"Ab Origine" and the general, basic concept/story of "Ab Origine" are copyright Orin Drake 2006. Kingdom Hearts, all characters and generally all cool places are copyright Square-Enix and Disney, forever and ever and ever. Or so I'm assuming.

Background: My first tentative steps into... exploration. I've had the fortune of good philosophical conversation regarding the games and ideas/theories/rumors surrounding them (and I can't thank you guys enough for that). Of course, I can't seem to delve into anything that deeply and not emerge with some "interesting ideas", so... I truly hope this eventually manages to reflect the weird crap going on in my head. Sorta AU--I'll let you know in a few months.

"And in the world a heart of darkness
A fire zone..." - "One Tree Hill", U2

Ab Origine
Chapter 5
by Orin Drake

Wake up! Riku!

Xehanort was used to the blankness that settled over his own consciousness when Riku slept. Most often, he used the lack of sensory distraction to rest himself. When he'd awoken first to find that same deep blankness surrounding him, something seemed enormously wrong.

Riku! Open your eyes!

--Slipping. It was a distinct sensation, though not quite physical. He hadn't a body of his own... yet he knew it wasn't his host feeling it.

Cold. Tendrils of cold and biting--

Riku!!!

--Pulling, scratching, rending--

--Cold..?

Ripped away completely.

---------------

Thud.

Thud-thud.

Thud. Thud. Thud-thud.

Thud-thud thud-thud thud-thud--

"Light..."

The voice was painful and foreign. Painful, because his throat was dry. Foreign, because...

His eyes opened--then closed abruptly. The light was searing...

Light. Eyes. Heat. Voice. A heartbeat.

Xehanort felt the breath in his lungs. His lungs. He had a beat pulsating in his head painfully--but it was a heartbeat. And--

"What are you?"

The unexpected question from an unseen source was enough cause to flinch. Xehanort tried again to open his eyes, preparing for another painful burst of light--but a shadow fell across his vision. He blinked several times, willing his vision to clear and hoping an answer would come. Something, anything; "I'm..."

"You speak." The towering thing above him commented.

"Of course I..." Xehanort's voice left him as his eyes finally took in the sight before him. He was laying flat on the ground, staring directly up into... armor. A dark, all-encompassing suit of armor with sharp lines and sharp points atop the helmet. Nowhere was a face visible, only a noticeable visor pointed in his direction. "What... where am I?"

Utter, immobile silence from the armor above. Not a flinch, not so much as the quiver of a finger for what easily could have been hours. At last there seemed to be some kind of decision reached. "Rancia."

His tongue felt foreign. There was... something in that name... but Xehanort was certain he'd never encountered it before. Not before or after the madness... and he was sure he'd have been sent into a painful flashback if he'd known the word during his downfall. He opened his mouth, prepared to repeat the word... but couldn't. Instead, he calmed himself and allowed his curiosity to drive his courage. "Who are you?"

No answer came. Just the unmoving stare of the visor, armor glinting in the light of day. After the moment seemed stretched to grasp for infinity, it finally spoke again. "You are the only other living thing I've ever seen here. You must be what I was waiting for."

---------------

The pounding in his head was quite unwelcome. Keeping his eyes closed in hopes that he may be able to fall back to sleep, Riku went over the events of the day previous. A drunken binge was not on that list, nor was cracking his skull against stone. The headache did not belong there. He groaned, muttering, "What the hell were you doing while I was asleep?"

The silence was a little unnerving. Assuming the bastard trapped in his head was merely attempting to ignore his question, Riku prodded further. "Come on. I think I deserve a reason why I can't think straight."

Nothing. Not even a chuckle. And he'd baited a seething remark with his words... "Hey."

Panic was starting to set in. Not that it was a conscious thing, but the pounding in his head was matched rather swiftly by the pounding in his chest. Desperate times... "Xehanort..? Are you there?"

He was able to notice it, then. Something... cold and empty. Something missing. "Xehanort?! Answer me!"

---------------

"What in all the worlds do you mean?"

The visor tilted toward him slightly, the armor otherwise unmoving. "I was to wait. For the one who would give me purpose."

Xehanort blinked stupidly. "And... how do you know that?"

"It's what I'm here for." The response was simple, direct... and toneless.

Less than an answer, at best. At worst, a maddening conversation he still couldn't believe he was having. He sighed to himself, utterly lost in every way imaginable... but one. He remembered his life in Radiant Garden, and all of the scientific method and social communication he'd learned. Perhaps, if he kept calm, and if he managed to take enough mental notes, he could uncover some semblance of sense. Perhaps a stunningly obvious question ought to come first. "Are you quite certain I am the one to give you purpose?"

A long silence followed... then no answer came as the figure finally stepped back and away. It merely waited there like a guardian statue, sun glinting painfully off the armor.

Xehanort weakly lifted an arm to rest over his eyes, protecting from the too-bright light suddenly filling his vision. In a rush of awkward sensation, he heard his name clearly echo in the back of his thoughts. Blinking, he thought perhaps he even recognized the mental "voice". Riku?

It all fell apart then. The armor, the sun, the arm above him--his very body shattered, crumbled, disintegrated into cold, and then familiar, nothingness. He'd have cried out if he could, pained by the loss of himself, of his own private thoughts and senses. He was falling, and then he was nowhere, and then he was back where it seemed he would always belong.

---------------

It was almost as if Riku felt a man's full body slam into his mind--dizzying, confusing, but... somehow just a little bit comforting. "Xehanort?" he tried again, softer.

There was a tremble, inside. A clench of his stomach and of his mind. Finally, quietly, "Yes..?"

Perhaps relief would have been a decent thing to feel. But Riku found his fists clenched, hardly able to keep the volume of his voice down. "Why the hell weren't you answering?!"

"I..." the voice inside trailed off, uncertain of where to begin let alone what the answer actually was. "Something... something is happening."

Well that explained a whole lot of nothing, didn't it?

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