he could feel it at the tips of his fingers, ready to reappear the moment he needed it. Smiling, Sora looked around, only to see the cavern had vanished. He now found himself on a long, colorless road, winding through the darkness ahead. Turning back, he saw white buildings in the distance- Transit Town. He wondered for a moment if he should go back- try to find Obscurum again. But something told him it would be wasted effort. And even if it wasn't, all those Heartless in the town would be out to attack him now- he might get Obscurum hurt by mistake.
No, he decided. The path ahead was one he would have to travel alone.
Resolved, Sora turned back to the path ahead. The road seemed to stretch on forever, but something in the distance caught his eye- a faint light, like a single shimmering star in the distance, with the path winding toward it.
There's always a light in the darkness.
Sora grinned and began to walk.