They say, with enough abandoned hearts, one could revive a person or creature from the dead, regardless of how long it has been deceased. With that revival, the newly form clay body, an exact replica of the formally deceased life, is at its reviver’s mercy; only to obey them, and by no one else. However there’s a catch: the clay bodies, the “things” act just as robots do. You never know when, or how, they’ll become smarter, more capable, and turn on you.

“Breaking News,” reported the stereo effected voice coming through on Cid’s computer, “more children all across Hollow Bastion of all ages, races, and genders have gone missing. In fact, today by noon time twenty-one were reported, and never found so far on the police’s frantic searches, nor have the past children been found. It’s almost as if they vanished into thin air, if you believe in such fairy tales,”

“Dammit,” grunted the rough and tough Cid, taking another mouth full of his canned coffee.
“Schools are ordered to shut down, and parents and guardians advised to keep children in door and under careful watch, until the problem is fixed and the whereabouts of the missing kids uncovered.” With that, the spunky female reporter was out, switching to a middle aged man with thinning hair discussing the terrible storm front moving in on these gloomy times.
“Now do you see our problem guys?” Aeris turned to her traveling trio of friends she called upon out of the blue in hopes they can vindicate this mess: Sora, Donald, and Goofy, the same three that saved countless worlds from the heartless, and continue to this day on their quest of discovery on many topics.
Sora nodded, and turned to Donald and Goofy. “You think this could be the work of the heartless?”
“Dunno. Gawrsh, what does Leon think? He always seems to have the be leveled head in the group…”
“That’s leveled head Goofy,” Yuffie came up from behind the dog, without a sound thanks to her experience in ninjutsu. “and he went investigating already.”
“We’d better go find him and help out,” Sora made his way to the grand oak front door, only to be stopped by the splendid magician Merlon in a puff of pink and purple smoke, accompanied by sparkles, of course.
“Hold it right there young man! Have you forgotten that you are not long in the tooth, regardless of how much you’ve grown. These fiends are after children of all ages.”
“But!”
“Aw c’mon Merlon,” Donald protested, moving to his buddy’s side. “He’s the Keyblade master!”
He contemplated this, reviewing the noticeable achievements Sora had made, then moved out of their way. “Just be careful.”
“Thanks Merlon!” Sora shouted over his shoulder, as he already bolted out the door, heading for the bailey. After all, from past experiences, Sora knew Leon tended to start his “adventures” there at the bailey, and if he was no longer there, they could dig up clues on his whereabouts. But just as the gang approached even closer to the bailey, Sora noticed for the first time that Donald Goofy weren’t with him. His head shifted swiftly from left to right, front and back, but couldn’t find them anywhere. Something caught his eye however: a girl, a few years older than him, maybe the same age as Yuffie, stood before him. She was dressed all in black, almost like an Asian styled cloak with the hood hung down, revealing short brown hair. When she lifted her head she revealed crystal green eyes, similar to those of someone he met in the past, an enemy, but couldn’t remember the face nor the name. He blinked, and without ever witnessing her movement, she was suddenly inches from his face, her dead cold hand with somewhat short black nails pressed comfortingly against his cheek. He was startled, and jumped back, losing her hand’s placement on his face. She smiled; a smile containing both wickedness but cynical innocence.

She spoke: “Didn’t mean to frighten you, I’m sorry.”
“N-no, you didn’t, really. But you should get indoors, there’s something out here stealing away kids.”
“…I want to see it.”
This startled his more than her being close physically to him. “What? Why?”
“You ask why, I ask why not.”
“Really, you gotta get awa-“ he stopped mid-sentenced, to see that when she place her hand on his body, it solidified. But when he imitated the action to her, his became tangible. With that, the empty streets and the stone walls surrounding it became liquefied, and melted all before them. He became scared, but he should have been use to this after the schemes he was involved in, right?
“What’s happening?”
“Be careful Sora, you don’t know what you’re messing with,” the girl warned, and then everything went black. Sora had passed out due to this hallucination, and was left in the middle of the deserted street, open for any attack this thing kidnapping kids could dish out.