Chapter XXII; Certain Dark Things
Terra looked around him in interest. It was a world like no other he had seen. Behind him, a forest that almost looked golden stretched on for miles upon miles. Before him was a city all surrounding a huge castle. The buildings all were warm yellow or shadowed greys or some combination of the two. The castle towers were adorned with stained glass windows. The symbol in one looked like a black and red version of the one X had on the back of his hand.
"This place looks different. Almost like Radiant Gardens." Terra said. He looked down at the young Heartless with him. It was a surprise to see X frowning as he looked over the city.
"Worlds like that are more closely based off the old world, before the keyblade war," X explained calmly. His eyes seemed to wander the city before them before turning back to the forest behind them. His frown seemed to deepen looking into the woods.
"How do you know that?" Terra asked curiously. X was silent for a moment considering his answer. He eventually sighed and looked back toward the city. It was a city he was very familiar with. It had been his home until he had been chased out.
"This where me and Y come from," X said, he heard Terra gasp in surprise but he ignored it. "There was a lot of stories about the ancient war." He continued explaining. That was basic knowledge in the world. It was studied in schools and many other areas. Even those who didn't use keyblades knew the stories.
"Where you come from?" Terra asked in shock. He was looking around as much of the city as he could see. This was a world he had heard of from Y. One had wanted to see. "So does that mean they'd recognize you?" Terra asked.
"Yeah, if we go into town it's more than likely," X answered casually, his hands in his pockets. X remembered how many people in the town seemed to know him. He hated all the attention. But everyone was fascinated by him. They had gone on about how he was a genius, how strange it was he hadn't been chosen as a keyblade wielder. Especially since he had been part of a succession ceremony. But X had never held a keyblade aside from that. And he never intended to.
"Then I guess we'll stay out of town," Terra said looking back to X. X was surprised Terra realized it would be bad for him to be seen. There was the fact that he was technically supposed to be dead. And there was also the fact he was a Heartless. Residence of this world, the City of Fate, had a particular hatred for Heartless.
"No, you go check out the town. I'll stay out here." X insisted. There could be useful information in the city. Who knew what these people had seen recently. And maybe they could teach Terra a thing or two that he needed to know.
"Alright." Terra agreed. He set off into the town, looking around as he went. He was surprised there were no Unversed. But it also seemed like there were no people. The city almost seemed to be empty.
In what appeared to be the town square Terra stopped in shock. Aqua was looking around the city in wonder. She was clearly captivated by it. The yellow and grey contrasted greatly, like night and day. It made the city seem to be a place of twilight. But Terra suspected it wasn't what it seemed.
"Aqua," Terra said as he crossed the square to his blue-haired friend. He did his best not to think of their last meeting. They hadn't parted on the best of terms. Aqua turned to face Terra. She didn't show any signs of acting on their last meeting. She only looked concerned. She glanced around quickly before looking back at Terra.
"Terra. Where's X?" She asked. She glanced around nervously once again. Terra realized she must have been looking for X. He couldn't imagine why she seemed nervous. X and Aqua had hardly been near each other. Unless maybe she felt the darkness X held as well.
"He's busy with something. Something he wanted to check out." Terra explained calmly. Aqua nodded slowly, almost unsure.
"Oh, I see." She said softly. Terra could guess she didn't believe that. When this was all over Terra was going to have to prove to his friends X could be trusted. Maybe find a way to return his heart. Anything to help his friend.
Terra was surprised when he realized that was what he thought of X as. X had been honest with him from the start. Well, as honest as he could be, he was still learning after all. A few slip-ups were to be expected, right? And he never doubted what Terra said. And he definitely wasn't worried about the darkness Terra was struggling with. He wanted to help Terra overcome it, or that's what Terra told himself.
"More world travelers." A boys voice said catching the attention of both keyblade masters. They turned to see two boys. One had black hair and vivid green eyes. He held a silver keyblade in one of his hands much to the surprise of Terra and Aqua. Next to him was a blonde boy with blue eyes.
"Who are you?" Aqua asked curiously. She was mostly focused on the boy holding the keyblade. The other one seemed too relaxed to be a problem.
"I'm Kiran, this is Myde. Who are you two?" The boy introduced, motioning to the blonde as he did. He looked at Terra and Aqua with interest. Terra could only assume from the way he had said world travelers they weren't the first to arrive. He had no idea who else could have come this way. Maybe the masked boy.
"I'm Aqua, and this is Terra," Aqua answered calmly. She motioned to Terra as she said his name and Terra nodded in acknowledgment. Kiran looked at Terra with interest.
"Terra," Kiran repeated. He was trying to remember something. Terra couldn't guess what it was. He was surprised when Kiran raised his keyblade and pointed it at Terra. Terra gasped and stepped back, preparing to summon his keyblade. Aqua stepped forward, ready to defend him. "Where's X?" Kiran asked simply.
"What?" Terra asked in confusion. He didn't think anyone would know he was with X. No one should have been able to know that.
"Y said it. You have X." Kiran said simply. Aqua seemed to stand down at the mention of their younger friend. Their younger friend who should have gone home. "He's not human, and he could kill you." Kiran continued.
"Y was here?" Aqua asked. Kiran nodded.
"Just a bit ago. With some other boy." Myde said. Kiran glared at him but the blonde boy only shrugged. Aqua nodded in understanding. She looked at the ground in thought before turning back to face Terra. She looked at him with a serious gaze.
"Terra, where is X?" Aqua asked. Terra frowned. Aqua had just heard that Ven and Y were still wandering around on their own, but all she could worry about was the word of two boys she had never met about another boy she hardly knew. It didn't seem right. Shouldn't she have been jumping to go find them? That's what the master had asked her to do. Even more, how did they find out about what X was? Had Y known the entire time?
"I get he's not human. He's a Heartless, so what? He's been trying his hardest to keep from becoming evil." Terra argued. He frowned thinking of the nagging doubt that always appeared when he spoke to the Heartless. He had always brushed it off as natural, X wasn't human, it would be harder to trust him. Terra had to keep his faith in X, X trusted him after all. Kiran laughed a little and shook his head. Even Myde seemed to be a little shaken up by the thought.
"X was a master at tricking others. Even when he had a heart. Without one, I can't imagine what he's like." Kiran said with a sad smile. Terra had no idea what that was supposed to mean. X seemed like an honest guy when he was trying. Terra suspected the small lies were just slip-ups, he didn't mean them.
"He's not evil. He's scared. He doesn't want to hurt others." Terra argued, thinking of X's reaction when Terra scolded him as he pushed down his doubt once again. X always cowered away. He was clearly scared of what he was capable of.
"I told you, he's a master of deception. Nothing against you. But you've been tricked." Kiran said. Terra glared at the black haired boy. He had never met this boy, and he wasn't going to believe him over X. X was his friend, and he would trust him. Just like his friends used to trust him.
"No, I haven't," Terra said before turning and walking out of the square. Aqua was surprised that Kiran and Myde only watched. Myde glanced at Kiran nervously as if waiting for an order.
"You're not going to follow him?" Aqua asked. Kiran laughed nervously, lowering his keyblade. He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly looking at Aqua.
"Honestly, I'm terrified of X. Me and Myde wouldn't stand a chance against him. If he wanted us dead, we'd be dead. We'd need four others, at least, if we meant to take him on." Kiran explained. Aqua blinked in surprise. She had seen X fight, and while he was clearly talented, crossing a room in less than a second to protect his sister, she didn't think him that strong.
"Is he really that dangerous?" Aqua asked. Myde nodded quickly before Kiran could answer.
"Yeah, definitely." He said quickly. A reached up and ran through his hair nervously making the hair on top of his head stuck up. "I was rooting for him to be different too," Myde added sadly. Aqua frowned at his words. They didn't make much sense. Different than what?
"What do you mean?" Aqua asked curiously. Myde shrugged sheepishly. Kiran looked a little surprised that Aqua didn't understand their meaning. He didn't stop Myde from continuing talking.
"Happens all the time, twins just always cause trouble," Myde explained. Kiran nodded sadly in agreement.
"We really hoped X and Y would be different. But they weren't." He said. Aqua felt her brow crease. What could two people being twins have to do with causing trouble? Y had liked to play jokes, but never did she take things too far. But she didn't know anything about X.
"I'm still not sure what you mean," Aqua said. To Aqua's surprise, it was neither of the boys who replied.
"On that fated a land a great war shall transpire. Darkness shall prevail and the light expire." A female voice said. Aqua turned to see a girl with long black hair tied in a low ponytail. She had pale blue eyes and a lilac keyblade at her side.
"Excuse me?" Aqua asked in confusion. The dark haired girl smiled at Aqua sadly.
"It means, you have to stop X." She said simply. "Or he'll kill his sister."
*3*
X was sitting up in a tree watching the forest floor. He stretched out and yawned in boredom. He had been waiting for Terra for some time at this point. He wasn't even sure how long, but he knew he was bored. He had found what he was looking for fairly quickly and now he just needed Terra so he could show the master his findings.
X was surprised to see Terra on the ground beneath him. He had expected Terra to be much longer in the city. People there loved to talk about things.
"You're back sooner than expected," X commented from his place in the tree. Terra turned quickly and looked up at the Heartless. X was surprised to see the amount of pity his blue eyes contained when they looked at him.
"They knew I was with you," Terra explained. X frowned. That was weird. How did they even know he was alive? They should have assumed him dead after the run-in with a Neoshadow.
"What did they do?" X asked. Knowing the people in the city, probably something stupid. They tended to overreact.
"Nothing. Just asked me to give you up." Terra replied. X looked at him in surprise. That was too easy. They hadn't tried tricking Terra into revealing his location. X had thought they were smarter than that. At least Hoshiko was.
"Were you followed?" X asked. Terra shook his head again. That was really weird. Hoshiko must not have been the one he had met then. Maybe her useless brother. That idiot could probably manage to mess up something as simple as this.
"No. It was only two of them." Terra explained. X nodded looking farther up the tree he was still in. He'd have to jump down soon, but he really didn't want to.
"Let me guess, Kiran?" X said. He leaned a little to the side and allowed himself to fall from the tree. He landed on his feet not far from Terra. Terra smirked a little and nodded.
"Yeah. He was one of them." He confirmed. X couldn't help but roll his eyes. Naturally. He guessed it was fortunate it was one of the stupid ones. Maybe two. He had no idea who the other could have been.
"He's a coward. Tried to kill me, then said I attacked first when I beat him." X said, venom seeping into his voice. It had taken him a while to remember what had led to the loss of his heart. But when he had remembered he was angry. Kiran had attacked him. Accused him of being the embodiment of darkness. X had, of course, defended himself. He had always outclassed Kiran, so he might have hurt him more than he had meant to. But when Hoshiko had arrived Kiran blamed X. Claimed X had finally lost it and had tried to kill him. And somehow, Hoshiko believed him.
X had never seen such an obvious set up before that day. And he was yet to see a more obvious one afterward.
"Well, let's get out of here," Terra said.
"Wait, there's something I want to show you first," X said. Terra tilted his head to the side in confusion. X didn't wait for his reply before trekking off into the forest. Terra was left with no choice but to follow him.
X took Terra to a building that was well concealed in the forest. It had been abandoned for years giving the forest plenty of time to reclaim the lab. The face was overgrown with ivy hiding most of the warm yellow bricks. There was a glass observatory garden type room on one side. The glass had broken out and plants were growing out of it. X heard Terra's breath catch. X couldn't blame him. X had been impressed the first time he and Y had found this place.
"What is this place?" Terra asked in amazement. X smirked and glanced at the brown-haired keyblade wielder. He looked like a child in a toy store or perhaps looking at their idol. Either way, it was an amusing look.
"It's an old lab that belonged to a great keyblade master," X explained looking back to the lab. He approached the front door that was broken long ago by a younger X looking for a good place to hide when he couldn't stand people anymore.
"Really?" Terra asked following X toward the building.
"Yeah, I thought you'd like to see it," X said. He pushed open the door, showcasing a hallway. X had learned the layout of the building fairly well over his years exploring. This was a side entrance that eventually fed directly into the library.
"If there are keyblade masters in this world, why did Y have to join us?" Terra asked suddenly. He had stopped just outside the door and was looking down the hall. X frowned following his gaze. He sighed before starting down the hallway.
"I made her," X explained calmly. Terra followed him into the building looking around the hall as they walked.
"What? Why?" Terra asked. X smirked to himself. He could make a smart Alec remark there, but he decided it was probably better not to. He would instead humor the older boy.
"It was her chance to see the outside worlds she always talked about. It gave her the freedom I know she wanted, the adventure." X explained. That wasn't the full story of it. He had also known they'd become targets before long. And since Y had just suddenly gotten a keyblade with no explanation, none of the masters wanted to take her. They thought she was cursed.
"So you made her leave," Terra said softly. X wasn't sure what that was all about. Whether it was amazement or pity or something else entirely. He didn't care to find out.
"She wouldn't leave me. Not for anything. So I had to convince her." X explained calmly.
"Were you ok with her leaving?" Terra asked. X shrugged. He tried to think of what his feelings had been at the time. He didn't think he was glad to be rid of his sister. They had been pretty young at the time. But he didn't think he was sad either. He just thought he was, relieved. She would be safe.
"Not really, but we couldn't stay together. We'd split up eventually. I wanted her to be happy when we did. I'm glad she is happy with you guys." X decided. Terra smiled at him and nodded. Before he could ask any more questions the hallway opened up into the library.
Terra fell silent and looked around in amazement. X doubted he had ever seen a library this size. But he had never been in the library at the Land of Departure so he had no clue. Maybe it was similar in size.
Terra and X split up taking in as much of the library as they could. X idly took books off the shelves and skimmed over them. He had read a lot of them before when he was trying to escape. Especially when Y was gone. He had spent two years all alone. Those two years had been spent in this library trying to avoid trouble at all costs.
"Is this, Master Eraqus?" Terra asked from across the library. X looked up from the book in his hand and glanced at Terra. He was looking at a picture in his hand. X put his book back on the shelf before crossing the room.
"Let me see," X said. Terra turned the picture toward him. It was of three teenagers, one girl with two boys. The girl had white hair and deep blue eyes. She was wearing grey and red clothes. One of the boys looked like a younger Master Eraqus. He had his black hair tied back in a ponytail. His blue-grey eyes were filled with laughter. The last boy had silver hair and calculating yellow eyes. It took X a moment to realize that boy was Xehanort. "Looks like it. That actually looks like a younger Master Xehanort too." X said tapping the silver-haired boy.
"Who's the girl?" Terra asked. X shrugged and stepped back, leaning against the bookshelf.
"I don't know. I've never seen anyone like her." X said. Xehanort was one to keep people he could use close. But X never even heard of that woman. Which meant things hadn't ended well for her. Xehanort had cast her aside.
"Oh, this is a surprise." A young woman's voice said. X looked up to see a blonde woman looking at them. She had blue eyes almost like those of the woman in the picture. She was wearing a white coat and held several books in her hands. On the back of her left hand was a Heartless emblem that was orange outlined in red.
"Who are you?" X asked glaring at the woman. He didn't like the idea of someone else being on his home territory. The woman smiled at him kindly despite the glare. The smile didn't reach her eyes.
"I'm Zaya. Who are you boys?" She asked curiously. X wasn't going to answer. Not until he could really figure out who she was.
"I'm Terra, and this is X." Terra introduced them. X rolled his eyes. Terra was so naive sometimes. Almost as bad as Ventus. Zaya turned her focus from Terra to X. She watched him for a moment before speaking again.
"X, you're one of us," Zaya said with a smile. This one seemed more genuine than the last one. But X didn't like being referred to as one of anything.
"Excuse me?" X asked. Zaya chuckled a little.
"A Heartless. I can tell." She explained. X frowned and glanced at the emblem on the back of her hand. He had never seen or heard of another Heartless like himself. Her emblem was a different color, which seemed odd. But X's wasn't the normal color either.
"True enough." X agreed. "Why are you here?" He asked. She wasn't just here for talking. The presence of the books she was holding suggested she was up to something else.
"Me and a friend are picking some things up. Need them for a new project. Actually, do you mind if I call for her?" Zaya replied. X frowned. Heartless weren't really capable of friends. But it would be interesting to see who she was bothering to keep up the act with.
"No, go ahead," Terra said calmly. Zaya smiled before glancing over her shoulder.
"Tayressa! Come here for a minute!" She called. Not long after her call a woman with long white hair tipped in red slowly walked into the room. She had red eyes that would be considered unnerving by most. She wore a white coat identical to Zaya's.
"What Zaya?" The woman asked. Her voice was low and soothing. X would almost call it dark, but he wasn't sure he wanted to use that term.
"I wanted you to meet these boys. One is like us." Zaya answered with a smile. She motioned to Terra and X. The woman turned her attention to them lazily.
"You're the woman in this picture," Terra said, looking down at the picture in his hands. The woman, who X could only assume was Tayressa walked over to Terra and took the picture from him. After a moment of studying the picture, she smiled at it.
"You're right. My old friends and I, back when we were training." She said wistfully. Terra blinked in surprise.
"You trained with Master Eraqus?" Terra asked. X blinked in surprise as well.
"And the old coot?" He asked. Tayressa looked at X in amusement. He guessed she knew what the old coot meant. And it amused her to hear her friend called that.
"You boys know them?" She asked.
"Master Eraqus is my Master," Terra answered with a nod.
"And the old coot is mine," X added helpfully. Tayressa looked between the two for a moment studying them. She studied a Terra first before turning her gaze to X. X returned her gaze calmly. He realized when she turned to look at him her eyes were yellow. She had been looking at Terra's heart. She suddenly smiled at both of them, warmer than X thought was possible.
"Give them my regards the next time you see them. And apologies." She said turning away to leave the library.
"What do you want us to say?" Terra asked.
"Tell them Tessa is sorry. Let's go Zaya." Tayressa replied. She left the library leaving her blonde friend behind. Zaya turned to them with a warm smile.
"Good luck boys." She said calmly before walking out of the library herself.
"I never knew there was another apprentice," Terra said in awe. X shrugged walking back over to another bookshelf.
"I thought there might have been. Usually comes in threes. I just never heard of her." X said offhandedly. Terra nodded watching him in interest. He thought it was strange how much X knew about keyblades and their wielders but he himself wasn't one. "We should probably go now. Nothing left to do here." X said breaking Terra's train of thought. Terra could only nod. X was quite the riddle, wasn't he?