Disclaimer: Look, we all know what the deal with Kingdom Hearts is. It's a joint Squaresoft/Disney venture, and one company or the other owns rights in some fashion to every character in this story.

Continuity: This takes place before Neverland and after Atlantica. Yeah, I know, what a huge window, right? :-p

Prologue

Sometimes, when traveling in the ether between the varied and wondrous worlds that make up what we laughingly call "reality", one can catch glimpses of worlds in potentia; that is, worlds not yet cemented enough to have any unique existence in and of themselves.

My only sorrow upon thinking on this subject is that, with the Heartless swarming like dark locusts, consuming all that they touch, these worlds will never gain enough strength to stand against the shadow.

"Move over, Goofy! You're hoggin' up the cockpit!"

I replied absently, "Shore thing, Sora!" In response to Sora's rather impatient request, I shifted my legs up closer to my body, absorbed in my suddenly morose thoughts.

It isn't so much that these worlds have no means of existing. Current theories state that a world's essence is much like that of a god's; i.e., belief is the sustainer of its existence. If it lacks belief, or that belief is "leeched" away, then it no longer exists.

With every fresh world that I glimpsed from the corner of my eyes, I wonder… is it the ghost of some faded dream, an empty husk from which there is no return, or is it a shimmer pregnant with hope for a new future?

"Shucks, guessin' there's some things no one c'n know," I mutter to myself.

"Did yhou say something, Ghoofy?" Donald tapped me on the shoulder to punctuate his question, and I glanced back at him before shaking my head once.

Suddenly, the gummi ship changed direction almost imperceptibly. Ordinarily I wouldn't have given it any mind, but there was something about the expression of Sora's face as I turned my head away from Donald and glanced at the young lad who had, somehow, managed to slide easily into the position of our leader.

It was as if he was hypnotized, staring blankly into the void that surrounded our ship. I reached over and poked his arm, concerned to the core of my being. "Sora, li'l buddy, where're we goin' now?"

For a long moment, silence hung over the cockpit, then Sora shook his head slowly, sluggishly. "Huh?" He looked over at me, his eyes glazed over, and I realized….

…I realized that we were in trouble.

Donald sputtered, "Sora! Phay attention!"

The lad turned back to the controls and wrenched at the control stick. The gummi ship shuddered violently but didn't change course a mere fraction from our new heading. "What's goin' on?!"

I glimpsed from the corner of my eye one of those ghost-worlds, and instinctively I turned my head to look at it. It didn't vanish when I confronted it full on, however, and I shouted, "Garsh, we're gonna crash right inta it!"

And crash we did. After the third bounce, I gave a thankful blessing to whomever installed seatbelts and crash cages into every gummi cockpit….

Then my seatbelt gave way, and I was thrown out of the cockpit, through the windscreen, and into the blessed darkness of unconsciousness.

When I came to, hours later, I was in a soft bed. A young woman with fine green hair was looking down at me, equal measures of concern and sorrow on her exquisitely-formed features.

"Where am I?"

She tried to smile as she said, "Welcome to the Hall of Lost Heroes."

To be continued.

Webmaster: Larry F
Last revision: January 7, 2006