"Papa! Papa wake up!"

Geppetto groans at the sound of Pinocchio's loud cries, drawn out of his sleep far too soon for his own liking.

The toymaker rubs at his eyes and yawns. "Alright Pinocchio, calm down, son, calm down. You know, good boys don't wake their fathers up at the crack of dawn."

Pinocchio giggles and places his father's spectacles in his hand. With a nod of thanks, Geppetto perches them on his nose and opens his eyes.

His mouth falls open.

"I think waking their fathers up is something real boys do," Pinocchio counters, smiling with lips of pink flesh. "After all, anything I do now is something a real boy does."

Geppetto laughs loudly and, surprisingly spry for a man of his age, leaps out of bed to scoop up his no longer wooden son, dancing around the room in the soft morning light.

KH-KH-KH

"So, whaddya say, Al?" Genie says to his former master with a little wink and a nudge. "I may not have all the mojo I used to, but I think I might still be able to conjure something princely for you."

Aladdin and Jasmine stand in the midst of the boy's hovel, tears still in their eyes from the thrill of reuniting.

Jasmine cocks her head curiously at the big blue lug. "Why would you ever do that, Genie?" She looks at Aladdin, allows him to caress her soft face with his rough hand. "After all, clearly street rat is more my type."

Aladdin pulls her in for a deep kiss.

KH-KH-KH

With a long yawn, Alice stretches out and looks around, trying to get her bearings. She remembers so much, and yet very little: a strange world and a terrible Darkness, a cat and something about a key…

"Hm…" she says, looking around the large field she's in, underneath the shade of a solitary tree. A book is open at her feet, and her cat playfully romps around her, chasing a butterfly. "What a strange dream…"

Suddenly she hears a loud disturbance not far away. Interested, she looks up and spots a rabbit in a red waistcoat, hastily checking its watch as it runs through the field at top speed.

"Oh I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!"

The rabbit rushes past her. Alice, far too curious for her own good, follows it, all the while fighting off the oddest sense of déjà vu.

KH-KH-KH

If Jack were the kind of skeleton in the habit of admitting fault, he just might think he'd gotten lost in the dead woods of the Hinterlands. He's not, though, and merely considers himself to have wandered to exactly where he should be.

He steps into a large grove, surrounded on all sides by the most peculiar trees he's ever laid eyes on. Each tree seems to have something else painted onto it. Scratching his bony chin, Jack spies a green four-leaf clover, a brightly colored egg, some sort of red white and blue fireworks, and even a golden brown turkey, for fright's sake!

But, most curious of all is the tree that sits in the midst of the grove, another tree painted on it. This tree is very different, however, more triangular in shape and covered in baubles of all different colors against green fir needles.

Curious, he reaches out and grasps what appears to be some sort of bronze handle, pulling the painted symbol open to reveal the tree's hollow insides.

A weak breeze of chilled air blows through, and Jack swears he can hear a faint call of "Ho, ho, ho."

KH-KH-KH

The knock on Belle's door startles her out of her dreamy reverie, part of her still wondering how she had managed to get from Hollow Bastion to her room in the Beast's castle so fast, like a blink of an eye.

She rises from her plush canopy bed and goes to the double doors, opening one and coming face to face with the Beast. A medley of noises and voices coming from down the hall tells her that his servants are somewhere nearby, probably the architects of this little visit.

"Um, hello Belle," Beast greets her awkwardly, his eyes looking anywhere but at her own. "It is, uh, it gives me great pleasure to see that you too were able to make it back here."

The girl chuckles and nods politely. "Uh, thank you very much," she says, a bit shocked at this genteel attitude the normally brutish Beast is displaying.

There's a pointed ahem from the hallway, and Beast finally looks up to meet her gaze. "I was wondering if, uh, well, a-and you can say no if you want, it's not like before but um… Would you like to join me for dinner?"

The question throws Belle for a loop momentarily, her mind racing to process it. She remembers what had happened the last time she'd been asked the same question, the reprisal her refusal had brought upon her.

But things seem different now, after the Beast has saved her from the wolves and the Heartless and Hollow Bastion. There's something oddly sweet about her host now, almost kind…

Definitely something there that wasn't there before.

She smiles at him and bends down in a polite curtsy. "I'd love to."

KH-KH-KH

Simba follows the sound of loud and sloppy eating out into the jungle. Looking to the source he can see his friends, one a fat brown warthog and the other a tiny but crafty tan meerkat, munching down on something they seem to have discovered under a log.

"Hey, save some for me you guys!" he protests, bounding over to the pair happily. In the back of his head, he thinks again on the strange creature with the key, a boy named Sora…

He'll figure it out later, he decides. Hakuna Matata!

KH-KH-KH

The Head Ancestor does not take kindly to Mushu's fanciful description of fighting shadows in a far off land, and it's another week of scrubbing out the Fa family shrine with a toothbrush for him.

KH-KH-KH

"…So it's agreed then," the new head of the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee says to Aerith and Yuffie, looking up at them from his seat at the desk on the Hollow Bastion library's ground floor. "Yuffie and I will head out to check on the state of the town outside, and Aerith will be in charge of orienting anyone who shows up."

"Well, I got one she can start with," Cid suddenly chimes in, opening the library door with aplomb to reveal a tall, blond haired warrior behind him.

Aerith stands up so fast it knocks her chair to the floor with a great clatter. She approaches the newcomer, hand held out to touch his face. He turns away, but then again she'd expected nothing less. "Cloud!"

"He ain't the only one, not by a longshot," Cid informs the crew, hitching a thumb at the door behind him. "They're all waitin' out there, and they all seem pretty damn confused."

The gunblade wielder stands and walks towards the door. "Well, then I guess I'd better get out there and see if I can get them oriented."

"I can help, Squall!" Yuffie chimes in, flipping through the air to land at the man's side.

He frowns down at her. "It's still Leon."

By his reckoning, the restoration of Hollow Bastion is far from over.

KH-KH-KH

"So where exactly did Kairi go, Your Majesty?" Goofy asks the queen, who sits at the desk in the Disney Castle library.

She shrugs. "Home, I assume. Which means that Sora, Azlyn, and Telary managed to win the day."

"If Kairi went home, then why aren't Azlyn and Telary back yet?" Donald Duck wonders, a nervous feeling fluttering in his chest. "Do you think… Do you think they returned to their real home?"

"And what about the king?" Goofy adds. "Do ya think they ever found him?"

Minnie sighs, an incredible sadness still sitting in her heart. "I don't know, gentleman. I just don't know…"

KH-KH-KH

The man in the black cloak sits on a rock at the edge of a vast sea, the only light coming off the silvery moon high above. All around him sit twisted plants, growing up out of the ground in a heavy thicket.

There's the familiar sound of a dark portal opening, and the man turns his head to see Number XIII emerge from it, blond bangs just barely sticking out of his hood.

"I've been to see him," the Superior informs the boy as he walks closer to his position. Number XIII stops in his tracks. "He looks a lot like you."

KH-KH-KH

"I spy with my little eye, something… Green!"

"Uh, I hate to break it to you, Tel, but around here that could be pretty much anything!"

The wizard sighs and rolls his eyes, lamenting his counterpart's lack of spirit. "Uh, yeah. That's why it's such a fun challenge, Azlyn. Because there are so many options!"

Azlyn groans loudly and throws herself back against the dusty trail. Still scowling, she looks up at the blue sky overhead, fluffy white clouds blowing by. As she had stated earlier, to either side of the path are vast fields of tall green grass, blowing gently in the wind. At this particular point on the path there are also a few conical fir trees. All green.

"Why isn't Sora back yet?" Azlyn mutters, looking up the tall hill that Sora had decided to head to the other side of and investigate minutes ago, to make sure they were still going the right way.

They'd all awoken only hours ago, under a midmorning twilight sky. It was an odd thing to wake up to, considering their last sight before being engulfed in white light had been the white stone platform in the Dark Abyss. It had taken hours of diligent walking, but they had finally arrived at the hill, the first interesting landmark they'd seen during the entire journey.

"Maybe he found something," Telary posits with a shrug, also wistfully looking to the hill's crest. Suddenly Sora's spiky-haired head bobs over the horizon, and the wizard perks up. "Oh, here he comes now!"

It takes a minute, but eventually the Keybearer reaches his companions, a smile on his face and a spring in his step.

"Well, what did you see?" Azlyn asks, rising quickly and getting in her friend's still cheerful face.

"Just more path like this, unfortunately," he says, his smile momentarily faltering. He perks up quickly, however, reaching down for his pocket. "But on the bright side, I did find…"

"Hey everybody!" Jiminy Cricket greets the crew, hopping out of Sora's pocket and landing on the dusty path.

"Oh, uh, hi Jiminy," Telary greets the royal chronicler, awkwardly admitting to himself that he'd completely forgot about him.

"Oh yeah," Azlyn says, shaking her head. "I completely forgot about you!"

The great thing about Azlyn, Telary knows, is that you never have to feel insensitive alone.

"Thanks for that, Azlyn," Jiminy replies with a sigh.

"How'd you get here, Jiminy?" Telary inquires.

The cricket shrugs. "One second I was waiting on the Gummi ship, the next there was this light and I crawled outta Sora's pocket."

"I guess we're all where we're supposed to be, then," Sora says with a small laugh. "Together again, eh?"

"In the middle of freakin' nowhere," Azlyn grumbles, scowling at the landscape. "Seriously, there's got to be something to do other than just keep walking." She glares at Telary, who seems ready to make a suggestion. "And I don't mean more dumb games."

The older boy's face falls.

"I could use your recaps of everything after Hollow Bastion, for the journal," Jiminy suggests, pulling out the familiar tome.

Sora smiles. "Awesome! I can't wait to tell you about how I closed the Door to Darkness, beat Ansem…"

"Uh, what do you mean 'I'? We were there too, pal!" Azlyn interrupts, lightly hitting the Keybearer on the shoulder. She looks to Telary. "Man, we're gonna have to follow this guy around forever, just to make sure he mentions us in his universe saving stories."

Telary shakes his head. "You save one universe and it's Big Head City, population: Sora."

"So, uh, just to clarify," Jiminy speaks up, drawing the trio's attention back to him. "What are we doin' now?"

Sora frowns, then gives a shrug. "Well, we've got to go find Riku and the king," he states, interlocking his fingers behind his head.

"And how do we do that?" Azlyn ask, prompting a sheepish shrug from the Keybearer.

"The king said something about a Door to the Light," Telary puts forth. "Maybe if we find it, we can use it to go to our friends."

"Kairi," Sora says, drawing her charm out of his pocket. He had returned the Keyblade to its original form and keychain some hours ago. "But where do we start?"

"Pluto?" Telary suddenly blurts out, squinting up ahead.

Sora frowns at the wizard. "Pluto? Is that a world or something, 'cause I've never heard of it…"

He hears a loud bark behind him, and whirls to see a familiar yellow dog emerging from the bushes, the same canine that had woken him up back in Traverse Town. In his mouth, he carries a white envelope.

"Is that…? The king's seal!" Azlyn exclaims, pointing out the green sticker that resembles the outline of Mickey's head.

Pluto doesn't answer, only turning and taking off up the hill, bounding along happily as his black ears bounce up and down.

"C'mon!" Telary says, already taking off.

Sora turns to Azlyn. "Hey, I'll race ya!"

The knight scoffs at his challenge, then takes off sprinting up the hill without another word. Sora grins and follows after her, Jiminy diving back into his pocket to avoid any accidental wind shear.

In only moments, Azlyn overtakes Telary, followed closely by Sora, both passing so near the wizard that he nearly loses his balance in their backdraft.

"You two be careful!" he calls after them, increasing his own speed to keep up. "I don't want you tripping and hurting yourselves!"

"Yes mother!" Sora and Azlyn simultaneously call over their shoulders mockingly, now neck in neck as they crest the hill. They burst into laughter at the jinx, and even Telary has to admit that it's pretty amusing.

The trio runs on through the vast fields after Pluto, firm in the knowledge that whatever the future holds, whatever Destiny has in store, they will be facing it together.

Regardless of warnings, the future doesn't scare me at all…

Nothing's like before…

End

Wow, there are almost no words to describe this feeling I'm having right now. I mean, I've had this concept in my head for so long, I can remember when it was pretty much a dumb self insert. It took me a while to refine it in hopes of going beyond, and I really think I've done that.

I also remember when I set out that there was one thing I didn't want, and that was for Azlyn and Telary to pull too much focus from the canon characters (minus Donald and Goofy, of course). By making sure that Sora, Riku, Kairi et al got as much focus as my own Characters, I hoped to make this story stand out.

I also didn't just want a copy/paste rehash of every plot point, and to that end tried to add as much as I could to the storylines of the worlds. I think that may have been where some of my best ideas came from.

Also, a big shout out to those who followed the story and faved it, and especially my small cadre of pretty loyal reviewers. There were times that I got a bit discouraged about this project, but thinking of everyone who did and could enjoy this story, however they discover it from this point on, made me realize that I could keep going. If you're one of those people, don't hesitate to leave a review even though it's done. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this story.

Speaking of keeping going, I am proud to announce that the current plan is to continue this series, with Kingdom Hearts: Keys to the Kingdom II already being outlined and prepared in hopes of a release by the end of November. Beyond that I have no long term plans for other games, but perhaps my mind will change in the process of writing this next adventure.

Once again, thank you all for reading, and I hope to see your names on the follow list for Kingdom Hearts: Keys to the Kingdom II when I get around to posting it.