Author's Note: This is just my take on the Kingdom Hearts cosmology. I think a duality between the heart and soul is more profound than just light. Hope you enjoy my take on things.
"…Ow." Sora slowly sat up, rubbing his head. "What happened?" One moment he had been jumping onto a hillock, the next he had landed on sand and fell, unprepared for the difference. "…" Sora gazed around, shocked, at his surroundings.
It was the Island, the place he had grown up and lived for most of his life. Everything was exactly where it should be… the pier, the palm trees and the houses. But Sora shivered as the sun dimmed and the wind blew cold. Something was very, very wrong.
"Of course something's wrong." He said out loud to himself. "You were walking in a swamp with Axel and Kairi, and now you're here. The Islands can't be here… what is this place?" He turned as a mocking laugh floated through the air. "Who's there? Show yourself!" The voice laughed again, and somehow… it was familiar. Sora knew he had heard the voice before, but he wasn't sure where. He didn't see the darkness that was beginning to bubble around his feet.
Who am I? The voice of a young boy said mockingly. Who are you?
"I asked you first – OW!" A vine of darkness slid up Sora's leg, tangling and holding. He slashed at it with the keyblade, but it seemed to ignore the strike, sliding up further. "What…?!?"
Very well. The voice said calmly as more and more darkness looped around him and the keyblade dropped to the ground. A tendril slid around his throat, and Sora gasped as he grasped it, trying to tear it away. I am you.
…you…you…you… The word echoed in Sora's head before fell into darkness.
When he came back to himself, Sora felt different. As if in a dream, he felt himself sit, then pull his body to his feet. But there was no conscious effort involved. As if something else was directing him. Yet… not entirely. Sora tasted a wild, fey intelligence that wasn't much like his usual self but was just enough to be recognizable. Almost as if… he were a Heartless again. But he wasn't. His body was just the same.
What is happening to me? Sora struggled to regain control, but his body only laughed… the same mocking laughter he had heard a moment ago. With a chill, he realized why he had recognized the voice. It was his own. No!
"Sora!" His body turned and smiled as Axel jogged up, smiling. "I've been trying to reach you. Good to see you're okay. You wouldn't believe what happened to me… have you seen Kairi?" He turned to look over the beach. "This is a pretty spot."
"It was my home, once." Sora heard himself say as he went to stand beside Axel. He sensed an amused malice from the dual intelligence in his mind, and tried to shout a warning. Axel! Look out! But nothing came out but another laugh. Axel glanced at him, puzzled.
"Something funny?" Axel looking into the water, then shrugged. "Well, if you're okay, we'd better go find Kairi."
"One sec, Axel." He reached up to touch Axel's shoulder, and turn the taller red-head smoothly to face him. "There's something I want to do first, just once. Could you lean down a bit?"
What do you want him to do that for? The real Sora asked the other Sora, and his dread only increased as it didn't answer. Axel, don't do it! Something was wrong, wrong wrong wrong. But Axel seemed oblivious, surprised by the request but willing to humor his friend.
"Okay, now what-mph!" Axel couldn't have been more surprised when Sora pressed his lips firmly against his. It was almost the perfect kiss. Caught completely by surprise, Axel didn't resist, and their tongues touched for a brief moment. Caught up in the feeling of warm, almost hot lips under his, the real Sora forgot to worry about the second Sora. But the kiss ended all too soon as Axel pulled away, breathing a bit fast. "Oh… okay, Sora. We've been under a lot of stress and all, but I'm really not into, you know, kissing guys. Okay?"
"Okay." Sora smiled sweetly, too sweetly, and Axel suddenly frowned at his friend. "I wanted to try it just…" There was a wet, tearing sound as he materialized a dark sword in his hand. "…once."
AXEL! The real Sora screamed as Axel tried to say something, his green eyes wide with surprise, and only coughed up blood. The blade had gone through the centre of his chest, and the dark Sora gave him a quick shove. He landed on his back with a thump, and a pool of blood began spreading, staining the white sand. Axel stared up into the sky, expression going slack and blank as the stain spread… No! NOOOOO!
"Why so upset? I left him his heart, didn't I? I could have made him into a Heartless and a Nobody again… erk!" The false Sora suddenly jerked as the real one tried to reclaim his body. "No… you can't have… hey!"
You won't hurt anyone else! NO! The mental battle made his body twitch like a marionette with cut strings, but suddenly the keyblade reappeared, summoned by Sora's desperate need. I'll stop you… the only way I can! He aimed the keyblade at himself, intent on removing the dark heart from his body. And if his own had to go as well… so be it.
No. The keyblade vanished, and Sora fell to his knees, weeping in grief and rage. The second Sora laughed and tried to take his body again, but found it could not. Surprised, they both looked up to see a woman hovering in the air. Her body was pure darkness, and her eyes glowed yellow. She looked like a Heartless, but held the keyblade in one petite hand. Axel isn't really here, Sora. He's saving Kairi. We thought you would be safer but it seems we were wrong.
"Wh-what... are you?" Sora turned to look at the dead Axel on the beach. He certainly looked real… but as he thought that, the body melted away. "What's… what's happening?" The second Sora was raging futiley, trying to break free, but was somehow being contained with iron force. "You look like a Heartless, but you're holding the keyblade." The woman laughed, but there was an edge of sadness to the sound.
I am the opposite of a Heartless… I am a heart that is yet to be born. Only an oath I made, so long ago, still holds me in this twilight realm. Soon I will be free… oh Sora. The other you isn't real. He's all your fears of the darkness inside yourself given life. The only way to truly defeat him, without destroying yourself, is to embrace the darkness. I'm sorry. My other self and I thought you would have problems more like Axel's, not something this… profound… Sora shook his head, then gripped it with both hands, closing his eyes.
"I don't want to embrace the darkness! I don't want to become that monster!" He protested. But she shook her head.
Fearing the darkness leaves you open to it. I must show you the true darkness of the heart. The island melted away as if it had never been, and there was nothing but darkness. A darkness so profound that the only thing Sora could see were her glowing eyes. Sora, Xehanort was right and he was wrong. Hearts are indeed born from darkness… but not the corrupt darkness of human hearts. This is the pure darkness. The eternal darkness from which all hearts take form. Close your eyes, and feel the darkness. You have picked this trial for yourself, and you must accept, or be ruled by the corruption…
"Feel the darkness…" Sora acted on faith, and closed his eyes. Her voice was kind, and his heart said to trust her. For a long moment, he could feel nothing. Then… he felt the darkness.
It's warm, he thought wonderingly as the dark Sora howled in his mind. It's… comforting. Like a womb. It's not really dark at all! It feels like… like love. The darkness felt like pure potential, like good things waiting to happen. It felt like life and love and everything in between. He opened his eyes and looked at the dark angel as the corrupt darkness in his mind faded away.
"Xehanort… he didn't get it. He thought darkness was evil, and it's not. That's what you mean?"
Yes. You understand now. Xehanort touched the pure darkness when he opened the door and, in his corruption, was consumed.
"But I saw light when the door opened. What did that mean?" Sora wondered.
It meant that without darkness there can be no light. Without light there can be no darkness. Hearts come from the darkness of life and souls come from the light of eternity… a soul without a heart is a pallid, hopeless thing and a heart without a soul is vulnerable to corruption. You have a good heart, Sora, but when it was separated from your soul you could not help but become Heartless. Only here, in the eternal darkness, can hearts like mine exist. I am so tired. Will Axel be here soon? Sora blinked at the dark angel, still holding the keyblade. She did seem weary… inexpressibly weary. As he watched, tears of gold slid down her cheeks.
"What is Axel to you?" Sora asked her, sensing that the answers were important. "And… why are you still here, if you don't want to be?"
Axel… was nothing to me before. But now he holds the heart of my lost love. So long ago, so very long… such betrayal we endured. Oh, how I weep. I swore to guard the land and I have but my strength is failing. No more, no more… but I will see him one more time before I am reborn. Ah, she sighed suddenly. They come.
Suddenly, Kairi and Axel appeared in the darkness. They seemed to carry a radiant glow with them. They both looked around, taken aback by the darkness surrounding them.
"Sora! Are you okay?" Axel jogged over, and paused, looking up at the dark angel… than yelped as Sora almost knocked him down. "Hey, brat! Aren't you getting the idea that you're too heavy for that?"
"Axel…" Sora closed his eyes, hugging Axel more tightly a moment. He needed reassurance that his friend was alive, well, and right beside him. Although… he blushed and suddenly pulled away. "Kairi!" Sora said hastily to distract himself. "She said Axel was saving you… are you alright?"
"I'm fine Sora… um. What is she?" Kairi was looking at the dark angel apprehensively. But the angel only had eyes for Axel.
Oh, my love, how long it has been. She floated closer to them, but stopped as they stepped back. The keyblade vanished from her hand, returning to Sora. Do you remember me? Do you remember my heart? Axel stared at her, trying to find the memories in his heart… but they would not come. It made him remember what the Footman had said… that his heart was not his own, and never would be.
"I'm sorry. I don't remember." He said as gently as he could, and she seemed to slump for a moment before lifting her head.
It was too much to ask… my name was Kaelglas. I was your priestess and you were my knight… we rode to war together on the shifting sands. What battles we fought! But we were betrayed. We saved our land by breaking all the laws of nature and we have paid… oh how we have paid… and the land has paid. The cycle has been broken for so long. We have all suffered but now there is a chance… such a slender chance but it is all we have. It is time to walk the road of glory together.
Together. They all turned to see the angel of light, garbed in glory, appear behind them. Her radiance filled the darkness. We will show you the road of glory together.
Laughing with joy, the two angels joined hands. Their hands seemed to melt into each other, and then a road formed, stretching off into the distance. It was shifting light and darkness, a shadowy thing that they hesitated to step on… but the angels ran up it, laughing, and they could only follow. It was solid underfoot but slippery, and they often had to help each other to keep going.
Light suddenly flared around them, and abruptly they fell out of the air into Disney Castle. For a moment, they heard ghostly laughter and saw the angels… but then they were gone.
Amberglas bit her lip as she considered, and then added another line.
But time did not matter in the road of glory, and Kaelglas would not be reborn for some time… she would be Axel's first child. And at last, the cycle would be complete.
The Captain looked at the castle. The ice on the stained glass windows was beginning to melt. But the day was colder than ever. If any of the townsfolk had seen it, they would have thought it distinctly unnatural. The Lancers and Footmen, with a much better understanding of what it meant, would have agreed.
"Will they find us in time, Captain?" The Footman asked worriedly, and the Captain nodded.
"The little writer will not let them be too late. But we must stand ready to aide." He turned resolutely away from the windows and their horribly implications. If nothing was done before the ice melted completely…
The wind they felt now would be warmth itself compared to what summer would bring.