Xehanort had been sitting on a rock on the shores in the realm of darkness, with the heartless at his side. The waves seemed to wash up on the shore after the same amount of time as before, and only ever reached the point they did the previous time.

"They just repeat like that, over and over?" Xehanort asked the heartless.

It nodded in reply, and floated over to the water, running it's right hand through it, though it seemed to have absolutely no effect on the waves' height.

"This realm is so empty. There must be few of you left, I assume?" Xehanort inquired.

The heartless turned and floated past Xehanort, motioning for him to follow. Xehanort stood up from the rock, and did so.

As they delved into the shadow, Xehanort found they were on a narrow, winding grey bridge that was surrounded entirely by darkness. As they walked across it, colossal heartless emerged from the darkness to the sides, looking much like the one that Xehanort and Eraqus had fought during their Mark of Mastery.

They reached a wider chunk of land, grey as the bridge before it. Small, feeble heartless emerged from the shadows, almost looking like little toddlers, timid and afraid.

"These are your brothers and sisters?" Xehanort asked.

The heartless that was guiding him nodded, and picked up one of the small heartless, holding it in it's hand.

Xehanort looked at the small thing, and reached out to it. It stumbled back a bit, attempting to crawl up the larger heartless' arm, but it was stopped from doing so.

Reaching the small heartless, Xehanort petted it's head, and it calmed quickly. "They're your family, just like Eraqus and my Master are mine."

The floating heartless nodded, as the small heartless let out a distorted purring-like sound.

Xehanort pulled his hand back after a few more moments, and the floating heartless set the small one down. It scurried away, back into the shadows, as all the rest that surrounded Xehanort and the floating heartless did.

"I apologize that my family has hurt yours. I will do my best to correct the problem, as I can." Xehanort explained, looking the heartless in the eyes. "I am going to leave the Land of Departure when I return from this realm, and then I can suppress the light. From there, at least it won't enter into this realm, and I can search for a more suitable solution."

The heartless motioned for Xehanort to follow him again, which he did. They made their way through the shadows, until a strange blue and white glow was visible in the distance.

"What is that?" Xehanort asked.

With no reply but the heartless' continued movement forward, Xehanort stayed silent. Eventually, they reached the edge of a cliff, and could go no further - Not even the floating heartless, as something prevented it from going off of the edge.

That was when Xehanort saw what it was in the distance emitting the glow. A large heart-shaped aura, glowing blue around the edges, with a pale white glow filling it.

Xehanort's eyes widened, and he attempted to leap forward, but was stopped by an invisible barrier.

The heartless shook it's head, and turned to face Xehanort.

"That thing - That's Kingdom Hearts! It didn't just disappear, it came down here, into your realm!" Xehanort exclaimed.

The heartless nodded.

"But... not even you and your kind can reach it? It must have some sort of shield around it preventing anyone from going near it." Xehanort pondered.

The two looked at Kingdom Hearts, and simply stared at it for some time. As the moments passed, more heartless joined them in staring at it, until eventually, Xehanort and the floating heartless were surrounded by hunreds of others that simply sat and observed the glowing heart of all worlds.

Xehanort looked around at all the heartless peacefully sitting by him. This was proof enough to him that the darkness was not inherently malevolent - Here they were, man and heartless, co-existing as they gazed at the most primordial force of all: The Heart.

A small smile grew on Xehanort's face, as he turned and looked at the floating heartless, placing his hand on it's shoulder.

"I have to get back to the Land of Departure. I don't know what the purpose in showing me Kingdom Hearts was, but I feel that it means I must work faster than I expected to, before. You and your family will not be harmed for much longer, I promise you." Xehanort explained.

The heartless nodded at Xehanort's words, and created a portal for Xehanort to use. Xehanort took his hand off of the heartless' shoulder, and walked into the portal, as the heartless watched.

He emerged into his room, and found his belongings in shambles. He huffed, and assumed that his Master must have gone through his room. He noticed it was barely beginning to be light out, and came to the conclusion that time must pass faster in the realm of darkness than it did in his own realm.

He found his bags untied, but their contents left intact. He tied them up, and searched for his journal, but was unable to find it. This worried Xehanort - His Master likely found the journal, and that meant he knew what Xehanort planned to do.

Xehanort realized that this meant he had to leave, now. He could not take anymore time to gather books, or belongings, or anything. He could not even say goodbye to Eraqus, he realized, as he walked towards his door.

Taking a deep breath, he opened his door, rushing out of his room, then the castle. He stopped at the bottom of a set of stairs as he heard a keyblade being summoned. He hadn't fled quick enough.

He summoned his keyblade in his right hand, keeping it ready for anything. "Don't try to stop me from doing this, Master." Xehanort said, staying still, but gripping his keyblade's hilt.

"I'm not our Master, Xehanort."