Dive to the Heart

The Awakening is a location which appears in Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II. It is framed as a world within a dream, though the events which occur within it have a real effect on the waking world, and in one instance they are actually observed by outside forces. In terms of gameplay, the purpose of the Awakening is to serve as a tutorial level, where the player will learn the controls of the game, choose how their character will grow, and fight their first boss. The player is guided through the Awakening by an inaudible, unseen "voice" whose identity is uncertain.

To reinforce the dreamlike setting of the Awakening, Sora and Roxas both reach it by falling into an ocean. However, instead of drowning they find that they can breathe, and land upon an ocean floor which erupts into doves, revealing the Awakening. The Awakening is composed of several enormous, illuminated stained-glass pillars known as "Stations", rising from unseen depths of eternal darkness, each of them a different shade and depicting a specific set of characters. In the first game, there is an additional area of the Awakening based on the Destiny Islands. The background music, "Dive Into the Heart (Destati)", initially begins quietly and hard to hear, but grows in intensity as Sora or Roxas approach the final pillar, where they fight a manifestation of the darkness within them. At the end of their battle with the creature the Awakening is consumed by the darkness emanating from it, dragging Sora or Roxas with it, but they either wake up or are rescued.

Kingdom Hearts
Each pillar had a unique theme and tutorial. The first pillar held the movement tutorial, and determined how Sora's stats would grow by leveling up. The player also had the choice to accept and then turn down two weapons (either the Dream Sword, the Dream Shield, or the Dream Rod). The second pillar held the battle tutorial, and marked the first appearance of the Shadow enemy. The third pillar held the interactions tutorial. The player would have to open a treasure chest, move a crate, destroy a barrel, and open a door. The door led to the Destiny Islands area. There, Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie each asked Sora a personal question. Depending on what the player answered to each question, Sora would either level up quickly until level 40, then slow significantly (called "Starting at Morning"), level up evenly throughout the game (called "Starting at Midday"), or level up slowly until level 40 then speed up significantly (called "Starting at Evening").

The pillar that followed the area held the progress tutorial. It also had the first Save Space in the game. The final pillar held only a fearsome warning before a boss battle with Darkside. At the end of the battle, the Awakening supposedly fell into darkness.

At the completion of each area, with the exception of the third and fourth, the pillar would be destroyed in some way. It may be noted that of the Disney characters pictured on the flooring, all the destroyed pillars depict characters whose worlds were destroyed by Maleficent.

The door and the false Destiny Islands reappear at the Final Rest within End of the World, but this time they contain the final confrontation with Ansem, and Kingdom Hearts itself.

Kingdom Hearts II
Roxas' Awakening, however, only has four pillars, known as the Station of Serenity (one pillar, blue), the Station of Tranquility and the Station of Awakening (one of these stations has three pillars, one green, one orange, and one yellow). All pillars have artwork of Sora in his Kingdom Hearts outfit, thumbnails of Donald, Goofy, Riku and Kairi, as well as sea and sun, representing Destiny Islands. Similar to Sora's Awakening, Roxas' Awakening ends up being consumed by darkness.

Sora fights Roxas in the Station of Awakening.

The Stations
Each pillar depicts a Disney princess, specifically the Princesses of Heart. All Princesses shown are depicted as sleeping, making a reference perhaps to that they have been captured and are in their sleep-like state in Hollow Bastion.
 * Green Pillar = Snow White, with the Seven Dwarves, the animals and even the Evil Queen, in her hag form. Note that all are depicted as awake, like the Beast, possibly hinting that the Dwarves, the Evil Queen and many of the animals somehow survived their world (or that it wasn't destroyed at all).
 * Purple Pillar = Cinderella
 * Pink Pillar = Alice, Jasmine and Kairi (This pillar actually depicts three silhouettes of the stereotypical princess image, one of which resembles Alice. This pillar hints that there must be three more Princesses of Heart not yet captured.)
 * Red Pillar = Aurora, and the three Good Fairies (Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather), whom are believed to reside (fully, if not part-time) in Yen Sid's' Tower in Twilight Town, and also "Maleficent", showing her in the form of her disappearing, where she melts into the V-like shape with the green orb of her staff overhead. This picture is shown in the movie of "Sleeping Beauty".
 * Yellow Pillar = Belle (Note that the Beast is represented as the only character on the pillar that is awake, possibly referencing that he survived his world's destruction and was currently looking for Belle)