\\\>>~~KH: Dirge~~<<///

[TrancedRiku]

Disclaimer: I don't own KH, nor the characters within it, as far as the original ones go, I do own them, as do the people that the characters are based off of. As for editing: I did a few edits, and made the Prologue a bit longer. I was in class when I wrote the draft, and it was a bit rushed... XD So, I redid it at home: hope ya like it.

Prologue: A Final Effort

"Let go!" Cody yelled, as he dangled over the sea of black below.

Blake shook his head. He was not about to let his best friend go into the darkness below. After all that had happened, he wasn't about to let another die. "No! I can't!" Blake protested.

"You have to!" his friend responded. "If you don't... you and everyone else will be killed. You are all that stands between our world and destruction now." Cody added.

"No... I ca--"

"Open your eyes! If you don't millions more are going to die! With the sacrifice of only one, we could save millions! Stop being so damned selfish!" Cody yelled.

"..." Blake loosened his grip on his friends hand, as Cody dropped down, into the dark. As he was falling he shifted to face the black.

Good luck. Cody thought, as he plummeted into the darkness, disappearing the murky liquids.

"NOO!!!!" Blake called out, as another of his friends, Rena, grabbed him from behind.

"we have to get outta here... now." Rena said.

"..." Blake looked down at the darkness, tears welling up in his eyes. Suddenly, the murky liquid began to rise, taking the form of a black giant, a hole in the shape of a heart in it's chest, with black wings extending from it's back.

The creature was new, but somehow Blake knew what it was. "A Heartless." Blake grumbled.

"We have to go!" Rena pleaded.

Blake extended his hands, bright bursts extending from them, taking the form of two exact replicas of the Kingdom Key. "He said to save millions, one sacrifice must be made. I'm going to make sure that's how it remains." he snarled, as the rain pelted down even harder.

---

Darkness cascaded up, as Cody plummeted deeper into darkness. Where was he? The answer was unclear to him.

He neared the end of his chaotic trip through the abyss, as the ground came up fast to meet him.

He twisted a bit, landing softly on the ground. How had he survived all of that? He thought that just being "eaten" by the darkness would have ended his life, but even the fall to the ground just now had not killed him.

"Where am I?" he wondered.

Looking around gave him no foothold on that question. This place was enigmatic as it's black color suggested--yet, somehow seemed familliar.

"A place where all worlds meet." a voice called out from the darkness.

"Who's there?!" Cody demanded, spinning around to face the direction the voice had come from. Nothing but endless darkness.

"A friend." the voice called, this time from all around. "...or perhaps a foe..." the voice beckoned.

"Can you tell me where I am?" Cody asked, looking around, trying to catch even a small glimpse of the person, but to no avail. All that circled around him was black, and endless.

"As I said, this is where all worlds meet. The Nexus of Hearts, a river of darkness that flows through even the purest of hearts."

"You're talking crazy. And you still haven't given me a straight answer. What do you mean by worlds? I thought--"

"That there was only one world?" the voice chuckled. "You are vastly mistaken. There are numerous worlds outside of your own." the voice called.

"Numerous ones, huh?" Cody turned, to see the darkness had been peirced by small beads of light, stars from the look of them.

"For every star, there is a world. And for every world, there is a heart. For every heart, there is the heart of all, and for the heart of all, there is the Nexus, where all hearts meet."

"So, I'm in someone's heart?"

"...yes. I suppose you could say that." the voice answered.

"Then whose?"

"..." the voice was silent, as light began to fill the room. "Your own..." it said, as everything faded to white.

---

The gentle waves washed up on the shores of Destiny Islands, as a strange figure walked on the beach. Cloaked completely in gray, the figure raised his hand, a green glow bursting out from it, and opening into a hole, where a boy emerged from, unconcious. "This is where it all begins." the figure said, as the same green glow engulfed him, and he disappeared.