AN: This is a story idea that simply wouldn't leave my mind. Not sure if I want to turn it into a full series, but let me know if you would like more of it.

Chapter 1 – In these Dark Depths

Sora sighed as he sat back on the grey sand, a content smile spreading across his face.

Riku sat beside him, looking almost envious of his friend's peace before slipping into a calm all his own. Sora was right, the world of Light was safe. They had nothing more to worry about...

Defeating Xemnas was a hard task, something that Riku's body refused to let him forget, but in the end, it was all worth it. Kairi and the others were safe and sound, the worlds never needing to fear the Organization again.

"If the world is made of light and darkness..." Riku said slowly, eyes opening to watch the tide. "We'll be the darkness."

Sora looked at the silver haired teen, and nodded slowly, a small smile still on his face.

"Yeah..." He breathed, falling backward into the sand. "Kairi and the others can handle things on that side, right?"

"Right." Riku echoed, staring ahead in contemplation. He had long since decided he belonged in the dark, as punishment for what he did to his home, his friends... himself, but Sora...

"I can stay here alone." Riku said suddenly. "You should find a way back, Sora."

The brunette shot up from his recline, blue eyes hard as he scowled in a way that only Sora could.

"C'mon Riku, you know I'm not gonna leave you here on your own!" He protested, arms crossed. "You've been hanging out in darkness too long, it's making you stupid."

Riku blinked, then laughed. Laughed harder than he remembered laughing in a long time, not since...

Since he had last sat on the Islands with his friends.

"Sora..." He muttered, reaching out and ruffling the brunette's hair. "Thanks."

Sora pouted slightly, knocking Riku's hand away, before poking him in the chest.

"I already told you, you don't have to do things on your own anymore." He chastised, smiling at him, the act brighter than the sun. "You have friends. I'm here for you, Riku."

Riku smiled softly, so slight that anyone else would have missed it, but Sora beamed as he accepted the heartfelt action, not a smirk, or a teasing grin, but a loving smile.

And in that moment, light suddenly engulfed their vision.

In the water, a doorway of light opened, banishing the dark film that permeated the very air in this place, and making the pair shield their eyes, even as they wanted to stare and never look away.

"Light..." Riku breathed, awestruck. Was it always so easy to find...?

"The door to light..." Sora said softly, then shot to his feet, grinning as he offered his hand to Riku. "We'll go together. Right?"

Riku hesitated, fingers twitching as he tried to say no, tried to say he wasn't worth it, but Sora simply smiled, reaching down closer.

Riku sighed, smiling at him and nodding.

"Yeah..." He said, taking the hand. "Together."

He let Sora pull him up, standing unsteadily, his body protesting due to his injuries.

"I don't know where it leads..." Sora muttered, taking a step forward, hand in Riku's. "But wherever it leads, we go together."

Riku closed his eyes, and nodded.

"Always." He told his friend, and together they stepped into the door.

Izuku Midoryia stood on the beach he had worked so hard to clean not too long ago, before he had inherited One for All, before he was accepted into UA...

And before he had nearly been expelled on the first day.

Izuku gulped as he looked at his bandaged finger, wincing a little at the reminder of how close he'd come to his dream being cut short.

But... Aizawa-sensei is right. I need a better handle on One for All.

He clenched his hand, thankful for Recovery Girl's quirk but knowing that he can't afford to rely on it. He needed to be able to use his new power without destroying himself...

He raised the hand to the sky, feeling the power course through his arm, lighting it up like rivers of pure power flowing through his veins, and he grit his teeth, feeling that power twitching to be released, fighting to work its way out of his arm.

"No..." He growled, forcing the power back down, feeling it recede into wherever it went when he wasn't using it. "No... dammit."

Why was it so hard?! Why did Kaachan and the others have such ease with their quirks, but he...?

It's because they've had more time with them. Don't blame them for this! You just need practice... practice...

Izuku swallowed, letting the power build in his arm again, this time trying to taper it down to just his hand, though it did nothing for the immense build-up that he was sure would break him.

"But..." He muttered aloud. "If I don't try, if I don't practice, then how can I improve...?"

He pulled his arm back, feeling the swell of power purring in his arm, begging to be released, to be channeled, to be-

Izuku swung, screaming from the depths of his heart the single word that represented his dream.

"SMAAAASH!"

The water parted in a wide arc, the wind propelled by the punch tearing through it like wet paper, and Izuku let out a strangled scream as he felt his arm tear and break from the power, tears building in his eyes as he tried to force the pain down.

But as he dropped to one knee, in the parted water, a gateway of pure light seemed to open.

Izuku stared, pain forgotten as his jaw dropped, the water refusing to flow over the gate as it hung in the air.

"Did... did I do that?" He asked softly, before nearly hitting himself. Of course he didn't... it looked like some sort of warping quirk...

And then, two figures walked out of the gate, falling into the water as it rushed to meet them.

In a blink, Izuku moved.

Ignoring the pain in his arm he dove into the water, swimming with everything he had toward the pair, both of them looking out of it, one even unconscious. He reached the one with silver hair first, pulling him toward the shallows as the brunette began to swim to the surface, looking a lot more alert.

"R-Riku!" He shouted, clearly worried for his friend, and Izuku managed a wide grin.

"I-It's okay!" He shouted, pulling the older teen up onto the beach. "It'll all be okay!"

The brunette raced up to the silver teen's side, checking him for injuries.

"Riku, you okay?" He asked softly. "Riku, c'mon!"

The silverette, Riku, groaned softly, looking exhausted as he managed to open his eyes.

"Not dead yet, Sor..." He muttered softly, and his friend grinned brightly, wiping away some tears.

"Dammit, you scared me for a minute!" He laughed, hitting him lightly in the shoulder, and Izuku smiled at them.

"Glad to see you're both okay..." He said, drawing their attention. "I dunno what would have happened if I didn't see you two go in the water..."

The two friends shared a look, before the brunette smiled at Izuku.

"Yeah, thanks a lot!" He said, offering a hand. "I'm Sora, and this is my friend Riku."

Izuku took the hand and shook it, thankful it was his good hand.

"Izuku." He introduced, before the sudden pain in his hand returned, causing him to wince and fall to his knee again.

In a flash Sora was next to him, helping him steady himself.

"Whoa, what happened to your hand?!" He asked, staring at the purple and broken hand, which, Izuku noted semi-happily, was only broken up to the wrist.

Progress.

"I kinda... did it to myself." Izuku admitted softly. "Trying to get a handle on my quirk..."

Riku cocked an eyebrow, sitting up and looking at the green-haired youth.

"Quirk?" He asked, causing Izuku to blink in surprise.

"You... don't know about quirks?" He asked, not really understanding. Maybe they called them something different where they came from? "Y'know... superpowers?"

Sora blinked, sharing a look with Riku.

"Well, we know about powers." Riku muttered softly. "But nothing called 'quirks'."

Izuku nodded, understanding. They must have come from a pretty isolated place... in fact, Sora looked like he was wearing black waders, maybe they were islanders?

"Well, this is Japan." He explained, and frowned when he saw the blank look on their faces. "Wow you must be a long way from home... where are you from?"

"Destiny Islands." Sora said, smiling slightly before a sad look crossed his face. "I don't think... we can go back there."

Riku shared a sad look with Sora, looking like he wanted to take the brown-haired teen in his arms, but restrained himself.

"Well, I haven't heard of the place, but you're more than welcome here!" Izuku said, grinning widely. "I'd be happy to show you guys around a little!"

Sora grinned alongside him, and Riku looked amused at the new friend Sora had made effortlessly.

"Cool, I'd be happy to!" Sora said, before glancing at the broken hand Izuku was still sporting. "Oh yeah, well... I can fix that first."

Before Izuku could say anything, he was silence by a flash of light, and a huge key appearing in Sora's hand, a simple design of a silver 'blade' with a gold guard for his hand. He waved it at Izuku and green light washed over him, and he stared in amazement as his hand healed perfectly.

What's more, he didn't feel tired at all. In fact he felt even better than before.

"What was THAT?!" Izuku asked, resisting with everything he had to go get his notebook. "Such a cool quirk! What's it called?!"

Sora looked sheepishly at the key then at Riku, who gave him a look of 'you got yourself into this'.

"Well, its called a Keyblade." Sora explained. "And its... sort of a magic sword that comes from my heart."

Izuku grinned, committing the knowledge to memory as he looked over the weapon. A sort of creation quirk with other abilities tied to it! Who knows what else it could do...?

"Riku has one too!" Sora said suddenly, and Riku scowled at him for throwing him under the bus.

Izuku gaped at him, looking between the two for familial similarities.

"You two aren't brothers, are you?" He asked, and Riku snorted, shaking his head.

"In all but blood." Sora said, grinning goofily and Riku flexed his hand, summoning Way to the Dawn.

Izuku looked over the key, so different from Sora's but still the same quirk, clearly. But how weird was it... two people, having such similar quirks and being best friends?

"You guys are so lucky, you can practice with each other and you both benefit!" Izuku said, grinning, and Riku smiled.

"Not quite." He said, dismissing his keyblade. "The way we apply our power is very different."

That made sense, Izuku supposed. Unless they were taught by the same teacher, they would have very different ways of applying their quirks.

Izuku stared down at his hand, flexing it as he thought about what to do.

"...oh, I know!" He said, shooting to his feet. "I've gotta make a call, but I'll see if I can get a... my teacher to help you guys out!"

Izuku shot off, pulling out his phone to call All Might, still a little unsure if he wanted to waste his hero's time with this, but... these guys needed help.

And helping people was what heroes do.

"...weird kid." Riku muttered as he watched Izuku run off.

Sora snorted, crossing his arms.

"I like him." He defended. "And what do you mean, kid? You only a year older than me, and he looks to be about my age!"

Riku chuckled, flicking some sand at Sora as he looked out at the ocean.

"The waves still sound the same." Riku said softly, and Sora followed his gaze out to the ocean.

"Yeah..." He admitted, sitting beside Riku. "But still... weird world we've found ourselves on, huh?"

Riku nodded, brewing on what they'd learned. Quirks, huh? Looked to be some sort of innate magic these people possessed.

"Its handy." He told Sora. "We can pass off our keyblades as quirks, blend in a little easier."

Sora nodded, leaning back into the sand.

"But, what should we do?" He asked softly, sounding lost. "We could try to get home, but... no ship, no corridors of darkness, no door to light..."

Riku nodded, tempted to try to call on that power again, but feeling strangely empty when it came to darkness.

It was still there, but... he knew that until he was at full strength, his darkness would remain weak as well.

"We already said what we would do." Riku said, drawing Sora's attention. "We'll live... be the other side to our world. I say we try to build a life here... and maybe, someday, we go home."

Sora stayed silent for a bit before grinning and nodding.

"Sure, why not!" He said, laughing. "I kinda miss normal life, to be honest. It'll be nice to not have to worry about saving the worlds!"

Riku chuckled, ruffling the brunette's hair.

"Plus, you won't want to leave you're knew friend behind." Riku teased, causing Sora to blush and swat his hand away.

"Of course not!" He muttered, causing Riku to laugh again.

"Sap." He teased, causing Sora to bite back. "Loner!"

"Do gooder."

"Tall!"

"How is that an insult?"

"How is being a do gooder an insult?!"

"Next you'll pick on me for having silver hair."

"Maybe I will! Maybe you dye it!"

"Maybe you gel your hair into spikes every morning."

"Do not!"

Riku suddenly bust out laughing, leaning back onto the sand as Sora also started chuckling and laughing alongside him.

Maybe... Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. Maybe a chance to live, and enjoy life, is exactly what they needed.