Kingdom Hearts: Young Hearts in Light

Joshua’s P.O.V.

I opened my eyes slowly and found myself in a dark alley.  I looked around wondering where I was.  I stood up and looked around more.  I then saw light near the end of the alley.  I walked towards it and saw that I was in a town of some kind.  There sure is a lot of brown, I thought.  Near a big gate at the other end I saw a sign with two words.

“Traverse Town,” I read.

I looked around and saw a few humans around town, but they looked very different from the ones I remember.  I began thinking and trying to figure out where I was, or if I was in a faraway part of Equestria.  I’ve never heard of this Traverse Town before.  I was confused.  Last thing I remember was Mommy and me fighting against that giant Heartless from my dream and getting sucked up into that giant dark ball.

...

Oh no!  Mommy!  Is she okay?!  And what about Nyx and Spike?!  Wait... If I got sent here... Did they get sent here too?  If they did, I have to find them!

I continued walking, while looking for Mommy, Nyx, and Spike.  I looked everywhere in this town.  While looking, I saw that it was split into three “districts”, whatever those are.  I looked down alleys, behind buildings, and inside buildings too, but I couldn’t find them.  I then decided to start asking the people walking around town, but they hadn't seen them.  I walked up to one of the houses in the first district and knocked on the door.  Hopefully, whoever lived here would know something.  When the door opened...

...

No way.

It couldn't be.

It's impossible!

"J... Joshua?  Is that really you?"

"R... Ryan?"

I was shocked beyond belief.  One of my friends that was from my old world was actually standing right in front of me, alive!  I couldn't believe it!

"It is you!" he exclaimed trying to hold back his tears, "I don't believe it!"

"Ryan!" I exclaimed back about to cry, "You're alive!"

The two of us quickly hugged each other tightly.  We hadn't seen each other in a very long time.  We were laughing and crying as we hugged.

Ryan was a few months younger than me.  We met at preschool and have been best friends ever since.  He has slightly darker skin than me, black hair and grey eyes.  He was wearing a green t-shirt, blue jeans, and a white vest.

"Ryan, sweetie, who's there?" said another familiar voice.  Ryan pulled back and looked into the house he came out of.

"Mom!  Dad!  Sis!" he called, "Come out here quick!  You're not gonna believe this!"

I heard footsteps coming to the door, and Ryan's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Nash, and his big sister, Emily, appeared in the doorway.  They too were wide-eyed upon seeing me.

Mr. Nash was three times taller than me, had grey eyes, medium tan skin, and yellow hair.  He was wearing a red t-shirt and black jeans.  Back home, he used to work as a relocation director from what he told me.  He helped people who were moving find homes to live in.  Mrs. Nash was a little shorter than her husband.  She had blue eyes, skin the same color as mine, black hair, and blue eyes.  She was wearing a blue blouse and a white skirt.  She was a school teacher.

Emily was eight years older than me, had the same color skin as Ryan, blue eyes, and wore a pink t-shirt and a yellow skirt.  I never saw her real hair color, because she would dye it a different color; like right now it was pink.  Her finger nails were also pink.  Sometimes, when she wasn't in school, and Mom and Dad were working on the portal machine, she would come over and babysit me.

"Joshua?" Mrs. Nash said in surprise, "Is that... Is that really you?"

"Hi Mr. and Mrs. Nash," I said wiping the tears from my eyes.

"But... but that's impossible," Mr. Nash said kneeling down in front of me.  He reached out a hand to me and put it on my head, then my shoulder.  "We... we thought you had died."

"I thought you guys had died too," I said looking at all three of them, "What happened?  How are you guys here?"

"Well, why don't you come inside and we'll talk," Mrs. Nash said, "I imagine we all have a lot to catch up on."

I just couldn't believe it.  My best friend, Ryan, his sister Emily, and his parents were alive.  I just wish I had known sooner.  Mr. and Mrs. Nash walked into the house, but Emily stayed behind still staring at me in shock.

"Emily?" I asked.

Emily moved forward until she was right in front of me.  She then got down and put her arms around me tightly.  I heard her sniffling a little bit as she hugged me.

"Y-You're alive," she sniffled, "I can't... I can't believe it."

"I'm okay, Emily.  Really," I said hugging her back.  Emily was a lot of fun when she came to babysit me.  I often thought of her as a big sister.  Emily pulled back to look at me but still had her arms around me.

"Where have you been all this time?" she asked.

"Let's head inside so I can tell all four of you," I suggested.

Emily adjusted her arms around me and lifted me up to carry me into the house.  Once we were all comfortable in their living room, and Mrs. Nash had gotten us all drinks, Mr. Nash asked me how I made it through the meteor storm that destroyed our world.  It took me about fifteen minutes to explain everything that had happened to me since that day.  At first, they didn't believe me, but when I showed them my magic powers by levitating my drink, they did.

"Wow," Ryan said surprised, "That's quite a story."

"Yeah, but what about you guys?" I asked, "How did you guys make it through that storm?"

"We're not too sure ourselves," Mrs. Nash said, "but right when it looked like the end for us, a strange bright light surrounded us.  When it disappeared, we found ourselves in this town.  We've been living here since."

"We all thought everyone we knew died when those meteors fell down," Mr. Nash said sadly, "Until we saw you again."

"I thought I would never see you again, Josh," Ryan said putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Me too, Ryan," I replied as we hugged.

"Oh, it's so good to see you two together again like this," Mrs. Nash said smiling, "You were like brothers when you played together."

After we pulled back from our hug, I heard a sudden scream.

"HELP!"

I jumped as I heard that.  It could have been my imagination, but that voice sounded familiar.

“Uh oh!” Ryan exclaimed, "Sounds like the shadows are back!"

"Shadows?" I asked.

"They're beastly little black creatures with yellow eyes," Mr. Nash explained.

"Heartless!" I said.  I jumped up from my seat and ran towards the door, "I'll be right back!"

"No!  Don't go out there!" Mrs. Nash exclaimed, "It's dangerous!"

But I was already out the door before she could reach me.  The voice sounded like it came from the second district.  I ran through the doors leading to it, and was face to face with a bunch of Heartless.

Where's my Keyblade when I need it now?! I thought to myself.

FLASH!

I looked down at the flash in my hand and saw my Keyblade had reappeared.

“Please stay with me longer this time,” I said to it as I put my other hand on it.  I ran at the Heartless and started fighting them, making each one I hit turn into dust.  It took a little bit, but I defeated each of the Heartless that was there.  I looked around trying to find where the voice came from, and I saw a big group of Heartless surrounding someone dressed in red.  I ran towards them as fast as I could.

Toby's P.O.V.

I opened my eyes and saw I was in a dark alley somewhere.  What happened?  Last thing I remember was Sunset fighting against a monster called a Heartless and winning, and then... Oh yeah.  We got pulled up into that big dark ball.  I stood up and looked around.  I didn't see Sunset anywhere.  I walked out of the alley and saw I was in a strange town at night.  There was a wall with a map on it.  I walked up and saw that it was called, "Traverse Town," I read.  I don't think I learned of a Traverse Town in Equestria.

I walked around town wondering if I was even in Equestria anymore.  While walking around town, I kept my eye out for Sunset, my other big sisters, my aunties, and Momma.  I was really hoping they were alright.  As I looked, I kept on thinking I was being followed, but every time I looked behind me, no one was there.  Just then, one of those smaller Heartless appeared in front of me.

"Uh oh!" I said to myself.  I turned around and ran as fast as I could.  I looked behind me, and saw that more of them had showed up and were following me.  "HELP!" I called out.  I kept running, but I was starting to get tired.  Suddenly, more showed up in front of me.  I slid to a stop and turned around, but the group chasing me was still behind me.  I was trapped.  One of them jumped at me, but I ducked to dodge it.  "Someone!  Please help!"

SLASH!

I turned around at that noise and saw that someone had come to my rescue.  He looked sort of familiar for some reason.  He began swinging a strange key-like sword at the Heartless, and getting rid of them all.  I couldn't get a good look at his face, because he had his back to me as he took out the Heartless.

Joshua's P.O.V.

I managed to get rid of all the Heartless that were attacking the boy, but I was panting heavily when I finished.

"Are you okay?" the boy asked me.

"I'm fine," I said I made my Keyblade disappear, "But what about you?" I asked turning around to look at the boy

“I'm okay," he said, "Thank you for saving-!  *gasp* J-Joshua?”

I gasped when I saw his face.

“Toby?” I asked.  It was Toby!

“Joshua!” Toby exclaimed wrapping his arms around me.  I brought my arms around him and hugged him back.  “I missed you so much, Joshua!”

“I’ve missed you too, Toby,” I replied.  We stayed hugging each other for a little bit until we pulled back and looked at each other smiling.  “Are you okay?” I asked.

“I am now,” he said, “Thank you for saving me from those Heartless.”

“You’re welcome, Toby,” I said, “How did you get here?”

“I was going to ask you the same thing,” he replied, "Was it those Heartless that did it?"

"Yes, it was," I answered.  I then explained to Toby what happened to me and Toby explained what happened to him back on his Equestria as we walked back into the first district.  "Wow," I said surprised after he finished, "I'm sorry to hear that."

"Do you think our mommas are okay?" Toby asked.

"I hope so," I replied as I knocked on the door of Ryan's house.  The door opened up and Ryan was there.  He looked relieved to see me.

"You're alright!" he said.  Then he looked at Toby.  "Who's this?"

"This is Toby Mason," I replied, "He's from a different earth than the one we were from."

After entering Ryan's house, and introducing Toby to Ryan and his parents, I explained to them what had happened recently with me on my Equestria, then Toby told them about what happened on his.

"Hmm," Mr. Nash hummed in thought, "If the shadows attacked both of your worlds, and you were both brought here, then maybe your pony friends were brought here too."

"I don't know about that," I said, "I've looked all over the town.  I couldn't find them anywhere."

"Me neither," Toby added.

"You'll find them," Ryan said to us, "I know you will.  If I know Joshua, then he's the best finder there is.  Whenever we played hide and seek with the rest of our friends, and he was the seeker, he always found everyone."

"Thanks, Ryan," I said with a smile, "But if they aren't here, then where could they be?"

"Maybe, they're all on other worlds?" Mrs. Nash suggested.

"Other worlds?" I asked.

"It's possible," Mr. Nash agreed, "They say that every star in the night sky is another world.  And the light that shines is the heart of each world.  Come to think of it, I think I saw two stars go out tonight.  They might have been your Equestrias, boys."

"What do you mean?" Toby asked.

"If the Heartless attacked your worlds, then they found the keyholes to them," Mr. Nash said, "Each world has a keyhole, and they lead to the heart of each world.  When the Heartless find the world's keyhole, the enter it and do something to the heart of that world, making it go out."

"So does that mean, we'll never see our Equestrias again?" I asked worriedly.

"Not necessarily," Mrs. Nash said, "If there's somebody behind this, and you find and defeat them, then whatever damage the Heartless did will be reversed.  I've heard a story about someone who was in a similar situation to yours, and his world was restored when he defeated the mastermind behind it."

"That's good to hear," Toby said sighing in relief.

"Well, we need to figure out how to get to these other worlds if our friends are on them," I said standing up from my seat, "But first, we'll need to find something to help you defend yourself against the Heartless, Toby."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Well, if we're going to find our friends, we're probably going to run into a lot of Heartless," I explained, "So you'll need to protect yourself if I can't."

"How?" he asked again, "I don't have a Keyblade like you do."

"True," I said crossing my arms and thinking.

"You know, there's an item shop that sells shields," Ryan said, "We all have our own in case we need to protect ourselves from the Heartless when we go out there."

"That sounds great," I said, "Where is it?"

"On the other side of the Accessory Shop in front of the house," he said while giving me some coins, "Take some of my money and you'll be able to get yourself a good one."

"Thanks, Ryan," I said putting the money in my pocket.  I then looked back at him.  "I'm really glad you're still alive, Ryan, but I need to go.  I've got friends and family that need saving."

"You be careful out there, Josh," Ryan said putting a hand on my shoulder, "I don't want think you'll die again."

"I'll try my best," I said hugging him.  After we let go, Toby and I exited the house, and managed to find the Item Shop Ryan talked about.  We went in and bought a shield for Toby to use.  It was small and light enough for him to carry around, circle shaped, blue colored, and had an odd looking green symbol on it.

After that, we left the shop and started looking around town together.  We also asked the people that we hadn't already around as well, but they hadn't seen anything.  After about an hour of searching, we found ourselves in the third district.

"We've been searching for a while," Toby said sadly, "And we haven't found anyone."

"We can't give up that easily though," I said.  Just then, I had a strange feeling coming over me.  "Uh, Toby?  Do you think we're being watched?"

"I don't know," he replied.

Suddenly, there was a loud boom noise behind us.  We looked back and saw a light orange shape flying towards us.  Toby and I started running trying to not let it fall on top of us, but we couldn't get out of the way in time.

"Oof!!!" we exclaimed.  The shape fell on top of us and knocked us onto our bellies.  Toby and I groaned at how much that hurt, but we also heard another voice groaning too.

"Stupid Heartless," said a girl voice.  I looked to my left and saw that the shape that fell on top of Toby and me was a pony.  She was a light orange unicorn with a yellow and red striped mane and tail, greenish, light blue eyes, and a red and yellow sun cutie mark.  I then looked over the pony's body and saw Toby's head sticking out the other side.

"Are you okay, Toby?" I asked him.

"I think so," he replied.  The pony that fell on top of us looked over at Toby and she gasped.

"Toby?" she asked.  Toby looked at the pony and gasped too.

"Sister Sunset!" he exclaimed.  I raised my eyebrow.  I didn't remember a "Sister" Sunset when I was in Toby's Equestria.  Just then, large pillars erupted from the ground and blocked the exits out of the district.  Sunset, Toby, and I quickly stood up as Heartless in suits of armor appeared around us.  I got my Keyblade ready while Toby pulled out his shield, and Sunset charged up her magic.

Traverse Town - Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX

Night of Fate - Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX

Traverse in Trance - Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance

Hand to Hand - Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance

Friends in My Heart - Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX

Just Wondering - Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories

The Heartless Has Come - Kingdom Hearts