For everyone who bothers to read it.

Hey everyone! This is my first fanfic so if you want to flame me go right ahead! I won't object to your criticism. I'm already weird aren't I?

Anyway, this takes place during/after the ending of Kingdom Hearts 2. There will be some fluff, but I'm not used to writing fluff either.

Go SORAXKAIRI!

Oh, right…disclaimer (Ahem) I own nothing of Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Final Fantasy, or anything else related to Kingdom Hearts.

And a great thanks to Talitha Koum, whose first part of her first chapter of That's Why I modeled this chapter off of.

The Annals of Darkness

Part I: Beginning

Chapter I: Home

Sora ignored the feeling of feathers around his throat and the weight of both an overlarge duck, and a giant dog-man, and despite the huge grin on his face, all he could think about was one thing.

Get Off!

He struggled to remove Donald's feathery hands from his throat and tried to get himself into a sitting position in order to look around. Keyword, tried. For at least ten seconds all he could see and feel were the salty waters of the ocean that Destiny Islands rested upon, as well as the hands and faces of his two animal friends. Needless to say that at their joy of seeing him, when they knocked him into the ocean they could have forgotten the need for him to breathe.

Sora finally freed himself from their combined weight and opted to get a glance at his surroundings as he sat up. Unfortunately, Donald and Goofy started to hug him and rub their faces against his the moment he was free from the water. Chuckling and giggling the whole while.

Not that he minded of course.

He, Donald, and Goofy looked over to their right, to see Riku and King Mickey, having just separated from a hug, looking a little bashful. Sora looked back in front of him to see his longtime friend Kairi standing just out of the water's reach, smiling at him. She cocked her head slightly and her smile got a little wider revealing more perfectly white teeth as she giggled lightly. For some reason, Sora felt a few butterflies in his stomach.

That was a little weird Sora thought. He almost began to wonder if fighting Heartless and the Organization for so long had made him weird. Before he began such a train of thought however, he looked into one of his back pockets and pulled out the good luck talisman made of thassala shells that he promised to give back to Kairi. There was a strange tingling sensation that was utterly foreign to him pulsing through his body as he looked fondly at the charm in his hand.

Kairi…

He looked back up at her to see her, still smiling ear to ear. Before he knew it, he felt a weird sensation inside him. It felt like…Roxas. Of course, he and Roxas were one and the same. Roxas was a part of him. Before the sensation ended, he directed his attention back to Kairi, but noticed something different. Instead of Kairi, Sora thought he saw someone that looked just like Kairi, except with blond hair and wearing a white dress.

Naminé…

He imagined he saw her for only a moment, but she and Kairi were the same as he and Roxas were. As the blond haired girl melted back into the auburn haired friend Sora knew, he became numb to everything around him. The merry-making, joy spreading animal friends, Riku's small smirk as he observed Sora and Kairi staring into each other's eyes, even the wet feeling of the water he was still sitting in. All he could see was Kairi, everything else was a blur, or maybe that was some of the seawater in his eyes.

He wiped his eyes with the back of his gloved hand, and looked back at Kairi, suddenly realizing as he tried to speak that his tongue was exponentially dry.

"We- we're back." He finally managed to splutter out. Kairi bent down and offered him a hand.

"You're home." Was all she said, still smiling sweetly. Sora grinned again, and clasped her hand in his, still holding the talisman. Kairi pulled him up and ended up wrapping him in a light hug as he fell into her while trying to steady himself. Sora felt his face growing hot and quickly turned away before she could see.

Kairi, though, had also begun to blush, and lightly pushed him as she turned to her right. This way Sora and the others wouldn't see her face. However Kairi's push, though light, was enough to send an already unstable keyblade master face first into the ocean. Again.

Well, at least the water should cool down my face, Sora thought as everyone, including Kairi, looked over and started to laugh. Through the incredible distraction of laughing, Kairi managed to wrestle control of her facial features back. Sora flipped over onto his back, chuckling to himself. His sense of being no longer numb, he stood back up, making sure he was steady, and looked around.

A sense of torturous longing overtook him as he soaked in his surroundings. The wooden buildings he, Riku, and the others had constructed, the dock, the little islet with the Paupu tree, the vines that covered the secret place, they all rushed into him in a single moment. His eyes watered and a tear threatened to fall as he took everything in. He was home.

Home… So many things meant home to him as they assailed his already besieged mind. His house, his boat, Tidus, Wakka, Selphie, his other friends, the Ice Cream Parlor (he'd have to tell them about Sea-Salt Ice Cream), his skateboard, Riku, Kairi, his mom… Sora's eyes widened in shock and fear, giving sudden new meaning to the phrase 'Dry as a bone.'

Oh Crap!

"My mom is going to kill me!" he moaned. King Mickey laughed.

"Welp, we'd better get you guys home then, it is starting to darken out here." He said in his high-pitched, squeaky voice that can cause a person to laugh if they've never heard it before. Sora began to feel warm inside, just at the King's assurance, even if he still felt a little fear of what his mother would do to him when she found out that he had been swimming in his clothes.

"But, your majesty," Kairi began as she started looking over Sora and Riku, "we only have three boats, and Sora and Riku look as tired as the living dead. How are we going to get the six of us back to the main island?" Mickey pondered this for a minute or two, before he regained is highly cheerful disposition as he found a solution.

"Well princess, you and Sora can go in one boat, Riku and Goofy in another, and Donald and I will go in the last one." Mickey replied.

"Please, just call me Kairi." Kairi said in a slightly exasperated, slightly humored voice while she turned slightly pink at the cheeks. She still wasn't used to being a princess.

"Our boats are still here?" Sora questioned with a puzzled look on his worn face. "But we've been gone for…"

"A year." Riku finished with a chuckle. "Maybe so, Sora, but we carved those boats. They would last for quite a while."

"Yeah, I guess so." Sora stated. He was quickly recovering some of his vigor simply from being around his friends. Not that he was going to deny that he was dead-tired from fighting Xemnas and about a thousand Dusks. They began untying the boats, and each got into the arrangement King Mickey suggested.

"Don't worry Sora, I'll row us home." Kairi said in a comforting tone. Sora could barely mutter a thank you as his eyelids started to droop.

He couldn't remember how long it took to get back. Normally it would be about ten minutes, for either him or Kairi a year ago, but with the extra weight, and the fact that he was half-asleep, all Sora could say that was far darker when they hit the shore. He dimly noticed someone heaving him to his feet, and settling their shoulder into his armpit, while wrapping one arm around his shoulders. Said person began leading him away from the boat and the beach. Sora's curiosity took hold and he slowly raised his head to take a look around him.

He was in the left part of the middle of their group of travelers. He dimly registered that Riku was being lead by Goofy. This knowledge slowly took hold in his tired brain. So if Goofy is with Riku, and the King and Donald are too short to be carrying me then that means that it's… Sora flushed red, and desperately hoped that the darkness was enough to hide his red cheeks. Also praying to Zeus that the night was strong enough to smother the heat coming from the two broiling hot frying pans that were his cheeks.

"Easy there Sora." Kairi said as she caught him. Her sweet voice caressed his weary mind. In his weak state he finally noticed her perfume for the first time. It was a strangely sweet aroma, vanilla, honey and strawberries. In the darkening distance, Riku smirked.

By Calypso she smells good. Sora thought with the blush still going strong.

"C'mon," Kairi said as they reached the cobblestone road, "just one foot after the other Sora." He nodded. Her sweet voice and intoxicatingly wonderful fragrance gave him the strength he needed to keep going. He began to fear that he would go numb again. After what seemed like an eternity, Kairi led them up to Sora's front walk.

"This your house Sora?" quacked Donald, looking up at the split-level. Sora rolled his head to look up at his home. He had to fight back tears again. He looked at the peach paint, the lantern front lights, and the screen door. Has it really been this long? he thought.

"Yep," he said, still holding the reservoir in his eyes back. Goofy hu-yucked as he made his way to the door.

"C'mon Donald. Let's see if Sora's mother's home." He chortled. Donald suddenly rounded on Sora who was still being supported by the heavenly figure of Kairi.

"Wak!" Donald cried, "In all our time traveling, you never mentioned a word to me about your mother." The duck was so flabbergasted you Sora and Kairi could barely make out a word he said.

"Uh, sorry Donald, I guess I forgot," Sora said apologetically to Donald, with a small nervous grin on his face. Kairi giggled.

"Hurry up Donald. I wonder if there are pictures of Sora as a little kid in the front hallway," Goofy called, being completely oblivious to the magician's frustration, already one hand on the screen door's handle. "Hey it's unlocked," he said aloud as he opened it. Sora's eyes widened once more in fear, again forgetting everything about tears.

"Hey I want to see those too. Maybe I can use them in the journal," Jiminy Cricket said as he made his appearance, leaping out of Sora's pocket and bounced his way into the house after Donald and Goofy.

"Oh no," he said quietly to Kairi as she led him into his house. She gave him an inquisitive look. "Now I'm going to be embarrassed by my friends again. And this time it won't be because I'm clumsy." They both giggled a little as they stepped into the house.

Sora inhaled a deep breath through his nose as he looked around. The house smelled the same. Home, Sora thought, I'm finally home. The sensation lasted for at least a minute as Sora looked around the hallway. He could see the dark outline of the kitchen counter at the end of his line of sight. The familiar clock on the microwave read 19:45. Wow, Sora thought, it's 7:45 and I'm not even hungry. I'm sure we arrived back at six at the latest! He continued soaking in his surroundings with his internal ocean of tears once again threatening to burst the dykes. There were the pictures taken of him when he was growing up hanging on the wall (All of which being thoroughly examined by Goofy and Jiminy), there was a bouquet of marigolds on the table, he could hear the coo-coo clock ticking on the wall. He chuckled to himself as it reminded him of the clock in the crocodile that ate Captain Hook's left hand. Just the sight of everything that had so long ago seemed as trivial and routine brought back memories. Memories like him sitting on the table at five with tears in his eyes, his mother wrapping a bandage on his scraped knee and kissing it better. Coming home from school at seven with Riku and Kairi, to find his mother in the living room with an apron on while an apple pie cooled on the table. All the good memories came flooding back into his consciousness mind.

You sure had a good childhood didn't you? A voice said in the back of his head. Sora frowned slightly.

Is that you Roxas? Sora thought.

Yep.

Good, Sora thought back with a smile on his face, I wanted to make sure it wasn't some random freeloader.

Ha, ha.

"Good to be home?" Kairi asked as she released him.

"Yeah." Sora replied, taking a step forward by himself. Donald quickly saw that Sora could now walk on his own and nudged Goofy, being careful not to upset Jiminy who was precariously perched on Goofy's hat.

"Okay, now let's go find Sora's mother," he quacked, a grin on his face. Donald cupped his, well, wings to his beak and began calling, "Oh Mrs. Sora. We have a surprise for you."

"Mrs. Sora," Goofy began calling as he wandered into the living room's doorway. "You're son's ho-". He never finished his sentence, as a very large and very familiar prying pan hit him in the face. Goofy backed out of the living room doorway, holding his nose. "Gawrsh, that hurts," he mumbled.

"Who are you?" questioned a strained, yet beautiful, motherly voice. At least to Sora it was beautiful and motherly. To everyone else besides Kairi it was a little harsh. Out of the shadows wielding a large cast iron frying pan stepped Sora's mother. She stood around five foot nine, had shoulder-length chocolate hair that was wrapped up in a towel. She was wearing a clean white nightgown that went down to just above her ankles. She would have been angelic to Sora if it weren't for the frying pan and angry face. She continued her interrogation of Goofy, Donald, and Jiminy, "What do you want?" she ordered. "I can have you arrested. This is pri-" Sora cut her off before she could finish.

"Mom?" he asked, with a quiver in his voice.

Just a note, I am re-submitting every chapter as I have made a name change to the whole story and am going through the earlier chapters to modify and edit them somewhat as my skill with a quill has increased.

May the Grace of the Valar Protect You!

Shire Folk