Sora awoke and found himself lying on grass on a green hill overlooking a town. He stood up and dusted himself then viewed his surroundings perplexed about this unknown place he was transported to.

"Where...am I?" he asked himself

World title: Melromarc

He folded his arms as he tried to remember how he got here in the first place, "let's see...I used the power of waking to find Kairi, went back to the final battle, did some things, found her, and now I'm here. I guess that about sums it up." he explained to himself. He looked up to the sky towards the sun and then a sudden realization sank in as he remembered the last words he said to her before disappearing.

(flashback)

Kairi and Sora were sitting on a paopu tree looking out at the horizon while holding hands. They then turned to each other and Kairi cried as Sora said, "I will come back to you Kairi. I love you." "I know you will." was the last thing he heard her say before he disappeared from his worldline.

(flashback ends)

Sora looked downcast as he gripped his chest remembering the promise he made to her, a promise to return, then he pulled out her good luck charm she gave him, "I will come back. And then we'll be together again." he said

He noticed the town and castle over in the distance so he decided to go investigate, "maybe someone there can help me get home." he said, and so he made his way into the town. While he was walking through the town, the town started to feel like he was walking through the streets of Twilight Town with all the merchants and buyers. As he was walking, he accidentally bumped into a man with black hair and a green cape.

"Watch it!" he said rudely as he continued walking, "sorry." Sora said. As he saw him walking he thought to himself, what's his problem? And then he noticed he also had a shield on him, however he couldn't worry about the rude man right now, right now he had to get to the castle so he can figure out where he is and get home.

He finally made it to the castle and saw it's design held up by a dozen pillars with a purple roof tile. Seeing this made Sora's jaw drop because it looked like it was even taller than Disney Castle. He put his hands on his hips and said, "here goes nothing." he walked across the bridge and reached the gates where he was greeted by two guards.

"Halt!" they both said crossing their spears over the gate, "whoa what's going on?" he asked baffled, "no one's allowed to see King Aultcray without permission, especially after the incident." the first one said, "the incident?" Sora said baffled, "you haven't heard? The shield hero assaulted Malty.'' The second guard said, Sora was shocked to hear this but needed to worry about that later, "I need to speak with the king. Please, it's urgent." Sora said. The guards looked at each other then looked back at him, "why?" the first one asked.

"I need to get back home. Back to someone I care about and I feel like he could help me." Sora said, the guards narrowed their eyes until they removed their spears and opened the gates allowing him in, "we'll be watching you." he said almost threateningly, Sora looked at him nervous but continued on his way.

He walked through the halls of the castle admiring the decor and aspects, "if King Mickey, Donald, or Goofy were here they'd be jealous." Sora said jokingly while putting his hands behind his head. He kept walking until he made it to the stairs, then he climbed up and reached the door to the throne room, "here goes nothing." he said to himself with confidence.

He pushed through the doors and was greeted by an alarm from the five figures in the room. The first one had to be the king since he wore royal attire, the second was a young woman with red hair a purple skirt and chest armor, finally came the last three and each one had a different weapon. The one dressed in greenish-yellow attire with curly blonde hair had a bow, the one dressed black and blue with black hair had a sword, and finally the one dressed in chainmail armor with long blonde hair in a ponytail had a spear.

"What is the meaning of this intrusion? Who are you?" the king said angry, Sora walked forward until he was near the throne then saluted, "your majesty, my name's Sora. I was wondering if you could tell me where I am." Sora said, the king examined the boy closely and was baffled by his bizarre attire, his clothing is very different from the common people, just who is this boy?" the king thought to himself.

"My boy, you are in the country of Melromarc.'' The king said, "I am it's king, King Aultcray, and these are the three cardinal heroes, Sir Ren, Sir Itsumi, and Sir Motoyasu." he said gesturing to the people in the room. They all walked up and decided to greet him, "a pleasure to meet you, I'm Itsuki." the green one said, "I'm Ren." the blue one said, "and I'm Motoyasu, nice to meet you." the one in chainmail said. Sora got a good look at each of them to remember who they were.

"Nice to meet you guys." Sora said, "so what brings you here kid?" Motoyasu asked, "I'm trying to find my way home. There's someone important waiting for me there." Sora said putting his hand over his heart, "oh someone special huh? Is it your girlfriend?" Motoyasu teased making Sora blush, "n-no, yes, maybe c-can we get back to the topic at hand?" Sora said frantically while waving his hands around and keeping his head so they couldn't see his face.

That's when Ren decided to ask him a question, "Pardon my asking but where'd you come from Sora? The clothes you wear aren't the type the people wear, nor the adventurers." "well actually I'm-" Sora was about to say until he heard Donald's voice at the back of his head screaming, Order! Causing him to cover his mouth to keep from spilling the beans, "what's wrong?" Ren asked. Sora removed his hands and decided to answer, "nothing! It's just that I'm from somewhere far away from here and I just really need to find my way back to- ``''you're from another world aren't you?" Itsuki interjected shocking Sora.

Everyone then looked at Sora in shock as he was left dumbfounded on how they figured it out, "holy crap really?!" Motoyasu shouted excitedly, "amazing." Ren said in awe. They continued being amazed while the girl at the throne just narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously, "how did you know?" Sora asked, " your clothes gave it away. I saw that the king was analyzing you and then I thought to myself, "could he be just like us? Summoned here?" that's when I put two and two together and figured it out." Itsuki explained.

Sora was still surprised they figured it out until he remembered something the guards outside said, the shield hero assaulted the princess. "Wait a minute." Sora said getting everyone's attention, "there's only three of you guys here, but I thought there were four heroes." he said making everyone look away angry, "there is a fourth hero, but we don't want to talk about him." Motoyasu said, "you mean the shield hero?" Sora asked, "how do you know about him?" Motoyasu asked. "The guards outside told me about him." Sora answered.

The girl at the throne let out a hostile grunt quietly so no one could hear while crossing her arms, "is it true what they said about him?" Sora asked. The three heroes looked at each other before turning back to him and answering, "yes, it's true. Yesterday on our first night here, the shield hero assaulted Malty." Ren said. Once again after hearing this Sora was shocked but it begs the question, "why would he do that?" he asked

"We don't know. But such a despicable act can't be forgiven nor forgotten." Motoyasu said gripping his fist, "no I mean why would he have any reason? Do you have proof?" Sora asked, the question of which left them conflicted, "well we found Myne's clothing draped over his bed." Itsuki said, "I thought her name was Malty." Sora said, "Myne's her adventuring name." Motoyasu said, "still though, that doesn't seem like much proof." Sora said, "it's enough proof!" King Aultcray said, "are you sure? Cause it seems like you are accusing him of something he didn't do if you don't have enough proof." Sora said making the king question it until, "why so quick to defend the shield hero Sir Sora?" the girl said.

She walked from the throne towards him as Sora raised an eyebrow in question, "what do you mean?" he asked, "I mean why would defend a criminal like him? Unless of course *gasp* you're in league with him?!" she said grabbing Motoyasu's arm, "what?! That's impossible, I just got here!" Sora said, "but Itsuki did say you came from another world , so you had to have been summoned the day we were summoned as well." Ren said.

This made Sora think, maybe I did get summoned here when they did and I was asleep for a day. That would make sense, but still… his thoughts were interrupted when the girl said, "of course! I remember he was there!" she said, "he held me down as the Shield hero tried to violate me!" she said making everyone glare at Sora, "wait you're Myne?" "don't pretend to not know who she is degenerate!" Motoyasu said holding her by the waist and pointing his spear at Sora making him back up, "don't tell me you believe her?" Sora said, "sorry, but we can't trust you. We still know nothing about you and if you are in league with Naofumi then we can't help you." Ren said while looking away.

"But you don't understand-" Sora said before the king interrupted, "THAT'S ENOUGH!" scaring Sora, "we welcome with open arms and now I find out that you are in league with the devil of the shield?! The one who nearly violated Malty?! GUARDS! SEIZE HIM!" the king shouted. Guards came into the room and grabbed Sora by his arms, "hey! That is so unfriendly!" Sora said, "get him out of my sight." the king said, "wait! I need to get back to Kairi!" Sora shouted as he was being dragged away. Before the doors closed, he saw Myne pulling her eyelid down and sticking her tongue out at him making him go wide-eyed.

Outside

The guards dragged him outside the gates of the castle, "I warned you." the first guard said as both of them threw him and he fell to the ground then went inside and closed the gates. Sora stood up and dusted himself off saying, "rude." then he looked at the castle again, "well that could've gone better." he said to himself, "I guess I'm stuck here until I find a way home, or until I find another way. One that doesn't involve their help." he said deciding to walk back towards town. On the way, he was thinking, why would she try to frame me? I didn't do anything to her. *sigh* maybe it's something else.

When he made it to town everyone was giving him dirty looks and were keeping away from him. Sora knew exactly why, "news spreads fast." as he was walking he noticed clouds were forming above him, "looks like it's gonna rain." he said. Once he had left the town and made it to the hills he saw the guy in a green cape from earlier fighting some orange balloon monsters, but then he noticed a black creature with antennas and yellow eyes coming towards him.

(music: night of fate kh 1.5)

"Heartless!" he said drawing his keyblade. The man was too busy fighting the balloon monsters to notice the heartless and when he did, Sora came just in time to slice it down right in front of him. "What the?!" the man shouted surprised, "no time to talk! Here comes some more!" Sora said as more heartless appeared. He got into battle stance as the man looked on still confused, especially with the weapon Sora was using, but got ready to fight.

"I'm only helping because we're outmatched. This doesn't mean we're a party kid." the man said, "does that matter right now?" Sora asked as he sliced down a heartless. The man tried punching the creatures but to avail as his punches went right through them, "damn it! How am I supposed to fight these things?!" he shouted, after Sora was done using a quick slash on soldier heartless he said, "use your shield!" which caught the man by surprise, how did he know about the shield? Wait… he thought to himself remembering that's the same kid he bumped into on his way here. He looked at his shield then looked at the heartless and decided to take Sora's advice. Using his shield he was able to take out two heartless jumping at him, "holy crap it worked!" he said surprised, so he kept going at it attacking heartless. Sora managed to get a few with a radial blaster and a uppercut launching them in the air then finishing the ones on the ground with an aerial dive and the ones in the air with an aerial sweep. The man managed to cut a few down with his shield and block a few of their attacks. It seems they were thinning them out but more showed up.

The man backed up towards Sora and together they were back to back, "there's too many of them." the man said. That's when Sora had an idea, "I know what to do!" he said, "whatever you got planned, I'm all ears kid." he said, "my name is Sora." Sora said back, "fine, Sora. what's your plan?" the man asked. Sora started walking away then turned towards him, "what're you doing?" the man asked, Sora then ran up to him, "get your shield ready!" he said, the man reacted quickly and readied his shield, then Sora jumped on it launching them both in the air, "huh?!" the man said confused while Sora grabbed his hand and threw him to the ground destroying the rest of the heartless.

Combo move learned: bombardier

(music ends)

After the fighting had stopped Sora dismissed his weapon the man walked up to him with questions, "hey you." the man said getting Sora's attention, "that weapon you just had, what is it?" he asked. Sora summoned his keyblade shocking him, "it's called a keyblade." he answered the man looked at the weapon perplexed, a giant key? He thought to himself, "can I see it?" he asked, "okay, but it won't stay in your hand for long." Sora said handing over the weapon. The man held it in his hand and was surprised, this weapon isn't shocking me he thought to himself before it disappeared and went back to Sora's hand.

"The keyblade belongs to whoever wields it, if someone else holds it, it goes back to the wielder." Sora explained, the man was still surprised but remained stoic, "just to be clear I didn't ask for your help, I could've taken them on my own." he said walking away while Sora followed, "maybe with those orange balloons, but the heartless aren't something to mess around with." Sora said, Heartless? That's what they're called? He asked himself in his head, "I don't need a kid lecturing me on how I should choose my battles." the man said, "I'm not. I'm just saying that maybe you need help." Sora said

"I already told you, I'm not looking for partnership and I'm not looking to join a party either. Especially with a kid.`` The man said rudely, that's when Sora puffed his cheeks and stood in front of him agitated, "I'm not a kid! I'm 16!" he said to him, the answer of course made Sora clear his throat and blush rubbing the back of his head, "yeah, exactly." The man said continuing to walk away, "you're missing the point, you need help." Sora said, "I work alone. I don't need help." the man said as Sora got in front of him again, "what're gonna do if the heartless show up again? You can't just fight them off with a shield forever. Just let me help you." Sora said. The man looked at him with cold eyes while Sora looked back at him frowning with determination.

This kid's something else, yet he seems to know more about those monsters than I do. And also he seems like someone I could...no I can't, but his eyes are filled with determination. Just like me. He told himself in his head.

The man put his hand on his hip and sighed, "fine. We'll work together." he said which made Sora smile, "but you better pull your weight or I'll drop you." he said which then made a sweatdrop appear on Sora's head, "s-sure." Sora said nervously. All of a sudden Heartless and the orange monsters appeared, "get ready Sora!" the man said, "right!" Sora said summoning Oathkeeper, "oh and by the way, it's Naofumi." the man said, "huh?" Sora asked, "my name, it's Naofumi Iwatani." Naofumi said, "Naofumi Iwatani. Got it." Sora said smiling.

"HAAAAAH!" they both shouted as they leaped to take on the next batch of enemies.

Later

Sora and Naofumi were sitting by a tree in the rain. It took them all night, but they managed to defeat all the enemies and Naofumi made it to level 2 in his stats. He turned to Sora and saw he was looking at Kairi's good luck charm, "what's that?" he asked getting Sora's attention, "oh this? It's a good luck my friend gave to me." Sora answered, "what's their name?" Naofumi asked, Sora blushed and said, "Kairi." "she special to you?" Naofumi asked.

Sora put the charm over his chest, "yes." he said almost to a whisper, "that's why I have to get home. She's waiting for me. And I'm tired of making her do that." he said gripping the charm, "get home?" Naofumi questioned, "I'm not supposed to tell anyone this, but I'm from another world." Sora said which made Naofumi a little shocked but made sense to him anyway, "of course you are, but so am I.." Naofumi said, " Whoa really? you seem pretty calm about this, the other guys freaked out when I told them, but they didn't tell me they were from other worlds." Sora said

"Other guys?" Naofumi asked, "yeah you know, Ren, Itsuki, and Motoyasu." Sora said which made Naofumi frown a little, and Sora noticed, "are you okay-" "I'm fine!" Naofumi shouted interrupting. He calmed down and asked, "what are those creatures we fought, the Heartless?" "they're creatures made of darkness who are after people's hearts since they don't have their own and they feed off the darkness in others." Sora explained, they're after hearts? Naofumi thought to himself.

Their conversation was cut short when they noticed more orange balloon enemies. They stood up and walked towards them

After that they made their way back into town, they saw a trader give a copper to some guy for exchange of some shreds. They walked up to the trader's stand and the guy with the copper backed away from both of them in fear, "welcome good sirs." the trader said. Naofumi pulled out the shreds he had under his cape and put them on the desk while the trader looked at him uneased, "how much for all of these?" Naofumi asked, "hmm orange balloons are they?" the trader asked while examining them, "looks like 20 of them by my count, how does one copper sound for the entire lot?" he asked while smiling.

Naofumi grunted and frowned, "wait but we heard you offer two coppers to the last guy for every two scraps he gave you." Sora said frowning also, "did I now? I don't recall that, you must understand I have a business to run." the trader said lying, "that so?" Naofumi asked grabbing him by his shirt and opening his cape revealing Orange balloons attached to him, "can I assume that these will fetch a better price then?" Naofumi said threateningly as the trader looked at the orange balloons in fear, "they're quite lively." Naofumi said.

The trader looked at Sora in fear and asked, "are you just gonna let him do this?!" Sora held up his hands, "hey I'm just a tag along. You should worry about him." he said pointing his thumb at Naofumi. The trader looked up at him and saw him smile then chuckle. He let out a scream that was heard by everyone in the market.

Naofumi was holding him under his cape as the trader's screams were muffled, while Sora had his hands behind his head and looked elsewhere trying to stay out of it, acting like nothing was wrong, "look we're not trying to rip you off here. All I'm asking for is a fair market price." Naofumi said, "is it personal? Is there maybe some reason you might have for hating me? For hating us?" Naofumi asked, "okay fine! I give up! Whatever you want! Just get these things off of me!" the trader shouted.

Naofumi removed him from his cape and held him up by his shirt, "sounds like we have a deal then huh?" Naofumi asked, "apply for me consistently and I'll even give you a small discount especially if you have the kid with you. Better than trying to fleece me right?" Naofumi asked, "r-right! Consider it done sir! And as much as I'd like to refuse, the exchange for money and goods have nothing to do with any crimes you and said child may or may not have commited." he said giving Naofumi his copper coins.

"Wait, what do you mean crimes a child may or may not have commited?" Naofumi asked, "w-well people have been saying a child with spiky hair and flashy clothes may or may not have assisted the shield hero for a crime he commited." the trader answered cowering a bit while Sora just looked to the ground agitated, "well then there's one more thing you're gonna do, you're gonna spread the word to the other merchants. Tell them that any other trader who decides to mess with me or the kid will get covered in bite marks." Naofumi said

"Don't you worry I'll tell everybody." the trader said, "to a fruitful relationship." Naofumi said as he and Sora walked away while Sora looked back at the trader and waved goodbye.

While walking through the streets they stopped by a botanist's shop and examined it for a brief second before continuing to walk. They then stopped by a blacksmith's and dropped off the copper coins on his counter.

Later that night, Naofumi and Sora were on a hill trying to sleep. After falling asleep, Naofumi was woken up by Sora crying in his sleep and shaking, calling out Kairi's name which had him a little worried, this kid might have more problems than me. Naofumi thought to himself going back to sleep.

The next day the two were walking through the forest when they found some familiar looking plants, "aren't these…?" Sora asked remembering the plants were the same ones they saw in that botanist's shop. Naofumi picked up one of the plants and absorbed it inside his shield, when he did he unlocked three new shields to use.

"New shields. So does that mean that by mastering abilities I get to keep them even after upgrading to another one?" Naofumi asked surprised while Sora looked confused, "what does that mean?" Sora asked, "it means when I use a new shield I get to keep the ability of the previous one I used when I use the new shield." Naofumi explained, "oh okay." Sora said understanding.

Naofumi held out his shield hand and said, "Leaf Shield, go!" and his original shield was replaced by another shield shaped like a leaf surprising both of them, "wow, that's so cool!" Sora said excitedly, "it really is just like a game." Naofumi said in surprise, then he picked up some of the leaves and unlocked a new skill, "I can improve the plant's quality?" Naofumi asked, "looks like it." Sora said.

They grabbed the rest of the plants and put them in Naofumi's satchel, then went on their way back to town. On their way Naofumi looked at Sora and asked, "hey, what was going on with you the other night?" "What do you mean?" Sora asked, "I heard you crying in your sleep and calling out your friend's name." Naofumi said making Sora look sad, "oh, that. I-it's nothing." Sora said, starting to walk ahead of him.

It was nighttime when they got back and they decided to visit the botanist's shop, "wow, this is really good stuff. Where'd you two find these?" the shopkeeper asked, "in the forest outside the castle. Didn't you know?" Naofumi said, "Sure, but I've never seen any of them in such high quality. I was certain it was much more average." the shopkeep said examining them then giving them their coins.

They decided to visit a bar to eat. Sora ate like a horse cause he was hungry for the past two days, while Naofumi barely ate any of his food on account he couldn't taste anything, "hey why aren't you eating?" Sora said, "I can't taste anything." Naofumi said, "is it because of the flavor? Cause I could make something that could knock your socks off ``'' No I mean I literally can't taste anything." Naofumi said interrupting Sora, "Oh." Sora said, putting down his fork, "why?" Sora asked, "I don't want to talk about it." Naofumi said while Sora continued to eat his food.

Just then, three guys showed up behind both of them, "oh great shield hero, we'll join you and the kid's party if you want." the first guy said, "yeah that's right thank your lucky stars." the second guy said, putting a hand on his shoulder which reminded him of when a certain girl he trusted did that and she betrayed him, "okay, but how about we go ahead and discuss the terms up front?" Naofumi said with cold eyes while Sora looked at the situation uneased.

The second guy laughed and said, "sure thing!" "your pay will be entirely performance based. Do you know what that means?" Naofumi asked, the first guy giggled and said, "nope not a clue!" making all three of them laugh while Sora got more tense by the minute looking back and forth between Naofumi and the the three guys, "it means you'll be paid based on the loot we get on our quests. And since I'm the leader, I'll be keeping at least forty percent." Naofumi said making the three of them disgruntled.

"I'll split the rest among you guys at my discretion. If you do nothing of value then you can expect to be paid nothing." Naofumi said, "what the hell?! That means if you get a wild hare up your ass you get to keep it for yourself!" the first guy said agitated, "I promise to pay you if you do your job. Assuming you can." Naofumi said standing up, "well what about the kid? How much does he get?" the second guy asked, Naofumi looked at Sora and said, "based on his performance, if he does better than you guys he gets more of the loot." Naofumi answered which made Sora surprised a little and the guys more disgruntled but they smiled.

After leaving the bar they walked down a street, "let's go get some new equipment boss." the second guy said, "buy your own equipment. I have nothing to gain from doing that for you." Naofumi said, "what?" the second guy said, "forget the party crap and just hand over your money and the kid's too." the first thug said, "now see, if you had just said that to begin with you could've saved us a whole bunch of time." Naofumi said not turning his back to the goons, "yeah right, who knew it be so easy-" the second thug said holding out his hand.

Naofumi turned around quickly and used an orange balloon on the second thug's hand while the first one tried to stab him with a knife only for it to be blocked by Sora's counter shield, the impact of which, caused a fist to punch him in the face knocking the thug down, "shit!" one of the thugs said in fear as they all got up and ran away. After the dust settled, Sora dismissed the Counter shield and Naofumi stepped on the orange balloon he used.

"Naofumi are you alright?" Sora said concerned, "I have good defense but no offense ability. Without I can't defeat monsters, and because of that I can't farm experience points. And since I can't farm I can't raise my offensive ability." Naofumi explained agitated, "I'm stuck in a loop!" he growled, "DAMN IT!" he shouted kicking the balloon past Sora's face, "whoa!" Sora said dodging. He looked at Naofumi in concern as Naofumi was panting, "well what about me?" Sora asked, "what about you? I can't always rely on you to fight my battles. It's just like you said, if those heartless things show up again I don't have a chance even with my shield." Naofumi said.

"Looks like you two could use some help." someone said, they turned around to find a man with a top hat, glasses, white gloves, a gentleman's mustache, and a suit grinning at them. Naofumi turned around ready to walk away when the man said, "it's clear you don't have any. Even with the kid around." the man said, getting their attention, "I have exactly what you need." he said, "if you're here to offer me party members I'll pass." Naofumi said, "party members? No no, what I'm offering you is a service i think you'll find far more convenient, "and what would that be?" Naofumi asked intrigued

"Interested are we?" the man asked, "leave me alone." Naofumi said. The man laughed, "you've got that look in your eyes that I just adore, you're every bit the man the rumours said you'd be. especially from the kid with spiky hair." the man said causing Sora to touch his hair, "seriously is it that spikey?" Sora asked, "rumours huh? So then you who I am? Who the kid is?" Naofumi asked, "of course I do brave shield hero sir and you too chosen hero of the keyblade." the man said shocking Sora, "you know about the keyblade?" Sora asked, "of course. I know all about you young master Sora, but that's a story for another time.`` The man said, "If my offer interests you two, then follow me and we'll discuss it further." he said leading the way

Sora and Naofumi followed the man to a large tent, "right this way." the man said entering with Naofumi and Sora behind him, "what the hell?" Sora said perplexed by all the cages, "so, what exactly are you offering us?" Naofumi asked, the man chuckled, "can't you tell by just looking?" The man said, "they're slaves my boy." he said, "no way." Sora said, "yes way! I run a slave trading business!" the slave trader said holding out his arms to show them.

Sora took one look at those red eyes and it sent a chill down his spine, "what makes you think I want to own slaves?" Naofumi asked, " oh I don't know, the fact that they can neither lie nor betray their master" the man said making both Naofumi and Sora gasp, "we keep all our slaves in line by placing them under the effects of a curse. A strong seal based curse that could take their very lives." he said, "that's horrible." Sora said, "but very effective, so what do you say?" the slave trader asked, "alright show me what you got." said Naofumi which made Sora surprised.

"I knew you had what it takes to be a most wonderful patron." the slave trader said walking them through what he had. While walking through, Sora felt a little perturbed seeing these none human creatures, "some of them don't look human." Naofumi said, "I can assure you they still are technically." the slave trader said, "what do you mean? We're still new to this world." Sora asked, "the creatures that look mostly human but aren't, are referred to as demi-humans. They're mostly used as servants or for manual labor. Beastmen are Demi-humans whose appearance leans more toward the animal side, they're often used as bodyguards or gambled on as participants in death matches." the slave trader explained, "I see, but they both fall under the same category?" Naofumi asked, "indeed. And since this country brackets it's human supremacy, and demi-humans are thought to be closer to monsters, life can be quite hard for them here. As such they're treated as slaves." the slave trader said, "that's even more horrible. I can't imagine how some of them might feel." Sora said.

All of a sudden they both heard coughing and went to see where it was coming from. It led them to a cage where they found a sickly demi-human girl chained up with raccoon ears, a long tail, and rags with stoic expression on her face.

Meanwhile in the Land of Departure

Kairi was training with Aqua in the throne room of the castle. After Sora disappeared, she wanted to become more powerful for him when they found out where he was, so she decided to train under Aqua to master her skills with the keyblade and she felt she was getting better at it.

"Okay, I think that's enough for today." Aqua said dismissing Rainfell and Kairi dismissing Destiny's Embrace, "hey Aqua? Thanks for doing this for me." Kairi said, "no problem." she said walking up to her and putting a hand on her shoulder, "you don't have to push yourself so hard y'know." she said, "but I want to. Since the start of this, everyone's been fighting for me including Sora, but this time I'll fight for him. Just like how you fought for Terra." Kairi said making Aqua blush and smile, "okay, but just remember: true power doesn't come from just your weapons, but your heart as well. Because the heart is the most powerful thing out there." Aqua said.

Kairi put her hand on her chest and said, "thank you master." making Aqua smile. At that moment Terra and Riku walked into the room. Aqua walked up to Terra and hugged him, "you okay? Nothing broken? Nothing possessed?" she joked putting her hands on his face and examining him. He chuckled and grabbed her hands, "I'm fine." he said kissing her on the head, "how was training?" he asked, "it was good. My kid will probably get stronger than yours." she joked, "oh you wish." he said back making them both laugh

"Hey guys?" Riku said raising an eyebrow getting their attention. They both blushed and Terra let go of her hands, *clears throat* "Anyways, we got good news." Terra said, "what is it?" Aqua asked, "I'll let him say it." Terra said, pointing to Riku. Riku looked at Kairi while she raised an eyebrow, "what is it?" Kairi asked

Riku smiled and said, "we found him." making Kairi's face that of surprise.

Next chapter: The Slave Girl

Author's note: I finally got this done! I've been wanting to do this for a while since no one else will and that agitates me. Hopefully I'll do this right, especially with Sora because the reason for that crying scene was to imply that he blames himself for what happens with Kairi at the end of Kh3 and I kind of want that to affect him until he reunites with Kairi. Another thing is that two of the chapters will focus on Kairi's adventures in Melromarc and her interactions with the three heroes. Until then please review and I'll see you guys next time