Chapter 1: Fourteen

Xehanort was sitting down on the windowsill of his old classroom. Across from him, his friend Eraqus sat across from him, and Xehanort began setting up the black pieces. Over the past two years, many things had changed, all starting with those tragic events caused by the death of Hoder. He had just got back from traveling the worlds, though it was not the first time he did so. Eraqus broke the silence.

"How was it?"

"It made me think...about a lot of things. The events of the past, what's to come... What about you? Wasn't it always your dream to travel abroad on your own?"

Eraqus nodded. "Yeah. Especially with all that's happened…"

Xehanort looked to the side. "It made me realize that one lifetime is too short."

"You only get one. That's why you have to live it to the fullest."

Xehanort sighed. "It's not enough."

Eraqus tilted his head. "Isn't that why you find people to carry on your legacy?"

"Yes, but… I'd rather do it myself."

Eraqus chuckled. "Someone's ambitious. Okay, then how many lifetimes would you want?" He began setting up the white pieces, as Xehanort responded.

"Hmm… Twelve. No, Thirteen."

Eraqus's jaw dropped. "Th-th-thirteen? You gotta be kidding. Why so many?"

"That's what it'll take to rebuild the world."

"You must have one amazing plan in that head of yours."

"Scratch that. One more to explore the new world."

"Fourteen?!"

Xehanort smirked. "We all have our dreams."

"Dreams, huh?"

"Yeah. What's yours? To become a Keyblade Master?"

"I want…" Eraqus said gazing up at the light shining through the tall window, "... to stay true to light."

"Hm? What brought that on?"

"In case anyone finds themselves lost in the darkness, I want to be a beacon that guides them back."

Xehanort simpered. "I see."

"Hey! Are you laughing at me?"

"No, it's the perfect dream for you."

"I mean, think about it. Knowing you, if you wound up wandering into the darkness, you'd try to escape on your own and just end up heading deeper in. But nor if I were sound to rescue you. You're welcome, buddy.

Xehanort began to smile at this. "It's true that running away isn't my forte, unlike someone I know. Thanks for always being there."

But Xehanort never heard Eraqus's response. It seemed like everything was fading around him, all to black.

And then, he opened his eyes. His vision focused into view, and he began to make out a window and some edges surrounding it. He was in a pod! He began to panic as a mechanism hissed, but it was just the door opening.

He latched onto the handle on the side of the pod, which was obviously there to help whoever was kept in there get out. The room he emerged into was dim and dingy, and he could barely make out what appeared to be a gigantic screen in the front.

Xehanort looked around for a way he could have gotten here. Was this a prank by Eraqus to cheer him up? No, Eraqus was a jokester, but he wouldn't scare him like that.

He vocalized the question on his mind. "Where am I?"

As soon, as he said that, the mountainous screen sprang to life, with a bald old man front and center.

He glanced around the room, looking for a way out. "W-wh-who are you?"

The old man then began to speak. "Hello, hello? Is this thing working? If you are seeing this, I have succeeded in summoning Kingdom Hearts."

Xehanort whipped his keyblade out of the air at the mention of the name, glancing around for this man who was crazy enough to summon the heart of all worlds. But somehow he felt that it was RIGHT. The man began to pace around the room.

As if he had read Xehanorts mind, the old man responded to his panic. "Do not worry. I am not some crazy old man. In fact, I am you. I have plucked you from the moment in time I had talked about living more than one lifetime. You are my fourteenth to be exact. You are quested with exploring this new world I have created."

Xehanort shook his head. "What? Time Travel? Impossible! You must be lying! I will find you and make you put me back! Why do you need me anyway?"

"Sadly, after using the power of Kingdom Hearts to reshape the world, I will have to pay a price. My life shall be forfeit, and thus you must do it instead."

The screen cut to black but quickly turned on again.

"One more thing," the old man said, "all the information you need to know about your location is in that book here. Happy travels!"

And the screen finally faded to black.

He quickly glanced over to the book. It had his coordinates, and it told him he was in the Keyblade Graveyard. But that was not what surprised him. What surprised him was the date. He was 76 years into the future? He could kind of see how the bald man could be him decently far in the future.

Xehanort sighed. "I guess I got to find a way out, and explore the world."

But he quickly jolted in excitement. "Wait, if he's telling the truth, then I actually did do it! My dream came true! Yes!"

So elated, he bounced down the hallway, before stopping at a door. Was that… Eraqus?

But as he entered, it was more serious than he imagined. Rows upon rows of images of people he knew were gone, like Vor and Baldr, and right in the center was Eraqus.

Xehanort just stared at the image for a while. "He can't be gone, not Eraqus. I just was speaking to him minutes ago!"

He sat and pondered there for a while, tears falling while he was hoping that it was not true, that it was a lie, that this was an elaborate prank by Eraqus. But, alas, he knew deep down that Eraqus was gone. And so his stone-cold demeanor returned to him, and he rushed off.

He came to a ladder leading to a hatch. And so he began to climb. One rung, to the next. When he reached the top, he began to twist it open and escape. What he saw was breathtaking. Kingdom hearts, blackened, now turning bright and ascending to the sky. It seemed that whatever his future self was planning was stopped.

He saw various people returning to the ground, and he knew that his older self had been stopped, somehow. Did his older self waver? Was there a stronger foe? He knew that those people certainly were not aiding them. So, he did the wise thing and stayed out of sight, at least until they left. Once gone, he noticed a figure in a black coat dragging a black box. He hid behind a boulder, hoping to eavesdrop on the conversation.

The figure spoke, and it sounded familiar, yet he had never heard this man's voice before. "Finally, back where it belongs."

A swirling portal appeared to the figure's left and out appeared four masked figures. He recognized them from the legends told about the keyblade war. They were the Foretellers. Ira, Invi, Aced, and Gula were all there, all except for Ava. It seemed like he was not the only one coming from the past into the future.

Ira spoke first. "Did you summon us back?"

"Yep."

Ira looked at the keyblade in the man's hand. "Is that you, Luxu? You look different."

The figure lifted his hood to reveal a salt-and-pepper-haired man with a ponytail, a scar across his face, and an eyepatch covering where the scar met his eye. "Haven't heard that name in a long while. These days they call me Xigbar, but hey, whatever suits you."

Xehanort's eyes opened in shock, but he composed himself quickly.

Invi spoke next. "Is it… really you?"

"Yeah, but some time ago, I had to cast my old form away. Been through plenty more semblances since, but it's still me underneath it all."

The bear-masked man interrupted forcefully. "What happened? Why are we here? You tell me."

Luxu, or Xigbar lifted the Keyblade. "I had a role to play. And after all these years, it's done."

Invi tilted her head. "What role?"

Luxu looked around at the Foretellers, and smirked. "I guess Ava didn't make it after all."

The youngest of them all spoke up. "Meaning what?"

Luxu turned to face Gula. "I told her, clear as day, what it is I had to do."

Gula pressed further. "And is that why you decided to exclude her?"

Luxu's gaze shifted to the sky. "As if. Ava had her own mission, and she carried it out."

Xehanort narrowed his eyes. He knew one person that used that phrase. But Bragi was dead! But Luxu said he inhabited many bodies, so maybe it was him. He stayed quiet though, just in case it wasn't. After all, wouldn't want to provoke these powerful Keyblade Wielders.

Aced interjected, the area becoming tense. "I've heard enough! Luxu, what was your role?"

Luxu chuckled and looked at the black box. "I hope you like long stories. Let's go somewhere else so that noone can eavesdrop any further"

But in a move, so unlike Xehanort, he interrupted. "Wait!"

Luxu chuckled. "Well, well, well, lookie what we have here. A clever little sneak. I guess the old man sent you as backup in case things went wrong?"

All of the eyes of the foretellers were on him. "No, he sent me here to explore the world."

Gula spoke first. "What old man?"

Luxu smirked. "Just who I was shepherding along as a scapegoat, ya know. Standard procedure." Luxu looked directly at Xehanort. "So, he didn't send you to make sure that all of his little vessels were loyal? Either way, I can't let you go tattle to the bald old master, now can I?"

Xehanort shook his head profusely. "He's dead probably. The people on the cliff earlier seemed like they won against him."

Luxu crossed his arms. "Interesting. And you think I'm just gonna let you walk free? As if. Can't let you loose on all the worlds and have you trying to summon Kingdom Hearts again. Though, I do wonder, you could have easily walked away, and we wouldn't know the difference. So why'd you interrupt, little goat?"

Xehanort stared Luxu down. "Because I know you. You're Bragi, even though you died, you somehow are alive!"

Invi interjected this time. "Who's Bragi?"

Luxu chuckled. "Later! But, yes, where was I? Oh, yeah! What a shame that it is only now that you finally recognize me. Not even the old man could do it, and his younger self I stayed away from. But that is a name I haven't heard in a long long time! How's Baldr by the way?"

Xehanort looked to the ground. "Dead, along with his darkness."

Luxu seemed to sigh with relief. "You know, maybe we will let you go, old friend! In fact, if you step through that portal, we won't bother you—"

Aced interrupted. "Luxu, you aren't sending him to a very dangerous place where he probably would die, are you?"

Luxu looked like he thought the idea was incredulous. "Whaaattt? No way! I would never do that right, Ira?"

Ira just shook his head.

Luxu sighed. "Yeah, okay, honest to Kingdom Hearts, I am not sending you to your doom. I could literally just end you right now if I wanted to, so what would be the point. Just… just go through."

And so Xehanort walked into the Dark portal, to a place he thought he'd never see again. Destiny Islands.

He walked along the coastline, sightseeing from his first home. There was the school! And there, there was the Library, and there was where his first mentor would train him! But there he saw a massive party, for a job well done. There was a duck playing in the sand, and a dog right beside him. There was a mouse, along with a blue-haired woman, a blond boy, and a brown-haired young man. A spiky-haired redhead was with a black-haired girl and what would appear to be an identical twin to the other blond. There was a blond clone of the black-haired girl as well, and she was drawing the scenery. And at the end, there was a silver-haired teen looking at a strawberry-haired girl and a spiky, brown-haired boy sitting on a tree branch. It truly seemed like the perfect place to be.

Until the spiky-haired boy disappeared. The silver-haired kid, along with the red-haired girl began to panic and looked around for anything, or anyone that could have caused it.

And then the silver-haired kid saw him. "Xehanort!"

They all turned to look at him.

The blue-haired girl spoke first. "You, you're still here? You freak!"

And they all began to chase after him. He began to do what he had never done before. He ran away. (Eraqus would definitely tease him about that.)

He ran and he ran and he ran, till he thought that he lost them. Surely they wouldn't know about his hideaway in the cave underneath the waterfa—

"Stopza!"

And Xehanort turned to stone.

Kairi shook her head. "Did you really think you could hide here, where me and Sora used to hide? Was this to taunt me? Well, I don't care. When you wake up, you better give me some answers. And if you don't? Well, Sora's sacrifice isn't going to be for nothing."

If Xehanort were to hear this, he would have definitely gulped.