(A/N: A good ambience track for this chapter would be "Case of Foretellers" from Union-χ Back Cover. This is one you'll have to look online for).
"Messenger?" Eraqus asked, confused as the Master gave a nod.
"That's right. You've got a role to play in the prophecy." The Master explained, standing up and picking up one of the five identical books next to him.
"What prophecy?" Eraqus asked as Chirithy hobbled over towards the round table next to him, hopping up onto the table.
"The Prophecies of the Past." Chirithy said.
"Chirithy, what did we say about spoilers?" The Master asked in a gently scolding tone as Chirithy put its hands over its "mouth."
"Oops." It replied. The Master merely pet its head a little.
"Adorable, isn't it? I made Chirithy, lots of 'em, a long time ago, to help guide the Keyblade Wielders of the past. But over time, they were lost along with their Wielders. This Chirithy is the last one. The last of its kind. Assigned to a wielder that was lost to time." The Master said, tousling Chirithy's head, earning appreciative chuckles and giggles from the small spirit.
"They're very useful too as observers and agents. I sent this one to keep an eye on you and your Fiancée. It thought it was there to try and keep that Sorceress, Ultimecia, from messing up the timeline but I knew you guys could handle her. I knew you would." The Traveler said, moving to sit down again, flipping open the book in his hand.
"But…then what happened to Professor Co?" Eraqus asked.
"There never was a Professor Co. That was the role Chirithy played in this. It was my little helper throughout all this. Forgive it. It's wanted to meet you for some time so I occasionally let it out to have some fun and do some things for me." The Master explained as Eraqus looked at Chirithy curiously, the spirit nodding in agreement with the Master, reaching into its pouch and pulling out Co's pocket watch. The face of which wasn't a clock at all but another of the Master's Gazing Eyes.
"So what exactly is going on? What's been happening in my worlds, my time?" Eraqus asked as The Master sighed a little.
"It's going to take a minute to explain all this, so get comfy." The Master said as he set the book down on the desk.
"What's happened in your worlds are things that relate to events that have and will happen in the future. Think of it like…a game of chess, except the game hasn't started yet. The board is in place but the pieces haven't been set. What's happened is, the pieces are being set on the board so that the game can begin. There are events that are supposed to happen, foretold even." The Master explained as Eraqus arched a curious eyebrow.
"Foretold…wait, are you a Foreteller?" he asked but the Master sat back with a sigh.
"Ah, the Foretellers. Strange individuals with knowledge of the future. Known for causing great calamities such as the Keyblade War. It's true but false all the same. They have knowledge of the future, sure, but not because they could see the future, not on their own. That's where these came in." The Master said, holding up the book on the desk. The book had what looked like a Mark of Mastery insignia on it but more ornate and in white on the cover.
"What is that?" Eraqus asked.
"This is the Book of Prophecies. In it, I recorded the events of what I saw happening in the future. And no, I'm not a Foreteller. No one can see the future, not naturally. Not even your Fiancée or her sister. Nope, they all had help. Even I had to kinda game the system." The Master said, setting the Book of Prophecies down.
"For the Five, it was the Book of Prophecies. The book which gave them vague ideas of what would happen in the future, the book that foretold of a Keyblade War and what would come after it. For Lillian and Millicent, it was that." The Master said, pointing at the Keyblade in Eraqus's hand, the one forged from Millicent's Heart.
"This?" he asked, confused.
"When they were born, I placed those Keys into their Hearts. Those Keyblades bear my Gazing Eye, allowing me to witness everything they do, to watch and observe them from here, the Tempest. But by design, the link works both ways. I was able to feed them visions of the future as well as some visions of the past. They don't actually have the power to see the Future, not naturally. This isn't the first time I've sent a Gazing Eye or two out into the worlds. There's still a few floating around out there. Your friend, Xehanort, he has one, but his…well, his was passed down by someone else." The Master explained as Eraqus looked at the Keyblade in his hand in shock.
"Then Lillian's visions…they're all a lie?" Eraqus asked but the Master shook his head.
"No they're real. Real and accurate. The visions themselves aren't lies, just how they have them that's a lie. If I were to remove that Keyblade from Lillian's heart, she wouldn't have any more visions. When their Hearts were unlocked, it freed those Keyblades from their hearts. And don't worry, Lillian can be saved, and she will. Her heart is simply trapped within the Keyblade I gave her. If you want to free it, you have to destroy the Keyblade that carries it. Like cracking open a walnut, the nut inside is safe but the shell is destroyed." The Master said as Eraqus gave a nod and turned towards the door.
"Then I need to go to her and save her before her body-…" Eraqus said but Chirithy quickly blocked his path.
"Wait! You can't go yet!" Chririthy said.
"But Lillian's body is-…" "Not going anywhere. This is the Realm of Time. millisecond in the Realms of Light and Darkness seems like an eternity in here. You could spend a lifetime here and return to right back where you were as if no time had passed at all. Her body isn't going anywhere, and neither is her heart." The Master said as Eraqus turned back towards him.
"Then why keep me here?" he asked as the Master stood up.
"I already told you. You have a role to play. Man you really could stand to listen a little better." The Master said as Eraqus sighed in minor frustration.
"Alright then, what's my Role? You said I'm some kind of messenger?" Eraqus asked but the Master chuckled a little.
"Yep but you're an interesting kind of Messenger. You are a Messenger that doesn't have to speak to carry his message. You just have to be here to hear the message for the message to be heard." The Master said as Eraqus furrowed his brow.
"I don't understand." He said.
"You don't have to. Like I said, all you have to do, is be here. The message isn't for you anyway. It's for someone else. You're more of a…conduit I suppose. So, if you don't mind, I'd like to start this message." The Master said as Eraqus sighed, shrugged, and gave a nod.
"Alright." He said. The Master then proceeded to put his hands behind his back and moved to face the stilled cog wheels in his chamber. In the Disneylahn reading room in the present however, the entire world projected from the book vanished, leaving the Master of Masters standing alone before Aqua, Terra, Ven, Axel, and everyone in the reading room. The Master leaned forward towards Aqua, a hand inside his hood as if rubbing his unseen chin.
"You know I've always wondered where you got that hair of yours." He said as Aqua gasped in surprise.
"You can see us?!" she asked as the Master made a calming gesture.
"Yep. Hear you too. This is the part you've all been waiting for. The big question of why this book was written. Why you're reading it now. Exciting isn't it?" the Master asked as the whole room looked on in surprise. Even Shantotto was impressed.
"So all that's happened was so you could talk to us?" Terra asked but the Master gave a slight shrug.
"That's a bit unfair. Everything that's happened was meant to. I can't control Time. I'm not that powerful. I've only acted when destined to. Sending Chirithy out as Professor Co for example and this conversation here have been my biggest moves. Everything else however has happened on its own. Ultimecia, The Displaced, Xehanort, the Unversed, the Heartless, Maleficent, Organization XIII…even the Neo-Beings and the Sisterhood, the whole shebang. I've pretty much been a quiet observer. You all deserve props for your parts though. You've played them all beautifully…but…" the Master said, putting his hands behind his back.
"…a time's about to arrive, that will test you. The battle lines are drawn. Both sides at full strength. What happened before is about to happen again." The Master explained as he turned and looked over Mickey, Oswald, Terra, Aqua, Ven, and Axel.
"What is it?" Ven asked as the Master looked at him.
"Chaos. Discord. Death. Darkness. All the challenges you have faced up to this point have been but trials compared to this. The suffering of all will be revealed and soon, they will end." The Master said before turning away slightly.
"They say that for every Age of Light, there is an Age of Darkness that follows. A cycle. That's true to a point. There are cycles of Light and Darkness. That doesn't change. What changes is the duration. An Age of Darkness is coming. It will happen. But the question will be, 'for how long?'" The Master asked aloud before looking the room over.
"The other variable? Which of you will survive to hear the answer?" The Master asked before turning and walking almost aimlessly across the room.
"Then why tell us? Wouldn't knowing this give us an unfair advantage?" Terra asked as the Master stopped.
"Actually, it's evening the scales. And if any rules are being broken it's on my end. It's the least I can do after all." He muttered.
"What do you mean?" Aqua asked. The Master let out an audible sigh of sadness.
"Xehanort said that the Foretellers were responsible for the Keyblade War. Well that's only true up to a point. I wrote the Book of Prophecies using the knowledge of the future I had acquired. I told them what would happen in the hopes that such a future would be averted. But I assigned a role to the wrong person. And in the process, I allowed countless lives to be lost. To paraphrase the Traveler who seems to favor this philosophy, I created what I dreaded. I sought out the Tempest to undo the mistakes of my past, but when I found out I couldn't change my past, I chose to make sure no one could change the future, as the future held the best hope of fixing my mistakes. It's the only way to make sure those lost because of my foolishness can find peace." The Master said as everyone looked at him curiously.
"What's that mean?" Ven asked. The Master turned towards him, leaning over slightly to one side with his hands behind his back.
"Now-now, that's spoiling. You've got your roles to play. So get out there, break a leg, figuratively-speaking-of-course, and win one for the ol' team! Naturally there's more to this story. More answers to be found besides the ones given here. But those aren't for me to give. So for now, I leave you with this. May your Heart be your Guiding Key." The Master said before the Foreteller's Chamber returned, revealing a confused looking Eraqus standing with his arms crossed in the center of the room while Chirithy stood on the table nearby. The Master then turned back and moved to face Eraqus.
"I'm done now." He said. Eraqus looked at him with concern.
"How…long have you been stuck here?" he asked, suspicious of the Master's sanity.
"I've been trapped here for eternity, for ten thousand years! It gives you such a crick in the neck!" The Master cried overdramatically. He then looked at Eraqus with a snort of laughter.
"Nah, just kidding. I've not been 'trapped' here at all. I can leave whenever I want. And that thing about the Tempest being hard to access? Nope, all wrong. Anyone with sufficient knowledge and skill with Time Magic can open the door to this place. Just like the Corridors of Light and Darkness, you just need to know what to do and how. But what I did was give you a temporary key to open the door." The Master said as Eraqus looked at the Tempus Fugit-D in his hand.
"So, what will happen when I destroy the Keyblade forged from Lilly's heart?" Eraqus asked.
"Because her body still survives, her heart will return to it and she will be restored. Even the Keyblade that granted her the ability to have her visions will return with her. She'll be just like she was before." The Master replied.
"Then what will become of Millicent?" Eraqus asked.
"Gone. Millicent sacrificed her heart willingly and out of love for her sister. She chose to pass on to the Final World in the hopes that Lillian's could be saved, and she can be. Remember what I said." The Master said as Eraqus gave a nod.
"I see. Then, may I ask something?" Eraqus asked.
"I dunno, can you?" the Master asked coyly, causing Chirithy to giggle. Eraqus just rolled his eyes with a smile.
"I mean, if you can see the future, can you tell me if Lilly and I will…" he said as the Master gave a sad sigh.
"Your love for her will never die, Eraqus, and neither of you will be lonely. Except that companionship will not be with each other. But neither of you will move on and find another to love, but a great sea will separate you, with only brief moments together, until you both are permanently reunited in the Final World." The Master said as Eraqus lowered his head in sadness.
"I understand. I guess maybe there was a chance that she was wrong, a hope that I was holding onto like a fool." Eraqus said but the Master put a hand on his shoulder.
"Take it from me, Eraqus. Sometimes a fools hope is the best hope of all. True love can survive any distance, any barrier, any obstacle. You'll learn this to be true in time." The Master said before Eraqus heard the door opening behind him. He turned and saw the caverns of the Tempest beyond the door.
"Oh. One more thing. As much as you might want to, you cannot tell Xehanort anything of our conversation. Nothing, zip, zilch, nada, for the simple fact his role demands he not know about it." The Master said as Eraqus looked at him confused for a moment but then sighed.
"If you say so, but I don't like keeping secrets from my friends." Eraqus said as the Master gave a slow nod.
"I know that. But in this case, Xehanort knowing about this would cause irreparable damage. Now go. Do what you came here to do. Chirithy will guide you from here. As for myself, I have another appointment to keep. May your Heart be your Guiding Key." The Master said as Eraqus calmly nodded and turned to walk on out the door, walking through it and back into the caverns with Chirithy ahead of him. He looked back and saw the door had vanished and all there was, was a dead end. Eraqus smiled and looked back at Chirithy.
"Come on, this way." Chirithy said as he started leading the Keyblade Apprentice on through the corridors on his stubby little feet.
…
(Ambience Cue: My Heart's Descent – DDD)
Elsewhere within the Tempest, Xehanort continued to wander the corridors in his search for The Traveler. He soon entered a large, tall, cylindrical chasm, with several bridges made of the strange glass substance spanning across the chasm at different levels. Xehanort looked around but continued on anyway. As he did, he happened a glance down to his right and spotted a figure in a black coat crossing the bridge immediately beneath his, carrying the Tempus Fugit Keyblade at his side. Xehanort realized immediately who it was.
"Traveler!" he called, the figure spinning around and looking up in time to see Xehanort drop down onto the same bridge, the class cracking slightly on impact.
"How did you get here without the key?!" The Traveler asked, defensively.
"Tagged a ride with Eraqus. He has the Key made from Millicent's Heart, one she surrendered willingly." Xehanort said as the Traveler started backing away from him.
"So Millicent is dead then? Good, then another problem has taken care of itself. My Master will be pleased with my work." The Traveler said as Xehanort scowled at him.
"Might I be permitted an educated guess as to the nature of your work?" he asked, summoning his Guardian Armor.
"By all means." The Traveler said as they stepped away from the cracking bridge and into another corridor.
"Predestination. You came here not to hunt potential threats to you at all. You came here to make sure certain events happened. First: Master Ory held the secret locations of the Dandelions, as did you, and had taken one as his own apprentice. An orphan. I'm willing to bet that in your time, Ory was not the one who trained her. Instead she was trained by someone else. Thus Ory had to be eliminated so her training would not be under him." Xehanort said as the Traveler backed away into a branching corridor, glancing behind him periodically to make sure he wasn't headed for a dead end.
"Master Yen Sid was her Master in my time. So far, so good." The Traveler replied.
"Second: The other Dandelions, the boy and the girl. Master Yen Sid would not have allowed them taken in to be trained if their parents were still alive. It could potentially upset the world order. That's why the rule is usually to only take orphans in that have been chosen by the Keyblade. In your time, they have become Keyblade Apprentices under someone's teachings. Eliminating their parents guarantees their being taken in." Xehanort said as they backed into a large almost domed chamber. The walls and ceiling darkened and the floor became brown dirt as the mirage of a desolate world shifted into focus around them.
"Those two are important to my Master, one in particular. But you are correct so far. Two for two." The Traveler said as they both stopped, staring each other down.
"Third: Oswald's brother. Unlike the other two cases, his training could commence at any time, but he needed to have his powers awaken sooner rather than later." Xehanort said but the Traveler gave a shrug on this one.
"Them I'm not so sure about. My Master didn't mention much about the Brother Kings. The older one isn't or hasn't become an issue for my Master but the other one is still in training as far as I am aware." The Traveler said as Xehanort gave a conceding nod.
"Then we'll count that one as a draw. Fourth is Millicent and Lillian: Neither of them have a place in your time but one was more pliable than the other and had potential as a pawn. The other was an obstacle in yours or your Master's path. You needed both to be eliminated but one to open the Tempest." Xehanort explained as the Traveler gave a nod.
"Three for three. You're doing good. My Master said either would die for the other, willing to sacrifice themselves so the other would live. Such is their bond. And as one from their homeworld might say, it is a dreadful bond at that." The Traveler said as Xehanort looked down his nose at him as they started to circle each other in a clockwise direction, their Keyblades in their right hands.
"Five and Six are the points I'm most unsure of. Fifth is Eraqus, Master Yen Sid, and myself. You seem to have avoided even trying to kill us. You've retreated every time or not taken openings that presented themselves. This tells me that the three of us are important to your timeline somehow. How exactly eludes me." Xehanort said as the Traveler chuckled.
"I'll be nice and give you that one. You are important, but you'll forgive me if I don't say how." The Traveler said as Xehanort gave a polite nod.
"Thank you. Now for the sixth and final point. The Tempest. You came here seeking something. I don't believe it's your way back. I think you're basically acting like a dishonest student, attempting to peek at the answers before an exam. You want to find out how the future plays out for you and your Master." Xehanort said as the Traveler laughed delightedly.
"Well done Master Xehanort. You've figured it all out. However, the Tempest is not exactly…cooperative. I've been wandering for an hour and found nothing to speak of interest to me. But I have found a few interesting items from your future." The Traveler said as Xehanort narrowed his eyes at him.
"I will thank you to keep it yourself. I'd rather let my future be either a pleasant surprise or an unfortunate disappointment. The mystery of it all adds a little…spice." Xehanort said but the Traveler chuckled darkly, Tempus Fugit starting to glow.
"Oh I find this one particularly interesting. Let's just say there's someone from your future who has quite the grudge against you. Care to meet him?" the Traveler asked, as Xehanort narrowed his gaze. The Traveler turned and stabbed the Keyblade into the ground, causing the floor to crack but not break. Jets of brown dust started billowing from the cracks, creating a plume of dust. Xehanort quickly dropped into a defensive stance, watching as the Traveler stepped out from behind the plume as it kept billowing. Finally the dust started to settle, revealing something that Xehanort didn't recognize, but to Aqua and Terra in the present, they both looked on in surprise.
"Hey, Terra, isn't that your-…" Ven said.
"Uh-huh." Terra replied, his eyes wide and a look of shock and disbelief on his face.
"Do you remember ever arriving the-…" Aqua said but Terra shook his head.
"Nuh-uh." He replied as they saw Terra's Keyblade Armor, knelt down on one knee, his Keyblade, Ends of the Earth, standing in the ground with its hands on the pommel, its head bowed and cape flapping from a sourceless wind.
"Xe-ha-nort…is that you?" a strange voice asked. To most listeners, the voice was nothing more than a strange hollow metallic sound but the words still managed to ring through clearly. The armor started to raise its head towards Xehanort.
"Xeha-nort." The voice said but in a lower and angrier tone as it started to stand up (Battle Music Cue: Rage Awakened – Any version: KH2 Final Mix, BBS, or KH2 Remix).
"Xehanort!" the voice said as it grabbed the Keyblade by the handle, pulling it from the ground, dropping into Terra's fighting stance. Xehanort looked at the armor confused but stood ready for a fight nonetheless.
"Looks like you're not going to leave me any choice, but to face my future head-on." Xehanort mused dryly as he summoned an Ethereal Blade to his hand, standing ready to fight.
End Chapter 34
The final battle has begun.
And technically the official name for Terra's Armor is the "Lingering Will" but I dislike that name. It doesn't quite have the same finesse as "Lingering Sentiment" so that's what we'll be calling it in this universe (or at least continue calling it since that's what it was referred to as in the earlier RKH stories). We're also assuming the Sentiment doesn't speak normally like as depicted in some cutscenes, but instead communicates through the strange hollow metallic sounds as seen in the KH2 Final Mix cutscenes.