Aurem Ignotus

"Riku!" Riku shook his head as he felt someone help him to his feet. When his vision returned, he was facing his bloodied and battered, but happy spiky haired friend, "Hey buddy!"

"Sora..." Riku smiled while tiredly looking around at everyone, "Kairi? King Mickey? Everyone..."

"So he's finally awake?" A vaguely familiar voice asked from the recovering group, "Guess that means we can bust out of this place."

"Axel?" Riku said when he saw the man with spiky red hair, "You're...Axel's somebody?"

"It's face marks right? I miss em too...and the name's Lea, got it memorized," Lea chuckled before turning and patting an exhausted Thaeon on his shoulder, "What are you standing there for? Open the last door already!"

"Read my mind," Thaeon stated as he walked towards a door with a chalice upon it and pointed his silver keyblade at it, "This might take a while..."

"We've been here all day, a few minutes won't hurt." Kairi said before turning to the breathing Riku, "Are you alright? You scared us..."

"I'll be fine...just slept in that's all." Riku said and saw Mickey run over to where Taran was only now waking up, "Is he alright?"

"I'm here to make sure." Mickey said and quickly cast a curaga spell before Taran took a breath and stood on his feet, "It's good to see ya again Taran."

"Master..." Taran said and respectfully bowed on his knees to the relieved King, "I regret to inform you that I have failed my mission..."

"Failed?" Mickey asked with slight confusion, "I told ya to find Sora and Riku which you did. I told ya to stay with em till I could get em a ride which ya did. And you safely brought them to me. As far as I see...you've succeeded in your task."

"But master-"

"No buts! I'm just glad that you're in one piece." Mickey admitted and embraced the confused apprentice, "I probably asked too much of you by sending you out with all of the danger that's happening...any failure in your task would've been my failure as your master."

"My King...please don't..."

"Mickey's just glad that you're alright," Goofy said to the slightly embarrassed Taran, "What happened to you fellas anyway?"

"Long story..." Pazu answered with a wide smile and then looked around at the hall that everyone was in, "We're all awake right?"

"Let's find out..." Riku boredly pinched Sora's ear, causing Sora to pinch Riku's and they both let go after a short while, "Yep, we're not dreaming."

"Your hair..." Kairi pointed out and brought Riku's attention to how his hair had still be shortened to neck-length, "Did you cut it?"

"He ate it..." Riku said while pointing to Pazu, "Like I said...long story..."

"Sorry to interrupt..." Thaeon declared as the door began to glow with a great luster, "Everyone...brace yourselves."

"What for?" Goliath asked before the entire corridor shook and the walls were torn from their places, "The Umbris...it's...breaking apart..."

"We passed the maze, so it's reforming itself." Serah noted as the architexture of the room reformed itself so that the group stood upon a platform within a great walled valley and before them was a vast doorway with a door emblazoned with a heart within it, "I take it that we go through that doorway?"

"As soon as it's unlocked." Thaeon said before his keyblade emitted a glow and the door opened to reveal a great hallway behind it, "If there's an empty chest at the end of this hallway...I'm killing whoever made his umbris."

"Save some for me too." Relena said and then scratched her nails on the armored cuiress that she had on, "Lea...give me the jacket."

"Why?" Lea asked and Aqua looked at the two of them when Lea's face grew into a smirk, "Oh yeah...it'll cost you a peek."

"Give her the jacket." Aqua commanded and Lea sheepishly took off his jacket and handed it over to Relena, "Go ahead and fasten it over yourself, I can wait."

"It's nice when women look out for each other." Relena said while she fastened on Lea's jacket and Aqua relinquished her armor piece, "I like this jacket, it's cozy...mind if I keep it?"

"Yes."

"Too bad."

"Poor guy..." Thaeon said while a deflated Lea marched through the doorway, "Completely whipped."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Serah asked before she groaned and also entered the doorway, "You men are all the same!"

"That's why they're men and not women..."

"Don't act you guys aren't like that too!" Sora shouted, "Right Riku? Zack? Pazu? Goliath? Donald? Goofy? Mickey?"

"I'm staying out of this one..."

"Good call, think I'll repeat it..."

"I don't know what you guys are talking about."

"Some battles are not worth fighting."

"You said it! I'm gonna be in trouble as it is."

"Maybe we oughta focus on gettin out of here."

"Gosh Sora...I kind of gotta leave you to dry." Mickey muttered regretfully and with a humored look on his face, "There's more of them than there are of us."

"Really?" Sora asked and saw Mickey put a finger on his mouth, "Yeah...I guess so."

"You coming or what?" Thaeon called from within the doorway before he also entered it, "Nice boyfriend you've got."

"Nicer than you." Kairi barked at the magister and Sora shook his head. Riku raised an eyebrow in concern and curiosity, "Don't ask Riku."

"I'm gone for five minutes and people are at each other's throats already?" Riku asked while Kairi smirked and ran towards the doorway, "Guess I am popular."

"You did just save the day." Sora shook Riku's hair while they both entered the doorway that would take them out of this long maze, "Thanks Riku."

"For what?"

"Always coming through." Sora said sincerely, "Except when I had to save you."

"One time against how many times I've saved you?" Riku pointed before his nose caught a scent that caused his smile to fade, "Did you get a different colon in Twilight Town?"

"Colon?" Sora asked while Riku pointed to his nose, "You probably smell Thaeon, I don't think he's bathed in a while."

"Harsh Sora...harsh..." Riku said while Sora walked ahead and Riku lowered his pace, "What is that smell? How come it's so familiar...how come I don't like it?"

He recalled two events where he had smelt that scent that Sora lightly had. Once was from Aqua and Kairi after the fight on the day before that they left the islands and the other was on that boy who he recalled seeing Ansem strangle.

What was the connection?

Hallway of Enlightenment

"Will it ever end?"

"The fighting?"

"The hallway..." An exasperated Serah managed to Xion while the group continued down the long corridor filled with stained images of dark robbed keyblade champions on one side and maidens in pure white dress on the other, "We've been walking down this hallway for hours...and hours...nothing's even trying to attack us!"

"What is it with you and hallways?"

"Cocoon had a lot of them..." Serah answered Donald, "Or rather...it had one really long hallway that spanned across the entire world. Once you're stuck in that hallway, there's no escape. It's a multi-hour long trek that's both limiting and boring. Some spots in the hallway are much wider than other places, but there's only one way in and one way out...the hallway. Sometimes you find a path that forks out and you think that you might've escaped. Instead, it comes to a dead-end with some gil in a storage bot as a practical joke and then you have to turn back and re-enter...the hallway..."

"At least it's not stairs..."

"Tobi! Don't remind me!" Lea shouted with equal annoyance while carrying a happy Relena lying in his arms, "Whose idea was it to make those stairs so damn long!"

"What stairs?"

"Stairs into the Sub-basement Hollow Bastion," Lea answered Sora, "No one's found them yet?"

"The whole bastion was searched from the highest chimney to the most unreadable recipe book." Zack answered, "You'd have to tell us what to look for."

"Stop." Thaeon ahead held up his hand when they came upon a large door that had ordained with a nobody symbol over an emblem of a chalice, filled with a great flame that emitted rays of light that cut through the outer circle of darkness. He placed his hand upon the calice and watched as thirteen blank squares appeared around the nobody symbol in a circle, "So it is his..."

"Whose?" Mickey asked when he walked up to examine the door, "What's wrong?"

"Lea!" Thaeon shouted and didn't look away when Lea came to the door. All but four of the panels filled with light before being left with various names that Mickey vaguely remembered, "I need the last four true names of the members of Organization XIII."

"Alright..." Lea shrugged his shoulders and counted out something on his hand, "Ordul...Lumaria...Relena...no, it was entered in as Renela."

"Okay." Thaeon said while all but the last panel was filled, "Now for the thirteenth."

"It's Ro-" Lea stopped himself and took out a piece of paper and wrote something on it, "Here it is."

"Oh really?" Thaeon raised an eyebrow and gave a quick look at Sora before facing Lea, "Sensitive subject?"

"Just open the door." Lea muttered while Thaeon shrugged his shoulders and placed his hand on the door. The final panel brightened as the door became a pure white wall while the rest of the corridor began to change around it's architexture, "Again with the shifting rooms?"

"It's happening again?" Riku asked as the area circled around the group and formed itself into thirteen towers that surrounded them in the middle of a vast hall, "Why do I feel like...I've been in here before?"

"I know why...this was the throne-room of Organization XIII!" Sora realized as he recognized this place, "Why are we in here?"

"Organization XIII? That means..." Aqua's heart stopped when a single form of darkness appeared in the highest throne and formed itself into an individual who Aqua had not seen since she had fallen into the darkness, "You!"

"This...this was made by you?"

Crossroads in Fate

From behind her visor, the Keyblade Master watched someone approach from the distance.

Next to her stood her friends, fellow apprentices who she knew and loved with all of her heart. Both were armored in their own armor as they awaited the intruder. The younger and shortest of the trio tried to charge, but was restrained by the master who knew better than to fall into this man's tricks. The Three Chasers saw the man come into view...a man who was once revered as a friend and teacher and now revealed himself as a traitor and monster on level with the darkest creatures from the Depths of Darkness.

He was an old man, bald except for thin eyebrows and a curled, silver goatee. His ears are pointed and his eyes are yellow. He has broad, hunched shoulders and a crooked back. He would appear as a feeble old man to the untrained eye, but the trio knew better. The Keyblade Master wore a white and black coat with a red inner lining, over a white shirt with two thin black belts, as well as white gloves and calf-high black boots with a black lining along the coat. As they watched him approach, a shadow phased out of his form and became a being in a skin tight-black and red suit with a black helmet that obscured his face.

"Behold. These lifeless keys used to be full of power. United with the hearts of their masters. On this barren soil, Keyblades of Light and Dark were locked in combat as a great Keyblade War raged!"

The Old Man's form began to fade away while his armored companion transformed into a muscled creature of darkness. The old man formed a blue light in his hand and cast it into the darkened skies. The sky gave way and revealed the Heart of All Worlds above to cast a somber glow upon the armor of the Chasers.

"Countless Keyblade Wielders gave up their lives all in search of one ultimate Key. And it will soon belong to me..."

As he pointed to his friends, the master panicked when darkness enveloped the taller of the two and light took away the younger. She reached for both and caught neither while her tormentor vanished into the darkness. She now found herself without her armor within a city of light and ran towards someone who appeared to be her friend.

But when she came closer, she saw only an enemy who had taken her friend's form.

They battled and she emerged victorious with darkness coming forth and consuming her enemy. In that moment, she remembered her friend and leapt into the darkness after him and gave up her armor to allow him to escape the darkness...

But he had never escaped the darkness at all...

Throne of the Four Pillars

"Master Xehanort! I should've know that it was you!"

She felt her own eyes twitch.

Every nerve in her body cried out for her to strike down the man sitting in the throne high above the other twelve.

Her own heart whispered dark thoughts of vengeance that she maintained the will to hold back.

The last time that she had seen that smiling face was within the wasteland of the Keyblade Graveyard, amidst a crossroad of fallen keyblades bereft of their power. There, his plans unfolded with Aqua powerless to stop them or save those most precious to her. Not only did she fail to rescue Terra from the darkness of the old man within that throne, she failed to even be there for Ven.

Because of the man sitting in that throne of four pillars.

For his part, Xehanort was taken aback by the faces that stared back up at him. Was he honestly surprised, or what he just mocking them? Her hand rose from her side, readying to summon the keyblade of the master whom he had struck down.

"Xehanort..." While Aqua silently fumed in anger and rage that had been held within her heart for twelve years and Mickey silently locked his eyes with the master, the others held expressions of confusion and dread. Amongst the confused, Thaeon raised an eyebrow at the elderly master, "I know that it's been while, but the years weren't kind to you."

"Somethings wrong..." Xion said to herself, "Aqua?"

"You're Xehanort?" Sora asked in bewilderment while Xehanort greedily smiled at the Keyblade Hero, "He doesn't look anything like that picture in Ansem's Study!"

"That's because this is the true Master Xehanort." Mickey explained without looking away from the nemesis of the worlds, "Before he took Terra's body from him and became Ansem's apprentice...before his embrace of darkness and nothingness...before his rebirth."

"He stole away another's body?" Goliath inquired with calm suspicion, "What sorcery would allow such a thing to occur?"

"I don't really know..." Mickey answered while glancing over to where Aqua quietly fumed, "Let's ask Master Xehanort himself."

"Yeah...he's Xehanort alright...he's got the same eyes and even the same smell." Riku agreed, noting the subtle similarities between this old man and Ansem the Seeker of Darkness, "Bout time that we actually met face to face."

"So...you have accessed my umbris..." Xehanort said with a complementary tone as his eyes leveled on Thaeon, "I've sensed being in your presence for a while boy. I was afraid that you would never find my gatekeeper. Though I will confess that your method for passing my maze to be...unorthodox."

"It worked didn't it?"

"I suppose so, I never thought it possible for masters from four different orders to be able to pass through the maze." Xehanort said to himself curiously, "Exactly how all of you came into my umbris is a mystery that excites me. The Freeshooter is correct to remain wary of your lot."

"Wait..." Sora muttered now even more confused, "If Xehanort has returned...how are you here?"

"As Thaeon has doubtless informed you, an umbris is normally accessible to others only upon the creator's death. And even then, they will only share their wisdom and knowledge with those who are found worthy." Xehanort stated, "But...seldom has a magister returned from death...nor attained the great power that I now possess."

"So you're aware of what you're doing now?"

"What?"

"This Xehanort before us is only a gatekeeper, a projection created from Xehanort's essence." Thaeon said to Serah, "So the gatekeeper's awareness extends to his original self...after his rebirth."

"Good, this is true." Xehanort confirmed while holding up his own hands and scoffing at the fragile nature of his bones, "I doubt that you will ever see me in this frigid state again. I originally created this umbris in my youth and last accessed it the night before I went forth to achieve my plans."

"Where is Terra!" Aqua shouted, unable to contain herself, "What the hell did you do him...what did you do to Ventus?"

"Aqua...you surprise me again by the virtue of being alive." Xehanort replied cordially as Aqua summoned Stormfall, but stopped when Mickey held up an arm, "Imagine if you had died when I had intended, my plans would not have gone as well as they have at this point. Indeed, all of my successes up to this point can be owed to you."

"What do you mean?"

"You see...what happened to your colleagues can be attributed to haste and a fear of death..." Xehanort boredly stated, "In my youth, I left the watch of the Master Keeper who Eraqus would succeed and ventured forth on my own. I learned under the Magi of the necessity of knowledge and wisdom. When I learned everything that I needed and could be taught no more, I went to the Pacts of Valor and achieved great skill and praise from all of them."

"But all of my successes paled compared to my desire..." Xehanort continued, "From the days of my youth, I had seen that darkness rules over all others. It was through the darkness that I first left my world...with much less of a mess than...others have. "Am I wrong, Riku?"

"Don't." Zack advised the offended Riku, "It's what he wants."

"But I was told and proven that I was not ready to learn the truth." Xehanort recalled while the group watched him with increasing anxiety and worry, "The magister who scouted me told me that I was already powerful...but my heart was not steadied for what I would have to sacrifice...it was too soon to take the plunge. So he sent me to the Sanctuary and told me to find my own path. So I did...after learning everything that I needed to know of the other orders, I joined the Magisters of Darkness who sought in the shadows for the light which was lost in the Keyblade War."

"Kingdom Hearts."

"Yes, but amongst the magisters...I learned of a terrible truth." Xehanort continued while summoning a pendant that held a symbol of the chalice upon it, "True, they taught me all that I needed to know of the darkness and under their methods I reached my full potential...a peak that I would never again achieve or surpass until after my rebirth. But they were devoted pawns to a stagnant peace within the Worlds. They sought for that which would never be found and in doing so and keeping back the darkness...the worlds were only surviving...without conflict, nothing motivated the light of the worlds to grow stronger and bridge the wide gaps of space and ignorance between them."

"So I conspired with my once-teacher magister Bane and orchestrated a plot to destroy the magisters." Crushing the pendant, Xehanort through it's crushed remains into the room where it fell into a fine powder, "In doing so, the darkness would be left unchecked and allowed to spread as it naturally should. Afterwards, I killed my old master and took up his power..."

"You killed them all!" Mickey shook with horror at what Xehanort had just confessed to, "Xehanort...why would you do that? Why would you betray your very order? Leave the Throne of Darkness bereft?"

"Because it would force the other Thrones out of their complacency." Xehanort continued, "Because darkness was never meant to be shared...it is meant to fester and be channeled in those who can harness and use it! That was why I killed my master, so that there would only be one Master of the Darkness...That there could be only One that the many shall call Aurem."

"I didn't just become the Master of Darkness. I became the Darkness."

"Alright..." Thaeon scoffed with humor, "Then how about being beaten by a suit of armor, a young woman, a castaway kid like me and a group of younger kids who learned on the fly?"

"Amusing..." Xehanort waved his hand at his former pupil, "You see Thaeon, though I was Aurem...I was still only mortal. Furthermore, a great lifetime of conflict and training, combined with a strain brought on from my battle with my master...from inheriting the very burden and legacy of darkness...one that cost more than I had expected...my body was left unable to handle the darkness that now composed my heart. As the years passed, I weakened more and more...until I had the health of a man nearing his final hours."

"I was able to keep myself alive, but I knew that my time was short." Xehanort continued, slouching into his chair while recalling the final decades of his original existence, "To that end, I decided to lay the seeds of my plot. I had learned of the legends and so I sought for the twelve. The twelve individuals whose souls were composed of pure light...a light that safeguarded both their hearts and that of the princesses of heart from the darkness. I found them, using what I had learned from my Master in the Sanctuary and I destroyed them."

"Destroyed them..." Thaeon nodded in thought, "Go on..."

"But I still had my dilemna of mortality." Xehanort admitted, "Originally, I sought for an apprentice who held great darkness...one whom I could train and then use as a younger vessel with their darkness as an arc to sustain my heart and consume theirs. Within my new vessel, I would challenge Eraqus and from our clash of light and darkness, the Conduit of the X-Blade would be forged!"

"It was a frustrating ordeal that pushed my patience...many of my apprentices died due to overestimation...a few defied me and left for their own devices...one particular apprentice forever rejected the usage of a keyblade and though he was a formidable swordsman...he was too strong-willed to be controlled."

"Ventus seemed like the perfect candidate." Aqua's face hardened at the mention of her friend, "He was a young boy when I first saw him, but he possessed such great anger and hurt...I had to have him. So I took him as my apprentice and trained him. At first he showed promise...or perhaps I was blinded by haste...eventually it became clear that Ventus simply lacked the will to ever use the darkness."

"Brought to my limit, I chose a new solution. I divided Ventus' heart into two, one half of light and the other would be darkness. I was content to train the being born from Ventus' darkness and allow Ventus to die. But somehow..."

"Somehow he survived and I formed a new plan." Xehanort went on, "I would leave Ventus with Eraqus to strengthen his light while I trained the being of Ventus' darkness. When the time came, I would clash the being against Ventus and together they would create the X-Blade while I possessed the body of Eraqus' apprentice Terra."

"You know...when you sit down and think about it. I hardly had to do anything with that boy," Xehanort mused, "Much of what occurred, occurred because of his own actions. All I did was encourage him to channel his darkness whether than be afraid of it and impel it. But, then he became so gullible! He even spoke with and assisted villains of ill-intent that Eraqus trained him to sense and fight against!"

"The boy even struck down his own master! A man who he loved as a father! All because I suggested the nature of Ventus' state of being." Aqua fumed while Xehanort laughed, "Which made him perfect! He reminds me of myself if I had never heeded Bane's advice. He was too headstrong, too narrowly focused...and that made him perfect as my vessel. When I possessed him, his darkness welcomed my heart and abandoned his, enabling me to be reborn in a younger and stronger form. I also enjoyed the decency of having hair once more..."

"But...I made several mistakes in my haste," Xehanort's gaze fell upon Aqua who returned the gaze with nothing but contempt and anger, "I should never have left you on the wayside Aqua...but how was I supposed to know what you would do? I thought you were harmless, little more than a dogmatic pupil of Eraqus...one whom Ventus' dark-half would destroy...Gratefully, I was wrong."

"If you had asked me years ago, I would have been infuriated with how you and even you, King Mickey, had disrupted my plans back then and continued to do so even in your absence." Xehanort's fingers twiddled while he continued, "But if you hadn't, I would never have come to this point of ascension with Kingdom Hearts within my grasp."

"Okay, stop it..." Thaeon shook his head while keeping down a humorless chuckle, "You can't really expect us to believe that you planned on losing your memories..."

"And then gain just enough to start a heartless plague and fall to darkness..."

"Or having your heartless destroyed...and your nobody too!"

"True, I didn't originally plan for any of those outcomes." Xehanort admitted, "Fortunately, I made certain to keep many doors open even in my haste. While Terra's defiance and Aqua's unexpected strength did stagger my original plan through my defeat and the X-blade's destruction, I was able to regather and start anew. Without Ansem the Wise, I would never have regathered the memories that I did. Within a year, his castle was mine and was a stagging ground for the continuation of my goals."

"All involved obeyed my instructions and intentions whether they were aware of it or not." Lea's hand tightened into a fist before Relena laid her hand on it. Thaeon's face turned harder while Xehanort taughtingly smiled at him and a fearful yet aware Kairi, "Without fully knowing why or how, I weakened the world boundries of Radiant Garden and unleashed a potent, but comparatively harmless plague of emotion-driven darkness upon it's people. The conflict served as a testing grounds to both strengthen the growing darkness and ways of honing that darkness to more effectively destroy...light."

"Finally, I used Ansem's research to create a great rift in the Realm of Light, enabling the darkness to come forth and empower a great plague of heartless both pure and artificial." Xehanort finished, "I then gave myself to the darkness so that I could control this plague and left behind a nobody to gather the promised thirteen shrouds. They whose beings would be filled with the darkness of Aurem and become darkness themselves."

"Those plans were confounded by the four of you." Xehanort happily confessed, "Sora...Riku...Kairi...King Mickey...and don't think that I've forgotten your role...Axel."

"The name's Lea, got it memorized old man?"

"A pity that you did not accept the gift offered to you." Xehanort exhaled, "Out of the thirteen...you would made a powerful vessel. Few amongst the others were worthy, they were either too weak or too treacherous to hold that darkness."

"Sounds great, but I like the color of my eyes." Lea shot back while pointing to his eyes, "Besides, the organization was just a scam anyway! Damn it! You had us chasing after something that we had within us the whole time!"

"What?" Sora asked when a stab of fear entered his heart, "Wasn't the Organization looking for Kingdom Hearts to find their own hearts?"

"Yes, that is why the organization was formed." Xehanort answered, "But, before I became Xemnas and Ansem the Seeker, I discovered through my research that nobodies...beings left behind when a heartless is born from a strong being, could in time grow their own heart when exposed to a powerful and profound emotional stimuli."

"Is that..." Sora looked down at his own hands, recalling his battles against the organization and the hundreds of nobodies that he destroyed, "That means..."

"The creatures that you destroyed in your last journey Sora...were alive," Xehanort stated as Sora's eyes paled and he fell to his knees, "Xemnas spoke to the Organization and told them that they needed Kingdom Hearts. Easily convincing them that any emotion that they did feel was nothing more than a leftover reaction from their memories. It is still quite sad considering...all of those dusks, those hundreds of creatures that you labeled monsters...you killed them all without mercy. The poor things, who never had a choice to become what they were and you killed them as they found their own heart-"

"Xehanort..." Aqua's breath increased as her already great anger began to build, "How...dare you..."

"My Master Aqua...why so infuriated?" Aqua's ability to keep from trying to wipe that smile from Xehanort's face was slowly easing away the longer that it lasted, "It was only because of your absence that I could achieve what I did. You had defeated me back then...you could have easily left me to fall into the darkness, but you didn't. You could've allowed the darkness to become my abode and then returned to regather your strength and that of the other orders...instead, you leaped after me. In fact, you could have killed me and ended all of my plans, but you stayed your hand. You saved me in a naive, misguided attempt to save a friend who was beyond your reach. But, I suppose that it was fate. Destiny is never left to chance. I merely guided you all to their proper places."

"Fate?"

"Yes, your fate." Xehanort finished, "A Master blinded by his own light to be struck down by his own pupil...The broken boy who failed to be the blade...the misguided successor who sacrificed herself for a fallen friend...and the feckless idiotic fool of a youth whose body became the vessel for my rebirth. Though if asked as to who should be held most accountable...it should be you for abandoning your duty-"

"SHUT UP!" Everyone save Xehanort jumped from the outburst that Kairi voiced, "Sora! Don't listen to a word that he says! You helped those nobodies! Some them thanked you for returning them to their true self! If it weren't for Xehanort, we would never have to even fight them! He's still the man responsible for all of this! Not you!"

"Kairi..."

"She's right Sora," Riku stated, "Even if we had known...it wouldn't have changed what needed to be done."

"Perhaps, but if a nobody can form their own sense of being...why the need to be reformed?" Xehanort looked knowingly between Riku and a perplexed Xion, "Is one heart more precious than another?"

"You don't even care!" Mickey shouted, "You used all of us from the very beginning...Now I know what I would should've guessed all of those years ago...the reason that Terra failed his test..."

"And what would that be my dear?"

"YOU!" Aqua yelled with hatred freely mixed into her voice, "You sabotaged him! You manipulated your bond with Master Eraqus...and used Terra as your scapegoat to escape his sight...then you preyed on Terra's doubt...all to use as his vessel."

"But I must emphasize..." Xehanort placed a hand on his chest while he went on, "Much of what Terra did was done from his own conclusions. All I did was, helpfully push him in the right direction."

"Push? You stringed him down that path!" Aqua shouted with tears streaming down her cheeks, "Terra was a good friend and had a true heart! He made mistakes, but tried his darnest to set things right. It was only cause you dogged him at every step did you defeat him! And he still fought you after you took away his body!"

"We're not here to debate with you..." Thaeon stated and summoned Glimmer Endure, "Keep going! What are you after now?"

"Kingdom Hearts." Xehanort answered, "Thanks to all of your actions, the worlds were restored with the closing of the Door to Darkness, and allowing for the choosing of twelve new beings...minstrels of purity to safeguard the princesses of heart."

"Now reborn, I will gather the shrouds of darkness and send them against the worlds." Xehanort continued as Pazu felt himself shudder when Xehanort looked at his faintly glowing pendant, "I don't know where they are now, but soon I will gather the twelve into my fold."

"So you can kill them again?"

"No, that was a mistake made in haste." Xehanort answered Lea, "The light within them is not meant to be destroyed, it is meant to be channeled. Channeled into the true X-blade, the blade which I will use to merge the true Kingdom Hearts with the Kingdom Hearts born from the darkness of destruction and death. With their merging, the realms of Light and Darkness, Wake and Sleep will merge into one World as it was in the beginning and through this clash of destruction and rebirth, a New World will be born."

"A World which I shall lead into an eternal golden age of prosperity and peace!" Xehanort declared, "A world that will continually expand with ever opening possibilities for it's inhabitants. A world which I shall rule as it's lord, master of the four thrones and eternal wielder of the X-Blade."

"You want to destroy the worlds to create a new one?" Penelo dared taunt, "That sounds as dumb as wanting to kill everyone to end all suffering."

"Think that's bad?" Serah managed, feeling bold enough to somehow challenge this catalyst of their sorrow, "My sister and I fought someone who wanted to destroy the world to summon god..."

"Amusing attempts at noble suicide..." Xehanort agreed, "But I assure you that my plan is for the greater good of the worlds."

"I don't remember anyone asking my world that." Pazu calmly added, "You're not doing this to help others! If you were...you'd find a way to do that without all of this destruction and death! You wouldn't displace people and force them away from their lives just because of your vision!"

"Words born from grief and a naive hope for the worlds." Xehanort stated as if dismissing the boy whose plans had destroyed his world, "I once believed as you did...but I soon learned that this was false. In order to create, something must be destroyed. You cannot have a farm without altering the land; you cannot build a boat without cutting down a tree; you cannot win a race without breaking the horse. To achieve, something of equal value must also be given."

"This coming from an old man who possessed someone just because he heard the bell toll for him." Riku stated as Xehanort nodded with acknowledgement, "Don't think that this means you've already won, we'll find a way to stop you."

"And then what?"

"What do you mean?"

"Sure, you can stop me and my plans." Xehanort stated, "And then what? Continue your endless struggle in scattered and divided worlds? It matters not, I was here to say what I'd say and now you know what you needed to know."

"Not yet!" Lea shouted, "The Thirteen Shrouds...how many have you gathered of your shrouds and the minstrels?"

"If you must know..." Xehanort boredly agreed, "Of the Twelve, I have gathered five, I know of three others and the last four...I know how to find them."

"Thirteen Shrouds right?" Zack asked while Xehanort nodded, "Xedalart...Braig...Isa...Ienzo...the Assassin...and the Vanitas kid. That's only six! How do you plan to conquer the worlds with only six?"

"To correct your math Soldier, those you have named only account for six of the nine vassals within my power." Mickey gulped as he counted out something in his own hands, "I have already chosen the last four, they just aren't aware of it yet."

"I think we have everything we need from you." Thaeon concluded and looked around at the group...all of whom were ready to leave this throneroom and this umbris, "It's time to leave...how do we get out here?"

"You have passed the test of my umbris." Xehanort answered, "You need only open a pathway and you shall return to the world from which you came here from."

"Thanks and I'll see you soon-" Aqua's keyblade blocked Thaeon's, causing his keyblade lose it's faint luster while Aqua relinquished her blade.

"Wait."

"Aqua?" Mickey asked and stood in front of Aqua with his arms streched out, "That's not really Xehanort you know. I don't think attacking his gatekeeper's gonna do him any good. Though...I understand why you'd want to...I wanna give him a good beat-up myself."

"I need to let go of this...I've held it in for twelve years..." Aqua calmly said while Mickey lowered his arms and let his friend pass him. Xehanort's smile faded as he looked upon Aqua's tearful, but determined face, "Xehanort, I don't know if you can really hear me. You may just be a projection of essence and you can't communicate to him. But I just want to let you know...you will pay for everything that you did to my family."

"You betrayed us...you betrayed all of us. Strange thing about all of this? I wanted to be like you." The rest of the group was just as surprised as Xehanort himself when Aqua spoke, "We all did...but me especially. Eraqus always told me about how much he admired you...how brave...strong...wise and respected that you were. A man who came from a world that no one had ever heard of...who found his own path through the lanes between and came to the Order of Light. You didn't wait for fate to allow you to come to the Land of Departure...your will and your heart gave you the means to create your own..."

"When Ventus joined us, I thought that he could help me be more like you." Xehanort listened intently while Aqua continued, "But Ventus was nothing like you...he was clumsy...fearful...uncertain and for while...I thought that he'd never become a master. Even still...he was kind and selfless...he had strength, but of a different kind. He held courage, but of a different tone. Ironically...he was the one who helped me become master the most. He never gave up...and never held on to grudges or to his own mistakes. In time, he improved and even reached me and Terra's level in skill...even becoming faster then either of us and mastering techniques of light that I haven't been able to learn to this day."

"When you came to the Castle on the day of my Mark of Mastery, I became uncertain about you." Aqua's gaze never wavered from the master while Xehanort himself twidled his fingers, "From the moment that Terra failed, I knew that something was wrong. I sensed that a shadow had obscured both Terra's performance and my master's ability to even see it. Even though it seemed impossible in my mind, my heart called out in warning whenever I looked upon you. Not because of the darkness in your heart...but because of it's intent. But I couldn't make up my mind before you were gone and then..."

"You killed my father and master, you broke apart Ven's heart for your own games, you manipulated Terra into losing his heart, and because of you, I have wondered through the darkness for twelve long years...cut off from the worlds as you destroyed them. All because I wavered at the critical moment. Because despite feeling the true essence of what you really were, my mind was still blinded by the idolized image of you that I still wanted to become." Aqua stated with sorrow within her voice, "I did fail my duty...the worlds and my friends...But now I'm back...and as long as I breath, I will not lose another friend to you again. I will find Terra and Ventus, I will stop you and then you will face the price for your deeds."

"I will see to that personally."

"And she won't be alone!" Sora shouted while standing next to Aqua as Mickey, Zack, Donald, Goofy, Riku, Kairi, Taran, Thaeon, Pazu, Xion, Penelo, Serah, Lea, Goliath and Relena all formed together to face the Master upon his throne, "You'll be facing all of us..."

"Bold words though they are fair ones. We do have a score to settle." Xehanort confidently and respectfully replied, "Even if the Masters of old were to arise again, I would not ask for a more worthy group of adversaries. No fate occurs by chance alone...though our fates remain inevitable rather determined or not. Our fates pass by and at times even converge, creating consequences of an unpredictable nature. The story of your clashes with myself for the past twelve years were all but the opening blows to a new story which we shall write together. Whether you know it or not, the Keyblade War has indeed resumed itself. Save only that it shall not be fought with legions, but with the hearts of the worlds and the people with them. You are the guarding lights which my darkness must consume or destroy in order for my destiny to be fulfilled."

"By the end of this war, our grievances shall be settled and allowed to rest." Xehanort mused at his adversaries as his form faded away into a fume of darkness, "Trust me, I will be waiting."

Abode of Deep Darkness

Xehanort opened his eyes.

A moment ago, he had felt a familiar presence speak to him. One that he had not felt in whole for twelve years. Sensing this presence so close to his own being in all honesty confused him. The presence was nowhere in sight nor was it upon the world that formed from the remnant of ruin. However, Xehanort did not have to ponder long...he recalled back to the final years of his original form before he acquired the shape which he used to push Garden of Radiance into it's Descent. It was while pondering that he remembered what he had created and left within the depths where the magisters once stood vigil.

And they had found it.

His eyes narrowed in fuming frustration, why didn't he destroy the device when he found it as Ansem's apprentice? His plans had no been laid bare to his greatest enemies and it was too late to turn aside. Though he could work this to his advantage, he still felt a sense of annoyance and anger with a tinge of something else.

Was it, excitement? Anticipation? Or even Fear?

"Xehanort?"

"They know."

"Took em long enough." Braig laughed as Isa paled that the element surprise was lost, "We've had what? A year to put things into motion?"

"True." Xehanort agreed and remembered exactly how the device was preserved to be found, "Isa...do you...remember the globe that I told you to dispose of?"

"I threw it to the heartless." Isa answered as Xehanort summoned his keyblade, "I saw them take it with them into the shadow and assumed-"

"You assumed that they would destroy it?" Xehanort calmly asked and his gaze bore into Isa's, "When I told you to do that?"

"Xehanort-" Before he could protest further, the fool's chest was impaled by Xehanort's keyblade. Xehanort had no intention of killing Isa, though it would be too late to do so even if he wanted to.

"Kneel." Xehanort pulled out his keyblade and watched Isa fall to his knees, clutching the blooding wound in his chest, "Your negligence shall not go unpunished."

"Hey don't we need em alive Mister Master?" Braig amusingly asked as Xehanort himself chuckled while Isa shook in horror, "Whatever! You know what you're doing, I'll brief the others."

"You do that." Xehanort stated, not moving his gaze from Isa while Braig vanished within a flame of darkness, "I shall be along shortly.

Twilight Town Tram Common

"I know I'm running late, but trust me! He'll take the deal!" A salesman of ten years told his accountant on the other end of the phone that he talked into, "Birds? A giant bird crashed into his house? How come he's still in it?"

The stories that customers made up these days.

"Next you'll be telling me that books bring people to life!" The salesman laughed, "Fine...add in house insurance against...freakish accidents of nature and that's the bottom line!"

"In umbris potestas est"

"What was that-" The salesman watched various shards of light and darkness flowed into the air as if they were pages from a torn book. One of the pages enlarged and from it emerged a woman with blue hair who wavered in the air before landing on her armored feet. Another page enlarged to reveal a silver-haired teen who calmly allowed his feet to hit the ground, followed shortly by two boys who clumsily hit their faces on the ground next to him.

A second later, four young girls with red, black, pink and blond hair leapt out of four brightened pages and a fifth page sparked with fire and lightning before a man with spiky red hair emerged carrying a woman with her hair braided into antennae. Another page floated to the floor and bloomed into a statue of a pondering gargoyle as a second page was caught on his wing to be transformed into a duck whose foot was caught upon the wing.

While the duck eventually freed himself, he fell to the ground and had his bottom stepped on by a tall antromorphic dog who dusted himself off without knowledge of his friend's aggrevation. Flipping out of another page, a man with spiky black hair landed with his leg's squatted while confidently smirking. Another page emerged and formed into a silver suit of armor that stood upon the ground and faded away to reveal it's silver eyed owner. Lastly, a boy with spiky brown hair leapt fell out of a page before being caught by the silver haired youth.

As the salesman watched, the pages formed into an octagon shape as a mouse emerged from a page on the floor with a brandished golden key. As the key faded with light, the mouse caught the falling octagon crystal and threw it to the silver haired youth. After taking a moment to recover, the newcomers wordlessly departed from the Tram Common with the mouse trailing in the back. The mouse looked in the salesman's direction and brought a single finger to his mouth. The salesman quietly returned the gesture while the mouse widely smiled and ran to catch up with the others.

As ludicrous as it would sound, the salesman thought it best to move on...

Author's Notes:

Irony...

This chapter is probably the most pivotal installment that I've made so far.

In all fairness, I personally felt like the throneroom scene almost drags as it is now. I tried to make the dialogue-filled scene more interesting by adding emphasis to everyone's reactions to Master Xehanort's appearance and his explanation of everything that he'd done from before the main story began, through birth by sleep and up to now. I especially wanted especial emphasis on Aqua, whose one of the characters in that room who had suffered the most from Xehanort's plans.

Not just because of what happened to her, but how her efforts ultimately allowed Xehanort's plans to succeed up to this point.

It's actually something that a lot of BBS fans bring up. As much of an Ensemble Darkhorse as Aqua is, let's face it, sparing Maleficent and sacrificing yourself for a xehanort-possessed Terra probably weren't smart things to do. After all, Xehanort gets back keyblade during the year between BBS and Radiant Garden's fall; creates a plague of heartless with his own heartless leading it's invasion and Maleficent ends kidnapping and gathering the Princesses of Heart to access Kingdom Hearts. If it weren't for Sora and the gang, the fall of the worlds could honestly be blamed on Aqua.

At the same time, it would've been out of character for her to do otherwise and BBS is still a prequel. Even if Aqua had tried to just kill them, plot-armor would've ensured that they'd survive and end up exactly where they're meant to be for the next few games. In short, Aqua would've been screwed regardless.

Any Final Fantasy Fan among you know what Serah about "The Hallway". Whether you loved FF XIII or hated it, everyone pretty much agrees that "The Hallway" is the absolute worst aspect of that game. Serah's words about "The Hallway" word for word, a perfect summation of FF XIII's linearity and why many became really bored when they played it.

The next chapter will be the last one before the series goes into hiatus until Late Spring/Early Summer of 2013. I hope that everyone has enjoyed the story up to this point and feel free to start sending world requests for the second part of this tale.

As always Read, Review and Enjoy! Later