Considering there are ranks in the Heartless, there must be higher ranks than Soldier. With only Shadows at my side, I don't think I could accomplish much. So I ordered my Heartless back into the dark place, which I now call "The Dark Realm." There, I tried to "evolve" once again. I tried punching and kicking at nothing, that didn't work. I tried calling the darkness, which only got me more shadows. I probably had around a hundred now.

Then I tried jumping up and down. It seemed to not work, then I noticed I didn't go down one time. A pair of goggles formed around my eyes. I examined myself. I had some sort of wings, made of some sort of material. I had a hat with a little propeller on top. Other than that, I looked just like a regular Soldier. I was an Air Soldier. Making names could be fun.

The next few minutes of my time were spent trying to show the Shadows how to walk upright. I made a total of seventeen Soldiers doing this. I was now ready for defending something. I ordered all my Heartless into the portal once again, and we waited inside the town for a few minutes. I ordered three groups of Heartless, each one consisting of three Soldiers and a few Shadows to scout around, and destroy any of their brethren they saw. It was easy to order them around. I just had to think what I wanted them to do, and point.

After roaming throughout the town for a while, we had beaten many groups of Heartless. Even some giant ones, and I had taken down a few Air Soldiers. My group had thinned its ranks from the constant fighting, but I had replaced them when necessary. Soon, I grew tired and bored. There seemed to be no more Heartless around except for mine. Maybe I could try to get more Shadows to evolve. I knew it worked in the Dark Realm, but did it work here?

Turns out, it did. I made plenty more Soldiers, and I only had a few Shadows left. They were new additions. I should be writing this down. As Heartless fought, they gain some sort of power necessary to evolve. To evolve from a Shadow, you have to learn to walk upright. To evolve to an Air Soldier, you must learn to jump or something. I've seen Soldiers jump before, so it must be a little more complicated.

Just then, and Soldier of mine evolved. It became an Air Soldier just like me. Apparently, I had lost control over it, because it attacked me. Since I had more intelligence and experience as an Air Soldier, I easily won. I stared at the other members of my Heartless, and they seemed to understand the consequences of betrayal. Some Soldiers looked contemplative though. Within seconds, more Soldiers evolved on their own. They attacked me, and I pointed at them, causing my loyal ones to attack them.

Spurred on by the recent revolt, more of my Heartless attacked me. With my few loyal Heartless left, and my skill, it seemed to be an even match. When the fighting began, I flew high, and dove into their ranks, clawing and kicking them as I rushed overhead. They were winning though. My own seemed to be convinced that they did not want to kill their own any longer. With my death, this war would cease. But I wasn't going to let this happen. They were the evil ones, not I.

I tried to evolve once again, thinking of the way I wanted. I wanted my old body back. Then I felt it. My emblem, the one on my chest, started burning. Light was shooting out of it, and it made many Heartless flee from me. My claws disappeared, and fingers grew instead. My boots faded, and my old shoes replaced them. The light enveloped me, and I felt me entire being change.

It was starting to fade, and I felt very exposed. But soon, I felt the reassuring weight of my old clothes on my body. When it dissipated, I was speechless. I was myself again. None of that Heartless stuff. I placed my hand on my chest to make it was gone. It wasn't. I lifted my shirt, and an emblem was on my chest like a tattoo, but stuck out slightly like a sticker. It felt like I could peel it off, but it wouldn't budge. It was part of me.

The Heartless returned. Even my own loyal ones were angry with me. But I had my old body back. I wasn't going to lose it now. I dashed at them, and knowing every one of their feeble attack patterns, it was easy. I dodged, kicked and punched. But in the end, I was outnumbered. They swarmed around me, and an Air Soldier dove at me. It quickly disappeared with the sound of a loud noise, and the Heartless turned their attention to my rescuer. A man, brown hair, black clothing, and a scar across his face, was holding a large sword, with a gun barrel attached near the hilt.

"Move!" He continued to make the noise more and more, and I realized they were gunshots. I ran toward him, hoping he wouldn't kill me as well. When I reached him, we fled. He led me toward the one door I had thought impenetrable before. He opened it, and motioned for me to follow. I did, and stared around. There were a few more humans here. They were safe here, protected from the Heartless.

"What were you doing in the Second District? It's not safe there." He had calmed down, as if the door was blocking any attempts of the Heartless behind us.

"Uh…" My throat tickled. I hadn't talked in a while, so this was sort of new.

"Explain later, lets get you inside."

"Okay." And with that, he led me into the shop that was in the middle of this district. Another man, blond with a white shirt, and two girls were there. One had black hair, and immediately jumped over to me very gracefully.

"Hi! I'm Yuffie! What's your name?"

"I'm, uh, I'm Brad." It took me a second to remember my own name. My first impression of Yuffie was that she was very energetic. Though most people would make that assumption upon seeing her. The second girl, dressed in a pink dress, calmly spoke to me.

"Nice to meet you Brad." I yawned. I was tired. Everybody flinched slightly. Did I do something wrong?

"… You're tired?"

"I haven't slept for a while." Just then, my mind flicked on. My Heartless urges were back. I could sense their hearts. Before I got too involved in it, I spoke again. "Do you have any beds or something?"

I was led to the attic of the shop, where a few mattresses were laid out. I was offered my rescuer's bed, and I gladly fell asleep. When I woke, I felt re-energized. I made my way back down to the bottom floor, and only the blond guy was there.

"Hey Brad, I'm Cid. If you're looking for the others, they're outside greeting some newcomers."

"Alright. Thanks." When I opened the door, I saw my rescuer battling with a boy that looked a little younger than I. He had a strange weapon. I walked up to the calm girl and Yuffie, who were watching the fight.

"Oh, hello Brad. I'm Aerith. I didn't get a chance to introduce myself before. And that's Squall, if you didn't know."

"Hi."

The boy became tired, and collapsed to the ground. Squall backed off. Just then, a Shadow Heartless appeared behind the boy. I moved my legs as quickly as they could go, and stopped near the boy. The Shadow Heartless looked at me. I pointed away, and it left. I turned to help the boy up, and everybody was looking at me weird.

"What?"

"You, you made that Heartless leave!"

"Yeah, so what?"

Squall was holding his Gunblade up to my neck the very next second.

"Who are you!?"

"I already said, my name is Brad."

"How can you control Heartless?"

"I don't know. They just obey strong people. And higher ranks."

"How do you know this?" Uh oh. Should I tell him? They obviously dislike Heartless a lot. I should lie.

"I study them."

"How have they not taken over your heart?" Because I was one?

"I don't know." He lowered his weapon.

"You should stop going too far into the darkness."

"Okay."

The boy got up, and told everyone he had woken up here. Kind of like I had woken in the Dark Realm. I had left them alone, since the boy wasn't very interesting. I went into an alley to see what else I could do since I was a Heartless. Maybe I could fly or something. I tried calling Heartless. A Shadow came, but quickly left. I must have a reputation within their ranks. I tried flying. Didn't work. I tried jumping, that worked. I felt stronger, so when I tried to jump my highest, I easily got higher than the building next to me.

All of a sudden, I was afraid of heights. I started falling, and I tried to move around. It wasn't working. I twisted my body so my feet could touch the wall beside me. They skipped along it, and I was forced to run down the wall. My feet seemed to slow me down, and I turned to try and soften my landing. Instead, I began running along the side of the building. I stopped. I was now standing on the wall. I jumped to the ground, slightly freaked out, and the landing was not soft. I didn't care.

I was soon overjoyed. This was awesome. I wonder what else I could do. I pointed at the wall, hoping it would do something. Maybe it would change into the door to the second district or something. A swirl of darkness appeared on the wall. It opened into a portal. I walked through. I was in the second district. Right where I learned to summon Heartless. A Soldier appeared in front of me. It wasn't happy.

It slashed at me, and I dodged to the best of my ability. It still scratched me slightly though. Angry, I felt like taking something and killing it. Destroying this monster. I felt something on my back. I reached back, and a large disk appeared in my hand. I pulled it out in front of me, and I discovered it was a shield. It was plain, thought it looked pretty nice. It was silver, and gleamed in the light. Two handles were coming out of the top. I tugged one, and a short sword, also made of silver came loose. I grinned. I got whatever I wanted now.

I gripped the shield in my left hand, as the Soldier attacked me again. I bashed its hand with it, and the Heartless stumbled back. I cut across its neck with my short sword, and it was gone. Slipping the sword back in its place, I wished the weapon away. It glowed then vanished. I thought of the alley, and raised my hand, wishing a portal to appear. It did. When I walked through it, it closed behind me, and I walked back to the shop.