Kingdom Hearts 3 Aftermath
Chapter 5 Hearts meeting
I am just going bit by bit. I don't have strict guidelines about which memories they will see but general rule of thumb it either has to be Sora's memory or at least connected to Sora (so prob no Terra memories who doesn't even actually talk to Sora in BBS).
Disclaimer: These bolded texts is from the video game Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep.
PS: unlike the previous chapter I won't do word by word for every scene. (plus I will add some subtext like from anther characters POV if it is relative). I will change certain wording to make it flow better for me.
The memory started with a scene that was recognizable to nobody except Ventus. It showed somebody in a black coat on a dark night on the Destiny Island.
"This is…." Riku said in surprise.
"Our Home." Kairi finished.
"But who is in the black coat and what is he carrying?" Mickey asked while Terra and Aqua instantly saw Ven's face turn pale.
"Ven! Whats wrong?!" Terra asked urgently while Aqua cradled Ventus in her arms.
"…." Ven was speechless as this scene was likely his saddest memory as he had no one and his own Master had left him to die.
"Ansem turn this memory off now!" Aqua demanded to the wise old man.
Everyone looked anxiously as Ansem typed on the computer rapidly which although made the memory pause did not end. "I am so sorry. I have tried to emergency override the setting but it appears Sora or whoever this memory belongs to will not allow the system to exit. We must finish it or we not be able to exit this room." Ansem said sadly with frustration that his own device was being used against them.
As several people started to protest Ven's soft voice made everyone stop. "Guys its ok. I have lived and been through this and came out the other end. Plus I have a feeling that is needed to find Sora so please let us continue." Vens weak smile did little to ease Aqua or Terra's worry but they reluctantly allowed Ansem to continue the memory.
The visible silver goatee and sinister smirk revealed it was Master Xehanort who held in one arm a white blanket that appeared to be a person. That person was Ventus who had his eyes closed with a lifeless expression on his face.
"Xehanort was on our island back then!" Riku shouted furious at the old man smug expression.
Kairi was speechless and felt helpless at seeing Ventus a person she personally didn't know but knew was close to Sora so sad. Both Lea and Mickey gripped their hands tightly seeing their friend in a death like state.
Terra was outraged at the fallen Master for doing this to Ventus. "Xehanort! Ven what did he do to you?!" Terra said angrily which despite his efforts was directed to a sad Ventus.
"Terra!" Aqua shouted sternly as she held onto Ven making Terra look down in guilt.
"Ven… I didn't mean to shout but please tell us what happened." Terra said calmly with regret clear in his voice.
"… I will afterwards let us just watch what happens ok?" Ven said quietly as he pulled himself out of Aqua embrace to sit on his own. Aqua wanted to embrace him again but he gave a defiant look making her sigh.
"There inside this world that was like a prison to me you can die peacefully. A fitting place to meet your end." Master Xehanort said softly with a hint of pity as he gently laid Ventus' lifeless body onto Paopu tree and started to slowly walk away from his former apprentice.
"That bastard. He does this to Ven and then leaves him top die?!" Lea said angrily while Isa gave Ventus a look of pity for a brief moment.
"How could somebody do something like this?" Olette said sadly unable to think of leaving somebody she knew to die like this.
"That is a real Grade A-jerk." Hayner huffed getting a chuckle from Ventus much to Aqua and Terra relief.
"Such a pity that trying to forge the key in such a manner has rendered him just an empty puppet now." Xehanort mused to himself.
As everyone was too angry to pay attention Mickeys eyes narrowed "Key? Was this related to his first attempt to forge the X-blade all those years ago?" Mickey thought trying to figured out where this was going.
Meanwhile the memory changed again this time inside Ventus' heart. Ventus body slipped and he gently landed onto a white area that glowed brightly as he looked around blankly.
"Ven." Aqua said in a worried tone with Ventus giving her a quick smile to reassure her he was still ok.
Riku noticed an oddity on what was suppose to be Ventus's heart. It seemed to be completely different then when he dropped insides Soras heart despite them both being Keyblade wielders.
He heard a voice directly into his head that gave no sounds but he understood what it said. The voice said "I'm a brand-new heart.' with no expression but it almost sounded curious.
"Huh? That voice isn't talking but I can somehow understand what's it means..." Xion said in confusion which was mirrored by everyone around her.
"Yeah I still don't quite get it but I think it is resonating with our hearts directly." Ventus tried to explain.
Ventus decided to reply back to the voice "But this is my heart. Why are you in my heart?". Ventus looked around trying to find the source of the voice but he couldn't see anything.
"I saw it shining in the distance…. And followed it here" the voice replied.
Ventus put his hand on his chest where his heart was and said sadly "Yeah. That was my light. But my heart is fractured." "And the little I have left is slipping away." Ventus concluded looking down at the platform. The memory showed that the platform was suppose to be a completely white circle but it was chipped away more then a third.
Ven sighed and looked down remembering how it felt to have his heart split and having it chip away. Aqua cried abit at seeing one of her best friend hearts in such a weak and fractured state. Terra growled but calmed himself knowing that Ven was here now and alive.
"Ventus…" Kairi said in worry as her natural good-hearted nature hated seeing somebody in pain.
"Its ok Kairi." Ventus said with a smile while he thought 'No wonder they work together so well. They have the same kindness.'
This platform was a representation of Ventus's heart which was damaged as a result of the forceful removal of part of himself.
The voice decided to talk again "Then you should join your heart with mine."
"Join together?" Terra said with some worry as he was possessed by Xehanort whose heart overtook his for many years.
"Terra it is ok. This kind of union saved me not hurt me." Ventus said with a soft smile making Terra and Aqua smile in relief.
Kairi remembered when her heart joined with Sora for safety and thought 'Could that voice be Sora? He did keep my heart safe when I joined with his Afterall.'
"Huh?" Ventus asked briefly surprised before his face went emotionless again.
As if by magic a light glowed near the incomplete circle and it glowed as well. The platform started getting filled to become a complete glowing white circle. As this was happening the voice spoke again "Now our hearts have touched. Nothing else will slip away." "And one day…. You'll be strong enough to win back the part that already did."
"Your heart got fixed Ventus." Lea said with relief while Yen Sid had a mild surprised look.
"It is not easy to repair a heart especially when such damage has been done. Whoever that voice is must be a remarkable individual." Yen Sid said with slight awe.
While everyone looked surprised and happy at the repaired heart Ven had a smile and thought 'More remarkable then you think.'.
Riku thought 'If this is Ventus memory then how are we watching it? Ventus never put his memory in the console unless…. Is it possible this is Sora's memory? But how? He never told me about meeting Ventus before…."
Ventus smiled briefly before simply saying with appreciation "Right, thanks."
The voice said "Its time to wake up now." "All we need to do is.."
"Open the door." Ventus said at the same time as the voice inside his mind said it. This triggered the bright light to turn from white to reveal the new pictures on the previously white circular platform. It showed a beautiful picture of Ventus in his non Keyblade armour clothes with a green mural. Ventus was asleep in the picture but appeared to be happy. His trusty keyblade Wayward Wind was near his left hand, the picture also showed a border of unique clover like objects. This was his competed heart in his station of waking.
"Um sorry to be abit confused but why is there a picture of Ventus on that platform?" Lea asked confused. This confusion was shown also on Pence, Olette, Hayner, Ansem the wise, Ienzo and Isa face as well.
"It is a representation of my heart. Everyone has something like this but to reach it you have to be either very young or a keyblade wielder." Ventus explained with Riku and Roxas nodding having experienced something similar.
"Thank Goodness your heart was fixed Ven." Aqua said sweetly sighing in relief. Ven gave the Keyblade Master a quick embrace to assure her he was fine while Terra put a hand on his shoulder.
As Ventus left his heart he awoke in the real world just as Master Xehanort started walking away. While he was not completely awake, he summoned his keyblade in his right hand and pointed it at the sky. Master Xehanort turned back to his former apprentice in surprise when the keyblade shot a light into the sky and Ventus opened his blue eyes briefly showing signs of life once again.
Master Xehanort smiled when he realized his plans were not completely adrift and thought to himself "Hmm it appears Ventus has managed to regain some form of his light. I guess not all is lost. However for my plans he has to be far stronger with wielders of light to guide him. I believe my old friend Eraquas has gotten 2 apprentices of his own, I am sure he will not begrudge me for giving him one more?" He thought as he picked up Ventus and opened a new portal to the land of departure.
The memory ended and Aqua and Terra realized something.
"Wait this was right before you met us Ven?" Terra asked with Ven nodding his head.
"Ven when you first met us you were like a zombie who could barely keep your eyes open. Wasn't you heart fixed?" Aqua said in pure worry.
"Yeah it was fixed but I lost my memories of this event and my past until much later on." Ven tried to explain.
"Ventus who was the voice that talked to you and healed your heart?" Mickey asked seriously while most of the other wielders were equally confused except Kairi and Riku.
"It was Sora wasn't it?" Riku asked while Kairi nodded.
"Yup it was Sora all right." Ven said with grin making almost everyone else do a double take in surprise.
"Sora?!" Aqua said in shock as she realized that Sora had Ventus heart when he fell asleep but didn't know they made contact prior to that.
Aqua and Terra shared a look and Aqua turned to Riku. "Riku all these years ago when I first met you and Sora. How old were you and Sora?" Aqua asked a bewildered Riku urgently.
"Um…. Let see I was about 5 years old and Sora was about 4." Riku answered after some thought. Lea blinked as he realized when he met Ventus as a kid Riku and Sora had met Aqua.
"Ven if this takes place right before you met us and we didn't meet Sora and Riku till 4 years later. That means…" Aqua said with shock.
"Sora would've only been an infant when he made contact with Ventus' heart." Yen Sid finished in disbelief.
This got everyone including Riku and Kairi into a loop.
"I know the voice said 'newborn heart' but I thought that was a figure of speech you know?" Lea said softly.
As everyone debated on how Sora heart could've accomplished this Ansem the Wise gave a hearty chuckle.
"Master what is the matter?" Ienzo said with some worry.
"We should not be surprised Sora's heart could've done this even as an infant. He is often done the impossible with that his heart of his." Ansem said with a laugh. "For example, he kept Ventus safely for over a decade for what I have heard, kept Kairi a princess of heart safe despite not being completely void of darkness, kept both Roxas and Xion who were suppose to fade into him from fading away." Ansem continued pointing at the individuals as he spoke.
"I suppose we have started to underestimate Sora abit throughout the years but he has done a lot of things to be proud of." Yen Sid admitted to Riku shock. Riku believed that Yen Sid was against Sora a little bit during the mark of Mastery test but saw that the older Master was admitting he was wrong.
"Ven can you please tell us why your heart got fractured in the first place?" Terra said gently with worry as Ven sighed. Aqua grabbed his hand for comfort which made him smile.
"I guess there is no reason to hide it. Before I met Sora Xehanort wanted me to submit to darkness but I refused. When I was knocked out, he decided he needed a worthier apprentice so he used his keyblade to unlock the darkness inside of me and extract it. This created a new being called Vanitas but left my heart in shambles." Ven said bitterly as Aqua and Terra comforted him. This made certain people opinion of Xehanort even lower for doing his to his own apprentice.
"I learned later on that this forceful removal actually had side effects of Vanitas himself. So if Sora hadn't saved my heart we both would've faded away. I only remembered this shortly before I had to fight Vanitas in the keyblade graveyard for the first time." Ventus finished with a sad look.
Mickey was sad his friend had such a tragic past but happy when he saw the bond between the 3 keyblade wielders. Lea was also happy his friend had met Sora who seemed to make every person he met his friend. Roxas and Xion were happy that Sora had helped someone in need even without knowing it. Isa knew that Sora strength of heart was always strong but he never expected something like this. Riku grinned knowing his knucklehead best friend was somebody who anyone could count on and vowed to find a way to bring him home.
Lea decided to tease Roxas abit "Aqua called Ventus a zombie when they first met. It is just like you when I first met you." Lea said with a grin at Roxas indignant face.
"I was not!" Roxas protested despite knowing without Sora's memories he was basically an empty shell for the first few weeks of his life.
"Aw don't worry about it Roxas. I liked you when I met you." Xion said sweetly to Roxas who grinned.
"Hey about me?" Lea said indignity making Xion giggle.
"I liked you too when you came back from the castle." Xion said kindly making Roxas laugh at their best friend annoyed face.
While the former Organization members were having a moment other people were having thoughts about Sora young heart.
Donald and Goofy knew something had happened with Ventus and Sora based on Vanitas words in the Monster Inc but even they were surprised that Sora saved Ventus at that age. Namine had knew based on her abilities on Sora memories that Ventus and Sora had a "special connection" but never knew exactly what it was. Kairi smiled softly as her closest friend once again proved why he was so dependable.
Terra had a smile on his face when he realized Sora was the reason him and Aqua met Ven in the first place. Aqua smiled and told Ven "Just another reason we gotta find him right? I gotta thank him in person for saving you when you needed help the most."
"Now onto the next memory." Ansem noted as the excitement from this latest memory simmered down.
AN2: I know not my best work but making new reactions is hard especially when the memory focuses on 1 character. The next memory will be shorter but the reactions will be huge (as it will be Sora meeting Terra-who ignored him for Riku). Basically the explaining what the Keyblade Inheritance Ceremony is or Bequeathing. (as I honestly don't believe Mickey or Yen Sid ever got around to explaining it which will disappoint Aqua quite abit).