This takes place just after the end of the war in Adventure time and the beginning of Kingdom Hearts 3. I don't own either of those franchises.

Chapter 1 - A Dark Storm

Since the destruction of the treehouse, Finn had been looking for a permanent home. Several of the princesses had offered their homes to him and, as sweet as that was, he needed something that was his. That was how he ended up sleeping under this apple tree. The way he thought about it, or at least what he told himself, was that there was plenty of food and shade, and since he was on a hill, he could see all around. BMO didn't want to be all alone and so insisted that he come with him.

Jake would come and go, sometimes spending his days with Lady and sometimes with him. That was fine, he got it. PB said that she would visit him whenever she could. But she was so busy. Her kingdom had just gone to war and so many people needed to be remade. Now at Aunt Lolly was there things were better but there was still so much to do.

Tonight Jake was there, sleeping on the other side of the campfire. When Finn had closed his eyes the sky was clear and he had a lot of hope for tomorrow. That was mostly because of Jake's encouraging speech, but everything seemed OK.

But a sudden wind had woken him. He shot up and looked around. Some of the remnants of the campfire had blown out of the firepit. The sky was so dark it looked like it would swallow everything up. The trees were bending to the will of the wind. A particularly strong gust nearly knocked him off his feet. BMO began rolling down the hill.

"BMO!" he called to him while trying to keep his balance. Fortunately, Jake was faster. He reached out and picked him up while wrapping part of his body around the tree.

As Finn spotted the source, a great black twister going toward the Candy Kingdom, he barely heard BMO's voice over the wind. "Thank you, Jake. I was worried that I might break my face."

"Jake," Finn said, unable to take his eyes off the great black mass, "I think there's something in there."

Jake walked up to him, still carrying BMO like a baby. "I mean, there's a lot in there. Twisters suck up everything."

"No," Finn shook his head, "I mean, like something controlling it."

"What are you-"

"I'm gonna kill it," He took off toward the twister. He could almost hear what Jake was yelling at him but not quite.

He hadn't noticed the dark splotches that were scattered along the ground. Perhaps he was ignoring them or maybe his brain was too focused to comprehend them. But once the little creatures started crawling out of them he noticed.

It was like they were made of darkness, sucking the light from everything around them except their eyes. Those round eyes glowed, not with life but like an endless path of isolation.

As he raised his arm in front of himself as if to fight, he realized that he may not have thought this through. He didn't have a sword or anything. He remembered that he had traded his other sword so that he and Jake could see the circus. It was worth it.

But suddenly there was a weight in his hand. Bewildered, he looked down to see a giant key. "Wha-" But as one of the little creatures jumped at him he swung out of instinct. It turned to dust as the key hit it. "Ok cool." He used the Key to get closer to the twister. The more clearly he could see it the more sure he was that a hand, thick and black with razor-sharp claws, would reach out occasionally.

The sound of Treetrunk's scream caught his attention. This was followed by Sweetpea calling for his mother. Finn turned to go and help but Cherry Cream Soda tripped in from of him. One of those little creatures went to pounce on her so he stuck it in the face. "Oh, thank you, Finn!"

"No problem CCS. Go get somewhere safe." While she looked a little confused at the new nickname she ran back toward the Kingdom. "Sorry Treetrunks," he gripped the key tightly, "I've got to take care of this guy first. Hey!" he pointed the key at it, "Prepare to be taken down!"

The twister stopped when it got closer to him. It revealed the biggest thing he had ever seen. It looked like it was made of hundreds of cords, all covered in the same skin as those little creatures. The same eyes sat in that merciless face. Cords wrapped around where a mouth should have been. It bent to the ground to look Finn in the eyes. When it's gigantic hand slammed into the ground, everything shook. He could feel it through his very core.

He couldn't show fear to him. He stuck out his chest. "Tell your friends to leave to leave people alone!" He shouted. In response, it raised a huge hand and slammed it down again. This time, black... stuff came pouring out. He couldn't tell if it was smoke or liquid, it moved so weirdly. From those puddles a lot of those little creatures crawling out.

At the same time, he began sinking. The feeling of the black stuff wasn't slimy or sticky. It was cold and empty. Like the lack of any feeling. Finn dropped the key and it disappeared. It shattered and then it just wasn't there. He reached out for something, anything. But there was nothing around. It was up to his waist, then chest, then shoulders. It was all happening so fast. As he raised his head the darkness was at his chin, to his cheeks, over his nose.

He thought that he wouldn't be able to breathe and that he'd be cold but it wasn't like that. There just wasn't any feeling. He closed his eyes and began to let himself drift into nothing; into darkness.

But something warm touched his wrist. It was so soft but strong. Even though he knew this feeling he couldn't place it. His mind was foggy and he just wanted to sleep.

xxxx

Meanwhile, Cid thought he had something on the program that Diz set up and so he spent the entire day on the computer. Yuffie was bored and, with nothing left to do in the headquarters, decided to take a walk. As she headed for the door Aerith stopped her, "Yuffie," her gentle voice matched her worried, doey eyes. "If you see Leon, please ask him to come back."

"Will do," she gave a two-finger salute. She hadn't noticed that he was gone at all. She wondered when he slipped past her.

The climb to the roof was peaceful and easy. No annoying tap tap tap of keys out here. Just the bugs and birds and occasional person that was out later than he should have been. While looking around, she noticed the silhouette on a tall building. That could only be one person.

Getting there was easy, but when she looked at Leon's back she felt like she shouldn't disturb him. She would just go and tell Arieth that she didn't see him.

"Do you see it?" he said suddenly. She thought she had been quite enough.

She walked over to where he was sitting and bent so she was almost eye level. "What am I supposed to see?"

He nodded to toward the sky, "Another world was swallowed by the Darkness." Past the hard look he kept, she could see the pain in his eyes.

"Oh... we could use-"

"No," he cut her off. "You can't defend a world that's gone. All those people. They just... they never knew what hit them."

They fell into silence. She knew all too well what the Darkness was like. She knelt by him and rested her head on his shoulder. "There could be survivors. Lost kids that don't know what they're even doing."

He didn't say anything but he didn't push her away. She was sure her way of comforting was working, "When Sora comes back he'll fix everything."

"Yeah," Leon snorted, "when that happens."

xxxx

When Finn woke he was in a forest that he had never been in before. He knew this because he was surrounded by weird plants that he was sure he would have remembered. The sunlight was filtering through the leaves, giving everything a light green hue.

As he went to sit up something caught his arm. Jake's arms were wrapped around his wrist. 'Oh,' Finn thought, 'this is the warm thing I felt.' He should have known, Jake has a distinctive feel. When he pried his arm off Jake moaned and rolled away. BMO was still in his tight grip.

He walked away, toward the sound of a stream. The water was crystal clear. Kneeling beside it, he cupped his hand and scooped up several handfuls of water. It tasted cold and sweet. He had to make sure to hook a foot onto the root of a tree so that he wouldn't lose his balance. He had actually picked up a few tricks like that since losing his right arm.

He undressed and started to get into the water slowly. But, halfway through he decided to get it over with and jumped in. The cold was only a shock for a second, then the cool water was refreshing.

As he stood there, toes sinking into the mud, he thought about the night before. The water was hitting his chest as he reached his arm out. Again, the weight was there.

He brought the key closer to his face. It had a guard, like a sword. Actually, the guard looked just like the one he had taken to the islands. Blood-red veins led up to the teeth that met to create a symbol. The only place he had seen that symbol was on the Demon sword that his father left him. Leaves were branching out here and there from the base to create the teeth. He walked over to the edge of the water and set it on the bank. He then ran his hand along the shaft. It looked like the bark of a tree but felt like metal.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his clothes get up and start moving around. As his attention drifted from the key it disappeared. "Hey!" he shouted and started to climb out of the water. Out from under his shorts a bear-like creature peeked at him. It didn't seem harmful but it did have his clothes.

Naked, he chased them into a place that looked like a temple. He slowed to a walk as he admired the writing on the walls. It looked like a language but he couldn't begin to understand. The cold breeze that drifted through these dark stone halls made him shiver a little.

Along one hall there were several old scorch marks. He followed the path that they made. Along the way, there were a couple of skeletons in white armor. He picked up a couple of pieces here and there. "Man, I really need clothes," he said to no one.

At the end of the hall, there were six skeletons. Five of them had the same armor, although not all their limbs, but the one furthest back was different. The skeletons were wearing tan and blue robes and it was different. The skull was longer and had too many, weirdly shaped eye holes and horns. A metal tube, about the size of a forearm, was in its hand.

Finn shrugged and gave a halfhearted apology before taking his clothes. They were old and some pieces were falling apart but it worked. Then he took the metal tube and started turning it over and messing with it.

He quickly found a switch and tried to press it but it was stuck. He sat up and put the bottom in the crook of his knee to he could set it on the ground and use his own weight to force it to work. As he did it came to life.

A purple light shot out and singed some of his hair. He could feel the heat of the rod on his cheek. "That was close."

He stood and started to move it around. As it moved it made a weirdly satisfying noise. He brought it down on one of the helmets that had rolled away from the body. His excitement grew as the lightrod cut through it like butter.

xxx

After they were told that there was another Keyblade wielder the Restoration Committee took off to the world he should have been, where the Darkness carried him. Perhaps it would have been more correct to say that they were heading or the worlds. This particular area consisted of several planets. This should make finding them difficult.

Leon decided that they should look on the desert planet first, to Yuffie's dismay. She wanted to go to one of the forest planets first. He reasoned that it was the closest. Yuffie looked at Aerith for support but she should have known she wouldn't get any. Aerith never was one for conflict.

She really wanted that Cloud guy and Tifa to join them but the ship could only hold so many. Besides, apparently, they were in 'training'. Obviously, they were really strong. But, being new to the committee, she supposed that they needed to be taught how things worked.

"We're landing now," Aerith's voice broke through her thoughts.

"Aerith," Leon said sharply, "make sure-" but several alarms went off at the same time. This was shortly followed by the entire ship shaking.

Yuffie fell to her knees. "What's going on?" From the front windshield, she could see the surface of the planet coming at them fast. Smoke and fire were obscuring half of the glass though.

"We've been hit!" Arither was pushing buttons, trying to take control again.

"What was that?" Leon growled, pulling up on the control shaft.