It was the middle of the night, if there was even such a thing as a day in the World That Never Was, a realm that was in perpetual dark. A grand metropolis stood in the centre of the world, with colossal buildings that seemed intent on invading the dusky sky in order to reach the heart-shaped moon where Kingdom Hearts supposedly stood. Slogan boards and the lights that shimmered from within the buildings seemed to be the only sources of light, the only relief from the unending shadows. The streets were quite empty except for two figures that stood facing each other, neither of them saying a word.

The first one was a blue-eyed boy of medium height and slim build whose light brown hair was spiked. He wore black shorts and a short-sleeved hooded jacket with a blue shirt and yellow-black boots. Red pouches hung on his sides supported by yellow straps while a dark blue belt was wrapped around his waist. His fingerless gloves had a yellow band encircling the wrist while two white straps criss-crossed the back of his covered hand. In his hands he carried two strange weapons that looked like large keys; the first one was shaped like an ordinary steel key with a yellow hilt guard and crown-shaped teeth at the end of the shaft while the other, which he carried in his right hand, was more like an intricate sword, one with a heart-shaped hilt guard, fish-bones running along the blade, and a crown-shaped end.

The brunette’s opponent was a boy of the same height and size. He looked very much like the brown-haired boy except his hair was blond and less spiked. He wore a black coat with a hood and a cross-shaped pendant hung around his neck. Like his opponent, the blond haired boy wielded two key-shaped weapons. The first was long and black, with two bat wings for a hilt guard and box-shaped teeth. The second one had more colour to it, with a hilt guard resembling two angel wings and two shafts eventually forged to resemble a heart at the end of the key; this was the weapon he carried in his right hand.

The boy with the brown hair clutched a star-shaped ornament in his hand made of thalassa shells from his home, Destiny Islands. They reminded him of where he was from, the place he would return to if he was successful. But most importantly, it reminded him who awaited him to return to their shores. As he closed his eyes, he began to remember what had happened that day before he departed for the World That Never Was.

---The Previous Day---

The brunette stood in the Secret Place, a cave that he discovered with his friend as a boy. He would play there for hours, drawing pictures on the walls with stones with his friends. The sun was setting and in the twilight, the only light that illuminated the cave was a small lantern put in the centre of the cave. He stood there with a girl his age with straight auburn hair and sea-blue eyes who wore a light brown skirt, a sleeveless white top, and white shoes. Her azure eyes gazed sadly into his blue pools as she held his hands.

“Please…don’t leave,” she pleaded.
“You know that I have to,” he sighed in response.
“I know, but…I’m afraid,”
“Of what?” the boy demanded
“I’m afraid I might never see you again…” this time she looked directly into his eyes, allowing him to see that she was beginning to cry. He sighed again and kissed her forehead.

“He banished my parents and our friends to the Realm of Darkness…he destroyed my home. I can’t let him get away with it,” he explained “you have to get away from here, leave for Traverse Town. It’s not safe here anymore.”

The girl reached into her pocket and pulled out the lucky sea shell charm that she made when she was younger. She opened his hand and placed it in his gloved hand, closing his fingers around it. He looked at his hand first, and then at her before she leaned in to embrace him. She laid her head on his shoulder and he put his head in the hollow of her collarbone, taking in the scent of her perfume and the flowers of the island. They stood that way for a moment before she whispered,

“Sora…Promise me…that you’ll come back and that you’ll be okay.”

“I promise…Kairi,” he replied, speaking softly in her ear.