Kingdom Hearts:

The Truth Behind Xehanort

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Summary: Riku, Sora, and Kairi have finally returned to Destiny Islands after their two and a half year-long adventure across the universe. Things have finally settled down and everything has seemingly returned to the normal, boring way it was before. But when a letter from the King sets off a mysterious chain of events, can Riku save the one thing dearer to him than his friends? And better yet--what is this secret King Mickey has uncovered by going through the files on Ansem's computer...? "XEHANORT HAD A WHAT?!" "A fiancée, Riku. Xehanort had a fiancée." Pairings: Xehanort/OC; Suggested/Friendships: Any and All! (ie, Axel/RoxasSuggested, Zexion/LexaeusSuggested, Riku/SoraSuggested, Sora/KairiSuggested, Riku/Kairi/SoraSuggested, Zexion/DemyxSuggested, Xigbar/XaldinSuggested, etc.)

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Warnings: Major spoilers mixed in, bad language, hinted shonen-ai, possible/suggested (graphic?) character death, gruesome and multiple fight scenes, graphic torture, and possible (attempted?) (graphic?) suicide. Warnings are subject to change as story proceeds.

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Notes: 7-1-08 I don't own KH, FF(insert number here), any sort of anime/manga titles, or Disney, so anything related to them is not mine. I do, however, own my OCs, this storyline, and so on. Please excuse any problems with anyone's characters, as for about three of them, I truthfully have little to no experience and am going only on what I believe would be appropriate. And if you have any suggestions for anything, feel free to tell me! I enjoy flames, too--just not the perverted kind. X3

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LUCRECIA'S JOURNAL, PROLOG ONE:

MOTHER

((MKL: aka "background for the story and the keybladers' dramatic return!"))

Lucrecia was her name. Lucrecia Xen, mother of Riku Xen, current resident of a beautiful house next to the mayor's on the beach. She and Riku lived alone, and the story went that her old husband had been left behind when she and Riku moved to Destiny Islands, since he worked for a big-shot scientist on another planet. Lucrecia spoke only wonderful things about him, creating an almost fairy tale that entranced Riku for years. She only ever refered to him as "Dad" or "Father" around Riku, but he had once heard her call him "Xeha" when speaking with an old friend of the family that Riku never really met when he was only six.

That was the last time Riku heard of that friend, and Lucrecia had never brought up him or any other "old friends" since.

Riku and his mother had been outcasts when they first arrived, a black spot on the clean white rag of Destiny Islands, where every family had a mother, a father, and between two and six children. For two months they were basically ignored, until the mayor herself came and made Lucrecia her new secratery and introduced Riku to her grandson, Sora. The two had immidiately bonded and they were best friends ever since, and still are to this very day.

Everything went smoothly for seven years after that, at which point in time a young redheaded girl who was about nine years old appeared on a nearby beach and was immidiately taken under the care of the mayor, living in the same house as Sora and immidiately joining the two of them in their little journies to the island. Six more years passed, and then Riku voiced his oppinion about them building a raft so they could journey to other world.

The rest is, as they say, history.

During the first half of the three's two(and a half)-year absense, Lucrecia had an adventure of her own, but that will be explained later. All that matters is that, when Destiny Islands re-formed, she was sent back and absolutely frantic. She had searched every island in the whole of the planet looking for them, and come back with nothing but broken stories from the other people who had returned and information from Wakka that said he saw Sora going to the kids' island on his boat when the world was first destroyed. Lucrecia had followed up on that and found absolutely nothing.

When Riku, Sora, and Kairi first returned just two months after Lucrecia and the rest of Destiny Islands gave up hope, to say that she was in hysterics would be an understatement.

"Riku," Lucrecia gasped, hands going to her mouth as tears started up in her almost feline purple-blue eyes. Riku shifted uncomfortably in the doorway of their spacious house, head leaning forward so that his long, shaggy hair hid his eyes from her view.

"Mom," he mumbled quietly. Lucrecia exclaimed something incoherent and lunged forward, tackling her son (who was now almost an inch taller than her) in a hug and craddling him to her carefully, tears streaming down her face.

"Oh Riku, you're back," she sobbed, tucking his head under her chin and gently stroking his long silver-white hair. "Riku, you're back...you're back...you're all right, Riku...you're all right...!"

Riku neglected to respond, standing limply in his mother's arms as she continued to cry, her tears soaking onto his head. Nearly three minutes passed before Lucrecia regained control of herself and pulled back, smiling so widely that it looked like her face was about to split open as she grabbed Riku's hand.

"Come on, Riku. We have a lot of catching up to do. I want to know everything--where you were, what you did, who you met...everything!"

Riku looked a bit hesitant as he was pulled inside, but when he finally caught sight of the familiar setting of his living room, he visibly relaxed and a half-smile slowly spread across his face as he nodded. His mother led him into the kitchen and sat him down at the table as she walked over to the fridge, continuing to smile.

"Do you want something to drink or eat?" she asked him brightly. Riku gave a slight chuckle.

"I'm fine, Mom," he assured her. Lucrecia seemed to brighten even more at the sound of her son's laughter and grabbed two water bottles anyway, walking back to the table and sliding one to him. He caught it easily and stared down at it for a few moments, smile slowly falling as she sat down across from him.

Lucrecia, on the other hand, continued to smile re-assuringly. "Now I want to hear everything. What happened to you when the Islands were destroyed?"

Riku glanced up in surprise at that. "You remember?"

"Of course," Lucrecia chuckled, shaking her head. Her long, black hair gently hit her face, the blue traces coming out greatly in the gentle light filtering into the room and greatly contrasting her pale face. She glanced towards Riku again and chuckled once more at the shocked expression on his face. "I went on my own little adventure while you were gone in this place called 'Traverse Town'. It was quite entertaining, and I met some of the nicest people there..."

She died off and blinked in confusion when she saw how Riku was sitting there, ramrod-straight as his short fingernails of his right hand dug into the waterbottle, which was shaking a bit. "Something wrong, Riku?" she asked, slightly alarmed. Riku almost immidiately relaxed and the waterbottle stopped shaking as he quickly shook his head, managing to plaster on a fake smile.

"No, nothing," he quickly said. Lucrecia gave him a disbelieving look, her thin left eyebrow arched delicatly. Riku kept up the fake smile for a few moments before it slowly fell and he let out a quiet sigh, sea-blue gaze falling to stare at the waterbottle he was still clutching. "...I...don't want to talk about it."

Lucrecia gave him a long, hard look before finally sighing, smiling gently at him again and reaching out to take his left hand, which was laying out on the table before him. He glanced up in surprise as she gave a re-assuring squeeze, smile soft and kind. "We can talk about it when you're ready, then," she decided with quiet finality. "I'm just...happy to see you back unharmed."

Riku could not hold back his returning smile. Maybe...maybe things would be all right.

He was unware of the flickering form of Xehanort's Heartless that had appeared behind him, invisible to the other two in the room and smirking rather sadistically down at the scene before it. This whole thing was working out better than it had hoped. Its orange-red gaze drifted towards Lucrecia and its smirk widened.

It would not let this opportunity pass it by.