Pikatwig: Happy 15th Birthday Kingdom Hearts.

KKD: I still can't believe it's been that long since this franchise got started. What a wonderful crossover that carried on so long with so many fans. I mean, I can't even think of a crossover this big in magnitude.

Pikatwig: We can thank a Square Enix employee meeting a Disney employee in an elevator and saying he had a game idea, the Square Enix people saying they wanted to prove a Disney game didn't need to just be for kids, giving an adjustment to the ending, we got a long standing franchise.

KKD: Yep.

Pikatwig: I do wish we could've gotten that Kingdom Hearts cartoon. *sees heads tilt* Yep. There was going to be a Kingdom Hearts cartoon.

KKD: So much potential… and with me having the main games in the remix collections (not including the X mobile games) and KHIII officially getting ready to be released, hopefully in 2018, we figured we should celebrate.

Pikatwig: I think we should quickly go over our personal experience with the franchise. You go first.

KKD: I have honestly been around with the franchise since it first came out in 2002. I was still new to the PS2 console, and while it was a time where licensed games on the systems were still being phased out, I still had oddball titles like Tarzan: Untamed and Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure. *gets head tilts* Yes, those games were things. But during that time, Kingdom Hearts came out, and I wanted to get it just because it was a Disney game with so many movies represented, and I was always a big Disney fan. Since then, I've been trying to keep up with the franchise, even as it had weird moments going from console to handheld and back. I'll admit the stories got convoluted with the side stories being so numerous, but I really do enjoy what this franchise has become, with my favorite game so far STILL being Kingdom Hearts 2. Funny thing, it was one of the first games I ever beat… but at the same time, my dad got me the game with an Action Replay cheat disc for the game, meaning at one time, I kinda cheated my way to playing much of the game, but I since played it legitimately, and when I beat the story mode, I did it legit.

Pikatwig: Ok… I'm not going to comment about cheat codes because you're my best friend. My experience with the franchise is… limited. I remember seeing ads for Re;coded but never got it. Heck, with the exception of Birth By Sleep, I could get just about every KH game if I wanted to. I have a PS2, GBA, DS and 3DS. Only reason I never have is because I was worried the games would be to complicated for me… and the fact I had a feeling finding them would be a pain. Though, I have a funny story. After seeing Re;coded's ad enough times I decided to look up the franchise on YouTube. I found a Let's Play of Re;Chain of Memories.

KKD: Huh, funny how that works. Who knows, maybe I'll end up doing a retrospective on Kingdom Hearts just like I have with Spyro. It was just as much a part of my childhood as the purple dragon, so who knows.

Pikatwig: If you do… can I join you for Memories?

KKD: We'll see.

Pikatwig: So… with my non-existent knowledge of KH, I actually did buy into the tricks the Organization members pulled with Namine.

KKD: You mean the part where she rewrote Sora's memories into thinking she was part of the original gang before she wrote Kairi out altogether? I'll admit, I thought she was a real part of his life when I heard it first on the GBA version, too. But later when I looked back, I was like, "wait, what?" Especially when Kairi was erased from Sora's memories, I was like, "What about Kairi, you doof?"

Pikatwig: True. Also, back when I got into the series, I had a hard time pronouncing Kairi because my mind kept auto-correcting it to 'Kari'.

KKD: Digimon, much?

Pikatwig: The scene they had in the original game with them watching the sunset together on Destiny Islands with their backs turned… they looked like Tai and Kari to me.

KKD: Fair enough, the hair does kinda look that way.

Pikatwig: Onto the inspiration for this story. We've been planning to write something for KH's 15th anniversary for a while now, but we didn't know what to do.

?: Why not continue my adventure?

*The two turned to see Kamen Rider W with a black and green version of the Kingdom Key*

KKD: Oh yea, it's been a while. Uh… listen, I really would've liked to get back to you, but times change and I kinda lost interest in that crossover, let alone trying to keep making new forms for W the whole time and keep it a continuous story. I mean, I may consider going back, but I'd rather just start something new.

W: ...fair. *walks off*

Pikatwig: Then, something I've been sitting on, I suggested a story where Namine's lie ended up being what the truth was.

KKD: I mean, especially at the time when we first heard the story as Sora recalled it, we both admitted it was a believable story where she ended up being forgotten since she didn't come by as much. But instead of replacing Kairi in the memories altogether, and instead of her being a Nobody, what is she was a real person?

Pikatwig: Plus… I'm a person who ships Sora with Namine.

KKD: I personally don't quite get that seeing what happened officially, but that's the point of a "What If?" scenario. So basically, we're asking that question, "What if Sora's false memories of Namine were real?"

Pikatwig: Yep. So, let's get going.

KKD: Let's unlock that Keyhole to bring in the disclaimers!

Disclaimers: Neither KKD nor Pikatwig own the rights to anything in this story as it is a fanmade project. Kingdom Hearts and the movies and games used within are the property of Walt Disney Studios, SquareEnix, and Tetsuya Nomura. The only things the authors own are the original concepts within.

It was nice and quiet day in the Radiant Garden as two young girls were hanging around outside, a redhead in a white dress was picking flowers while a young blonde in a similar dress was sketching something in a notepad. They both smiled at each-other as they began to head for home, when suddenly they heard a ruckus nearby and saw mysterious dark blue creatures that randomly twitched around, zipping around the area as they attempted to attack. The two girls quickly ran away, quickly seeing a taller woman with blue hair in an outfit that was mostly black and blue with white and pink on it, holding a weapon that resembled a key-shaped sword that was also mostly blue with a black grip and a white guard. The woman quickly ran over to the two kids to defend them from the strange creatures, the two hiding behind her before touching her weapon as the woman prepared to strike, the woman noticing something as she looked to the two for a moment.

After a moment, there was a shorter figure in black rushing in with big round ears, the figure resembling a mouse vaguely while wielding a weapon similar to the woman, but it was mostly in shades of blue and yellow with shapes like the night sky, the key teeth being a crescent moon with a star in it.

"You gotta get those two somewhere safe! It's too dangerous!" the mouse shouted to the woman.

"Who are you? And why do you have a Keyblade?" the woman inquired.

"I'll tell you later. Right now, we gotta stop these things!" the mouse responded.

The woman gave a nod before she casted a defensive bubble spell over the twins before teleporting them a short distance away. The two girls looked on as the woman and the mouse both attacked the creatures with their weapons, the Keyblade, both of them looking amazed yet worried about the two. Eventually, all of the creatures were gone and the two were soon brought to safety by the mouse. The mouse turned to the woman and gave a small smile.

"Thank you. My name is Aqua and I train under Master Eraqus."

"And I'm Mickey. I used to be Yen Sid's apprentice."

The two Keyblade wielders spoke for a bit, but most of what they were talking about flew over the heads of the two young girls. The two looked at each other in confusion one moment before the mouse vanished in a flash of light without much concern.

"...what happened?" the redhead couldn't help but ask.

"I'm not sure…" the blonde responded.

The redhead simply thought for a moment before she turned to Aqua, "Here."

Aqua looked to see it was the flowers the redhead had been carrying, looking surprised as she took them into her hand and smiled.

"Thank you for saving us," the redhead smiled.

"...thank you…" the blonde nervously added.

"They're so lovely… thank you…" Aqua said with a soft smile.

"My name's Kairi and this is my sister Namine. Nice to meet you!" the redhead, Kairi, smiled.

"Hello," Namine waved a bit shyly.

"Nice to meet you too. I'm Aqua," Aqua told the two.

"Heh… all our names have to do with water…" Kairi giggled.

Aqua thought about it for a moment before she realized that Kairi was right and giggled a bit herself. Namine took a bit to think about it, but also giggled after it occurred to her. The twins soon left, but not before Aqua had tapped the necklaces they were wearing and mentioned something about 'light guiding them to another if they were in trouble'.

A year had passed and the area was nice and quiet. Namine was sketching in her notepad again as Kairi was taking a nap nearby. Suddenly, shadow creatures began to attack the area. Namine quickly woke up her sister but saw the creatures fast approach them, leaving the two scared, running away.

A few people began to attack the shadow creatures, from a man with a large blade to a woman with shurikens, to one casting magic. The battle got intense, but many of them were outmatched as a pale-skinned woman in a black robe walked over. She easily knocked them away before she noticed Kairi and Namine trying to run.

"Turn those two into Heartless," the pale-skinned woman ordered as some of the shadow creatures rushed over to the two. They got tackled to the ground by the creatures, but a large amount of light energy surrounded the two and teleported them away.

Kairi washed ashore on an island while Namine had simply landed on the island. The two girls were out for a bit until a young boy with spiky brown hair, blue eyes, and wearing a white shirt with red shorts and sandals carefully approached the two as they slowly regained consciousness.

"Who are you two? Where did you both come from?" the young boy asked.

"...Namine…" the blonde nervously whispered.

"Hey, Sora!" a voice called out, making the brown haired boy look over to see a silver-haired and blue-eyed boy just a year older than him in a yellow tank top, blue shorts, and flip flops run over, "What's up?"

"I found these two girls and…" Sora began as he saw Namine hide behind him, "Huh?"

"I'll go get someone, just make sure they don't move," Riku told Sora as he headed off.

Sora turned to Namine and looked curious before he saw Kairi slowly move over to Namine.

"Where are we?" Kairi asked.

"I don't know…" Namine responded as she helped Kairi up to her feet, "But I think we're safe…"

Kairi looked around and smiled at Sora.

"Sora!" Riku called out as he returned with an older gentleman…

"So… they're living with the mayor now?" Sora asked Riku as they headed home.

"Yep," Riku nodded, "He figured it would be best until we found their family."

Sora nodded as his thoughts turned back to Namine, "...I hope Namine's ok."

"She's the blonde one, right?" Riku checked.

"Yeah," Sora nodded, "She seemed very worried…"

"Hey, I'm sure she'll be fine," Riku assured.

Sora simply nodded as they arrived at their homes, "See you later."

"See you," Riku responded.

It had been a few months since that day and the two girls slowly grew adjusted to life on the Destiny Islands. Kairi smiled as the two boys dueled against each other while Namine sketched nearby. Riku eventually won after a long match and then helped Sora up.

"Not bad…" Kairi smiled.

"Thanks, Kairi. I have been practicing a lot lately," Riku smirked.

"You did good too, Sora," Kairi added.

Sora gave a small smile in response before he turned to Namine, "So… what are you going to draw next?"

"...one of you…" Namine told the two boys.

"Me!" they both exclaimed.

They looked to each other, making Namine giggle as they started dueling again over who Namine would draw. Sora eventually won after a long duel, panting a bit before smiling, posing as Namine sketched him.

"So… who do you think you like more between the two?" Kairi asked as they returned to the mayor's house.

"...I'm not sure…" Namine responded nervously, a faint blush appearing on her face.

Kairi giggled a little bit before they headed into their room. Kairi watched as Namine continued her sketch of Sora, starting to color it in, and Kairi could simply tell who her sister liked more between Sora and Riku.

A meteor shower occurred one night as Kairi and Riku looked up to the sky and saw the meteors fall.

"Really pretty…" Kairi smiled.

"Yeah…" Riku nodded before he noticed something, "Where's your sister and Sora?"

"Sora went to watch it outside and I think Namine went looking for him…" Kairi figured, "They'll be fine."

"AWESOME!" Sora yelled as he saw the meteors fall from the sky, "I couldn't ask for this much! Hey-ho, hey-ho… I wanna be a hero that saves the world!"

He then heard a small whimper from nearby and turned to see Namine hiding behind a tree, "What's wrong, Namine?!"

"I'm scared… it's falling over here…" she responded as tears began to form in her eyes.

"Don't worry!" Sora told her as he picked up a pebble, "Look! If one flies over here…"

He then tossed the pebble into the air and smacked it with his wooden sword, "Bang! Like this! I'll hit all of 'em back! None of them will hit you, Namine!"

Namine watched as Sora picked up another few pebbles and did the same thing… only for one of them to come back down and bonk him on the head. Seeing this, Namine couldn't help but giggle and smile, "Yeah… it's you, Sora, so I know I'll be ok…"

She then walked over to him and handed him something, "Sora… I'll give you this. This charm has been protecting me since I was born…"

Sora looked at the charm, which was a sort of star with a keychain, "It'll protect you too, Sora…"

The brunette walked over to her and took her hand in his free hand, "Well then, from now on… I'll protect you, Namine…"

The two held hands as they continued to watch the meteor shower. They smiled, not looking at each other but they were blushing a bit at the close contact.

Several years passed since that day and Namine and Kairi still lived on the island and were starting to make plans to try and see if they could find their home. Sora and Riku were planning to help and came upon the idea of making a raft. It was a night before they were going to continue to gather supplies as Namine was fast asleep...

Namine stood in a dark room and was on top of what looked like a stained glass window of a princess.

"So much to do, so little time…" Mickey's voice said to her, "Take your time. Don't be afraid… the door is still shut. Now, step forward."

"Why does that voice sound so… familiar?" Namine muttered as she walked forward, looking towards the light above before a few pillars appeared around her.

"Power sleeps within you. If you give it form… it will give you strength. Choose well…"

The blonde looked for a moment before she slowly walked towards a staff. This staff was mostly brown on the handle, but the top looked like three orbs glued in a way that resembled a familiar head. She picked up the staff and then heard the voice once more.

"The power of the mystic. Inner strength. A staff of wonder and ruin. Is this the power you seek?"

"...yes…" Namine nodded. The staff then vanished from her hands, but she felt a magical energy fill her as she looked up and then back to the other pillars, one having a big black and red shield with the same symbol as the staff, and the other a golden-hilted sword with a silver blade, blue grip, and the symbol on the hilt.

"Your path is set. Now, what will you give up in exchange?"

Namine looked around for a moment before she picked up the sword.

"The power of the warrior. Invincible courage. A sword of terrible destruction. You give up this power?"

"...yes."

Then the sword vanished just like the staff, as she felt a strong destructive urge, but then it suddenly faded as if a great weight was lifted from her shoulders.

"You have chosen the power of the mystic. You have given up the power of the warrior. Is this the form you choose?"

She took a moment to think about this before she nodded 'yes'. At that moment, the pillars began to sink in, forcing Namine away as the platform she was standing on fell apart and she fell to another platform. This platform showed another princess as she landed gently before feeling something in her.

"You've gained the power to fight…"

The staff then appeared in Namine's hand, leaving her confused, but she swung the staff around. After enough practicing, she saw something appear on the platform, which turned into the same shadow creatures that attacked her and Kairi in her youth, "...you…"

She felt some fear, but also a rage, a rage towards these things for taking her away from her home and for attacking them from out of nowhere. She screamed as she began to attack with the staff, something she wouldn't do in her right mind and the shadow monsters vanished.

"Keep calm…" the voice spoke, "The more you give into anger and negative feelings, the more of a grip darkness may get on you…"

"...darkness?" Namine panted, trying to calm down, but another of the creatures began to form.

"BEHIND YOU!"

Namine managed to blast the enemy with an ice spell, freezing it on contact before it fell to the ground and shattered. She looked on in amazement before she saw a pathway form and felt something make her want to go forward, so she went forward and onto another platform.

"The closer you get to the light, the greater your shadow becomes…"

"What?"

"But don't be afraid… and don't forget… you hold the mightiest weapon of all… and you will not be alone…"

Namine looked confused as she looked around for anybody, but something ended up causing her to fall off the side of the platform and into what seemed like an abyss…

"Oof!" Namine exclaimed as she landed on the floor, "Ow…"

"Good morning, sleepy," Kairi smiled as she walked over, "What happened? You have a nightmare or something?"

"...I think I might have…" Namine responded as she slowly got up, "...I saw those creatures that took us away from our home…"

"...you know I don't remember that…" Kairi sighed, "I almost wish that I could go into your memory and copy it into mine…"

"Memory manipulation… how silly sounding…" Namine laughed.

Kairi giggled a bit as well before they headed for the door, "Dad, we're going to meet up with Sora and Riku!"

"Ok," the mayor responded.

The twins arrived and saw Riku working on the raft while Sora was nowhere to be found. Kairi and Namine walked over to the other side of the island and found the familiar spiky haired boy, now wearing a red vest sort of thing, his pants looking as big as pumpkin pants, and oversized yellow shoes. He sat up and yawned before laying back, seeing Kairi in her white top, lavender skirt, white and purple shoes with yellow wristbands.

"WHOA!" he gasped, shooting to his feet before turning to the giggling redhead, "Gimme a break, Kairi!"

"Sora, you lazy bum. I knew that I'd find you snoozing down here," Kairi smiled as Namine walked on over.

"More like we knew…" Namine smiled.

"No, this huge black… THING swallowed me up! I couldn't breathe, I couldn't… OW!" Sora spoke as he narrowly dodged a pebble being tossed by Kairi.

"Are you still dreaming?" Namine asked.

"It wasn't a dream! ...or was it?" Sora pondered, "I don't know."

"You two are so alike…" Kairi giggled, "Both having odd dreams… dealing with dark creatures…"

Sora and Namine blushed in response to Kairi's comment.

"Say Kairi, Namine… what was your hometown like? Y'know, where you two grew up?" he asked, trying to change the subject.

"Sora, we told you before. We don't remember," Kairi responded with her back turned.

"Nothing at all?"

"...nothing…" Kairi responded.

"I remember… bits of it. Nothing completely, but just some bits…" Namine added, "Just a lot of pretty flowers around and a castle…"

"Huh… ok… do you two ever wanna go back?" Sora checked.

"Hmm… well, I'm happy here," Kairi replied, her back still turned, "But… I wouldn't mind going see it…"

"Same here," Namine nodded, "From what I remember it was a nice place and there were a lot of nice people…"

"I'd like to see it too…" Sora smiled, "Along with any other worlds out there. I wanna see them all!"

"Sounds like you and I would be big travelers…" Namine smiled.

"So what're we waiting for?" Kairi asked.

"Hey!" a voice called out, as Riku arrived with a log in his black-gloved hands, "So… I guess I'm the only one working on the raft."

He then tossed the log over to Sora and walked over to the twins, "And you're both just as lazy as he is!"

"Heehee! So you noticed," Kairi giggled as Namine rolled her eyes a little. Kairi looked at the two boys, "Okay! We'll finish it together! I'll race you!"

"Huh?" Sora blinked.

"What, are you kidding?" Riku added.

"Well, how about whoever wins the race, I'll personally let you pick the design for our sail," Namine offered.

"Heehee! You ready? GO!" Kairi shouted, and now with some motivation, the boys launched off ahead of the girls. The twins hurried after boys and laughed all the way to the location of their raft.

"So… Kairi's and Namine's home is out there, right?" Sora asked later that day.

"Could be. We'll never know by staying here," Riku shrugged.

"But how far could a raft take us?"

"Who knows? If we have to, we'll think of something else."

"Well… I wouldn't mind if we had to go back to the drawing board…" Namine admitted.

"So… suppose you get to another world… what would you do there?" Kairi asked.

"I'd draw pictures of the sights…" Namine smiled.

"Of course…" Kairi giggled, "But I was also asking the boys, silly."

"Hmm… well I… I haven't really thought about it," Riku admitted, "It's just… I've always wondered why we're here on this island. If there are any other worlds out there, then why did we end up on this one? And suppose there are other worlds… then ours is just a little piece of something much greater. So we could have just as easily ended up somewhere else, right?"

"I don't know," Sora shrugged, laying back on the tree trunk he and Kairi sat on while Namine walked over, "Something up?"

"If we all got to another world… what would you hope to see?"

"A world of pirates!" Sora smiled, "I've always wanted to be one and sail the high seas…"

"You don't know that there's such a world out there…" Kairi commented.

"Exactly! That's why we need to go out there and find out," Riku chimed in, "Just sitting here won't change a thing. It's the same old stuff. ...So let's go."

"You've been thinking a lot lately, haven't you?" Kairi asked.

"Thanks to you," Riku admitted, turning to look at Kairi as Sora rolled his eyes, "If you and Namine hadn't come here, I probably would have never thought of any of this. Kairi, Namine… thanks."

"Heh… You're welcome," Kairi smiled.

"...same…" Namine added.

Another day had come and gone as Sora and Namine sat on a dock and watched the sunset together. Namine was sketching a bit of it and Sora sat next to her.

"Y'know… Riku has changed," Namine noted to Sora, looking up from her sketchpad for a moment.

"What do you mean?" Sora asked, confused.

"...he's more… focused… I guess?" Namine responded before she tucked away her sketchpad and thought of something, "Sora, let's take the raft and go. You, me and Kairi!"

"...what?"

"I'm kidding…" Namine laughed.

"Had a feeling…" Sora laughed, "Sounds more like something from Kairi."

Namine gave a nod as she looked at Sora, "Say Sora, if something ever happened to Kairi and Riku… would you stay by my side?"

"Yea, of course! I'll always protect you guys like I promised…" Sora assured as Namine hugged him, "...uh…?"

"Sora… don't ever change," she whispered, confusing him more as she stood up, "I can't wait to get out there with you… it'll be great.."

Both blushed a bit as they watched the sun set a bit more, smiling as Sora stood up and they held hands. From nearby, Riku and Kairi watched and smiled.

"They like each-other…" Riku commented.

"You really that surprised?" Kairi giggled, "My sister's really special… she's always been curious about so many things. So… I'll let her explore this curiosity…"

Riku was about to speak again when he heard Kairi sniffle a bit. He saw her rub away a single tear in her eye, making him simply pull out a couple star-shaped fruit, "Here."

Kairi blinked a bit, confused.

"I figured you'd want one," he smiled, putting one away as he handed her the other, "I was thinking of giving one to Sora, but you need it more…"

"A Paopu fruit?" Kairi blinked as she held the fruit, "...looks like my sister's good luck charm…"

"Legend says if two people share one, their destinies become intertwined… they'll remain a part of each other's lives… no matter what."

"...I remember," Kairi smiled as she looked at the fruit for a bit, "You really wanna share this with me?"

"If you want to," Riku told her, "If you don't, I get it."

She held the fruit for a bit and then looked at Riku, "...let me think about it."

"Alright," Riku nodded, letting Kairi put the fruit away before Riku looked to the other, "Maybe I should give this to Sora…"

"You do that. Tell Namine I'll see her at our boat to go home," Kairi responded.

"Will do."

Kairi headed off as Riku headed over to Sora and Namine.

"Hey," he called out.

Sora ended up nearly slipping off the dock out of fear, but he recovered quickly as Namine turned to see Riku.

"Catch," Riku told Sora as he tossed the fruit over to him, "You wanted one, didn't you? I know you wanna try it out with your sea princess there…"

Both Sora and Namine blushed in response, not sure what to say as Riku chuckled a bit.

"Hey, Namine, Kairi said she'll see you at your boat back to home," Riku informed as he headed off.

"O-Okay!" Namine nervously responded.

The two stood there for a bit before Namine let Sora hang onto the Paopu fruit.

"So… do you w-"

"I gotta go home!" Namine said quickly as she nervously headed off, "Sorry!"

Sora watched Namine leave, but he saw a large blush on her face. He smiled a bit as a blush came to his face and he headed for his own home.

Evening had rolled around and Sora had to make a mad dash over to the beach to make sure the raft was ok. He reached a dock but gasped in horror upon seeing Riku's boat and the boat that belonged to Kairi and Namine. He then saw shadowy creatures begin to spawn, so he quickly bashed them with his wooden sword and made a run for it. He eventually reached the shack that he and the others had put their supplies for the raft in. Sora then heard something rumble and turned towards the source.

"Please don't hurt me!" Namine yelled.

"Oh… Namine… you're safe…" Sora sighed with relief, "What happened, what's going on?"

"...I don't know…" Namine responded, "Kairi said she had to come back here, but we got separated when these shadow creatures attacked…"

"Alright…" Sora nodded before he heard Namine mumble, "Hmm?"

"Not again… not again…" she whimpered.

"...wait… what?"

"...I saw these things back before me and Kairi ended up here…"

This surprised Sora as he held onto her hand to calm her down a bit, "Come on… we gotta find Riku and Kairi. I'll keep you safe, but we have to go together."

"...ok," Namine nodded.

Sora then took her up the stairs to the top of the shack and they could faintly see Riku not to far from where they were. Sora and Namine headed over to Riku on the island.

"Where's Kairi! I thought she was with you!" Namine gasped in fear.

"The door… has opened," Riku muttered.

"Wait… what?" Sora blinked.

"The door has been opened, Sora! Now we can go to the outside world!"

"What? What are you talking about?!" Sora yelled.

"And where's my sister?!" Namine added.

"Yea! We've gotta go find her!"

"KAIRI'S COMING WITH US!" Riku snapped before he calmed down and looked at a dark vortex in the sky.

"...oh no…" Namine muttered.

Riku simply had a calm look, "Once we step through, we might not be able to come back. We may never see our friends and families again. There's no turning back, but this may be our only chance. We can't let fear stop us! I'm not afraid of the darkness!"

The brunette and blonde both looked at Riku in confusion as he reached out his hand to them and continued to look calm as dark energy surrounded the trio. Sora tried to reach out to his best friend, but the dark energy kept him away from Riku. Namine grabbed onto Sora's other hand as they tried to reach Riku, but a flash of light appeared amidst the dark energy. The next thing they knew, Riku and the darkness were gone, but in their place were something new. Sora held what looked like a silver skeleton key with teeth in the shape of a crown, a golden guard, and a silver keychain tipped with a familiar three-circle symbol. Namine held a similar weapon with most of it looking like a pencil with crayon teeth, a gauntlet/guard that looked like four sketchpads and a keychain that was a star-shape similar to the paopu fruit.

"What?" Sora gawked.

"...a Keyblade?" Namine realized.

"A what?"

"I saw a person with a blade like this when I was really little…" Namine informed as she turned to the shadow creatures, "And it's just what we need to take care of these guys!"

Sora seemed to understand, nodding as he reeled back the Keyblade like he did before with his wooden sword and managed to bash the shadow creatures like they were nothing. Namine, while nervous, swung hers into the shadow creatures as well. The duo headed towards their secret cave and eventually reached it after knocking away more of the shadow creatures.

"Where'd this door come from?" Sora wondered, pointing out the white door in front of the cave before the door opened for them and they headed on in. Sora ran ahead and gasped with a large smile, "Kairi!"

"...Sora…" she responded, almost sickly, before a door behind her opened up and sent her flying, confusing Namine as she and Sora looked to Kairi, but the former saw a lock on the wooden 'door' behind her and it suddenly flung open from the inside. Sora tried to catch Kairi, but she phased right through him.

"Wha?" Namine gasped before the two of them were flung out of the cave, screaming before finding themselves landing on a hunk of the beach that was now miles above what was left of their home, "...oh no…"

A sort of roar echoed from nearby, making them turn to see a black giant with a heart-shaped hole in the torso, long clawed hands and a head that was a tangled mass of darkness with two yellow eyes peeking out. Namine had a fearful look, yet Sora looked ready for a fight.

"Don't worry. I promised I'd protect you, Namine," Sora reminded as he charged forward and slashed at the giant's legs before he evaded a punch from the giant. Sora then struck it as fast as he could with his Keyblade before it shot out a dark orb of energy at Sora, "Ha!"

The dark orb was bounced back at the monster, but it flung out more. Namine managed to bounce them back and left it stunned.

"Aim for the head!" Namine shouted as Sora nodded, leaping up and bashing the creature atop its head, "Nice!"

The creature roared in pain as Sora landed and smirked a bit. The creature then got dragged into the dark portal as the force got stronger, the two kids grabbing onto debris stuck in the sand as Namine managed to grabbed Sora's hand, but they were dragged into the dark orb, screaming before they vanished into the dark orb…

Sora and Namine had landed in a town, or rather an alley of the town, both knocked out before Sora felt something wet lick his face, making him wake up. He groaned a bit, looking to see a cartoonish yellow bloodhound dog, "...what a dream…"

The dog pounced onto Sora, jerking him awake with a gasp.

"This ISN'T a dream!" he gasped as he accidentally yanked Namine forward and woke her up, "Sorry."

"...it happened again… I lost my home to shadows again…" she muttered in realization and a bit of sadness as the two stood up to examine the alley they were in, "...where are we?"

Sora looked confused before looking to the bloodhound.

"Do YOU know where we are?" he asked before the dog reacted like he heard something before running off, "Uh… HEY!"

Sora then took Namine's hand and he tried to follow after the dog, but ended up losing it and they were now deeper into the heart of the town, "...this is totally weird…"

"Yeah…" Namine nodded as she tried to fight off blushing as Sora looked around like a kid in a candy store.

"It looks like… we're in another world!" Sora gawked.

"...looks like it's called Traverse Town…" Namine pointed out as she saw a sign with the town's name on it, "'Home for those Who Have Lost Theirs'... what do you think that means?"

"Not sure…"

The two continued to look around the town, still hand-in-hand, curious about a lot of the place.

"Hmm… Second District?" Namine pondered as she read a sign above one of the doorways.

The two soon entered this door before seeing a panicking man run in front of them before tripping. Next thing they knew, his heart came out of his chest and was dragged into a dark portal. The man then turned into a shadow creature and vanished quickly. Sora let go of Namine's hand as he ran forward, trying to figure out what happened before more of the shadow creatures with yellow eyes from the island.

"It's those creatures from the island!" Sora gasped as he summoned his Keyblade.

Namine did the same but stayed back as Sora battled the shadow creatures. She didn't want to fight, just sticking to the safety as she watched Sora and eventually finish off the shadow creatures. The duo continued forward, going in and out of several buildings to avoid the creatures and attempt to locate anybody they could speak to.

Eventually, they ducked back into the Accessory Shop, but after the owner said he couldn't find their friends yet, the two stepped back out, being more cautious.

"They'll come at you from out of nowhere…" a male voice said.

"Huh?" Sora blinked.

"Who're you?" Namine added.

"And they'll keep coming after you… as long as you continue to wield the Keyblade," the male continued, coming out to reveal he was a man with shoulder-length brown hair, and decked out in black leather gear, "But why? Why would it choose kids like you two?"

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?!" Sora demanded to know.

"Nevermind. Now let's see those Keyblades."

"What?! There's no way you're taking these!" Sora snapped, "Namine, let's go!"

"Uh-A-Are you sure?" Namine stuttered, pulling out her Keyblade.

"Fine…" the man scoffed as he took out a silver blade, "Then have it your way."

Sora charged forward and began to slash at the man, who blocked easily and even tossed out a fireball from his gunblade. Sora narrowly managed to dodge it in time and continued his attack.

"Sora…" Namine nervously said.

"Why is it you're so dependant on him?" a female voice asked, surprising Namine as a woman with green hair, green eyes, and wearing a red top, gloves, and high heels with white leggings, a multi-colored sash, and wielding some kind of curved blade.

"Wh-what?"

"You have a Keyblade of your own, perfectly capable of handling yourself. But you hide yourself behind that boy…" the girl commented, sighing as Namine looked at her.

"...I…" Namine tried to speak, but she couldn't think of an answer, simply looking away as the woman sighed, preparing her blade.

"Perhaps I need to show you how capable a person can be on their own…" the green haired woman stated, slashing the air, making Namine gulp a bit.

Namine proceeded to try and slash at the woman, but all of her slashes were easily parried. The woman then launched out a burst of freezing magic at Namine and knocked her back, "...magic?"

The woman simply prepared her blade before lunging over, forcing Namine to dodge, and the woman blasted Namine in the back with fire magic. Namine ended up getting knocked out from the blow, sending her to the ground. Hearing the thud, Sora turned to see what happened.

"NAMINE!" he gasped before suddenly-

"Never turn your back on the enemy!" the man shouted, whacking him with his weapon, also making Sora drop to the ground.

"Hey, you did it! Nice going, Leon. You too, Terra," a new female voice replied, making the two turn to see a short black haired woman in a green top, beige shorts, and having accessories based off a ninja.

"Can you help me bring them to the motel, Yuffie?" the woman, Terra, asked.

"Gotcha," the other woman, Yuffie, nodded as she helped pick up Namine.

"Still… looks like things are much worse than we thought," the man, Leon, sighed, "A LOT worse."

Namine began to stir not long after Sora woke up and turned to see Yuffie nearby the two, "Huh?"

"Well… looks like the other one's alright…" Yuffie commented as she turned her attention to Namine and then over to Terra, "Nice to see you didn't over do it like Squall did."

"...that's Leon," the man responded.

"What's going on?" Namine asked, looking over to see Terra, "...and why are you helping us when you were beating us up a minute ago?"

"We have a good reason for that. It was mostly a test," Terra informed as she walked over to Namine, "Sorry if me and Squall were too harsh…"

"That's Leon…" he reminded.

"Yeah, whatever Squall," Yuffie joked.

"Sorry…" Terra quickly apologized, "Not used to that name just yet…"

"Wait… the Keyblade," Sora noted, seeing his and Namine's Keyblades.

"Yea… about that. We had to take them off you two to shake off those creatures," Yuffie explained, "It turns out, THAT'S how they were tracking you two."

Namine gave a slightly worried look to her Keyblade.

"It was the only way to conceal your hearts from them… but it won't work for long," Leon sighed before picking up Sora's Keyblade, "Still… hard to believe that you two of all people are the chosen ones."

"...I remember seeing somebody with a Keyblade in the past, so what do you mean by 'chosen ones'?" Namine inquired.

"We don't know much about them, but it seems that Keyblades choose people," Terra added, holding up Namine's Keyblade, but after she and Leon swung the blades before they dissipated into light, only to reappear in their respective owners' hands.

"Well… I guess beggars can't be choosers," Leon shrugged.

Sora began to glare at Leon a bit, "What don't you start making sense! What's going on here?!"

"Ok… so, you know there are many other worlds out there apart from your home and this town, right?"

"Yeah…" Sora nodded.

"I don't get it… we've been suspecting them… and I'm starting to remember pieces, but… I feel like we aren't supposed to be here…" Namine commented

"See, the many worlds have been secret because they've never been connected," Terra started.

"That is, until now. See, when the Heartless came, everything changed for the worse," Leon sighed.

"The Heartless?" Sora repeated, confused.

"The ones who attacked you. You two remember?" Yuffie checked.

"The shadow creatures…" Namine realized fearfully, shuddering a bit.

"Those without hearts," Leon simply stated.

"The darkness within people's' hearts-that's what attracts them…" Terra continued.

"And there is darkness… within every heart," Leon finished.

"Hey, have either of you heard of someone named Ansem?" Yuffie checked.

Sora simply shook his head no.

"...I think I might've heard of him, but I don't really remember…" Namine added.

"From what we recall, he was studying the Heartless, and had put his findings in a very detailed report," Terra informed.

"Interesting… think we can see it?" Namine asked.

"Its pages are scattered everywhere…"

"Scattered where?" Sora wondered.

"To many worlds…" Yuffie sighed, "But maybe the key could help you find them."

"So… these are the keys?" Sora commented as he raised his Keyblade and then looked to Namine's.

"Exactly."

"The Heartless have a great fear of the Keyblade," Terra cleared up.

"That's why they'll come after you two, no matter what," Leon added.

"Well, we didn't sign up for this," Sora pointed out.

"We just said the Keyblades choose their masters, and they chose you two," Yuffie reminded.

"So… tough luck," Leon shrugged, leaning against a wall.

"I'm feeling very confused," Namine admitted.

"Yea, same. How'd all of this happen? I remember being in my room…" Sora started before shooting to his feet in realization, "Wait a minute! What happened to my home? My island? Riku! Kairi..."

Namine simply curled up a bit and rested on the side of the bed with tears forming in her eyes.

"You know what? ...I really don't know," Leon stated bluntly.

Sora sighed as he simply roamed around the room to try and gather his thoughts a bit. Namine, meanwhile, simply remained on the bed with tears finally falling from her eyes.

"...you ok?" Sora asked as he walked over to her.

"...I remember those shadow creatures…" Namine stated, "...they caused me and Kairi to get sent to the islands… we were sent away from our home world…"

This left Sora stunned before he simply hugged her. Terra gave a soft smile at this, placing a hand over Namine to comfort her.

"It's good to know you two have each other," Terra smiled, "Having those close to you in these times will help keep you strong."

Sora and Namine looked to each-other, having faint blushes, letting go of each other to simply smile. Sora resumed moving around the room while Namine was thinking a bit. Eventually, Sora went over to the door and saw Leon standing there.

"Are you both prepared?"

"Prepared?" they both blinked.

"To fight for your lives. Are you ready?"

The two friends thought for a bit before they looked to each other and nodded that they were ready.

"Yuffie, Terra, let's go join Aerith," Leon told the two, "She should be there by now with the other visitors.

"Understood," Terra nodded when Yuffie noticed something.

"LEON!" she gasped as a new Heartless appeared, this one having the appearance of some sort of knight.

"Yuffie, Terra, go!" Leon yelled.

The two girls barged through the door Leon leaned on earlier, accidentally squashing someone behind it, running past a brunette girl with blue eyes, wearing a big red bow and a pink dress.

"Yuffie! Terra!" she gasped, following them as Leon, Sora and Namine stood battle ready against the Heartless.

"Sora! Namine! Let's go!" Leon shouted, slashing one Heartless towards the window, causing the glass to shatter as the Heartless was launched out it followed by Leon leaping over the edge. Sora jumped down after him, while Namine slowly headed down to make sure she wouldn't get hurt, "Don't bother with the small ones. Locate the leader!"

"Got it!" Sora nodded, "Namine, let's go!"

"Right!" Namine nodded before she was tossed something, "Huh?"

"It'll help you use magic!" Terra called out from a distance.

Namine gave a nod before she and Sora headed off to try and locate the leader. They soon found themselves in the Third District, both looking a bit paranoid at first before they heard two people screaming and looked up. Namine backed up, but Sora ran forward, only to get squashed by a duck in blue and a dog in green and orange. The duck and the dog looked a bit before they saw the Keyblades the two humans were holding.

"The key!" they gawked.

"Wait… there's two of them!" the duck quickly realized.

"Gawrsh, the king didn't say anything about there being more than one key," the dog noted as they got off of Sora.

"Uh…" Namine stared.

Before anybody could say anything else, more Heartless began to spawn into the area as it was blocked off. The four prepared themselves before the Heartless charged in, Sora rushing in as Namine looked at what was given to her and saw it was a small crystal with a sort of ice symbol on it. Focusing on the chilling energy of ice, she aimed her Keyblade forward and shot out ice magic at the Heartless and allowed them to be easy pickings for Sora and the dog.

"Since when could YOU learn magic?" the duck asked, healing up Sora with a healing spell after he got a bad hit.

"...just now?" she nervously responded, leaving the duck suspicious until they heard a loud clang as a Heartless in the form of a 6-part suit of armor crashed down, "Oh wow…"

"We need to work together to take this guy down," Sora told the group.

"How do we handle it?" Namine asked.

Sora looked for a moment before getting an idea, "Aim for the torso. Chances are we'll hit all the limbs while doing so, cutting the time beating it down significantly."

"Got it!" Namine nodded, "Should I keep my distance?"

"Namine, if it makes you feel better, then do that."

She nodded in response and began to fire off her ice magic while Sora and the dog launched at the torso of the Heartless while the duck pelted it with fire magic. The group eventually finished off the limbs as the torso shook before dropping to the ground, head sinking in before the heart it had flown into the sky and its body disintegrated.

"Alright!" Sora cheered as he and Namine high-fived.

"We did it!" Namine cheered.

"AHEM!" the duck responded, getting their attention.

"Oh… uh… hi?" Namine waved.

"Sorry, but I think we need to explain some things," the dog noted, "Ya see, we needed to find someone with 'the key' and here we found you two."

"You were searching for us?" Sora blinked a bit.

The two nodded and confirmed this.

"They too have been seeking the wielders of the Keyblade," Leon stated as he, Yuffie and Terra walked on over, the women nodding in response to what Leon said.

"Hey, why don't you two come with us?" the dog offered, "We can go to other worlds on our vessel!"

"...hey… do you think that we might be able to find my sister and Riku?" Namine asked Sora with a nervous look, "I just realized we didn't see them in this town…"

Sora just sighed, lowering his head at the thought of this.

"Of course!" the duck assured, perking the two kids up before the dog lowered to his eye level to whisper, "What?"

"Are you sure?" the dog whispered.

"Who knows," the duck responded, "But we need them to come with us to help us find the king."

"Sora, Namine. Go with them. Especially if you want to find your friends," Leon encouraged.

Sora and Namine looked to each-other and then nodded.

"I guess," Sora shrugged, the two looking like they were having some difficulty staying in a good mood.

"But you two can't come along looking like that. Understand?" the duck pointed out, making the dog blink, "No frowning! No sad faces, ok?"

"Yea! Ya gotta look funny, like us!" the dog chuckled, only to be pushed back.

"This boat runs on HAPPY faces!"

"Happy?" Sora blinked.

The duck and dog both smiled a bit before Sora gave off a… rather forced-looking smile. Namine looked a bit shocked by this as the others just stared, only for Sora to drop the smile out of confusion, and this led to the duck and dog duo laughing with Namine soon joining in the laughter.

"That's one funny face!" the dog got out.

Namine giggled as Sora simply smiled at her.

"If you two could get Sora to do something like that, I think we'll be fine," Namine smiled.

"Ok, why not? We'll go with you guys," Sora smiled, "Hey, I don't think we got your names."

"Donald Duck," the duck answered, holding his hand out.

"Name's Goofy," the dog added, placing his hand on Donald's.

"I'm Namine," Namine smiled as she placed her hand on top of Goofy's.

"And I'm Sora!" Sora added.

"All for one, and one for all!" Goofy declared as Sora placed his hand on top the pile.

The four then headed for an exit out of the town, with Sora and Namine following hand-in-hand…

Pikatwig: ...I don't even know how long this took us to finish.

KKD: Me neither. And it feels like this story's far from done… even though we planned on it being a one-shot. ...Did we say that?

Pikatwig: Uh… let me say my plan for this. For now, this is a one-shot. But, if you guys want us to, we'll make this a full on story. Only if you guys want us to do it. That sound fair? I may have ideas for this, but I want to wait and see overall reception to this first and foremost.

KKD: Good call. If we get a certain number of reviews saying we should continue, say… what's a good goal number for us? Maybe 5? 7? 10?

Pikatwig: We'll see, but let's say five for right now.

KKD: Ok. 5! If we can get 5 reviews of you guys wanting us to continue this beyond a one-shot, we will do our best to continue Namine's Tale as she travels with Sora and the gang. Honestly, I thought it was fun, even having the origins via Birth By Sleep as well.

Pikatwig: I felt that was the best starting point for this and then we go forward from there. We did borrow a bit from the KH manga to help fill in a few details and then we used a cutscene compilation to help with other areas.

KKD: In the end, it was still fun to work on, and I'm glad we did something to celebrate Kingdom Hearts, too.

Pikatwig: I had fun with this too. How'd you feel about how Namine was incorporated into the events shown, mind my asking?

KKD: It was a little odd, but it was still interesting. Reminded me of my early days of fanfic writing with inserting other characters into a story like this, but… this feels better since it's all within the KH universe.

Pikatwig: Cool. Onto the new character added into Traverse Town, Terra from Final Fantasy VI.

KKD: Now this is an interesting one, because all things considered, only characters Final Fantasy VII onward have been used in Kingdom Hearts. That may be due to old deals with Nintendo going sour or something, but I don't know how that works. Either way, it's nice to get these bits of older games to mix it up.

Pikatwig: Plus, Terra specializes in magic. My idea for how Namine battles is that she's more focused on magic than Sora is, yet she's still decent on melee despite dropping the Dream Sword.

KKD: And I just realized something. The FFVI Terra basically shares the same name as the Birth by Sleep Terra, but we can ignore that as long as we don't get too crazy.

Pikatwig: Her name did get changed from the original Japanese… I think it was Tina in the original Japanese version of the game. I'm not completely sure on that.

KKD: Noted. So we hope you guys enjoyed it. I personally liked our Namine's Dive into the Heart and any original material we used involving Namine in general.

Pikatwig: Same here. She's honestly really adorable and a character I'm fond of. And before anybody asks about anything… I do think that Sora and Kairi are adorable. It's just, personally, I prefer Sora and Namine as a couple.

KKD: I guess I can understand that. I'm more of a fan of Sora and Kairi, preferring to pair Namine with Roxas considering their status and all, but hey, whatever floats your boat, I don't mind, pal.

Pikatwig: As for Riku showing some interest in Kairi… well... not like that subtext wasn't in the games.

KKD: Love triangle stuff, makes sense. But this kinda eliminates that factor.

Pikatwig: Also… just asking for the sake of asking… think you'll draw Namine's Keyblade? I know you kinda have an art backlog with Hero art, but I'm just asking.

KKD: If I can get the chance to catch up, I might do that.

Pikatwig: Just checking is all. Also, just as an FYI, there'll be a KH story coming out on my account sometime in the future… I don't have any release dates planned, but I'm just letting you know.

KKD: Fair enough. So, I kinda said my fav, what's yours?

Pikatwig: Namine's Dive into the Heart and her interactions with Sora… so adorable…

KKD: Yea. Well, ok. Thanks for tuning in, guys. Again, if you want us to continue this story, we need at least 5 reviews saying so. Until then, catch you later. *salutes* Jaa ne.

Pikatwig: Just Live More.