This is the result of an idea that got stuck in my head for quite a while ago.

The story is AU, and therefore, not everything will be like they are in the games.

Also, be aware of heavy use of Final Fantasy characters, far more than those who originally appears in Kingdom Hearts.

I apologise for any grammar mistake or if the characters are OOC.

Pairings: Though romance is not the main point of this story, it will show up at times. If you are interested in the list of parings that will appear, let me know and I will put it up at the beginning of the next chapter.

Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy.

Prologue

Those Who Escaped

The loud sounds of alarms were the only thing breaking through the darkness and silence surrounding the old laboratory. At first, the scientists working at the place had been confused; as far as most of them knew, the alarms had never gone off before. The system had different sounds for different cases, but it was an old one which hadn't even been tested ones during the last ten years. Therefore, no one remembered what sound meant which case.

A young woman ran through the white corridors of the laboratory. She had been in the cafeteria when the alarm went off, about to buy a cup of hot coffee to help her stay awake during the experiment some colleagues of her and she were supposed to perform over the night. The cup now lay shattered on the floor of the cafeteria, forgotten as she left to find her superior.

"Hey! What the hell is going on?" a man called out to her as they passed each other by, both stopping to gain answers for their questions.

"I don't know! Some said something about the experiments escaping, but I don't know if that is true," she called back. The woman didn't believe the words her colleague had uttered, refused to believe the experiments could have escaped. How could they have done so, when guards watched their cells every minute of the day? For all she knew, the alarm could mean fire, or just smoke. Maybe some idiots had decided to cook dinner underneath one of the sensors? There were enough newbies around for that kind of pranks.

The man focused his eyes on her, waited for the woman to say more.

"Do you remember what this sound means?" she asked.

"No, if I did, I wouldn't ask what was going on!" he left, ran down the corridor leading to the meeting room. The woman stared after him until he was out of sight. Shaking her head, she turned around to continue toward her destination. A movement in the corner of her eye caught her attention. Brown eyes snapped toward the corridor on the left, a path that led toward the cells where they kept the experiments. There, calmly walking away from where she stood, was a young boy she had seen too many times over the last few weeks. The Master's apprentice.

It wasn't unusual for him to walk alone in the corridors at night, however, by the way he constantly looked into the upcoming corridors to the left side, it seemed like he was looking for something. That was unusual.

She followed.

He led her down several corridors, further into the laboratory, further away from the chaos of the alarm and panicking scientists. The boy stopped, causing her to do the same. Through their entire journey into the depth of the laboratory, she had made sure to keep a few metres between them, just in case the boy decided to do something funny involving that strange weapon of his. He turned around, and the woman felt a shiver of fear run down her spine as golden eyes stared at her. Those eyes weren't normal; no person could hold so much evil as they showed. A cruel smile played over his lips, the eyes traveled toward the side corridor he had stopped in front, before he started to walk again, this time down the path they had just come. The boy walked by her, didn't seem to care as he left her behind. Something else had caught her attention; the corridor he had just left after a quick look. The way he had stared at her, then the corridor, as if he wanted her to look for herself what could be found in that corridor.

Her feet led her before she had even decided to take a look, and too quickly for what she could enjoy, the woman found herself staring down into the darkness of the corridor. The lights had gone out, surely not been repaired due to the corridor being so far away from the main rooms they used.

A familiar sound came from the darkness, the sound of quick footsteps against cold floor. Not just one set, if she could trust her ears, but several. Thinking it might have something to do with the alarms still sounding in the far distance; the woman followed the sounds in quick tempo into the darkness.

It didn't take long before she found the sources of the sounds. The lights had come back on sometime during her walk, or maybe she had just walked into an area where the lights never had been gone to begin with, allowing her to see who or what she was following.

Seven young children were running down the corridor, only to be stopped as they reached a dead end. There were no side corridors, hadn't been any since they went down this path, leaving the children trapped with the woman behind them, blocking any way of escape they might have by going back the way they came. She knew them all, both by name and codename. The experiments, the reason behind the alarm.

The two oldest of them turned around to face her, both stepping forward as if to protect the younger children behind them. The scientist's eyes moved from one to the other, looking for anything that might reveal what they were going to do.

The oldest was a young boy around the age of ten, tall with vertically spiked brown hair and blue eyes. Despite the calm look on his face, the woman could feel his hatred for her as he held out his hand, as if to summon something. And yet, he didn't really strike her as dangerous. Not yet, but maybe when he grew older.

The other one to step forward was a girl a year younger than the boy. She was shorter than him, yet still taller than the rest of the children. Blue hair moved across and around her face as she moved, readying herself for whatever attack might come her way. Blue eyes glared daggers at the woman.

"Well, children, you have caused enough chaos for one night. Now, behave and come back with me," the scientist said, still wondering how they got out of their cells to begin with.

"We won't!" Brown eyes moved toward the one who had spoken, a young boy around five with messy and spiky brown hair – a lighter colour than that of the oldest boy – and blue eyes. He stood not far away from the blue-haired girl, together with two other of their little group. On his left side was yet another girl, this one around five with red hair and blue eyes. She was shorter than the boy at the same age, and easily the shortest of them all.

Behind the two five years old stood another boy, this one taller than both and a year older. Blue green eyes glared in her direction, and if looks could kill, the woman was sure she would be long gone. For a six year old, he sure looked ready to battle someone so much older than him.

Her eyes moved to the two last members of the runaways, a couple of identical twins boys at the same age as the boy who had spoken, hiding in the right corner behind their companions. It was hard to see them apart as they both had the same golden blond hair even spiked the same way and identical blue eyes, yet one big thing made her able to know who was who at the moment; the younger of the two seemed to be asleep, comatose as a result of an experiment done on him by the Master several weeks ago. The older twin sat crouched beside his brother, a protective arm in front of him while blue eyes stared at the scientist. Why they had even bothered taking him with them, she couldn't understand. He would just be in the way, unable to move without any help from the others. Maybe that was why they still hadn't gotten out of the building. She shook her head, it didn't matter; she had a mission to finish now that she knew the cause of the alarm.

The woman lifted her arm, palm facing the little group.

"You have left me no choice," she said, gathering her strength to perform the spell she needed. Her eyes were focused on the twins. Those two first, then their companions.

"Aqua!" the oldest boy called out, his eyes moving from the woman to the twins.

"Water!" the blue haired girl shouted, sending a ball of ice cold water toward the woman. The sudden attack surprised her, causing her to drop her concentration as she called out the Warp spell she had prepared. The oldest twin pushed his brother aside as the spell appeared behind him, prevented that both of them got caught up in it.

"Roxas, no!" the younger children's eyes grew wide as they watched their friend disappear in front of them.

The woman's eyes narrowed as she watched the event. The boy she had believed to be completely lost had reached out his hand, trying to grab a hold of his brother as he disappeared. This was surely something she had to report.

"Teleport!" a voice screamed; dragging the woman back from her thoughts just in time to see the three children, who had been standing in a little group this whole time, disappear.

She cursed. Now four out of seven were gone, far out of her reach. Only three still remained; the two oldest and the younger twin.

Such trouble makers, these children.

And yet they had surprised her, being able to use Teleport at such age, not to mention that it had moved three of them. There was no way it could have moved all seven, as the spell required a lot of energy, but splitting up into teams on three and three might work. Of course they wouldn't have done that if they had been one too many.

At some point, the brown haired boy had grabbed a hold of both the blue haired girl and the younger of the twins. He smiled evilly, before muttering something the woman couldn't hear, just as she called forth a Firaga spell. The fire spell blasted the wall into pieces, causing yet another alarm to go off.

The woman glared. This was definitively not a good day.

*~^:^~*

The burning flames from the fireplace bathed the otherwise dark room in orange and red coloures, licked the cold stonewalls as they offered a slight warmth. Not enough to heat up the entire room, hardly what was needed to bring warmth to the two chairs nearest to the fire. There was no warmth that stayed long in this castle, no matter how many fires they lit. It was as if they recognised the true heart of the residents and from there kept their distance to anything far away from that.

The room was build in dark stone, a colour that should take in warmth rather well, filled with huge windows that would let the sun shine in brightly on sunny days. Despite the grand size of the room, it was hardly filled with anything. A couple of old and dusty bookshelves stood alongside the wall opposite of the fireplace, a few overused armchairs took up parts of the floor, but other than that, the room remained empty.

An old man stood in front of the fire place, yellow eyes staring into the flames. From somewhere in the distance could he hear a female scream in pain, suffering through her punishment for letting his plan fall to pieces.

The laboratory where she had worked didn't exist anymore. It had been burned down to the ground, deleting all evidence about what had taken place there. Years of hard work, destroyed in a matter of hours.

Yet something good had come out of it all.

The man smiled. The one Keyblade able to summon Kingdom Hearts, the X-blade, could still be created.

*~^:^~*

AN: Hope you liked it^^ If you have any questions regarding the story – or anything at all – don't be afraid to ask!