AN: I will add scenes to the games, or move them from one game to the other, to make it more comprehendible. Also the friend from the future will explain certain key scenes in the games that were not fully or at all explained in the original games, like a certain scene in Radiant Garden, which I believe never got explained.
It took Soras Mother several minutes to return to the room again. It was clear from her face that she had cried. She was accompanied by Soras Father which surprised most of the room. After a quick exchange of glances between the two of them Sora mother explained:"I asked for my husband to be brought here as well. Sora, could you come with us please, we need to talk!" Sora was quite confused by this especially by the sudden appearance of his father. He followed the two of them into a separate room. Both his parents were exchanging nervous glances unsure how to begin. After a few moments, Soras Mother sighed before stretching out her hand in an all too familiar motion. A keyblade appeared in her hand. It was double-edged and green, the hilt crowned by a pair of wings.
Soras was speechles for a few moments, before stammering:"You are a keyblade wielder as well?" His mother, Hikari, nodded and explained:"I'm a former master. It's rather complicated so I need you to not ask question until I've told the entire story. I was born on a world known as Radiant Garden and lived there for almost twenty years. My uncle was a keyblade wielder as well and he performed the inheritance ceremony on me at my 19th birthday. I left my home a few month later and began training under Master Eraqus. What a coincidence, I know. During this time I befriended another student and yeah we became a couple shortly before the end of our training. After we became masters, we both returned to Radiant Garden. For almost a year, everything seemed to go smoothly until strange things happened within the keyblade order. Masters, students all around different worlds were attacked and killed. There was no clue to who was behind the attacks and panic began to rise within the order. Finally a meeting between all the wielders was called in the Land of Departure. Me and my fiancé at the time would have both went, but I was ill and so he went alone. I later learned that he didn't went immediately to the Land of Departure, but visited his home world Destiny Island first. I gave him a wayfinder before he departed. It was only after he left that I realised I had become pregnant. It couldn't have happened at a worse time with all the attacks and everything. Regardless I didn't want to aboard and I already made plans for an escape. However all this was interrupted, when my wayfinder broke!" Ven let out a shocked gasp and explained:"It means that the connected person is dead. They are protected by very powerful charms so breaking one is otherwise almost impossible!" Hikari continued with her story:"I knew that I had to disappear. I needed a world where no one would think of searching. So I returned to the Land of Departure. I told Eraqus about my problems and he agreed to help me hide. Destiny Island is probably one of the least known worlds, so it was perfect. Eraqus helped me stage an accident making it look like I was killed. I left the land of departure for Destiny Island vowing never to pick up my keyblade again!"
At this point Mat continued:"Your Mothers Fiancé at the time was my twin Brother. He visited me a few days prior to his death. It was the first time in years I had seen him. He arrived in the middle of the night. He knew or at least suspected the pregnancy. He asked me to take care of your mother in the case that she would come here. I'm pretty sure that he knew he was going to die soon. A week later, your mother appeared in front of my door. Only the major new about this. When the baby was born a few months later, we named him Ventus on your mothers insistence. Yes we are talking about the same boy!" That left Ventus und Sora stunned. Ventus was the first one to say something:"What? I mean, you don't mean..." Hikari didn't need to hear his response:"When I first saw you on the screen I thought I recognized you but wasn't sure admittedly. I send the letter because I wanted to be absolutely sure. The answer confirmed my suspicion. I couldn't believe it, especially after I saw you with a key blade and together with Master Xehanort!"
Something in the way Hikari said Xehanorts name made Sora suspicious. Hikari continued:"It was suspected that Xehanort was one of the attackers. Now seeing you and him together got me quite worried and suspicious, especially, with the way you disappeared. By any chance did you ever hear of Dimensional cracks?" Ven answered:"Rifts between the different worlds, not opened by any form of controlled energy but spontaneous, created when the balance falls out of order!" Sora translated his answer and Hikari continued:"Destiny Island isn't quite like other worlds. It's how do I put it wilder! Cracks have been known to open here. When you were ten years old, you were swallowed up by one, right under our nose. We couldn't do anything to help you and frankly assumed you were dead, since you would most likely have ended up in the void between the worlds. Xehanort must have found and rescued you, why he would do that is beyond me. I hope these games shed a bit of light on it! Let's return to the others!"
Ventus was still stunned and offered no protests, so the three returned to the main room. After they said down, Sora besides Riku and Kairi and his mother and father together, the game continued. A quick montage was shown, taking place after the events on Destiny Island previously seen. Ventus arrival at the land of departure, the first meeting with Aqua and Terra. Afterwards Master Eraqus in his study. He appeared to be speaking to no one:"I'm sure, I recognize his keyblade. He is her son, but how does Xehanort fits in? This could be another attempt. I can't afford for his plan to come to fruition, if I'm right. Ventus can't learn the truth!"
Another scene in the study, Eraqus, Aqua and Terra. Eraqus explained:"A few years ago, I had a dispute with Master Xehanort, considering certain teachings and interpretation of our orders history. I still have a certain amount of hesitation to trust him fully. He assured me, that he will come here again, to inspect Ventus training, so I want both of you to keep an eye on him. I want to believe he is genuine but I can't afford to be wrong!" Both Aqua and Terra nodded.
Ventus quietly mused inside Soras Head:"He had doubts so far back huh,? I can understand his wish to believe in Xehanorts change but could all of this have been prevented so easily?" Sora was confused but didn't ask, instead opting to continue watching the game play out.
The game continued with showing the training of Terra Aqua and Ventus, Xehanort occasionally dropping in on the training, being observed by Aqua and Terra. Four Years passed by, the three becoming close friends. Until the night before Aquas and Terras Mastery exam. The three friends were shown sitting on the hill starring into the sky above Aqua giving her friends their respective wayfinders.
Ventus chuckled lightly inside Soras head: „That was so Aqua! I think I heard Terra once joke that she was the mother of our group. Seriously I want to know what happened to her. Sora, could you please ask our friend from the future?" Sora complied, grabbing a piece of paper from the table and writing a short massage on it, before it disappeared.
The scene on the hill ended with Terra and Ventus engaging in a practice match. The scene shifted forward to the mastery exam. Eraqus and Xehanort were both seated on a throne, Aqua and Terra standing before them. Ventus was in the background watching the scene unfold. Eraqus explained the nature pf the test, how it wasn't a competition and that both could fail and both could win. None of them noticed a sly smile appearing on master Xehanorts face. Eraqus summoned several balls of light as enemies to test both of their skills. They engaged them, only for the screen to show Xehanort making a small movement with his hand enchanting the balls with darkness making them more aggressive and dangerous.
Kari was stunned: „Why did no one notice this? If they suspected Xehanort to be up to something, shouldn't they have noticed him doing something like that?" Ventus quietly mused:"He was pretty good at hiding it, you only saw it because the game showed the right angle. Still could the others have seen it?"
Aqua ordered Ventus to leave to protect him, but Ventus stayed instead helping his friends. With Ventus help the three apprentices managed to fight off the dark spheres. The test progressed, showing Aqua and Terra locked in a Spar, with Aqua using her superior speed to match Terras raw strength. She was quite successful and a short shot of Terras face showed his frustration at being outmatched. His left hand curled into a fist, before simultaneously erupting in a brief burst of darkness. The screen split into three part showing Xehanort smirking at the development, a brief flash of panic from Terra while attempting to dispel the darkness and Eraqus face adopting a mixture of sadness and anger.
Ventus sighed in Soras head:"And like that, Terra lost any chance at being named a Master. You can say what you want about Xehanort, but he is quite intelligent! If only he had never fallen into darkness!" Hikari sighed audibly, confusing the inhabitants of the room. She explained:"Eraqus is a preacher of the superiority of the light. I remember when the Order was bigger, a couple of keyblade masters argued that we shouldn't repress the darkness as much anymore, instead attempting to find a safe way to utilize it in tandem with the power of light. During a big gathering one of said masters made a big speech about it attempting to raise support. Eraqus spoke after him, almost raging, dismissing even the slightest notion of this kind and told everyone that the keyblade wielders had to be absolute light.
Back to the scene, the moment Terra lost control of the darkness inside of him and yes, for the record, everyone bears at least a small amount of darkness inside of them, minus a group of individuals known as the princess of heart, Eraqus didn't consider him qualified as a master anymore." This left the rest of the room in silence, opting to continue to watch.
Eraqus called the exam finished, Terra and Aqua taking their place in front of the throne. Eraqus declared Aqua worthy of the Master title, while Terra had failed, due to him losing control of his inner darkness. With that both Ventus and Terra were dismissed, while Aqua stayed behind. A brief flash of pain and sadness on Terra face was shown, obviously upset about failing the test. Xehanort excused himself as well, quickly leaving the room. Next, he was shown, speaking to a masked figure in a black bodysuit: „The seed has been planted. If everything goes according to the plan, we will succeed within a month. You know what you must do, Vanitas. If Ventus isn't ready we will not be able to forge the X-blade and our efforts will be wasted!"
A look of pure shock flashed over Hikaris face: „That is his plan? Has he completely gone mad?" The other occupants of the room exchanged confused glances with each other. Hikari quickly said:"I'll explain once we take a break, but lets just say, this explains quite a bit!" Everyone was curios but continued to watch.
The scene shifted to the front of the castle. Terra was shown sitting on the steps clearly frustrated about failing the test and pondering the brief burst of darkness, that happened during the test. Xehanort approached him, talking about the darkness, how it couldn't be destroyed but only channelled. How the darkness itself wasn't bad and that despite Terra's inability to control his darkness he was fit to be a master, despite Eraqus faliling to recognise this. Terra seemed to be torn at this declaration, but their talk was interrupted, when the bells atop the castle rang, signalling wielders to assemble. Terra rushed inside failing to notice the spreading smirk on Xehanorts face. The man quickly summoned a portal made from pure Darkness entering it and leaving the Land of Departure.
Kairi's father was the first to speak: „What was the point behind this. Was he trying to destabilize Terra?" Hikari was clearly deep in thought as she answered: „There is one reason I can think of. Under normal circumstances I would consider it ludicrous but with Xehanorts behaviour it would make sense. Still the bit with the X-Blade, how does Ventus fin in it? Was that the reason he took him up as an apprentice?"
The scene once again shifted, showing Ventus lying on his bed and playing with a wooden keyblade. This was interrupted by the masked figure, who appeared standing in the doorway, watching Ventus. He spoke in a dark Voice:"Ah how pitiful, playing with that silly toy. Are you really intending to spend the rest of your days here? Watching your friends leave and never realizing you are losing them, until it is to late? Especially Terra?" Ventus jumped up from his bed quickly summoning his keyblade. He asked:"Who are you? What do you mean, I will lose my friends?" The Figure was darkly chuckling, unsettling Ventus as he spoke: „So naïve. You don't know the truth and you are content following the old fool's orders staying here, like an obedient dog. If I was you, I would leave this stupid world behind and seek the truth, but luckily, I'm not you. Still if you wish to keep your friends safe, you should leave this world behind. Otherwise, the next time you see your friend Terra, he might not be the same anymore and Aqua could even be lost, if you understand what I mean!" Before Ventus could retort the bells rung. Ventus dismissed his keyblade and ran out of the door. Vanitas waited a minute, before summoning a dark portal and disappearing as well.
Ventus was grinding his teeth:" If only I had never fallen for his taunts, things might have played out different. It seems so obvious now, but back then I had no idea!" Hikari was shacking her head, quickly realizing what Vanitas had meant, confirming her worst suspicions. She quietly said: „Ingenious, complex and at the same time so simple and everything is going exactly according to his plans. Still the pure idea is ridiculous. That he would even consider something like that! Still, how does he plan to form the X-Blade?"
The scene shifted to the throne room Terra and Aqua assembling before Master Eraqus. He informed them, that he had spoken to an old friend of his, a former Keyblade Master, Yen Sid, who told him about a new threat, creatures feeding of negativity, called the unverse, that were threatening the worlds. He would send the two of them out, to eliminate the Unversed. He also spoke to Terra, how this would be another chance to earn the Mark of Mastery for him if they succeeded in this mission. Terra agreed and rushed out of the throne room. Aqua attempted to follow him, but Eraqus asked her beforehand to observe Terra on this quest and bring him back if he was to lose control of his darkness. Aqua reluctantly agreed to this before following Terra.
The scene shifted once again, showing the front of the castle. Terra was about to summon his keyblade glider but was interrupted by Ventus, who attempted to warn him about Vanitas. Terra however didn't really listen to him and summoned his keyblade glider and armour and left the world. Ventus only briefly hesitated before following his example. Aqua and Eraqus attempted to stop him but were too late. Eraqus ordered Aqua to bring Ventus back quickly, which she agreed to before leaving the Land of Departure as well.
Ventus was shacking his head: „And that was the beginning of the end. If only we could have known the truth in advance!" His quietly musing was interrupted by Hikari, which said: „This seems to be a good point, to explain a bit of ground work which you will all need to understand what will be happening!" Everyone's eyes turned to her listening to her as she began her explanation.
AN: Hikari doesn't know everything knows about the X-Blade and at least strongly suspects at least some of Xehanorts plans.
AN 2: I'll later on shed some more light on the past of Hikari, I just wanted lay some ground work now.