A/N: Urgh, I need to concentrate! All these stories at once is making me crazy... This and Suddenly A Ringtail are my priorities for now.

Twisted

A Kingdom Hearts fanfiction. Slightly AU. Three friends (and a different set of two) are sucked out of their dying world and thrown headlong into an adventure. Add in some Keyblades, the three friends's magic, and a maniac hell bent on killing all five of them, and you have Twisted.

Stranger Report #1

It has never come to pass in my many years about in the worlds that I saw a world quite so dead as this one. And yet, this one had yet to be taken by Darkness.

And maybe it was from all the pure hearts it once had, the hearts that have quickly become rare. Now, only five teens have the hearts that made this world retain its longevity.

Nico Goodfellow, Luke Stocker, Zia Faustus, Casey Jenkins, and Peige Sinclair. These are the names of the five denezins of light. I fear, however, that one of them will stray from the path of light, and stumble onto the road to darkness. Should this occur, this world would quickly become overrun by every kind of creature of Darkness in existence, not just the occasional Heartless swarm.

But so long as the other four continue on the path of light, it would never fall to the Darkness. But whether that would be a blessing or a curse to the people of this world, only time will tell...though, I honestly hope it doesn't...

I remained dozing even as my senses slowly returned. I wasn't ready to wake up just yet. But, after some time, I sat up and yawned hugely. I couldn't help it - it was a very good night's sleep, after all. And, unfortuneately, I probably wasn't due for another such night any time soon.

"Nico! Breakfast!" My *coughhighlyeccentriccough* mother called to me.

With a sigh, I heaved myself out of bed and tugged into my traditional outfit. I made sure to put on all of my bracelets, leaving hardly an inch of skin between them on my wrists and most of my lower arms. With a slightly goofy grin, I pulled my signature dark blue peruvian hat over my unruly black hair, but not before tugging a brush through it until I was satisfied.

I, being quick to wake up and become unbelievably cheerful, all but hopped down the stairs and skipped into the kitchen. I say 'all but' because, as an experienced Mage, I showed some measure of self restraint. But there was a very noticeable spring to my step.

I greeted my mother with a smile, and she returned the greeting. For once, she wasn't covered head to toe in sparkly items and silvery scarves. She was outfitted in a simple black dress, her light blue hair pulled up in a practical bun on the crown of her head.

"Big day today, huh Nicky?" She asked as she handed me a plate of bacon.

"Yeah... I'm finally being awarded the Magestar rank!" I exclaimed, understandably excited by the chance.

You see, my two closest friends, Luke Stocker and Zia Faustus, and I, were being promoted from the Adept rank, which is the third highest rank a Mage can receive, to Magestar rank, the second highest. As of that moment at breakfast, there were only four Magestar ranked Mages alive.

And, quite unsurprisingly, there was only one person on the highest rank. She was the one who gave everyone their promotions, but the council chose who was worthy to receive them. She was Archmage rank. And that was the rank we all strived to acheive. Some devoted their entire lives to it.

But some, like Luke, Zia, and I, only take the ranks as we are seen worthy of them. We don't try to do anything special to acheive them, we just practice and practice until we have every level's spells down pat. But with our combined knowledge and willingness to help each other when one of us doesn't understand, we always rose through the ranks exceptionally quickly.

I grinned as I wolfed down my bacon, and sat up straighter at the thought that I was only going to be a level away from the head honcho. I stood tall as my mother secured all ten of my pins from the ranks to my vest, grinning even broader.

The ranks of magehood are as follows:

Level one - Newleaf

Level two - Apprentice

Level three - Greenleaf

Level four - Raven

Level five - Jecht

Level six - Half-Heart

Level seven - Cosmic

Level eight - Froster

Level nine - Nightengale

Level ten - Adept

Level eleven - Magestar

Level twelve - Archmage.

As previously stated, it was the goal of almost every mage to reach Enchanter rank. But, understandably, that took many years to accomplish. Most fail to make it to Adept, or even Nightengale!

As it was, you were lucky and afforded relatively high honors when you reached Magestar rank. That, along with the choice to serve on the council and lose your actual rank or continue on to attempt to reach Archmage rank. Yeah, the four Magestars I mentioned earlier? They make up our current council.

My mother smiled back at me, gently reminding me to school my expression. It was going to be rather difficult to do so for the entire ceremony, but I would do my best. And, most of the time, my best is very good.

When my mother and I reached the pavilion where the upgrades were always given, she branched off away from it and into the crowd. I set my face into a firmly serious expression, at least for the moment while people could see me walking up to go backstage and wait.

The second I got behind the curtain and spotted Zia and Luke, all three of us squealed -yes, even Luke- and grinned like maniacs, tugging each other into a vice-grip hug. Okay, so maybe his wasn't exactly a squeal, per se, but it was pretty damn close.

"Magestar rank!" Zia said breathlessly. "I can't believe we finally got this far!"

"I can!" Luke said, "Nico's relentless, always trying to become 'the Greatest Mage the World's Ever Seen'."

I only smiled, "Hey, I'm just glad I'm one rank away from the head honcho and achieving my biggest goal!"

They nodded at me. The curtains began to rise, and the three of us assembled into a line with carefully stern expressions. Zia was on the left, then Luke, then me.

Our single Archmage walked forward in front of us, a serene smile on her face. She faced the crowd without her expression changing at all. "Hello, everyone. We all know why we're here, don't we?"

A mumble flew through the crowd. "Three Mages promoted to Magestar rank!"

"Exactly. As usual, I, Misty Lashbrook, will be awarding the promotion of rank." Her smile brightened, "And, give them the choice. Although, I think we all know what their answer will be!" She laughed.

The audience echoed her. Because of the context, the three of us let small, amused smiles flicker onto our faces.

Misty turned around to face us. She formed a pin out of thin air. "First, Nico Goodfellow. I award you the pin that signifies your rank as a Magestar. Will you join the council, or strive to achieve the level of Archmage?"

"I will continie to strive toward my goal." I replied, "And to achieve my goal, I must reach Archmage rank."

She nodded and fixed the eleventh pin onto my vest next to the Adept one.

"Luke Stocker, will you join Nico, or will you join the council?"

"My loyalties have always been with Nico, so by her side I will remain." Luke replied confidently. He had to fight hard not to beam when she fixed the pin onto his jacket.

"Last, but most certainly not least, Zia Faustus. Will your loyalties be as rock-solid as Luke's, or will you turn away from your shared dreams to be on the council?"

"Consider my loyalties harder than obsidian." Zia responded, still holding herself strong.

She, too, had trouble concealing her emotions about it. But her eyes gleamed with pride.

Misty turned to the crowd again, "Well, there you have it, everyone. Three new Magestars who keep their rank to continue to Archmage. I wish them the best of luck."

The crowd cheered and the three of us bowed respectfully. We stayed calm until the curtains closed and, regardless of Misty's presence backstage, fist pumped with simultaneous 'yes's coming from our mouths.

But the cheer of the moment was ruined the second we stepped out again. And it wasn't because we had to reschool our expressions.

The second we stepped out, all thoughts of triumph and glee left. In the middle of the skies, a swirling black vortex dropped thousands of black creatures down. Quite a few lower level Mages were shooting spells at the creatures, but each one that fell was replaced by four more.

Misty came busting out of the back stage area, spells blasting mercilessly from her palms. Luke and Zia stopped to help too, but I only had one priority.

Finding my mother.

On the way to her, I tossed countless Archmage level spells at the demons. Try and guess where I learned them. But, as with before, they just kept coming.

Eventually I found my mother. She was surrounded by a large assortment of random flaming things, including some of the demons. Yeah, that was my mom all right - pyromaniac extrodinaire with an Adept rank built solely on the fire-based spells. She's the inspiration for one of the Ravens, a girl around my age with flaming red hair and bright green eyes.

"I've got this covered, Nicky! Go home and pack a few backpacks. I get the feeling this is going to be Selorum's last stand!

I nodded and decided to save some energy by teleporting back to the house. I grabbed three heavy duty hiking backpacks and began stuffing them full of provisions. I only grabbed three because I knew my mother's last stand proceedure.

I get out with Luke and Zia, while she stays behind and fights. I hated it, but I didn't get much choice. If I didn't go, she'd most likely set me on fire before opening a portal and throwing me though it.

I teleported back to Luke and Zia. "Come on. Last stand proceedure. We're leaving."

I handed the both of them a backpack and cast one last look at the raging inferno that was my mother before trying to set a location in my head. The second I thought I had it, it slipped. And I knew exactly why, too.

One of those little buggers had clawed my back, thereby breaking my concentration.

I swiped at it in annoyance, not really trying to hit it, but to my surprise, my arm gave a jolt that screamed to me I'd made contact. I spun around, looking at my hand. Clutched in my fist was a long key-like sword. It looked like it would be useful for beating someone over the head with until they died from the blunt force trauma to their cranium, but something told me it could cut through solid metal if used correctly.

I stared at it before raising it and swiping away another of the creatures. Two flashes of light alerted me to something going on with Luke and Zia.

I spun so fast I was sort of surprised I didn't give myself wiplash, only to find both of them holding weapons vaguely similar to my own.

"Okay, let's go. Now." I said, grabbing both of them and setting a target in my mind quickly.

The last thing I felt before the usual sensation of teleporting was someone crashing into me and retaining contact. I think I passed out at some point during the trip.