The Interference (story)

The Interference is the first story in the Interference series. It tells the story of Alexander Karsath and his first Interference in the world of Kingdom Hearts II.

FFDN Summary
"A young man wakes up to find himself living through the game Kingdom Hearts II! He has great potential to change the game, but the universe also has the potential to change him in return. In this, a boy learns his potential."

The First Six Days
On the first of August, Alex wakes up from his sleep to discover that his apartment has been moved into Twilight Town. When investigating, he learns that he has been given an alibi as a new tenant who moved into the Market Street apartment the previous day. Happy about being dropped into a fantasy world, he finds Hayner, Pence and Olette, who show him around town. During the tour, he decides to act unknowledgable about the area and let them explain. From a conversation with them, he garners that he has not just entered Twilight Town, but has actually ended up on the first day of Kingdom Hearts II, which places Sora's awakening in five days.

The next day, the 'photo thief' event from the game's first day plays out - photos are going missing, Seifer and his gang accuse Hayner and his friends and, just like the game, a Dusk is the real photograph thief. Mysteriously, it has now targeted Alex, who while fighting it discovers that he has been given a weapon called the Lockshield in order to fight it. After defeating it, Alex explains to the Twilight Town trio about Nobodies, and Hayner suggests that he compete in the Struggle tournament to get combat practice.

On the third day, Alex goes looking for more Dusks, leaving the others to their money collecting. However, in attempting to fight off the ones that are following him, he makes the mistake of climbing the train station's clock tower, and is driven into falling from the platform at the face. In that moment, the shock of the fall forces him into a Dive Into the Heart, which pits him unsuccessfully against Darkside and Twilight Thorn at the same time. He falls totally into unconsciousness and hits the ground, where he is found by the trio, who fend off the Nobodies and revive him. He is left with no choice but to explain the situation, including the town's fictional nature. To the others' surprise, Hayner finally decides that they're all real now, and that's what matters.

On the fourth day, Alex and Hayner both compete in the Struggle tournament, with the intent to at least make it to the finals. However, one of the other contestants, Vivi, is mysteriously competent and ruthless in his fighting strategies. Alex notes the similarity to the games events and, true enough, Vivi is actually a Dusk in disguise, with more of them appearing to fight. Seifer, Hayner and Alex fend off the Dusks until a figure in a black cloak appears, who reveals himself to be Saïx, a member of Organisation XIII. Saïx offers Alex a choice - come by choice or by force - which he refuses. The three of them battle him for a while before he retreats, returning Vivi. The tournament restarts with Alex beating the current champion, and he and the Twilight Town trio split the prize.

On the fifth day, the three teenagers are discussing their group independent study project for school. Alex tries to shove them towards the article they create in the game, about the Seven Wonders of Twilight Town, but his words accidentally push them towards creating an article about Nobodies instead. Leaving them to it, Alex enters the forest and accepts the Lockshield's darkness, putting him back into his Dive Into the Heart, where he successfully completes the battle against the two bosses and earns the ability to call the weapon of his own will. Returning, he discovers that this time he has been unconscious for hours and the report has been completed.

On the sixth day, Sora's awakening day, Alex leaves to explore the mansion. However, he is stopped by the Twilight Town trio and Seifer's gang, who all decide to help him. The eight of them journey into the building, fighting off Nobodies and discovering a basement route in the library, inside which they find a computer system. Alex stops them from going ahead and continues alone, fighting Demyx, and then discovering Donald and Goofy in pods.

Main Story
Donald and Goofy are released in front of Alex, startling him. When Donald reacts angrily to his appearance, Alex only explains where they are and that he found them, and guides the two of them to Sora's pod in the next room. Sora is then released, and reunites with his travelling partners, who try to recap events and figure out why they were asleep. However, according to Jiminy Cricket, the journal they have been keeping their adventures in is mysteriously blank, with only the message 'thank Naminé' written down. Alex leads them back outside from there and they split up.

Sora, Donald and Goofy explore the town looking for information and end up in the Usual Spot. Olette hands him the independent study paper folded up, before they leave to chase a clue of the appearance of King Mickey. Alex, meanwhile, heads to the Station Plaza. As Sora, Donald and Goofy catch up to Alex and begin to ask questions, a group of Nobodies assault them, for which Mickey appears to rescue them. He reveals that he knows about Alex and asks Sora to take him with them on their journey, then directs them to Yen Sid's tower and disappears. On the train to the tower, the trio ask Alex questions, which he refuses to answer.

Upon exiting the train, they run into Pete in front of the tower, who is attempting to turn Yen Sid into a Heartless. Alex briefly reveals his knowledge of some information about their journey before they fight his 'Heartless Squad', after which Pete flees, and they progress up the tower. At the top of the tower, after Alex further stalls, they greet Yen Sid, who explains both the oncoming task as he does in the game, and then explains that Alex is an Interference, revealing the original, fictional nature of their universe. While having a poor initial reaction to the information, Sora, Donald and Goofy settle, and prepare for their journey, with both Sora and Alex gaining new clothing courtesy of the three good fairies in the tower's other room. Alex is also given a task - close Dark Corridors to thoroughly prevent the Heartless invading each world.

The new party set off in their recovered Gummi Ship to Hollow Bastion, where they reunite with Leon, Aerith, Cid, Yuffie, and Merlin, who reveal that the town and castle have begun reconstruction over the past year. They also reveal that a giant keep with the Heartless Emblem has sprung up in the canyons outside the city walls. While at the Bailey, Organisation XIII mounts a small attack on the city gate, and then reveals itself to Sora, with Xigbar in particular leaving cryptic clues, which Alex assumes are about Roxas. Just then, Sora's HBRC card glows and reveals the gate keyhole, and the four of them decide to move on.

Major Plot Points

 * Alex interferes in his first game world by accident.
 * Alex first gains the Lockshield and Joumae.
 * The World comes into existence, and all of its characters with it.
 * Organisation XIII is encountered and defeated.
 * Axel/Lea is rescued.

Changes from Game Canon
Many changes from the game's events occur in the first six chapters, as it is unclear whether the Virtual Twilight Town's events were ever mirrored by the real Twilight Town's in any way.
 * The 'photo thief' event in the game happens in the Virtual Twilight Town on the first day. In the fic, a real version of the event happens on the second day in reaction to Alex's appearance.
 * The virtual Hayner, Pence and Olette's independent study was on local rumours at Sunset Terrace, which is based on one of Roxas' memories of the real Pence researching the rumours on his own. However, Pence quickly finds out that many of the rumours are all false; as such, Hayner, Pence and Olette are implied to have never come up with a subject for their study. There is no paper, therefore, handed to Sora, and Yen Sid briefly explains the Nobodies himself.
 * During the second Twilight Town visit, Kairi is kidnapped by Axel while Sora, Donald and Goofy are distracted. She never becomes a party member.
 * Because Axel is not fought during that visit, Roxas' boss battle occurs near the end of the game.
 * In Betwixt and Between, Axel sacrifices himself to protect Sora by performing a suicide bomb attack, and slowly dies in front of Sora remarking on his and Roxas's friendship, and where to find Kairi. This is also what originally triggers Roxas' boss battle a few rooms later.
 * Sora fights Saïx's boss battle in the Addled Impasse in the game during a series of run-on boss battles. In the fic, Alex and King Mickey fight Saïx slightly earlier in the Hall of Empty Melodies, where Saïx appears in a cutscene.