The World That Never Was

The World That Never Was is a world featured in Kingdom Hearts II, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, and Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance.

The world of Organization XIII, it is home to a seemingly endless supply of Heartless and Nobodies. The Heartless seem to spawn more here due to how close The World That Never Was is to the darkness of Kingdom Hearts. The Organization controls the world from the Castle That Never Was, a massive fortress that floats weightlessly over the expansive Dark City.

Alley to Between
The Alley to Between (狭間につながる路地) hides a portal to Betwixt and Between. Sora, Donald, Goofy, and King Mickey used this portal to get into the world, thanks to Axel's sacrifice. The alley way connects to the main route that leads to the Castle That Never Was. There is the first Save Point of the world here.

Fragment Crossing
Fragment Crossing (断片を紡ぐ道) is a long series of winding streets that lead to Memory's Skyscraper. It is full of neon signs attached to vacant buildings as well as a power plant which seems to power some or all of the city. Many Shadow Heartless are here, but in Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, they are eventually replaced with Nobodies. Sora, Donald, Goofy, and King Mickey took this route on their way to the Castle That Never Was. Pluto also had an encounter with Axel here.

Memory's Skyscraper
Kioku no Matenrō (記憶の摩天楼) is a tall building in the World That Never Was. Located near the Castle That Never Was, the building kept watch over the residents of the Dark. On its front, it has a massive television screen that seems to flash images of memories of those nearby, although this feature is only visible in the FMV videos at the end of the first Kingdom Hearts game. A truck is visible flipped on its side in one corner of the area. Roxas was battling a legion of Neoshadows when Riku appeared at the top of the building, and after the two eliminated the Neoshadows, they began their duel.

After arriving at the World That Never Was, Sora was confronted by Roxas at Memory's Skyscraper, while two Samurai blocked Donald and Goofy. Sora and Roxas soon disappeared to the Station of Awakening, but Donald and Goofy claimed to not see Roxas.

During his battle with Xemnas, Sora was pulled into an area that included Memory's Skyscraper, called , in a battle similar to the one Roxas and Riku had.

In Dream Drop Distance, Memory's Skyscraper is accessible only for Riku.

Brink of Despair
The Brink of Despair (絶望を望む断崖) seems to have been made by the Castle That Never Was which hovers above it. Sora, Donald, Goofy, and King Mickey arrive here and access the castle via a path using the Keyblade. It has the second Save Point of this world.

Castle That Never Was
The Castle That Never Was is an enormous white castle that floats above the city, dominating its skyline. It is decorated all over with Nobody symbols.

The World of Nothing
After Xemnas's first defeat within Memory's Contortion, he flees into his Kingdom Hearts. However, a door appears that leads Sora and his friends within that Kingdom Hearts to an area named "The World of Nothing". The first area inside the door is , a passageway resembling the Dark City where skyscrapers suddenly erupt from the ground in order to repel Sora. A strange black-and-white tunnel leads from this room to a platform looking out on the gigantic Nobody that Xemnas is riding. From there, Sora can climb falling skyscraper to walkways surrounding the lower cannons of the Nobody, . Once he destroys those, Sora swings his way up to the ship's Energy Core, which is kept in a room appropriately named . After disabling the ship's energy core, he makes it up , where Xemnas sits in his Keyblade Armor, enthroned atop the dragon Nobody's head in a chamber equipped with the weapons of the defeated Organization members. After completely destroying the gigantic Nobody, Sora and Riku are left in Kyomu no Sekai (虚無の世界), a nearly-empty void of shifting greys and whites where Xemnas makes his last attempt to destroy them. He fails, however, and the boys are deposited at the Dark Margin.

Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance
In Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, only Memory's Skyscraper, the Brink of Despair, and the Castle That Never Was are visited in the real world. Sora visits a dream of a dream of the World that Never Was, which appears more similar to the World of Nothing within Kingdom Hearts than the Dark City as it appears in Kingdom Hearts II. Whether or not the locations he visits exist in the real world version of the world is not yet known.

Avenue to Dreams
The Avenue to Dreams is a large urban area beginning with an enclosed alley featuring a save point and a Moogle hologram. Up a long flight of stairs lays a piece of destroyed building, blocking the path into the city that must be scaled to advance. Beyond is an area of twisting alleys surrounded by skyscrapers that can be scaled with Flowmotion. Several buildings are adorned in blue stripes with a geometric pattern and when stood upon, they raise up, throwing Sora into the air. Another building has similar white stripes and can be destroyed by using a Reality Shift. Perhaps the most notable feature of this area is a stream of blue-green mist that falls from the roof of a massive tower extremely similar to Memory's Skyscraper and flows through the streets. Beyond this tower, the pavement is revealed to be floating and broken, away from the rest of the city and leads off into a more urban area.

Contorted City
The Contorted City seems to emerge from a canyon of strange blue-green rock. Much of the architecture here is coated in blue-green mist, many buildings float of their own accord, attached to chunks of rock separate from the road, and several shake and swing. The blue markings appear again on the shaking section that is able to launch Sora skyward. Beyond several overturned buildings, a path of broken pavement and destroyed buildings forms an upward spiral. Neon strips and signs on the buildings can be traversed with Flowmotion. In several places, floating buildings marked with red symbols will hurtle toward Sora and must be destroyed with a Reality Shift or they will cause damage.

Nightmarish Abyss
The Nightmarish Abyss features a large open plaza surrounded on three sides by skyscrapers, with a crashed truck (identical to the one near Memory's Skyscraper) blocking access to a side-street. The fourth side drops off to an abyss that is spanned by floating skyscrapers laid on their sides, forming a mostly straight path between two cliff faces and leading toward what appears to be Memory's Skyscraper and the Castle That Never Was. Several neon strips appear here that can be traversed through Flowmotion, as in the Contorted City area.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
The World That Never Was has likely been the headquarters for Organization XIII since its creation. It remained so all the way through to Xemnas's death, even after the founding of Castle Oblivion as a secondary base. Meetings were held here, and members would return here when done with their missions. Up until the time of Sora's arrival on this world, it was a safe haven for Organization XIII.

When Roxas abandoned the Organization, he wandered for a short time through the streets of the Dark City, likely contemplating where to go to start his search for himself. Here, outside one of the many locked stores, Roxas met with Axel, who tried to stop him from leaving, warning him that the Organization would destroy him were he to leave. Roxas, stating that no one would miss him (were he to die), left a saddened Axel behind and moved along the streets to Memory's Skyscraper. Axel mutters that he would miss him, before Roxas disappeared into the darkness.

A few days later, Roxas returns to the city, hoping to engage Xemnas along with the other Organization XIII members, but instead he discovered multitudes of Heartless, sent to attack the Keyblade master while the Organization was not protecting him. Roxas fended off the hordes of Neoshadow Heartless, but realized he was too far outnumbered. It was then that he saw Riku atop the skyscraper. Using Roxas's Oblivion Keyblade, Riku helped the Nobody defeat all the Heartless (Roxas used his Oathkeeper).

The two then turned on each other and dueled. Roxas eventually defeated Riku, who had not yet mastered himself or control of the Keyblade. Riku used the darkness in his heart as a last resort and gained the form of Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, with his Guardian, to subdue Roxas. DiZ promptly arrived to find Riku-Ansem with his hood up, and the two took Roxas back to their secret base in Twilight Town.

Kingdom Hearts II
The World That Never Was continued to be used as a base of operations for the Organization throughout Kingdom Hearts II. Although their numbers continued to decrease, they still held meetings in the Castle That Never Was, and plotted a way to use the Keyblade.

Eventually, Sora arrived in the Dark City, with the help of the Organization's traitor, Axel. Making their way through the large amounts of Heartless, Sora, Donald, Goofy, and King Mickey fought to the center of the city, Memory's Skyscraper. Here, Samurai Nobodies appeared from nowhere, and Roxas appeared to Sora, challenging him to a fight. The two disappeared from the scene and while Donald and Goofy fought off the Samurai, Sora and Roxas dueled on the Station of Awakening.

After Roxas is defeated, he tells Sora that he's a "good other." The group then continues on to the Castle That Never Was. They make their way through the many levels of the castle, meeting up with Riku and Kairi, and finishing off the remaining members of the Organization.

After meeting with Ansem the Wise on one of the upper floors of the castle, the latter sacrifices his life in an attempt to destroy Xemnas's Kingdom Hearts, the blast returning Riku to his original form. The party makes their way to the top floor and finally defeat Xemnas.

During the extensive final battle with Xemnas, much of the Dark City and the Castle That Never Was is destroyed. Chunks of building were ripped up and thrown at Sora and Riku, and the main tower collapsed off the Castle. What ultimately happened to the World That Never Was following Xemnas's defeat remains unknown.

Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance
Sora arrives at The World That Never Was after he and Riku have successfully locked all seven sleeping Keyholes, wondering why he has not yet awoken from the realm of sleep. At this time, Xigbar suddenly appears and greets Sora, explaining "they" have been guiding him trough the Sleeping Worlds to this world since his exam began. That was possible because the mysterious man in the black robe was a version of Xehanort, thus allowing him to travel back in time, was there in that night when the Destiny Islands became a Sleeping World, just to be sure Sora ended there.

Xigbar then teleports above Sora, from where he launch various shots from his guns around Sora, which turns into various hooded figures, one of them being Young Xehanort. He then drops Sora into a second sleep and shows him a series of past events, explaining to him the laws of time travel that have allowed him to come to this point in time, knowing everything that is predestined to happen through the knowledge of his other selves. He shows Sora when Ansem visited him in the islands, explaining him his mission, and the various visits of Sora to Traverse Town, where Sora sees a large number of copies of him falling from the skies, as well as illusions of Donald, Goofy, Pluto and the King. When he tries to pursue them, Sora drops of to sleep.

Meanwhile, Riku arrives in The Castle That Never Was, wondering why he has not awoken yet with the exam supposed to be over. He travels through it to find Sora trapped in a sphere of darkness. He then holds Sora by his hand, trying to wake him up. The darkness around the sphere turns into the Anti Black Coat Nightmare, who Riku engages in battle.

When Sora awakens from the vision, he finds himself in the Dark City and pursues an image of Naminé, but when he catches up to her, she turns into Xion and pulls away, putting her hood up and running from Sora. Ignoring Riku's voice telling him to wake up, Sora continue going further in the city and again reaches her, but she lowers her hood to reveal she is now Roxas, who passes onto Sora his painful memories.

Riku defeats the Anti Black Coat and tries once again to wake Sora. Sora can hear Riku's voice again, telling the former that his dreams would lead him to a wakeless sleep. In spite of that, Sora continues through the city to a series of ruined skyscrapers. Riku is then swallowed by darkness and confronted by Ansem.

Meanwhile, in Sora's dream, he reaches an abyss with various floating skyscrapers, where he sees Kairi walking side by side with Riku. Sora tries to reach them, but they turn around and take the appearance of Aqua and Terra, while Sora takes on Ventus's appearance. Sora is incredibly confused, especially when Aqua and Terra turn around and walk away from him again, morphing back into visions of Kairi and Riku. Sora then hears Riku's words again, but ignoring them once more, Sora chases after them while everything starts to happen slowly. Suddenly, Riku seems to reach Sora. Both Kairi and Riku's visions disappear and the Memories's Skyscraper appear in front of Sora, from where a flash of light irradiates. A long-forgotten memory of meeting Aqua on the islands nearly twelve years prior is recalled, but Aqua suddenly turns into Ansem, and Sora is ejected from his dream, landing in front of Xigbar.

Sora then asks him if everything he just saw was placed in his mind by the Organization. Xigbar explains that was a dream, and that they really put him to sleep, but they could not put things in his head. Sora then says that Nobodies have hearts, just as Xion, Naminé and Roxas had. Xemnas then also appears.

Xigbar and Xemnas then explain to Sora that their plan was to divide Master Xehanort's heart among thirteen vessels, turning all members of Organization XIII into versions of Master Xehanort, once their Kingdom Hearts was complete, and to this end Xemnas concealed from the Organization members that over time Nobodies will form new hearts, the denial of their budding hearts making it easier to turn them into vessels for Master Xehanort's heart. Xigbar also taunts Sora's lack of power compared to his friends, since the Keyblade didn't even choose him, it is only those bonds with true Keyblade wielders that strengthen his heart enough to wield it himself. Angered over these revelations, Sora is left by Xigbar to battle Xemnas. Though Xemnas is defeated, Sora is exhausted and collapses, consumed in darkness. Young Xehanort then appears and tells him that they have successfully lured him into the deepest depths of sleep, and used the Recusant's Sigil —the "X" on Sora's shirt— to track his progress through the Sleeping Worlds and manipulate him into coming here. Then, he explains that his mission was to gather his twelve selves from throughout time to welcome Sora as their thirteenth member. Sora falls unconscious shortly after, calling Riku's name. He is then shown, unconscious, sitting in Where Nothing Gathers. However, in the depths of his heart, when Sora's heart was to be consumed by darkness, Ven's heart grants Sora his Keyblade Armor for protection.

Ansem reveals that Riku is actually a Dream Eater, and, over the course of the exam, has been purifying Sora's dreams of Nightmares. Ansem attempts to take over Riku's body again, but remembering his secret encounter with Terra, Riku resolves to make his inner darkness his own power for good and make Ansem become part of his light. Then the two battle each other once more. Ultimately, Riku prevails and returns to The World That Never Was at Memory's Skyscraper, and heads to the Castle That Never Was to find Sora and save him. To reach the castle, he needs to use his Dream Eater powers together with his Komory Bat and Sora's Meow Wow, the ones he still has because Sora is still asleep.

At Where Nothing Gathers, Riku finds the unconscious Sora but is blocked from him by Young Xehanort. He then explains to Riku that the twelfth intended vessel was to be him, but since he built a resistance to darkness, Sora was forced to replace him. Roxas was also failed to be usable, since he reunited with Sora. Despite the two Keyblade Wielders' interference, they have enough members for their plan. The cloaked members of the True Organizaion XIII materialize on the thrones, a font of darkness that Young Xehanort says will become Master Xehanort forming on the highest throne. King Mickey suddenly arrives and freezes the group with Stopza, but Young Xehanort recovers and knocks him away, summoning a Keyblade and causing Mickey to realize that Master Xehanort has transferred his consciousness to his younger self. Young Xehanort teleports Riku to an arena and battles him, but is defeated. Upon Riku's defeat of Young Xehanort, Mickey's spell breaks and Master Xehanort reforms.

Master Xehanort explains that he plans to create the χ-blade again, after his experiment with Ven and Vanitas proved a failure. The true χ-blade shattered into seven lights and thirteen darknesses at the end of the Keyblade War, and Master Xehanort will now recreate it by infusing thirteen vessels of darkness and clashing them with seven lights. Master Xehanort then prepares to turn Sora into his final vessel as Xemnas and Ansem subdue Riku and Mickey. However, Lea arrives and protects Sora. A member of the Organization attacks Lea during the encounter, his hood blowing back to reveal Saïx. Surprised, both Riku and Mickey escapes, and the three of them prepare to go away, but Ansem summons his Guardian, who grabs Riku and Mickey again. Fortunately, the Guardian is defeated by Donald and Goofy, who arrive via Mickey's old Star Shard.

As the members of the Organization aside from Master Xehanort begin to fade into darkness, Master Xehanort noting that the time afforded to them by Young Xehanort's time travel has expired and they must now return to their proper places in time. However, his revival has been a success, and in time he remains confident that the pieces for his plan will show themselves. Master Xehanort also departs, and Riku and the group retrieve Sora to the Mysterious Tower.