Island of the First Echo
The trio appeared, two keyblades at the ready, set to counter any immediate threat. It was deemed clear of danger, and they began to look at the surroundings.
"What happened here?" Sora murmured. "It looks like a hurricane came through."
What had once been a large town now seemed to have been destroyed, torn down and scattered around.
"Heartless," Mickey answered. "Look to the other side of the island. You can see them coming already."
Sora gave a broad, sweeping gesture with one hand. The mass of Heartless that had been heading over the causeway to the next island were swept off their feet, and with a second such gesture they were thrown off the causeway into the water.
"What Heartless?" he asked then. "Why don't we move on?"
"Something's coming back," Sand told them with a warning hand on their shoulders. "I can feel it."
"I'm not-" Sora started, then a howling wind blew back at them, forcing them to drop low and dig their feet into the small bar of sand that made the beach. Mickey almost ended up flying off, but Sora caught him just in time. Debris from the ruins were flung at them overhead. Only quick reactions from his keyblade seemed to keep them safe, and even then there were several smaller fragments that caught them.
The wind began to drop, then a second blast swiped at the from the side bringing a new storm of debris and fragments at them, but also sending sand from the beach at them. Vision dropped off, then disappeared entirely.
When the wind dropped and deposited the sand around them, the ruins had vanished. In it's place was a town that seems unusually familiar – familiar, but deserted. In the distance, between them and where the causeway should have been, a similarly familiar castle reared against the skyline.
"I know this place," Sora mused. "I'm sure of it. I can't quite place it thought."
"It's the Disney Town," Mickey supplied, looking worried. "And my castle too. But something's not quite right here. It doesn't look the way it did when I left it."
"The only time I remember being here was in Timeless River... it looks like it's definitely after then, but..."
"Not quite now," Mickey finished.
"We're not really there," Sand said. "I think this is something like Castle Oblivion."
"How can you tell?"
"There's no beach where we're standing in the town, but if you listen-" he picked up one foot and put it down hard. It seemed to sink partially into the ground, and gave a scrunch of sand as it did so.
Sora almost said something, but Sand waved them into silence, and pointed behind them, tapping one ear.
The sound of a wave bubbling up the beach came to them, but there was no sight of it.
"I get it now. It's an echo," Mickey murmured. "An echo of the town as I remember it. This is how it looked when Ventus and his friends passed through, during the Unversed threat."
Sand stopped them a second time before they entered the echo-town, frowning.
"I can just about pick up the echo with the Arcology's power. I'm fairly sure there's something here that isn't part of the town. It's definitely an echo, but..." he shook his head. "That's all I can tell. Sorry Sora."
"Don't apologise. We'll just have to stay alert."
"And head where, Sora?" Mickey asked.
"Toward your castle. The causeway the Heartless were on should be just behind it."
Twilight Town
Old Mansion
The damaged remains of the mansion had been renovated and rebuilt, restoring it to it's former glory. It's former glory was, for the most part, wasted however, as Ienzo and Naminé had redesigned the basement Ansem had used in the guise of DiZ for their own purposes. The room that once held a pod with a slumbering Sora inside had now been replaced with the one containing Vexen, and the computers no longer ran a simulation of Twilight Town but now ran all kinds of data that seemed to make sense only to Ienzo.
Ven made his way through the mansion to the hidden basement, not really paying attention to the surroundings. Unlike the team that had gone on ahead of him and his friends, he wasn't here to help out – at least not directly.
Aqua had closed the gates behind them as they entered and stood guard there, while Terra had done the same in the entrance hall. As the mansion's residents were naturally working in the basement, his post was just outside the computer room where Ienzo worked – the first room any attackers would reach.
No one actually expected an attack, but after the revelation that Seifer was absolutely not to be trusted, and a quickly enacted effort that had gone out to combat something he was up to, Ven had taken it on himself to handle it.
Most of the reason, of course, stemmed from a continued feeling that after having caused the theft of the Cornerstone leaving him guilty over it, and therefore in need of doing something to make up for it.
As the Arcology itself was focused on dealing with Seifer's plots, it seemed unlikely they'd be expecting an attack on Ienzo to retrieve Vexen. It seemed logical to make those preparations for Sora, and be ready for an attack.
Ienzo glanced up as he entered the computer room.
"Is something wrong?"
"No," Ven shook his head. "I'm just making sure nothing happens to things here."
"Did Sora put you up to this?"
"It was my idea actually."
"If nothing else, it'll give me someone to talk to."
"What about Naminé?"
"She's resting. She insists on trying to force her way into the Collective's mind to find a weakness, and it tires her out. The folks from the Arcology aren't too bad, but they're entirely focused on the work. I don't mind the help, but it's a drag without anyone to talk to."
"You're welcome," Ven smiled. "It's not like I have anything else to do."
"Where are your friends?"
"Upstairs. Aqua's at the gates, and Terra in the entrance hall. Terra was going to suggest sticking together, but I figure anything that gets past both of them to here is likely to be either a big menace, or dreadfully weakened."
"Taking the easy way out and leaving the worst of it to them?"
"Better to have someone here to catch it. Besides, we raided one of the Arcology's storerooms for some potions and the like. We'll be fine as long as we don't get a barbaric hoard of Unversed. Or Heartless."
"Just what were the Unversed?"
"Extensions of Vanitas. He explained them as a handful of fledgling emotions only marginally under control. They got the name because they weren't well-versed in their own existance. A bit like the Heartless, they don't realise their full potential. Probably just as well."
"What happened to Vanitas?"
"He was destroyed by Aqua while he possessed me. The battle almost destroyed my Heart. If it hadn't been for a meeting with Sora when he was young, I wouldn't be here."
"I know about that. He sheltered the remains of yours until it grew back, right?"
"Yeah. It's why Roxas looks like me – the presence of my Heart within Sora's caused it. Or what was left of it at the time... my own Heart still isn't actually fully restored. There's just enough of it that I can manage. Roxas reckons another year and it'll be whole again."
"Doesn't that affect you at all?"
"You mean leave me a bit like a Nobody?" Ienzo nodded. "No. At least not that I've noticed. All it does is make my keyblade a little unreliable at times. Sometimes it'll come to me, sometimes it won't."
"Interesting reaction. I'm guessing that's the real reason you're down here."
"Just in case. I don't doubt their ability to turn anything away, but..."
"You don't want to be stuck in a battle without a keyblade."
Ven nodded slowly, leaning back on the wall nearby.
"It's not just my keyblade either. If someone else gives me a keyblade when I can't summon my own, then it'll return to their hand. It's like I never had the mark of mastery allowing me to wield one in the first place."
Ienzo watched for a few moments, then turned back to the computer and started to work. After a short wait, he said, "There's still some power in the computer not being used. If you like, I can look into this for you. See if there's anything I can do."
"Thanks Ienzo. I'd appreciate it."
"Think nothing of it. I needed something else to do anyway."
After a longer silence, Ven finally asked, "Is the simulated Twilight Town still active?"
"No. I had to shut it down. It's saved and backed up though. Why do you ask?"
"I heard it was like the one outside, but Roxas had a normal life there. I thought I could take a look and see what it was like there for him."
"Normal lives are over-rated," Ienzo snorted. "Give me interesting times any day. Just look at me ever since Vexen brought me back. I've seen the Dark Arcology become Sora's Arcology, a place with it's own Kingdom Hearts, I've seen Sora take out Xemnas a second time, not to mention reform the place to make it almost unrecognisable to it's previous state, restore you and now meet the Muren Collective head on."
"Yeah, well, I had my own interesting times. Vanitas, the Unversed, taking the Mark of Mastery exam, finding out Master Xehanort was using me to try to reforge the same blade Sora used to put the Arcology back in it's proper place..."
"Xehanort? I don't recall his ever being called a Master."
"Yeah... I was his apprentice at first, until Master Eraqus took me on. That was after Xehanort tried to make me use darkness to destroy some Heartless. If I'd done that, he could have used me to make the blade there and then, but I refused outright. He created Vanitas from my darkness, causing the Unversed to be created and almost destroying my Heart. Sora reached out to save me then as well."
"When did Eraqus take over?"
"Just after that. I think if he'd tried to train both me and Vanitas, we'd have been at each other's throats in no time, so he put me in the care of Master Eraqus, and that's how I became a keyblade master."
"Certainly a fascinating tale. Sometime you'll have to tell me all this in more detail."
"I guess. What were you doing at the time? I remember someone saying you were around then."
"I... was one of the six apprentices of Ansem the Wise in Radiant Garden. Me, Xehanort, Braig, Dilan, Even and Aeleus. We were the ones who ignored his order to stop our experiments on the Heart, and we became the first Nobodies of the Organization. Xehanort was different. He split into Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, a Heartless, and the Nobody who became Xemnas. The rest of us... we became Xigbar, Xaldin, Vexen and Lexaeus."
"Then Sora came and destroyed you?"
"Not all of us. Axel gave himself up to let Sora into the World that Never Was. Roxas was never defeated as such either. Riku was responsible for Lexaeus, and weakening me to the point that Axel used a Riku Replica to finish me off. But Sora was the main cause for the rest of us."
"What was it like?"
"I don't remember, actually. I know it happened, but the last thing I remember was seeing Axel order the Riku Replica to do something. The next thing I remember, I'm in the ruins of Dark City with Vexen hovering over me. There are better things to see when you come back from the dead than him."
