Isa felt as if he'd just woken up from a dream of some sort. No, not a dream, a nightmare. He could feel a coat on his arms and the sun beating down on him, and yet he still felt chilled. Somehow he was glad he couldn't remember it, even as he seemed to instinctively strain for it.
"Isa!"
He didn't really want to open his eyes, but he knew he'd have to eventually. Besides, that voice sounded familiar. The sunlight streamed down brightly and he had to lift an arm to shade his sight against it. When he did, his eyes widened.
"Lea?" He felt like it had been months—years even—since he'd seen his friend. The last time he remembered...the black creatures had infiltrated their world and were turning everyone into one and then he'd seen one grab Lea. Now he could only blink up at his friend. "Y-you're alright?"
The red-head closed his eyes and shook his head as he chuckled. It sounded more relieved than joyful.
"After everything, you ask me that?"
"But the shadows..."
Lea just blinked down at him for several seconds. "The last thing you remember is Radiant Garden's invasion?"
Isa frowned. "Should I remember anything else?" Actually, how had he gotten out of that if the shadows had turned everyone else into one of them?
The look Lea gave him then seemed almost...jealous? Surely not.
"Maybe that's for the better," Lea finally said and sat down by Isa. "In the mean time, I have some people to introduce to you."
The longer the conversation continued, the more confused Isa felt. "Wait, where are we? And how did we get here?"
Lea smiled at him. It wasn't a smile he'd ever seen on his best friend's face before. Kind of sardonic and a tad bit sadistic while still being somehow caring. It kind of scared Isa if he were honest with himself, not that he'd ever admit it aloud. It reminded him of someone else...someone who looked like Lea but had markings on his face...
But who was that? He couldn't quite remember and he put a hand up to his head, as if that would allow him to do so.
"Isa, buddy," Lea said, "I have a long story for ya."
xXx
Sora gathered his thoughts for a lengthy amount of time before he finally opened his mouth. "Long ago...like a seriously long time, guys. We're talking thousands of years, K?"
Ven rolled his eyes, a motion copied by Roxas. "We get it. Move on."
"Right," Sora said sheepishly and put a hand up to rub at the back of his head. They all—Sora, Roxas, Xion and Ven—sat in a circle inside of Sora's mind. It was familiar company and Ven found he was perfectly content to stay here for just a while longer, especially if they would get answers.
Fortunately, Sora seemed only too happy to comply.
"Well, at that time, there was only one world. The people who had come to exist on that world had grown into an advanced race in technology and science. Well...mostly. They got so smart regarding how the world around them worked that they thought everything would work that way. They tried to manipulate other people into doing what they wanted without any consequence. They didn't think about the future at all, except as to how it could make them more money or get them more power and knowledge. There was a war—a terrible war that shouldn't have ever happened—and it took place when people were just discovering the power of the spirit and the heart. They wanted to harness it—use it for whatever end would benefit them the best, no matter who it hurt."
Xion seemed to grasp this right away and just stared at Sora in horror.
Then Ven went through the words in his mind again and realized just what the X-blade meant. "Wait, they used people—used lives—for power?"
Sora looked sick as he nodded (something the rest of them seemed to feel as well if the bile churning in Ven's stomach was anything to go by). "That's when the first heartless were born.
"One of the people working on the project, a man named Nomura, didn't like what had happened and wanted to undo the damage, especially as it was spreading and the higher-ups didn't seem to care. Going against his superiors, he used what had been collected from the hearts to create Kingdom Hearts so that any hearts lost after that could find a safe harbor there. He also created the first and oldest Keyblade with the knowledge he'd learned.
"He was the first to really understand and care about what kind of damage this power could do, and so he took his own research and his Keyblade and ran away from those he'd been working for, seeking to fight against them instead. Just before he left, though, he found out that the company he'd been working for had discovered the heart of the world, and wanted to find it and use it as the ultimate power source. I think that's what drove him to finally leave.
"In his travels, he came to realize that others could manifest a Keyblade if given the chance, and so he gave his new power to everyone he could. Many turned on him as he tried to stop the company from reaching the heart of the world, but just as many stayed and fought by his side. Because of this, conflict escalated. The world was already in a state of war by that point, and the keyblades and the power of the heart didn't help. Actually it became a large motivation to keep the war going as people fought to possess the ultimate power. By the end of it all, Keyblades had become almost commonplace, which, sadly, didn't help matters.
"Some new factions popped up along the way, but didn't have the strength or determination to really compete for control of the world's heart. After they realized this, they banded together, determined that if they could not possess it, then no one would, and they began to make plans to destroy the light. When Nomura heard of their plans, he gathered all of those still loyal to his cause and combined their powers and his knowledge to make the ultimate Keyblade, one that would help them protect the light from those who would misuse or destroy it."
"You," Xion whispered.
Sora nodded.
"I was given the task of guarding Kingdom Hearts—all of the lost hearts—until they could return the world to normal. It was a task they had previously held themselves, but they'd decided that they would need everyone to stop the destruction of the world. If they needed extra power, then they would summon me, but otherwise I was left behind as they set off to save the world. They did call me, but even then they...didn't succeed. Those who wanted to destroy the heart of the world did so much damage, but instead of destroying the light as they'd intended, they shattered it, sending the remnants of the original world, both physical and heart-related, scattering into the darkness.
"Every world we come across is based in some way off of that original world."
"That makes sense," Ven mused. He'd always wondered why so many worlds looked so similar.
"Children proved to be the most resistant to the darkness that fell after the light shattered and eventually their hearts found their way to the new worlds that formed from the fragments of the heart of the original world. That was when I noticed how many of the hearts that had come to Kingdom Hearts were moving onto the next life. I know they didn't simply cease to exist, and yet I couldn't find any trace of them anywhere. I also noticed that many of those hearts remaining in this world under my protection wished to build up the light again and they also left me, gravitating towards the new worlds and restoring what light they could.
"Slowly, the worlds grew and became stable and people began to build lives and families again. Some of them had once been Keyblade wielders. They took on the role of protecting their respective planets from the Darkness because the light called to them—Keyblades are made from the light of hearts, after all. Many of them still remembered the terrible war and passed on their teachings to new generations in their worlds...sometimes passing on things that should have been forgotten, other times forgetting things that shouldn't have been lost.
"When they discovered that they could move between worlds, they began to communicate and build a traveling system. Finally they constructed the lanes between worlds. By that time, none of the original Keyblade wielders who survived the darkness still lived, but some of those of the time period had learned of the power that could be drawn from hearts and they began searching for Kingdom Hearts for varying reasons...few of them good.
"I knew they would discover me and eventually find a way to use my power and my connection to all worlds and Kingdom Hearts, but I did not know how to prevent this. It was only a matter of time and I could do nothing. Thankfully, other wielders discovered the dark plans and several joined forces against them. Yet others joined together with them...at least at the beginning. By the end, I don't know if anyone knew what they were really fighting for."
That haunted expression didn't belong on Sora's face either. Ven almost wanted to reach out and hug the boy...except that would be horribly awkward and he wasn't sure he could handle that at the moment. Xion had no such limitation. She rose to her knees, walked on them over to Sora and threw her arms around him.
"I'm so sorry," she muttered.
He hugged her back and it shocked Ven to see how desperate he looked all of a sudden.
"Thank you," he replied. Ven and Roxas exchanged glances but remained where they were, both grateful for Xion's ability to empathize and show it.
After a few minutes, she released him and sat down beside him as he continued his story.
"Despite best efforts and intentions, a group managed to finally summon me. After that, I was used for the purpose of whoever held me. I had little choice. I changed hands so many times...sometimes I became a weapon for those fighting for the light, sometimes I ended up with those who sided with darkness. Sometimes, I wound up in the hands of someone who just wanted to use me to better themselves. Those...those were the worst, surprisingly. Fortunately no one still knew how to access Kingdom Hearts. Few even understood the concepts anymore, and that is why I am sure that the worlds today are still as intact as they are.
"Eventually I fell into the hands of a group of people who had the best intentions—to stop the fighting—the education to bring those intentions about and the will to do act." Ven noticed that Sora had (once again) stopped talking like Sora, but he didn't really begrudge the other boy for it. Not this time. He got the feeling that this was Sora's true nature they were glimpsing. It wasn't that different from the Sora he knew so well—caring, determined and strong—but the intelligence and experience were something the old Sora could never pull off. Somehow, though, Ven found this comforting right now. He wasn't sure why.
"These people both brought the fighting to a head and stopped the war almost single-handedly," the X-blade went on, "by luring all of the Keyblade wielders to one particular world, and then creating the walls between worlds, effectively trapping everyone there."
"The Keyblade Graveyard," Ven heard himself say in Vanitas' voice. Truthfully, he was surprised himself, but after a moment he figured that really, it wasn't that unexpected. Everyone stared at him for a moment and he shrugged before gesturing for Sora to continue.
Thankfully, he did and everyone turned back to him.
"No one could tear down the lanes between worlds that had already been built, but they did stop anyone who knew how to access the lanes with the walls. This started the final battle of what we now call the Keyblade War. No one meant for it to happen, but the wielders on the planet—many of whom had old grudges and biases—began to fight amongst themselves when they realized they had been tricked. It escalated so quickly... Different factions chose different strongholds, but the sheer destruction prevented anyone from really building much of anything there.
"After observing this, the group that held me began to understand the consequences of their actions and tried to save as many of the Keyblade wielders who hadn't given into the desire to (once again) possess the light—this time, the light of Kingdom Hearts. Unfortunately, due to the fighting, they couldn't save as many as they wanted to. Those they did rescue they helped as best they could. If a rescued bearer wished to join their union, then they could. If not, the keybearer would be taken to a world of their choosing to live out the rest of their life.
"They couldn't act quickly enough to prevent an incredible loss of life, though. Almost all the keybearers died then, leaving only a handful to pass on anything, and fewer still who could access the lanes between. Those that could eventually set up places like Twilight Town and Traverse Town—places that still exist as refuges for lost souls.
"That is how the Keyblade wielders of today came about. Each new generation learns from the old and are chosen far more carefully."
"Apparently not carefully enough," Roxas muttered. Sora sighed but didn't disagree.
"Xehanort, like many before him, fell slowly. At first it was curiosity and then the fulfillment of his goals. Then, over time, it became power and ability and he wanted to live on to find out more. When he initiated his experiment on Ven, it alerted me as to how bad things had become. He basically let me know that he wanted to open the lanes between for everyone—that he was seeking me. The last time that had happened, a war that nearly destroyed all worlds resulted. I couldn't let that happen again, so I did something rather desperate—something I wasn't even sure would work at all: I hid myself, and that is how I came here."
The silence that fell when he stopped talking felt contemplative, and Ven was sure he wasn't the only one who found himself mulling over all of this new information and trying to wrap his head around it. If only they'd known all of this before.
Which actually brought up a good question.
"Why didn't you allow yourself to remember then?"
The frown that came over Sora's face almost made Ven laugh. Almost. He looked so petulant and...well, Sora-like.
"That was my mistake," he muttered. "Human brains apparently don't have the ability to retain memories from past lives very well. It depends on their brain development or something along those lines. I didn't count on that. It was only once Xehanort called out to my true self that the ability to remember returned to me."
Again they lapsed into silence.
"This is just weird," Roxas finally muttered, rubbing a hand over his face. "So am I your nobody, or his?" He pointed at Ven who actually wanted to figure it out too, so he kept his attention on Sora.
The brunet cocked his head. "A little bit of both, I think. Truthfully, I don't know exactly what that entails either way."
"Right. Of course," Roxas muttered.
"Sorry," Sora said apologetically. "New territory and all."
"But it does explain why you're different, Roxas," Xion piped up, a thoughtful expression on her features. "If a being is comprised of two different beings, then they are more or less their own person, right?"
The boys just stared at her as they thought about that.
"Are you suggesting...that Sora and Ven are my...parents?"
Sora and Ven both blanched as they looked at each other and then looked away. That was too awkward for words. Ven wasn't sure if it was in any way true or not, but he did realize that it would also explain why Vanitas wasn't in his own physical form here. Xion and Roxas each had an aspect of other people in them, but Vanitas was half of him, even if they hadn't completely merged and healed yet.
Xion decided to take pity on them and changed the subject. "So, what happens now?"
Everyone else froze and looked at her. Then, almost as one, they all looked back at Sora. Ven hoped he would have an answer, but he couldn't say he was horribly surprised when Sora hung his head.
"I don't know."
They each fiddled where they sat after that, none of them really knowing what to do but none of them willing to admit it. They couldn't. It would feel like admitting defeat to the situation in general and none of them were willing to even entertain the idea. Not after they'd finally eliminated Xehanort's threat.
Finally, Ven sighed.
"Look, why don't we go back and talk to everyone else, see what they think?"
If anything, that seemed to make Sora deflate even more and he looked down at his hands as if seeing something there that no one else could.
"Yeah," he finally said, his voice quiet and resigned. "I guess there's no use putting it off."
Something about the way he said it made Ven frown. Then again, Sora had been saying a lot of very un-Sora like things lately. He was about to brush it off when Xion spoke up.
"Sora, what's wrong?"
The brunet looked over at her and smiled. Ven had never seen such a fake smile in his life. It was another Sora-like action, although not one he particularly approved of.
"Nothing's wrong," Sora said.
"Stop lying," Roxas grumbled. Ven couldn't help but feel relieved that the others had seen it too.
"We've been in your heart for years," Ven heard himself say. It surprised him that he'd spoken up, in his own voice too. "Did you really think you could hide it from us?"
At least Sora had the decency to look sheepish.
"Well, are you going to tell us?" Roxas asked, folding his arms in front of him almost petulantly.
The air of sadness returned and Sora looked down at his hand again. "It's just that...nothing will be the same again. I know that, but...even if I stayed on the Island with Riku and Kairi—even if everything works out perfectly, like we all want them to... I remember so much now. I've known people, good and bad, seen them rise and fall...watched everyone else die. That changes a person. Before I took a human body I...thought I knew what feelings were like, but I didn't."
He glanced up at them, all playfulness gone. "I feel things now that I couldn't as only the X-blade and so much of it had built up. It's...changed me. I'm not just Sora anymore...so can I stay where he would have been happy? And...if I can't, how can I tell them?"
Ven stared at the other being—the X-blade personified—and suddenly realized that no one had taken his recent story into account. Everyone else had focused on their own pain (or even that of the universe at large) and had forgotten that Sora was, right now, a boy with far too many memories that he obviously didn't know how to deal with. Not a day ago, he'd just been 'Sora the Keyblade Wielder'—a boy in his late teens who had saved the multiverse on several different occasions, but a boy nonetheless.
"What makes you think you can't be happy here?" Roxas asked, sounding rather annoyed. Ven blinked in surprise.
"Huh?" Sora asked, meeting Roxas' gaze.
Roxas rolled his eyes. "You have friends here—a girlfriend even, if you want—and they'll be there for you for the rest of their lives, if not the rest of yours. So why not give it a try? It's not like you can't go exploring with them or whatever. If you're different, they'll just have to deal. And knowing those two, they will."
Sora stared at him looking like an animal caught in the glare of headlights. It wasn't like he could say anything to that, so of course he didn't.
Which was why Ven decided to speak up. "He's right. I bet they're up there right now freaking out because we haven't woken up." He smiled at the boy who had saved his life on multiple occasions, because that was who he was talking to, not the weapon who had gained a sentience of its own...although that was a part of Sora now, and so Ven figured he'd just have to get used to it too.
"Heh, thanks, guys." Sora smiled and looked away for a moment. Then he straightened. "Guess we'd better get back then."
Roxas grinned. "Yeah."
Because whatever would come, they would face it—all of them together—and they would defeat it.
xXx
Sorry this took so long. Preparing for Comic Con, while moving and then getting sick on top of it all while not having access to the internet...well, yeah. ^^;
Thanks again, Lexik!
