Yeeel, Was yea ra weal yorr toe titilia mahin en jambea won mea.
Walls of light cascading from the skies. Glittering stars shimmering where once life stood…
infel, yorr memora?
A flash of rust colored steel. Body dropping to the ground. Shimmering light where it fell…
wharn wis dor sos yora spitze
A bloody war. Children dying in the streets.
Den dest phantasmagoria en rhaplanca ides, Mea wis rooshellan, noini roon en endia vale.
A dying roar. Not fear. Not sadness. But Rage. A cry for vengeance. Justice. Retribution.
Coall inna mea.
A black void.
Silence.
Time? What was time? Nothing changed. Everything remained the same.
The sole occupant, sustained in an unseen bubble of protection, the light of his Heart being the only thing keeping his body from fragmenting, dispersing into its base components. A space between life and death, but closer to death than life.
Eyes open? Eyes closed? It didn't matter. It was pitch black either way.
…and then something changed.
A voice…barely comprehensible. As if heard from a very long distance.
"Cursed…Key…blade…"
The faint words caused the still occupant of the dark space to stir. It was the presence of a voice at all, not so much the words themselves, that caused the reaction.
…wh…huh…? Did…some…one…speak…?
"I…must…Kingdom…Hearts…"
The body stirred more. Another shape began to form near it. Faint, but growing in definition as the moments passed.
Kingdom…Hearts…?
"You…you have power…"
The new arrival was a man with dark tanned skin, orange eyes, and strangely enough, grayish white hair. He was clad in a white zipped up long-coat resembling a hooded cloak with strange black symbols decorating it. His form was faint, faded, as if a ghost or wandering spirit.
"It…must be…mine…"
My…power…? The original occupant was beginning to grow coherent. Flashes of memory raced through his mind, images, feelings, knowledge, instincts. As his eyes began to open, he felt a strange sensation in his body. The invading, buzzing, burning feeling jumpstarted his mental facilities, eyes snapping open to see the new arrival with his hand literally plunged into the previous occupant's chest.
"I…am Xemnas…I was once Ansem…I held no heart, yet my soul and body remained. I hold no body, but my soul is retained. You…will be my vessel."
The young man who was originally floating alone in this strange world, tried to struggle. But because he reacted too slowly, because he was still not entirely awake, he could not repel the invader, this…Xemnas.
But he still tried.
Gahk! Hrrnngh…L-look asshat...I don't know what the fuck you're on about…but I'm not big on some guy trying to fuck my chest with his whole bloody arm!
The original occupant grasped the afformentioned arm…only for the new arrival to glow, and in the blink of an eye get sucked into his body. There was a horribly uncomfortable amount of pressure in an indescribable location that was both inside and outside him at the same time, before his consciousness faded.
At once, his body flared with an unusual glow, growing and transforming into that of the man, Xemnas.
A dark chuckle. "Indeed…but you have no choice."
Xemnas gazed upon his surroundings. "The internals of a Dark Corridor? And yet he was just floating here…impressive. And without any form of protection save that odd barrier no less…this boy must have had an impossibly powerful will to survive…and yet…" Xemnas was slightly puzzled.
"He did not turn into a Heartless…and I could still sense his heart, thus he was not a Nobody…could he have accepted the darkness in a way that granted him immunity to it…? A pity he seems to have vanished…I would have been interested in studying him…"
The man stretched, feeling amazing power rushing through him.
"Yes…this boy did hold much power within. A true shame…no matter." He turned.
"I shall finish what I started…if these Keybearers will not obey my will…I shall simply destroy them…and wait…"
The man turned, seemingly zooming off to an unknown location, a soft, feral grin on his face.
Minutes…Hours…Days…Months…? Years?
It wasn't known.
Forever, he had floated in darkness.
Since the end of his world.
Since the end of the Wars.
Since the power that his people had found, tore his world apart.
He floated there…in the dark shadows between worlds, a conceptual space that was not "space".
But then someone came. And somehow…took…his body.
A faint grey glow appeared in the spot that Xemnas vacated some time prior.
But his will, his soul…his heart, remained.
And for that brief moment they were connected, he saw.
He knew where the man was going.
Destiny…Islands…
He didn't know how, but…
…I'm gonna get my body back.
The grey shimmer shot off, following the trail of the body-snatcher.
The Keyblade bearers had failed.
Oh they succeeded indeed, in freeing the world from Xemnas' tyranny and intentions, if for a little while. But their final attack was aimed to unlock and destroy a heart that did not exist. The power within it was enough to overload his body, temporarily disorient his mind that was fueled by his soul, but it did not do what it was intending to. They destroyed his body, casting his soul back into the depths of Darkness, away from the Void of Nothingness that they were once fighting in.
But their intention was to destroy Xemnas, permanently.
And in that, they failed.
They did not know it. The few days, months, in normal time, that they spent at the beaches of the Dark Ocean, were long enough for Xemnas' soul to re-form, even if it too was cast into the darkness. But he was not "near" their world, when he returned.
A few months for them went by. Catching up with friends, reuniting with family.
But their happiness wasn't to last.
Unknown to them, they were about to be involved in a conflict that would devastate multiple worlds…
One that would lead to one of their number being forever changed.
The strength of their bonds were about to be tested. All because of a people that were long since extinct…