Chapter 1

Five months later

It had been five months since the fight with Sephiroth and Dark, and now Xemnas, Saix and Axel were staying in Destiny Islands to live, so all was well for some time.

The group had gone to many worlds for fun and to visit or in some cases greet other people, although they had also managed to return to the game worlds to play games... mainly.

But as for Xemnas, Terra's words of him being an experiment caused a lot of controversy like 'where was he built,' or, 'what purpose was he built for' 'and 'was he for war or peace' so he frequently went to Ansem in Hollow Bastion for tests to hopefully determine what would become of him.

As for Torch and Narcore, they hadn't spoken since that time, and the only letter that they figured was from Narcore... was to 'stay out of the way'....nothing more was heard about them. However the heartless count in that region of interspace had calmed a bit so they decided that things were doing just fine and to leave them be... even though Sora wanted to visit again.

Still all was well... till one day Xemnas had started to hole himself in his house for hours without making a peep, and it wasn't long before he went missing all together.

On that day questions arose about why he left, some said 'he needed time alone' or 'he wasn't really going to stay' still, others figured it had something to do with getting experimented on every week.

But Axel knew what his former boss left for, and he could hear it echo in his head 'Yes Axel, in that event I need you to escape, and find the building in this photo. I've had this for as long as I know and it bothers me so I need you to find what is there.' Xemnas left to find the building in that photo... his original home.

So it wasn't long till the team regrouped to chase after Xemnas, that they decided to leave out Kairi after she went against disturbing him... truth was it had been a week since his disappearance and there were a few things to be sorted out. So they headed out to the island to chat.

"Look, I'm telling you, that building is his home, and that's where he went." Axel insisted, pointing to the photo.

Riku felt it was more than that though, "But why? It upset Xemnas to remember he was an experiment."

"I've known him long enough Riku, Xemnas' curiosity knows no bounds... if it had anything to do with him, then he would do anything to pursue it.

"But still we have to find him, and we still have one gummi ship left." Sora just wanted to hurry and get it over with, although they still had barely got a break from the last journey.

And they still were experiencing effects from the last journey to this day, The Void had disbanded and now hung around like a fog, Dispair still lie in the last place that Terra was seen alive, and for some reason, Emnex was not doing his job still.

But it didn't matter, Sephiroth was dead and so was Dark, though Cloud was still edgy, thinking Sephiroth could come back at any time.

Still, it was time to go on a Xemnas hunt, but before they could board Sora's gummi ship, another one came rip-roaring out of the sky and crashed into the shore just in front of them.

Slowly a woman climbed out to greet them, and Sora was the first to notice she was pregnant and very panicked.

"Oh, thank god I found you!" the woman was obviously searching for a long time, and she nearly fainted upon seeing them, "You have to help me, they are trying to kill my baby!"

Sora was disturbed by what she said and they all got her inside a nearby shed to talk.

"So, who is after you, and why!?" Sora asked frantically, hoping to learn who and put an end to that.

The woman named Yuffina could only stare at the ground, "Torch didn't want you to know, but some of her machines are after my child, it's because he is the next to rule darkness in The Void. My husband and I named him Zenith."

Riku jumped at Torch's name, "What? Her? No way! Torch isn't like that! It's probably Narcore."

"No, I met with her after your journey, just to visit, but she wasn't happy..."

Flashback

"You do know that he can grow up just like him, just like Dark." Torch wouldn't face the mother of a possible tyrant. "As for Dark, you know what he did to my city..."

"You didn't tell them the true story did you? The real reason heartless are in the city and the reason you had to shoot down three buildings?"

Torch by now was crunching the chair she was gripping onto, "And just who did that!" She was now facing Yuffina and glaring daggers. "Your husband! That's who! Do not sympathize with me while you carry his spawn... you have no idea how many were killed that day!"

End Flashback

"She never told you the real story I see. Dark, for fun, put darkness into the core of the planet, giving a nonstop heartless spawn point that will last for one thousand years, and on that day, Torch shot down three buildings in panic... there were few survivors."

Riku was stunned. "She never told us that."

"But we got rid of Dark." Saix insisted. "Shouldn't that stop the heartless?"

"No, what Dark did was permanent, so now I need to know if Zenith will live. You went to the past, then you should go to the future too, please... I... I must see him alive."

Of course, Sora didn't stop to think as they boarded the ship and headed to Hollow Bastion.

Meanwhile, in the desert, Xemnas had found the site of the laboratory that he was created in, and he had to find the proof of Terra's words, but even now he had mixed feelings about going inside.

[Was Terra right?] Xemnas asked himself as he headed to the door to peek in, inside it was like what it was expected to be, a perfect lab for Vexen or...

"Hojo would like it here, enough stasis tubes and specimens to keep him happy."

Xemnas nearly died, he thought he was alone. "You scared the shit out of me Ax..., Seph... i... roth!"

Sephiroth shrugged. "We met in my world. Don't tell me you forget me already?"

Xemnas was about to draw his sabers when that parallel universe came to mind. "Wait. Do you mean you left your world to come here? Do you realize what you are doing!?"

Sephiroth shrugged. "So what? They deserve it for doing what they did to mother. They placed her in a tube for planet's sake. Every person on that planet deserves to perish, not to mention what they did to make me!"

Xemnas leaned back as he listened. "So you came back because we have that in common?"

Sephiroth was stunned, although he did know that Xemnas had gone to see a laboratory. "I... had no idea, you are a monster too?"

Xemnas raised an eyebrow. "Monster? No, I'm an experiment."

"Like me, why did you come here? Doesn't it anger you... to know the truth?"

Xemnas shook his head. "No, not that much. Heck, I'd rather know then not know." He slowly turned and opened the door behind him. "Because at least I know who I am now, before that I didn't really know."

Sephiroth was silent, here he was angry as sin but yet Xemnas in a similar complex took it fairly well, and he didn't seem angry at all. But what was the difference that made Xemnas handle it so well and not him?

By now though, Xemnas had walked into the building so Sephiroth followed him inside, as he was eager to learn what set the two apart so much. Yet he also wanted to know why they were similar.

Inside the building revealed a grizzly sight, it seemed that Xemnas wasn't the only one that was created.

Sephiroth was disgusted by the sight. "Monsters, all of them... what a disgusting sight."

Xemnas glanced around at the experiments. "Hmm I have to say that being a scientist myself, it doesn't really bother me."

"Scientist? Nothing like Hojo I hope."

"No, I never created a person before, I mainly worked with light and darkness. I never made monsters, just heartless."

"Oh, that's another thing I was wondering about, what is a heartless?"

Xemnas looked back and answered plainly. "Manifestations of darkness, creatures that embody the very essence of darkness. I really can't explain it further so you'll have to see one for yourself."

So while the two walked through the laboratory, Sora and the rest of the team had landed at Hollow Bastion to speak to Merlin who was against what Yuffina was asking.

"Go to the future, you my lady are crazy!" Merlin got up and clenched his fists to show he wasn't going to budge on this one. "One can learn too much from being that reckless."

Yuffina was determined though she had to see Zenith alive and well. "But I must see him! I will not allow my child to die from Torch and her crazy machines."

"Wait!" Sora piped up. "Isn't that against the law to take another life like that?"

Yuffina sighed. "Torch rules that entire city, in her eyes it is not a crime... she is still bitter from all that which Dark did to her."

"Whoa! So Torch is like a queen or a governor! She seemed normal to me." Riku seemed excited at the news.

"No, she is neither, she is a ruler... she gives herself no title."

Axel was still looking at the photo, the whole time worried about Xemnas, [Xemnas why did you go there?] he was worried his former boss would do something drastic. "Guys, do you mind if I go after Xemnas?"

Saix looked at Axel and sneered. "You act as if you care, you the double crosser! If anyone is going after the Superior, it will be me."

Axel held his head in shame, it was true he betrayed everyone but now was different. "Look, Saix. You are not the only loyal one, I'm just not a lapdog!"

Saix whipped out his claymore, "Oh, you want it, bring it traitor!"

Axel summoned his chakrams and glared back, "You want to be humbled that badly, well come on."

And so the two walked outside to settle their dispute like normal, with weapons and a lot of pain.

Sora shrugged, "Well, when should we break up this fight?"

Riku grabbed Way to the Dawn and gestured to Sora to follow. "Come on, let's make it quick."

And so the two left the room to stop the war going on outside, which ended up taking the rest of the day to handle.

Later on that night, Yuffina couldn't sleep and had crept over to Merlin's house. Sora ended up following to find her with Merlin's wand.

"Hey, put that down, did you hear what he said about going to the future?"

Yuffina never listened and waved the wand, unleashing waves of magic.

Sora started running now and got out his keyblade to suppress the magic, but by the time he got over to her a vortex had been created under them and they fell in.

Riku woke next and looked over to find Sora, "Sora! Did you hear the storm brewing out there, Sora?" noticing that Sora was gone he took a better look outside, "Holy crap that's no storm! Saix, Axel wake up! We need to go get Ansem now!"

Axel was barely awake and stumbled over to the window. "What's that?"

Saix was also at the window. "Maybe we should have found Xemnas first."

At that point a black gummi ship came flying over and came down to investigate.

Saix looked up as the ship circled coming down lower and lower till he realized it was caught in the swirling vortex. "Superior!" He screamed as he ran outside but the ship was sucked in before he had a chance to get there, and it was no surprise when Riku had grabbed the panicking berserker to stop him from going next.

Axel had already run to the castle, and was pounding on the door. "Ansem the Wise, wake up!" he unfortunately got no answer, and so he ran back to Riku and Saix.

By now Saix had calmed a little but Riku's heartless was blocking his way.

"Guys, I got no answer from the castle, we've just got to go in." Axel had his mind made up when he saw the black ship go down.

And so the three looked at each other and then dove in.

Cloud had seen it too, but he was too late to stop them, so he ran back to tell Leon and hoped they were alright.