Disclaimer: Characters, locations, etc, are property of Square and/or Disney. I own nothing.

Summary: (Sequel to Stare Into The Abyss) For Sora and his "other half" there was still a job to do. The search for the door Sora is destined to open won't be an easy one, and perhaps some would rather he not find it at all…

Rating: T

A Note Before We Start: Well, here we go again! Welcome back to all my old readers, and should anyone have clicked on this out of curiosity, I'd recommend reading SITA first – I will be referring to past events throughout, so I wouldn't want you to get confused. A small request I'd like to make – since this will likely not be finished by the time that KHII is released in Japan, please, if anyone is lucky enough to get it then, NO SPOILERS! I'd like to avoid knowing anything about it.

With that out the way, time to get started!

Break The Chains That Bind Us

Chapter One

He opened his eyes to a world of darkness. Tall buildings towered around him, covered in glowing signs. Flickering shadows danced on all sides. Slowly sitting up, he glanced around, confused. He was in an empty street, apparently totally alone. The silence in what appeared to be quite a large city was un-nerving.

Even more un-nerving was that he had no idea where he was or why he was there. He closed his eyes, trying to remember something, anything that would remind him.

An onslaught of images hit him.

A silver-haired boy standing with his hand outstretched…

"But don't be afraid…"

…A girl smiling as she bent down, hands folded behind her back…

"… And don't forget…"

… Black creatures with flashing orange eyes…

"The Keyblade chooses its master…

So many different landscapes…

"…And it chose you."

…But one that stood out the most.

"Sora, let's take the raft and go…"

A small island.

"The door has opened, Sora!"

And then another location, different to the others…

"A Keyblade that unlocks people's hearts..."

…A castle.

"Sora?"

"Sora!"

He blinked his eyes open, the fierce torrent of visions ending as quickly as they had come.

What was all of that?

Shaking his head in attempt to clear it, he carefully stood. "Sora…" He tried the name out loud, testing to see if it meant anything to him. It felt familiar, but otherwise didn't help any. Was he… Sora? Or was he supposed to know them?

He began walking aimlessly, his eyes scanning for any signs of other people. Surely someone was around? Maybe someone that could explain just what was going on.

To his dismay, all of the doors that he tried on the surrounding buildings appeared locked. As he moved through the streets, he felt a growing sinking feeling as he realized that there really was no one else. Where had all the people gone?

Stopping, he called out in a desperate attempt to find someone.

"Hello?"

Nothing but silence.

As he was about to continue, he hesitated, catching a flash of movement to his side. Whirling around, he spotted the silhouette of a figure passing by and turning down one of the alleys.

"Hey, wait!"

The boy started to run after them, but was driven to his knees by a bitter chill that stung his chest. Reaching a hand up to press against it, he felt himself shiver. It was only now it was gone that he noticed a warmth was missing. It felt like he had lost something, like something had been removed. What had happened to him? Why was there such a horrible empty feeling there?

Climbing back to his feet, his eyes scearched for the figure he had saw. Whoever they were, they'd gone now. Heading for the alley that they had disappeared down, he was surprised when he hit a dead end at the back of it. His mystery person was nowhere in sight; the only thing there was a shimmering oval shape set into the side of one of the buildings. Had the person gone through it? There was no other way they could have gone.

Was it a good idea to go stepping into strange objects, like that?

But there was obviously no one else here. What was the point of staying? And if that person had gone through… Maybe he could find them and get some answers.

Taking a deep breath, the blonde haired boy entered the doorway between worlds.

Kaze walked through the halls of Hollow Bastion, heading for his destination. During the past few months he'd spent there, he'd quickly learned to find his way around. According to Sora, the place had changed since his last visit, its current residents having worked hard on trying to restore it to something resembling their childhood home.

Since his and Sora's arrival, they'd had to begin further work in an attempt to make room for them. For such a large castle, there wasn't much living space. Still, Kaze was grateful that they had allowed them to stay there. Leon and the others had been more than willing to let him and Sora make Hallow Bastion their temporary home for as long as they needed.

While for Sora it had been a reunion with his old friends upon returning, it had taken Kaze a while to get to know everyone. When him and Sora weren't off venturing to other worlds, he'd spent the time helping them with some of the work on the castle, although it wasn't often that he got the chance. He'd lost count of the amount of worlds that him and Sora had explored now, and they still hadn't found what they looking for.

Sora had found his two companions, Donald and Goofy, waiting for him at the castle. Upon instruction from their King, they'd stayed to help Sora find the 'Door to the Light' that he was supposed to open. It was Riku who selected the worlds for them to search. Kaze wasn't quite sure just what they were supposed to be opening it for, but he'd tagged along regardless.

Despite Riku's assurance that he believed he knew where they could find it, they'd so far came across nothing. They'd successfully sealed several further Keyholes in the worlds they'd visited, but there wasn't so much as a clue to the Door's location. Everytime they'd returned from another world, Riku would begin muttering to himself all the way back. Or perhaps, it wasn't himself that he was muttering to…

Kaze had made attempts to catch Riku alone and strike up a conversation with him. He wanted to trust Sora's childhood friend, but there was still something deeply disturbing about the boy. His attention would seemingly wander quickly, and he hardly ever shared more than a few words before moving away. Kaze had a feeling that he knew why that was.

Ansem. He was still ever present, perhaps even growing stronger with every day. If he was the source of Riku's information that he was providing them with, it was no wonder that it hadn't proved very reliable.

With several of it's current 'inhabitants' away, the castle felt even quieter than it usually did. Sora and Riku, along with Donald and Goofy, had been gone for nearly three days now. They'd left to go check up on another world, however this time Kaze had stayed behind. For just this once, he had his own mission that he'd set himself.

Namine…

Kaze felt somewhat sorry for the girl. While they had offered to take her with them to some of the other worlds that they had visited, she'd always stayed behind, insisting that she didn't want to get in their way. She spent most of her time in the Hollow Bastion library surrounded by paper and pencils where she absorbed herself in drawing.

Kaze had offered to take her with him to one of the previous worlds that they'd already been to while Sora was gone, assuring her that it was safe and she didn't need to worry about "getting in their way." He was relieved that she had agreed to his offer. Been cooped up in this castle all this time was no better than when she'd been stuck at Castle Oblivion.

Certain that Namine would already be waiting for him in the library, he was surprised when he arrived in the room only to find it empty. Perhaps he was just early and she was off in another part of the castle?

Wandering over to the table at the far end of the room, Kaze picked up one of the many pieces of paper that was scattered over the surface of it. The drawing was a detailed sketch of the Hollow Bastion castle. Beneath it was another castle that he recognized. Castle Oblivion. Even away from the place, she still couldn't seem to forget about it.

The door behind him burst open, startling him. "Hey Namine!" He turned around to greet her. "Are you ready to… Namine?"

The girl's face was flustered, her eyes wide, filled with panic. "Kaze!"

"What's wrong?"

She lifted her blue eyes to meet his gaze. "Hollow Bastion, is under attack."

"What?" Kaze felt confusion and alarm flood through him. "By who?"

"Nobodies." She tried to keep her voice calm, but the fear was unmistakable. "There are hundreds of Nobodies out there and they're all coming this way."

Namine's reply sent a cold chill through him. "But, there's no one left in the Organization! There's no one left who could have sent them."

"Maybe they weren't sent…"

Kaze didn't respond. He felt the Twilight Keyblade forming in his hand as he started for the door. It wasn't a coincidence that they were here. Someone knew this was where him and Sora had come. They'd been sent. But by who?

His mind was left reeling as he considered the possibilities.

"Where are you going?"

He stopped, turning around slowly to face her. "To find Sora."

"We don't even know he's out there!" Namine shook her head firmly. "They could all still be at that world, safe."

"Then, I'll go and wait for him. When he comes back, he's going to end up walking right into all that."

Her eyes grew sad as she realized she wasn't going to be able to convince him to stay. "You can't go out there on your own."

"Where are the others?"

"In the Chapel," She replied. "They sent me to come get you."

"Go and stay with them." He paused as he opened the door. "I'll come back, and I'll bring Sora with me. I promise."

Namine's voice was flat as she responded. "You always say that. Both of you. What if one day, you don't come back?"

Kaze exited the room through the door without a word.

He didn't have an answer to give her.

Note's: Phew, there we go! First chapter finally up. Updates may not come as quickly as SITA's did, however in exchange, chapters should be a bit longer from here on.

To avoid any confusion – the first section is intended to be one of several "Kaze flashbacks" that I have in mind. I plan on going into a little more detail of what he was up to before meeting Sora seeing as this story will be focused on the both of them. As a small clue, the title has been picked for a reason again – it was actually a quote from Xenosaga (a chaos quote, I think), but it seems to fit Sora and our dear BHK nicely.

That's all for now!

Next chapter should see Sora entering the story and perhaps another familiar face too…