Kingdom Hearts

The Wandering Keyblade Master

This Chapter will dive into Zero's past. I nearly cried when I wrote this. Hope you enjoy this.

Chapter 4: Zero's Past

It was 4:30 AM. Leon had just finished his long training session, half to get better, half to get away from Aerith and Cloud's moans through the door to his room. Leon walked out of the secret waterway and jumped to his room's balcony. He walked in and after getting undressed and taking a shower he got into bed. But just as he put his head on his pillow…

Phooouuu

Leon: "Ahhhh! What the Hell!" He lifts his pillow up and sees a deflated Whoopee Cushion. His first thoughts were 'Yuffie I'll get you back for this.', but as he turned it over, he saw the Crest of the Royal Family. It was then he realized it had to be Sora, Donald, and/or Goofy, because he had only seen the crest on King Mickey's gummi ship. Now fully awake he stares at the ceiling, thinking about everything that has happened up till this point. Meanwhile in Zero's room.

Zero & Yuffie: "Whaaa…Owwwww." As soon as they heard Leon's yell, they bolted straight up in bed, hitting their heads in the process.

Zero: "What was that?"

Yuffie: "(Giggles) Guess Leon found the whoopee cushion under his pillow. (Yawn) What time is it?"

Zero: "You actually did that? Anyways, it's 4:30 AM. Did he really just go to bed?"

Yuffie: "Probably. He said he'd be training for 7 hours a day at least, since the heartless are growing stronger. I guess he doesn't want to be out done by you and Sora. Oh, and yes I did do the whole pillow trick."

Zero: "He's probably gonna kill you now, you realize that."

Yuffie: "No, he's gonna kill Sora and his gang now. I copied the King's crest and put it on the whoopee cushion. He'll think they did it and not me."

Zero: "Smooth, slick, and sneaky. I like it."

Yuffie: "Thanks. So what do we do… sounds like you were right about Aerith and Cloud having fun tonight. I can hear them down the hall."

Zero: "…I thought so. I've seen plenty of couples to know when that kind of love is there."

Yuffie: "……Ever…actually experienced what love is?"

Zero: A little taken back. "Uh…no…not that kind, only the family kind of love. Why?"

Yuffie: "…Just curious. I've…never really experienced anything like that other than for my friends. I just wondered what it's like to love someone, ya know?"

Zero: "…There are several kinds of love. Love shared by family members, love of a friendship, and a romantic kind of love, a.k.a. Aerith and Cloud."

Yuffie: "Oh…Thanks for clearing that up for me."

Zero: "No problem. Love is very complicated. What do we do now?"

Yuffie: "I'm gonna take a shower. After that, do you wanna go to the synthesis shop? We should have enough ingredients for some good accessories after yesterday's big haul."

Zero: "Sounds like a plan to me. But lets head out the ally way, it's quicker."

Yuffie: "Alright then. I'll be ready in a few." After Yuffie took her shower, the two of them got dressed and left through the balcony door. They jumped off the balcony, landed on the ground, ran over to the stacked up pile of crates, jumped over them, and landed in the first district. From there they walked to the shop and stopped at the door to listen to see if anyone was awake.

Moogle: "Oh come on! We're so close. All we need are a few more Lucid Crystals and we can make a Crystal Crown to finish our synthesize item exhibit." It then heard a knock at the door. "Who could that be at 5 in the morning?" He opened the door to see Zero leaning against a wall and Yuffie standing in front of him.

Yuffie: "You guys open now, or should we come back later?"

Moogle: "…Yes we're open. Come in." They walked in and Yuffie picked up an item menu while Zero got out a list of supplies they had. The Moogle sees the list. "Say, you wouldn't happen to have any Lucid Crystals to spare, would you?"

Zero: "Let me check…… Yeah, we have 9, I guess we could spare some. We were hoping to get 3 Crystal Crowns, but you can have some. You guys do all the work, so I guess its ok."

Moogle: "Thank you so much. We're trying to make a synthesis item exhibit for the shop downstairs. All we need is 3 Lucid Crystals to make a Crown and finish the exhibit."

Yuffie: "Really? I can't wait to see it."

Moogle: "Yes, we're all very excited about it. Is there anything we can make for you two?"

Zero: "How's about…2 Crystal Crowns and 3 Ultima Weapons. You can make the Crowns first if it helps."

Moogle: "Coming right up!" about 30 minutes later, Yuffie and Zero walk out with their items and quietly went into the second district.

Yuffie: "Um…Zero…can I ask you a personal question?"

Zero: "Go ahead, doesn't mean I'll answer though."

Yuffie: "Oh, ok…What made you act the way you do? I mean at times you can be so cold hearted to people and yet, other times you can be a caring person. What made you act so cold?"

Zero: Shocked. "………… I'll tell you, but not here. Follow me." Zero ran to the right and jumped on a store sign, and using it as a spring board, jumped on the roof. He then went into the third district through the open window up there. Yuffie followed. When she caught up to him, she saw him sitting on the balcony railing. She sat next to him.

Zero: "……… It all started about 10 years ago, when I was 7. I had everything. A caring mother and father, aunts, uncles, cousins, and even a sometimes annoying but lovable sister. My father was a bit of a samurai where my mother was a ninja. They taught me and my sister how to fight and defend ourselves. We had good life's, we were even rich. Everything was perfect, that is… until that bastard came in and held my sister and I for ransom. He never got it. Using what we learned, we escaped him. As you can imagine, he was furious. Being a crime lord, he then killed everyone in my family, except my sister and I."

Yuffie: Shocked. "…My god…"

Zero: "No, wait, it gets better. For a year, social services kept moving us to different families. We always got returned. Something was always wrong with us. Finally a family took us in, but wouldn't ya know it. They wanted our money and treated us like crap. We tried to tell social services this, but they didn't believe us. We were only little kids, how were we to know when someone was abusing us for our money. (Sigh) We did the only thing we could. Grabbed our things, some food, some money, and hightailed it out of there. About a month later we checked what was happening with our account. (He clenches his fists tightly.) Our foster family had killed two other kids and said it was us. Social services believed them, and legally gave those bastards our entire account. (His hands begin to bleed.)There was nothing we could do about it."

Yuffie: Tears in her eyes. "…No…" She whispered.

Zero: "Yeah. Like I said, there was nothing we could do. My sister, Amara, and I spent the next 3 years on the streets. When we ran out of food and money, we began to steal, but only from those who looked like they could afford to lose some cash. We still kept our swords and shuriken our parents had given us. We rarely had to use them, we kept them hidden under our cloths, just in case. But one day, Amara didn't come back to the warehouse we called home. Two days passed and still no sign of her. I began searching for her. On day 3, I found her in an ally way. Bloody cuts and bruises covered her naked body. Her sword was shoved through her chest right into the wall… (He lowers his head. Tears fall from his face.) She was dead. I left her body at the police station. I kept her sword, and after cleaning it, went to track down who killed her. After a month of searching, I finally found them. They were bragging about how they raped and tortured her before they killed her. It took all my will power to show them mercy. I made their deaths quick, but painful."

Yuffie: Crying. "Oh god, please no…"

Zero: "It was around that time that I changed my name to Zero. I thought it would be fitting because I didn't have anything left to live for. Now here's the most interesting part. Not an hour after I killed those bastards, the heartless arrived and started attacking everything and everyone in sight. I took it upon myself to protect the city I lived in. I actually did a good job at it. For 6 months I battled the heartless and kept them from getting a single heart from anyone in the city. It was then that that witch Maleficent came came to Earth personally, to see who was single handedly holding her entire army off from taking a small city. I only saw her for 5 seconds before I blacked out."

Yuffie: "…What happened next."

Zero: "Maleficent took me from Earth. She cast obedient spells upon me and made me her apprentice. I trained in the arts of magic, swordsmanship, and ninjitsue. She even gave me the power to control small heartless. I didn't have much time to practice that ability. It was that night that I was given my first assignment. Conquer some world. I would have done it to, except that that night, Amara visited me in my dreams. We held a strong bond. You can call me crazy, but it really was her. I know because she freed me from Maleficent's control, and gave me this." He holds out his hand, after a few seconds of sparking, a Keyblade appears.

Yuffie: "A Keyblade!"

Zero: "Yeah, a Keyblade. She said it was always meant for me. It works differently than Sora's Keyblade. Mine works on the 2 barriers around each world. The one that keeps good from entering, and the one that keeps evil from entering. It's power is currently useless considering the heartless can break those was down easily. Back to my story, I then woke up and knew what I had to do. I grabbed Ansem report I copied along with this wrist watch computer and the heartless index. I escaped in my own gummi ship. Maleficent has been after me ever since. She can track me from the darkness she inserted inside me. The rest is history."

Yuffie: Crying. "I'm so sorry. I didn't know. I shouldn't have brought up those painful memories."

Zero: Lifts her chin to face him. He gently wipes a tear from her face and looks her in the eyes. "It's ok. I needed to get this off my chest anyways. Thank you, Yuffie." Unknown to them, Leon, who was right underneath them, slowly walked toward the first district door and left them alone, with more to think about now more than ever.

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How was that. Sappy, I know, but come on. Anyways, please review. Thanks.