Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts is owned by Square Enix and Disney. TwoKinds belongs to Tom Fischbach; each series belong to them respectively.

"quotations" - character speaking and non-verbal diadialogue

Italics - character thinking

{Curled Brackets} - flashbacks

bold - masks and heart/soul speaking

(parentheses) - Keidran Language

[square brackets] - Basitin Language

xxx

Chapter 1: Awakening

Everything seemed to happen so fast for Sora.

First, he had managed to defeat Ansem, the Seeker of Darkness and prevent him from obtaining Kingdom Hearts, said to contain great power and wisdom. Then he had to reseal the Door to Darkness, the entrance to Kingdom Hearts, according to the latter's notes. It was what almost seemed to be an impossible task, just by how big the door was. But thanks to the assitance of King Mickey and his best friend, Riku, he managed to shut the door. However, it came at the cost of the latter two being trapped in the realm of darkness, making a bittersweet victory. The hardest part for him though was having to say goodbye to Kairi, due to him not wanting to leave his best friend in the realm of darkness. With a heavy heart, the keybearer made a promise that he would see her again someday, once he made things right.

After that, everything became a bit fuzzy for the Key Bearer. All he could remember was walking on a road that didn't seem to end. His two companions, Donald and Goofy, going down the same path as he was, wondering how they would find the King and Riku.

However, hope managed to find its way to them, in the form of Pluto, holding a letter with Mickey's insignia on it. As the three heroes had renewed enthusiasm, they gave chase to Pluto, continuing the path that would supposedly lead to their friends.

And then, there was nothing.

Anything that happened after that was a blank for him. No matter how hard he tried to remember what happened afterwards, nothing sprung to mind.

"It's so weird that I can't remember anything. I mean, something must have happened if it lead me to fall."

As the Keyblade warrior had said, he was indeed falling; he was falling head first into absolute darkness, with no end in sight. Everywhere the boy turned, above and below, left and right, front and behind, there was nothing but darkness.

I wonder how long I've been like this? The boy thought to himself as he continued to fall. It had been awhile since this had happened to him. He wasn't sure how long he was like this; perhaps it was hours or days since he's been in this predicament. Regardless how long it felt to him, he knew it had been quite some time since then.

You know, the more I think about it, the more this place feels oddly familiar. He didn't think much on it at first since he had been falling for a long time. Now that he did though, he got a sense of déjà vu from this strange place. As he crossed his arms and closed his eyes in concentration, wondering why it felt like he'd been here before, the boy began to recollect from his previous adventure.

It all started when he was taken from his home and ended up in Traverse Town, where he met Leon and his group of friends: Yuffie, Aerith, and Cid. Thanks to them, he learned about the Heartless, the same dark creatures that attacked his home and how they steal hearts from others. He also learned that his Keyblade, a weapon said to operate any lock in existence, is what can help stop them. It was then where he met Donald and Goofy, servants of King Mickey, for the first time; as well as Jimminy Cricket, who wrote down logs in his journal about their adventure. Together, they set out to find the King, stop the Heartless, and find Sora's friends.

From there, they went from world to world, defeating countless Heartless, stopping anyone who used them for their own nefarious plans, and sealing keyholes to prevent the worlds from being destroyed. All of this was getting them closer to stopping Maleficent, the mistress of all evil; the witch responsible for summoning the Heartless to other worlds. She was also responsible for manipulating Riku into thinking Sora wasn't his friend, and used him to gather the seven Princesses of Heart in order to open the keyhole in Hollow Bastion: Leon and co's original home, as well as Kairi's. This eventually lead to them arriving at the mastermind's home base, ready to take her down once and for all-or so they thought.

Things would turn downhill for the Keyblade warrior, as he lost his Keyblade to Riku, who claimed that he was the Keyblade's intended master. This caused Donald and Goofy to leave due the King's orders to follow the one who wielded it, although they felt bad for doing it. Despite this, he wouldn't give up if it meant he could save Kairi, so with the help of his new companion, the Beast, he continued on his quest.

After getting into the castle, he not only managed to reconcile the King's two servants, but also managed to take back the Keyblade from Riku, revealing to his best friend how strong his heart was in comparison. After Riku retreated into the castle, Sora went further into the castle to find him, and hopefully find where Kairi was as well. Along the way, he encountered Maleficent, who sought to stop him to halt his progress, but even she was no match for his power. Even after when she transformed into a dragon, thanks to Ansem opening her heart to the darkness, it still was not enough to overcome the Keyblade warrior's strength.

Then came the final confrontation between him and his best friend, now possessed by the Seeker of Darkness, and wielding the Keyblade of People's Hearts. It was then that the Key Bearer not only learned who the possessor was, but that Kairi was a Princess of Heart, and that her heart was in his; explaining why he kept seeing her at certain points, and why her body was motionless. Once he had managed to defeat the possessed Riku, Sora then used the Keyblade of People's Hearts to not only free Kairi's heart, but also those of the remaining Princesses of Heart: Snow White, Cinderella, Jasmine, Alice, Belle and Aurora. Unfortunately, it came at the tremendous cost of Sora's own life, causing his body to dissipate and his transformation into a Heartless-

Wait, that was it!

Sora opened his eyes wide in realization, finally understanding why this whole situation felt familiar to him. The falling into darkness, it was just like when he was a Heartless. However, Kairi was able to save him and bring him back. This time though, she wasn't here to save him now. Only Donald and Goofy were around to help, but could they? The Keyblade warrior had been in this condition of falling, in total, black nothingness for far longer than made him comfortable; who knew what was happening in the real world while he was like this? The more Sora thought about it, the more he began to get worried.

"Donald, Goofy, if you can somehow hear me, then please help!" It was no good though, no matter how many times he'd call out for them, help wouldn't come; not from them at least. Was he going to be trapped here forever? Sora shook his head at the thought, before he gained a look of determination on his face. "No way am I giving up! I made a promise to Kairi, and I won't stop until find Riku and King Mickey. So no matter what, I will get out of here!"

As if responding to his shout of conviction, a speck of light had appeared bellow him, gaining the boy's attention. He was surprised at first, curious as to what the light was. Just then, he noticed that the light was slowly getting bigger, indicating that he was getting closer to it. Suddenly, his eyes brightened up with hope as he thought to himself, That must be the way out!

With his newfound hope and determination, Sora put his arms at his sides, straightened his legs, and dove further into the light with confidence. As he got closer and closer to the exit, he reached out his arm and shouted out, "Hold on guys, I'm coming back!" When he finally reached his destination, the darkness was overtaken by the light, and was no more.

xxx

Wake up Key Bearer, there's much work to be done.

A groan escaped from the boy as he struggled to open one of his eyes. It was blurry, but he could see a blue sky, a few white clouds and a bright, yellow sun. He felt the ground beneath him and noticed that there was grass, which meant he must have took a break from following the dirt path and laid down to rest.

So it was all a dream? The boy thought to himself as he began to sit up. Once his vision became more focused, he quickly checked himself over to make sure he was okay.

The boy appeared to be in his early teens, with white skin, blue eyes, and spiked, chocolate-brown hair. His wardrobe was an odd one; consisting of big, yellow shoes; a short, red jumpsuit with a chain hanging on the pants; a white, short-sleeved coat with a black hood in the back; white, fingerless gloves; and lastly, a silver necklace with a crown symbol hanging on it. Once he finished checking his appearance, he sighed in relief that nothing was wrong.

Afterwards, he raised his right arm to rub the back of his head, chuckling as he thought, I guess it was a dream. Still, I wonder what happened, that was really-

His thoughts halted when he noticed a key detail he missed when he woke up. There were trees, a lot of them, so much in fact it seemed that they could go on for ages. That wasn't the only thing though, there were many bushes right by the trees, a few green mountains out in the distance, but most importantly there was no dirt road. Either Sora had gone far off the path, or the forest he was now in wasn't here before.

"... Weird?" Sora said, finishing his thoughts aloud. He stood up, trying to get a better look at his current location. As he observed the forest, he scratched his head and cocked an eyebrow as he asked himself, "How did I get here?" He definitely didn't recognize this place from what he remembers. Then again, he didn't exactly remember how he ended up falling in that dark abyss either. Perhaps he was still dreaming?

He held out his left arm and pinched it with his right hand, feeling a twinge of pain. "So it's not a dream then." He said in disappointment. Does that mean that what happened before was real? What about Donald and... wait!

Remembering his two companions, the boy looked to his left and right sides; expecting to find them there, only to find himself disappointed that they weren't. Getting worried, he looked all around the area for find any sign that they were nearby, but no matter how hard he looked, Donald and Goofy were nowhere to be seen.

Where are they? did they leave me here to search the forest? He cupped his hands together and raised them to his mouth as he called them out, "Hey, Donald! Goofy! Are you there!?" He waited a few seconds for a response, but so far there was none. He tried again, "Hey guys! It's me, Sora! I'm over here!" Again, he waited for someone to come, hoping that somebody had heard him... but none came.

The boy began to become disheartened, looking at the ground in sorrow. Why didn't they hear me calling for them? He thought to himself, Are they okay? did they even come with me to this place? Thinking about it, when he was in that dark place, Donald and Goofy weren't there either. Maybe it was only him that came here, and if so that meant he was... alone.

Sora shuddered at the thought, quickly crossing his arms together and frowned. He hated being alone, not because he couldn't handle it or that he was really afraid of it, but in a forest this big and no sign of civilization; plus with the concern of his missing friends growing, the Key Bearer believed that it was the last thing he needed right now. He closed his eyes as he wondered what he was going to do, how he was going to get out of this forest.

"HELP!"

At the moment, the boy was broken from his musings. Opening his eyes in surprise, he turned to face the origin of the desperate cry. "That scream, it came from behind me; I better check it out!" No longer concerned with his situation, the Keybalde warrior ran deeper into the forest to find the person in distress.

After running for a few seconds, Sora stopped and heard a commition coming from behind a bush. He peaked around it to find out what it was. Needless to say, he was taken aback by what he saw.

The voice had come from a scared girl with blue eyes, brown hair that reached her upper back, with two bunches that stood up like antennae. She wore a green sweatshirt and light-brown pants. The source of her fear was a man holding a machete in a threatening manner; intending to harm the girl. The man's skin was white and had short, brownish-blond hair; a ragged, brown hat; a light-brown, long sleeve shirt, and brown pants with a pouch hanging on it.

But what also shocked him was that the girl, unlike the man, wasn't human. Instead of skin, she had fur covering her body. Most of it seemed to be orange with dark-brown, patterned stripes, while other parts; reaching from her mouth to beneath her sweatshirt, as well as under her hands and feet, were covered in white fur. Her ears, nose and face were like that of a cats, although the face somehow managed to look human and feline at the same time. From the ankle down, her feet were instead, paws, with four toes on each one; it also seemed as though she would stand on them. In short, this girl looked like a tiger in human form.

Before he interfered, he heard the man talking to her while smiling sinisterly. "Hey, little Keidran." He called her. "Looks like you're in a lot of trouble." He walked closer to her and held his blade up, ready to strike. Meanwhile, the girl he called Keidran tried backing up as she held her right arm, only to be stopped by a tree. "These are human lands," he stated as he gestured to the whole forest with his free arm. "And you're head's worth quite a lot here. You'd be amazed what they'd pay for a hide like yours."

Sora knew that as the wielder of the Keyblade, he was never supposed to meddle in the affairs of other worlds; Donald would tell him that constantly. But when he heard that the man was essentially going to skin her to make money, he just couldn't stand out of this one.

Gritting his teeth in anger, Sora quickly sprung up from the bush and shouted at the menacing man, "Hey you!"

This caught the attention of not only the man, who was shocked to see the boy, but also the tiger girl as well. "Hey kid, I saw her first! Where the heck did you come from?"

He ignored the man's question as he slowly walked forward as he began asking him in anger, "Why are you trying to hurt that girl?!"

The man cocked an eyebrow in confusion, before chuckling at the question. "Girl, well I suppose you're not entirely wrong, can't you see she's a Keidran, she's an enemy."

"I don't care what you call her; and why does that make her an enemy?" He asked the man furiously.

"Did you fall out of the sky and hit your head or something? They're different from us; you see, we are much smarter and well mannered." He pointed at himself and Sora as he explained, before pointing his machete right at the girl's face, causing her to flinch and close her eyes. "Keidran like her are nothing more than dumb, savage beasts who know nothing but to kill anything that isn't one of them." He then gave a cocky grin as he said, "But luckily for us, we managed to find good uses for them."

Sora was getting angrier by the second, not liking whatever this man was saying. He crossed his arms and furrowed his brows as he asked the man incredulously, "And that use is?"

"Slavery," he simply said.

Sora immediately widened his eyes and his pupils shrunk to pinpricks, absolutely shocked at what the man had told him; casually no less. "S-Slavery?" He repeated, almost unable to process what the man had just said; like the word was such a foreign concept to him.

"My, you aren't the brightest flame of hearth are you, boy?" He looked away from the girl and turned towards the Key Bearer. "Once you give these beasts the proper training, they can actually make for some pretty good slaves. Not only that, but you can sell them for a good price too, depending on the type and how well trained they are." He looked back at the girl, who reopened her eyes, while he rubbed his chin and thought aloud, "I wonder if you'd sell for a good slave too? You certainly got the look." He quickly stopped thinking about it though and shook his head. "Nah, it'd be too much of a hassle to drag you to town. A shame really, but I guess the gold I can get from your pelt is better than nothing."

He raised the machete in the air in preparation to strike, causing the girl close her eyes and hunker down, but before he had a chance to bring it down on her though, the boy stood in front of her, spreading his arms out between the girl and the man to protect her.

"Forget it!" He said and stared back at the man with rage so strong that it started producing a dark aura around his body. "There's no way I'm going to let you take her!" He then held out his right arm and, with a flash of light, summoned a weapon.

"Hey kid, what are you-" he stopped talking as he looked at the kid's weapon, once the light dissipated. He gasped in surprise, as if he recognized it.

The weapon appeared to be a giant, silver, skeleton key. It had a silver keychain in the shape of a mouse's head, a golden guard, a blue rainguard, and with teeth in the shape of a crown.

"That's the- you're-" he stopped rambling as he began to calm himself down, getting the Keyblade warrior to raise an eyebrow a bit at him. The man put away his weapon and raised his arms in surrender, surprising the boy a little, and causing the aura he had earlier to disappear. "Okay, you made your point." the man said, The Keidran is all yours now."

That caught Sora off guard, again not expecting the man's casual attitude. "You're giving up, just like that?" He asked the man, completely baffled, raising his eyebrow even further in confusion. Sure, he had hoped he wouldn't have to fight the guy; not because he couldn't handle him, but because he was afraid of how far he'd go to hurt him because of how angry he was. However, he also thought it might have taken longer to convince him to let her go, since he was so set on taking her from what he heard.

"Yeah, I know when I'm about to enter a fight I can't win. I'm just making it easier for all of us." The man patted down his pants and turned to walk away from the duo. As he walked by only a few feet, he turned back to look at them one last time, pointing a finger to the their right. "By the way, if you want to get to the nearest town, take that path over there; you can reach the town by tomorrow if you're fast enough, good luck." With that last statement, he turned back to the forest and headed deeper inside. A minute later, he was gone.

Sora was dumbfounded as the man had left them. While things did turn out for the best, it kinda felt anti-climactic just from how the man acted throughout the whole ordeal. Aside from his personality, the other thing worth noting from him was the reaction he had when he saw his Keyblade.

Did he... know what this is... and who I was? If he did, that would explain a few things, such as why he gave up so easily. But if so, how did he know who he was; just who was that man? The Key Bearer would have to think on it later, right now he had someone else that needed his attention.

Willing the Keyblade away, Sora turned back to the tiger girl, still curled up in fear from what had transpired. Frowning, he knelt down to the girl and raised his arm to comfort her. But when she opened her eyes to see him and saw his hand coming towards her, she widened her eyes a bit and began to become more nervous.

"It's okay," he said to her calmly, "the man is gone now. You don't need to be afraid anymore." He smiled reassuringly to put her at ease. It worked some, as she began to uncurl and a look up at him, but she was still nervous. Sora then held out his hand to her, causing the young Keidran to stare at it with a curious tilt of her head. He laughed a bit at her reaction.

She really does look and act like a cat. He thought to himself, before speaking to her kindly, "Come on, grab my hand. I'll help pull you up."

Although hesitant to accept the gesture, she slowly let out her arm to grab onto the boy's own, before finally clasping hands with his.

Happy that she accepted his help, the Key Bearer pulled her up until she was standing on her feet. "There you go!" The boy said with a smile after finally getting the girl up, letting go of her hand and closing his eyes in satisfaction.

The tiger herself no longer seemed to be afraid of the teen. Quite the opposite actually, she felt calmer then she was before. Any stress she had when she was almost attacked was gone, like it had just washed away. She had to admit, it was a nice feeling, one that had her smiling with the boy too.

Noticing this, he cheerfully pointed out, "Hey, you're smiling! That's great!" As he said that, however, the girl immediately stopped and blushed, turning her head away in embarrassment from the one that saved her life.

Realizing what he had said, Sora rubbed the back of his head sheepishly as he apologized, "Sorry, I guess I got carried away. I was just glad to see that you were happy." The girl, still blushing when he said that, looked back towards him.

"Did that guy hurt you, before I got here?" Sora asked her, deciding to change topics. The girl responded with a head shake, making the boy sigh in relief. Good, she's unhurt. Sora thought to himself. She was also able to understand me too, so that means she's smart, unlike what that creep said. It upset him to think of what the man had said about the tiger girl, and what he was about to do to her.

Speaking of the man, the teen looked to where he pointed to before he left, remembering about that being the way to town. But before he could leave, he looked back at the girl he saved and wondered, Will she even be okay by herself? What if she gets attacked again?

Little did Sora know, the girl had similar thoughts cross her mind, as she turned her head away to think. If she kept traveling alone like this, who knew what trouble she might run into. What are the chances she would run into a nice human like the boy here, or one of her own kind in human territory for that matter?

With their thoughts finished, they both turned to each other and Sora decided to have the first word. "Hey, um, I know we just met and all, but I'm wondering if maybe... you'd like to come with me?"

The girl's eyes widened when she heard the boy's request, opening her mouth as if trying to find the right words but none coming to mind. Seeing her reaction, the boy began to feel uncertain that he had made the right decision to ask her to come with him. He decided to give it one more shot.

"I understand if you don't want to come with me, but-"

His second attempt interrupted, as the tiger girl hugged him out of the blue. It was fair to say that he was surprised by this action, considering how hesitant and nervous the girl was when they met. Before he could ask what she was doing, he heard her... purring? It was strange for him, to say the least, hearing the girl purr like a cat. Technically, she was a cat, a tiger to be exact, but that was beside the point. Still, it sounded like she was happy, so maybe it meant she wanted to come?

Deciding to test his theory out, Sora put his hands on her shoulders, pushing her back a bit to look at her face. As she was still holding in the hug, while staring at him with a tilt of her head in curiosity, he asked, "Does this mean you want to travel with me?"

The girl nervously let go of the boy and backed away to respond. As she held her hands behind her back, and looked at the boy's face with a cheerful smile, she simply said, "Of course!"

"You can talk!?" Sora asked surprised.

"Yeah, did you think I couldn't?" She responded back with confusion.

"Sorry... you weren't speaking until now, so I wasn't sure." He admitted as he looked down, feeling awkward and embarrassed.

The girl just giggled at his expression before explaining, "Relax, honestly I was still a bit nervous after that human jumped me." She said before walking up to the slightly taller teen. "By the way, thanks for helping me earlier."

Sora perked up at her gratitude, making him grin and give her a thumbs up. As he began to reply, "You're welcome, I'm glad that I-"

He was interrupted when the girl licked his check. The boy was stunned at the action, making the girl laugh at his expense.

Getting out from his momentary shock, the teen rubbed the cheek the girl licked and looked at her with annoyance. "Hey, why did you lick me?!" He yelled at the girl, but she didn't seem phased by it one bit.

"Sorry, that's just how Keidran say thank you to each other, when they really appreciate someone." She cheekily explained to the boy.

Sora blinked at her explaination, unsure how to respond to it, before settling with, "Oh." The boy crossed his arms and closed his, playing over what had happened in his mind, before thinking to himself, I really ned to learn as much as I can about this world. Otherwise, I won't be ready for what's in store for me.

Putting that on the back burner for now, Sora focused back on the girl, who was still smiling at him innocently. He smilled as he disregarded what happened, "Forget about it, it wasn't a big deal. Anyway, why don't we get going before it gets dark?"

"Sure thing." The girl agreed.

"Oh that's right, I didn't tell you my name." The teen extended his hand and said, "I'm Sora."

She responded in turn by raising her own hand to grab his, shaking it. "Sora, that's a nice name and it rhymes with mine too! Call me Flora."

With the introductions out of the way, the two set out on the path for town, beginning of new adventure and new friendship.

xxx

Meanwhile, watching them from afar, was the same man that the duo had encountered. The man was smiling in satisfaction, happy with their departure together.

"Looks like it went better than I expected, good." The man turned away before raising a hand and summoning a rift in space. He walked right through the rift, and as he did, his appearance slowly began to change. In the stead of his all brown wardrobe was a black robe with a fluffy neck collar. His short, blondish hair changing to silver and reaching his neck. The most striking change was the stone mask adorning his face; with a swirl pattern on the left cheek and the eyes glowing an unsettling yellow.

It seemed as though the mask began to smile, as it proclaimed, "With the Key Bearer at the Keidran's side protecting her, I shall soon be able to reenact my plan!" It frowned upon recollection of a not-so-fond memory; the light from its eyes glowed brighter and became wild like flames. "I still can't believe I failed to seal away the Grand Templar's memories, all because someone had interfered!" Noticing its temper starting to get the better of it, the mask began to calm down and look upon the human and keidran walking down the path. "Then again, this may be a blessing in disguise. Perhaps the young boy will somehow get revenge for me and kill the bastard? Regardless, Grand Templar Trace will not be a problem for much longer."

A dark chuckle escaped from the mysterious being, as it continued to stare at the two going on their adventure, unknowing of the dangers lying ahead of them.

xxx

AN: This will do it for chapter one. So as you can tell, this takes place after the first Kingdom Hearts game. Because of this, a lot of things that we know from future installments will intentionally be left out, for now. Be sure to send me feedback in your reviews; let me know if I'm using proper grammar, sentence structure, punctuation. Also, please criticize me if there are any problems you see in the story; such as filler, plot holes, or how the story flows and I'll do my best to fix it and try to explain.

P.S. Creadit goes to DarthKeidran on Deviant Art who helped proofread this chapter. Thank you to all who took their time to read my first official fanfiction on this website.