Afterdeath

Author's note: Wow, I actually wrote a fanfic again! It's been… so many years. Crazy! But I'm super hyped for Kingdom Hearts 3 to come out, and all that energy manifested itself into a story. This "short story" ended up 60k+ words long, and it's mostly done. I'm going to try to get a chapter up at least once a week.

This story is canon compliant (to the best of my ability) with all the games – except KH3, of course – and is compliant with some of the elements in the KH3 trailers. This is not my attempt to guess what will happen in KH3. This is just a collection of things that I thought would be fun to see, that technically could happen.

I've done my best to research the KH lore and make it accurate. If I missed something big, then please let me know and I'll try to fix it. But honestly, does anyone really understand everything that's going on? I tried to summarize the basics to my sister and ended up with a four page document!

There is a ton of speculation about the identities of the 13 Darknesses and the 7 Lights. I picked their identities based on who I felt like writing as each – that's it. So some of my choices might seem a bit surprising. But anyway, for the sake of the story, just don't think too hard about it, haha.

I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 1

Riku had gone looking for trouble, and had found it in spades. In the main square of the City of the Bells, he turned around and found himself facing six black-coated members of the "new and improved" Organization Thirteen. They stood still at first, smirking at him and studying him from under their hoods. Riku summoned his Braveheart keyblade and attacked first – there was no point in drawing things out. As he lunged to attack with his keyblade, the Seekers of Darkness also wasted no time; they each spurred into action, summoning weapons or preparing magic.

Riku knew he was a skilled fighter, but his plan was to fight to escape. He'd been cornered by the Organization once before, during his pursuit of Roxas. His escape had been narrow, and he'd had the power of Ansem's darkness to draw on then. Not that he'd ever admit it to Sora, or especially Mickey, but he felt vulnerable now without his former dark power. He could still summon the darkness in minor amounts to boost his spells, but even creating dark corridors was beyond him now.

He couldn't even use his old keyblade anymore – the Way to Dawn had snapped in two during his ill-fated attempt to rescue Aqua from the Realm of Darkness. Normally, weapons of heart weren't supposed to break. But the Way to Dawn now required a greater percentage of darkness in his heart than Riku currently possessed. While that boded well for the current state of his heart, Riku feared the power of light in his heart was not yet strong enough to make up for the loss of his other power.

Riku continued his rhythm of attack and dodge, attack and dodge. He could see no faces, but tried to keep tabs on the individual black-coated seekers anyway. That one over there liked using lightning – Larxene. Attack fast, then get back out of range. That one made shapes of water – Demyx. Smash the water shapes then pummel the hooded seeker as many times as possible before dodging the attack from the next one: a shield this time.

Wait, wasn't that shield Vexen's weapon? Riku had talked to Even just a few days ago. He couldn't be here, right? And yet... Riku started to feel a clench of real fear in his heart. He couldn't waste any more time with these seekers. He needed to escape now – his friends needed to know that Xehanort was actively recruiting...

Dodge roll, jump, slash, block. Riku had been fighting these sorts of battles for so long, he could literally do it in his sleep. But once he saw a gap between them, he ran. He needed a few uninterrupted seconds to open a corridor with his keyblade to escape this world.

But the six seekers were already in front of him, waiting for him.

Wait...

Riku heard a soft sound and dodged aside. A massive sword smashed into the ground where he'd just been standing. From behind.

Riku spun around and counted six black coats on one side and six on the other. This was wrong! They weren't all supposed to be here!

Riku was slammed forward onto his knees. He didn't even know what he'd been hit with. He gave up attacking and just tried to dodge, but there was nowhere to go. He was getting slammed and zapped everywhere he moved to. Riku tried to high jump up and over them to escape, but Saïx just matched his jump and smashed his massive sword against his back with so much force that Riku heard something crack. He hit the ground and tumbled over and over from the momentum. Everything hurt. He couldn't move. It was all over and it had been a trap and were Sora and the others okay...?

Speaking of Sora: the creature of pure darkness with Sora's face was standing over Riku now. Vanitas grinned a horrible smile and then stabbed his keyblade into Riku's chest. Riku could barely gasp for the pain. So this is what it feels like...! Then there was the sensation of something tearing in his chest, and then everything went away.

x-x-x

"That wasn't the plan."

Vanitas couldn't help but flinch at that voice. That voice promised pain. He was so sick of pain. "You said I've gotten too weak. So I'm doing something about it!" He held up his keyblade, the golden orb of Riku's heart still stuck on the end of it. Vanitas raised his free left hand to the orb and summoned black magic tendrils that he wrapped around it, sealing in the light. "I'll cage this heart and drain the energy from it. Then I'll be strong again. I won't lose anymore!"

Old Xehanort pushed back his hood and gave Vanitas a kindly look that meant exactly the opposite. "That is still not the plan. The boy needs to die."

"He's as good as dead already," Vanitas snarled. "Besides, why waste this opportunity–?"

"I don't need you anymore, Vanitas. You can easily be replaced." The smile was gone now. Xehanort wasn't pretending anymore.

"Yes, but he can't be." Vanitas gestured to Riku's body. "You want to hurt Sora, and the other stupid guardians of light? Let them think their friend is dead. And then... then make them fight an enemy with their friend's face. They're all so weak... I bet they won't be able to do it. They'll be too distracted trying to save him that they won't be able to give you any more trouble at all!"

Xehanort casually leaned down and grasped Vanitas by the throat. "Are you getting sentimental, Vanitas?"

Vanitas growled. "I can't be, remember?" He wanted to say more – normally he would – but Xehanort might actually destroy him this time if he did. He'd shown no hesitation in disposing of that Replica he had deemed "too soft." Vanitas was on his last chance.

Xehanort smiled again and slowly let go. "I wanted a new vessel with the mind intact... but you might be right, for once. Sora will be tormented by the fate of his friend. He will come to wish he never tried to resist me!"

Vanitas squirmed inwardly, but tried to keep a steady face.

Xehanort noticed Vanitas's discomfort, and submission, and grinned toothily. "Do as you have suggested. Make yourself stronger, and prove to me you are worthy to be counted as a Seeker of Darkness."

Vanitas wasted no more time. He shoved the keyblade, with the endarkened orb still on the tip of it, into his chest. The heart went somewhat unwillingly, but Vanitas was strong enough for this at least. Occupied with this as he was, he still was aware of Xehanort cloning another copy of his heart with his keyblade and planting it into the hollow chest of Riku's body. The body stopped shimmering faintly as it regained stability by having a heart – even though the heart wasn't its own. It was almost fascinating how the bodies didn't really seem to care...

But Vanitas had more important things to do. Time-critical things. He cleared his throat, feeling awkward at the show of deference. How he'd rather rip that old man's throat out, but... "I'll need some time to focus, to set up the drain on the heart. Some place where I can't be disturbed."

Xehanort nodded slightly. "Do what you need to." His focus was on his new vessel now. It would take him a little while to get it sufficiently prepared and combat ready.

Vanitas waited no longer. He extended a hand to summon a dark corridor and then sprinted into it. His time was running out. And the Day of the X-Blade was coming very soon...

X-X-X-X-X-X

Radiant Garden is actually looking almost radiant again, Sora observed as he munched on another sea salt ice cream. It was his third that day. He'd been getting concerned about the seemingly constant craving for the strange sweet until Axel – er, that is, Lea – had finally confessed to the habit he and Roxas had had of eating those blue ice cream bars together almost daily. Roxas was floating close to the surface these days...

Everyone else could sense that big things would be happening soon, as well. Sora figured that was why everyone had redoubled their efforts in rebuilding Radiant Garden. The castle was even looking regal now, instead of like a haunted deathtrap ringed by backwards waterfalls. People had just finished re-terracing one of the gardens yesterday and were already planting new flowers. It was a big, final push to get things in order... before war came and tore it all apart again.

Sora pushed the thought down. He hated thinking like that. He couldn't afford to imagine what would happen if the darkness won – if Xehanort got his way. He had to stay focused, and pour all his energy into ensuring it didn't happen.

"Wow, I thought for sure I'd be the first one back!"

Sora looked down and quickly hopped off the ledge he was perching on. "Kairi! Are you okay?"

"Of course I am!" She gave him that look again. "It was only, like, three heartless! I would have been back sooner but I spent a while looking around to be sure there weren't any more!"

"Were there any more?"

"No. Not that I could find anyway." She noticed the stick that Sora was too slow to hide and giggled. "More ice cream?"

"It's Roxas, I told you..." It was pointless. Kairi was still laughing. Sora rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled weakly.

Kairi smiled again and let the subject drop. "So, how about you? Find anything on your world?"

"No, nothing at all. I got the raw pick." He leaned back against the wall and sighed.

Kairi frowned. "Nothing? But then, why did we get a distress signal for that world?"

"It's the Land of Dragons. The first time I went there, they were in the middle of a war. They have a fully trained army that's experienced at fighting heartless. When the heartless showed up again, they were worried enough to call for help. But they managed to defeat them by themselves before I arrived." Sora shook his head. "If only I had been a little quicker, I could have at least helped."

"More ice cream?" a new voice asked.

Sora dropped the stick out of guilty reflex even though it did no good.

Lea shook his head and laughed. "Man, I'm glad to see signs of Roxas still kicking inside there... but he's going to give you a stomach ache at this rate."

Sora shrugged and bent to retrieve his stick. He couldn't litter part of the barely-restored Radiant Garden! That would just be... really rude! He was a real official honorary member of the Restoration Committee, after all!

Lea and Kairi swapped details of their worlds. Mickey, Donald, and Goofy showed up next at about the same time, the former arriving by keyblade portal and the latter two popping down from their gummi ship. Sora greeted his old companions, but hesitated when faced with the king's clouded face. "Your majesty... what's the matter?"

The mouse's expression didn't clear. "This was all too easy. Too easy to warrant a distress signal. Something feels really wrong about all this..."

"Your instincts are impressive."

Everyone turned and gasped at the black coated figure now standing on a higher ledge of the wall Sora had just been leaning on.

"What do you want?" Sora yelled at the same time Lea hissed, "Isa!"

"Lea." Saïx used one hand to pull back his hood, while still holding up a large, black-wrapped bundle with his other hand. "I bring a gift from our master." He dramatically allowed the black fabric wrapping to unfold, dropping a keyblade to the ground, where it clattered to Sora's feet. "A new marker for the keyblade graveyard," Saïx concluded.

There were many gasps around Sora. Lea shouted out a denial, but Sora couldn't focus on Saïx's retort. Couldn't focus. Couldn't focus on anything. Nothing except the keyblade – the magnificent Braveheart keyblade born of Riku's heart, replacing the Way to Dawn that could no longer draw on enough darkness to function properly...

Riku wasn't...!

Riku couldn't...!

In a split-second change, Sora summoned Oathkeeper to his hand and with a snarl leapt the full height to where Saïx stood. Saïx was almost too slow summoning his own sword to parry. Almost. Sora slashed ferociously at Saïx, aiming at his head, then feet, then side in rapid succession. Saïx blocked each blow with infuriating accuracy. "Roxas. What a surprise to see you."

"Shut up!" Sora growled in a voice not quite his own. He threw his keyblade at Saïx, and when the seeker had to duck, Sora leapt forward and tackled the taller man off the wall.

Saïx twisted midair and managed to escape landing in a pin. But as soon as his feet touched the ground, he summoned a dozen berserker nobodies, ringing about him in a defensive line. "Such anger. The master always had high hopes for you, Roxas. You can still come back to us. The master would be glad to clear a spot for you..."

Sora-Roxas's only response was to try to smash straight through the berserkers with another animalistic cry.

Saïx took this as his cue to flee. He summoned a dark portal where he stood and melted in immediately, leaving his pack of nobodies to ensure his escape. "Save your energy for the Day of the X-Blade. You're down one Light now..."

Sora-Roxas screamed at the fading wisp of the dark portal, and then singlehandedly keyblade-pummeled all the nobodies to oblivion while everyone else just stood back and watched. At last, as the final nobody vanished into milky smoke, Sora let the tip of his keyblade drop to the ground. He stood there, head hanging down, gasping from exertion.

Lea and Kairi exchanged a glance. Lea stepped forward first. "Roxas?" He reached out a hand to Sora. As soon as he brushed Sora's shoulder, Sora spun around and pointed the keyblade at Lea. His eyes were wild, furious. Lea backed up and held his hands up in a surrender pose. Sora also held his position, though the point of his keyblade wobbled. Gradually, Sora's breathing slowed. He let the keyblade slip through his fingers; it vanished before it hit the ground. "L-Lea?" The voice was all Sora's.

"Yeah, buddy." Lea cautiously moved forward again and placed a hand on each of Sora's shoulders. "You doing all right?"

Sora was starting to shake. His whole body trembled. "Riku... Riku's not..." Sora turned to look as Kairi came forward and wrapped an arm around his back. "Kairi..." Sora whispered. And then he passed out.

x-x-x

Lea slowly lowered Sora to the ground. Kairi kept her grip on him. "Will he be all right?" Kairi asked shakily.

Lea scratched at the back of his neck. "Probably." Hopefully. He looked over at the keyblade that Isa – Saïx – had left behind. It sure looked real enough. Could it be boobytrapped or something? Lea respected the others, sure, but he still felt he was the one who could take more hits. He picked up the keyblade before anyone else could, and gave it a couple practice swings. Nothing happened. "Feels real enough," he commented aloud. "But I thought keyblades disappeared when something happened to their wielder..."

"Most of the time they do. But not always," Mickey answered. "Especially at... the end, the keyblades tend to remain behind."

Lea's eyes widened. "You think Saïx was actually telling the truth then?"

"I... I don't know. I hope not, but... at the least, Riku is presently out of our reach."

Lea fidgeted, switching the keyblade handle between hands. "What does that mean for our plan, then? Riku was—"

"Not here!" Mickey interrupted sharply. "We need to regroup and plan our next move. But not where we can be overhead. Donald! Goofy!"

The two named animal beings snapped to attention at Sora's sides. "Yes, your majesty!" they parroted.

"Hurry to Yen Sid and warn him that we're all coming. Meanwhile, Lea... can you give me a hand with Sora?"

"Sure, no problem." Lea shoved the keyblade into the mouse king's arms, then scooped Sora up unceremoniously and draped him over his shoulder. The advantage of being the one big guy around here. "Let's go."

X-X-X-X-X-X

Vanitas popped out of his dark corridor into The World that Never Was and immediately opened another dark corridor and slipped into it. No one was likely following him, but he wanted to make sure. The members of Organization XIII were no allies, for all that they were purportedly on the same side. This second corridor was much shorter and only took Vanitas to a different part of Never Was. There was a narrow alley Vanitas squeezed down, and then a broken window he climbed into. In all his searching, he had not found any other entrance to this part of the building. For all that Never Was resembled a real world, most of it had not been consciously built, and had never been intended to use. The nobody's castle had been created deliberately, but the rest of the buildings had somehow grown out of chaotic magic on their own. No logic applied to their structure, and so it was perfectly reasonable that Vanitas could find a section of rooms and corridors that were completely disconnected from everything else, and only accessible by one small window.

Despite this isolation, Vanitas still made his way further in, finally taking up space in a small closet and pulling the door closed. The absolute darkness would bother any creature, even those born of the dark. But only this space was small enough that even Xehanort would not be able to open a dark corridor to reach into it. Vanitas was as safe as he could possibly be. It was time to get started.

x-x-x

Riku sensed something happening, and fought his way back to awareness. His memory came only in faint wisps. He recognized he was still in the spherical cage made of solidified darkness that he had seen the last time he was lucid. This time he could see something beyond the bars – dimly lit structures of houses and other buildings. The style made him think of Traverse Town, but the coloring was all wrong. Everything felt dark, twisted...

Something started bubbling up from the bottom of the cage. Riku backed up as far away as he could, but the cage was small. A humanoid form came into being, slowly growing to Riku's height, and then solidifying and gaining features that were uncomfortably familiar. Riku saw his own face grinning back at him, though the eyes were an unnatural red, and the toothy grin just a little too wide...

Then Riku started sinking into the floor. Not that he wanted to remain in the cage, but it was only natural to panic and struggle when one starts getting swallowed up by the ground. His resistance was in vain, though, and he soon sank all the way down and began falling.

Everything was black. Riku knew he was falling only by the sensation of it. But then he could faintly see something, some form of illumination. And then he hit the ground.

Somehow, he landed on his feet. Riku staggered and barely stayed up. His heart rate doubled as the edge of the platform started crumbling under his feet. He jumped forward to the center of the mostly triangular ledge that was floating in this great void of nothing. "Where am I?"

"Quit flailing around. I don't have much time left. And you're going to help me."

Riku spun and jumped back at the voice suddenly behind him. And nearly fell off the ledge again. But an arm shot forward and grabbed him by his vest, pulling him back. Riku's eyes widened. "Sora! You... No. You're... Vanitas." Now Riku remembered a specific painful moment, involving Vanitas and a keyblade. He didn't know how to reconcile it with his current situation. "Where are we?"

"In my heart. Where else? Now quit stalling. I need you to do something for me."

Riku pushed back. "Why would I ever help you?!"

"You want to help your pitiful friends, right? I don't care about them, but this will help them, too." Vanitas paused, then said with absolute seriousness, "I want you to put Xehanort's heart inside me to sleep. It's your friends' only chance."

"What?"

Vanitas scowled. "Are you seriously so stupid? Do I have to spell it out for you?" In response to Riku's glare, Vanitas groaned melodramatically. "Fiiiine. But I'm only doing this once, so listen close:

"You can wake up hearts, or put them to sleep, right? That was the whole point of that cute little test you and Sora were taking that Xehanort hijacked. You sure got lucky. But do you even know why you got so lucky? Did you even once think about the fact that Xehanort knew the exact time and place to find you and Sora. And he knew far enough in advance to arrange for all his vessels to be there at the same time?"

Riku squirmed a little. "Well, I... I know he can travel through time. So he must have arranged it by time travel."

"You haven't thought this through at all, have you? Have your friends?" Vanitas asked archly. "No, probably not. If you had, you idiots would be a lot more scared."

"Just get to the point," Riku snapped, trying to push aside his unease.

Vanitas snarled and started forward, but them reined himself back in. "Are you really so dense?! Xehanort uses time travel to tell his past selves what is going to happen and how to prepare for it! He knew exactly what you imbeciles were going to try, and he had all the time in the world to prepare to stop you!"

Riku blanched, then recovered. "But we were able to beat him! He didn't turn Sora into his vessel like he wanted to. How did we manage that if he can see the future?"

"Finally, a hint of intelligence." Vanitas crossed his arms. "That is the question you should have been asking."

"Are you going to tell me or just keep insulting me...?"

"Your ignorance is painful."

"I thought you said you were running out of time..."

Vanitas growled again. "I can't believe I'm depending on you!" He turned away and blasted off waves off darkness into the void with a feral cry. Riku could only watch. Once Vanitas was finished venting, he turned to face Riku. "Let's try this again.

"Future Xehanort watches the outcomes of all your efforts to stop him. If any look close to succeeding, he travels back in time and tells his past selves what to expect. Then his past selves stop you and herd you in paths that complement his plans."

"Why didn't he stop us from saving Sora then? I mean... I know he wants us to gather the Seven Lights for him... But why go to so much effort to claim Sora to just let him get away?"

Vanitas nodded. "What it means is that Xehanort's vision has dead spots. Or rather, future timelines that are washed out by light. Which means there are some events he cannot see the outcome of. I think it's some side effect of all the time travel. He doesn't share these details with us, of course, but in retrospect there are some hints to them. For example, whenever he spoke of the day he would claim Sora as his final vessel, he never spoke beyond the moment of 'placing his heart into his prepared vessel.' So everything up to that moment, he saw and prepared for."

"But after that moment is when Lea dropped in and stopped him. Xehanort hadn't foreseen that."

Vanitas nodded. "Nor likely the farm animals appearing as well. If he had, he would have certainly been prepared for it."

Riku ignored the dig at Donald and Goofy and pondered everything Vanitas had just revealed. "So, that means our plan for facing Xehanort..."

"The plan that centered around luring him to the Keyblade Graveyard and then you putting the world to sleep, trapping him there? Yes, he's already seen it all. And it must have been going to work, too. Why else would he send all his vessels after you to kill you?"

"Kill me?" Riku sputtered. "But you didn't – I'm not dead..."

"Thank you again for stating the obvious. Yes, you are not dead. And the reason why—"

"You want me to put Xehanort's heart inside you to sleep," Riku said thoughtfully.

Vanitas started, then clapped ironically. "Looks like you actually pay attention sometimes! I guess that's why they made you a keyblade master."

Riku ignored Vanitas's sarcasm. "But won't Xehanort notice if I put his heart to sleep?"

Vanitas waggled a finger. "Blindspot. He watches all you heroes, and he watches all his vessels, but only on the outside. As long as I keep following his orders... as much as I ever do... he won't realize anything has changed. No one's ever broken his control before. He has no reason to expect it."

"But unless there's another dead spot in his vision, he'll still catch on sooner than later."

"Bingo. And I think there is another one. Unfortunately, it's the moment after the X-Blade appears."

Riku really felt like he might faint. "We... can't stop him from summoning the X-Blade..."

"Nope. Unfortunately for everyone. But what can be changed is what happens after. The X-Blade is going to appear. But Xehanort doesn't have to be the one to get his hands on it." He struck a pose and grinned smugly.

Riku looked at Vanitas incredulously. "You? I'm supposed to trust you with the X-Blade more than Xehanort?"

"I don't want to destroy all of existence! I just want to be whole!" Vanitas snapped. He turned away, fists clenching. He held his emotions inside this time instead of violently venting them out. "Haven't they told you about me? I was created to be a being of darkness. My whole existence has been pain and suffering by design."

"You and... uh, Ventus. You were split in half. So that Xehanort could make you fight and make the X-Blade."

"Exactly. He was trying to take shortcuts to summon the X-Blade and bring about the Keyblade War before. But he's learned to be a lot more cautious now. All 20 pieces together – 7 lights and 13 darknesses..." Vanitas trailed off, staring into the void. "I was supposed to be whole! But Ventus ruined it and now I... I have no purpose anymore."

"You... you still have a purpose." Riku felt really awkward trying to comfort Vanitas. "You're your own person—"

"I don't want to be!" Vanitas snapped, grabbing Riku by his vest again. "I don't want to be a separate person! I want to be whole! Like I was supposed to be." He released Riku and pushed him away. "And the only way I'm going to get that now is to stop Xehanort. Because he may think he's chasing some great secret, but I think he's just going to destroy everything and end up with nothing."

"Okay then." Riku folded his arms. "So what's the plan? I put Xehanort's heart inside you to sleep. You play along that everything's still the same. Then you steal the X-Blade before Xehanort can use it. Is that it?"

"Best I can offer you, hero boy." Vanitas shrugged. "I almost got erased for saving your life. So you owe me this."

"I'll do it. But I don't like it." Riku squeezed his eyes closed. "It feels like there's too much that can go wrong. But I think I believe you... this is the only thing I can do now that might escape Xehanort's notice."

"All right." Vanitas held out a hand. "Let's get going."

Riku hesitated, looking around and down at the crumbling platform below his feet again. "You said you were running out of time. Are you... falling apart?"

Vanitas scowled again. "Look, don't worry about it. It just means we can't waste any more time."

"Your heart was broken, too, like Ventus's. Sora was able to stabilize Ventus by sharing his heart with him. I wonder if I could..." Riku trailed off as he knelt down and placed both palms against the dark surface. He closed his eyes and reached down with his heart... and found the connection. The heart station shimmered and started reforming into a circle.

"What did you do?!" Vanitas shrieked.

"I'm stabilizing you. Like Sora did for Ventus." The circle was now large, whole and solid. It brightened just enough to make visible a very dark stained glass image, featuring a large motif of Vanitas, with smaller circles including Ventus, Sora, and Riku.

"I don't appreciate you adding yourself to my heart," Vanitas snarled.

"It's your fault I'm here," Riku retorted, straightening up fully again. "So now that I've given you more time, let's get on with the plan."

Vanitas growled and blasted more dark energy off the ledge into the void. But this time it only resolved itself into a dark corridor. "Let's go."