Chapter 1
Saved from the Darkness

"How about it, are you awake yet?"

There was the sound of a firm tapping on glass, which reverberated through the tank-like pod in the center of the room. The figure inside the tank had begun to stir and now, after the tapping, opened its glowing, purple eyes slowly.

It looked out around the room, trying to determine where it was, but all it could make out was a tall figure in a hooded black coat.

The hidden figure stood upright at the sight of the motion, folding his arms behind his back. "Hey, there you are. You're going to have a lot of questions, I'm sure," he said in a lighthearted manner.

The figure inside the tank found great difficulty in moving, and still couldn't even see its own body, but after a few moments of strained gasps and awkward, broken syllables managed to speak in a low voice. "What happened… to… my home…?"

The man shook his hooded head. "Your world fell to darkness, I'm afraid. A lot of worlds have been doing that lately. My apprentices did what they could to save a few of you, that's why you're here. Do you remember who you are?"

The figure thought for a moment. "Balthazar," it said. "My name is Balthazar. I was… attacked by something."

The man turned to another figure standing off to the side whom Balthazar had not yet noticed. "Well, he's off to a pretty good start, isn't he? Good thing he had you to help out with the process."

This figure's shape was unusual, and it floated eerily. Its body was covered in large, pale-silver scales that overlapped down from the shoulders to the knees like robes. Its arms and legs were long, thin, and a little jagged; with small, thickly-feathered wings on its back. Over its head was a round white hood, a shroud of darkness inside obscuring the face save for two dimly glowing purple eyes. The strange figure was silent, staring at Balthazar in a quiet contemplation.

Balthazar looked between the two. "What… am I doing here?" he asked, finding his words coming a little easier now.

The black-coated figure turned back towards him with a quick, jolting twist. "That's a good question. Not a fun answer, though."

The floating white creature spoke softly. "We have saved you. You are one of us, now."

"One of you? Who are you?" Balthazar asked, quickly.

The hooded figure took a gaudy step forward, hands out to his sides with his palms up. "Well, they call me The Master of Masters. Bit of an ostentatious title, but it's what they call me. My companion here helped me to save you, his name is Areshmin."

Balthazar stared at Areshmin, studying his form. "What is he?"

Areshmin leaned forward slightly, as if bowing. "We are Angels of Darkness."

"And what have you saved me from?" Balthazar asked.

"That's another good question," the Master said, tapping his head with his pointer finger. "When your world fell, my apprentice could feel the pure light of your heart. Just the sort of heart we're looking for, in fact. Unfortunately, by the time they got to you, you'd already been wounded pretty badly."

Balthazar considered this. "So you've saved my life, then?"

"Well, not quite. We tried, but it was just too late, you see, so we did the next best thing we could."

There was silence from inside the tank. Balthazar spoke softly now, voice trembling. "What's happened to me?"

The Master stood back up straight. "Well, when someone is killed by a Heartless, as you were, your being is split up, and you yourself also become a Heartless. When this happens, a Heartless has no sense of self, no control of memories… usually. I've found a way to help preserve you, so you can keep your will in this new form."

Balthazar shuddered. "So I am…?"

Areshmin spoke up softly. "One of us."

The Master eyed the tank carefully as Balthazar sat in silence inside. "What do you say, Balthazar? Are you ready to come out of there?"

Balthazar was silent for another few moments. "What am I to do now?"

The Master reached out suddenly and pulled a lever, the curved glass panel on the front of the pod swinging open with clouds of dark mist spilling out. "You ought to come out of there, for starters."

Balthazar, free of the dark mist, looked out to the tiled floor in the room before him. He tried to move his legs, but found that he made no motion. He leaned forward gently, and found he began to float out of the pod. He looked over at Areshmin, who was still staring at him.

He then turned to look around the room. It was a large, boxy shape. The walls were made of brick, though painted in a drab light gray. The edges of the room were lined with white, canister-shaped pods with glass hatches on the front. Wires ran from the pods to the ceiling as well as to each other, and yet more wires ran in bundles along the floor to a row of computers near the pods in the back of the room. The center of this room was empty and wide-open, light primarily through the daylight beaming through an ornate stained-glass window above the back wall.

Balthazar looked curiously as these other pods, noting that several of them were glowing softly through the glass. Small screens hung off their sides, flashing and beeping softly. The Master waved his hand out towards them. "Go ahead, take a look."

And so, Balthazar floated over towards the nearest pod. This one also had a dark mist inside of it, with another Angel of Darkness sleeping inside of it. Balthazar studied it for a moment, then looked over at the glass of one of the empty pods, catching his reflection. He, too, was covered in a garb of pearly white scales, with large wings spread behind him.

"I'm an Angel of Darkness now, as well?" he asked dryly.

"I know it's not exactly on anybody's wish list, but it's gotta be better than the alternative, huh?" The Master said.

Balthazar looked back towards the Angel in the pod, then over to Areshmin. "Why have you done this?"

The Master shook his hands in feigned exasperation. "What, you can't just appreciate a good thing?"

The room was silent.

"Well, I'll tell you then," the Master said, strolling over casually. "You have a strong light in your heart. Dark times are coming, and we need to preserve all the light we can if we want it to survive in the future. I don't know the best way to go about doing that yet, but this seemed worth a try."

"What do you want from me?" Balthazar asked suspiciously.

"Kinda hostile, don't you think?" The Master asked, shaking a finger at him. "Right now, nothing. Figure yourself out. Help me save others like you, if more come along. Big things are coming, and I'd like your help with them when they get here."

"And if I leave?" Balthazar asked quietly.

"Hey, you're free to leave if you want, but there's a lot of wielders around who aren't going to be able to tell the difference between you and any other Heartless, and you're going to need to stay away from other Heartless and Darkness for a while to let your strength grow. Your new form is pretty weak right now, you know, and once you're exposed to darkness it'll be a real struggle to keep control of your body."

Areshmin floated over. "It is true, what he says. Others have… already been lost. The Master is a good man. He can help us."

Balthazar looked over both of them thoughtfully, considering the situation. "Thank you both for saving me. I will take your advice and stay here, though I would like to learn more."

The Master stood up straight, crossing his arms and nodding in approval. "You know Balthazar, I think you're going to be alright."

Balthazar floated silently in front of a pod tank, looking at the occupant inside. Another world had fallen recently, and a new group of refugees had come to take sanctuary in The Master's world, Daybreak Town.

Inside this pod was one of the unlucky few who'd only just survived. It was a boy who seemed to be in his teenage years, though it was hard to tell exactly how old from the damage his body had sustained in the attack. There was a gentle glow inside the pod from a passive healing spell that was trying to repair the boy's injured body, but so much of him was bandaged up, in a cast, or outright missing that Balthazar wasn't feeling particularly hopeful about his chances.

"It's hard to look at, isn't it?" The Master's voice spoke up behind him.

Balthazar didn't move. "It is. Was I like this, as well?"

"More or less," The Master said, coming over and examining the information panel on the side of the pod.

The Angel bobbed up and down slowly as he contemplated his current state of existence.

The Master turned away from his panel, slumped over slightly. "He's not going to make it, his body's failing faster than the magic can restore him. This guy's only got one shot left now."

"Will you need my help with him?" Balthazar asked quietly.

"Yeah, that would be great." The Master usually spoke in a fairly light-hearted tone, even when things seemed troubling. Balthazar hadn't known him for very long yet, but even from this short time he could tell that The Master was having a difficult time keeping his veneer of optimism.

Balthazar looked still at the boy's face. "What is his name?"

The Master looked up in the tank and shrugged. "I don't know. With any luck he'll tell us himself."

Balthazar turned towards the Master. "Can we save him, like you and Areshmin saved me?"

"Well, we can try!" The Master said with a nod. "This next part isn't great, though. It's going to be pretty rough, and I'm going to need you to trust me, alright?"

It is hard to describe how a simple, silent, unchanging floating blob of a creature as inexplicable as an Angel of Darkness can be interpreted to have any real shift in emotion, but there was a distinct sense of skepticism that came over Balthazar's shiftless demeanor.

The Master sighed. "Alright, look. This kid's body is failing fast. If we keep him like this he'll spend a few more hours deteriorating and die anyways. At that point, he's going to be too weak to have any hope of preserving his mind once he becomes a Heartless."

"So what shall we do?" Balthazar asked.

"We gotta stop the healing magic. He'll die here right now, and turn into a Heartless. Before he does, you connect with the light in his heart and shield him from the chaos. I've got other things I need to do to keep the process moving," The Master explained.

Balthazar looked back up to the boy in the pod. "I will do what I can. How do I connect to his Heart?"

"Just close your eyes and focus on the Light that radiates from his heart. You're a Heartless now, it should come naturally to you," The Master said.

After taking one last final look at the boy, Balthazar closed his eyes and calmed his mind. In his mind's eye, he could see a faint light in the distance. He focused on it, and as he did it grew brighter as if he were coming closer to it. As he did, it was as though he had shifted into another reality, and he found himself standing on a large, circular platform of stained glass. Rings encircled a large round frame in the center, in which a glass mural of the boy in the pod could be seen.

This stained glass had lost all of its color and was merely shades of gray now, with large cracks webbed throughout, and several enormous chunks missing from the edges. The entire platform was slowly crumbling all around him, but in the center stood a boy. The boy from the tank.

Balthazar began to move closer towards the boy, then realized that he once again had his legs and arms. Taking a moment to look down at himself, Balthazar gasped in quiet shock to see that here he did not look like an Angel; his appearance was how he remembered his true self. He took a deep breath and walked over to the boy, who was looking at him curiously.

"Hey, who are you?" the boy asked. He seemed calm, unnaturally so, more as if he were in a dream or a daze than any sense of true comfort.

Balthazar lifted his hand and waved gently. "Hello, I'm Balthazar. I uh… Well, it looked like you were having a hard time, so I've come to help you."

The boy looked around the crumbling platform. "That seems nice, thank you. I don't know what's happening. There was a darkness, and now I'm here. I'm not sure what's wrong with this place, but it seems…. Well, I think it's breaking," he said, looking up to Balthazar with a calm relief. "I'm glad you're here with me, though."

Balthazar looked at the designs on the glass beneath them. Something about this place, this sight, felt familiar to him, and he wondered if perhaps Areshmin had come to him in his own heart the same way.

All of a sudden, there was a loud cracking sound and dark clouds began forming around the edges of the platform. The glass began to shatter some more, the edges of it crumbling away faster still, and the boy watched with wide eyes in a silent fear.

Balthazar walked over to him and grabbed his hand. "I'm here with you," he said firmly. "You don't have to face this alone."

Purple bolts of energy began to crackle along the clouds and the darkness's encroachment gained speed. Balthazar closed his eyes, focusing on the light in the boy.

In the distance he could faintly hear the distorted voice of The Master. "Now, Balthazar, protect him!"

Balthazar welled up the light in his heart, and cast a magic barrier around the two of them. The light in the boy flickered for a moment, but shone brightly. The ground beneath them crumbled away entirely now, the two floating in their bubble of light protecting them from the violent storm.

The boy turned to Balthazar, tears in his eyes. "What's happening now?" he asked.

"Everything will be alright. Just hold on tight to that light in your heart, I'm here." Balthazar said reassuringly.

The boy closed his eyes tightly and sniffed. Balthazar looked out to the Darkness, and beams of light began penetrating the cloud and hitting the shield, filling him with a renewed strength.

He looked back over to the boy. His eyes were still closed, his face tired, and despite the incoming power Balthazar could feel the boy's light waning. Balthazar lifted his chin gently. "Come on, hold on tight, you can make it."

The boy opened his eyes and looked at Balthazar with a nod. "I'm trying. I'm trying. Thank you."

They floated there for a moment, the boy's light flickering erratically. He looked back over to Balthazar. "I don't think I-"

He was cut off with a thunderous crack, and a ghastly frigid whoosh of darkness swept over them. Balthazar couldn't help but thrash from the shock, but almost as quickly as it started it was over. He opened his eyes to see the pod in front of him, The Master looking at it intently.

Inside the pod was another Angel of Darkness, floating quietly.

Balthazar looked at it for a moment. "Did… did we do it?"

The Master shook his head dejectedly. "I don't think so. Are you ready for the hard part?"

"The hard part?" Balthazar asked incredulously.

Without a word, The Master reached forward and pulled a lever, opening the glass panel on the front of the pod's tank. The dark mist inside spilled out, and the new Angel of Darkness's eyes opened. It looked at the two, back and forth between Balthazar and The Master.

With a feral, chilling scream it lurched forward from the tank toward The Master, hands outstretched with razor-sharp claws bared. The Master swept smoothly aside, summoning his Keyblade as he did and striking the Angel of Darkness as it passed.

The creature shrieked and spluttered as it began to explode into puffs of darkness, falling to the ground and disintegrating slowly.

Balthazar looked up to The Master, who had already put away his Key. Balthazar's heart ached as he remembered the boy from inside the stained glass realm, and he had no words to say as he quietly mourned.

The Master walked over to the pod slowly, closing the door without a word. He looked over at Balthazar, lifting a hand with a weak shrug. "We tried," he said sadly.

Balthazar watched him walk out of the room, thinking more about what just happened.

"It's very hard for him," a voice spoke up from behind.

Balthazar turned to see Areshmin floating up towards him, continuing to speak. "The Master and I lost several people just like that boy before we were able to save you. It seems to take a greater toll on him each time."

"Why does he do it?" Balthazar asked.

"To preserve the light. The Master does not like losing people to the Darkness, and fights hard to help and preserve them. We are a project of desperation," Areshmin explained.

"Desperation?"

"The Master has lost many loved ones to Darkness. It lit a fire in his heart, and he seeks a way to defeat it for good. We are hearts of light hidden inside a shell of Darkness, and in this way I believe he hopes to use this evil for good. But the process is difficult, and prone to failure. Each of the Hearts we lost weighs heavily on me, and I do not know how many he lost before he had me to assist him."

"You met me in my Heart, as I met that boy?" Balthazar asked.

"I did," Areshmin said simply. "As I met many others before you. It is hard to keep our own light strong after a string of such bitter disappointments. I was so relieved when I saw that you had pulled through, as was The Master."

"I don't know what I did wrong," Balthazar said sadly. "My light was strong, and The Master's assistance came at just the right time. But the boy…"

"It is not your fault, Balthazar," Areshmin said softly. "Nor is it The Master's. There is only so much we can do, few can make it through such an ordeal."

Balthazar nodded. "Thank you, Areshmin, for helping me through it. I will help The Master now so that you do not have to go through such trials anymore. We'll save someone else, I'm sure of it."

Areshmin bowed softly. "I do appreciate the opportunity for rest, but we must share the load so that you do not burn out as well. We must also keep a thoughtful eye towards The Master, for he has nobody to help him in his role here."

Balthazar thought about this. "It must be so difficult for him. I hope we can find a way to encourage him, and help him to keep his own light strong."

Areshmin looked towards the open door, light streaming through. "We must try."

Balthazar opened his eyes and took in the stained glass arena around him. He'd learned from The Master that this portion of the Heart was known as the Station of Awakening, and this was the fifth one he'd visited since his first failed encounter.

All previous attempts to save hearts in this sort of situation had failed, and though Balthazar felt stronger than ever about the purpose of their mission the hearts lost bitterly to the darkness had begun to weigh on him heavily.

Ahead of him, a black-haired girl in an exotic blue dress stood watching the encroaching clouds of darkness. All the people he met in these realms had an uneasy calmness to them, he noted, and she was no different.

He walked over to her slowly, standing beside her with his hands in his pockets as the two looked out into the darkness.

"How are you doing?" he asked gently, breaking the uneasy silence.

The girl turned to look at him, a curious expression on her face. "I think I'm dying," she said simply. "It feels like I should be freaking out or something, but I'm not. I think I already died once before… and now I'm here. This place doesn't seem so bad, I suppose."

Balthazar chuckled. "Can't say I've heard that sentiment before. I guess you're taking it better than most."

He held out a hand, and she reached out and shook it gingerly as he introduced himself. "I'm Balthazar. You're… not wrong about dying. I'm here to try to help you with the next step."

Her hand paused, and she withdrew it slowly. "I see. I'm Farah. I don't know if I'm pleased to meet you, then, given the circumstances."

Balthazar sighed. "Understandable. If it's any consolation, I went through this as well. I don't really remember it, but I had someone help me the same as I'm helping you."

The voice of The Master echoed in Balthazar's mind again, telling him that it was the time.

Farah looked up at the sky as the Darkness began to crackle, then down to the ground as the stained glass began to shatter away underneath them. A faint field of light surrounded them, and she looked over to Balthazar, who was holding a hand out for her to grab, his other hand up high projecting the light.

"You can save me?" she asked nervously.

"I can't. You have to find the light within you — but I can help," Balthazar said simply, choking down the heavy, gnawing anticipation of the failure he'd grown so accustomed to.

Farah grabbed his hand and closed her eyes tightly, and Balthazar could feel the Light inside her burning brightly. It faltered and flickered as the final remnants of the Station of Awakening shattered out from beneath their feet, but she kept strong.

The Darkness around them crackled and snapped thunderously, and Farah gasped in fear. Balthazar wanted to close his eyes, having lost so many others at this stage, but clenched his jaw and squeezed Farah's hand ever tighter. The beams of light from the Master shot in, reinforcing their efforts, and Balthazar felt the light in Farah begin to wildly fluctuate in power. There was a heart-rending, primal scream, and an overwhelmingly blinding light that felt like it launched Balthazar with great force.

He opened his eyes, blinking to try to get them to adjust, and saw that once again he was back outside the pod beside the Master, staring at another Angel of Darkness.

"Well, that seemed different," The Master said, leaning forward and inspecting the new Angel curiously. "What do you think, Balthazar?"

Balthazar floated up to the pod, lifting a hand and resting it gently against the glass as he looked at the calm creature within. "It's alright, Farah. We're here to help you."

"Farah, huh? Getting more involved now, are you?" The Master asked curiously.

A pair of soft, glowing blue eyes opened within, and the Angel inside began speaking softly. "Where… where am I?"

Balthazar shuddered with excitement, and The Master stepped forward with an exaggerated bow. "Pleased to meet you, Farah. You've arrived here in Daybreak Town. Thanks for stopping by."

Farah looked over at Balthazar. "What is… that?"

Balthazar backed up a little bit, slowly. "I am an Angel of Darkness. I was once a human, like you, but I was destroyed by Heartless," he paused here, motioning towards his black-coated companion. "The Master and another Angel named Areshmin saved me from death by helping me into this form."

The encapsulated Angel's head lowered softly. "I remember… I was killed by a large creature of Darkness. My world was being sucked up into… some sort of vortex. Did that happen to you too?"

Balthazar nodded, and The Master spoke up. "Worlds all across the galaxy are falling to a darkness known as The Heartless. We did what we could to help save yours, but it was too little, too late. But hey, we've managed to help preserve your heart, so that's something huh?"

Farah looked once more towards Balthazar. "Am I… one of those?"

"Guessed it in one!" The Master said, reaching his hand over to the lever. "What do you think, Farah? Ready to come out of that pod?"

Farah's eyes closed. "I will come out, but I have a lot of things I need to ask about."

Without delay, The Master pulled the lever and opened the tank. Farah wobbled unsteadily as she tried to figure out how to control the motion of her new form, but with something of a flopping motion managed to make her way out of the pod.

As she regained her balance, she looked up to see Areshmin floating towards them slowly. The Master pointed towards this most recent arrival. "This is Areshmin, he'll help answer your questions for now."

The Master then turned to Balthazar, motioning towards another pod on the other end of the room. "Hope your good luck holds up, Balthazar, we've got two more left to try today."

Balthazar's heart sank. A success, finally, after so many failures, and they couldn't afford the time to appreciate it. He looked towards the other tanks, seeing the poor, injured people inside. He knew there was no time to waste and, as painful as he knew the process would be, he was keenly aware that this was their last chance.

The Master had already begun walking towards the other pods, and Balthazar trailed behind. He glanced back to see Farah being led elsewhere by Areshmin, and sighed. Farah had worked out — perhaps they would be successful with the next two, as well.

They arrived at the next pod, and The Master began interacting with the control console. "Ready, Balthazar?"

Balthazar stared into the pod, steeling his resolve. "I'm ready."

Author's Note:
Hello! Curry's Husband here again with a new story. In this story we're going quite a ways back from Hinata and her friends, back to the "Age of Fairytales". This story is set right before when the events of Kingdom Hearts X take place, and is filled with many new characters. I've had a lot of fun writing this story and have a lot of big plans and ideas for more with them, so I hope you enjoy it. Despite being so far back, it is set in the same "timeline" as all the stuff with Hinata, and may eventually link up in this or future stories.