Returning to the real world, Sora walks over to Leon and Aerith, "That's that. The MCP is gone." they both smile in relief the crisis is over.
"We should be able to handle the remaining data Heartless." Leon speaks, then points at the hallway leading to the studies. "King Mickey is here; he's currently talking with Even."
Donald and Goofy are quick to run into that room, so relieved to see their king again. "Your majesty!" both cry out happily, pretty much tackling the small king in a big hug.
Sora does not follow straight away; he lingers, unsure if he should speak with king Mickey or see if the now unlocked computer has information he can use to find Riku. Leon makes that decision easier for him: "Don't worry, the computer isn't going anywhere." He nods and heads into the studies.
There he finds the king getting his two friends off before turning to Even. King Mickey's face scowls in somewhat seriousness. "You were his most trusted scientist. So Even, tell me what happened to Ansem the wise." The scientist lets out a small sigh, for some reason looking awfully regretfully.
This confuses Sora, more so in how sad all of the apprentices look. "What's with that sad look? Ansem hurt a lot of people." He points out and gestures to the picture of their defeated enemy. "You know, the guy we all worked really hard to defeat?"
The king and apprentice both turn to the large picture. Mickey crosses his arms, musing, "Oh, that's right… you never knew about that." He turns to him, Donald and Goofy and explains; "Well. this guy on the picture was definitely the one who tried to take over Kingdom Hearts— the one you fellas defeated."
"As well as the one who manipulated the rest of us into this big calamity." Even replies, his arms crossed, and got a regretful frown over his face.
King Mickey gives the elder man a look, before continuing on his explanation. "But, what you actually fought was his Heartless. You see, it wasn't really Ansem. He just went around telling everybody that was his name."
it takes them a moment to fully understand what the king told them and when it sank in: "WHHHAAAAAAT?!" Sora, Donald and Goofy cry out from realizing that Ansem wasn't really the man he claimed to be.
"Are you saying that we went through all of that trouble and fought an imposter?!" Sora exclaims, very much in disbelief, that man wasn't named Ansem at all, only using the name from the real Ansem— which is a person he doesn't even know!
Mickey nods and quickly assures the three, "But he still needed to be stopped." That cheers Sora a bit up. Mickey turns when Even speaks to the young keyblade wielder: "The one you and your friends fought was the Heartless of a fellow apprentice. His name was Xehanort, and the—" Mickey gasps at the name, "No way!" everyone in the room gives him a weird look, but Mickey is focusing on what Even just had said. He never knew the name of this apprentice, not before now, and that name brings up a lot of unhappy memories. "His name was Xehanort?" He looks at the picture of this apprentice, and with certain similarities in that man's features, he is starting to dread what this means.
"Yes," Even nods, not entirely sure what made the king freak out so much. Well, other than Xehanort here was, and still is bad news with how his Nobody is running things. "The guards found him; he had no memories other than his name. Our ruler; Ansem the wise took him in, allowing Xehanort to become a fellow apprentice due to his great expertise with our research. I hate to admit it but," he fists his hands in anger at how easy Xehanort turned him to do such evil experiments. On people, they made an oath to keep safe, no less. "Xehanort swayed the rest of us to study deeper into the subject of darkness in people's hearts." His face softens, anger replaced with sadness. "Ansem tried to stop us from dwelling deeper into that sort of research, but Xehanort convinced us to ignore our master's warnings and… we banished him into the realm of darkness." He glances over to where Ienzo is standing. "Ienzo looked up to him, so…" he sighs regretfully, "I was persuaded to tell him that our ruler had gone mad and, in his madness, abandoned the rest of us."
Aeleus drop his head in shame as well. Ienzo did too but for a somewhat different reason. "I doubt he'd survived…" Even muses mournfully and that is admittedly one of the greater mistakes he wishes he could change. But their ruler is gone and all they can do is fix their mistake and carry the touch of Ansem's dreams.
Mickey drops his head as well, finally knowing what happened to a dear friend of his. "I see…" That's what happened in this world. Mickey was aware of the research Ansem did about the heart, but he didn't know that the source of the Heartless came from that research. If this Xehanort is who he thinks he is, then… Mickey dreads there is much more pain awaiting them in the future.
Sora is honestly not sure how to react to all of this: On one hand, Even, Aeleus and even Ienzo have been working together with this Xehanort guy, who is the complete person of the Ansem Heartless they fought a year back. They threw the true Ansem into pretty much his doom, and have been the cause as to why the Heartless are roaming around. But it's clear they regret their action, and they all have been helping out in saving Hollow Bastion. So, in his eyes, "You may have done some really horrible things, but you can't be all bad when you're working so hard making up for it." Sora points out in his form of logic, the three all stare at him dumbfounded and Sora finds himself unsure if he said the right thing or not. "I mean, if not for you guys, I'm not sure we could've defeated the MCP, before it would cause a lot of damage to the town." Sora is grateful for their help, and he is sure Leon and the others are too.
Then, to his surprise, Even begins to laugh.
These weren't the words he has at all expected from one his Nobody barely considered worth his time, now with a heart and that little speech. Even can see that Sora might be able to hate, but has this uncanny quick ability to forgive and see the better in people. That's honestly a talent in its own, and one Even wouldn't have been able to see— unable to understand as a Nobody. "You really are something, Sora." Even chuckles. He has viewed Sora as a fool, someone who wouldn't stand a chance against the Organization. The only thing that made him unique is the keyblade, but now, Even can see that the keyblade is the least special about this boy. And something tells him, that even if they reveal their past as Nobodies, Sora will still see the good in them, but he won't tell, not until the day when Organization XIII is gone for good. Even rather not get on Saix's bad side, he has seen what that man can do to a Darksider Heartless. "Never before have I met a person with such a unique heart as yours." Which is saying a lot considering how many hearts he has studied over the years. "You wield a wisdom I am unable to fully comprehend," and crossing his arms, Even can sadly admit, "oh, I wish this heart belonged to a more indigenous person." King Mickey gives him a look that is a mix of disbelief and amusement he actually said that out loud. That's one thing he got in common with his Nobody, Even does not care about others opinions, only if it's a darn good one.
Sora is not entirely sure what Even meant by those words or why King Mickey gave the man that look. Was it from something he said? He only said that he at least felt no ill feelings towards their mistakes.
That's when Sora remembers the question he wanted to ask the king. "Oh, your majesty, do you know where Riku is?" The king was the last who saw his friend. Back when he was forced to leave King Mickey and Riku behind in the realm of darkness.
No one noticed the brief facial change from the youngest apprentice, for as quick as it came, it is gone. Hiding the same knowledge the king of Disney castle did.
To Sora's surprise, the king turns away from him, replying with a quiet: "I'm sorry. I can't help you…" Much to Sora's confusion, and he does not have the time to press the king to answer why he suddenly is like that. A loud sound, and although it sounds pretty far off, it does not bode well. In fact, it made Sora nervous about what might be attacking the city. Can it be more Heartless? He sure hopes that's not the case.
This sound made the guard Aeleus, closely followed by Leon, hurry outside and the king: "Oh no, sounds like we're getting attacked!" Before running after the two, leaving Sora and the others behind.
Confused about the king's behavior but well aware that he has to wait for answers about Riku. Sora hurries outside as well. There are countless Heartless in the hallway, surrounding Aeleus and Leon, who fortunately seems more than capable of handling them, at least for now. Sora, Donald, and Goofy run into the Heartless crowd to help; with the united strength, these low levels Heartless are quickly defeated.
"I will make sure the rest of the castle is free from Heartless." Aeleus tells both Sora and Leon, the leader of the restoration committee nods and says: "We will handle the town. Let's go, Sora." And they run off to do just that.
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At the Bailey, they got attacked by several lesser Nobodies, all with pinkish colores and dancing weirdly around. "Can you handle these?" Leon asks "I need to check up on my team."
"We got them" Sora replies and with a nod from Leon, the man slashes past two of these Nobodies, running up ahead to join the rest of the Restoration Committee. Sora and his friends attack the Nobodies. He wants to make sure to get all of them as Sora doesn't wish to leave any behind and they might attack the locals.
A strange beatboxing sound suddenly appears, making Sora stop to look after the source for a moment, but other than some pipes moving as if something jumped on them and a faint glow, he can't see what is causing these musical-like sounds. So ignoring it, he resumes going at the Nobodies.
With the last of these lesser Nobodies destroyed, Sora, Donald and Goofy hurry to join the others. At the Castle Gates, a dark portal arrive and out from it, one of the members of the Organization. Sora hasn't seen this one before. The hood is down, allowing Sora to see this Nobody is of a young man, around the same age as Ienzo, maybe a couple of years older. His mullet hair is dirty-blond and when those marine-blue eyes land on them, the Nobody jumps. Not the most intimidating behavior, and very unlike the others he has met throughout this journey.
'Why of all people…' Demyx had really hoped he could've avoided them… but if he does not do this… if he fails then... he will be worse off than before. Demyx sighs softly and gives the trio a happy smile, hoping it would make them give him some slack. "Hey, you guys are looking lively."
Not in the mood to deal with one of these while their comrades are in trouble, Donald yells at the humanoid Nobody, "Scram!" with Sora telling the Nobody hard. "We don't have time for this!" Summoning the keyblade and goes in battle position.
Demyx jerks back, waving his arms while trying to figure out a way out of this scenario. He's commanded to fight them, but Demyx is painfully aware he won't stand much of a chance against Roxas's other. So all he really can do is buy the others time for whatever they are planning to do with this world…
Noticing right away the reluctance to engage into a fight from this one, Sora can't help but wonder out loud. "How did a wimp like you get into the Organization XIII anyways?" This guy before them is such a great contrast to the one they met in Port Royal, the guy Beast helped them chase off inside his castle, the one named Xigbar and that man with the x-shaped scar who really got a chip on his shoulder. "I bet you can't even fight."
"Yeah, but we can!" Donald exclaims.
Oh man… it really looks like they are going to do this… Demyx turns his back to them, moaning to himself. "man… I told them they've picked the wrong guy," but apparently they think he can do it just because he knows how to control one Keeper.
"Who is this moron?" Sora asks his friends, and Goofy reminds him: "Remember, the Organization's made up of Nobodies."
"Right, no hearts!" Sora exclaims as he did for a moment forget about the fact that none of these guys can feel anything. All of this is all but an act.
Demyx turns to Sora, telling him. "Oh, we do feel like everyone else." Yeah, but only a whisper compared to the real deal. "Don't be mad."
A certain duck isn't having the attempt of friendliness, less so when they can literally see their friends battle a hoard of Heartless up ahead. "you can't trick us!" Donald yells at him and pointing his magic staff at this humanoid Nobody. "Get outta the way now!"
The Nobody turns his back to him for a moment, then when he turns back, the young man points at the group with the most serious; "Silence traitor." This catches Sora off guard, he honestly did not see that coming, but then again, the past behavior was just an act. This Nobody whistles and a strange beating, he heard up at the bailey returns. Sora jumps when a giant dark red kangaroo, having neon green markings and plates on head and back that lights up in the colors of dark blue, pale pink and striking green, appears and lands right behind the Nobody. Staring at him with a pair of creepy ice-blue eyes. Sora eyes wide in recognition as he notices the emblem on this creature's chest. It's the very same as Michi's teleporting bull and even the dinosaur able to do time magic bore the same sigil as well. He doesn't know the name of these creatures, but he has seen their strength, so he knows this fight will be tougher than expected.
And then, to his much greater shock, this Organization member summons the very same instrument Michi used! "What?!" he gasps, and for the first time when standing before these Nobodies, Sora dreads the outcome of this fight.
Well, if he is going to fight, then he might as well give his all. Demyx summons his sitar and with the music coming from it, the kangaroo Keeper starts to fight Roxas. The keyblade wielder almost gets trampled down as he's busier gawking at him, but he blocks the Keeper with a shield spell and then throws a fireball at him. Demyx strums his sitar and water geysers blocks the attack. He then beats on the strings, and the kangaroo begins to jump, creating shockwaves that knocks the attacking team over. Roxas recovers quickly, but before the boy can hit him, Demyx commands the Keeper to headbutt Roxas, sending him flying into the nearest wall. One of his companions throws a shield at the Keeper, hitting it right over the head. The kangaroo jerks and the recovered Roxas jumps onto its back, clinging as it bounces around, trying to get him off. This jumping around creates more sound waves, one of them hits Demyx. hard enough to knock the air outta him. Then Roxas makes the Keeper topple over and he hits it hard over the head with the keyblade.
The creature cries in pain, making a wave that pushes Sora back and giving it a chance to get back on its feet. Sora prepares for further attacks from this weird sound-making kangaroo, but much to his surprise, this creature fearfully backs away from him before it spins around and flees from the area. Sora stares dumbfounded at what just happened; this is the first time any large enemy has fled from him after just a short battle. Well, no matter. Now he can focus on this person, one who has stolen Michi's instrument. "You better give that instrument back." He demands the Nobody, throwing his hand out in anger but mostly fear of what the Organization has done to their mysterious friend. "That one belongs to Michi!"
Demyx gasps; the Keeper has run away— does not blame it though, he would've have done it too if Saix hasn't told him the fate that awaits him if he were to fail. He does not want to fade away but, what's more important right now; is what Roxas said. "Michi-who now?" He asks, still very able to remember how confusion feels like. "Hey, Roxas, have you forgotten who I am?" Sure they barely spoke, but Demyx can say they were somewhat friendly towards each other.
Now it's Sora's turn to be confused, "Roxas?" though he is quick to brush it off and run over to this Nobody so he can get Michi's instrument back to its original owner. "Give it back!"
No idea what's up with Roxas, but he's not getting his most prized possession. He summons some water and throws them at the fast-approaching Somebody of Roxas. That enraged the boy, and the fight is back on, Demyx really does not want to do this, but there's really no choice. All he can do is fight and somehow hope Roxas will give him some slack.
Well, he sorta did, for some reason, Roxas's Somebody really wants his sitar and when beaten to a pulp, Roxas stop, much more interested in retrieving his choice of weapon.
On his knees, just barely able to keep his form together, "Why do you want my sitar?" He asks Roxas, not understanding this one bit.
Sora claims Michi's instrument, and though he holds great disdain for the Organization, for some reason, this guy's whole attitude reminds him of Michi. So why didn't he recognize them? "It belongs to a friend of ours," He tells the Nobody matter of factly, eyeing the instrument. "it's very important to him." To his utter surprise, the instrument dissolves into water, and this Nobody tells him in a low voice. "…It can't be… There's no way this Michi could have it. Arpeggio was given to me when I joined the Organization." Sora slowly turns to this Nobody. No longer able to brush off this strange feeling, this has to be Michi, but why does he not recognizes them? Has he lost his memory or something? "Okay, does any of this ring any bells:" Sora takes a seat before this weird Nobody, ignoring the warning words from Donald and Goofy. He has to know for sure what's the deal is with this guy who just happens to have the same instrument and reluctance to fight as Michi. "You really don't like fighting, right?"
"Right…?" Demyx replies, unsure of what Roxas here is trying to get, but he takes this over fighting any day.
"Do you know about a giant blue bull with some sort of void inside its back?" the Nobody just looks at him lost. Well, that might point to this not being Michi, but Sora wants to do a few more tries. "Do you have a silver rapier?" This makes the guy gasp, then very nervous.
"H-How do you know about that?" No one but his partner knows about his second weapon. He never uses it unless strictly necessary.
Donald and Goofy begin to understand what Sora is trying, latter explains this guy possibly being their mysterious comrade: "Michi summoned such a weapon when he gets into his panic attacks." Donald nods and asks suspiciously, "Do you have that too?"
He hesitates but does summon the silver rapier. It surprises this trio, but mostly excites Roxas's Somebody. "Michi!" but Demyx has no clue why he thinks he's this guy and tells him while waving his hands. "No-No! My name is Demyx. I don't know why you think I'm this Michi."
"Have you forgotten us?" Sora asks, confused and also sad about this possibility.
Goofy ponders and suggests the others. "Or maybe that boss of his told him to pretend he doesn't know us. He does seem like that sort of guy who would come up with such a thing— "
"You know about my Boss?!" Demyx interrupts the dog-guy, shocked that they know about that! "How do you know about him?" What is he missing?
This is definitely Michi, though unfortunately, they cannot solve this memory issue right now. "Let's share notes later? Right now," Sora points to the area outside the city, where another battle is going. "we really need to help our other friends. So, talk to you later, okay?"
Well, that is quite the turn of events, but hey, better than fading away, so Demyx takes it. "Uh, sure." Roxas nods and, with a quick wave, run off along with the two others. Demyx just sits there, utterly lost on how Roxas's Somebody knew things about him no one from the Organization knew about.
"By the Light, he actually spared you."
Demyx turns and spots a hooded person behind him. The voice sounds like it's affected by magic and that coat… it's his. "Who are you?" He asks and does wonder, "Are you Michi?"
"That was what the Boss told me to call myself." Michi replies and pulls down the hood, Demyx eyes wide of what face meets him: it's him! But not him, his eyes… they are yellow. 'Michi' seems to know what made him stare. "Saix wasn't wrong… fighting against this taint is really freaking hard— and that's saying a lot considering I was merely a spare." This other him smiles, but it looks strained.
"H-How?" Demyx asks, dumbfounded by the fact he is staring at another him.
"Time-travel." 'Michi' shrugs.
Oh, that explains it, but, "the Boss made it very clear I shouldn't do any time-travel." but if he did it, then; "The future must be horrible…"
Michi nods slowly, "You can say that again…" he walks over to this younger version of himself, casts a cure spell and with him up. "Okay, so here's the deal. In my time here, I ended up befriending Sora— that's why he mistook you for me. But I also is starting to realize why Xemnas wanted me, but hopefully, that won't happen for you." He offers his hand to this version of himself. "Luxord taught me how to join with another version of myself, and I reaaally think you should take my memories— even the bad ones."
Demyx hesitates but knowing he— or this other version of him wouldn't have said this unless he meant it. He takes 'Michi's' hands and winches at the sudden trip through memory lane. When he recovers, he feels like he has been Michi all this time. Demyx is about to ask this other him what he would do now but realizes the guy is gone. Then he remembers that 'Michi' has joined him, making them the exact same person again. Demyx slowly turns to the Great Maw and does consider for a moment to join Sora, Donald, and Goofy but… well, he rater not openly show Xemnas that he has turned his back on— Demyx gasps in pain from the charged shot he took right through the chest. He collapses to the ground, causing the orb to roll out from his pocket, trying to hold but cannot stop the darkness from oozing out nor have the needed willpower to keep the rest of his body together. Someone's black boots come into his view, clearly an Organization member.
"You're not going to do any bench-warming this time around." Demyx looks up, staring as horrified a Nobody now can up to Xigbar. The man picks up Ethan's orb, adding with a menacing grin. "I can assure you that." and Demyx is gone, way more afraid than he was thinking there was nothing after when a Nobody fades away.
With that nuisance gone, Xigbar turns his attention to the creature inside this orb, it gives out great aggression towards him, but that's understandable, considering their history. He fists harder around the orb, it starts to crack, and a moment later, breaks, destroying the Keeper in progress. "You were more trouble than I like to admit." He remarks to the broken orb and drops it as he teleports away.
And here you have it, Michi was another timeline Demyx. Not sure how many figured it out during the story. I made it pretty obvious in the Halloween Town chapter, but what about the past chapters? Did you figure out it was Demyx?
Can't say I am the greatest at doing the whole suspense thing, so I would like to know how well I did it this time around and what I can do better when I decide to do something similar in future stories.
Change of Fate storyline can be a bit convoluted, though I sure hope not as much as the original Kingdom Hearts lore. The most confusing part in Change of Fate is probably the whole timeline thing, but I got a guy who can explain that fairly well at the end of this book. So please be patient with that.