Hello everyone!
I know I said I was going to take a break from writing, but I just couldn't help myself. This story has been in my head for so long and I needed to get it out.
So this story exists for several reasons: 1) I needed to write something new, something fresh, this is my way of doing that. 2) I feel like I need to work on character development, and this story is going to have a lot of that if all goes according to plan. 3) Just needed... to write... something... I meant to only start this chapter like two days ago and I just couldn't stop writing. Guess that's what I get for trying to take a break.
Warnings: There will be character death in this story. I am not going to say who/what/when, but there will be a casualty or two along the way. There should also be torture, but that won't go into as much detail as my other stories.
Also you should note that this takes place after KHIII but with the Guardians in fact losing the battle against Xehanort. I am sticking canon with the information we already know about it though. I also do not know if I am going to add more Final Fantasy characters in this story, but I'll leave that up to you guys.
I don't own Kingdom Hearts by the way, or anything in this story really. If I did, Kingdom Hearts III would have been out a long time ago... But hey at least it is in development now!
And that's pretty much all you need to know. However, if you are curious about what a theme song for this story is going to be (since every KH game has one) I am doing something different. As long as I don't forget, I will be putting a short set of lyrics to a song I think fits this chapter at the end of each chapter. I think it would kind of help you guys visualize the chapter better once you finished reading it. That and I might be able to help you find more awesome songs!
So please, hold on to your Gummi Ships, Bahamuts, Keyblade gliders, and enjoy the ride...
The Guardians of Light are dead; that was the first thing I was told.
I guess I really should have expected it; the last thing I remember when I was still with Sora was a grey and black keyblade coming right towards his chest—our chest at the time. I knew I had to be released some way or another, and that was just how it happened.
Did I expect it to end the way it did? No. I was inside Sora at the time; I saw each of them prepare for this battle for a long time. But the Seekers of Darkness seemed to be more prepared then they were.
I didn't get to see all of them die; thankfully Sora didn't want to witness any deaths just as much as I did. The one who looked like me, that was the only death I remember clearly. My field of vision was a little blurry at the time, but I also remember the sight of a figure lying on the ground, her red hair sprawled out against the dry land…
Sora was next after that. He was so weak at the time, making me weak as well, so I my vision was not the best, but I remember seeing a grey and black keyblade with a blue eye on it. Next thing I knew, I was at Destiny Islands, lying on the cold ground with no idea as to how I managed to get there.
I knew at that moment Sora was killed, setting me free. I knew it was only a matter of time before Xehanort would come out to the worlds, announcing his victory.
You could only guess what happened next. Since Xehanort had killed the Princesses of Heart, not only where the worlds in complete darkness, but it also caused the old man to be granted the X-Blade. He declared that he did see what lies beyond Kingdom Hearts, and since he had the power to still open it, the worlds would forever be in his command. No one argued with it, the X-Blade's power was too strong for anyone to fight against Xehanort.
The worlds just went down from hill from there. Luckily, for me, Xehanort didn't even bother with me when he learned of my re-existence. Thing was Xehanort only cared about getting rid of Sora, so I was practically useless to him.
Something tells me Xehanort knew though, knew why I couldn't summon Oathkeeper and Oblivion, and since I lost that ability, he thought I was useless. Honestly, I agree with him, ever since I was brought back, I could only summon Kingdom Key, no duel wielding. No matter how hard I try or how many possibilities I come up with, I can't find out why I can only summon one. It's not that I don't think I am entirely useless, I don't even think Xehanort thinks that, it's just, since I lost my ability to wield two keyblades, I am not useful enough to Xehanort.
If it meant Xehanort would leave me alone, I was fine with not being able to wield Oathkeeper and Oblivion, anything to keep him away from me.
That was two years ago, and still to this day the worlds are still under Xehanort's control, with no way to over throw him.
Or, that is what I believed until I heard the knock at my door.
…
Xehanort walked through the halls of the castle of Hollow Bastion calmly, his footsteps echoing off the walls being the only noise heard. Every few months since his victory in the Keyblade Graveyard, he would do this same walk to the very top of the castle he now called his own, all for the same reason.
It didn't take long for the old man to make it into the top room. Unlike many of the other rooms, in this one you could practically feel the energy and power soaring through it due to the certain keyblade resting in a display case directly in the middle.
The X-Blade was its name. The seven Princesses of Heart and darkness are what made it up, and that power was just enough to open the door to the almighty Kingdom Hearts. Xehanort was very cautious when it came to opening the door to Kingdom Hearts, he had only seen what lies beyond it once, and not even his fellow Seekers of Darkness were permitted to open the door. It was not like they could anyway, the only way to open it was with the X-Blade and Xehanort made sure to keep it locked up, but displayed so it would be a constant reminder to those that he was the only one that could use it.
The X-Blade had given Xehanort power, and to him that was everything he could ever need. Since the Blade was made of the Princesses of Heart, he also used the key to unlock the final keyhole in this world, giving him supreme rule over all the worlds. He still remembered the day clearly, the rush of darkness that came out of the keyhole and filled the worlds, what an amazing feeling it was.
Xehanort looked to the mighty key before he moved on, walking to a short set of steps on a level barely higher than the rest of the room. It was there, where Xehanort stopped, placing his hands behind his back, patiently waiting for something. And it didn't take long for a corridor of darkness to appear that had the slightest hint of purple surrounding it.
Young Xehanort came walking out of the corridor, his eyes staring straight into those of his future self. The two nodded at the same time before the older Xehanort began to speak. "Welcome back to this time," he began. "Was the time travel journeying a peaceful one?"
Ever since Xehanort won the battle against the lights, he had given his past self a simple task: stay in the lanes of time. This way, Young Xehanort could travel to other time periods, most noticeably the future, to be sure no one would interrupt Xehanort's rule over the worlds. Unfortunately, if someone did try to stop him in the future, Young Xehanort would not be able to stop it, since traveling to the future with the worlds in this condition had its limits which did not allow him to interfere with anything the future holds.
But Xehanort figured he didn't have to worry about that, no one has stood up to him in two years; why would they try to stop him so suddenly?
Young Xehanort shook his head. "Never mind that," he said with a stern look in his eyes. "There is something we must speak of, about something I saw in the future."
Master Xehanort stopped in his tracks and turned to his younger self with the slightest worry in his eyes. What was he talking about?
"You have my attention," he said to the younger version of himself.
Young Xehanort took in a breath. "I have seen something that could be our plan's undoing."
The two Xehanorts looked at each other for a long time when the younger one said that. The words were just so sudden; normally the two would have a conversation before Young Xehanort would say that everything in the future is still going accordingly. But this was different, this undoing was so important that Young Xehanort didn't even try to talk with his older self-first, he just skipped straight to the news.
But what did Xehanort have to worry about, his younger self must have just misinterpreted something.
"What has occurred in the future that made you come to believe this?" Xehanort asked, his arms moving to rest at his side.
Young Xehanort looked as if he did not want to say it, as if he figured Xehanort would know what he was talking about. But the old man was clueless. His older self probably thought that it was just a minor plot hole in the plan that could be fixed easily with just a bit of tweaking. But it was most certainly not the case.
"I have seen our death."
Silence came over the two quicker than darkness came over light in this world. Xehanort knew at that moment that his younger self did not misinterpret anything, this was real.
"What happened?" He commanded to know, "Who caused such a crime against the Ruler of all Worlds?"
Young Xehanort looked down at his older self's hands, seeing that they were formed in the shape of a fist. Seeing this, he took several steps away from his older self and began to pace, trying to calm himself. Young Xehanort as just as mad at this as Master Xehanort was, but he was even more mad at his older self for a reason he had yet revealed to him.
Since pacing did not work, Young Xehanort finally spoke to the older man angrily. "I thought we had control over Kingdom Hearts."
"What are you talking about, we do have control over it—"
"Clearly we don't since Kingdom Hearts has chosen new Guardians of Light." Young Xehanort spat.
Xehanort froze again, not believing what his younger self was saying. But when he looked into his eyes, he knew he was not lying or playing any trickery on him. He was always known to have eyes that could tell truth from lie, and right now all he saw was truth.
"That's not possible," Xehanort still tried not to believe. "Kingdom Hearts is under our command now."
Young Xehanort shook his head. "Even our power and darkness cannot stop Kingdom Hearts from doing what it thinks needs to be done."
"How did you learn of this? What did you see exactly?" Older Xehanort questioned.
Young Xehanort stared off into the distance with no clear indication of what he was staring at exactly. "I saw you, cowering over the nobody of Sora, who brought Kingdom Key down on your heart. He didn't hold back anything, there was only pure anger in his eyes, but when he ended your life, relief came over him. Your body dissolved into the hundreds of lights that made up you, that was all I managed to see."
Young Xehanort's extension to detail made Xehanort even more frightened then he was before, but he continued to hide it.
"Before he ended our life, he yelled out 'It is about time the seven of us finished what the old Guardians started.' I managed to piece two and two together, that is how figured it out." Young Xehanort didn't take his eyes off whatever he was staring at.
"Did you see any of the other new Guardians?" Xehanort asked.
Young Xehanort said nothing.
"Did you?" Xehanort asked again.
"Unfortunately no," Young Xehanort finally said. "As of right now, Sora's nobody is the only known new Guardian. The others shouldn't be hard to find though, with the worlds in darkness, it is easy to spot a growing light."
Xehanort turned away from his other self. "Those keybladers… They just don't know when to die do they?" He asked himself. "Fine, if they chose to come back and attempt to stop me, we will just have to kill them."
"If Kingdom Hearts chose new Guardians this time, they will only replace the old ones, it would be a continuous cycle." Young Xehanort informed.
"I don't care if I have to keep killing them for the rest of my life!" Xehanort was yelling now. "If they end my life, everything we worked for would account to nothing, nothing. I am not going to let these new Guardians take it all away from me. If Kingdom Hearts wants to keep making new Guardians until the day I take my last breath, so be it, I will kill every last one of them if it means I will stay in power."
Xehanort stopped and looked to his younger self. "How far away is this event?" He asked.
"Several months," Young Xehanort replied. "A very limited time indeed, if we plan to kill them, we must act fast."
"Yes we must." Xehanort placed his fingers on his chin. "I does not matter, we will end them either way. If I need to turn them against themselves to kill them, so be it, if I need to pry them away from each other, it shall be done, I will—"
Before Xehanort could say anything else, his younger self silenced him, hushing him instantly. Xehanort was confused by his younger self's actions until the young one said, "Someone is listening."
Xehanort didn't move an inch when his younger self said this. How could someone be listening? Did someone break in to his castle?
The answer soon came to him when he saw a shadow quickly make its way towards the exit, running in an agile manner that made him almost impossible to see, but just enough to be noticed by the Xehanorts.
"Stop sleuth!" Young Xehanort yelled, summoning his keyblade instantly and flinging it at the mystery shadow, but the figure moved out of the way before the keyblade could hit him, and went through the exit.
"We must stop him!" Xehanort yelled as the two quickly ran towards the exit, back into the staircase that allowed them to see the figure better. However, due to the staircase traveling in a spiral pattern, they could still not get a good view on the figure. It seemed like forever, but the figure and the Xehanorts made it to the bottom of the stairs into another hallway that was lightly lit by the tall, wide, human heighted windows that allowed the sun to shine through.
Before the figure could continue to run, another figure at the other end of the hallway entered the room, which the two Xehanorts where relieved to see.
"And where do you think your heading?" Xigbar, also known as Braig to some others, said. Being one of the only eight that survived the battle against the lights, the Xehanorts had their full trust in him, and they knew that they had the figure cornered now.
Since they were in the light now, the three Seekers of Darkness managed to see the figure clearly, who had on a black Organization XIII coat with the hood up so they could not identify him. Clever.
"I hope you understand that impersonating an Organization member is prohibited by law." Xehanort said calmly. Even though the Seekers of Darkness had moved on to white Organization coats instead of black, the use of wearing one of the coats was not allowed by law.
The figure let out a low growl under his hood, identifying himself as a male, but they still did not figure out who it was.
"You have nowhere to run sunny, might as well turn yourself in." Xigbar said as he began to walk closer to the center of the hallway where the masked figure was standing. While he did that, the two Xehanorts also walked closer to the center, leaving the figure with little room to run.
But before the three could stop him and place him under arrest, the figure did the unthinkable, he turned to face one of the windows in the hallway, ran full speed, and jumped at it, breaking the glass instantly, allowing himself to fall.
The three could not believe the figure just did that; they were one floor below the highest floor of the castle, falling from that height would be suicide. The three quickly ran to the now broken window, positioning their necks to look down at the falling figure, whose coat flapped as the wind continued to push on him. The three could not see since he was already so far down, but the figure then pulled something out of his pocket and threw it below him. And, before the three could blink, whatever he had thrown turned into a red bahamut with a large wing span of at least five feet on both sides. The figure then landed on the bahamut, looked up at the three Seekers of Darkness, and then flew his dragon off into the distance, completely out of sight.
A summon gem, even more so clever. Whoever had broken into this castle certainly came prepared to get in without anyone noticing and break out without any issues.
"Should we try and follow him boss?" Xigbar asked Xehanort.
"No, he is already out of sight, there is no way we could track him," Xehanort said. "But I do know this: whoever that now knows of our plan, he most certainly is probably going to get to the Guardians before we do."
"That will not happen as long as we act now." Young Xehanort said as the three fixed their necks and stepped back, looking at the broken window.
"You must return to your own time," Xehanort said to his younger self. "If anything is to happen, we must make sure you do not get killed, that would only destroy myself and everything we worked for throughout time."
Young Xehanort nodded at this. "But how are you going to act before them?"
"Simple," Xehanort said, "Xigbar, gather the other up some of our soldiers and Seekers of Darkness, we are going to Destiny Islands to 'have a word' with Sora's nobody."
…
Aerith's eyes looked around cautiously, staring at the several abandoned store shops and houses as she walked along the pathway. It was sad to her, Hollow Bastion used to be so magical, mystical, and full of wonder that would make anyone feel at home as soon as they arrived here. But that feeling was now gone, it left ever since Xehanort came here.
She still remembered the day vividly. When she saw a Gummi Ship come out of the sky, landing towards the place where they battled the 1000 heartless, she thought it was the Guardians, finally returning home with the news that Xehanort's chaos had ended. She smiled as the whole town crowded to the place before they landed; smiling ear to ear as the hatch began to open, revealing the heroes.
Only problem was that it was not the Guardians of Light (her friends) that came out of the Gummi Ship, it was Xehanort and his remaining Organization members, announcing their victory.
She wanted to run, run away when she saw them but she forced herself to stay. Each word they said terrified her. When they claimed they would be staying on this world, she received chills down her spine, even more so when they said they would be occupying the castle and arresting anyone that resided in it if they refused to leave. And she nearly fainted when they officially announced that they killed her friends, and that there would be no one to save them anymore.
But nothing scared her more when Xehanort brought out that weapon, the X-Blade, and showed it off, much like a pampered child would when they received a toy everyone had been talking about for weeks. She knew that whoever controlled that cursed blade that they would be in charge, and no one would question it because it had that much power. Power scared people, and that was exactly Xehanort's tactic.
However, she tried to get her mind off that and just continued to walk, even though it was hard to do so. When she tried to look down, the sight of the homeless adults and children alike would be sitting down, leaning their tired backs against the crumbling buildings. There were so many people left without homes now, and if it where up to Aerith, she would take every one of them home, wrap them in a blanket for warmth, and hug them, reassuring them that everything would be okay. But she knew she could not do so, Xehanort's soldiers would notice right away and arrest her for 'suspicious activity.'
It wasn't like she was already hiding something from Xehanort and his shoulders, who still hadn't managed to figure anything out, but bringing more people in on the secret would only catch their attention. Bringing in people would only risk everything they are trying to accomplish at stake.
It didn't take long for her to eventually arrive back at the place she called home, even though it technically belonged to Merlin. The wizard had to leave this world after the death of King Mickey, since Minnie, now a widow, was having trouble running the kingdom by herself. Merlin, being the saint that he is, volunteered to help immediately, and told the others while he was gone they were welcome to live at his house and make it as 'at home' as they wanted to. Only problem was Merlin nearly was killed trying to get there, since he left the world illegally, but he managed to slip past the soldiers before he could get caught.
As she placed her hand on the doorknob, Aerith looked back over her shoulder, seeing no guards patrolling the streets. She breathed a sigh of relief as she then entered the house, closing the door carefully behind her and locking the door. Upon entering, she observed her surroundings. The house was mostly the same since it was when the Guardians were still, well, here, but since Xehanort announced a new law that did not allow anyone to own computers or any form of technology anymore, they had to dispose of Cid's computer. A welcoming fireplace was now taking the computers place, which Aerith enjoyed very much.
Only thing was, Aerith couldn't help but laugh at the sight of it. The thing about that fireplace was it hid something that could potentially get them all killed if Xehanort and his soldiers found out since they were breaking multiple laws. But they knew how to hide these kinds of things, and they had been hiding it for a little bit more than a year now, so if they didn't find out then, they won't find out ever.
After she looked at her surroundings, Aerith's eyes moved over to look at the table that was placed at the far left of the house, where some of her friends where currently seated. Yuffie was the first to actually notice her, and she stood up immediately. Yuffie's sudden standing was quickly noticed by Stitch, who was pleased by Aerith's sight and ran to her immediately, and Tifa, who acknowledged her, but remained seated.
"Hey! You were starting to worry me, where were you?" Yuffie commanded to know.
Aerith grinned at Yuffie's panic and bent down, greeting Stitch and picked him up. "I don't know, just needed to get my mind cleared." She used her free hand to pat Stitch on the head. "This place is arguably the safest place in Hollow Bastion, but staying in her too long drives me crazy."
"Better to go crazy then get killed out there by some idiot soldiers." Tifa murmured.
"Shush!" Yuffie exclaimed, "The soldiers might hear you!"
"If of all, we are in our house Yuffie, they can't hear us from in here." Tifa responded. "And you really think I'm afraid of them? Most of them hardly know how to fight, their just stronger than everyone else 'cause half the population is skin and bones from starvation."
Aerith tried to smile at Tifa, but she just couldn't find the strength to do so. No one has been the same since the Guardians lost and Xehanort took over, but Tifa was probably the one that was the most affected by it all. She was still the Tifa everyone knew and loved just… not as much her anymore.
Wanting to change the subject, Aerith found something to ask. "Where are the others?" She questioned.
"Leon and Cid are in the basement working on something," Yuffie said winking. Aerith knew exactly what she meant and winked back. When Yuffie came up with the idea for code names, everyone laughed at her, but in reality, it really saved them. "I think the Gullwings are downstairs too, not sure what they are up to though."
"What about Cloud?" Aerith asked, concerned about her longtime friend.
"Don't really know where he headed off too." Yuffie replied. "He just… left."
Aerith chuckled, placing Stitch down on the floor as she did so. "Sounds like something he would do."
The alien, who was not very pleased about not getting attention from Aerith anymore, quietly walked away and lied down in his dog bed to sleep.
Before she could say anything else, Aerith sat down at the table with Yuffie following her lead. Then, in a quiet voice, Aerith asked, "What are Cid and Leon really doing in the basement?"
Tifa sat up straight when she asked this. "They've been working at the computer all day." She said in the same tone Aerith did. "They have been tracking Xehanort's whereabouts all day, but last time I checked they said he's just been in the castle all day along with his lackeys."
Aerith leaned back in her seat. "That's odd; normally he sends at least one of his Seekers of Darkness out to another world to make sure the soldiers are doing their job."
"That's exactly what Leon said." Yuffie said. "But that's the only thing they found. None of them have left the castle, big deal."
Aerith looked to Tifa, who had a pensive look on her face. "What you thinking Tifa?" She asked.
Tifa looked to Aerith. "I don't know, it's just…" She paused. "What if they aren't leaving the castle, because something happened?"
"Like what?" Yuffie questioned.
Tifa was about to reply 'I don't know' but before she could, a knock at the door stopped them. Aerith was the one to rise out of her seat and head for the door, unlocking it as she did so, and open it up.
Only thing was she was not expecting Cloud to quickly grab the door from her, enter, and slam it shut.
"Cloud!" She exclaimed, causing the others to rise up out of their seats. "What was that about?"
Cloud was breathing heavily, clearly exhausted from something. "Had to get in here quick, there were so soldiers around so it was the perfect opportunity." He responded.
"Why, what happened?" Yuffie asked.
Cloud did not respond at first and only continued to breathe heavily. But Aerith noticed that it wasn't just exhaustion that was stopping him from answering, she noticed that he was almost afraid to give them the answer.
"Don't ask how I managed to do it," Cloud was scaring them at this point, "But I got into that old man's castle."
The room fell silent at that moment until Tifa stormed forward. "Are you and idiot?" She exclaimed. "Seriously, what the hell made you think it was a good idea to do that? How did you even manage to pull that off?"
"Cause I've been doing it for a couple weeks now."
Honestly, Aerith and Yuffie weren't surprised when Tifa slapped Cloud right across the face.
"Are you mad?" Tifa asked, trying to control her anger.
"Please, it doesn't take an idiot to break into that place. I've been doing it for weeks now and he just noticed today." Cloud said. "I got away without anyone finding out who I was, don't have such a heart attack."
"How do you know he's not on your trail?" Tifa commanded to know.
"I cleared my trail the same way as I do every day." Cloud said. "He just saw me rid my bahamut off, but he was not in the mood to send anyone to chase after me. I just landed outside of the town and got rid of my Organization coat since it was too dangerous to keep around anymore since I wore it. It's ashes now."
"We have a limited supply of those coats and you almost got caught." Tifa placed her hand on her forehead. "No wonder Xehanort didn't leave his castle today."
Aerith gave a rare death glare to Cloud. "That was a pretty dumb move Cloud, if he caught you, you could have been killed, or worse." She said, her green eyes looking into his.
Cloud laughed. "You guys aren't going to be saying that when I tell you what I found out."
The three girls looked at him directly, asking him without words to tell them what he found.
"Saw the old man talking to his time-traveling-younger-self, in a few months' time Xehanort is supposed to die by seven new Guardians of Light."
No one said anything for several minutes.
"Are you sure that's what you heard?" Aerith asked.
Cloud nodded.
Out of excitement, Yuffie began to fist pump. "Ansem was right!" She exclaimed happily. "Ansem the Wise was right!"
Aerith almost didn't believe Cloud's words until she looked to Tifa, who was smiling. This was a miracle itself for Aerith since Tifa hasn't smiled in years, years. When she saw that, she knew it had to be true.
"We have been preparing for this day for a long time; we have to tell the others about this." Tifa said, her smile fading.
"If you want to tell them, we have to tell them fast and get to Destiny Islands." Cloud added.
The three were puzzled. "Why?" Aerith asked.
Cloud looked to the ground before he looked back up at them. "The only Light they managed to find the identity to was Roxas, and they are planning to go and kill him."
"It was like a nightmare
And it's painful for me
Because nobody wants to die to fast.
Remember the day of grief
Now it's strange for me
I could see your face,
I could hear your voice..."
~The Reluctant Heroes by Hiroyuki Sawano (I FLUFFING LOVE THIS ANIME OH MY GOSH)
Hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter! I know it was kind of a huge set up, but hey, every story needs one of those.
So if you do review, can you guys tell me if you want new FF characters in this story? I don't know if I am going to put them in here, but if you guys want them, then I will do so!
So please R&R to tell me what you think and look out for the next chapter!