Disclaimer: I don't own anything but my sentimental art supplies, so if you sue me, I'd feel bad for you going through the trouble.
Yea, I know, this story was supposed to be over. But I keep getting reviews and such from people demanding the sequel, and guess what, it's already out!!
You can find the damn thing here: /s/1886155/1/ - Just paste this after fanfiction . net in the toolbar and it should take you there. It won't let me do a link. I won't even let me indent the sentences! Damn quickedit, pissing me off.
It's called, Rhapsody of Silence, if that doesn't work. It starts off slow and stupid, but it's getting a little better now. Especially now that Vincent's in it! He makes everything seem okay again! Yay!
Looking back on this story, I realize now how much it really does suck. Though basically only my second story ever, so it was a valiant attempt I suppose... I like the sequel a lot better, especially because I couldn't resist putting in the Turks and Vincent! If you haven't played FF7, that's okay, I'll try my very hardest not to reveal ANY spoilers for you. And if you have played it, you'll understand what I've done to it to make it spoiler-less. ;)
Well, this seems like a big waste of space, so I'm going to turn this into an Epilogue! Enjoy and stuff!
Ansem smiled morbidly to himself, floating proudly over the World of Darkness. Heartless seethed in hordes below him, already sensing their master's clever plan being formulated.
He watched in slight amusement as the Heartless growled and shoved each other, such simple creatures, really. He had never truly been fascinated by them, it was the possibilities they brought forth that captured his attention.
Flashback
"Possibilities? I always knew you were fucking crazy." Cid shook his head jokingly as he shoved the cardboard package into Ansem's hands.
He shuddered before turning away from the small creature wiggling back and forth in the glass cage.
"Those things are nothin' but creepy. Heartless, huh? They look like they're just that, not much to 'em I suppose. If I were you, I'd get rid of them, quick, kid." And with those words, he strode back out of the room.
Ansem watched as the blonde pilot left, he'd been hoping that the mechanic would understand what he had been trying to say, but he had reacted basically the same as everyone else he had spoken to. No one had studied the Heartless as long or as thoroughly as Ansem had. That must have been why no one else could see their underlying potential.
So aptly named, Cid was right. Heartless were just that. But there was also so much more to it.
Paper, for example, was merely paper. The average person would look at it, and see only paper. But take someone who has learned about paper, made their own paper perhaps, and studied the art of origami. When they are presented with a piece of paper, that in itself may be the last thing they see in it. Upon taking up the paper, even, they do not use it to write on, as is it's original purpose, but they fold it. And they continued molding and sculpting the paper until it becomes something else entirely. A crane, something easily identifiable to the average person, made from a piece of paper. Now when the average person looks at it, they see the crane first, and paper last.
Ansem had tried to explain this to the elders of Hollow Bastion, but they understood too little about the Heartless for his discovery to have any importance to them. They continued to see the Heartless as being nothing more than simple creatures born of darkness.
They had looked down on him then. Though he was still King, the elders also held vast influence over Hollow Bastion. They had seen him as being too young for such a dramatic suggestion. Too young even to be King, but he was the last heir. His father had left him with the title only two years previous.
After a long discussion on the subject, the elders informed Ansem that for the safety of Hollow Bastion, he was to remove the Heartless from the castle and abandon his precious research.
He had agreed, of course, and left their presence with that very intention in his mind. He would not make the same mistake his grandfather before him had, he would not allow the Heartless to strip him of his home.
However, upon reaching the lab where he did all his research, and in which the Heartless were being contained, he could not bring himself to abandon his research. He had worked on it for years, experimented on countless people, met the King of another castle who knew far more about the Heartless than he had at the time, and sent a young girl to another world because of the way the Heartless had reacted to her.
He was filled with anger towards the elders, they were old, they couldn't understand a discovery of this magnitude.
A nearby Heartless rattled sadly at it's cage door, throwing its tiny body against the glass in an attempt to free itself. Its struggles bumped the cage dangerously and a glass bottle slipped from a shelf on the same wall. The shattering of glass snapped Ansem out of his distraught silence.
"Stop it!" He hissed angrily, eyes flashing at the Heartless. A surge of anger boiled up inside him and he had just started to move toward the Heartless when it shrank back from him and cowered.
He stopped dead in his tracks, the Heartless had never reacted to him like this before. When it continued to cower in the cage, he knelt down and opened the door. He shuffled back a few steps and watched the little Heartless.
"Come here." He said quietly.
The shadow eyed him carefully and relaxed, but it seemed to refuse his command. The other Heartless around the room stopped pacing and watched Ansem with newfound curiosity.
"Come here!" He shouted, quickly running out of patience.
Almost immediately the room was teeming with identical shadow Heartless. The shadow in the cage leapt forward and crouched in front of Ansem, almost as if in apology. Ansem gazed around the room in wonder, unable to believe the Heartless had answered his call. After a few minutes, the feeling wore away, and he felt very calm again.
Of course they had answered his call. Why wouldn't they? He was, after all, their master. He knew all there was to know about them, and only one thing still remained to be looked into; the Keyblade.
And somehow, he already knew how to find it. It comes when the Heartless posed a problem, from what he knew so far from hearing King Mickey's story. So all he had to do to get it to emerge, was to make the Heartless pose a major threat.
He grinned evilly, standing up straight and watching the room full of Heartless around him. 'Hmm, a threat? Easy, much too easy..'
"Well? What are you waiting for?" He hissed quietly, grinning even more as he felt the lock to Hollow Bastion slip and the door slam open. Heartless poured from the now opened Dark Depths, finding their way all throughout the large castle.
Ansem could hear the terrified screams from all around him, he couldn't remember having ever heard anything so sweet as the sound of someone losing their heart. For a brief flicker, he felt a deep grief well up inside him, but before he could really register the feeling, it had passed. He shook his head and went about the task of releasing the rest of the Heartless in his lab, laughing as he scattered the notes to his own research. He laughed even more as he brushed an arm across the tabletop and listened to the sound of glass breaking on the stone floor. Mingled with the continued screams, it was most definitely music to his ears.
He quickly made his way to the nearby balcony, stepping out into the crisp evening air to watch the scene take place below. A beautiful view, ironic, really, that such horrors were taking place on such a beautiful day. The setting sun cast long shadows all around his castle, the sky having turned deep pink and orange. He mused silently at the fact that the faraway clouds were lined with a blood red and purple tint.
From his vantage point, he could see the rising falls, which the gummi dealer Cid Highwind was currently using as a form of docking bay.
He watched as said pilot dashed down the steep stone steps to his favorite ship, carrying a sobbing Yuffie in his arms. He was closely followed by three small children, one he immediately recognized as Squall Leonhart. The other two were holding hands, Aerith Gainsborough and Cloud Strife. Cid quickly ushered the children down the steps from the lift, turning for one last look at the castle. He caught sight of Ansem and stopped, still cradling the tiny Yuffie.
"Ansem!!" Cid yelled from the top of the rising falls. His voice was filled with nothing but anger and sorrow. "Was your fucking research worth it?!!" he didn't bother to say any more, simply followed Cloud and Aerith to his experimental gummi ship.
Squall, however, hadn't moved from where he and Cid had stopped. It was then that Ansem noticed the late Leonhart's treasured Gunblade slung over the boy's shoulder.
The boy stood for a moment, staring at Ansem with emotionless eyes. Before he turned to run after the others, he mouthed a single word to Ansem: Murderer.
Ansem turned away from him, shocked to find a tear rolling down his cheek. He quickly wiped his face and made his way to the Grand Hall.
'You're right, Highwind, the Heartless are just that, but you were also wrong, because they are so much more, as well. You simply can't see it like I can. There's so many possibilities! You can't see it because you don't want to. You always were a little smarter than the others around here, I'm sure you understand that you can't run from the Heartless. You'll never truly get away, that's why, when they're older, I want you to tell my remaining survivors everything you saw here today. Because I know, they can see the possibilities, they already have...'
"He's right, that child understands you more than you do. I hope you know what you're doing. The Heartless are not toys, Ansem." A deep threatening voice sounded from the stairs behind him.
He turned slowly to come face-to-face with his most respected rival, Sephiroth.
"Sephiroth. Where have you been?" Ansem was amazed to see him, but didn't wish to show it. The last thing he needed was the one-winged angel sneaking up on him on a regular basis. Especially since Sephiroth himself was perhaps the one person capable of ruining Ansem's newly made plans.
"Trying to stay away from you." He answered flatly.
Ansem gave him a rather questioning look. "Any particular reason?" He added a bitter tone to it for emphasis.
"None that you seem to want me to share. However, I'll let you know, I've noticed that you've changed." Ansem snorted slightly at this comment.
"I have not. You were mistaken."
"Shut up. You would never have said that four years ago, you would have listened intently to anything I had to say!" Sephiroth's voice lowered dangerously and he nearly growled at the younger man.
Ansem watched him for a moment before turning away. "I have no time for this." He stated, approaching the newly formed door to the Dark Depths.
"Ansem, listen. You may have studied the Heartless for several years, but you still have no idea what you're doing! There is some other force controlling you, and to be honest, it makes me nervous. Whatever is happening here is in no way natural, and I'm asking you as your friend to simply walk away." he cringed internally at his choice of words, but he didn't have time to really think out what needed to be said.
"You were never my friend!" Ansem hissed, spinning quickly to glare at the silver haired man before walking into the Dark Depths.
He watched through the portal as Sephiroth turned and walked down the steps to the landing. A dark portal opened and he ducked inside without a second glance.
' He's getting stronger, I'll need to watch out. If he joins sides with the Keyblade, it could pose a problem.'
He thought darkly to himself before laughing again.
'Sephiroth? He would never side with anyone! Even in castle meetings he refused to participate! He poses no threat, anymore.'
End Flashback
Ansem laughed at this memory, once again picturing the young Squall Leonhart. He hadn't lifted a finger to help Hollow Bastion, yet he blamed himself for it's fall. Somehow, Ansem found this thought entertaining.
Hmm, possibilities. He had, of course, been right. The Heartless brought forth more possibilities than he had originally thought. The two brothers had merely been an experiment. A very successful experiment.
Now, to truly send his plans into action. He had learned by now that he stood no chance of defeating the Keyblade Master on his own, Sora had simply grown too powerful for that. However, it seemed as though human enemies were what Sora did poorly against, which brought in even more possibilities for Ansem to consider.
He had recently found a door to an unknown world, located in a separate universe. He had gone there only once, and was immediately impressed. From what he had gathered, Shin-Ra was exactly what he needed.
A/N: Yea, um, not much of an epilogue, really, but I had a blast writing it! And I made sure to give you guys a few foreshadowing details on the sequel and such. I hope you enjoyed this story, even though it was crap! And please read my sequel! It has three of my favorite boys in it!