Shadows of Sleep: Final Mix

Prologue

The dust was thick in the room, a good few centimeters thicker than it should have been. There were piles upon piles of books stacked throughout the room, few actually on the numerous bookcases in the room. As the old man walked into the room, several papers on the floor crinkled under his feet, the floor barely visible from all of the loose paper that was strewn about.

The old man fixed his pointed hat as he looked around the room. Where was his apprentice? He was supposed to be cleaning all of this. Yes, he was teaching his apprentice the finer arts of using a very powerful weapon, but helping to clean was part of his duties.

The old man suddenly looked wary. He had no clue where his young apprentice was, but he was sure that the mischievous mouse couldn't be up to any good if he couldn't find him. Leaving the room, he called out a name and waited.

He heard a distant crash and let out a sigh. A moment later, he heard a scurrying sound and looked up as his apprentice ran around the corner. He was a short creature with large, round ears and a high voice. His master would readily say that he was a mischievous and a bit of a rebel at times. It wasn't as if he was doing anything wrong, it was just that he tended to jump into action before thinking ahead.

For his part, the mouse was desperately trying to get out of that habit. He was going to be a king; he wasn't supposed to jump first4. It was difficult to change his personality though.

"Mickey," the old man said, "why have you neglected this room? The rest of the tower looks spotless."

"Gawsh Master Yen Sid," Mickey Mouse replied, "I thought this room was one of the ones off-limits."

Yen Sid was a patient man, a wizard who was much older than he looked (and, to be honest, he looked quite old). He had experienced many things in his lifetime, but never before had he seen such promise in an apprentice as he did with Mickey. Still, sometimes, despite his talent, Mickey pushed his patients to the limits. The broomstick incident was the best example of that.

Now though, it was just a misunderstanding, so there was no reason to be angry. "No, it is not. I am looking for a specific book in here. It has a black cover with golden writing and a silver lock. Clean this room and when you find it, bring it to me. It is of grave importance. The stars have drawn my attention to a certain matter that must be checked."

"Yes Master Yen Sid," Mickey said as he gave his master a respectful bow before scurrying into the room.

While Mickey disliked all of the chores that his Master gave him, he would rather jump into it and get it done quickly. He was always willing to help Yen Sid, even though he had the feeling that his master could easily clean the mess with magic. He had a feeling that these mundane tasks were specifically set out for him as some sort of training. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to be learning, but he had a feeling that it had something to do with patience, humility or something like that. Or maybe he was completely over thinking everything and Yen Sid just wanted him to clean. It would surprise Mickey. He caused a lot of trouble around the tower.

In theory, Mickey could have tried to use magic to clean the room, but he had learned his lesson after the broom incident. On the bright side, there were now many brooms to help clean the just recently finished Disney Castle. It had taken years to create, but it was a magnificent structure that the creator was certainly proud of.

Mickey started organizing the books and papers first, figuring that getting rid of the dust would be the easiest task and best left to the end. As he did, his thoughts turned back to his home, and specifically his family there. It wasn't a normal family to most people by any means, but it was still his. He didn't remember who has actual parents were, having been an orphan since he was only a baby. It was only after a human had taken him in that he truly felt like he had a family. Walt had been good to him and his friends, although the old man had been skeptical about people from any other world once he realized that they existed. It had been odd for a human to be close to such creatures as mice, dogs, cats and ducks, but Walt was ambitious.

Mickey frowned a bit. Walt wasn't a wizard like Yen Sid, and his age was finally catching up with him. It was one of the reasons why Mickey's training was so intense now. Minnie, his young wife, had got word to him that their old friend wasn't doing so well lately. It made Mickey nervous, because while he had officially been the King of Disney for a little while now, he never had to rule the world on his own. Still, Walt had said that once his masterpiece, his castle, was created and the Cornerstone of Light protected safely beneath it, he could finally move on in peace. He knew that Mickey could protect Disney even if he couldn't.

Mickey vowed that he wouldn't let Walt down. He would use his ever-growing abilities that he possessed to keep his home safe. That included a rather rare ability that Master Yen Sid was helping him develop. When he had first met Yen Sid, through Walt, the wizard had instantly known that Mickey was special. Walt Disney had been amazed with Mickey's power and his pure heart. Under Yen Sid's watch, Mickey learned to wield his powerful weapon that few others could use. Yen Sid had been a Keyblade Master, and though he had long ago put aside his own Keyblade, he was willing to take Mickey under his wing. There were so few people who could use the Keyblade, so who was he to deny a person who could?

The mouse sighed as he put book after book back onto the large shelves. He would have to ask Yen Sid if he could go and visible Walt before his old friend passed on. As much as Mickey didn't want to think of that he, like all of the other residences of Disney Castle, knew that Walt's time was swiftly coming to an end.

Suddenly, Mickey stopped cleaning and did a double take at the book that he had just put onto the shelf absent-mindedly. It was an old, worn, leather-bound book with faded gold writing on the cover and a tick silver lock. He couldn't understand what the language was, but it looked vaguely familiar. Throwing these thoughts aside, he quickly pulled the large book into his arms before rushing towards his master's office. Once he reached the room, he quickly knocked on the door and waited for his master.

"Enter."

The door opened on it's own, but the mouse was used to such things happening. Mickey slowly entered the room and placed the book carefully on his master's desk.

"Very good," Yen Sid said. "Once you finish your work, you may contact Minnie. A trip to Disney will be in order soon."

Mickey could read between the lines. He knew exactly what Yen Sid was getting at. He nodded his head with a quick bow and left the room. He stopped as he got into the hallway though, his curiosity about the book stopping him from going to speak to Minnie. He really wanted to know what was so important that Yen Sid asked him to find something that he obviously hadn't looked at in years. He often said that the stars told him things, though Mickey couldn't comprehend how or why. All he knew was that whenever Yen Sid said that the stars were speaking to him, or something along those lines, he was usually correct in whatever knowledge he had gained from them.

"I fear you were correct, Eraqus," Yen Sid said after a moment. "The darkness is rising quicker than normal."

"Yes," another unfamiliar voice replied, "I feared as much. The signs were all pointing towards the legends written in that book."

"Yes. A child born destined to be the Master of all Keyblade Bearers in a time of great darkness. Able to connect his heart to any friend or alley, he will be marked by his ability to control the power of Kingdom Hearts. Only he will be able to open the Door to Light. To bring about chaos or peace, it will be his own choice," Yen Sid read from the book.

"Kingdom Hearts? I thought that was protected by the royal family Twilight's Destiny," this mysterious Eraqus pondered.

"Yes. That's correct. Actually, if I remember right, the Princess is expecting another child," Yen Sid said thoughtfully. "That world hides the secrets of its people well. The world itself doesn't take well to intruders. Perhaps, the best course of action is just to sit and wait."

"Yes, I suppose you're right," Eraqus agreed. "There is nothing more that we can do at the moment. "

Mickey Mouse was standing outside of Yen Sid's office with a curious look on his face. A child with that much power would be the Keyblade Master? He looked down as his own Keyblade appeared in his hand. He knew he would have to help this little one somehow. He moved closer to the door to keep listening to the conversation inside.

But the first thing to do was to find who it was.

Author's Note

This is the prequel to Shadows of a Dream: Final Mix, and it's a rewrite of Shadows of Beginnings.

Title change – I wanted the title to have something to do with Birth By Sleep while tying it to the title of Shadows of a Dream.

Why did I decide to post this first instead of Shadows of Reality: Final Mix?

Because I can. No seriously though, I was looking over both of them, and even though I'm farther in writing Reality, I felt that this story had to be told first. There are a lot of changes in Shadows of Reality that are based off of the changes I'm making in this one. If people read the other one before this one there will be so much confusion it won't even be funny. It'd be like picking up the 5th Harry Potter book and reading that before reading 1-4.

The updates for this one aren't going to be nearly as quick as they were with SoaD:FM, so don't expect an update every other day. I'm going to try to do once a week if I can. While this one is definitely longer than the original, like before, it's much shorter than the sequels.

Also I saw Tangled yesterday and it made my life a little happier. I adored it, especially the psycho horse. Seriously, I want that horse. And I can't wait to see Tron either. I can totally see KH doing an update to try and include the new movie.

Hmmm…I think that's all I got for now. Hope you guys enjoyed this, but the story really gets rolling in the next chapter. Hence why this is a prologue!

Krystal Lily Potter