21

Writer's Note: I figured I'd offer some insight for those who don't know anything about Final Mix, this is the 11th Ansem Report that I post here, FYI.

Vexen

"So, what do you think of the new duds?" Zexion asked me, modeling off the new uniform he and Number 2 had picked. It was black, all black, with two small clear crystals as hood ties, the cloak extended down to about the knee or ankle, depending on the wearer, and was lined by a chain at the top where it attached at the neck. Boots and gloves, the pants were nothing special, but they both said they were incredibly comfortable, and good for combat, which might be one of our passtimes now with the Heartless. There was also an unusually large zipper going up the front, Number 6 and Number 2 said it was fashionable, and convenient for our needs. I didn't bother to try and understand.

"It should suffice," I answered, and went back to my notes. I had performed small "raids" on my old home, there was a great library in the bastion, with many books on darkness and light. Also I grabbed some of myths in my trips there. Not once have I run into Heartless or Ansem, or anyone for that matter, so I hoped no one would be missing them.

"The tailor who made them said we can all be outfitted by the end of the week," Zexion went on, though I really wasn't interested, "Well, except DiZ of course, he wants to keep his red cloak and mask. Can't really figure him out though." He leaned on the desk and questioned me further, "Do you understand him at all?"

"Not really," I said, keeping my eyes on my books and papers, "And I don't think I ever will."

"Well, didn't you use to work with Ansem?" Zexion asked me.

I still didn't bother to look at him, hoping he'd leave me alone, it wasn't that he was annoying, it was just that he was annoying at this moment, "It is important to remember that DiZ is his own person, he is completely different than the Ansem I worked with." Zexion seemed unsatisfied with this answer but he didn't push it any further. Despite this, he didn't leave. "Aren't you supposed to be finding out where the Heartless will strike next?"

He shrugged his shoulders, "Only DiZ can locate Ansem on a whim, and he says he's still in Hollow Bastion. The Heartless don't seem to be headed in a pattern, so we can't anticipate them that way. As far as we can tell, there aren't any attacks at the moment, everything seems pretty quiet out there."

"It is the calm before the storm," I told him, a little more cryptic than I usually am, "Ansem is gathering as many Heartless as he can before assaulting the next world. There are relatively few Heartless compared to the number of sentient beings in the universe, the rush was his surprise attack, now he appears to have over-extended his forces. My guess is they are trying to regroup."

Zexion rolled his eyes at me, "And you know this...how?"

I looked back to my notes again, "Ansem is a headstrong man, he operates before considering consequences, but he is not impetuous, he won't make a move unless he is certain he can make it."

"Fair enough," Zexion said, standing up straight, "Do you know anything about these princesses? DiZ said his memory isn't that good to remember it, but he knows Ansem will be targeting them. And as there's only seven, he said you might have an idea how to track them down."

"The Princesses of Heart were a theory, I never considered the fact that they existed," I answered him. "I wouldn't know a scientific means of locating them. All I know is that their Light to Darkness ratio is infinitely higher than any other living being." Suddenly, I was hit with an idea. "which means you will be the one to find them," I said looking up at the youth.

"Me?" he asked, and looking a little bewildered, "and how do I do that?"

"Your nose," I told him rather matter-of-factly. "Your heart and soul are so intertwined, your darkness seeps into the senses. Once you master the ability to smell out darkness, and compare smells to others and identify people merely by their scent, you would be able to sniff out the princesses, as it were. If you can identify the princesses before Ansem locates them, we could manage a tighter defense around them."

"And how will I be able to do that?" Zexion said, it sounded like he was getting annoyed, but I wasn't a mind-reader, I couldn't answer all his questions at once.

"Practice," I told him, "and that's about all I can say. We're all relatively new to this idea of using darkness, in fact, you are the most experienced with it in terms of actual field practice."

Zexion shrugged, and took a glance at the corner of my desk. He picked up some hand-written notes sitting there. I wasn't thinking and figured let him satisfy his curiousity, until I remembered what they were, "Be careful with those! They're priceless artifiacts."

"What are they?" he asked looking at me, yet refusing to relinquish control of the notes.

"That is Ansem's report on the Heartless. I am in the process of copying them, hopefully to memorize the important parts, and DiZ said I should scatter them to the worlds."

"What, we don't want Ansem to find them? He wrote them didn't he?"

"That was the point of making notes," I answered, "in case he were to forget something. But these had collected dust when I got there, I assume they haven't been seen yet. If we're lucky Ansem and Maleficient will believe they were lost when the Heartless overran the Bastion."

Zexion nodded with mild understanding, and proceeded to read aloud from the paper in his hand, fate plays odd tricks on us, doesn't it? " 'In opening the door that stores a world's hearts, the wall around that world is broken down. We see this as a shooting star. Through this, I have been able to understand the reason why the material known as Gummi Blocks has the ability to allow travel to other worlds.

"The cause of a world's wall collapsing is the appearance of the Heartless, but finding a world's door takes time. And robbing a world of its heart is a similar case.

"If the door has been closed by the key known as the Keyblade, you probably cannot reach that world's heart again. Before the one with the Keyblade appears in this world, I must take measures to do something.

"Supposing that there is a close relationship between the Princesses and the Keyblade, it seems likely that they will resonate with each other...'" He and I looked at each other, "does that mean we can find the Key with the Princesses?"

"I'm not sure," I answered warily, "Is there anything else on that paper?"

Zexion continued to read from the report, "I have chosen one special girl. I do not know if she possesses a power like that of the Princesses. But, there is a chance, and this is an experiment. She may lead me to the place where the one holding the key is...

"I shall send her off to the ocean of other worlds.' Wait a second," Zexion said, tapping the paper like it didn't make any sense, though he had gotten its meaning easy enough. "An artificial Princess of Heart?"

"It would appear so," I said, and extended my hand to Zexion in a motion for him to give me the paper, which he did. I looked over the notes again, "I hadn't gotten to this one. So Ansem sent a fake princess to find the Keyblade Master." I shook the hand holding the papers at Zexion in an 'I told you so' manner, "See? You have to harness that sense of smell you have, not only can it lead us to the princesses but the Master as well."

"I'll have to get on it," Zexion stammered, still a bit bewildered about the situation. Though it must have been uncomfortable, knowing the fate of the known worlds was in your hands. I was actually glad it was him and not me, I don't like responsibility like that.

"So, until Zexion has mastered his powers, we can do little in terms of searching, right?" DiZ asked. We were all assembled, Numbers 1-6, and I was presenting the finding to the rest.

"Yes," I answered, "It was in Ansem's report. He created a princess, and sent her to find the Keyblade Master, meaning only Zexion can find them now. We have no other leads. Until further notice, Zexion is the key to our plan."

"Alright," DiZ said, "Then until then we..." but he stopped short. He shuddered, and so did Zexion, at the same time, then I felt it, so did Numbers 2 and 3, but Lexaeus didn't.

"What was that?" Zexion asked, looking around. Lexaeus simply looked confused.

"What happened?" Lexaeus asked us, clearly wanting to be in on the loop.

"A...a great darkness," DiZ answered. "I think that was a world falling to the Heartless."

"Wait, shouldn't we have known about a world coming under attack?" Lexaeus asked, "I thought you said it was a long process from invading to destroying a world."

"Ansem was apparently lucky," Zexion said. "Here we are looking for the Keyblade Master, and Ansem gets to move on in his agenda."

"It's also likely Ansem remembers where this girl was placed," I added, "so he will be able to avoid that world until the very end. We won't be able to locate it by following him."

"Won't it be difficult for Zex to go from world to world sniffing everyone individually?" Lexaeus asked, "I mean the range has to be limited to some distance, so he has to walk that distance looking for the princesses, right?"

But no one answered. We knew this was hopeless. Try as we might, it was looking utterly hopeless to speed up destiny.