Hidden Truths

(A place of silence and darkness)

"Darkness," whispered a voice, old and accented. "Darkness now rules over your heart. It gives me control. Muscle and sinew that once obeyed you now rebels against you." The man smiled at this. "How you can even be here at all confounds the mind." He continued smiling confidently despite the opposition.

"It's still my heart," firmly stated his opponent, a young man with a peculiar metal shoulder piece, black hair, and strong build. "You think that you can simply come inside here and take over? I will not just sit by and let that happen. You won't use me to hurt anyone else."

"Hmph," the man snorted with that wicked smile. "Don't even entertain any notions whatsoever of escaping me boy."

They stood facing each other in an endless abyss of blackness. They were in the realm of the young man's mind, fighting for who had possession of his body. The older man, Xehanort by name, had fused his soul with the body of the youth named Terra. And now the two were fighting for control over their fused self; a fact that was very much noted by the older man. He raised his hands dramatically and his fingers began to flex and curl, an unusual tendency or quirk if you will of his, white leather gloves making stretching sounds.

"In the end," he continued quite confidently, "your heart shall be completely engulfed by mine forever."

"Wrong," calmly returned Terra. Xehanort's lips turned flat at this and his hands lowered slightly. "You're going to get shown the door old man." Xehanort's hands calmly returned to their original position behind his back, right holding the wrist of the left.

"As I do recall," the man calmly replied, his teeth showing in his smile, "you could barely begin to handle your own darkness. How then, shall you triumph over mine?"

Terra's blue eyes did not flinch, causing Xehanort to frown slightly in confusion. The youth merely gave a smile and closed his eyes before speaking. "You'll find out soon enough. Soon enough."

Xehanort's eyes widened a little as he pondered and stared at Terra in deep thought exposing the yellow of his own eyes. Then the old man's eyes narrowed, and his voice lowered a little. "Oh. So that's how it is, is it?" Terra calmly stood there, his smile confident at having caught his opponent off guard, but also secure in his own little advantage. "Someone else has already stepped foot inside of your heart. Eraques, you sly fox." The last statement was more a matter of musing out loud to himself.

Terra opened his eyes and his expression turned to determination. "I am not afraid anymore of the dark, what it holds for me." He placed his hand on his chest right where his heart beat. "Even if you do succeed in wresting control of my heart, even if you were to cast me down into the deepest and darkest of pits, you will never sway me from the one cause that keeps me fighting." He smiled. "Whatever the cost, I am ready to pay it." His hands clenched into fist by his sides, ready for any threatening reaction from the old man.

"Brave words to be sure," returned Xehanort calmly, hands coming from behind his back to his own sides loose and ready. "But I am a patient man," he continued politely, not budging. "We can take as much time as we need in here to settle this little 'property' dispute. However, know this," Terra's eyes narrowed angrily at this new threat, "You are just one of any number of different paths which I may choose to take."

Xehanort's smile was broad and unbending, his yellow eyes blazing with a terrible confidence and mystery. "Trust me, I have personally seen to that. Hm-hm-hmmmm." His chuckling was terrifying, and his little hidden threats added to his menace coupled with the narrowing of his eyes.