AU Info
General:
This AU is built on a very simple premise: what if Riku became the Keybearer as originally intended? However, it is not a role-reversal. Not exactly.
Instead of just swapping Sora and Riku and calling it a day, I opted to take things a step further, taking into account the differences between the personalities of Sora and Riku. Because Riku isn't the friendly derp that Sora is and Sora isn't the arrogant and jealous best friend figure, things change by default. Riku slips up, he makes mistakes that Sora would not, while Sora certainly doesn't use darkness.
More over, everything after the "KH1" timeline is completely new. There is no Chain of Memories adaptation, and "KH2" will only be slightly similar to its canon counterpart. No new characters are invented for this AU, either. Roxas, Riku Replica, Xion, and Namine are all there. In short? Very complicated stuff that will be detailed further below.
Characters:
Sora: Sora is just as crucial of a character as Riku in this 'verse. While not the main hero, he played a big part in the events that occurred since Destiny Islands' fall and up until now. Expect tl;dr below about his role.
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His history is roughly the same up until the evening the islands disappeared. That night, rather than finding Riku as he gave into the darkness, Sora returned to the play island much sooner and ran into Riku right as the storm began. Though there was a brief misunderstanding, as Riku misinterpreted Kairi's teasing, soon he and Riku searched for Kairi on the off chance that she was there as well.
They found her, but as time went on the storm got progressively worse until Sora and Riku decided that the only way to safety was to use the door that Riku opened. When they reached the Secret Place, Kairi's heart went into Sora just like in canon, but both he and Riku confronted the Dark Side. Granted, Riku did all the fighting, but Sora was there the whole time. It was only when the Heartless met its demise that Sora and Riku were separated.
Riku wound up in Traverse Town, Sora found himself in Hollow Bastion. Here he met Maleficent. Because of Sora's friendly and trusting personality, Maleficent decided to trick Sora. She treated him with false compassion and understanding as he told her what happened to his home and how he longed to find his friends. In fact, she promised to help him... provided she did him a favor first.
Maleficent revealed that a girl in a far off world was being held on trial, sentenced to lose her head if a hero didn't save her soon. Sora's mission was simple: He was to rescue the girl and, if possible, make negotiations with the Cheshire Cat. Led to believe he'd be a hero, Sora gladly obliged and Maleficent sent him on his way with a brand new sword, should he run into any trouble.
While Riku, Donald, and Goofy searched for King Mickey, Sora took care of his mission in Wonderland almost simultaneously. However, rather than interrupt the trial, Sora went off to hunt for the Cheshire Cat until things cleared up enough for him to make his grand rescue. Along the way he caught sight of Kairi-- or so he thought-- and wound up being scolded by a flower. It was only after the Cheshire Cat completely confused him that he went back to the Queen's Court, where Alice remained in her cage alone.
He saved Alice and brought her right back to Maleficent, only to hear that a boy with a Key approached the queen earlier. Because of the risk of the Queen's troops retaliating, though, Sora, Alice, and Maleficent all returned to Hollow Bastion.
During this time Sora met the other Disney Villains, tricked into thinking they were fallen heroes, shunned by their worlds and the people in them. Because of this, Sora found them incredibly cool and trusted them without a second thought. They promised to help find Riku and even teach him some magic.
Eventually they did locate Riku, thus Sora dropped Maleficent off in Traverse Town, where he met up with Leon and the gang shortly before Riku's return.
The two had a heartfelt reunion, each of them explaining what transpired since the islands' fall. Sora told Riku about his 'new friends', while Riku explained that Donald and Goofy weren't his friends and that they were just an excuse to see other worlds. Together, they wound up sneaking away from Donald and Goofy to explore the town and catch up, although they met up with them both later on, when they went to visit Merlin's place.
While there Sora caught sight of Kairi again, and after matters were taken care of, Sora tried to ask Riku to tag along with him and Maleficent, only for Donald to refuse. Before long he took off and met back up with Maleficent in the Second District, where she tried to tell him that Riku found new friends with no avail, as he explained what Riku told him earlier. With that said and done, Sora rang the bell in the Gizmo Shop, led to believe it would help protect the world. Unfortunately, he and Maleficent left before he could learn the truth-- that it summoned a Heartless.
As Riku's travels continued, Sora learned magic from Maleficent and the other villains and had his share of travels as well. In Atlantica he assisted Ursula, who he believed was unfairly banished from the kingdom by the 'cruel' King Triton. Along the way he befriended Ariel under the orders to bring back the Trident. They split up a few times, during which Ariel met up with Riku and the others, though he met up with her after Triton destroyed her treasures and tried to cheer her up.
He told her that if they found the Keyhole, maybe her dream of seeing other worlds would come true. As such, they searched for the Keyhole, eventually reaching the Palace. There, Sora spotted the Trident and took it to Ursula's grotto with a very confused Ariel following closely behind. On the way there he explained that he was just borrowing it to help her.
But Ursula didn't use the Trident as promised. Instead, she seized its power for herself, reaching an enormous size. Frightened at what became of his 'friend', Sora helped Ariel escape the grotto before Maleficent came to his rescue, bringing him back to Hollow Bastion. There she explained that the power of the Trident brought out the darkness in her heart and warned him of the darkness' danger.
But that didn't matter any more, as soon after Maleficent revealed Kairi's whereabouts just as promised; she was right in the castle waiting for him.
Unfortunately, she wasn't in the best of shape. Somehow, Kairi lost her heart, Maleficent explained, though she ensured him that she would find a means to restore it.
Some time later, Sora visited Halloween Town with Oogie Boogie. There he befriended Lock, Shock, and Barrel as well as Jack Skellington, much to Oogie's dismay. Prior to Riku's arrival, he was given the mission to keep his eyes out for Finklestein's newest inventions as well as the Keyhole and report back. However, he became incredibly distracted with the dancing Heartless-- which was right around the time the Gummi Ship crashed into the town square.
The two boys had yet another friendly reunion, at least, until Sora stole the artificial heart created by Finklestein in hopes of saving Kairi. Naturally, Riku pursued him, surprised that his friend would stoop to such a level.
But Sora told Riku exactly why he did it. Kairi lost her heart, and maybe the one Finklestein created could save her. But instead of help as Sora'd hoped, Riku questioned Sora's actions and his so-called 'friends', disgusted that Sora would try to use a phony heart to save their friend.
Disappointed, Sora made his escape to Oogie's manor while Lock, Shock, and Barrel took care of Riku. For the time being, he held onto the heart and continued to hunt down the Keyhole, but by the time Riku defeated Oogie, Sora's plans to save Kairi fell apart. Oogie, completely worn down from the fight, seized the fake heart for himself, only to be enveloped by darkness and fuse with the manor.
All Sora could do was watch from afar as Riku and his friends took down Oogie's manor. By the time things were said and done, he returned to Hollow Bastion with Maleficent.
Agrabah offered Sora another opportunity to help Kairi. While there, he and Jafar intended to find the Keyhole and 'save' Princess Jasmine from the supposedly horrible "Abubu" and the iron fist of the Sultan. To do this, Sora wound up snatching the Genie's lamp later that night, when Aladdin and Jasmine took off on the magic carpet.
Surprisingly, the Genie was a nice and sympathetic guy who didn't seem to mind Al. Nevertheless, Sora saw the Genie as an opportunity to get Kairi's heart back. The only problem? The Genie couldn't; though he didn't explain why, exactly, he told Sora that her heart was closer than he thought.
After chatting it up with the Genie a bit more, Sora fully intended to free him, thinking he could do more to assist Jafar if he wasn't bound by a lamp. Unfortunately, Iago took the lamp right out of his clutches and straight to Jafar, causing Sora to follow him.
But Jafar had no intention to free the Genie. Instead, he used his first wish to become a powerful sorcerer. Right around that time Riku, Donald, Goofy, and Aladdin made it inside the palace. Before Sora could do anything, however, Jafar wished for a one way trip to the Keyhole for him, Sora, and Jasmine.
They immediately arrived in the Cave of Wonders. Though still completely confused by Jafar's antics, Maleficent arrived soon enough to whisk both Sora and Jasmine away, right as Riku and the others caught up with him. Sora's departure was so abrupt, in fact, that he didn't get to witness Jafar use his newfound powers to become a cobra and later a genie.
But it was just another showcase of the darkness, said Maleficent. Something that, if not controlled, can consume even the most genuine people in a matter of moments. More over, she explained that Donald and Goofy were already lost in the darkness and would drag Riku along with them, if they hadn't already. In short, this was the reason Riku continued to confront the likes of Oogie, Jafar, and Ursula, despite their own shortcomings.
Sora was reluctant to believe this, of course, having too much faith in his best friend. Luckily, he didn't have much time to dwell on this fact, as Maleficent revealed that Sora was to board Captain Hook's vessel alongside Kairi in order to find the last Princess of Heart and rescue her. But why did they need seven? Finally, Maleficent told him just why they were gathering Princesses: to use their light to open a door to the Heart of all worlds, where a "miracle" would happen.
To Sora, this was great. Not only would he get to help save the worlds and his friend, but he'd get to become part of a pirate crew. Before the ship took off, Maleficent tried to give him the ability to control the darkness, for despite being dangerous, if used correctly it'd be a useful asset. This failed, however, leaving Sora with nothing but the magic he learned previously. Nevertheless, the ship took off at full speed...
And, just his luck, they ran into the Gummi Ship along the way. Riku, Donald, and Goofy were all brought aboard, where Sora greeted them with a friendly 'ahoy!'. But just as before, Riku refused to cooperate with Sora, despite his genuine pleas and showing of Kairi's body. He'd picked 'the wrong sort of friends', according to Riku, something Sora still refused to believe. In the end, he told the crew to send Riku and company into the brig until he could figure things out.
While Riku went about his business, Sora spoke to Captain Hook in the cabin, still unsure of why Riku was acting this way. He didn't want Riku to be his enemy, anything but that. Hook repeated what Maleficent said earlier, though: Donald and Goofy were manipulating Riku by use of the darkness.
When Maleficent returned to the ship, she revealed that Wendy wasn't one of the chosen ones and that any further business in this world was meaningless. Once more, she took Sora back to Hollow Bastion, this time with Kairi in tow.
By now it was just her and Sora, as Hades left to deal with Hercules in Olympus. As usual, Sora seemed wary about Riku, especially with the reminders of how dangerous Donald and Goofy were. To make matters worse, Maleficent explained that the Keyblade was at fault, for its power was getting to Riku's head and pushing him closer and closer to the darkness. At the rate things were going, the only way to help Riku was to fight him and ensure that he didn't interfere with opening the door...
And the door was almost complete. The only obstacle, besides Riku, was a 'terrible beast' that intended to capture one of the Princesses. Thus, it was Sora's job to keep the beast from succeeding. He went to take care of this problem right around the time Riku arrived.
Reluctant to fight, Sora gave one last plea, begging Riku to come with him so they could save Kairi and finally travel the worlds together. If not, he'd have to fight. When Riku refused, a fight did ensue-- briefly at any rate, for in the middle of the fight Riku's Keyblade vanished without a trace. Unsure of what to do, Sora fled, but not before giving Riku his wooden sword from the islands.
But Riku caught up with him soon enough, this time with a firmer resolve. When he, along with Donald and Goofy, confronted Sora, they reiterated that Maleficent wasn't his friend and that Sora was too stubborn to admit it. While Riku didn't expect Sora to believe it, he'd fight him if it meant knocking sense into him. Sora was more than up to the challenge, as he still refused to abandon Maleficent after everything she'd done for him.
So they fought one on one with Donald and Goofy as their audience. Both were evenly matched, as Sora became quite skilled with magic and the Soul Eater during his time with Maleficent. Riku won, however, and Sora, shocked and afraid, rushed off in hopes of finding Maleficent.
Though Riku and the others pursued him, Sora knew his way around the castle much better and managed to escape... and then he ran into a strange hooded man, the same man he encountered in the Secret Place back on the islands.
This man told Sora that his efforts were futile. The only way to save his friends and put a stop to Riku was to be the one with a stronger heart, but as someone 'rejected' by darkness, he couldn't hope be anything more than second-best. Darkness, he said, is an integral part of the heart that should be embraced. If Sora couldn't do that, he was useless, especially since Kairi's heart was trapped in the deepest of darkness.
When Sora asked if there was anything he could do, the man revealed a Keyblade... a dark Keyblade. With it, Sora would be able to free Kairi's heart and make Maleficent even stronger. Plus, he'd have the extra edge of having his own Keyblade. With all that in mind, Sora thanked the man and hurried to Maleficent's side.
He reached her right after her initial fight with Riku, finding her in horrible shape. It was here that Riku finally caught up with his friend and witnessed him 'help' Maleficent by, at the hooden man's suggestion, taking the Dark Keyblade and stabbing her in the chest, so to bring out her true potential.
It worked, but...not in the best of ways. Maleficent transformed into a huge dragon and proceeded to attack everyone in the room, including Sora. Finally, he realized that maybe Riku was right all along. Whatever the case, he fought alongside his friend for the first time since their adventures started, and together they took down Maleficent.
After the fight, Sora led Riku, Donald, and Goofy further into the castle, where the Keyhole stood. There he told them everything. What Maleficent planned, how she tricked him, and even more about Kairi and his newfound Keyblade. But one thing still didn't add up: Why did he see Kairi so many times during his travels when she wasn't there? And how was he supposed to save her? A Keyblade that unlocks people's hearts... Was it possible that Kairi's heart was inside him?
Donald and Goofy stepped out of the room to let Sora and Riku take care of things. Together, they hurried up to Kairi's lifeless body. Here Sora told Riku more about the events that transpired: how he kept seeing Kairi, the way the genie couldn't bring back her heart. Finally, he suggested-- no, affirmed that Kairi's heart was inside him. If that was the case, then the only way to free her was to use the Dark Keyblade on himself.
This got the boys in an argument over whether this was the only way, but eventually even Riku accepted the cold hard truth. In the end, the two had one final sparring match, wooden swords and all, just so Sora could leave on a positive note. Riku even let him win, although Sora didn't realize it.
So he took the Dark Keyblade and told Riku that he'd be a great hero. After that, he freed Kairi's heart...
He thought it would have ended here, but it was only the beginning.
Rather than disappear, Sora became a Heartless. A mere Shadow, yet he somehow maintained his sense of self. Had Riku and Kairi stuck around long enough, he may have even made it back to his old self, but due to Ansem and the Heartless, he remained a Heartless and could do nothing but watch as his friends departed via Gummi Ship.
For the longest time Sora remained in Hollow Bastion, lurking in the shadows as he tried his best to keep ahold on his free will. He was safe from the other Heartless, as they had no reason to attack one of their own. More importantly, his new form allowed him to blend in with the shadows and remain undetected, even when Leon and his gang arrived.
Over time, he became stronger and his form shifted from that of a Shadow to something closer to his original appearance. He was larger, quicker, and even more powerful, but at the expense of all his old magic, his weapon, and his ability to speak. When Leon's group started making repairs to the town, Sora secretly helped them out, all while trying to keep the resident Heartless at bay, something that became quite taxing with the door to Kingdom Hearts wide open.
When Riku's Replica and XIII arrived on the scene, Sora watched them very closely. The way they trashed the town and caused trouble was enough to prove it wasn't Riku, but it left him incredibly worried for his best friend. That's why when Riku finally showed up with Kairi and the others, Sora followed him out of Hollow Bastion and began to keep a close eye on both his friends, something which would continue as they visited other worlds.
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There's a lot more that happens with Sora. This is basically everything that went on up until Riku's current point of the story.
Kairi:
Donald and Goofy:
Riku Replica:
The Replica is the Organization’s greatest asset. He’s a perfect replica of Riku, right down to the Keyblade. The only things he lacks are Riku’s summons and his Keychains. They created him in order to have a means of collecting hearts, although he doesn’t realize that he’s a fake at all. On the contrary, Riku Replica has a false set of memories that are nearly identical to Riku’s, save for the exclusion of Kairi and the inclusion of a girl named Namine, who he’s sworn to protect. In these memories Namine disappeared from the islands during a meteor shower and wasn’t a Princess of Heart at all, instead going completely missing. As for Sora, rather than sacrificing himself, the memories depict a replica using the Dark Keyblade to steal Sora’s heart.
The Replica believes the real Riku to be the culprit and is convinced that said “Fake” stole not only Sora’s heart, but his entire life and all his other friends. To that end he’s very resentful towards Riku and will do whatever it takes to get back at him, such as trashing the very worlds he believes he saved. The Replica also considers Sora’s Nobody to be his best friend and views Namine, the Organization’s XIVth, as a love interest in a similar way that Riku does Kairi. However, where Riku keeps his feelings to himself, the Replica is more explicit, considering Namine to be ‘special’ and doing whatever it takes to make her happy, all while keeping his phantom promise.
Furthermore, he believes that he encountered Xemnas in front of Castle Oblivion, where he was given the offer to be 'reunited' with his friends again. Due to the false memories, it seems as though Xemnas and the Organization managed to recover Namine after she disappeared so long ago, and their motivations, while somewhat shifty, are perfectly acceptable to the Replica, as it is a way to hopefully get "Sora's" heart back.
Though he's far more disgruntled than Riku, when he's in the company of his friends he acts less arrogant and more like Riku himself, sarcasm included. He's just more protective. Were he to come across the likes of, say, Donald and Goofy, he'd try to convince them to ditch the "Fake" and come back to them. In fact, later in the story he encounters them alongside Riku in Traverse Town, trying to get them to come with him, only to become incredibly disappointed that they trust Riku over him. Even so, he wouldn't attack them directly, and a part of him blames DiZ for their behavior.
And as for Kairi, he views her as the Replica's "Accomplice" and an associate of DiZ. At times he's even considered trying to deal with her, too, only for XIII to suggest otherwise, as he considers her completely innocent. Suffice it to say, though they haven't met more than once, his view of Kairi isn't exactly positive.
At this point in the story the Replica is the main adversary, as the Organization is lurking in the shadows. Later on, however, he becomes a sort of anti-hero and change from being vengeful to accepting his existence as a replica and forming his own identity. More details on this will come later, however, as it won’t be for quite some time.
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As an Organization member, his time is spent on Heartless elimination missions, during which he takes the time to stir up trouble for Riku. At this point Hollow Bastion is the only world he's targeted, though he and XIII intend to head to Agrabah for a mission quite soon.
When they're not on missions, however, the trio heads to Neverland and visits the Big Ben clock tower to look at the stars. Occasionally they fly around, and a few times they've even encountered Peter Pan, who is blissfully unaware of the Replica's true nature, believing him to be the real deal.
But while the Replica and Riku's encounters have been sparse, already he has a plan formulating in the back of his mind. Should things get too out of hand, he intends to lead Riku to Castle Oblivion. There he'd settle things once and for all.
XIII:
He is the Organization’s thirteenth member. Unlike in canon, he does not adopt the name Roxas until much later, going by either “XIII” or “Sora”, nothing more. He shares the same set of memories as Riku’s Replica, but is much less vengeful than his best friend. Despite being a Nobody, he still believes strongly in his friendship and seems less obliged to cause destruction than the Replica. XIII believes that Riku’s memories are a lie and refuses to accept any proof otherwise. Above all else, he wants to be with his friends and refuses to let anything compromise this.
For more info, see pretendingly and revelationed's profiles.
DiZ:
Namine:
*more to come later*
Timeline:
Text.