I deleted my last Kingdom Hearts story because I wasn't going anywhere with it. Instead, I posted this, which is just a little thing describing a theory I have about Ven in Birth by Sleep. It is based on anything I already know about the game through scans, mock-up ads and a Jump Festa trailer which was illegally filmed and then put on Youtube. I personally think it's a good theory. Also, it might seem a little bit weird at the beginning but try not to let that put you off (otherwise you're going to miss the really important theory).

So, I present to you my theory in all of its glory.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or any character affiliated with Disney or Square Enix

Sora… I'm so, so sorry. Can you ever find it in your infinite heart to forgive me?

Never… I'm sorry. But still…

Thank-you…

--

Ven appeared before a council.

He assumed the room was round – the floor was round – but he could see no walls or ceiling. There were stars in the blackness around him and stained glass windows in blue and purple floral designs. Above the windows was a white ring of indeterminable material with several people seated upon it. They were just dolls; figureheads to represent a real person somewhere out there in the universe. They were perfect down to the secrets hidden in their minds. He recognised a group of seven girls as the Princesses of Heart staring down at him. Lock, Shock and Barrel sat together beside Sally discussing the next bit of trouble they would cause. A black-maned lion lay sprawled out with his tail hanging down on the other side and a blue toucan sat on his back. Simba sat next to them, tall and proud. Squall Leonhart looked stoic as usual. Aerith seemed strangely sympathetic yet pleased at the same time. The King and Queen of Disney Castle sat side-by-side with a lanky-limbed, yellow dog. Megara crossed her arms and legs while Hades' assistants sat quietly beside her. Mulan had a seat beside the enchanted candelabra and clock of Beast's Castle. Aladdin broke a stolen melon and shared it with his monkey friend while they waited for something to happen. For some reason, Jane was alone until she was joined by Wendy and two lost boys. Ariel and her blonde mermaid friend swung their tails from their seats. Ven had no idea why Axel was there. Tidus, Wakka and Selphie sat in a group chatting idly. Riku preferred to sit in isolation.

Ven looked down from the audience and swallowed as he prepared to confront Sora – every last piece of him. Each had his own mini-throne. The ever-cocky and confident Valour form sat with one foot resting on his knee. Wisdom form sighed and netted his hands on his knees. Master form sent him a very calculating glare. Final form was the only one who showed any inkling of sympathy. The vampiric form examined his claws, wishing he was somewhere else. The merman's dolphin tail seemed to have as much flexibility as the mermaids' fish tails as he sat on his mini-throne looking apprehensive. A lion cub sat on his throne pawing at the seat every now and again. The techno form sat upright staring blankly. Anti-form didn't have his own chair. He stood and wandered around and between the mini-thrones every so often. He wasn't expected to speak anyway (to tell the truth, nobody knew if he could). Most important of all was the default Sora. He wasn't looking at Ven; he was staring at the floor. A little Sora approached from nowhere, it seemed, flanked by Donald Duck and Goofy. He broke away from his guardians and climbed up onto the default's lap. The default turned his gaze towards the boy and smiled. Donald and Goofy took up their respective places at default Sora's flank. Finally, the default Sora looked at Ven.

"Why are we here?" he asked.

Ven lowered his gaze. "I'm sorry…"

"As you should be," the lion barked suddenly.

"Shush!" Master form snapped, bringing a finger to his lips. "We're here to talk about the fate of Sora's heart, whether or not you're sorry is irrelevant."

"First of all," the techno form began, "why is Sora able to use the Keyblade? Riku was the desired wielder at first. It cannot be that the weapon simply changed its mind."

"Why isn't that a possibility?" asked the merman. "Isn't the one with the strongest heart allowed to control the Keyblade over everybody else? In short, isn't he the master if he simply chooses for his heart to be stronger?"

"That doesn't make any sense," Wisdom form replied. "You can't choose to have a stronger heart. It either is or it isn't."

"How ironic that the most puzzling element of the person can be so simple," the vampire mused.

"Focus!" Master form yelled. "Ven, would you shed some light on this?"

Ven glanced at the default. He was watching the child on his lap swing his legs. When his gaze switched it didn't fall on Ven, it went to Anti-form, skulking around behind the windows. He furrowed his eyebrows, hoping that he didn't wander too far away.

"Well," Ven said, "it was my fault."

Final form frowned. "Why did you do this?"

"To fulfil a promise and because I couldn't let history repeat itself. I had to correct Xehanort's mistake."

Master form shook his head. "Did you ever think that-?"

"And did you think this was all you could do?" Valour form interrupted. Master form snapped his mouth shut and glared at him. "Are you that much of a coward that you would rather taint an innocent soul than destroy the potential danger at the source yourself?"

"How the hell was going to do that?" Ven blurted out. "That Riku was the one who was corrupted in the first place."

"Don't talk about Riku that way!" growled the lion. "It's just about you and us now."

"Guillotine!" Master form snapped. "We've already established the reasons. Only ask appropriate questions."

"Why did you ask Terra to erase you?" asked Wisdom form. Master form bristled at being ignored. "Surely that would have the destroyed the purpose of becoming Sora."

Ven looked at his feet. "The original idea was that if I sent my heart to Kingdom Hearts, attacking the power source, I would start a chain reaction, in which a powerful interruption could be caused by a powerful heart joining the Great Heart while simultaneously an outside source tried to drain the power. A rupture would be caused in the Great Heart causing the energy to crash in and rip it apart, thus Kingdom Hearts would collapse and there would be no source."

"Are you serious?" Valour said. "Were you people dumb or just plain ignorant?"

"Neither," techno Sora said. "The battles of Terra, Ven and Xehanort predate the most revealing experiments of Ansem the Wise and his apprentices. Furthermore, when the results were published they were not made available to the general population for public safety and social order issues."

"Nevertheless, it is still-" Master form started.

"So you must have realised that that wasn't going to work," Valour said, interrupting Master yet again.

"There were too many variables, the timing would be important," Ven explained. "It was too complicated. I couldn't spend time planning it and while I was debating with myself the world was falling to pieces."

Anti-form crept closer, ducked behind Final form's mini-throne.

"How was it that Riku became so corrupted when Sora didn't? I mean, before you took things into your own hands," Final form asked.

"It was just his personality," Ven replied. "And his fate. Like Terra he was born to be the Keyblade Master."

"Only he didn't get to," the vampire finished with a grin.

Ven sighed. "No…"

"Why did Sora win?" Final form asked.

"Guillotine!" Master form decided. "This conversation is getting off topic."

"Ven only did what needed to be done," techno answered.

"Shut up!" Master shouted. "Necessity doesn't denounce the wrongness of it."

"Why don't you shut up?" Valour retorted. "We're not just arguing ethics here, we're talking one little boy versus the rest of the universe."

Donald and Goofy coughed. Valour rolled his eyes.

"Okay, one little boy and his stooges."

"We are arguing ethics!" Master form argued. "Ven comes here to ask for forgiveness! There's no way we can forgive him! Why are you objecting?"

"Hey, we all agreed that we can't forgive him," the lion added.

"We don't object," said the merman, after being quiet for so long. "What we need is answers. Why can Sora use the Keyblade? What will befall Sora if Ven is disposed of? Does Ven even exist anymore?"

"Who exactly are we talking to? Roxas?" Wisdom asked. "Technically, I think we are. After all, you did reappear after Sora lost his heart, but not so much because Sora lost his heart; it was because your semi-fused hearts were split by the dark Keyblade. Kairi's heart couldn't really be inside Sora, could it? But, Sora could give his heart to Kairi, effectively liberating the light that had been blocked by the darkness trying to seize it. Kairi's heart had no darkness within it, so it was impossible for her to become corrupted and lose it in such a trivial manner."

"It could not be that Kairi lost her heart," techno Sora clarified, "because to lose one's heart to the darkness, it must have its own inner corruption that foreign darkness can exploit."

"Then there's a bit of a problem," the vampire said, finally getting interested. "Ven reappeared – or should we say: Roxas was created – when Sora lost his heart. Why did Sora regain a body upon the return of his heart from Kairi? Surely, the heart would have to return to the Nobody."

"True, unless," Wisdom explained, "when Sora released his own heart by committing suicide, he actually split Ven's heart in order to free his own thus leaving the original body with one half of Ven's heart and the split body with the rejected half of Ven's heart. Half a heart is too weak for a body to sustain without being overrun by darkness, hence Sora became a Heartless. Ven, on the other hand, was re-embodied by the darkness, hence making him a Nobody with half a heart. So, Sora's Nobody was Ven's Nobody and had Ven's heart not been present at that time, Sora would have become an ordinary Heartless with a thirst for hearts and nothing more."

"We owe Ven," the lion grudgingly admit. "Even if we don't want to forgive him and we don't want him in here anymore, we owe him. Sora knows he owes Ven big time and that's why he's allowed him to stay on so long."

"Oh no!" Master form said, shaking his finger. "Never, ever say such a naïve thing as that! Everyone knows that Sora knows nothing."

Ven sent another glance towards the default Sora. The little one had found a piece of string in his pocket and now they were playing Cat's Cradle. He wondered why the default wouldn't do or say anything. Anti-form had seemingly disappeared. All of a sudden he reappeared behind the merman's mini-throne with a hiss. The merman squeaked.

"Oh my heart! Don't do that!" he gasped. Anti-form climbed up the back of the mini-throne and looked over the crown ornament on top.

"Kill, kill, kill… die, die, die… when the hearts are torn…"

The whispered, raspy voice of a dark creature that had never, ever uttered a syllable until now somehow echoed over every contour.

"Sora never realised that he killed them," Final form said. "Even without their humanity, they were still human."

"Or otherwise," Mickey interrupted from the audience.

"Yes, or otherwise," Final agreed.

"But," Ven argued, "You can't do anything with a Heartless or a Nobody. Once they've been converted there is no known way to restore them."

"Then what happened to Kairi and Sora?" asked the vampire. "Where did Naminé and Roxas come from? And who is Roxas?"

"Roxas is obviously a Nobody," Wisdom form replied. "He's a Nobody belonging to both Sora and Ven due to Ven's attachment to Sora's heart. But, unlike other Nobodies, he only existed stably because he had half of Ven's heart and by that point Ven's existence was on the verge of ceasing. Likewise, Sora used a similar method to save Kairi and his heart became a part of hers for a brief moment in time. When they split and Kairi returned Sora's heart to him, another Nobody was created in the darkness as a result of Kairi losing a part of her heart – which wasn't really hers to begin with. That's why Naminé had such powerful control over Sora's memories."

"This has taken far longer than necessary," Master form sighed, crossing his legs and putting his hands on his knee, "but we've finally answered the initial question. Ven, for the sake of rubbing salt into wounds: why is Sora able to wield the Keyblade?"

Ven bit his lip and sent a sour stare at Master form. "Because I gave him the power. If Riku was to follow Terra's footsteps then I had to stop him and correct Xehanort's mistake – the mistake of all Key bearers: wielding the Keyblade with darkness. As Sora knew all along, the greatest power in the universe, Kingdom Hearts, is made of light even though the power in greatest quantity is darkness. Consequently, the illusion of darkness being the greater power is created. Thousands of years ago, it was prophesised by the greatest ancestors of all the worlds that the Keyblade Master would bring hope and light but in the years that followed people only saw the would-be masters bring ruin and destruction. I felt it was time to correct the mistake. Sora would finally become the true Keyblade Master and bring the hope and light prophesised. I was right, wasn't I? I intruded upon Sora's heart, I attached myself and fed my power into him so that he would be able to wield the Keyblade before his time and end the Keyblade's vicious cycle of devastation. That was the only way even though it meant destroying part of him and turning it into me. Most of Sora's true self has been lost for the sake of the universe and for the sake of Sora's best friend. As you said, Sora knew nothing."

"He didn't realise that you were the reason for the changes in him," Master form said. "Despite your noble intentions, you still intruded upon another's heart and you still destroyed a part of him."

"Hang on," Final interjected. "This isn't fair. In the end Sora did turn that part of Ven into part of himself and Ven was about to disappear completely."

"Sora was not controlled by Ven in any way," techno Sora supplied. "Despite destroying parts of him that were truly Sora, instead of being able to control his actions Ven was smothered by Sora and forced to transmute into him, thus making Sora wholly Sora again."

"But alas," Valour said, "Sora then had to go and try to kill himself."

"That is not true!" Master form shouted. "Ven became a part of Sora but Ven's actions and intentions and abilities were still those of Ven and not Sora, even though they became Sora's they were always Ven's. If Sora had continued to fuse with Ven, Sora would have become Ven, completely losing his own heart and spawning his own Heartless, leaving Ven's heart with the body."

"Then it was lucky that Sora attempted suicide," the lion added. "Now that we're like this, we have power over this heart."

"And what shall we decide?" the merman asked. "Will we destroy him because of the pains he's caused or should we spare him for correcting the age-old mistake."

"We're going to destroy him!" Master form insisted.

"You don't have the final say!" Final form protested.

"I'm a part of Sora and I can!"

"As if you could!" the vampire quipped. "There's only one person here who gets any say when it comes to the final decision."

All eyes turned towards the default Sora. The little Sora in his lap blinked, confused by the sudden stares coming in this direction. He made a small noise in his throat and turned around to hug the default around his neck. The default tightly returned it as Anti-form snuck around the mini-throne, scaring Donald and Goofy, to gaze up at his master. He was real. His imperfect heart squeezed its darkness into Sora to prevent the refusion of the two hearts residing in the one boy. Anti-form could feel no fear. Although he may disappear when Sora didn't need him anymore, he felt no fear. He felt nothing and knew more.

The default Sora looked at Ven and finally spoke. "My life from now on is under the direct influence of my memories. Ven, I thank you for the memories but your heart is of no more use to me. I have the power of the Keyblade without your addition. If I destroy you now, there will be no after-effects.

"But still… thank-you.

"This is the end of your story and is finally the end of the subchapters of my chapters. I can turn a new page and begin the next chapter. This is all you will be able to do to thank me in return: free me."

The audience began to clap. It was slow and quiet at first, but then it became loud and quick. Ven was lost in the noise and the pain of being ripped apart from the inside. White hot scorches bulged before his eyes and finally engulfed him in a brilliant bloom.

--

Sora yawned and stretched on the sand. He looked up into the blue, cloudless sky. In his heart he felt as though some weight had disappeared and he was so light that he could just float away on the buoyancy of his heart alone. Suddenly Kairi's face appeared above him. He smiled at her.

"Watcha doin'?" she asked.

"I was taking a nap," Sora replied, stretching again to prove his point.

She giggled and sat beside him. "Same old Sora… you never change."

"Oh," Sora replied. Kairi furrowed her brow seeing his expression turn slightly disappointed. Then he suddenly laughed and sat up. "Oh! Well, I guess I understand then. But you know, Kairi, it's not possible for me to stay this way forever. I may be unchanged now but in the future I'm definitely gonna change. Yeah… you'll see."

He stood up and ran past her, down to the sea out at low tide. Kairi watched on confused. "But… I like you the way you are. Don't ever change…"

Sora took off his shoes and socks and jumped into the shallow waves. The water didn't reach the jetty and he and Kairi would be stuck here until the tide came in. He thought that perhaps he was already changing. He felt a liberty in his heart that he didn't understand; so free that he could sail across the endless ocean to meet an endless possibility of dreams and adventure.

Yep, there's my theory. If you are confused or you don't get it just say so and I'll add another chapter for the purpose of explaining how the theory works in a Q & A format.

I just thought my theory was worth mentioning to the world, and just so you know, if I write any more fanfics for Kingdom Hearts I'm likely to base it on this theory so you'll see me refer to this story in future stories. And I don't think it's that long, or that it's such a pain in the ass to read. I proofread and edited it as well as I could so if there are any spelling or grammar mistakes, shame on me.