21

Chapter XXI: The Final Reports
Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it.
~Edmund Burke

Sora settled himself down ungraciously on the Gummi Ship's couch, having just dropped Alice off at Wonderland. Oddly enough, Alice had said that Wonderland was not her actual home, but that she could 'most certainly find her way from there'. When he had left Hollow Bastion, Sora had offered to take any of the Princesses home who still had worlds to return to. Sadly, only two, Alice and Jasmine, were able to say that was the case.

With an hour or two still to go until they reached Agrabah, Sora stretched in place and swiped the small stack of papers from the coffee table beside the couch. The papers were all the collected pages of the Ansem Reports, four of which had been found and given to him by Aerith on his way out of Hollow Bastion. Sora figured now was as good a time as any to give them a look-over.

As he read, Sora began to see an image of this man called Ansem—who had been driven insane by the darkness and by his thirst for knowledge. Even with the small gaps in the reports, it seemed to Sora that Ansem had once been a good, normal scientist guy. Unfortunately, the reports painted an image of a growing madman, who started sane, but slowly devolved until his reports became a jumble of obsessive ramblings about finding the darkness and the Heartless.

Feeling like the reports oozed this growing darkness into his mind, Sora threw them back on the table, letting them spread across it. To think that this one, insane man had caused so much pain and misery. Everything came back to this Ansem. Sora remembered his voice—his smile—and shivered involuntarily. The man had been pure evil, completely saturated in the stuff. Darkness dripped off of Ansem like sweat, even when he was possessing Riku's body. Sora didn't relish the thought of seeing Ansem again, but he knew that, before this would all be over, he would have to face that monster.

"Sora!" Donald's rough voice broke out over the loudspeaker.

"What is it, Donald?" Sora replied, sitting up, noticing Donald's slight anxiety.

"We just got a massive energy reading from Agrabah. We're increasing our speed. Something's happening there."

When they reached Agrabah, the group of four hurriedly rushed to Aladdin's hovel, Donald and Goofy covered in cloaks to protect their alien identities. All appeared normal in Agrabah, it bustled and moved with a life of its own—no reason appeared as to the source of the energy reading. When the group reached Aladdin's house, they found the young man reclining in the large opening in his wall, staring out over the busy city. It had a magnificent view, allowing nearly the entirety of the city to be seen. Sora, Donald and Goofy stood quietly back as Jasmine approached Aladdin, who hadn't yet noticed his guests.

When Jasmine was within two arm's lengths of Aladdin, the young man leapt up and pulled out his scimitar, which had apparently had been hidden behind him.

"Ah, gentlemen, you've found me aga—Jasmine!" Aladdin exclaimed, obviously having been expecting the authorities. "You're-you're-" he took a step forward, but flinched and pulled back. "It's a relief to see you alive, Princess-"

Jasmine frowned and shook her head knowingly. "Oh, Aladdin..."

Aladdin looked over Jasmine's shoulder. "Sora! Thanks for-" but before he could finish, Jasmine had dove at him and wrapped her arms around his neck. Aladdin's face froze for a moment, before it softened and he laughed quietly, a smile breaking over his face. He hugged her back.

Sora traded looks of a job-well-done with Donald and Goofy—right before Agrabah exploded.

Through the window, in the city below, the ground shook and erupted—dust billowing out into the air. People screamed, the building shook, dust continued to blow.

"What...what just happened?" Jasmine cried, looking out over her city.

Sora scanned the gray and brown cloud intently, hoping to catch the earliest glimpse of what had occured. As the cloud thinned, he caught sight of what stood behind it—a massive Heartless, as tall as the walls outside of the Palace; taller even. This Heartless was the color of the tanned sand, with six giant arms—two of them holding twin curved shotel blades in their sharp talons. Its body was round and armored—resembling a beetle, and its head was likewise quite similar, with a round top and two pairs of small teeth and beady yellow eyes. It stood on two similarly armored legs, which connected to the upper body by what looked like a thick, black backbone. It roared and took a step out of the dark crater it had formed when it had burst from the ground.

"Quick! Aladdin, get Jasmine to the Palace!" Donald demanded.

"But, I can help you guys!" Aladdin replied. "I can-"

"You just got Jasmine back," Goofy insisted and smiled. "Don't wantcha to lose her again, do we?"

"If only Genie hadn't gone off to see the world..." Aladdin nodded remorsefully, as he and Jasmine exited the room hurriedly.

Sora nodded to Donald and Goofy, who nodded back, and the three leapt through the large hole in the wall, and onto a small roof below. From there, they hopped from roof to roof, closing in on the giant Heartless. Donald cast a thunder spell, which shot down into the giant heartless from above in large zig-zags of lightning. The creature roared, and turned its attention to Donald.

"Donald!" Sora yelled, exasperatedly.

"Oops," Donald shrugged. "Guess we'll have to do it the hard way."

Sora sighed, shrugged, and jumped to an adjacent roof just as the Heartless' blades crashed down onto the house they were currently on, cleaving it in two.

Sora slid to a stop at the edge of the last house before the crater, and stared up at the monstrous beast. It was much larger now that he was closer, he could hear the way its chitin armor clinked together. He noticed that Goofy and Donald had circled around to other roofs around the crater, Donald still casting magic, and Goofy climbing down to attack the monster's feet. The Heartless pulled up its blade and took a stab towards Sora, who again dodged to the roof nearest Donald—and broke into a run toward the duck mage. He heard the crash of a blade piercing through the roof behind him. Sora reached Donald just as the creature's other blade plunged down toward the magician.

Sora leapt and slid next to Donald and cast a Reflect spell, throwing up the half-sphere shield around them. The blade hit the shield and the tip pierced the golden shell. Sora shook with the effort of holding the shield up. It felt like it was about to collapse, when Donald, too, cast the same spell. A second shield appeared inside the first, just as the Heartless pushed extra force behind its blade—shattering the curved shotel into pieces. With its balance thrown, the monster stumbled forward toward the building where Sora and Donald stood. Like before, Donald and Sora leapt out of the way as the creature crashed into the house, demolishing it entirely.

As it stood back onto its feet, Sora jumped onto its smooth back, attempting to drive the Oathkeeper into it to assure a point of balance. The blade simply glanced off the Heartless' smooth shell and Sora stumbled and started to slide. Fortunately, Goofy's gloved hand reached out and grabbed Sora, pulling him up onto the open spot between the Heartless' hunchbacked head and shelled back.

"How'd you get up here?" Sora asked over the sound of the monster standing back up.

"I climbed up when he wasn't looking." Goofy grinned. "I've been smashing his head for awhile now."

Sora high-fived Goofy and pointed his Oathkeeper at the underneck of the beast.

"Fira!" he yelled.

A burst of fire erupted from his the tip of his Keyblade and connected with the soft darkness on the underside of the Heartless' head. The fire caught and spread across its lower face. It screamed through the flames and grabbed Goofy and Sora with its upper pair of hands, ripping them off its back. Sora caught a glimpse of its charred, black face before it threw them unceremoniously to the dirt. As it screamed and clawed at its face, Sora and Goofy had enough time to get out from its precarious underfoot and onto the relative safety of the rooftops again. From there, Sora watched as the monster calmed and raised the four of its arms that hadn't held any weapons. It began to jerk those arms around in some sort of motion, like it was calling upon something. Sora looked in the distance that it was facing and saw it coming over the horizon—a dark, thick sandstorm. In seconds, it swarmed over Agrabah, filling every nook and cranny and buffeting Sora. He had to stab the Keyblade into the house below him to hold on, and he felt Donald and what was probably Goofy hanging onto his legs as the winds—literally powerful enough to lift them up—pulled them into its inner maw. The sand was so sharp, Sora could feel it slashing his face with stinging, minute cuts. He didn't dare open his mouth, let alone his eyes. The tips of his fingers, above his fingerless gloves, were, too, being slashed by the sharp rocks of the sandstorm and were ready to release their hold on the Oathkeeper.

It was then that a a powerful, silver wind from the opposite direction blew in and battled with the desert Heartless' dark sandstorm. Sora couldn't watch, but he felt the differing winds dueling with each other—each trying to gain the others' ground.

Finally, Sora felt the sand clear enough that he thought it was safe to open his eyes. When he did, he saw an intimidating scene.

There was a man, dressed in a long, black cloak, with the hood pulled up over his head, facing the Heartless monster. And this man could look the Heartless directly in its yellow eyes because this man was floating, his coat billowing around him from the lingering winds. With an opening flick of his wrist, six long, silver spears appeared around the Heartless in a circular pattern, spinning slowly. The Heartless glanced at them confusedly, just as the man clenched his fist down and the spears, spinning in a deadly trajectory, pierced the armor of the Heartless that the Keyblade had not been able to scratch. Six spears plunged gracefully into their target from different angles, each with a loud 'ka-chunk'.

The Heartless didn't scream, it didn't shriek. It simply groaned and started to collapse into the sand beneath it. Sora, still hearing the echoing screech of sand in his ear, saw this all in slow-motion.

The black coated-man turned in the air, and with a crumbling and dissolving monster as his background, calmly said one word to Sora:

"Useless."

Before Sora could reply, or even really register what the man had just said, the Heartless' glowing heart dissipated into the air and the man disappeared into a pool of darkness; leaving behind a broken city and a lonely piece of paper stuck in the sand below.

Sora peered off the edge of the Clocktower, watching as its smooth walls gave way to the giant face, which in turn gave way back into the smooth wall that plummeted down into the foggy, sleeping city below. Sora, Donald and Goofy had gone back to Neverland when, after having left Agrabah, another powerful energy reading had erupted at the Clocktower.

They had first made their way to Neverland proper: an island that floated in an endless sea. There, they had found Peter Pan's hideout underneath an old, gnarled tree. Peter was hesitant, and even a little hostile, to Donald asking about the energy burst, until Goofy had pointed out that it could spell trouble for Wendy. As soon as Peter heard that, he had no trouble getting some pixie dust from Tinkerbell and flying with the three to the Clocktower, where the energy emanation had originated

Curiously, as Sora had left Peter's hideout, a Keyhole had appeared in the old branches above it. Sora had, of course, locked it immediately—but it left him to wonder, as he stared down from the tower, what had been the Keyhole he had locked here so many days earlier?

Sora snorted at the realization that he had only been here days ago—it felt likes weeks.

With a shuddering tick, the tower's face clicked to midnight. Sora, still looking down the side of the tower, watched as a dark form emerged from the middle of the face. The shadowy form hung in the air for a moment, before shooting straight up at Sora, scaring him into tumbling backward against the tower's inner wall. The Heartless that floated before Sora was a simple one: an entirely black cloak, with drawn hood, that disappeared into dissipating darkness at its hems. Near the bottom of the cloak, the two sides of the cloak were split apart, revealing nothing inside of cloth but darkness.

Frozen, eyes locked on the phantom Heartless, Sora could only watch as the creature raised its ghostly black hands, resembling knives, and reached for the Keyblade Master.

"Sora!" Sora heard Goofy yell, as the brave knight crashed into the Heartless in midair and out of Sora's view.

Wasting no time, Sora took two steps forward and launched himself into the air. Allowing the pixie dust to catch him, Sora curved smoothly and headed toward where Goofy had pushed the Heartless reaper. Peter and Donald followed him closely behind.

Goofy was deftly blocking the Heartless' sharp slashes when Sora got close enough for a swing with Oathkeeper. The Heartless made no move to dodge it as the attack simply pushed his cloth robes out of the way, leaving no lasting damage. With Sora's weight hazardously off, the Phantom Heartless slashed at Sora's, only just missing as the Keyblade Master leaned back into a spin.

"It's cloth!" Donald said suddenly, "Which means...FIRE!"

Donald's expert cast of fire magic shot through the cold air with precision and lit the edge of the Phantom's cloak. The fire spread up it, slowly engulfing the Heartless. A shriek of unearthly tone came from the monster, causing everyone to cover their ears in pain. It was a sound unlike any other, seeming to reach many different decibels at once and causing the air itself to shimmer.

With a sudden spin and straightening, the Heartless put the raging fire out. Immediately, the Phantom struck at the magic-less Peter Pan with its shriveled hands. Touching the boy on the forehead, a burst of dark magic shot through him and Peter spasmed and fell limp. With his "happy thoughts" coming only from his subconscious now, Peter began to drift slowly downward.

Swooping in, Goofy grabbed onto Peter and placed him safely on the ledge of the Clocktower.

"Goofy, stay there!" Sora yelled. "We need to use magic to beat it!"

Goofy nodded and took to making sure Peter was okay.

"This should be easy..." Sora grinned and called out a Fira spell. But the Heartless, wise fire magic, easily dodged the attack by falling low, before swooping back up in front of Sora. It reached out its knife-like fingers for Sora's face, but Donald called out a blizzard spell that hit the Heartless at the rim of its cloak, forming an ice chunk which weighed the Heartless heavily to one side. Sora quickly flew away from the off balance Phantom, and joined up with Donald.

"It's just gonna keep dodging our fires attacks." Sora observed. "And hitting it doesn't work. So how do we beat it?"

Donald sighed as he watched the Heartless, still weighed to side, come closer. Suddenly an idea seemed to come to him. "What if we weigh it down enough with ice that it can't dodge the fire?"

Sora flew low and around the Phantom, just as it got into striking distance of him. "Let's do it!"

Donald nodded and called out several blizzard spells in a row, each hitting their mark on the Phantom Heartless. From behind the Heartless, Sora did the same. With ever heavier movements, and Heartless grasped at the air above it, attempting to stay afloat. With one more nod, and a grin from Sora, he and Donald both called out "Fira!"

Both spells flew true, and the ice immediately evaporated, seconds before the entire Heartless erupted into flames. Without letting up, Sora and Donald called out a few more fire spells, before Sora had to stop because of a splitting headache—from both the overuse of spells, and the piercing scream of the Heartless.

But, as it appeared to Sora, the scream lasted but seconds until the Heartless was entirely consumed by fire and dissipated into the sky, leaving a glowing heart to do the same.

In its place was left a rectangular piece of parchment, which seemed to hang in the air for a moment before is started to descend lightly to the ground, only to be snagged from the air by Peter Pan.

Pixie dust was such a retarded way of defying gravity Number II thought as he dove off of the tip of the Clocktower.

It appeared to Sora that all these energy bursts had been caused by especially powerful Heartless. He could only guess they had come from the Hollow Bastion Keyhole, in the period when it had remained unlocked.

Currently, the group had landed themselves back on Olympus Coliseum—the next site of an extraordinary energy reading. The world seemed about to storm, dark clouds creating a black ceiling over the land. The coliseum itself was oddly quiet; no roar of crowds, no clang of swords. The door to the atrium was cracked open.

"Gawrsh, this is kinda creepy." Goofy noted.

Sora and Donald nodded their agreement.

"I think we should find Phil" Sora declared.

Inside the atrium, the group found Phil hiding behind the large stone block, tending to a wounded Hercules.

"Phil!" Sora said, shocked. "What happened?"

"Ah, kid..." Phil said sadly, wiping crusted blood from Hercules' face. "There was this guy, and he had this sword, and Herc tried to...and the crowds, man, they ran like hades...and-" As Phil recounted his fragmented story, his voice increased in speed and terror.

"Phil. Phil!" Sora placed a hand on the goat-man's shoulder. "Calm down. Tell us what happened."

From this new angle, Sora got a better look at Hercules, and part of him wished he hadn't. The Hero of Olympus' head was a black and blue mess, and his chestplate was cracked and his cape torn. He had a deep gash in his left leg, and his right arm seemed bent at a horrible angle. Immediately, he and Donald each cast a Cure spell on Hercules.

Phil nodded his thanks and started a little more calmly. "Well, this challenger appeared who wanted to fight Herc...scary guy. Tall. Long sword. He had a wing. And he...he...it was crazy."

Phil said nothing more.

"Let's go see who's out there." Sora looked to Donald and Goofy for confirmation.

"Geeze, Sora, it looks kinda dangerous. Maybe we should think this through a little more..." Goofy replied.

"Look, someone did this to Hercules." Sora gestured at the man lying on the ground, who was only looking slightly recovered from the twin spells. "And this is Hercules we're talking about. Who knows what else this guy could do. We've got to check it out."

"Sora..." Donald spoke up. "Are you okay? You seem kinda tired...I don't know if you're up to what's out there..."

"Of course I am!" Sora punched the air a few times to prove his point. "It's just been a long day with those giant Heartless. Let's just check this out, and then we can hit the sack, alright?"

Donald and Goofy looked at each other, unsure.

"Kid, look, this guy is unbelievable. I don't think you know what you're getting yourself into..." Phil interjected.

"Don't worry, Phil," Sora replied. "Take care of Hercules, okay?"

Phil sighed. "Good luck, hero. Don't end up like Herc here, okay?"

"Okay." Sora replied and hefted the Keyblade onto his shoulder. "Let's go, guys."

Passing through the atrium exit and into the arena, Sora first noticed how empty it was. Just like the rest of the Coliseum, no one was inside the arena—not even the mysterious figure. The group glanced around in confusion, when suddenly, Sora heard a sound from above that sounded like the rush of escaping air. He looked up and saw several bright pinpricks of light swirl together above the field and create a mini-explosion.

In the aftermath, the air above seemed to collapse into itself and turn pitch black. In turn, out of the dark appeared a complex pattern on the sky: like ancient hieroglyphics, gold in color. From the middle of the glyphs, a beam of energy emerged and crashed to the ground in front of Sora, causing a blinding flash of light to erupt. The light forced Sora to cover his eyes with his arm, and when he felt it was safe enough to pull it away, a man stood in the place of the light, in the midst of the silent stadium. He turned around slowly, and Sora got full sight of him.

The man stood at least a full head or two taller than Sora, with long, silver hair grew up at an angle before falling down to frame either side of his face, and which reached his waist behind him. His face that was perfectly angular, with piercing, blue-green eyes staring out from underneath a chiseled brow. He wore a black, leather coat that was connected around his waist by a silver buckle, curved to a large collar that reached his pointed ears at the top, and flared out at the bottom to accommodate the two, dark blue-tinged black angelic wings that seemed to sprout from some hidden point underneath his cloak.

His midchest was bare, framed by the leather coat and criss-crossed in two straps. His shoulders were protected by silver pauldrons, and his leather jacket extended all the way down his arms to a pair of silver, metal rings on his wrists, connected to his leather gloves. He wore knee-high, black boots on his feet and black slacks. A large, angelic wing, colored black and dark blue, sprouted over his right shoulder and extended out further than his arm. In his gloved hand, he held an enormously long sword, extending to, at least, four or five times the size of the Keyblade; a long, thin nodachi.

The man, majestic in his appearance, said absolutely nothing. He only passively watched Sora with his shudderingly clear eyes.

"What...what do you want?" Sora asked, more than slightly unnerved by the man.

The man didn't reply.

"Are...are you going to say anything?"

No response.

"Hey! He's talking to you!" Donald yelled.

The man raised his empty hand and clenched it into a fist. With the crunch of leather, several orbs of darkness appeared around Sora, Donald and Goofy. Before any of them could react, the orbs were pulled inward and Sora saw nothing but darkness.

The man took a few steps forward, boots crunching on the firm earth. He pointed his long sword toward the young boy, aiming to skewer him, when a soft, but stern, voice spoke out across the field.

"Sephiroth." Cloud acknowledged simply.

"Our dance continues." Sephiroth replied, as if he had been expecting Cloud to appear, moving his interest seamlessly from the young boy to the blonde mercenary.

"Is that why you're here? To draw me out with suffering?"

"Astute as ever, Cloud." Sephiroth turned fully to face the newcomer, who now had his giant sword held in front of him at a ready.

"I'm just about ready for it to end. No more darkness."

Sephiroth spread his arms wide. "Ah, it shall end-but on the contrary, I shall draw you into the black. Into nightmares, ever deeper, that forever deprive you of light." a small reflection of a smile crept across Sephiroth's lips.

Immediately, Sephiroth leapt into action, flying towards Cloud at tremendous speeds. Cloud, at the ready, blocked Sephiroth's opening strike and jumped into the air, starting a intense exchange of blows. After only a minute of dueling, Sephiroth opened a dark portal that swallowed the both of them, leaving the arena empty except but for three unconscious bodies.

When Sora finally awoke, he found nothing but a slowly clearing sky, and another piece of Ansem's report blowing about the Coliseum field.

Sora felt about ready to drop dead when Donald informed him that there was at least one more high-energy reading that the ship could sense.

And it was at Hollow Bastion.

Sora could only sigh and hope it was the last one as he entered the Castle Chapel to the scene of the still-remaining Princesses of Heart huddled around a large form on the ground. Upon approaching, Sora realized it was Beast.

"What happened to Beast?" Sora exclaimed in concern.

Belle, who was tending to Beast's large wounds personally, replied. "Some monster is in the Grand Hall. We don't know who he is, or what he wants, but when Beast confronted him he...did this..." her voice dropped off as she looked back Beast.

Sora nodded. "Okay, we'll see who's there and take care of it."

"Good luck, Keyblade Master" Cinderella called after Sora as he started walking up the stairs to the Grand Hall.

"And to you, too, Donald and Goofy" Aurora added.

"Finally!" Donald harumphed. "It's about time someone acknowledged us!"

Sora snorted and laughed. "Guess I'm just more important."

Together, the three scoured the Grand Hall, meeting back up at the upper platform.

"There's nothing here." Donald declared.

Goofy took on a thoughtful look. "So what did that to Beast?"

Sora was about to reply when he heard something like a whispered breath behind him. He turned just in time for a black apparition to walk straight through him. His vision darkened and he felt light-headed as the ghostly figured passed, as it felt to him, between the molecules of his body. Dizziness overtook him as he felt multiple different thoughts pass through his head.

Naminé

"The Heartless are coming!"

Roxas

"I'm here, I promise."

Genesis

"I am now unhindered by the heart!"

The Darkness

"It'll be an accident."

The Door

"We'll go together"

The Tests

"Why?"

The Angel

"Why can't I feel anything?!"

Jenova

"How dare you?"

Xehanort

"Why must you be so intent on the Heart of all Worlds?"

The Emptiness

"Cold, so very cold"

Kingdom Hearts

In an instant, the ideas and thoughts drifted from his head and Sora turned to see where the apparition had gone. To his surprise, it had become completely material and now stood looking up at the Keyhole. The man, for it was definitely a man, wore a long, black cloak—exactly like the one the being who had guided Sora way back in Deep Jungle had worn, or the man who had killed the desert Heartless in Agrabah earlier that morning. However, this man was altogether different than those other two. He was taller and stronger-built, and seemed to radiate power, as if he was the general of a great army, unconcerned in his assurance of a victory because of a plan of his own creation.

"Who...who are you?" Sora asked the man, a part of him wondering if he would respond at all.

He did.

"Ah...it appears that you, too, are exceptional." the voice was deep and thick, almost juicy. It shook the room with a melody played on the low end of a piano, audible in both Sora's ears and in his mind.

"Ansem? It sounds almost like Ansem..." Goofy thought aloud.

The man looked over his shoulder through his hood. Sora caught the glint of burning yellow eyes in the darkness. "Ansem. That is a familiar sound. Very familiar."

A bright ball of glowing blue energy appeared in the man's left hand.

"You have his appearance." he said.

"What's that supposed to mean? Who?"

Without replying, the man threw the ball of energy at Sora in one fluid movement. Sora quickly materialized the Oathkeeper and blocked the orb, knocking it away and into the ceiling. The room shook, and the ceiling released a few rocks and collapsed piping. The man remained unconcerned, now fully facing Sora, Donald and Goofy.

"You are not whole; an incomplete one." Now both glowing yellow eyes stared out from underneath the hood at an unnerved Sora. "Allow me to test your resolve."

The Unknown, as Sora decided to refer to him, raised his hands above his head and two fiery red blades of energy shot from his palms. Just barely slow enough that Sora could notice, the Unknown glided forward on seemingly nothing and struck with both blades toward Sora's head. He threw up the Keyblade just in time to block the attack. The Unknown's new proximity to Sora did nothing to help Sora glean any new knowledge about him. He only felt colder, and the bright yellow eyes were only more intimidating.

Donald called out a fire spell that shot so close to Sora he could feel its passing heat, but the Unknown had already disappeared. Glancing around to see where he had gone, Sora saw him materialize behind Donald. Too quick for Sora to call out a warning, the Unknown placed a hand over Donald and created a dome of electricity over the duck mage.

"Donald!" Sora yelled in fear, just as the electricity hit his friend. The man seemed to pull the dome back into his hand, leaving Donald to collapse on the ground in a heap.

Goofy charged forward toward the Unknown, shield out, but the man threw up a wall of blue energy that Goofy crashed into, sending the brave knight sliding back. Quickly recovering, though, Goofy expertly tossed his shield at the Unknown, hoping to catch him off-guard. The Unknown easily stopped the shield millimeters from his hands with his blue energy, and sent it careening back at Goofy, connecting solidly in the chin. Goofy went flying backwards, and slid to a stop on the ground.

With both his friends knocked out by such compassionless precision, Sora raised the Oathkeeper high and charged forward. The Unknown called up another dome of energy to the front of Sora and a little to the right, throwing the Keyblade Master off to left, where another blue dome sprouted from the ground and sent Sora tumbling.

Taking the hit for a moment, Sora breathed heavily and jumped to his feet, continuing the charge. Just as he reached the Unknown and swung, the man side-stepped his attack, caught Sora by the shoulders, and kneed him in the gut. All breath left Sora at the moment, and he felt like the man's knee had gone right through him.

As Sora painfully tried to inhale any air at all, gasping like a choking man, the Unknown grabbed the boy by the scruff of his jacket and threw him down the spiraling staircase to the lower floor.

Tumbling to a stop at the bottom, Sora's lungs burned painfully as he still could not catch a breath. His still wounded chest ached. He tried to push himself off the floor unsuccessfully, resulting with only rolling himself onto his back.

"Truly enthralling." Sora looked up to the edge of the upper platform to see the Unknown standing there, looking down on him with his horrible, horrible eyes.

"What...what...are...you talking...about?" Sora gasped out through his darkening vision.

The Unknown stepped off of the upper platform into the air and calmly floated down toward Sora, disappearing in and out of view due to Sora's increasingly heavy eyes. The Unknown's coat billowed out behind him with the descending current.

"In your present state, you cannot fathom it. Never the less, the time when we can meet again will doubtlessly arise." the Unknown finished speaking just as his boots hit the ground with a quiet click.

"What...are you?" Sora wheezed through his last few blinks.

The Unknown wordlessly dropped a piece of parchment over Sora's chest. His yellow eyes burned holes into Sora's cerulean ones as the paper soundlessly twisted and turned as it fell.

"I am...a mere shell."

Darkness.

The Report of Ansem: Studies into the Heart
Part Eight

There is no doubt that the Heartless are deeply connected to the people's hearts. Further study may unravel both their motivations and the mysteries shrouding the heart.

As a start, I have built a device that artificially creates Heartless. By recreating the conditions that spawn heartless naturally, I should be able to produce them artificially. This device is the culmination of all my research thus far. The machine's test run successfully created a Heartless.

This may be a step toward creating a heart from nothing. The artificially and naturally created Heartless showed nearly identical traits. But the two types remain distinct for the purpose of the experiment. So, I will mark the ones that are created artificially.

~Ansem.

The Report of Ansem: Studies into the Hearts
Part Eleven.

Upon opening the door of the world's heart, the wall around that world is broken down. This is seen as a shooting star. Through this, I have been able to understand the reason why the material known as Gummi Blocks has the ability to allow travel to other worlds.

A world's wall collapses because of the appearance of the Heartless, but finding a world's door takes time. And robbing a world of it's heart is a similar case. If the door has been closed by the Keyblade Master's Keyblade, and only his, one would probably be unable to reach that world's heart again. Before the Keyblade Master appears in this world, I then must take certain measures...

Supposing that there is a close relationship between the Princesses of Heart and the Keyblade, it seems likely that they will resonate with each other...

I have chosen a special girl. I do not know if she possesses the power of the Princesses, but there is a chance, and this is an experiment. She may lead me to the place where the one holding the key is...

I shall send her off to the ocean of other worlds.

~Ansem.

The Report of Ansem: Studies into the Heart
Part Twelve.

I have transcended to an existence of only the heart. I should have come back as a Heartless, but there is no sign of such transformation. My body has been sent off. However, I am different from the other Heartless, keeping the memories of before, and I have not taken on the form of a Heartless.

It is evident that there is still many things to be studied.

In order to cross over to the Dark Realm, which is not this world, you must go beyond the Door to Kingdom Hearts, the heart of all worlds. The core connected to the world's heart, the place that will take me to the World of Darkness.

There are still so many unknown worlds. The Realm of the Present...the Realm of Darkness...the Realm of Light...

And, the Realm of In-Between.

In which one will I find what I seek?

~Ansem

The Report of Ansem: Studies of the Heart.
Part Thirteen.
The Final Part

When the heart casts away the body, where does the body go? Heart and Soul are separate, and the soul remains in the body. But can we assume that the remaining body and soul perish?

Certainly when the heart changes into a Heartless, the body disappears.

Or does that apply solely to this realm? Could other beings similar to Heartless exist somewhere?

If we take that to be the case, then there must be another form of oneself elsewhere.

An existence neither of darkness nor of light. An in-between existence. Cast off by the heart, a mere shell, one who begrudges both darkness and the light. This mystery cannot be easily solved. The relationship between the heart and the body is a complex one.

But since we exist here, our counterparts must not be existent.

Therefore, I shall call them...

The Nobodies.

~Ansem.