I must be insane for having so many active fics. Those of you that are fans of Playing for Keeps, rest assured that I AM still working on it. This plot bunny nipped at my heels and I couldn't let it go, so here it is. I also have this posted on my deviantart account in case any of you were wondering.

EDIT: Changed Sora's last name.

Summary: AU. Sora always took great interest in the ancient legends of the islands around his home, and constantly daydreamed about them. He gets more than he expects, however, when he finds himself in the middle of one of the greatest legends of all: the Legend of the Keyblade.

More Than A Legend

By FlikFreak

Chapter One: The Old Temple

Sora was visiting the temple again. Specifically, the one at the far end of the island that no one ever went to anymore. It was old and crumbling, but then again it had existed for centuries if he wasn't wrong. Not that Sora was an expert on old ruins, but he could only guess that upon looking at how worn the place was. Even so, he never dared to go inside, let alone go up the stairs, from fear that the majestic image of the temple might crumble around him, and the majestic image of it – as well as whatever mysteries it might have held – would be lost. Many of Sora's friends ridiculed him for taking interest in such a sight, but he had always been curious about the place ever since that one day when he had stumbled through the woods on his way home when he was but a child. He had been enchanted by it ever since.

"C'mon, Sora, we're ganna be late for school."

"Coming," Sora called back to his friend, whom was behind the bushes. With one last bow, Sora made his way through the foliage blocking off the overgrown gravel path. Once outside, he mounted his bicycle and pulled a few twigs that had become stuck in his messy, spiked brunette hair. Vibrant blue eyes glanced around until he found his friend sitting nearby. "Sorry, Riku."

Riku only sighed and shook his head, shoving a few strands of long silver hair out of his face, turquoise eyes half-glaring at Sora. "I don't see why you like this place so much. It's just an old temple that no one really cares about anymore."

"I care about it," Sora retorted, beginning to pedal his bike down the street. Riku was right next to him. As they travelled down the road, backpacks strapped on their shoulders and wind whistling in their ears, Sora tried to keep in mind every vague detail about the temple: the bushes that surrounded the area around it, the gravel road that was being overgrown by the soft monkey grass, the steps leading up to the beige temple made of stone, and the darkened interior just past the front archway. The walls on either side of the entrance must have had something carved into them, but they had long been weathered away and were no longer discernable. He couldn't explain it, but something about that temple just…drew him in. Like he should go in deeper. Every day, he promised himself that he'd go and explore it, but Sora didn't get along well with the dark. One of these days, he'd go and fetch the flashlight out of his father's utility drawer and gather up enough guts to go inside…

It wasn't long before the school building came in sight. Sora's high school, appropriately named Destiny Islands High School, wasn't very big or fancy: the red paint was peeling off the sides of the walls outside, and though it had two stories and a small library, there were no "commons" to eat lunch in, nor a cafeteria, so everyone usually brought their lunch and ate either in the school yard or around the athletics field…which consisted of basic exercise equipment strewn about and a track that surrounded an old, disused soccer field. In spite of all this, Destiny Islands High had the best high school blitzball team. It was a wonder the school board never used the money to repair the building or buy new equipment.

By the time Sora and Riku reached school, the first bell was about to ring. They chained their bikes to the bike racks and quickly headed off for homeroom. Sora had been blessed to have the same homeroom as his friends, since the homeroom teacher he was stuck with was rather intimidating. If something went wrong, he had backup.

Mr. Dilian stood, reading the role call quickly. While everyone answered, Sora found himself staring out the window at the path outside. Today, he told himself for the umpteenth. This time, I'm really going in. He began to dream of the many things that could be in the temple that were just waiting to be discovered.

"Kagi, Sora."

Hearing his name called, Sora snapped to attention. "Here!" he cried.

The entire class stared blankly at him, and Mr. Dilian only shook his head. "Wandering around in the bushes before school again, I see," he said, sounding highly disappointed.

Sora winced, unconsciously brushing across his hair with one hand and noting that he had missed a few leaves and twigs. His clothes were also a bit messy and had a few burs on them from the bushes. Sighing in defeat, he went back to staring out the window. Only when the bell rang again did he rouse from his stupor and head to class for yet another boring day of pointless education.

By the time third hour rolled around – which was, coincidently, his favorite class – Sora was wide awake. They had a rather decent teacher; Ienzo was young but very intelligent. He had come from a family of archaeologists, so history seemed like a wonderful place for him to be in the realm of teaching. He even seemed to enjoy it more than anything else; Sora had noted that whenever he saw Ienzo anywhere else, he was rather anti-social and didn't really talk to anyone. The way the classroom was decorated seemed to reflect his love for all things old: there were posters of old ruins and artifacts scattered around the walls, the desks were the old-fashioned type where the part of the desk that you would use to write on was on the back of the seat belonging to the person in front of you.

"Greetings, class," Mister Ienzo began. The class returned the gesture, Sora most of all, and he pulled out an old book. "Please open your textbooks to chapter three, please."

Sora reached into his backpack and pulled out the old, battered textbook appropriately titled "Ancient History" and placed it on his desk, flipping until he found the chapter appropriate and pulling his highlighter out of his pencil pouch. He marveled at the images portrayed on the pages, as several of them were old temples and shrines. Ienzo had a different way of teaching the class than the others in the school, and started far back in the islands' past.

"We'll be learning about some of the more famous temples of the islands today," Ienzo began. "Centuries ago, there was a small cult known as the Seekers. They believed that light and darkness were two intangible forces that were two sides of the same coin rather than enemies. They also believed that these forces could be made tangible and harnessed for limitless power, and erected several temples for unknown purposes, though many of them believed they could harness that power through whatever instruments they hid within their constructs, which you will see on page ninety-four."

Sora quickly flipped to the appropriate page, noticing the images provided. The temples in question were large and usually in very low or concealed places. One had been built in the chamber of a large cavern. For crazy people, they sure had good architecture, he thought to himself.

Ienzo continued. "There was, however, another society bent on stopping the Seekers. These people were known as Chasers. While they were a rather small group, the Chasers were very well respected by the people, and were sworn enemies of the Seekers. No one is quite certain who formed either group, or why they clashed so violently, but several of the temples found were either entirely inaccessible or considered too derelict to investigate properly."

Tentatively, Sora raised his hand. When Ienzo acknowledged him, he spoke. "You said that the two groups 'clashed violently,' right? Does that mean some sort of war broke out?"

"Correct," Ienzo said, smiling ever-so-slightly. "Historians have guessed that the Chasers had found something that the Seekers had not, and determined the Seeker's endeavors to be highly dangerous, and tried to stop them, but it never explains why such harsh battles were held over simple beliefs. Most battles broke out spontaneously near the temples or simply on the streets where many civilians were at risk. The conflict between the two sides lasted for two years." There was another pause as a girl in the classroom – one with curled brunette hair, raised her hand. The teacher nodded to her. "Yes, Miss Tilmitt?"

"If a conflict between groups was so big," she asked, "Why did it only last two years? I mean, the Destiny Islands Civil War lasted two decades."

Sora, while he was interested in the answer to this question, rolled his eyes. He never liked Selphie very much; she seemed more interested in the academic part of the class rather than the thrill of discovery.

Ienzo nodded at her. "A good question, Miss Tilmitt. The Seekers had been around for several years before the Chasers were formed, but the two groups only fought a few years after that. Researchers suggest that the Chasers had tried to negotiate something with the Seekers and things had gotten out of hand, and so the two groups fought for unknown reasons

"The most pivotal battle was on the Island of Light, an island I'm sure many of you are familiar with." Ienzo's eyes flickered toward Sora and his friends briefly. "The Chasers and Seekers were in the midst of battle when one of the Seekers turned traitor and demolished the surrounding area, resulting in the cliffs around the battlefield crumbling down and burying many of the Seekers. The Chasers apparently had a forewarning and managed to come out mostly unscathed, save for one of their members. The Seekers were annihilated, and the Chasers claimed victory. Since then, the temples erected by the Seekers have been completely abandoned."

"You sure you wanna go in there? It might be a Seeker temple."

Sora let go of the bar he was using for pull-ups and hopped to the ground, letting Riku have his turn. "Why not?" he said. "If it is a Seeker temple, then no one else will have been in there before me."

Riku rolled his eyes as he pulled his chin over the bar again. "That's because they're afraid the place might collapse on top of their heads."

"So what?" Sora teased. "Mister Ienzo said that the Seekers were looking for a way to harness the powers of light and darkness. What if that's what the temples were for or something? Besides, if no one else has really been inside, I'll be the first and get bragging rights over everyone!"

"You won't have bragging rights if you're dead," Riku grumbled, clearly annoyed with Sora's fantasies. He hopped off of the pull-up bar and allowed the next in line to have a turn as he and Sora made for the bleachers. The girl's PE class had the track for the day, so Coach Aeleus had the boys go through basic exercises.

The bleachers were one of the few things in the old school that was taken care of, but even then it had a few spots of rust here and there. Sora and Riku chose a spot near the top to get a good view on what the girls were doing down below, and after a while of sitting and watching they were joined by the school's most well-known blitzball players: Tidus and Wakka.

"Hey guys!" Tidus called from below as he hopped up the steps. "Done with pull-ups already?"

"Yeah," Riku replied. "How 'bout you two?"

"It was nothin'," Wakka replied, grinning. "We got a game comin' up this Saturday, ya? We're ready for anything."

"Who're we playing against?" Sora asked, mostly to sound like he wasn't bored to death. He didn't have much interest in blitzball, though he was decently athletic himself, but he knew enough to hold a conversation on it.

Tidus rolled his eyes, the grin wiped off his face faster than a popped soap bubble. "Zanarkand Academy," he grumbled. Sora made an "o" with his mouth and nodded. From what he had gathered, Zanarkand Academy was the school's 'rival' in terms of blitzball. Sora himself never understood why, but he went along with it anyway. Pep rallies were still a fun excuse to skip chemistry with Mr. Even (whom was probably one of the creepiest teachers in the school).

While Riku held a conversation with Tidus and Wakka on all things pertaining to sports, Sora allowed his eyes to travel to the track where the girls were running. Kairi Denset, an orphan adopted by the mayor (whom was also the principal of the school), was at one of the outdoor sinks wetting a towel and wiping the sweat off of her face and shoving back several locks of deep red hair. Sora and Riku had been good friends with her ever since she arrived on the islands, having been mysteriously found on the sea shore. They never brought up the subject with her – as she was never quite fond of talking about it, and had no memory of it anyway – and Sora had found that she was quite an impeccable artist.

"Hellooooo? Earth to Sora?"

Sora snapped out of his daze to see Riku staring at him. "Huh? What?"

Riku rolled his eyes. "I was telling Tidus and Wakka here about how you plan on going into those ruins."

"Oh, yeah!" Sora exclaimed, his eyes lighting up in excitement. "I'm ganna try and see if I can sneak out tonight and head in. This time, for real."

"You serious, man?" Wakka asked, looking worried. "That thing is fallin' apart. You could get hurt."

"I doubt he'll go in," Tidus reassured Wakka. "It'll probably fall apart the moment he puts his foot on the first step."

Sora crossed his arms. "What, are you guys scared?"

Riku sighed. "Scared for your safety," he grumbled. "Sora, I know you're excited, but couldn't you at least keep away from there?"

"No," Sora replied firmly. "I'm going in. I wanna know what's in there, and no one else has looked."

Tidus gave a teasing smile to the silver-haired boy sitting next to Sora. "You can't change his mind at this point, Riku," he said. "You know how Sora is."

I'm only sitting right here, Sora grumbled inwardly, but his face portrayed a prideful grin.

Light and darkness…two opposing forces that have always coexisted. If that power is harnessed properly, the wielder would be unstoppable. Such power is capable of bringing either salvation or destruction at the whim of the user. That is why it must never fall into the wrong hands…

The day went by far too slowly for Sora's taste. At lunch, he had sat down with Riku, Tidus and Wakka and discussed their plans (or rather, Sora's plans) to infiltrate the temple. Their parents all were fine with school night sleepovers, so they could head out and make their way to the temple without any problems. The only exception was Tidus, whom lived only with his late-working mother, so he'd have to leave her a note. When school finally ended, Sora headed straight home, pedaling quickly along the path home. Upon arrival, he fished his keys out of his pocket and opened the door, wheeling his bicycle inside.

"How was school, Sora?" a familiar feminine voice called.

Sora was so busy with his mind on his planned excursion that he hardly thought to reply. "It was fine," he said, toeing open the kickstand and setting his bike in its usual spot behind the couch. "I'm ganna sleep over at Riku's house tonight, 'kay?"

"That's fine," Sora's mother replied absently. "Your father is going to head out to watch the game at the pub tonight, so I won't be cooking anyway."

"Thanks!" Sora replied, heading up to his room. It was a valid enough excuse to use, and he had used it many time before when he and Riku went on secret outings.

One occasion came to mind when they went to spend the night on the Island of Light, the smallest island in the chain. They had gathered their sleeping bags and had an all-nighter in the cave that they had found while they were really young. Riku had always expressed interest in it because of the strange door inside, and it simply felt peaceful there. From what Sora had learned today, he knew that the very same cave they favored was part of a great battle that ended a war between two small yet powerful factions. To think, they had drawn so many pictures all over the rocks. Hopefully the ghosts of those that had fallen there wouldn't be angry with them now that he knew.

If ghosts existed.

Sora tossed his backpack onto his bed, putting off his homework and searching for whatever he would need to explore the ruins. He'd get the flashlight on the way out. As hard as he thought, he couldn't come up with anything, and instead changed out of his school clothes and into a more comfortable outfit to wear: a red pair of pants connected with a matching shirt, his black-and-white short sleeved hooded jacket, a ridiculously large pair of yellow shoes, his favorite pair of white fingerless gloves, a blue belt adorned with a chain designed with crown-shapes, and a crown chain pendant around his neck. The pendant was an important part of his attire, as he had found it in the secret cave on his first visit, lying right next to the mysterious wooden door. For the life of him, he couldn't find out why it was there, but he had taken it and cleaned it up the moment he was back home, much to the confusion of his mother.

Once dressed, Sora shoved his already-messy school outfit into his backpack and headed downstairs, pulling open the utility drawer and taking out his father's heavy-duty flashlight. His mother gave him a questioning look, to which he only grinned. "Ghost stories," he said simply.

"Right," she replied, chuckling. "Don't stay up too late, okay?"

"I won't," Sora replied, heading out the door and ignoring his mother's reminder to do his homework. Once outside, he stuffed the flashlight in his backpack and headed to the temple site, pedaling his bike as fast as he could go.

The town went by in a blur; Sora knew the roads like the back of his hand. The temple was down one of the old roads that no one took anymore, but they still knew it was there. Sora's bicycle was, luckily, a mountain bike, so he didn't have a hard time going down the gravel road. When he finally reached the end, he chained his bike to one of the larger bushes and shoved his way through eagerly. The sight of the temple on the other side satisfied his hunger for gazing upon it, and he smiled, taking in every detail of the once-magnificent structure. It was crumbling, that was for sure, but it looked stable enough for him. The thrill of heading inside and making a discovery no one else would was exciting.

Sora was barely aware of the time passing while he gazed on the ruins, taking in the small cracks in parts of the wall, the weathered down walls, the stairs, and the dark, mysterious entrance. The temple wasn't at all very high – the school was taller – and the bushes closed it off into its own yard of sorts. But there was something else about the temple that captivated Sora, an element that he wasn't sure of. Was it the mystery? Was it the fact that every day since he was a little boy, he'd come visit it? Maybe he simply liked it for no reason at all?

The sun had begun to set when the other three arrived at the scene. The sound of the foliage rustling startled Sora out of his daze, and he helped the group through the bushes.

"Sorry it took us so long," Tidus said. "Wakka had a bit of trouble with his dad, but we're here now."

Sora nodded. "Right. I've got a flashlight, so I'll be able to see. It's one of dad's utility ones, so it should last a while."

"Did you get any spare batteries for it?" Riku asked, crossing his arms.

There was a hesitation in Sora's voice and he shook his head. "No…"

Riku sighed. "Then you'd better hope they don't run dry when you're in there," he said. "I couldn't get my walkie-talkies out of my closet so we'll just wait for you out here, okay?"

"You mean you're not coming in with me?" Sora asked.

"No way," Wakka said. "We'll keep watch out here to make sure no one's comin'."

We're not committing a crime or anything… "Okay, I'll go in alone. You guys keep an eye out. I won't be long."

Without another word, Sora dropped his backpack on the ground and pulled out his flashlight, gazing at the temple one more time before slowly making his way up the steps. They were firm underneath his feet in spite of looking unstable, and he slowly made his way to the entrance before flicking on his flashlight. With one last look at his friends, he stepped into the temple's darkened interior.

The first thing that Sora noticed were the walls inside the temple were far more well-kept than the ones outside, possibly from the fact that the weather could not reach them in here, but there were still cracks and chunks missing in places. The designs carved along the edges of the walls were an odd thorn-like pattern, and no hieroglyphics of any kind were to be found. Past the first wall he encountered, Sora followed a corridor beyond it to a rather large room, possibly the center of the temple. From the outside, the temple looked quite small, but this room was amazingly large. In the center was what appeared to be a table of sorts, and there were small lanterns on the walls with burn marks on the walls behind them. Probably from where they lit them, Sora thought. There were a few smashed bits of clay lying around what looked like the remains of a large altar on the table. Whatever broke it had to be quite powerful.

For a while, he thought that this was the only room in the temple, but Sora quickly looked toward the back wall and saw a small doorway. Creeping forward and shining his flashlight toward it, he saw the thorn pattern from around the walls curve into the room beyond and head downward. A staircase? He wondered, starting forward nervously.

Sure enough, there was a narrow staircase heading downward. Swallowing his fear, Sora headed downward, shuddering nervously. Once he reached the bottom, he found a short hallway awaiting him, one that turned abruptly, possibly into a larger room. He started forward slowly, hearing each of his footsteps echo off the stone walls.

A cracking sound came from overhead, and a bit of dust fell from the roof into Sora's hair. He held his nose nervously, afraid that sneezing would cause the entire temple to fall on top of him. After his initial panic wore, Sora continued forward again, down the hall and past the turn.

He was met with a smaller room than the one upstairs, this one more like a larger hallway than anything with a door at the end. There was a large, rectangular, box-like object off to one side, and though it was in rather good condition, there was a bit of dust from the roof on it. There were several shelves, on which were various trinkets that Sora couldn't clearly make out.

The cracking noise came again, and some dust fell again, this time on Sora's shoulder. He gasped suddenly and spun around, but quickly noted that nothing was there. On the wall were, finally, some hieroglyphics. Most of them were written in actual words, using an alphabet that Sora didn't fully understand. There was a circle that could have passed for a design for a stained glass window, depicting a rendition of the islands, along with a dragon or two swimming in the sea. Each island had something written on it (Probably the names, he guessed), but one in particular – the one Sora discerned as the one he was currently on – had an odd second marking. There was a primitive drawing of a crown, and next to it, a key-like shape.

The moment Sora spotted it, his flashlight began to flicker. His eyes widened in fear. "No, no, don't die on me!" he begged, making sure the batteries were in tightly. But no matter how hard Sora tried, the flashlight would not obey him, and he was eventually left in darkness.

Sora had no idea what he was feeling at the moment. All his life, he wanted to explore this temple, only to find that there was nothing interesting inside. But the moment he did find something worth talking about, he's left in the dark, with the roof dripping onto his head and no certain sense of direction. He cursed himself for acting on impulse, and sat down right where he stood, setting the flashlight aside and hugging his knees. He considered feeling his way out, but it might be too dangerous. There was no way he could sit and wait for a rescue; no one would dare come in, and even if they did and he managed to get back out in one piece, he'd never hear the end of it from his parents for not only lying, but getting others involved.

The spiky-haired boy felt tears slide down his face in fear, and he found himself just starting to choke on the dusty, stale air. For a moment, a very brief moment, he felt a hand rest on his shoulder. It could have been his mind playing tricks on him, he knew it, but he froze, startled. Perhaps it was his fear, or maybe his suspicion, but the hand moved slightly, as though lifting away, and Sora impulsively reached out to grab it, only to feel that nothing was there. Even so, he clutched himself tighter. He dared not scream, he dared not move, should any sudden movement cause him more fear.

After a moment, Sora found the strength to stand, and did so gradually, turning around and heading for where he thought the staircase was. If I'm going to leave, I'll have to do it in the dark. Not much here to talk about aside from that crazy map with scribbles all over it…

All of the sudden, Sora heard a creaking sound from behind him, and a light shown forward. Not the kind of yellow light that came from light bulbs, but a white light that came from the sun itself. This light, however, was special: it had a strange blue tint to it that gave it a feeling of purity. Sora turned, looking for the source, and unconsciously found himself stepping through the now-open door.

The room was small, but far more majestic than Sora would have anticipated judging by the rest of the temple. Rather than old, beige-tinted walls, these were carved out of some sort of gray stone. The floor must have been made of marble; it felt as such. As Sora stepped forward, he could finally make out the source of the light.

There was a pedestal rising out of the floor, coming up and making a bowl-shape with four small claws rising out of them. A similar pedestal came from the ceiling, and between them was a sphere of light about the size of a tennis ball, floating between the two pedestals, which left it with at least a foot of room.

What is that? Sora wondered, entirely entranced by the glowing ball of light. He had never seen anything like it; was such a thing possible in ancient times? Or maybe, just maybe, it was something even more than just technology.

Sora felt a wave of warmth rush through his entire body, starting deep in his chest and spreading out to his limbs. He didn't know why, but he felt…content. At peace. Like he belonged here. Perhaps it was the mysterious light. He found himself reaching for it, but then he pulled his hand away as hesitation struck him. "What am I doing?" Sora asked himself aloud in a whisper. Even has he wanted to pull away, the light glimmered invitingly, and Sora found himself approaching again. It happened slowly: first, his feet took a few steps, and then he leaned forward a bit. His arm lifted, his wrist straightened, and his fingers stretched toward the shining sphere. The closer he got to it, the more excited he became, for no real reason at all. Then, finally, his fingertips brushed against it.

Surprisingly, the light had no feel to it. It was like Sora had placed his fingers in warm water. They tingled slightly, and the sensation spread down his arm. Startled, he jerked his hand back, marveling at the little white sphere.

His trance was broken when the sphere grew rapidly, fitting snugly between the two bowl-like pedestals from the floor and ceiling. Sora's eyes widened in shock, and spun around just in time to see the doors slam shut behind him. With nowhere to run, he paced his back against the doors, only able to watch as the light in front of him grew brighter. As it reached its limit, it shattered the pedestals and made a beeline for Sora. The brunette was unable to move, and found himself assaulted by the light, which had shot forward like a beam straight into his chest. The pain was so intense that Sora could barely scream, but his mouth shot open anyway as the excess light spiderwebbed out a bit. When the pain finally ended, he fell to his hands and knees, choking as the world around him began to grow blindingly bright. Then, all at once, the light faded away, and the world seemed far darker than it probably was.

The boy was unable to move for a moment before he found enough strength to stand, his eyes weary all of the sudden. Something in his heart twitched while he gasped for breath, though it didn't help him that the air was stale and dusty. What happened? he wondered. Something like that wasn't scientifically possible. Was that th epower of light that the Seekers had so long searched for? Did it have anything to do with the strange markings on the wall earlier?

Before Sora had a chance to find that out (or allow his eyes to adjust to the absence of light), the world around him began to tremble. Panicking, he tore for the doorway, only to find it locked. The roof began to crack, and dust fell out of the crevices. Acting entirely on instinct, Sora began to climb up the fallen stones and bits of brick to the roof, but fell as the partially-deteriorated rocks slid from under him. He then turned toward the door and attempted to break it open – if this place was old, it wouldn't be too hard – but more debris fell down before it and it was no longer an option. Sora shouted for help as he desperately sought a way out of his predicament, and looked up just in time to see chunks of roof falling toward him. Jumping out of the way, he made for another pile of rubble that had stacked considerably toward the first floor and climbed his way up, inwardly thankful that these pieces of rock didn't slip from underneath him.

Once on the first floor, he found that he was able to see better, thanks to the fact that the roof had mostly fallen away. The sky was darker now that the sun had nearly set, and the stars were coming out. Sora would normally have looked upon the sight with eager eyes, but the temple was still collapsing. Shoving his way forward to where he knew the entrance was, he leapt over a large chunk of rock just as it fell and raced through the door, tripping as he didn't expect the stairs to be so close. He tumbled and fell, rolling violently down the steps and grunting loudly as he did. Then, as he neared the bottom, he must have struck his head on something because he felt a pain burst from behind his eyes and he blacked out.