Volume 1
Chapters
Story
Chapter 1: The Gate
The story begins with Riko entering the Dive to the Heart, but as she floats down, she discovers a broken pillar with a strange figure. The words echo, "Will you be the one that will complete me?"
Riko recalls the strange dream as she sits in her classroom. The day is finishing up, and she brushes off the dream to start planning for her various responsibilities. Her friends tease her for being so caught up in work, and encourage her to relax. As she's putting up her things, the chatter of friends drone out and is replaced by a mysterious voice questioning her attachment to the world. Riko, defensive about the infiltration of her thoughts, confronts the voice and demand they leave her alone. The voice mocks her feigned courage. He reveals himself to her and forcibly steals her heart.
Riko wakes up in an empty void and is greeted the by the mysterious man, who introduces himself as Lius. He is the Gate Keeper for the realm that Riko is from, and he commands a gate that gives access to another realm by creating a new body for those who pass through. He offers her a deal to venture out into the outside worlds and escape her current reality. Lius explains the concepts of heart, body, and soul. In order to gain access to the outside worlds, she would give up her current body for a new one that her heart would reside in. Her soul will keep her heart tethered the old body. This connection would eventually weaken and Riko's heart would return back through the gate and back to her reality. Lius claims to be testing the limits of a being and the gate's power, and he has been trying to strike this deal with everyone in his realm. Despite her objections earlier, the deal sparked her inner desires and she accepts with little hesitation.
Amused by her naiveté, Lius quickly throws her into the gate and Riko is consumed by darkness. Lius calls out to her as the gate closes, telling her to say goodbye to her old memories. Lius then returns to Riko's world. Despite his promise that she could return, Lius summons his blade and kills her original body.
In the other realm, Goofy and Donald Duck are relaxing in the garden of Disney Castle discussing the recent departure of King Mickey to go train with Yen Sid. Their conversation is interrupted by a strange light that appeared. Queen Minnie and Daisy Duck, also seeing the light, come and check on the dazed guards. They are all surprised to see that a baby had appeared where the light was. To everyone's confusion, the Queen makes the decision to keep the baby and raise her as her own.
Chapter 2: Meeting a Hero
Four years have passed. The baby, now named Rei, has spent the years growing up in the castle. Rei's babysitter Max is frantically looking for her while Daisy does the same for Queen Minnie. They soon find them together spending time at the castle fountain. Daisy reminds the Queen that there are still preparations that need to be made for the Dream Festival, and they send Rei off with Max to help with Disney Town's decorations.
Rei tells Max about how she looks up to Captain Justice, believing him to be a superhero because of his outfit. Max tries to correct her, saying that true heroes are brave, strong, and will do anything to protect other people. Max finishes up setting up the lights around the gazebo in the Main Plaza, but when they test them out, they don't turn on. Rei quickly runs off claiming to know how to fix it, and Max loses sight of her.
Rei made her way to the Gizmo Gallery generator, moving through the room without realizing the danger lurking behind her. Once she finds it, she is cornered by the Unversed and is attacked. Before they reach her, a boy destroys them with a Keyblade and reassures her that he won't let them hurt her. Rei remembers what Max told her, and realizes that the person who saved her is what a real hero is like. The boy fights off the rest of the Unversed mob with ease using various magic and his shotlock. He checks with Rei to make sure she's okay, but when his back is turned, one last Unversed appears behind him. Rei runs ahead to protect him, and he can't react fast enough to stop her.
To their surprised, Rei had summoned her own blade, and it cuts the Unversed in half. With it destroyed, the two can finally relax. Knowing it wasn't a keyblade, the boy asks about the weapon, but Rei has never seen it before. When she hands it to him, it instantly dissipates. He tells her not to worry about it, and rather congratulates her on her courage. This inspires Rei to become a hero too so she can protect others. Before they leave, Rei asks him to fix the generator, and he blasts it with several thunder spells. The boy finally introduces himself as Ventus and tells Rei that Max had asked him to go find her. Holding hands, they both leave the Gallery to return to the Dream Festival.
From above, Vanitas watches them and inquires about Rei's weapon to Lius, who is also with him. They agree to return when the time is right and leave to tend to the other parts of their plan.
Chapter 3: Her Wish
The residents of Disney Town eagerly gather in the Main Plaza to see the winner of this year's Million Dreams Award. Max and Rei run into Ventus at the back of the crowd, and they have him sit with them at the front near the stage. Queen Minnie begins the presentation and reveals there were three winners: Ventus, Aqua, and Terra. Ven goes up to the stage, but Aqua and Terra are no where to be seen. Instead, Pete, dressed up as Captain Justice, angrily goes on stage. He confronts the Queen about the unfairness of the votes and expresses his frustration with the townsfolk talking behind his back.
Despite the Queen's attempts to calm him down, he is overcome by anger, and with the stomp of his foot, several unversed appear and surround the crowd. Ven comes to the conclusion that it was Pete's negative emotions that were causing the Unversed to appear around town, though Pete's confusion shows he didn't purposefully mean to put the citizens in danger. Queen Minnie holds out her hand to Ven and asks that he lend her strength. She then casts Faith and destroys all of the Unversed. The endangerment of her citizens was the last straw for Queen Minnie, and she calls the guards to take Pete away. She thanks Ven for his help and reassures him that Aqua and Terra both care deeply for him. She reveals that she has the heart power of reading other people's hearts, allowing her to see glimpses of their memories, sense their emotions, or hear their thoughts.
With all of the commotion, she tells Ven that she and the other people in the castle know about the outside worlds, and she advises him to make his way towards his friends. Before he leaves, she hands him the Million Dreams Award, his very own ice cream, and thanks him once again. Ven gives his well wishes and promises to return soon.
At the outskirts of town, Ven finishes his ice cream and prepares to leave. However, he is surprised to see that Rei had followed him wanting to say goodbye. She asks about the outside world, but she doesn't completely understand. She tells Ven about her frustration, knowing that she doesn't really belong at Disney Castle. Ven wonders if she has a similar power to the Queen and where she is really from, but his thoughts are interrupted by Rei giving him a drawing of them. She wanted to draw Terra and Aqua too, but she doesn't know what they look like. Ven laughs and helps her complete her drawing. He encourages her to keep it until they all return. That way she can also play with Aqua and Terra. He pinky promises her that he'll come back to visit.
Ven transforms into his armor and transforms his keyblade into a keyblade glider. He pats Rei on the head, telling her to be a good girl and tells her they'll get to eat a lot of ice cream when he returns. He hops onto his glider and they wave goodbye. Max finally catches up to Rei as Ven leaves. She looks up in awe, saying he looks like a shooting star. Max says they should make a wish together. Rei looks up at the stars with hopes to be as brave and strong as Ven. That way she can protect everyone like him one day.
Chapter 4: The Outside Worlds
Eight years have passed. The walls of Rei's room are covered in drawings of her being a keyblade master and notes of what she wants to do when Ven returns. On top of all of her notes and drawings is the finished picture of her, Ven, Aqua, and Terra.
In the courtyard, an older Max and P.J. are expressing their frustrations with everyday life and responsibilities. Rei joins their conversation and encourages Max to pursue his dreams to be a royal guard like his father. Max, much less enthusiastic than Rei, turns down her idea because he's afraid of being made fun of. He believes it to be an old childish dream. He also reveals not many people trust the royal guard since both Goofy and Donald were absent during the Dream Festival when Unversed attacked, despite not having any incidents since then. P.J. tells Rei that people aren't always kind and expresses his sadness over being treated differently because of his father. Rei wonders why they don't just stay in the castle, and Max explains that they want to learn how to be their own people. Max then asks what Rei wants to do. Without any hesitation, she excitedly tells them she wants to build her own gummi ship and travel the outside worlds. She fawns over the stories that King Mickey has told her of his own adventures and vows to be a hero like Ven. The boys see it as an outlandish dream, but do agree that the events that transpired eight years ago were impactful and unforgettable.
To switch up the conversation, P.J. shows his friends his new packs of magic trading cards, but before they could play they are interrupted by Goofy, Max's dad. Goofy flawlessly embarrasses Max in front of his friends, and Max asks if they go somewhere they couldn't be disturbed. Rei takes them to the Gizmo Gallery, fondly remembering Ventus when they reach the generator. P.J. begins explaining the rules of the card game. Each card has a specific spell and attack power. The player with the higher level card gets both cards. If you play equal leveled cards, the spells cancel out. P.J. explains that with real magic, saying a spell and putting your heart into it can also make it stronger. He demonstrates this using a card, and unexpectedly a real spell spills out. In a panic, the boys realize that rather than trading cards, they have magic training cards, which they're not licensed to have. The training cards help beginners learn how to control and focus their heart energy. Heart energy goes by a lot of names, such as mana or chakra. Everyone has it, but it requires practice in order to use it outside of the body. Max and P.J. try out the different spells, and encourage Rei to try too. However when she tries, she can't get any of the spells to activate. P.J. explains that sometimes people's natural bodies are not wired to handle certain types of magic, and instead have to use outside items to help them use it, like materia or scrolls. The boys continue to talk about magic, but Rei sits in silence, disappointed in herself.
Now by herself, Rei lays out in the grass outside of the castle walls. She summons her blade, which has changed and matured as she has grown. She calls it back, frustrated that King Mickey had told her to keep it a secret and to wait until she was older to start training. She expresses her desire to leave and her boredom with the castle. She calls out to Ven, hoping that he's doing okay, when suddenly she hears his voice. She sits up, and Ven is standing before her. Overcome with joy, she runs to him, worried that she would never see him again. However, she realizes something is wrong when Ven looks the same and hasn't aged. He explains that he isn't physically there, and she is just seeing a thought projection. He persuades her to take action and leave Disney Castle by stealing a star shard from King Mickey's desk. He disappears into darkness and tells her to never look back. Without hesitation, Rei holds up the shard to the sky and travels to the stars. The Ven that had talked to Rei is revealed to be Lius. He smiles at the fact that he was able to again easily exploit her trusting nature and begins the first step of his plan.
Rei wakes up far from home in the Enchanted Dominion, and she is soon greeted by a hoard of heartless. She quickly summons her blade, but she frozen by fear. She apologizes to Ven, believing she has let him down, but she is once again saved by a stranger. The woman asks if Rei is okay and apologizes for the heartless, explaining they were simply acting on instinct. She introduces herself as Maleficent, guardian of the Enchanted Dominion, and reassures Rei that she won't let the heartless hurt her. Rei is confused by Maleficent's power. She had been taught that darkness is evil. Maleficent convinces Rei that darkness is a necessity and only seen as evil because of other people's fear and ignorance. She tells Rei that she's protecting the heartless as well as trying to help those who are lost and alone. Like Lius, Maleficent resonates with Rei's desire to travel to other worlds. Rei excitedly agrees, glad that she had someone to guide her. Maleficent sends her off to the castle to stay. Once she is gone, Maleficent resumes her attack on the world, and tell the heartless to drag everything into darkness.
Some time has passed. In the Castle Chapel in Hollow Bastion, Rei asks Maleficent if she thinks her old friends and family miss her. Maleficent's tells her that if they really cared, they would have found her by now. Their travels have taken them all across the cosmos, yet there had been no signs that they were actually looking for her. Rei sadly agrees. Maleficent embraces Rei and tells her that she is the only person who ever has and ever will care for her.
References
Original Characters
Riko • Lius • Rei
Kingdom Hearts Characters
Ventus • Vanitas • Unversed • Heartless
Disney Characters
Goofy • Donald Duck • Max • Daisy Duck • Queen Minnie Mouse • Pete • P.J. • Maleficent
Locations
Disney Castle • Disney Town • Enchanted Dominion • Hollow Bastion (briefly)