Riku had nothing but contempt for the time he spent during Sora's adventures. Most predominantly the first one. He never realized how sickening the darkness was to him. He never felt the constricting grasp choking his light until it was too late for mere apology.
Day in and day out he wondered why he didn't get out of it sooner.
Still, he didn't really hate the darkness anymore. Riku just hated how naive he was in handling it. He treated it like a pawn, like scum, like a dog who would obey each and every one of his commands. It wasn't until later he learned darkness was really just a mirror, reflecting how you treated it.
If you viewed it as a pawn, it did the same to you.
...
Terra wondered how it came to this. He could only look at the cracked and barren soil and realize that was exactly where his life was going. Cracks in the ground splitting everything he needed to keep together apart.
Did his armor always seem so heavy on his shoulder? Did his eyes always feel so close to tears of frustration, anger, and grief? What had happened that made such a content and perfect life spiral downwards?
He came to the conclusion it was Xehanort easily, but soon after felt blame raise its head. He was the one who played along, wasn't he? Now everyone was getting hurt. He had to bite back tears when his mind- already trying so hard to forget it -remembered Master Eraqus, eyes blankly staring forward with his mouth hanging open in surprise like it was going to suck away Terra's soul.
Terra heard footsteps, and turned to see Aqua as he grimly noted that the image was doing its job splendidly.
His soul was being sucked away into the darkness.
...
Xemnas did not have a keen memory or personality. Some days he felt youthful and angry, and it took everything he could muster to keep it down. Others he wouldn't bat an eye at even the most heinous of acts.
There were days when he had to force himself to write down what the grand plan of all this was, only to shred it in anger after. Others he'd scheme the smallest details and pit person after person with manipulative ease.
When Sora entered the picture after his long sleep, it was hard to keep his cold demeanor dominant. He wanted to grab at the boy and hold him close, to see the blue of his eyes again. He wanted to feel. He wanted to scream. He wanted to sob. He wanted to throttle himself.
Because while Roxas looked like the friend he'd left long ago, Sora WAS that friend. He was brash, and careless, and always thinking of his friends. He was daring, and impatient, and full of life and love for everyone. Granted he did look different, but if Xemnas settled his gaze a certain way Sora would be the spitting image of a boy long gone named Ventus.
Several times when Xemnas had the urge to treat Sora like his other had wanted him to, the cold found a way to twist it. He taunted the boy, he pushed his limits and tried to break him. He wanted to see those sky blue eyes crying and hollow with a desire to die.
How satisfying that would have been if he wasn't made of emotional rubber.
How satisfying it would be, if his last sight wasn't those perfect blue eyes glaring at him with a burning hatred that said he deserved this ending.
...
Ansem was never one for subtlety. Well, perhaps Ansem wasn't the proper name- that was for that fool of a scientist -but perhaps he would make the name better suiting. He would delve into the darkness and achieve far more than that fool. Still, being a Heartless gave him a temper and impulsiveness, but he did do a very good job of hiding it.
He found Riku was a suitable host to make his desires real, and hardly held back in corrupting the boy. It was easy enough, with Riku being so similar to himself. And even then he had corrupted his younger self with ease, so what was going to be different?
His impetuous and dismissive attitude towards Riku when his task was done, that's what. He was surprised to find Riku had finally gotten a brain and began resisting. He was even more surprised to see that his simpleton friend wasn't much of a quitter either.
He couldn't help but scowl as his plans of darkness unraveled into light.
...
Vanitas was darkness. Really that's all what was there in his heart.
He grew up with Xehanort. He learned how to break hearts and lead people astray. He learned what everyone had perceived darkness to be, and easily adopted it to his own values and mannerisms. It was hard for him to learn otherwise. Ventus was only glimmer in his heart filled with greed and hatred and blood-lust. Vanitas had no care or patience in his heart to listen to the kind words that lay on the other side of their divided heart.
He ENVIED Ventus. He HATED him. His shadows only grew in proportion to that "beautiful" light. He became ugly with want for revenge, he dove headfirst into a route that killed any trace of kindness or mercy, instilling cruelty and sadism in their places.
After all, what else was there for him to be except a festering pile of rotten emotion?
...
Xehanort was one of those people who understood manipulation and intelligence at an early age. As a child he was spoiled into getting what he wanted. Teenaged years lead to heartbreak after heartbreak and easily soaring to Eraqus's level in a matter of weeks.
People were puppets to him, all he had to do was pull the right strings.
It was child's play to rip apart Ven's heart to the point where he would likely die.
To drag Terra into the darkness with him.
To set up the plans that embroiled the worlds in conflict for many years to come.
He was surprised to see the one always coming in and painting over them was a simpleton from his own home. Sora was not remarkable. Not in any way. In fact, the boy was an utter insult to his intelligence. His plans amounted to "just stop the bad guys" and he had to have everyone else do all the plotting to derail the schemes. And even then he blindly followed whatever he was told to do- unless he was sure of the source being untrustworthy.
He was just as blinded by the dogma of light as Eraqus had been.
And yet he was the one with a Keyblade. Granted, the moment he saw those blue eyes was the moment he figured there was some connection to his old, broken apprentice. He was almost delighted to find that, unlike Ventus, he wasn't soft. He was far from it; decisive, but not unreasonable, in his punishment of evil. He fought against the darkness of the worlds like a torch lighting its brethren to illuminate a room.
Xehanort always wondered when he was going to realize the room he was lighting up was disgusting, worthless, and not worth saving from the eventual "clean up" he planned to do.
And then there was how Sora approached people. He used them like puppets without realizing it- getting "friends" to fight for him like the coward at the core of his heart. How on earth could one person have so many companions. He surely wasn't attached to anyone? Well, he knew he was at least very heavily attached to that useless Princess of Heart and the annoying young man who slipped out of his clutches.
Still, it was only a matter of time before his plans came to fruition, and he finished this endless duel with victory over this petty light.
Just felt like putting this out because Xehanort is a character I want to throttle and praise at the same time.