Summary: Sora did more than give Vanitas a normal boy's face. After the final battle with Ventus, he gave Vanitas some of his light in order to survive. But, he was reduced to the age of six with no memories of his life or name to grow up in another world. Ten years later, Arun doesn't believe in other worlds quite like his two friends, Arty and Caelum. He thinks they should keep their heads out of the clouds and stay in Meryton. One night on Arty's birthday, he is proved wrong when black ant-like creatures, ones he only saw in his dreams, invade his home, taking the hearts of everyone he knew. He falls into the darkness after he protects Arty from being attacked by a black ant. Then, he is approached by a strange light telling him he may borrow something he needs. When he wakes up he finds himself in a white room inside a castle and that's where all his troubles begin. Now, he must travel across several worlds to save them from the darkness. The one problem? He's not in his own body!

Disclaimer: I own none of Kingdom Hearts but two characters.

Chapter 1

Arun knew he was an idiot when he jumped in front of that weird black ant. He saw how people seemed to disappear when the ants attacked them, how these weird purple-red hearts replaced them to turn into more of those black ants. What else was he supposed to do when one of the ants tried to attack Arty while she was down?

He should have known better after that dream that this might be the day he was going to die.

He placed himself in front of Arty as she screamed his name. The strange creature slashed its claws across his chest. As this happened, he remembered how this day started.

xxx

Complete darkness surrounded him. It was almost nerve wracking to be in the darkness where he could not see nor smell anything. It was as if he did not exist-like nothing existed at all.

It was funny, really, how he was left in the infinite blackness. More than anything, the darkness was both his friend and enemy. He felt secure in the sweet bliss of oblivion where he was given the chance to rest from life. But it was also frightening to be held by numbing nothingness. He could forget everyone he ever loved and even who he was if he was to drift forever in the dark sea. Was that what he really wanted? Did he want to forget everything just to have his moment of rest?

Whether he could answer or not, it did not matter.

Below him, white light flashed before him. He realized he was drifting down as he opened his eyes. Below was a strange platform with a glass-like surface depicting a mural of him and another. It had a background of bright colors on the other's side of the mural while on his a mesh of black and red. What he found strange was the other was the exact opposite of him in every way from the windswept blond hair to his armor-like clothes. They were opposites...Yin and Yang...

He floated onto the platform, his feet planting themselves firmly on the glass. Blinking wearily, he did not move in fear of breaking something so beautiful and delicate. This place...It seemed so familiar. It was as if he's been there before...but how?

Apparitions appeared before him. The two boys from the mural appeared, fighting with their strange key weapons in their hands. He was fighting against the other boy mercilessly while the other attempted to defeat him to the best of his ability. It all seemed familiar, but for the life of him he could not remember.

You should remember.

The apparitions disappeared. He glanced over his shoulder to see the other boy of the mural- exactly the same as if a day hasn't gone by. The boy was frowning, glaring at him in total hatred. Why did he hate him?

It's your fault we're here. You get to run off with a part of me while I stay incomplete.

He opened his mouth to deny these claims and ask what was his fault. The boy cut him off.

No, it's your fault. I lost my two friends while you made friends with people who don't deserve you!

He was right. He didn't deserve his two friend's friendship. Not with how he treated them half the time. But he didn't want to be alone anymore. The dark was once his only friend, but he didn't want to go back to that. For all he had done, they stuck by him through all his faults. So what if this boy lost his two friends? How dare he say he didn't deserve the only two people who liked him enough matter what he did! He had no right to accuse him!

They only pity you. They don't love a monster like you. You're only a monster who steals things to satisfy his own needs. You don't deserve to live!

The boy was yelling, but no words came to him. Only the sound of cracking glass was his focus.

Suddenly, the mural shattered beneath his feet. He gasped, falling further into the darkness while, above, the boy stood where he was. He glared down at him with no sympathy as he cried for help. Falling into the darkness, he couldn't help but wonder what he did to deserve this, to deserve this boy's hatred. He grew numb, wondering and wishing he knew what had happened as the darkness grabbed him into its embrace.

"Arun, you lazy ass! Get up!"

Arun yelped from where something hard hit him on the head. Bolting straight up, he looked around his small messy room to see Caelum standing by his door tossing a baseball up and down in one hand.

"Damnit, Caelum. What'd you do that for?" Arun complained, nursing the new bump on his head.

"You wouldn't get up. Do you have any idea what time it is?" Caelum scolded.

"It's summer vacation. Do I look like I know?"

"You idiot! Did you forget what day it is?" He received a blank look. "It's Arty's birthday! We were supposed to meet at the Freeman Bakery this morning, but you were a no-show!"

"Arty's..." A dawning realization hit him. "That was today? Oh, man. I completely forgot."

"Forgot about the bakery, or forgot it was her birthday?"

"Uh, which one will get me in the least amount of trouble?"

Caelum sighed in exasperation. "Go get dressed. Arty is waiting downstairs."

Arun nodded quickly and sprung off the bed to go get dressed. He was thankful Caelum was in such a good mood to let him go so easily. Normally, he would get scolded for forgetting something as important as Arty's birthday. But, maybe he was saving the lecture for later when Arty wasn't around.

That sounds like him, he thought as he pulled on a black shirt over his head. If there was one thing he hated the most in the world, it was Caelum getting pissed at him. Caelum was terrifying as him when he got angry and an angry Caelum was not a nice thing. Especially when it came to Arty. He winced, remembering one time he made the girl cry. He's younger than me but he scares the crap out of me. Not that I'll ever admit it.

He pulled on his khaki pants and belted it with a black and white checkered belt. Pulling on a half white-half black hoodie, he made his way of his room. Arun walked past his empty kitchen and tiny living room to head straight for the front door.

Outside on his front porch, he found Caelum waiting impatiently along with a more patient Arty. When he came out Arty smiled.

"Sorry, I slept in," Arun apologized.

"Obviously," Caelum scoffed.

Arty simply shook her head, waving it off.

"No, it's fine. I guess you had a late night?"

"No. Well, I stayed up late a bit. I was hit with inspiration in the middle of the night, but that's not why I slept in."

"What a shock. You spent half the night writing, drawing, or playing your music again," Caelum said in a mocking tone.

"Hey, I'm an artist! I gotta get ideas done before they're gone forever!" Arun protested. "One day, one of them might be a gold mine. How am I supposed to know if I don't write it down?"

"And so far which of your works has been a gold mine?" Arun said nothing, which caused Caelum to smirk. "Exactly."

He flushed. "Well, one day they'll be famous! Just you wait! I'm going to be famous one day while you'll be some boring old man!"

"Arun, Caelum, please don't fight. It's my birthday," Arty pleaded to the two boys. "Can't we all just get along? I don't want my best friends fighting on my birthday."

Arun and Caelum fell silent, but continued to glare at one another. Arty took this as a good sign. Normally, they would ignore her and continue to argue until it escalated into a fist fight. Relieved they didn't, she took one hand of each boy and began to walk down the streets of Meryton.

The three lived in the quaint but small town of Meryton, which sat beside a large river. In their town everybody knew everyone and knew the latest news of what goes on in town. To the adults the town was peaceful, but for the younger generation a small town was stifling. It didn't help the town was surrounded by forests as far as the eye could see. The place was beautiful. There was no doubt about that. But it wasn't enough.

"So what's the real reason you woke up so late?" Arty asked as they began walking down Main Street. It was late morning so most of the town was out and about to get to the places they needed to go. Main Street was just a strip of road that connected to all the other streets in town. Arun lived just a block away from Main Street so he was never far away. It was on Main Street where all the shops, restaurants, and theater were located. All the teenagers hung around this street for entertainment. Especially during summer vacation.

"I had this weird dream last night," replied Arun. "I dreamt I was on this glass pillar and some boy was talking to me. He was saying things that didn't make sense like how I was a monster and didn't deserve anything. Then, the pillar shattered and I was falling into the darkness."

"A boy calling you a monster? Why?" she asked, worried.

"I dunno. But, when he called me that, I felt as if...I regretted something I did to him."

"Did you remember meeting the boy you're talking about before?"

"Maybe before I was six. Other than that, no."

"Maybe your conscious is trying to tell you something," Caelum commented after a moment.

Arun tilted his head, curious. "And what would my conscious be telling me with a dream like that?"

"That you need to be more of a good person. After all, there were those fights you got into before school let out for the summer."

Arty tensed, her back straightening up as she whipped her head to Arun. "Fights? What fights?"

Arun reached around Arty to punch Caelum on the shoulder, a glare in his golden eyes. "Nice going, idiot. You weren't supposed to mention that."

"Arun, you promised you wouldn't get into trouble anymore!" she scolded him.

Arun scowled. It was hard trying not to get into fights all the time. It wasn't like he wanted to get into them! They just happened! Okay, he might have punched one of the guys who were pretty annoying. But they were the school idiots! They did whatever they wanted without regard for what they were doing in school. Granted, he was being a bit of a hypocrite since he didn't care about school either. But, that's besides the point! They were disrupting school for Arty and that's all that mattered. So, he may have gotten into a fight with them…More or less.

"That fight was an accident. Those guys were being idiots," Arun reasoned. He didn't want Arty to get angry with him on her birthday. It was bad enough one of his friends was mad at him.

"Who started the fight?" she demanded.

"Don't look at me! I didn't start it. I ended it."

"You better not be lying to me, Arun."

"I'm not! I swear I didn't start a fight with anyone."

"Yeah, right," Caelum muttered under his breath.

Arty stared at him for a moment, looking him straight in his golden eyes. Usually guarded, he let them down to convey what he said. Finally, she smiled.

"Alright. I trust you. You didn't start a fight."

"Good. Otherwise, I would have needed to convince you in another way," he answered, smug.

She rolled her eyes. "Sure you would. Still, I wonder what your dream was about? It sounds pretty weird."

"Yeah." He didn't say it, but the dream worried him. What could it have meant? It did feel as if he knew the boy. The question was how he knew him. The boy seemed so real and the pain he felt was the same. The boy appearing seemed like a warning of what was to come...

He dismissed that thought. He was reading too much into the dream.

It's just a dream. Nothing more, nothing less, he told himself. It didn't mean anything to him if he didn't know what it was about.

All thoughts of the dream were pushed to the back of his head when Arty stopped in front of a shop window they were passing.

"Wow! That's so cool," she sighed dreamily.

Arun and Caelum shared a look when they saw what she was staring at. The store Arty was staring at was a local mechanic's shop. Past the window, she was staring at several pieces the local mechanic, Lowell, kept in his shop for display. Arty was fascinated with the customized motorcycle he kept there that stopped working some time ago, but was one of his first machines he built. Almost anyone would pass the store without a second glance. Not Arty. No, never her.

What most people in town didn't know was how Arty liked this sort of thing. She loved anything to do with science or engineering. On the outside she looked like your average girl with nothing special about her. On the contrary, she was incredibly smart. She could solve complicated math problems without any trouble as well as fix a car or machine if given the tools. Arun has seen her do it. The girl was talented. But in such a small town, she was forced to look and act like an idiot. The only people who knew she was smart were her father and two friends.

"Do you like that?" Caelum asked.

Arty nodded absently. "But I don't have the money to buy or make anything like that. Dad couldn't give me any money since they changed his payday." She sighed in frustration, continuing down the street. "I hate this town. I wish we could build a ship and sail down the river to some other world or something."

"Yes, that does sound like a nice plan," Caelum mused.

"Another world? And you call my dreams weird," Arun scoffed.

"What's wrong with believing in other worlds? I thought you were an artist," Arty said, raising an eyebrow curiously.

"I am an artist. I also happen to be part realist, part idealist, and part swordsman. I create other worlds in my imagination, but I don't believe we could honestly visit other worlds outside our head."

"You're also pessimistic," Caelum added. "How can you be certain other worlds don't exist?"

"I don't know. They just don't! Besides, Arty's the bookworm. She shouldn't believe in other worlds in the first place."

"Actually, there's a legend about there being other worlds out there," Arty argued. "Dad heard this legend nearly his entire childhood from his dad. It's basically about how there was a huge war to obtain and possess a light so pure everyone wanted it. Multiple worlds used to be one large one before the war. When it ended darkness swallowed the world along with the light. But tiny lights managed to survive in the darkness that soon became the worlds we know today."

"So Meryton used to be part of a larger world? How interesting," Caelum thought out loud.

"Yeah, for a legend. It's not even true!" Arun exclaimed.

Arty glared at him. "Most legends are based on truths."

"Exaggerated truths, sure, but not on this level. Seriously, other worlds? Light? Darkness? What are we, six? There's no such thing as other worlds.

"How can we be certain that worlds don't exist? Maybe they do. One day we might find the means to leave this world and start new lives," Caelum said.

Arun signed in frustration. Between the stubborn Arty and the relentless Caelum, he was never going to convince them. Rather, they would convince him instead.

"Fine. Let's pretend for a second I do believe in other worlds. What kind of world would you want to go to and start a new life?"

Arty paused, putting a finger to her lips as she stared at the sky. "I think I would live in a castle town or someplace with a lot of gardens."

"Really? I thought you'd want to live in a city or someplace with a lot of technology."

"I suppose, but cities are too stuffy. I want to live in a place where there's some people, but it's surrounded by beautiful forests or gardens."

"Arty, have I ever told you how strange you can be at times?" Arun said, fondly.

She smacked his arm. "Oh, shut up! Don't tease the birthday girl."

"Yeah, maybe that could be your gift to her this year," Caelum suggested, chuckling. "And speaking of gifts..."

He reached into his pocket to pull out a small rectangular box brightly covered in wrapping paper. He held it out to Arty.

"Happy Birthday, Arty."

"Wow!" Arty lifted the lid of the box to reveal crescent-shaped earrings with small sapphires at the top tip. She gasped. "Are these real?"

"Yup," he confirmed. "I had to work extra shifts to afford them, but they're real."

"Oh, Caelum. You didn't have to do this."

"I know. I wanted to."

Arty pulled Caelum into a hug. He squeezed back, looking over her shoulder to where Arun stood and gave a satisfied smirk. Arun scowled. He knew he was challenging him to do better, which he couldn't. He forgot it was Arty's birthday. Caelum knew he didn't have a present for her and that would make him look better.

Oh, I'll show him. He was going to prove to Caelum he had the better present for Arty. Even thought it would be late, it would still be better!

Now, if only he knew what it was...

xxx

Arun drummed his fingertips against the wood of his desk, a pencil balanced between the fingers of his right hand. This was so frustrating! He didn't know what to make for Arty's birthday gift. Unlike Caelum, who bought a gift for her, he decided to make something.

Most people didn't realize that beneath his tough exterior he was pretty creative with some materials. Making things was an outlet for all his pent-up anger he manifested from various things in his life. To contrast with his ability to destroy and the need to defeat something he picked up the habit of creating things out of nothing. Only Arty, her father, Caelum, and his art teachers knew he was handy with tools to create and destroy. Mainly, he used his tools to create.

He needed to figure out what to make exactly for Arty that could make up for his lack of a gift ready. He thought about buying her tools and some scrap metal for her to fool around with, but that was out of the question. He didn't have the money for tools and he couldn't find any scrap metal. Then, he remembered Arty, despite being a gear head, was a girl. She liked pretty baubles and trinkets. He never understood why girls liked things like gems and anything that sparkled pretty. The gems were worth a lot, yes. Did that mean everything fake cheap glass in jewelry was pretty? He didn't know how girls could be so enchanted with fake glass on some metal. But it worked by the way she seemed happy with the earrings Caelum gave her.

His first idea was to make her something like a ring with some fake glass on it. However, he didn't know how big Arty's fingers were. He didn't want to make the ring too big so it often slipped off her fingers nor too small so they wouldn't fit and get stuck. Scrapping that idea, he decided through the list of jewelry he knew such as necklaces and bracelets. As he thought about it none of them seemed to fit Arty. Things like bracelets and necklaces would get in the way of her work depending on the chain he used. He couldn't imagine her wearing things like that. It was like her long hair-it got in the way. Yet, she never had the heart to cut it.

Arun abruptly sat up, his eyes widening. Long hair...

That's it!

He scrambled for a new blank piece of paper to scribble down his new idea.

The night was long as he sat at that desk. The moon started its journey across the sky, rising high slowly. Time had no effect on the one determined to finish what he promised to do. It was four hours later late at night he managed to complete it.

Arun yawned and stretched, rubbing his eye. He looked down tiredly at his new piece of work with a content look. It wasn't his best, but he tried. On his wooden desk among several broken and twisted pieces of metal were two hairpins. They were simple in design with merely a metal sun painted gold and red on each. It was what was in the center of each sun that was the main piece of the pins. They were but simple red marbles he had from his days at the orphanage. Really, they were the only things he owned during those days. No one would consider them important, but they were to him. It hurt him a bit to part with them for a good cause. Yet, he did it.

He smiled. He was sure Arty would love these considering how important those marbles were to him.

No, she'll definitely like them.

Nodding to himself, he reached for a box and some spare wrapping paper from his last birthday. He glanced at the clock to see it was almost three in the morning. Arty normally stayed up to do some research or work on some new secret project. He could deliver it now or do it later and forget it.

He decided to do the former.

Once he finished wrapping the hairpins, he grabbed his jacket and headed out after locking up. He walked through the near silent town as no one would be up at such a forsaken hour. He kept to the shadows as he usually does in the dark. Nothing was visible except for his golden eyes.

To some it looked frightening. The way his eyes looked in the daylight was already creepy. At night, some said, they glowed. Some of the night walkers avoided him when they saw eyes glowing in the dark. He hurried on towards Arty's home by the ports.

It did not take him long before he came to the neighborhood by the ports. The street was dim with a few street lamps on. A few of the porch lights were on. He headed towards the house toward the end where one of the windows in the second story was on. He darted towards the window at the side of the house. Finding some pebbles, he threw them as lightly as he could at the window.

"Arty! Arty, open the window!" hissed Arun.

He waited for a moment. Then, the window opened. Arty poked her head out, rubbing her eyes. She blinked wearily down at him.

"Arun? What are you doing here? It's three in the morning," Arty said groggy. It seemed like she must have fallen asleep while working again.

"I know. Come down. I have something for you."

She stared at him for a second. She nodded and disappeared from view. A few minutes later she appeared out of the back door of her house.

"What did you want?" Arty yawned.

"Just this." Arun took out the present from his jacket pocket. He handed it to her, which she looked at. For some reason, his cheeks warmed. "I know it's a bit late, but I wanted to give this to you while I could. Happy Birthday, Arty."

Arty glanced at the present then to him. She took the present and was about to open it when the strangest thing happened.

Arun thought it was odd on the way to Arty's house the sky seemed to darken to the point not even the moon was not visible. He always noticed where the darkness was and how dark it could get at night. It was an affinity he had. He felt it was darker than ever as he stood there with Arty in her backyard. A shiver went down his spine as he felt something move in the shadows.

That's when all hell broke loose.

Out of the corner of his eye Arun noticed how Arty's hand and the present made a shadow from her porch light. His eyes widened when he saw the shadows stirring as if they were bubbling. Horror filled him when the shadows rose-literally!-out of the ground.

Arty did not notice, instead wondering what was in her present. More of the strange shadows appeared around them. Arun saw one of the shadows slither behind her with claws so sharp they would draw blood.

"Arty, look out!" he cried out.

He grabbed her arm as the shadow's claws brushed against her shirt. She gasped.

"Wh-What are those?" she asked, eyes wide from seeing the strange creatures. They were full of fear, but some curiosity swirled in its stormy depths.

"I don't know," Arun answered. What he did know was that whatever that thing was it was dangerous. He could feel it in the pit of his stomach.

The strange shadows that strangely resembled ants stood there, their heads twitching. He waited in anticipation. Why weren't they attacking?

Screams suddenly filled the air. It sent shivers down the two teenagers' spines. It was as if the very earth was screaming. But no, these human screams. Screams of the people who lived in their town.

Arty gasped.

"Dad!"

She went dashing off back towards her house. As she did the shadows responded. They went crawling towards her with a swiftness he did not know a thing could possess.

"Hey! Leave her alone!" Arun ran up to the nearest shadow and kicked it. It was sent flying into the nearest one near Arty. It gave her enough time to run back into the house to slam the door shut. He would have thought she was safe until she heard a resulting scream from within the house.

"Dad! No!"

In another instant Arty came running back outside, sobbing. She ran to Arun, but nearly tripped in the process. He had to catch her before she fell. She started to sob into his chest.

"Arun! Dad...that thing got him...! Turned into one of them!" Arty said. It was hard to tell what she was saying through her tears.

Arun would have been more worried about the date of her father if not for the fact they were being surrounded by those shadows again. He pulled her away.

"Arty, you can cry later. But right now we need to go check on Caelum, understand?" he asked, forcing her to look at him. Instead of feeling playful, he was serious for once. Something was going on and it wasn't good on their part.

She nodded.

Grabbing her hand, Arun pulled her across her backyard, jumping over the shadows. He wasn't sure how to go about killing them. At the moment he couldn't fight back with Arty to think about. Going through the fence, they came to the street to meet a terrible sight.

People were running out of their homes screaming with the black shadow creatures all around. They were attacking the townspeople relentlessly. Arun's eyes widened when he saw that instead of falling to the ground in a dead heap the people's bodies were vanishing while purple-red hearts floated out. Those hearts were engulfed in a black darkness for a second before they became those black creatures.

What's going on? Why are they...?

"Arun! Hurry!" Arty gasped, hiding herself behind Arun to avoid seeing the people disappear.

He shook his head. Seeing this was awful enough. If Arty or even Caelum became those creatures...He shuddered.

Arun ran through the street while keeping Arty close. He tried to avoid the shadows as much as he could. With all his fencing abilities behind him for the life of him he could not fight without a sword. Caelum always told him he had to learn other skills that didn't have to do with a weapon. Now, of all times, Caelum was right. A small part of him died at admitting Caelum was right. But, he could bury that part as soon as they were out of danger. He had to make due with kicking the heartless out of the way. They did try to harm them but Arun would either kick them out of the way or Arty would pick up a stone and throw it. Of course that didn't do much. The creatures acted as if they were not affected with the physical abuse. Instead, they twitched for a moment before coming after them. With so many of them around Arun doubted they would live to the end of the street that turned to Caelum's block.

Miraculously, they did.

Arun pulled Arty around the corner but came to a halt. All the blood drained from his face making it even paler when he saw a creature that looked a larger version of the ant-like shadows. However, these were leaner and had longer antennas. Its claws were razor sharp.

Arty gasped. Arun dared not breathe in fear it would see them. However, it remained where it was its head twitching and tilting to the side as if not sure what to do. He pulled Arty behind him, his eyes never leaving the creatures.

"Arty, go around it slowly. Then, get yourself to Caelum's. I'll try to distract it," he whispered to her over his shoulder.

Arty shook, pulling herself to him tightly.

"No! I'm not leaving you, Arun!" she hissed back.

"This isn't a request! Caelum can keep you safe!"

"But-" She was about to argue further. It died on her lips when he shifted his head to look into her eyes. His own golden ones were narrowed into a cold glare.

"Arty. Don't argue. Go. Now."

She held his gaze for a moment. Finally, she relented. Biting her lip, she pulled herself away from him. Glancing a look to the shadow, she carefully tiptoed past it. As soon as she was behind its head she tried to make a run for it.

The creature finally moved. It whirled its head to Arty. With claws ready to sink into flesh it lunged at her. And she didn't see it coming from behind her.

Arun felt as if the world had frozen. His eyes grew wide when seeing it lunge at Arty. He was frozen for a second then his body moved. Without thinking he placed himself in the shadow's path mere inches away from where it would sink its claws into Arty. He didn't have time to react except of think of the dream he had that morning when it's unbelievably sharp claws sank into him.

Arun's chest burned. He screamed as his chest grew hot from where the claws sank into him before it went ice cold. His breath hitched his body seizing up before loosening. His strength drained away. He began to sink to his knees as he heard Arty scream his name in a way he never wanted to hear it before all went black.