Tales of Future Past

Ok, I have some (if not a lot of ideas) for a KH fanfic, but since I am a busy man, I don't know if I'm gonna actually do it. So I call upon the reader's opinion. I'm posting the prologue (which is all that I have written so far), and if there's a positive response I'll write the rest.

It takes place directly after KH2 and is my take on KH3. The prologue itself is set near the end of the story.

Prologue - Disdaining Fortune

Quiet. It was quiet, and nothing else. And that was what made it perfect. Riku didn’t even feel the stained glass under his feet, like he did before…The first time he came here, he was fifteen and he did not understand. And he never understood. But he felt, as he walked from station to station, he felt it. The locked truth. And the key to it. The sheer blade in his heart and the wound it left. The need for adventure, the pain and the fear. He was not like Sora : he did not have his friend’s confidence (it was a confidence born of stupidity, yes, but it was still confidence), and he never did completely make up for his fears. Fear of weakness, fear of loneliness, of darkness, of light…he was strong because he needed to be. But here he found peace, in the deepest place of his heart. Even after all they discovered in the past year, he still trusted the keyblade. Because he knew now that it would only answer to a strong heart : as long as he felt it in his hand, he had nothing to fear. And while he was here, it was something so simple…something so natural. She called out his name. He answered and opened his eyes.

There she was, on the pier by his side, looking at him with a spark of worry in his eyes, while he was staring into the evening sky and the endless sea. Of the three of them, Kairi was the one who changed the less over the years, her perfect heart always enduring everything. She was a Princess of the Heart after all, and he did not think darkness could ever hurt her. But she was always worried, about them and about the future, as if she wouldn’t accept this strength of hers.
-What were you doing there, Riku ? she asked.
-What I do every time I go there, he answered with a faint smile.
She smiled back and sat too, looking down at the sand in the shallows.
-You won’t find any answers on the Station of Serenity, you know…she said calmly. Riku smiled again : she had probably searched those answers herself.
-I know, he replied. But I won’t find any questions either…
Kairi gave him a slightly sad glance. He quickly turned to the answer to her worries.
-How is he ?
-Sleeping, she said with a chuckle.
They looked at the beach. Sora was there, lying on the sand, oblivious and snoring. Even with the black cloak he could still look ridiculous : that’s a true hero for you.
-And worried, he remarked.
Yes, Sora was still innocent (AND stupid), but as it turned out it didn’t completely save him from the dark. And Riku knew from personal experience that you can’t possibly take it lightly. Nevertheless, Sora was putting up a very good façade. For her, of course : it was his courage that reassured her. He woke up suddenly, as if responding to an impulse. With a broad smile he waved at them and hopped up on his feet. As he walked down the pier toward them, his smile slowly faded.
-Time to go ?
They nodded and Riku made a small gesture. The shadows seemed to gather and created a shape of a door.
-After you, he said to them.

Sora boldly walked in the Corridor of Darkness and Kairi followed after a short look at the trees. Riku turned back and looked at Destiny Island : it was strange that he should regret to leave it, since he was the one who longed for adventure. But today he was almost afraid of what lied ahead, not regretful of what lied behind. The sun was slowly setting : its dying light was crowning the trees and created fiery ripples on the water. He stepped into the shadows and felt the familiar chill down his spine. For a second he wondered how the others felt the taint from the Dark Realm. Then the sky unfolded, and he gazed upon the endless green meadows. The sun was setting here as well.

They stepped on the crossroads, each at the beginning of a different path. The black cloaks felt heavy on their shoulders : the members of the Organization wore them because they traveled in darkness. Riku, Sora and Kairi wore them for the same reason. Of course they still had their hearts, but they knew they were only sleeping : they had dreamed of their hearts awakened, but they had yet to reach their full potential. And now they had to travel in darkness, to face the tests and trials : it was their only hope against the fate that was about to crush them. Sleeping heart or no heart, it would make no difference : they would lose everything if they failed.

Kairi was the first to speak.
-When shall we three meet again ? In thunder, lightning, or in rain ?
Riku smirked.
-When the hurly-burly’s done…When the battle’s lost…
Sora smiled.
-…And won.
As one, they drew their blades in three flashes of light. Kairi, her hand trembling so slightly, set the golden Kingdom Chain in the ground, at the center of the crossroads. Sora looked at his silver-bladed sword, and Riku at his Way to the Dawn. They smiled at each other and exchanged their keyblades. And as they set them in the ground, they spoke.
-So you can remember the light, said Sora.
-And so you can know the dark, said Riku.
Kairi made a step toward Sora, a beginning of a gesture and words, but in the end said and did nothing. They had to part, to face the trials alone. To face themselves.

Riku looked at the crossroads and he felt as if he was back on the Station of Serenity : the quiet confidence, the deep knowledge of what should and would be done. Maybe that was fate. No…it didn’t seem like he did not have a choice, but like he didn’t know he had a choice. There wasn’t anything to choose, the next thing to do seemed obvious. It was something so natural…something so simple. It was not fate, it was destiny.

With a last glance and quiet goodbyes, they parted and walked their path. Kairi took the road to Darkness, Sora took the road to Twilight and Riku took the road to Light. And behind them they left the keyblades. But they would come back for them. For the last battle. For the end. For the war.