Takes place during the events of Dream Drop Distance.

_XXX_ The true embodiment of negativity. The heart torn asunder. The witch with power over memories. The other side of his heart. The replica who was never meant to be. And the digitized sage king. What happens when these six come together within Sora's heart? _XXX_

The rushing of the waves lapping against the shoreline was pleasant, and the sunset that shone on the water created a sparkly glow. Nature sure was beautiful. But it was all fake. It wasn't the real deal. The Destiny Islands may have been beautiful in any form whether it be real or fake, but I couldn't enjoy it knowing how fake it really was.

I had been here for over ten years now, within his heart. After my clash with Ventus, the two of us had fused together. His heart reached Sora, and that's when the two of us split and are here within this cage.

People call this island the beauty of the world. I call it the Cage, for obvious reasons. Why Sora's heart chose the Destiny Islands as its form, I had no idea. It's Sora who was going to get off that island once and for all, along with Riku and Kairi, and Xehanort lots of years before them.

I'm Vanitas, and this is my life within Sora's heart. If you can even call that life. I couldn't leave if I wanted to. And trust me; I wanted to leave this hellhole.

If you tried crossing the sea and swimming away, once you get so far you'll disappear and rematerialize on the other side of the island. So try going off this island; you'll just be going in a complete loop.

I sat on the beach, putting my bare feet in the water and letting the cool water flow in between my toes. A magnificent feeling, if it wasn't fake.

I stood up and turned back towards the rest of the island. I walked towards the treehouse, where I lived at, and climbed up the rope ladder. When I entered, I looked at my dear friend Ventus, who sat with his back against the wooden wall and his eyes closed.

"Wakey wakey, Ven," I decided to say, trying to wake the blond up. He never wakes up hardly. He probably doesn't even remember where we are. Talk about lame. "Ven, I'm not going to say this again. Wake up now. Now." He still refused to open his eyes.

This is why I couldn't live with the guy. For a boy who used to be full of life, this version of him was bitter, arrogant, dull, and acts like he's completely hit rock bottom.

Now, if you think he's the only one I have to put up with here, thing again. There's also Naminé who just entered the treehouse wearing her white gown and that loose blond hair that kind of fluttered in the breeze.

"Ah, Nami, my little Artist," I told her, smiling and licking my lips. Naminé was a special Nobody who had the power to manipulate and rearrange people's memories. She even manipulated Sora.

"My name… is Naminé," she snapped back with a cute pout. I loved that about her. Under her arm was her famous sketchbook. "Where's Roxas?"

"I think he went to the back of the island," I replied with my trademark sinister smile. Roxas was the other guest in Sora's heart. He looked exactly like Ventus except with blond hair that was a tad darker, and his voice was a tiny bit deeper. "Why don't you go look for yourself?"

"I'm not worried about him," Nami said, sitting down. "I don't need to go do anything." She sat down beside Ven and opened her sketchbook to her next free page and started drawing.

I had to share a heart with all these people. How sad is that? Sometimes I wish I could just finish all of them off and then make my escape. But Sora's heart was as protected as ever. Nobody could get out.

We heard the tapping of footsteps outside, so Nami stopped drawing and the two of us stared at the doorway, to which Ven's lookalike Roxas rushed in. When he stopped, he put his hands on his knees and bent over, panting and gasping for air.

"Roxas?" Nami asked, dropping her sketchbook and rushing to her friend. "What is it?"

"Another girl," Roxas gasped. "In the Secret Place. There's another girl here."

"Another?" Vanitas asked. "You guys keep getting dropped here one by one. When can I have some alone time?"

"Just follow me," Roxas panted, then rushed back outside and jumped out the door of the treehouse, falling onto the ground below. "Come on!"

Nami rushed after him so I decided to follow as well. When I walked behind the two into the Secret Place, it was dark and damp and smelled like the ocean.

Moss covered the walls. We walked down the small little hallway until we entered the much larger room of the cave, where a door stood at the end.

The door was locked, as we've tried entering it before. Laying on the ground in front of the door was a black haired girl. I nearly choked a little bit. Her face was exactly like Nami's. The only thing different was the hair color.

She opened her eyes, revealing crystal blue eyes identical to Ven's, Roxas's, and Nami's. She looked at us, and muttered the words, "Rox…as…Nami…né."

Did she know them by chance?

"Xion…" Nami muttered, a tear in her eye. "Xion, that is you? So you did return to Sora's heart after all. How long were you here?"

"Who…?" Roxas mumbled, and a tear dripped out of his eye. "What…?" He wiped the tear away with a finger. "Do I Know you…who are you…again?"

"Roxas…this is Xion," Nami said, placing a hand on Roxas's shoulder, and Roxas's eyes shut, and then opened again. "Remember her now?"

Nami hadn't seen Roxas cry this much, but as soon as she put her hand away, Roxas started bawling in tears at Xion's feet. "I thought you were dead!" Roxas screamed behind tears. "I tried to fight for you, and then I forgot you, and then—" Xion interrupted Roxas by hugging him. "You're safe, Xion."

"I am," Xion answered. "This must be Sora's heart. But before I woke here, I thought I saw Sora…"

"Same as us," Nami said, motioning her hand to herself and Roxas. "We came here a little while ago, but sometime before our stay here it appeared as though we had teleported to the World That Never Was, and we saw Sora."

"Same place I was…" Xion muttered.

"Well, this was all fun and stuff, but I think I'll head back now," I said, turning my back on them. Xion stood up, and I turned around to see her staring directly at me. "What do you want?"

"Who are you?" she asked.

"My name's Vanitas, and I'm also a special guest here in Sora's heart," I started walking away, until I was halted yet again by Roxas.

"Vanitas, there is a girl here! Xion needs more people to help her get on her feet!"

I turned back around to them. "You wanna know what I think? I hate all of you. Always have. Always will. I don't believe in friendship or loyalty so just stop asking me to help you guys out. Just because I'm stuck here as well does not mean we're the same. Sora's heart is Hell."

And with those words, I left the Secret Place in silence. To be honest here, I hate mostly everything. I was created by the negative emotions and darkness within Ventus's heart, so I was unable to feel happiness or sadness. My heart was filled with anger, hate, rage, and negativity.

I felt no remorse for things I told the three in the cave. What I said was how I really felt.

"Are you really going to let Sora's heart keep you forever," a familiar old voice said in my head. "Destiny Islands couldn't keep me contained. You can indeed escape if you put your mind to it."

"I don't want to talk to you," I said aloud, heading back to the treehouse. "You ruined my life with your goals of balance and to obtain Kingdom Hearts. Look where it's gotten me."

"I apologize, but if it happened, then it was meant to happen," the old man's voice said in my head. "You weren't the only one that suffered. I too was strung along a series of events that changed me and placed me into different forms over the years, but that all led to my resurrection."

"So you're still alive then."

"Correct, Vanitas."

I don't know how he was doing it, but my previous master Xehanort was contacting me somehow. "I will never listen to you again. You made me think you were my friend. But you left me to die."

Xehanort never responded. When I got back to the treehouse, Ven's eyes were barely opening. I heard him mutter the two words that sent shivers up my spine.

"Aqua…Terra…"

This kid was making me sick. I stalked right up to him, grabbed him by the shirt collar, and threw him to the ground, his head hitting the floor below him.

And yet he didn't make a single move. "What is with you!?" I shouted at him, kicking him in the face and turning around quickly. "God, I swear, Ven."

"That is no way to treat a comrade," a voice said, and I turned back around to Ven. It wasn't Ven who spoke. It was the long haired blonde with the goatee and the mustache, who was grabbed in red robes.

"Who are you?" Vanitas asked rudely.

"I am DiZ, or so I am known," the man said. "I also used to go by Ansem the Wise."

"What are you doing here in Sora's heart?" I asked him.

"Perhaps I wanted to atone for events of the past, even if no apology can undo the harm I have wrought. I felt... that I ought to leave at least something behind. So I digitized myself and my research, and hid them within Sora."

"Interesting," I told him. This guy was really weird. "How long do we stay here in Sora's heart? There's me…" He pointed to Ven's lifeless body that Ansem had propped up again. "…Ventus, Naminé, and Roxas…oh, and Xion."

"Xion?" he asked. "So she did make it here after all. Good to know."

"But why are you here, talking to me?"

"Sora has fallen asleep," Ansem replied with a frown. "He is imprisoned by his nightmares and thus cannot wake up."

"Why can't he wake up?" Xion's voice asked from the doorway, and she, Roxas, and Naminé entered the room. "What's happened?"

"I fear the group known as Organization XIII has trapped Sora within a nightmare and he cannot wake," Ansem responded, looking at everyone. "Hello, Roxas, Naminé, and Xion."

"DiZ!" Nami greeted.

The ground beneath them started shaking. Ansem looked around. "We have a visitor."

Ven finally stood up, and he wiped the crust from his eyes. "Is it Sora?"

"And he speaks!" I shout at the sky.

"It's possible, but highly doubtful," Ansem replied. "Ventus, Roxas, Xion…I have a job for you three. Encounter the one who's jumped into Sora's heart. Ask him a series of questions. Depending on his answers will determine the person he is destined to become."

"Why us three?" Xion asked with confusion.

"Just do what the man says," I snapped at her. "He probably knows what he's talking about."

"What questions?" Ven asked.

Ansem looked to Roxas. "What is it that you're so afraid of?"He looked To Ventus. "What is the one thing you care about more than anything else." He then looked to Xion. "What do you wish?"

"Why ask these questions?" Xion asked, and saw someone down below on the island, and tears formed in her eyes. "…Riku?"

"Riku!?" Roxas asked, looking down as well. "What is he…?"

"After being asked questions by three of the people closest to Sora's heart," Ansem started. "Sora can truly awaken after that." He cleared his throat. "Roxas will be asked first. Then Ventus. Then Xion."

One after the other, Roxas, Ventus, and Xion vanished.

"What happened?" Nami asked.

"Naminé," Ansem said, looking to Nami. "Those three are doing their job. Don't worry, I have no doubts that you five will be sent back and out of Sora's heart in the near future."

"So I can escape as well?" I asked, breaking the long silence I've kept for a while, and Ansem nodded.

All was silent for a while. The fake birds and the rushing of the fake waves were all that was heard. Roxas suddenly appeared, along with Ven ten seconds later.

Ven sat down and closed his eye with a smile. Of course, after that one moment of him being alive, he went back to being the bump on a log, doing nothing but just sitting with his eyes closed.

Xion appeared, and then started crying softly. "Riku…"

"Looks like it's my turn to talk to this boy," Ansem said, and then faded away and reappeared on the shore, where the group and I saw the boy Riku pick up a bottle from the ocean, which held what looked like paper inside. We could barely hear Ansem's voice from below, "You were not the visitor I expected."

"What even is this guy's story," I said, referring to Ansem. "And that Riku kid. Why is he here?" Suddenly, things around here were not as boring as before.

And now I had something I hadn't had before. Ever. It's called hope. I had hope and faith that I would be released from Sora's heart before. When I looked out the door again, I saw that Riku was gone. And so was Ansem.

Appearing to the side of us was Ansem. "It is done," Ansem replied. "Sora should be waking up now."

"Well, Ansem, this has been fun, it really has…" I started. "…but when will you leave?"

"Don't worry, I won't stay long," Ansem replied. "So let me tell all of you goodbye. Naminé, I am sorry for treating you harshly back when we had Roxas stay at the data simulated Twilight Town." He looked to Xion. "Xion, in the future if you're ever released from here, make sure to make people remember who you are." He looked to Roxas. "Roxas, I am sorry for keeping you in the data-Twilight Town and keeping you from Sora." He looked to Ven. "Ventus, I'm sure in the future you will truly awaken in your own body." He looked to me lastly. "And I hope once you get out of here, if you ever do, you can change your ways and side with the light."

"In your dreams, old man," I replied to him in the meanest way possible.

Ansem smiled and said, "I must take my leave for now." He bowed, and vanished in a flash of green and white, zeroes and ones.

I looked to my roommates. Sure I didn't like them very much, but I guess I had to get along with them. I guess Sora's heart was big enough for all of us to stay at.

All I was hoping for now was a chance to leave this dump. Sora had to find a way to bring us back. A way for all of us, especially me, to escape.

I had confidence. There was no way I would stay here much longer. I had already been here for more than ten years. Even if I did wait a while, it wouldn't make a difference.

We would be freed.

I could be freed.

And I could take my revenge on anyone who opposed me or caused me to suffer. Starting with Xehanort.

But you probably knew I'd do that. Didn't you?