Reborn
A/N- For this chapter, the words in italics are Sabito's narrations. Enjoy :)
Origins Reawakened
Play the KH Magical Mystery Theme on a second tab.
"W-what...?" Tobi was at a loss for words.
"Wait, does that mean you're his..." Artina didn't need to finish.
Sabito nodded as the letters faded away... "Yes... It's good to see you, son..."
"..." Tobi was almost speechless. "You're..."
BAM!
Sabito certainly didn't expect to be nearly punched out by Tobi's right hook. He was knocked flat by that fist, and it was already starting to bruise...
"You're my father!?" Tobi angrily questioned.
"Ouch... definitely got that from your mother..." He joked as he got back up. "I had to change my name a little but yes, I am your father."
"So, what do you want?!" Tobi yelled. "You want to make up for lost time or something?!"
"Fifteen years is quite a long time..." Sabito responded.
"You abandoned your son when he was four?" Artina questioned with a look of disgust.
"I had my reasons," Sabito defended himself. "Reasons that concerned the entirety of everyone."
"Oh yeah?" Tobi growled. "Well please; I'd love to know the 'reasons' for leaving us!"
"All of your questions will be answered once I show you something at the top of the Tower." He pointed.
Artina and Tobi both didn't really have a positive impression of the old man in front of them, but as a Keyblade Wielder, he was their only option to getting stronger.
"Lead the way." Artina stated stoically.
As the three of them were on their way up the spiraling stairs, Artina decided to break the awkward silence. "So... does Tobi have the Keyblade because you have it too?"
"I passed the gift down to him as a child a while before I departed." Sabito answered.
"I don't remember that." Tobi spat.
"You were too young." He replied. "I knew you had a good heart in you, so I thought you might someday fight alongside me by helping others..."
"Hmph... thanks I guess." Tobi shrugged.
"What about me? Why do I have the Keyblade?" Artina pried.
"I thought Tobias would need some help so I passed it to his little girlfriend as well." Sabito smirked.
"Girlfriend?!" They both questioned with mad blushes.
"Hmm? You two aren't involved?" Sabito rose as eyebrow.
"In case you haven't noticed, this isn't the time to be dating!" Tobi shouted.
"Yes yes, these are dark times indeed." Sabito agreed while hiding a smile. "I will explain everything in the Study... ah, here we are."
The three of them had reached the top of the stairs and came to a wooden door which led them to the Study inside. It was probably the largest room in the building, with several shelves containing many books. There was also a large wooden desk behind which a tall chair sat, and behind it, large star and moon windows were displaying the Countryside.
What really caught their eye though was a strange baseball-sized black orb in a glass container that was lying on the desk. Sabito then let himself sit in the chair and motion Artina and Tobi to stand on the other side.
"Now... where to begin?" Sabito thought out loud.
"Why don't we start with 'who are you?'" Tobi rolled his eyes.
"Very fitting. Always start a story from the beginning." Sabito quoted and started explaining. "I am Sabito, formally Tobias senior as you know, and I am Number II of the Eclipse Organization."
"...Please tell me you're joking..." Artina face palmed.
"I wish this was in jest, but no. I have been assimilated into the organization since its offical formation 15 years ago." Sabito retorted.
"So that's why you abandoned us? To join Eclipse?" Tobi questioned.
"Please, allow me to explain." Sabito stated.
Tobi meekly asked. "...Can... can you tell me about mom too?"
Sabito smiled. "I will. I guess I could start when my I first met my own Master... so many years ago..."
Play KH Treasured Memories Theme on a second tab.
50 Years Earlier...
In the prime-time summer of Kiraboshi Village, the sun shined bright and the wind blew gently in the mountain town.
A young Tobias Sr. approached a man who had appeared in a sudden flash of light in the middle of the greeting area of the village. You can say he was certainly taken by surprise...
"Who are you?!" Tobias threatened with a standard pocket knife.
"Oh...? Um okay, not exactly a warm welcome." An adult Riku responded.
"I need to protect my village from anything... that means you too..." Tobias declared.
"That is a rare quality among the masses." Riku replied. "Maybe not a kinder aspect, but the will to protect others is more endangered than we realize."
Tobias Sr. lowered his knife. "Tell me; who are you, and what's your business here?"
"My name is Master Riku, and I'm here on a quest." Riku introduced himself.
Tobias raised an eyebrow. "Master? Master of what?"
"That depends... are you an open-minded person?" Riku retorted. "Because for what I have to say, it may prove difficult in explaining everything to you.
"We won't know that unless you actually tell me this... mind-blowing information." Tobias smirked in response.
"Very true. Let's find a quieter place to talk. This may take a while..." Riku nodded.
"And so, Riku told the legends and lore of the Keyblade and the countless worlds that lie among our own. I was a little overwhelmed to say the least, but soon I accepted it, in fact I embraced his words and took them to heart. Riku gave me a chance to help others in ways no one else could in the village. I eventually asked him to train me in the ways of the Keyblade."
"But it wasn't until more than a decade later that I met your mother. Fiona. What a wonder she was... Her long brown hair and blue eyes were hypnotizing to me. And I guess you could say that I fell for the little lady instantly. Although, she took a while to get to liking me, but I must admit I was persistent.
"So... where do you think you're going?" A younger Fiona crossed her arms in dismay.
"I'm going with Master Riku to patrol the worlds." Tobias Sr. retorted.
"When will you be back?" She inquired.
"Soon. But know this my sweet, I will return with wondrous stories of other worlds to tell you . So behave yourself, and be patient." He smiled.
"Oh shut up you hopeless romantic." Fiona playfully pushed him. "Be careful though. I love you."
"I love you too." Tobias Sr. stated as he kissed her goodbye.
"Many more years had passed and I had lived happily with her in Kiraboshi as a Keyblade Wielder on call from my master whenever he needed me. But... then that day came... your birth Tobias..."
In the local Kiraboshi hospital a new family member was born...
"Look at our baby boy Tobi~" Fiona cried softly as she cuddled in the bed with the newborn child.
"What should we name him, Fi?" Tobias Sr. asked.
"I want to give him your name." Fiona smiled. "Tobias Jr."
"Oh... why would wanna do that to the poor lad? Why not name him something else?" Tobias Sr. replied.
"Because... you are the greatest man I have ever know... and I want our child to carry on your name, don't you?" Fiona praised.
Tobias Sr. was almost speechless with love and pride whelmed up within him as his wife handed his newborn son to cradle in his arms. "How's that sound kid? Tobi Jr. cool enough for ya?"
Tobi Jr. cooed and burped in response to the name, his parents were going to take that as a yes.
"Tobias..." Fiona whispered.
"Fi? Fiona?! Fiona, what's wrong!?" Tobias Sr. panicked as he held his son.
Suddenly, her heart monitor had dropped to a flat-line and doctors and nurses had swarmed the room in an attempt to revive her.
"I'm sorry but you have to leave." The nurse advised.
"What's happening with my wife?!" Tobias demanded as their child cried.
"There were... complications with the birth and she died as I held her hand... Four of the most hardest years of my life had passed. My family was splintered but living at the moment, and Riku hardly ever called for my skills with the Keyblade, and the village was peaceful... However, a dark tempest was upon the horizon the likes of which I have never seen before..."
"How's your son doing, Tobias?" Riku looked concerned as an old man.
"He's fine, thanks for asking. What seems to be the problem, Master Riku?" Tobias Sr. asked.
Riku was standing in front of his house with a frightened look on his face. "Tobias, I found it."
"Found what? The sphere?" He asked.
"Yes. It's in a cave not too far from here. Two other people have already been rumored to be looking for it, and we must secure it, now. I really need your help." Riku pleaded.
"A while ago, I discovered the true purpose of Riku's arrival in Kiraboshi. He wasn't searching for apprentices, but he was searching for this mysterious orb. The two of us ran to the cave, Keyblades in hand, and we found those two. Just lying on the floor... I was familiar with only one of them though... those poor souls...
There!" Riku pointed at the far end of the dark cave.
And there lay the black baseball-sized orb on the stone cave floor, but there were also the two bodies of the people who had found the sphere. One of them was a young man but he was unconscious, however the other was a woman and she had been screaming in agony as she writhed in pain while steaming off a malevolent dark aura...
"AHHH! Make it stop! Just make the pain go away!" She screamed.
The woman was using her fingernails to dig into her skin and her face. Her long red hair was also being pulled out simultaneously as she repeated the process of torturing herself in the pool of darkness she was rolling in.
"We have to help her!" Tobias Sr. yelled as he ran to her.
"I'll check on the guy!" Riku responded as they both ran to the victims.
Tobias made it to the red-haired woman who had never stopped yelling in absolute anguish as she was lost in some sort of trance that trapped her mind in an everlasting painful darkness. Tobias Sr. then used his Keyblade to fire a beam of light specifically at the darkness around her.
The light spouted from his key and the bright attack purified the cave and the dark pool around her disappeared. The woman though was frozen still, and she laid on her back staring blankly at the cave ceiling above them.
"Miss? Are you alright?" Tobias Sr. asked as he held out his hand.
"..." She didn't even acknowledge anything around her.
"We need to get you out of here. Your name was Hope, wasn't it?" Tobias Sr. remembered.
"Hope..." She finally spoke in a deadly tone. "There is no hope... never again in this reality..."
"W-what?" Tobias Sr. was taken aback.
Hope turned to face him. "This world... all of the worlds... there is no hope for us... no hope... living is only agony... that's all that there is... I've seen it, I"VE SEEN IT! And people are ignorant of it... They have no idea... what true suffering is... what true pain is..."
"You're delirious; we need to get you to a hospital!" Tobias Sr. tried to pick her up but to no avail.
Hope had sent out a shockwave of darkness to blow Tobias Sr. away. He was sent flying across the cave, and he got back up as he and Riku nervously drew their Keyblades against Hope who had levitated off the ground, and her body was frothing with darkness...
"Don't do anything you'll regret!" Master Riku warned.
Hope turned her head to sneer and they both noticed that she was bleeding from her eyes and smiling wickedly. "I understand everything now! Agony is everything! Everything to life! We cannot live without it! And I will teach you all the true lesson of suffering, the true lesson of living! I will eclipse everything in darkness! HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
And then she disappeared into darkness... her words branded into the minds of Riku and Tobias Sr.
"...What just happened?" Tobias Sr. finally got out.
"Something horrible..." Master Riku dreaded.
"I had to do something… Hope was growing stronger by the day... Before I even knew it, she had wiped out every single one of the Keyblade Wielders with her most powerful darkness, she purged the worlds of them... No one was a match for her rage and lust for her evil resolve... not even my master... until I was all that was left..."
In their home at the village, Hope had suddenly teleported into a kid's bedroom where she stood over a sleeping four-year Tobias Jr. He had still been slumbering under his covers while she held a blood-red Ethereal Blade to the child's throat...
"Wait." Tobias Sr. whispered, careful not to wake the child as he entered the room.
"Care to watch your son die before your very eyes?" Hope smirked.
"Sleep..." Tobias Sr. conjured so that he could keep his son asleep while he confronted her. "Hope... Leave my boy alone!"
"I am no longer known by that name... Agony is all that I am..." She responded.
"How... how did you kill them all?" He inquired with a desperate tone. "All of the Keyblade Masters and their apprentices... how could you have defeated them all?! Even the Heartless and the Nobodies couldn't-!"
Agony had started to chuckle then it turned into the maniacal cackle. "Well... it isn't it obvious? I exploited the one weakness they had."
"What?" Then Tobias Sr. realized it to his horror when he glanced at his son. "No..."
"Yes. Now you see. Love... love was their undoing." Agony revealed. "All of their hearts crumbled in the wake of their lost family and friends..."
"You... no..." Tobias Sr. cried. "How... how could you?! WHY?!"
Agony explained. "...Because... this is the reality we live in... pain is inevitable... those who love will also hate because hatred is born to protect love... or to avenge it... which was what they all did. They succumbed to hate, they succumbed to agony... all hearts eventually do, so everyone is destined to darkness."
"That's not true!" Tobias Sr. defied.
"But don't you love your son here?" She smirked as she glared at the still sleeping boy. "Will you not hate me for killing him too?"
"NO! ...Don't hurt him... I beg you." He pleaded.
"You beg me?" Agony raised an eyebrow. "And what would you be willing to do to let him live?"
"I'll... I'll do anything! Please! He's my only son..." Tobias Sr. continued to beg then he thought of a last resort. "I'll help you..."
"What was that?" Agony's ears perked up.
"I'll stand by your side... and help you spread your message. Just leave my boy alone and spare this world from your wraith... I implore you... have mercy..." He got down on his knees and prayed to her knowing that she could still strike either of them down in an instant.
After a moment of silence she spoke which turned into another sick laughter. "How curious... why not?! I accept your fealty under this condition!"
That was when she launched another shockwave of her immeasurable power towards him, and he was blasted into darkness...
"Next then I knew, I woke up in a void where I was given the name Sabito and discovered I had lost my memories of my past life, wandering aimlessly with Agony as we traveled the worlds creating Eclipse... It was during that time when I learned that Hope had literally given her heart to darkness, and she splint into a Heartless and a Nobody... I stopped her Heartless only just recently, but Hope's Nobody, Agony, is still too powerful for me... It wasn't until I heard Shiden and Xavier mention your names that I remembered everything finally came to a new resolve. My precious memories came back to me... and what perfect timing I had too, because I have learned that Agony contracted some sort of illness, so her power may be wavering... I promised I would not let everything go in vain, and I searched for you both when I learned of your survival..."
Play KH Magical Mystery Theme on a second tab again.
Present...
"Now you know everything for the most part..." Sabito finished as he let the two young ones absorb the new information. "And I am sorry..."
"Dad..." Tobi finally addressed to him, but it was only a whisper and he didn't hear him.
"Wow... so, Agony used to be from Kiraboshi too?" Artina asked.
"Yes... in fact she used to be a neighbor of mine. In her Nobody form though, it seems she has lost all of her memories of my life there and everything to do with her Somebody... strangely though she did keep our bargain upheld." Sabito answered.
"Maybe she couldn't destroy her old home until just now." Artina guessed. "Might be why she made Xavier do it."
"Yes... she has been tasking our subordinates with taking out the worlds instead of herself. But then again, that's why you have subordinates." Sabito responded.
"Fiona was... my mom?" Tobi asked as he clutched his chest.
"Indeed, she loved you very much Tobias. Make no mistake of that." Sabito comforted. "I promise you."
"That dark orb that started all of this... it's this thing, isn't it?" Artina pointed to the thing on the desk. "What made Agony who she really was..."
"I'm afraid so." Sabito nodded.
"Well, what is it?" Tobi inquired.
"I call it the X-sphere, but Agony has named it the Black Sun for our Organization. A product created as a result from the Second Keyblade War..." Sabito informed them. "As I have researched it over the years... I've learned that the orb is a concentration of all of the evil and corrupted hearts who lost their lives in the last great war fought with Keys."
"What does it do exactly?" Artina questioned nervously.
"...I've learned it has two powers." Sabito explained. "First off, it can grant anyone the power of wielding the Keyblade, but only if they keep in contact with it. Secondly, even if it's just for a moment, it grants the user immense powers of darkness with a more permanent effect."
Tobi reached for the orb. "Well maybe we can-!"
But Sabito immediately slapped his hand away for it. "Don't touch it!"
"He's right!" Artina agreed. "We'll end up like Agony if we do!"
"Our only hope is for me to teach you both all that I know as quickly as possible." Sabito stated. "Are you two ready to start your training now?"
"Alright..." Tobi nodded. "Where do we begin?"
A/N- A lot of backstory I know. If you guys have any questions about Sabito or Agony's past I will answer them to clarify anything, within reason.
Now Tobi and Artina can begin their official training! But what of our other heroes, what will they have to face? Stay tuned for more Reborn! Review :)