Author's Notes: If any readers happen to catch any typos or mistakes anywhere in the story, it would be greatly appreciated to mention them to me in one way or another. Many thanks in advance.


Chapter IX: Dark Deals and Theories

"You're taking a foolish risk," said the magical man of the darkness. The mysterious person was clothed with a long blue cape that stopped shy of touching the ground, black pants and boots, and a dark gray vest. The stranger's light azure hair fell over his back as his face, cold and almost lifeless, observed Kuja with scarlet-hued eyes and quasi-friendly attention. Slightly pointed ears rounded his face with small, triangular earrings on both of them. All of his features exuded an aura of blackness, especially when he went on, "You should kill them all while they're still trapped in their memories."

The overconfident Kuja simply brushed a few stray hairs from his face when he challenged, "I don't recall asking you for advice."

"But," the other countered, "you did ask for my help, and I'm going to help you, but only if," he stressed, "you pay attention to what I'm telling you and kill them!" Just as the final word left him, the eyes of the sinister man winced in surprise at an unseen sight. "Kuja, you fool!" he snarled as he gestured to the ground between them, causing a magical, three-dimensional image to come forth. At a fraction of the true size, the image displayed a trio of young male teens, their enemies. The silver-haired kid was on the ground, barely conscious while Tracy, whom Kuja had an odd interest in, knelt beside him, holding his body in his arms. The other, youngest boy was ironically the most dangerous, for he was the chosen master of the Keyblade, and he was proving to be the constant thorn in the side of the darkness. He was on one knee next to his fallen friend.

"Ah!" Kuja exhaled, pleased at the sight, "The game's afoot!"

The other man, however, was not as delighted as Kuja. Through clenched teeth, he said to Kuja threateningly, with a tone louder than the loudest yell, "No more games! Your time is running out, Kuja! Must I remind you that you're not immortal yet?"

"I need no reminder, Magus!" he barked back rudely, "If you're so afraid that I'll expire before I can kill them, then make me immortal now!"

The rage faded from Magus's face, replaced with a pernicious smile. "We have a deal, friend," he said with false gentleness, "Destroy the holder of the Keyblade, and I'll prolong your life indefinitely." The friendly attitude evaporated as swiftly as it had appeared when the wizard growled, "Not before!" Again, Magus's hand waved, dissipating the image on the ground. Turning towards the shadows, the magician of evil walked away, leaving behind a word of advise for Kuja.

"Move quickly."

—————

Verdant grass swayed in the wind outside of East Side Middle School as slow, white clouds drifted by overhead. The great field rested in between the middle school itself and a running track. Only two people were present in this conjured memory: Riku, still unconscious, and Tracy, to whom the memory belonged. The outsider rested on the ground, his head kept off the grass by a trapper from Tracy's backpack while Tracy sat next to him, paper and pencil out and writing on the clipboard that Tracy had obtained from his room before leaving to search for the others. Moments before, the field had been filled chaotically with middle school students, including a smaller and younger memory of Tracy Starlight. Conveniently, none of the memories of people seemed to be aware of Riku and the true Tracy, which made the experience much more enjoyable and somewhat disturbing. He was, however, glad to be left in peace when the kids were called back into the school. This gave Starlight the best opportunity he had obtained to get some writing done. With his staff and backpack placed beside him, he began to theorize.

What are the Heartless? "Those without hearts," is the obvious answer, but I think that there's far more to them than that simple statement suggests. Of course, Ansem's Reports give me the best insight that I could hope to attain, and those writings tell that the Heartless feed off of the hearts of the living and are created from the hearts they take. They seek out the hearts of the worlds they invade; I am uncertain for what purpose. Darkness within the living hearts attract them, and since this darkness exists within all hearts, the Heartless are naturally attracted to the living. Therefore, no one can truly be safe from their appetite.

An idea, one that he had begun to ponder over back in Traverse Town, came to his thoughts, and he started to scribe his hypotheses.

The darkness and the light are equal, or so I believe. Recent observations, however, have thrown this idea into doubt. The Heartless are creatures of the darkness; there's no denying that. If the two powers are equal and balanced in the grand scheme of the universe, then why do beings of the light — anti-Heartless, for lack of a better term — not exist? There doesn't seem to be an answer to the inquiry, but there are some possibilities. Could people themselves be anti-Heartless? If a Heartless is a being without a heart, then a being with a heart would fit the definition of "anti-Heartless." Still, most normal human beings stand little chance against a Heartless. The playing field isn't equal. If a human isn't the answer, then maybe it's something else — the holder of the Keyblade, perhaps, or the princesses of heart? The princesses have the purest of hearts, while "the heart that is strong and true will—

The paragraph was stopped in its tracks as Riku finally began showing the first signs of consciousness. "Ugh," the sound came from him as he exhaled heavily, labored for some reason, "My... chest..."

"Pretty powerful will for just a memory," Tracy put forth, referring to Ansem, as Riku sat up, becoming aware of his severely altered surroundings. "But I've gotta feeling that you're gonna be all right."

"Tracy?" Riku muttered, focusing on him, "Where's Sora?"

Just like you, Riku, to think of him first, the other boy thought with a grin before telling Riku plainly, "He went to find Felicity and Zidane."

"Oh," said Riku as he turned himself to face the sitting Tracy, crossing his legs Indian-style, "Why didn't you go with him?"

"Someone needed to make sure you were safe during your nap," laughed Tracy with amusement. "Sleeping alone in Memoria isn't what I'd call wise. We have no idea what kind of Heartless live here."

"And how do we know that there are even Heartless in this world?"

"Before Zidane's world, Gaia, was destroyed by the Heartless," Tracy explained knowingly, "he and the others saw flying Heartless emerge from Memoria. After that, Gaia disappeared, but Memoria remains, evidenced by the fact that we're sitting in it right now. Given that, it stands to reason that, well... This is a world like any other."

"But," questioned Riku, "if this is a world like any other, then how did it appear inside of another?"

"Good point," Tracy submitted as he thought on the inquiry. Seconds later, it hit him. "Maybe that energy vortex that we entered... is only a gateway that leads to Memoria and not the world itself."

"Gates between worlds?"

"I've seen it once before," he admitted, "There was a magical gate between the worlds of Gaia and Terra."

Riku's eyebrows furrowed in thought as he considered the knowledge that Tracy has revealed. Tracy could only imagine how strange it was for Riku to receive such information from a kid that had only been off of his world for barely even three days. Still, he knew that as far as Riku knew he gained that lore from his world's mythology and stories, which wasn't far from the truth.

"It makes sense," Riku stated at last, "I'm just having a bit of trouble taking this from someone like you."

Tracy smirked firmly, "'Like me'?"

"Well, you are way different from anyone else I've ever met," Riku took his turn at explaining, "I can't really put a finger on it, though. You're really certain that you're correct, and yet I can tell that you give room to be wrong. That, and..." His voiced trailed off uncertainly.

"And...?"

Riku looked down at the still grass, telling Starlight, "That's what I can't put my finger on."

Opportunity, Tracy summed up the moment with one word. The boy suddenly felt the nervousness come, the feeling that he always dreaded in moments like the one he found himself in now. While his mouth remained motionless, his mind was sent into a screaming spiral of thoughts. The evidence that I recall about Riku seems to scream out "fruity," and yet I hesitate. Why am I hesitating? What's there to lose when there's so much to gain? Just tell him, you moron! He'll have to find out eventually! Hell, most people know you for thirty seconds before finding out you're gay! How long has it been with him, three days? Then again, most people realize it when you say they have pretty—

In the storm of his own pondering, Tracy failed to immediately realize that a third party had arrived to intervene with their conversation. Riku was the first to give a look to the visitor. His eyes brightened with recognition when he greeted as he stood up, "Sora!"

Tracy was shoved from his internal dilemma as he, too, shifted his eyes to the imposing party and arose, taking up his staff. Just as Riku had said, it was indeed Sora, but several mental alarms went off within his mind all at once. He's alone. Where are Felicity and Zidane? There's something different about him, too...

The expression on Sora's countenance was vastly different from anything either Riku or Tracy had ever noted in the boy. It held an attribute of blankness, as if the lights were actually on but nobody was home. Secondly, he held the Keyblade in his hand, which alarmed Tracy because the Keyblade was almost always reserved for a conflict. Maybe he simply came from battle, rationalized Tracy. Thirdly, the Keyblade was in its most basic form, the Kingdom Key. Whether that was a good omen or not was beyond Tracy's guessing.

The final detail was something that Tracy had almost missed entirely even though it was possibly the key to the entire miniature mystery. The accessory constantly around the neck of the Keyblade master was something entirely different than anything he'd seen before, and yet he recognized it in a flash. It was not the normal crown symbol he had grown so used to.

It was the symbol of the Heartless.

Emptiness was replaced with passionate ire, a sight that neither of the two boys had seen before on Sora's face, when the formerly out-of-place Keyblade was brought to bear against the duo. Operating on intuition, Tracy went into battle at the drop of a pin, using his stick with both hands to force the enemy's blade to Starlight's left. While doing this, the offending teenager released a kick at one of the pseudo-Sora's legs. Another split-second passed as the Heartless dummy lost balance, a moment that Tracy used to release a powerful elbow thrust into the face of his opponent.

The Heartless version of the Keyblade master stumbled backwards, clearly not prepared for the ferocity of Tracy Starlight's combination strike. As it hit the ground, Riku stared with wide-eyed amazement at the feat, but he knew that their foe wasn't so easily defeated. As he habitually reached for his Wing Edge, Riku was shocked for only a moment when the black Keyblade appeared in its place in his hand. However, he quickly shoved the uncomfortable feelings the weapon gave to him away when the false Sora leapt to its feet as briskly as it had fallen.

Bringing his old Keyblade ready, Riku inquired as traces of excitement crept into his voice, "What is this thing?"

A well-informed question, thought Tracy faster than he could speak, If it wasn't in perfect color, I'd say it was like those anti-Sora things from Neverland.

Before he could voice his feeling to Riku, though, the irate clone resumed the fight, rushing forth in Tracy's direction with inhuman speed, succeeding in landing a solid blow to Tracy's right side. The staff-wielding boy fell to the ground this time, an unfortunate victim of the Sonic Blade technique, leaving Riku on his feet to challenge the image of Sora.

The boy from Destiny Island wasted little time in beginning his assault, using a great leap into the sky to gain an advantage over Sora. Riku brought his blade ready for a downward slice. The two armaments, nevertheless, clanged together with a loud noise as the Heartless's horizontally-held Keyblade blocked the strike skillfully. Riku's feet touched the ground, and it quickly became a test of sheer strength between Riku and Sora. For an instant, the nearly intolerable memory of the meeting of the two Keyblades in the hall of Hollow Bastion flashed through Riku.

It was at that instant of recollection and weakness that the black-hearted Sora look-alike attacked, not with the Keyblade but with its foot. Clearly stealing a page from Tracy's fighting style, Sora landed a solid kick at Riku's left leg. As the fighter lost his balance, the shadowy figure raised the Kingdom Key to deliver a devastating attack—

—that was cut short by a shocking lightning bolt from Tracy. The being of evil was once again caught off its guard, having forgotten about Tracy temporarily. As it began to recover its senses, Riku regained himself and fired himself at the copycat. The black cutting edge of the Keyblade to the hearts crashed down onto Sora's shoulder. In a flash of darkness, Sora's double dissipated in defeat.

Peace returned to the field of grass as Riku and Tracy scanned the area for any further, nonexistent threats to themselves. For the moment, at least, the excitement seemed to be over for the couple.

"That," Tracy answered the question Riku had posed earlier, "was not a normal shadow."

"I know that, Tracy," Riku said, clearly unsettled by having to fight against such a realistic yet evil version of his old friend, "After all, I created them... Heartless that looked like Sora back in Neverland."

Tracy held back telling him that he knew about that, choosing to instead pose an educated guess. "This is Memoria, a place of memories. What if the Heartless here take the form of people from our own memories?"

Riku considered the agitating likelihood of his words. "So we could fight anyone we remember, like Sora?"

"Sora, Cloud, Maleficent, even you and me," listed Starlight. "Exciting, yet at the same time dangerous."

"And the setting doesn't seem to affect who appears," Riku put forth, "Why would Sora be here, in your town, if he's never been here?"

Tracy nodded, concurring with the assessment. "This changes things. We should go find Sora and the others now!" Picking up the trapper that Riku's head had been resting on previously as well as the clipboard, pencil, and paper he had used, he took that time to ask of Riku inquisitively, "Does that Keyblade have a name?"

Riku thought on the query, yet a part of him knew no thoughts were necessary. He answered effortlessly, surprising himself with the knowledge, "The Lockheart."

"Lockheart, eh?" Tracy echoed, genuinely interested. "Fitting name for the Keyblade that unlocks hearts, isn't it?"

"We should be going, Tracy," he reminded him, "Sora could be in big trouble."

Starlight nodded, submitting honestly, "Right, exactly."