Hey everyone. Some of you may know me from an old Kingdom Hearts fic called 'Hearts of Desire', a fic with some interesting ideas, but very meh execution. I apologise to any fans of that fic that hoped for a continuation, but alas I will not. Instead, I would like to work on this new fanfic which I've been planning for quite some time now.

With all that said and done, enjoy!


Sora and Riku stood silently, but with unspoken impatience as they stood in the office of Master Yen Sid. They had both just completed Yen Sid's Mark of Mastery Exam in order for them to become full-fledged Keyblade Masters and thought that they could head home for Destiny Island. However, Yen Sid had instead asked them to see him in his office, saying it was of grave importance.

"If what he wants to say is so important, then where is he?" Sora exasperated with open annoyance. Riku said nothing, but nodded slightly in agreement.

Their annoyance was quickly quelled when the door to their right opened, and in stepped Master Yen Sid. The tall, old man was as imposing as he had ever been, which was quite a feat when considered how silly his hat looked. Despite his obvious age, the man showed no signs of exhaustion or fatigue.

Beside him stood the King, Mickey, almost the complete opposite of Yen Sid. Smiling brightly and honestly, the Kings appearance lacked any aggression or any attempt to come off as imposing to others, which would've no doubt been near impossible to achieve had he tried. Despite this, both Sora and Riku knew that Mickey was the last person you should underestimate, and in battle he was quite possibly the strongest of the three Keybearers present.

With a slight huff, Master Yen Sid sat down on his large oak chair, staring directly at Sora and Riku "I'm glad you're both here. Now you have both become Keyblade Masters, there is much we must discuss."

"Let me guess" Sora chirped up "now that we're Keyblade Masters, you wanna hold a party for us?"

"No."

"Ooh…"

"Is it to do with Xehanort, Master Yen Sid?" Riku asked abruptly. With that mere sentence, the entire room became tense, and everyone was quiet with openly uncomfortable faces.

Yen Sid eventually nodded slowly "it is. As you both know, now that his Heartless Ansem and his Nobody Xemnas have been defeated, Master Xehanort will return, and no doubt with powerful allies."

"He can bring who he wants, we'll take them all out!" Sora proclaimed passionately, pumping his fist "after everything we've been through, I'm not losing anyone!"

For the first time today it seemed, Yen Sid allowed a small smile to cross his lips. Mickey chuckled softly and said "good to see you're enthusiastic, Sora. However, I didn't call you here today to plan strategy against Xehanort."

"Then what did you call us for, Master Yen Sid?" Riku asked. Yen Sid closed his eyes, seemingly in thought for a moment, before posing the question.

"How much about Xehanort's true goal do you know? Do you both understand why he has did all the things he did? Why he continues on this path?"

Neither Sora nor Riku could reply to this question. Both were too surprised by the question that neither could answer. They both had grown to hate Xehanort for what he had done, and for the grief he had caused them via his Heartless and Nobody, but both inwardly admitted that neither knew much about his motivation, about his reason for causing all the things he did.

Sora didn't believe he could ever empathise, while Riku was inwardly afraid he would empathise.

"Wh-what does it matter? All we need to know is that what he's doing is bad and how to stop him. It doesn't matter what his reason is" Sora stated defensively. Though Riku said nothing, he couldn't help but disagree. Part of him wanted to know, to hear more about the great villain they ultimately knew little on.

Yen Sid sighed heavily, and stared somewhat sadly at the two "it was…several decades ago when I first met Xehanort. He was the same age as you, standing exactly where you are, and he too had come for the Mark of Mastery Exam. He passed with much ease, the same age as…him.

"He was young, talented, intelligent, arrogant yes, but not unkind. He showed great desire to do for the entire universe, to change it for the better, and I believed…I believed…" everyone in the room was silently in shock to see the sad expression that was on Yen Sid's face, completely different to how he normally looked in front of them.

"I believe he was the one that would succeed him…and now all this has happened…" with a mighty sigh, Master Yen Sid stood up and walked to his left, towards the door from where he and Mickey had come in. "…and now, you three will see what he saw. The memories of the man that made Xehanort who he is today."


With silence, Sora, Riku and King Mickey followed Master Yen Sid through the room, leading to the door to what looked like a cellar. They followed Yen Sid down the dark, narrow, stone cobbled stairs, feeling the air around them grow colder and colder the further they went down.

"The passageway grows narrower the further we go down" Mickey pointed out, the only one walking down the stairs comfortably "you two be careful you don't hit your-"

"OW!"

"…head."

After what felt like half an hour of going further and further down, the group reached a small door that was barely visible in the darkness. With a turn of a handle, Yen Sid opened the creaking door, revealing to the group a large room, the size of an entire floor, having the same cold draft as the staircase, along with the same dreary grey stone cobbled look. The room was completely empty, save for one thing.

The Keyblade that was pierced into the centre of the floor.

Yen Sid strode forward ahead of the group, looking solemnly at the Keyblade "it's been a while…too long I suppose. All right you three, stand around the Keyblade."

"Umm…sure" Sora mumbled. Complying, the three walked up to the Keyblade, surrounding it in a circle. The three tried to get a good look at the Keyblade, but with a portion of it in the ground it was hard to get an overall look at it. What they could see was completely black and covered with dust, but of course not even the slightest hint of decay.

"Now, place your hands on the Keyblade and close your eyes" Yen Sid ordered from the corner. Slowly, the three did as they were asked, grabbing the handle of the Keyblade and closing their eyes. Waiting for further instructions, the three kept their eyes closed.

"Now…open them."

The three opened their eyes, and they were no longer in the large room.

Heavy rain poured down on the scenery, pounding down on it like a merciless enemy. The land itself however was even bleaker than the horrible weather. The ground was grey and lifeless, the only plants emanating from it were the black, long dead trees. The group could see mountains in the distance, and the place they stood looked like it was once a forest, but there was now no sign of life of any kind around.

The land was dying, and growing weaker by the second.

"Wh-where are we?" Sora called out. He looked all around him, desperately trying to find an answer of some kind. Riku and Mickey looked equally shocked, but it was Riku who noticed first that the rain that was pouring down on them…wasn't pouring on them at all.

They weren't getting wet, because they were transparent in this world, not a part of it, but mere watchers.

"Before he died, he placed part of his heart into his Keyblade…" Master Yen Sid's voice echoed through them. The group looked around, but could not see the old master anywhere, his presence like an omnipresent god "…so when the Heartless returned, and a strong Keybearer with great potential came, he would know how to fight off the creatures and save the universe from them again…I once believed that was Xehanort, but now I must trust that this saviour is one of you."

"Who is this person you speak of, Master?" Mickey called out. "who is this great guy you speak of? You've never mentioned him before!"

"His existence in his world has been long forgotten, it was so many centuries ago. And what he did…what he represented, men like Master Eraqus worked so that his name be forgotten." Master Yen Sid proclaimed, his voice holding back a hint of anger "But I refuse to let him be forgotten. Turn to your left, my friends, and look upon him."

In unison, the three Keybearers turned to their lefts, and saw the figure lying on his back on the desolate ground, the heavy rain pouring across his face and body, drenching him head to toe. He was around 18 years of age, of medium height but with a muscular build, and he had short blonde length hair that had mud and blood meshed into it. His face and any exposed skin had several cuts and wounds across the body, none lethal but many to make a normal person unable to move. His eyes were closed and…it did not look like he was breathing.

"I ask my friends that you keep silent till his story ends, for his story is a lesson to us all. It was this man that Xehanort grew to idolize, and all of his actions were inspired by the life of this man you see here. This was the man Xehanort wished deep down to be." Yen Sid explained

"The man…Xehanort wished to be" Riku repeated, finding it hard to sink in "but…who was he?"

"He was…my good friend. He was the Keyblade King...He was known by many as Ikari. And this, is his story."

Ikari breathed in heavily, and opened his right eye as he woke up.