Poor Unfortunate Souls

Summary: How did Zexion become a Nobody? Was it really that he betrayed Ansem, or was it something far more sinister?

Genre: Drama

Rating: T as a precaution.

Disclaimer: Genuine Drama. No added colors, flavors, or preservatives. Lemon juice added to preserve freshness.

T.A.R.N.S.: So, as per normal, I have been cycling through fandoms again when not working on my own stories, and this time I landed in Kingdom Hearts. This story was born after I began to wonder: if Ansem adopted Zexion/Ienzo after he was orphaned (as TV Tropes tells me he did) then Zexion/Ienzo blowing Ansem off like that to become a Nobody must have been either a brutal betrayal for Ansem and the worst case of teen angst ever, or something far more sinister. I decided it was the latter. Enjoy.

The chambers of the labs that had once before been a comfort now seemed to stare back coldly and blankly as Ansem was forced through them.

"You won't get away with this treachery, Braig," He warned his captor.

"I don't think you're the one giving the orders anymore, Lord Ansem," The Nobody, once one of Ansem's apprentices, replied. "And my name is Xigbar now."

Neither spoke again after that. Braig, Xigbar, whatever his name was now, was in a hurry to be done with whatever it was he was going to do. And Ansem had nothing to say to a traitor.

At the end of the hallway they reached a large room. As they entered, Ansem noticed that this had been one of the labs, which had since been retrofitted for some other purpose, the likes of which he wasn't even sure he wanted to guess. Most of the lab tables had been removed – only one was left near a door on the other side of the room – and a pit had been dug near the far wall, with high guard rails around in.

Waiting in the room were Even and Xehanort. It didn't surprise him to see Even here – the man had poisoned himself at least six times while testing different elixirs and potions. He had also poisoned Ienzo and Xehanort once each, and Braig twice, before the other apprentices wised up and turned down Even's request to help test his latest device. So Ansem was not surprised to see Even had turned. If no one else wanted to help him test his theories, he would test them on himself, and that apparently included dabbling in darkness.

That Xehanort was there, however, angered him, and he pulled away from Xigbar to face the other man. "I take you in, nurse you back to health, and allow you free use of everything I have, and this is how you repay me, Xehanort?" Ansem demanded.

Xehanort regarded him coolly. "Your opinion of me does not matter to me. All that matters to me is finding the ultimate power – the darkness in Kingdom Hearts."

"You're a fool." Ansem spat as Xigbar grabbed hold of his tied wrists and pulled him back. "You'll destroy the world!"

Xehanort ignored him and stepped over to the pit, gripping the guardrail tightly. "Have you ever seen the Heartless?" He asked Ansem. When the other man didn't answer, he said, "Let him look, Xigbar."

The other Nobody laughed and prodded his former master over to the guardrail. In the below were dozens of writhing black creatures. All were identical; bulbous, yellow eyed, with something resembling antennae on their heads.

"What have you done?" Ansem asked, looking at the creatures in shock.

"I have brought these Heartless here to determine if they really do eat hearts." Xemnas explained. "I will need this information when trying to access Kingdom Hearts."

For one brief moment, Ansem thought that Xehanort must be planning to throw him to the Heartless, then he heard voices through the open door on the other side of the room. "No! Xehanort, stop this now."

"Shut him up, Vexen." Even nodded, retrieved a long strip of cloth from a shelf on the wall, and proceeded to gag the king.

"You were experimenting on the darkness again?" Ienzo's voice drifted into the room. "Lord Ansem told everyone to stop. He's going to be mad with you."

"Don't you worry about him." Dilan replied. "He knows by now what's going on."

"What do you mean he knows by now?" Ienzo demanded. "And what's with that stupid coat you're wearing?"

Dilan didn't answer; at that moment, the hallway ended and the pair was standing in the room.

Ienzo clutched the book he'd been carrying closer to his chest and glanced around the room; realizing in one instant that everything was wrong. "What is this?" he demanded. "Xehanort, you finished the experiments with the darkness!"

"This is our next experiment," Xehanort said. "And my name now is Xemnas." He gave a slight nod to Dilan, who in one quick motion picked Ienzo up and tossed him into the pit of Heartless, ignoring Ansem's muffled protests.

"He'll either become a Nobody like us now, or just a Heartless." Vexen, who was watching at the guardrail, said to no one in particular.

Xemnas narrowed his eyes. "Do you think he's strong enough to become a Nobody?"

Vexen was leaning on the guardrail now, looking interestedly into the pit. "Why don't you come take a look for yourself?" He asked.

Xemnas stepped forward, and Xigbar, not wanting to miss the show, prodded Ansem forward so that they could both watch.

Before Ienzo had hit the bottom of the pit, he realized that whatever Xehanort was doing was betrayal and that while whatever was below him might not be lions like he'd read about in books where people were thrown to lions, they were probably just as bad.

His book landed beside as he hit the bottom of the pit with an audible thud. For a moment he felt to dazed to move, then, noting the black monsters lumbering towards him, he grabbed the only thing he had- the book – and started bashing the closest Heartless on the head with it.

From above, the four Nobodies watched with interest, their captive with anger.

"Who'da thought the kid had it in him?" Xigbar muttered, a tone of admiration in his voice.

Ansem, for his part, wished in that instance to be able to kill with a thought. To think that his own apprentices would stoop so low as to try and corrupt a child…!

Another Heartless vanished, its existence utterly erased. Several were gone now, but Ienzo had no time to count the ones he defeated; something inside of him was screaming to get out as fast as he possibly could.

But the monsters wouldn't stop coming…

Finally, one of them caught him from the side, knocking him to the ground. As soon as Ienzo hit the ground, the monster swarmed, burying him under their pulsing bodies.

Then, they went for his heart.

Ansem watched, helpless, as one of the Heartless attacked from the side. Ienzo had not been looking and the attack knocked him to the ground, allowing the Heartless to swarm him.

The child let out one brief cry before falling silent, and one of the monsters pulled away, hounded by several of its companions as it chewed up and swallowed something-

Ienzo's heart.

"Retrieve him." Xemans ordered calmly, and Dilan –if that was his name anymore - floated into the pit and used what looked like a blast of air to send the Heartless flying away, towards the walls of the pit. Underneath all the monsters, Ienzo lay deathly still.

Dilan reached down and picked the boy up, slinging him over his shoulder before floating back up out of the pit. He unceremoniously dropped Ienzo's body on the floor.

Xemnas looked at Vexen, who nodded. "He hasn't faded yet. I expect he is a Nobody now."

The other Nobody nodded, then reached over and pulled Ansem's gag off. "How could you do this, Xehanort!" Ansem demanded. "He was just a child!"

Xemnas ignored him. "Now master, I have been giving some thought as to what we should do with you. Let me show you a dark realm that I have seen once before, in the deep darkness of my memories."

He opened a swirling black portal, and Xigar and Dilan dragged Ansem to it.

The king looked back one last time at his treacherous apprentices, and said, defiant to the end, "You will not get away with this. Someone will stop you."

Xemnas met his stare evenly. "And I most certainly hope it is a Keyblade Weidler who does." He said, not quite sure why it was important but feeling the need to throw it out anyway.

With that, Xigbar and Xaldin threw him into the portal.

Behind, Ienzo bathed in a menacing black glow for one long moment, then it cleared, leaving the new Nobody lying on the floor, dressed entirely in black.

T.A.R.N.S.: I have finally exorcised this story from my mind. Good. It won't keep me up tonight.

So I'm sure some of you noticed that Aeleus was not present for this. In cannon he and Zexion are pretty close, and so I figured that he would have been a party to turning Zexion into a Heartless, though TV Tropes also tells me that Vexen helped raise Zexion. I dunno. Maybe Even's heart was cold as a parent and he didn't care? I haven't watched too many cut scenes from the new KH games, so I don't know, (but if you haven't watched the Jump Festa trailer yet, YOU NEED TOO. I won't say anything so I don't spoil it for you.)

I just thought it was really sad how Zexion betrayed the guy who took him in, so like I said at the top, either it was epic betrayal, or coercion. And I guess you could say he stays with Organization XIII because of partial amnesia surrounding the event of his transformation, I guess. (Stranger things have happened in the series, right?)

But I'll stop rambling and trying to force my fan theory to fit cannon now. If you made it all the way down here, please leave a review and tell me what you thought!