Author's Note: Sorry that I'm late, guys. Writer's block and the usual lame excuse. But you know that right now, and I bet you're all thinking, "What took them so long to update?" or something along the lines.
Like I said, writer's block is what hits me the most and sometimes I don't feel like writing. Then again, I'm really excited for KH2.8 this year!
Warning: This chapter contains spoilers for the upcoming Kingdom Hearts game. I took this from the demo and tried to remember the dialogue as much as I could. If you wish to avoid that part, please skip to "Back to the Present" part of this chapter.
I still don't own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy.
CH 4: Uncomfortable Memories.
During the events of 0.2 Birth By Sleep-A Fragmenty Passage.
Aqua couldn't believe that the Castle of Dreams, the very first world she visited in her life since her journey began, was not only trapped inside the Realm of Darkness like her, though she feared that she knew why, but also that the world itself was falling apart as though an apocylpse has occured, which might as well have been. Memories of her adventure in this world resurfaced-from when she first reuighted with Terra, to when she first discovered that Light and Darkness cannot exist without the other, even the memory of shrinking down the size of a mouse, saving Cinderella and reuighting her with the Prince of the castle.
The town was nearly in ruins, so she passed that, and made her way onto the familiar road leading right to the towering castle. But as Aqua paused in her steps to gaze at the castle, suddenly she felt the earth rumble and to her shock, the road began to collaspe right underneath her, the brick road crumbling into the dark abyss below. It then trailed straight towards her. She made a run for it and nearly didn't make it as the ground crumbled right under her, almost taking her with it to be swallowed up.
Fortunately, Aqua made a huge jump and landed safely on the remaining edge of the now crumble road, now further way from the castle has the huge gap of ruined debris separated her from the road. She then gazed up at the castle again, and noticed, in the amist of the road being destroyed by the darkness, time suddenly fast forward from mid-night to five-o'clock before stopping.
'Time fast foward itself?' Aqua thought, puzzled. She then heard a ticking sound behind her, and turned around, to see a glowing strange gears that floated, as though frozen in time.
"A gear of time?" Aqua questioned, before taking a deep thought. As she had learned since falling and becoming trapped in this realm, as well as there was no sun, no moon, no sky, that meant that time did not exist here either. Except...for that clock, she realised.
Maybe the gears have something do to with this. Deciding to test out her theory, Aqua approached the frozen gears, before summoning Master Eraqus's Keyblade, and with a hit from the Keyblade, Aqua slammed against the gears which then, by her strength, or possibly the power of the Keyblade, the gears suddenly reacted and moved, before slowly glowing and then floated up. Then it zoomed right into the castle's clock.
As Aqua watched, the time on the clock then moved one hour backwards, and the road began to reform itself, as though time was going backwards. "I knew it." Aqua realised. If she found more of these gears, then maybe she could restore the road leading towards the castle and then she'd be able to reach it.
Once she had done so after finding four more, while fighting against the residents of the Realm of Darkness that were not the Unversed, Aqua managed to safely reach the castle this time, while wondering where the people of this world had gone to. Maybe despite the world having fallen into darkness, it's people managed to stay behind and perhaps gone to another world, despite that it would break the world order.
(~Feelings of Guilt Theme(Lightning's Theme*Radiant*)-Lightning Returns FFXIII~)
As she reached the steps of the castle that lead up to the ballroom, Aqua sighed in sadness, thinking about how time ran backwards on the road. "I wish I could really make time go backwards." she said to herself as she gazed up at the dark sky that the only light it held was the blue glow implanted by it's walls, as though she was either in a gave or inside a stomach of a monster that swallowed her up.
"To the night where I would gaze at the stars with my best friends." She continued as she reached out skyward, as though praying for them to come to her. She then sighed and lowered her hand, and gazed down, realising she was doubting herself again. Aqua tried hard not to cry. She missed her friends terribly. It was difficult.
"Aqua."
Gasping, Aqua turned around quickly, and to her shock, as a familiar man, but unlike the last time she saw him, he was like before...before Xehanort possessed him.
"Terra?" Aqua gasped as she watched one of her friends walk down the stairs before stopping. "What are you doing here?" she asked. No...did this mean that, despite having somehow regained control, he didn't make it? But he just stood here, smiling at her, not saying anything else. He even looked still.
Aqua reached out to grasp his hand into her own, but instead, her hand went straight through and Terra's body began to glow in golden light. Gasping at first as she withdrew her hand, she then realised that this was only an illusion of Terra, a memory. She also realised that, deep down, Terra and Ven were still in her heart, telling her not to give up. Like when their keyblades had saved her from the giant residents of the darkness that attempted to kill her.
She then understood and smiled in sadness and understanding as the illusion of Terra vanished. Aqua then gazed at the town behind her again, and became relieved that at least the people of this world are safe in the Realm of Light. She would find a way to return home, eventually. She didn't know how long she was here, but she knew, she had to not give up.
Back in the Present.
In the hallways of the castle in Radiant Garden, Aqua paused in her steps as the memory of her time trapped in the Realm of Darkness came to her. Mickey, Riku, Terra, Isa, Cloud, Zack, and Myde who, by Isa's reluctanted agreement(and with a warning to the former slacker of the Organization not to get in anyone's way) noticed that their friend had stopped, and turned to gaze at her, and then became worried when they noticed the uncomfortable and somewhat sad look on her face.
"Are you okay, Aqua?" Zack asked, worriedly.
"I-I'm fine. Just thinking." Aqua replied. But in truth, she wasn't fine. Deep down, her thoughts returned when she was rescued by Xion, and everything she learned summed up on what happened for the past twelve years after she sacrificed herself to save Terra...and inadvertedly rescued Xehanort, giving him the chance to continue his plans and ruin so many lives, forcing Mickey to take action, the Keyblade choosing Sora, Riku and Kairi into the ongoing war of Light and Darkness.
It was because of her, she acted on instinct rather than fufilling Terra's wish to end him, for the sake of the worlds. Aqua failed her friends. She failed them, and she knew, she had doomed the worlds to Xehanort. Maybe it was because of her that Chaos and Bhunivelze went further into their own plans, and if the latter awoken once more, who knows what would happen.
"It wasn't your fault, Aqua." Mickey spoke up, as though he knew what his friend was thinking. After everything was clear on how this all unfolded, he knew, she was blaming herself. When Aqua gazed at him, he lowered his own head in shame and admitted, "I thought after the terrible things that happened to you, Ven and Terra that Xehanort was stopped for good. But I didn't think...that he somehow took over Terra's body. I should've stopped him and maybe saved Terra sooner, but I was blind."
"Even so," Aqua finally admitted. "...It's because of me that the worlds suffered."
"Don't let your sins overcome you, Aqua." Cloud spoked up, firmly, which caused everyone else to gaze at him in confusion and surprise, as he continued, "You have to forgive yourself for what happened, especially since you were given a chance to save them with Sora's help. All of us make grave mistakes in life. When Zack died, and when I nearly gave in to Sephiroth's control, I always felt that everyone blamed me and so, I blamed myself. Vincent was the same; That's why he slept for thirty years, because he wanted to atone for his sins."
"Instead of forgiving himself?" Mickey asked. It did made some sort of sense. Vincent hid his feelings from the world, but deep down the man continued to blame himself for whatever happend. It was similiar with Cloud, and the latter wanted revenge against Sephiroth.
"I once asked if Sins are ever forgiven," Cloud shrugged, "And he told me, that he never tried. That's when I realised that we were both similiar and that answered my own question, since I never tried either, up until recently."
"And what did you find out, buddy?" Zack asked to his friend.
"Sometimes, sins are forgiven." Cloud answered. "And do your best to think about the good memories that will never disappear."
"Never tried...and sometimes they are forgiven." Aqua repeated to herself. The good memories what would never disappear. Maybe that's what Terra and Ven were trying to tell her during her time trapped in the darkness; Forgive her sins and always believe, always think about the good memories to keep going. Maybe she was dwelling herself too far into her guilt that she nearly lost sight when she was reuighted with her friends.
Cloud's words seemed to affect Mickey, Isa, Zack, Riku and Terra as well, because they all thought deeply about their own sins and things that they either failed to see or did terrible that they'd regret later in life. Lea once nearly drowned in his guilt, but with Sora's help, he managed to try and move on, and by either miracle or sheer luck, Cosmos gave them the chance to have a second chance and a second life. Besides, Master Xehanort and his Keyblade are gone, Organization XIII is finished, Hojo was dead, Deepground disappeared, and Terra and Ven were saved.
"I guess you're right." Terra thought, thinking back when Xehanort tricked him all those years ago. "Besides," he gazed at Aqua and continued, "It's not your fault, Aqua. Neither is Mickey's. We can't let the past get to us now. We're here, and we going to do our best in our upcoming battles against Chaos, and if we have to, Bhunivelze."
Finally, Aqua sighed and nodded, "Right. It'll take a while to catch up for the last twelve years, but we can't give up. Not now." her resolve suddenly back. The only person who couldn't return was Eraqus.
Another person, in Mickey's case, was Ansem the Wise. But those could not be helped. Eraqus must've chosen that his time was up, and Ansem the Wise did sacrifice himself and knew that he would not return.
With these words, everyone else's resolves, even Cloud's, returned, and they all nodded in agreement with the female Keyblade wielder. As the others then continued on into the halls, Aqua and Terra stayed behind a bit, glancing at each other.
"...I missed you and Ven so much." Aqua admitted. "In the Realm of Darkness, you both saved me with your Keyblades, and came to me as illusions. I still don't know how or why, but that made me go on while I was trapped in there."
Terra, somehow understanding where his friend was coming from, went up closer to her and he gently held her chin to have her gaze at him. "I missed both of you too, Aqua." he said. "While I was in a crossing against Xehanort in our hearts, I never stopped thinking about either you or Ven. I vowed that one day, I would set things right." (~End Feelings of Guilt Theme~)
"How...how did Xehanort possess you?" Aqua questioned hesitatedly.
Her friend sighed as he gently lets go of her chin, and let his hand fall to his side. Terra than said, "I went astray again, and let the darkness overcome me. I wasn't able to stop Vanitas to attack you and Ven, because Xehanort prevented me. They were going to hurt Ven and kill you. I fought against Xehanort and won...but in reality, it was the opposite."
Flash-Back; During the events of Birth By Sleep-Terra's tale.
After Terra had defeated Master Xehanort, the latter kneels to the ground, plunging his Keyblade into the grey earth for balance. He holds on to it, his breath heavy and wheezing. Most likely due to that since Xehanort was pretty much 80 years old, he was too old for this because Terra was much younger than him. The younger man walked up towards the former master in hatred when all of the sudden, there was a loud explosion and the ground briefly rumbled before stopping.
But Terra's eyes never left Xehanort, until...
"There, you see?" Xehanort asked, smiling in pleasure as he pointed behind Terra who hesitated to look, believing it to be a trick, but Xehanort remains
constant. He turns around to witness a great pillar of light. "The X-blade has been forged!" Xehanort grinned as he stood.
Terra's eyes widened in horror as he took a few running steps towards the light, crying out, "Ven!" realising that it was too late. Vanitas had merged himself with Ven, creating the X-Blade.
"And now, Terra, it is time for the final union!" Xehanort declared, as he turns his Keyblade around, holding it by the blade close to his chest, before thrusting it slowly into it, which a beam of light shoots out and Terra whirls around. The younger man's eyes widened in shock at this.
Why did Master Xehanort stab himself with his Keyblade? He knew that doing so would cause his heart to be lost and his body to disappear, so what's going on? Terra didn't like this at all, and with good reason.
"At last, our moment is here." Xehanort continued as he opens his arms and a circle of light eminates from his pierced chest. His Keyblade fades and an orb, shimmering with light, floats out of his body. It was his heart. "Out with the old and brittle vessel, and in with a younger, stronger new one!"
So this was what Xehanort wanted? Terra backed away slightly. Of course, that's why Xehanort wanted him to give into the darkness; Through impossible and unspeakable realization, Terra's own heart would be lost forever, while his body...it would become Xehanort's new body forever. This was part of the evil master's plan all along!
"I swore I would survive...and be there to see what awaited beyond the Keyblade War!" Xehanort continued, before concluding evilly, "And now it is your darkness that shall be the ark that sustains me!" and with an unspeakable command, he thrusts his arm, pointing at Terra, which his heart, following the command, flew straight towards Terra in high-speed.
Terra quickly reacted by summoning his armor since he knew it would protect him from the darkness. Unfortunately, he was too slow and too late, as the heart of Xehanort encased itself into Terra's body just as the armor covered him. Terra stands with his armor encased in a veil of darkness, groaning in pain. Xehanort closes his eyes and fades into points of light that scatter.
End of Flash-Back.
Aqua gasped, her eyes wide once Terra paused in explaining in what happened. How could Xehanort have the power to do that? Not even Master Eraqus told her about this. Did the late master know? She wished she could ask now, but he was gone.
"But then...he would've truly won." Aqua whispered.
"I know." Terra agreed, "But then, I remember my mind somehow encasing itself into my armor, forming it into...well, I guess some kind of Lingering Will. I fought Xehanort who possessed my body and won but...I was unable to regain control. My armor is still in the Keyblade Graveyard, and my mind went back, but at same time, I was still there, up until Sora and Riku's Mark of Mastery Exam."
Aqua lowered her head, as her guilt began to rise up again, and she whispered, close to tears, "I'm so sorry."
"Shh." Terra said gently. He then gently pulled her into an embrace, in which Aqua embraced him in return, her head resting on his shoulder. "It's not your fault." he told her, doing his best to comfort her.
Aqua suddenly felt in strange peace. She made a note to herself to give Ven an apology and hug him when they reuight later after this mission in Port Royal and in Olympus Coliseum. She couldn't drown in the guilt of the dark memories. Xehanort was gone now. He would not come back, not ever. She has her friends again, she was back where she belonged. More than that, Aqua realised, the way Terra was holding her, she didn't want to be released from his embrace just yet. She then realised that what she told him was true to her feelings.
She was in love with him.
Suddenly, an awkward sound of someone clearing their throat snapped both Aqua and Terra back to reality, causing both of them to look at the doorway to find Riku and the others standing there, having realised the two of them were absent and had gone back to find them, only to find...Terra and Aqua in an embrace that made the faces of Riku, Isa, Cloud, Zack, and Mickey grow warm and bright pink in embarrassment. It was Riku who awkwardly cleared his throat.
Myde on the other hand, found this scene adorable, and even glared at Riku, grumbling to him like an immature teenager, "Way to ruin the romance, dude."
Realising what Myde was talking, both Aqua and Terra quickly drew away from each other, before looking away in embarrassment, their faces glowing bright red. This only made everyone else glare at Myde, to which Isa then said as though he was a teacher, "Okay, you obviously want another lecture, so I think we'll go back to the old lesson regime." and he done so by tugging Myde's ear so hard that the latter yelped out in pain which was comical.
Ignoring Myde's comical groan, Isa then gazed at the other two and said, "Sorry about that." he knew he'd regret in letting Myde come with them. Too late to change his mind now.
'So much for the date.' Zack thought in his mind, since he knew, despite that Aqua and Terra were both trying to express the denial, the two of them obviously were meant for each other. Oh well. He'll have another chance someday.
"It's alright." Aqua replied to Isa. "L-let's get going." her face still uncomfortably warm.
Wanting to avoid the further awkwardness, the others nodded in agreement, and continued on through into the halls to find Aqua's Keyblade and armor, while Isa continued to tug Myde by pulling him by the ear, dragging him along, everyone else pretty much ignoring his childish complaints.
As the group continued on, suddenly Terra felt the urge to go though another corridor, and for some reason, Mickey felt that something was amiss as well. So he led the others into Ansem's computer room, which Isa himself was inside not so long ago. He then remembered what Ienzo told him and the others earlier.
"Perhaps the "Chamber of Repose"." Ienzo suggested.
Isa's eyes widened in shock, while everyone else in Merlin's house were confused. "You know where it is?" he asked. He recalled, as Saix, he and Axel both tried many times to find it and failed. No one else would say anything.
"That was where Xemnas would go sometimes, yes." Ienzo confirmed, "He would go there, speaking to a 'friend'. But no one except for Xemnas knew who that was. Xigbar knew better than any of us, but even he desired to know."
They entered the room, and Aqua noticed the giant portrait and she sighed. It was portrait of Xehanort possessing Terra's body. She shook her head, telling herself that this wasn't the time to dwell into the dark past, and followed Mickey and the others into the computer room.
"What's this?" Myde asked as he looked around.
"This is where Ienzo, Braig, Dilian, Aeleus and I awoke." Isa said as he remembered the spot he woke in up actually not so long ago. In fact, it was here when Lea and Roxas both saved him from Braig and Xehanort's past-self.
"Ansem did a lotta research here too." Mickey spoke up as he gazed at the computer that also held not only Tron, the computer program that was a friend to Sora, Donald and Goofy, but once also held information on Ansem himself, and well, nothing else that the trio were able to find a year ago. "In fact, this is where Sora, Donald and Goofy found a picture of him too."
"So wait," Cloud realised as he looked at the blue-haired man. "This is where Xehanort killed not only the other apprentinces, but also killed you and Lea?"
"What were you doing here anyway?" Zack asked, "You guys couldn't've been more than just teenagers back then."
"Yeah, Lea and I were both sixteen at the time, eleven years ago." Isa replied, before shrugging as he admitted, "We both wanted to explore this place when we were children. When we finally managed to break in without getting caught and thrown out, well...Xehanort killed us with his Keyblade. I did what I could to prevent Lea from being killed by sacrificing himself, but...I only delayed his death."
"So what happened to Ansem?" Aqua asked.
Mickey sighed, and said, "He was casted into the Realm of Darkness, but then I guess he managed to gain the power of darkness to at least get himself out and use that power for transport. I didn't know at the time until last year, but he disguised himself and took on the name as DiZ when Xehanort stole his name. I guess it was after I met up with him and told him about how worried I was when I sensed that the darkness was still lingering."
"I don't think I remember seeing any of this. But then again, I was trapped inside Xehanort's heart, and tried for years to regain control." Terra sighed, as he gazed around at the room. He then asked, "But, where is the real Ansem now?"
"He's gone." Mickey replied, memories of his old friend's sacrifice returning to his mind, and he tried to hold back the urge to cry. "He used some kind of machine to try and encode Xemnas's Kingdom Hearts into data, but it was no use. I tried to save him, but he didn't want me to. The machine exploded and, well, he disappeared, Xemnas's Kingdom Hearts got ruined, and that's how Axel got his heart back and Lea came back."
"It was also when Cosmos allowed Lea's heart to return to Axel, restoring and merging them back to a single being." Isa added, recalling what Angeal told him, Lea, Cloud, Zack(who both nodded in agreement), Roxas, Reno and Rude back in Edge in Midgar.
"And when Cosmos brought Angeal back." Zack added. "Not to mention woke Genesis up and everything."
Myde gazed around at the group, completely clueless as he leaned against a close door at the opposite side of the room, his arms crossed. But as he was about to ask what the others were talking about, all of the sudden the door then slid open, causing him to cry out in alarm and he fell backwards before rolling down cannon-ball style, down the long stairs in a huge Manufactory before landing on top of a lighted panel. which caught everyone else's attentions as they raced up to see if he was alright. Just then, to their confusion, as soon as they all stepped onto the panel while Myde groaned as he sat up, holding the back of his head, cringing, the floor before them slides open from the center and lights up.
"What's this?" Riku asked, curiously.
"A secret door underneath the floor?" Myde guessed, blinking.
"Sure looks like it." Mickey agreed. "But we'd better be careful. Who knows what we'll find down here."
The others nodded in agreement, and Myde, knowing that he was stuck in going with, stood up and quickly followed the others as they passed him down a long, winding ramp in a spiral hallway, while the floor closes behind them. He then muttered as he looked around, "This someone's whacky idea of a fun house in a castle or what?"
"Nah, it's not that scary." Mickey thought. "Gosh, even Wonderland's scarier."
"Yeah, I have to admit, despite all the bright colours and not supposed to be scary, Wonderland does give me the creeps." Riku admitted with a shrug. He'd been there at least once when Maleficent tricked him into working for her two years ago. Sora when there as well, he recalled.
"I didn't pay any attention to it, but there was one time I remember as Saix that Roxas and Luxord returned from a mission there, and," Isa shuddered at the memory as he continued, "Luxord came back as a giant, and I refused point blank to allow him to stay that way, and ordered him to return in order to regain his normal size."
Terra quirked a disbelieved eyebrow, before muttering, "I guess it's a good thing you did." with Aqua, Riku, Mickey and Myde all nodding in agreement.
"Okay, I guess that's one world I'd like to avoid." Cloud thought as he listened in on the conversation. Even just the description of Wonderland itself was probably going to be enough to give him nightmares.
"Yeah, no kidding." Zack agreed, shuddering. "And I thought the Underworld was bad enough, and that's saying something."
"I'm not so sure which is worse; shrinking down to size or growing into a giant." Aqua thought, which had the others gaze at her in confusion. When she realised why they looked confused, especially Terra, she giggled in slight embarrassment, and explained her first adventure after briefly meeting up with Terra in the Castle of Dreams as they continued down the ramp, while they all made sure not to get distracted and look around for any kinds of danger.
When Aqua finished, the others all glanced at each other, as Mickey looked rather frightened as memories of his earlier memories came back to him, while Myde blinked, before muttering, "That's it. There's officially no such as thing as a normal world."
"Says someone who tended to slack off in random worlds to avoid work." Isa smirked, and couldn't help but laugh at the memory. Back then as Saix, he would've found it frustrating and irritating. Now as himself, it was actually pretty funny. "And I thought Lea was a lazy bum."
"Hey, Axel tended to always sleep in until mid-day everyday." Myde pointed out as he pouted childishly.
"What is it about Lea and Sora and falling asleep to be lazy bums?" Riku thought shaking his head.
Even Cloud couldn't hide a smirk as he shook his head. He never thought of Sora ever being lazy. But then again, he still didn't know the kid that much. Then again, he'd come to respect Sora as a lucky kid anyway. Aqua couldn't help but giggle, and while Terra knew what she was laughing at, the others didn't.
"What's so funny?" Riku asked.
"Sorry." Aqua laughed, "It's just that you and Sora, Lea and Isa and Myde would all make the weirdest brothers." which made the others blink in slight shock, before the all chuckled with her as well.
The group then ceased their laughter and paused in their steps as they came to a stop at the bottom of the ramp, finding themselves in front of another door that automatically opens up, revealing a white hall on the other side with several barred and diamond-windowed cells with digital locks. The sudden nervousness lingered and began to form in the group's stomachs, before they all glanced at each other, and slowly and cautiously as possibly, they stepped in and checked every door, though none of them could be opened, which made them to keep going.
Eventually, the group arrive at the end of the hall to the last door avaliable, and glanced at each other, before nodding. Mickey decided to go first, and carefully but bravely and boldly approached the door. As he is about to touch it, he gasped softly as it opened by itself, causing him to jump back and summon his Kingdom Key-D Keyblade just in case while everyone else stood in defense, expecting something to happen.
But inside, it was just a seemingly empty white room with black chains and Nobody symbols lining the walls and floor, a single chair in the middle and, as the group carefully stepped in, a seemingly blue figure lying at the end of it. It wasn't until the group got closer when they realised it wasn't a person at all. Mickey, Aqua and Terra all had their eyes widened as they recongised what it was.
A pile of blue armor lay on the floor next to a rainfall keyblade.
"What're my armor and keyblade doing in here?" Aqua asked as she approached her armor and her Keyblade, her actual Keyblade she hasn't used in twelve years. She knelt on her knees, and reached out, grasping the handle of her keyblade. She closed her eyes as she felt the familiar warmth of her weapon which then glowed in light, as did her armor. All three then glowed in light which then faded moments later. While Terra and Mickey realised what just happened, everyone else were stunned in awe.
Aqua, now with her armor on her, and her original Keyblade in hand, stood up, before deactivating her armor and back into her normal clothes, and desummoned her Keyblade back into her body. Now like Roxas and Xion through sharing, Mickey and Sora(who would use the magic from his clothes), Aqua could once again wield two Keyblades.
"Holy..." Zack muttered.
Myde lets out an impressed whistle, and said, "That's a cool armor ya got there. Wish I had one."
"The question is, why were they here?" Riku thought, repeating Aqua's question.
Mickey thought deeply about this, before saying, "Hmm, I guess after Aqua sacrificed herself into the Realm of Darkness, maybe Braig led them to Xehanort in Terra's body, not only bringing Xehanort in when he briefly lost his memories, but also bringing Aqua's armor and Keyblade and locked them into this room."
"Of course." Isa realised. "This is the Chamber of Repose. Terra was still inside Xemnas, but..."
"I didn't know at the time. It was in a major confusion." Terra concluded, realising where Isa was coming from.
"Am I the only one lost?" Myde asked to Zack who shook his head, indicating that the latter was just as confused as well.
"It makes sense." Aqua agreed with the theories. "But then, that means Braig knew I wouldn't come back."
"And you were never meant to return." A deep unfamiliar voice spoke, alarming the group who turned around quickly, and saw man in purple, glaring at them through the doorway from the hall.
(~Caius Ballad's Theme-Lightning Returns FFXIII~)
At the sight of this man, Riku's eyes widened as he recongised the man and a memory hits him hard. Mickey recongised him as well.
Mickey cries out and when Sora and Riku both turned to look, the king was thrown back by a burst of energy, causing him to hit the ground and lose his Keyblade.
"Your Majesty/Mickey!" Sora and Riku both exclaimed in horror, and then, all of the sudden, young Xehanort then just disappeared, while the time spell around the room begins to waver, and strangely enough, the figures of Deepground, and Kadaj's group also began to disappear.
"What's going on?" Sora asked, shocked, before sensing another pressence and looked up, to see an unfamiliar man in a dark purple outfit, with a monsterious like weapon in his hand, and sinister look on his face, standing on one of the thrones, glaring down at them.
"You cannot change your fate, Keyblade wielders. You may destroy Xehanort, but the real war will soon begin, not the one you are expected to enter, but one that will decide the fate of all life." said the man before he vanishes into darkness.
"You!" Riku hissed, as he, Mickey, and everyone else who instantly realised by the other two's expressions that this man was trouble and all summoned their weapons, including Myde who knew that it was his best way to defend himself.
"You were all fools to believe you would be the ones to save the Realm of Light. It is impossible." The man continued.
"Who are you?" Isa demanded, his own Keyblade out for once since he knew he needed to use it more often than not.
The man just continued to glare at the group, ignoring Isa's question and said, "No mortal will have the power to stop the dark gods from going into battle against the gods of light. Mark my words, warriors of light. This was planned many years ago."
Before any of them could demand any more questions, the man then disappeared into a corridor of darkness before they could stop him. (~End Caius Ballad's Theme~)
The group all glanced at each other worriedly, before Zack asked the question everyone else was thinking, "Who was that?"
"I don't know." Cloud thought, "But...he kind of reminded me of Sephiroth."
"He attacked us when Sora, Mickey and I tried to save Rufus and Vincent in the Realm of Sleep." Riku said. "What did he mean by, 'the real war will soon begin'?"
"Dark gods going into battle against the gods of light?" Terra repeated the words the man told them. "Did he mean the gods in Olympus Coliseum?"
"We should go there right now." Aqua told her friends. "I fear that Hades could already be siding with Chaos."
The group nodded in agreement, knowing that now that they found Aqua's keyblade and armor(and her glider), they had to make haste in reaching Olympus Coliseum to meet up with Angeal and Genesis and then locate answers, and if they had to, join up with Sora and his group at Port Royal.
Back in Midgar, Roxas, Vincent, Rufus and Turks arrived back at the WRO headquarters and spoke with the Commissioner of the Organization, Reeve Tuesti, the former director of the Urban Department of the ShinRa company, then arrived at the cells where Shalua and Shelke were held in. The two sisters knew something Roxas, his friends and their allies didn't, and it was time to get the Rai sisters to give them answers that they needed.
Tseng and Elena were there, waiting for them just outside of the cell door. Both of them were banaged with small patches on their faces, Elena's left arm was almost heavily bandaged, and while Roxas and Vincent couldn't see it, Tseng's chest was banaged as well underneath his suit.
"Are you alright, sir?" Tseng questioned to Rufus.
"Perfectly fine, Tseng. Thanks to Roxas, Reno, Rude and Roxas's friends, the threats of Hojo, Xehanort, Deepground and the Remnants are cleared. However, our concerns lie in a different reach." Rufus replied, before stating, "But we will worry about that conversation later. I trust Shalua and Shelke Rai have not made any attempts to escape?"
"No, sir. They had not made any attempts whatsoever." The Wutaiian Turk confirmed.
"Good. Then it's time to interrogate them." Rufus ordered. "Roxas and Vincent are to be present as well." gesturing at the said two who both nodded. While Roxas was a bit nervous on the interrogation since he'd never been in one before, Vincent's expression was the same since leaving Yen Sid's tower.
"Yes, sir." All four of his Turks nodded.
Reno then leaned over to Roxas and whispered, "Just a fair warning, kid. The four of us are going to be pretty scary, so I suggest you don't comment on what we do and just concencrate on asking the two ladies. Got it?"
The blonde-haired teen blinked in suriprise at the seriousness in red-headed Turk's tone in his voice. Even now, it was a little scary. Back in the organization, Roxas knew about Axel's reputation as an assassin, well, at least he was told by Lea after Xemnas was defeated. How Axel was cold and cruel before Roxas and Xion came alone, which then, once the latter two came, the redheaded Nobody began to return to the teenage boy that he was before losing his heart, and had also become a big brother to them. Lea once admitted that he always wanted to have siblings and he didn't care if said sibings were brothers or sisters.
Despite not being releated, now Lea had two brothers in Roxas and Isa, and two sisters in Xion and Namine.
But Roxas barely knew Reno who was similiar in personality with Lea, and the two were identical. But the former redhead is a Turk. Who knew what Turks do. Cloud and Vincent seemed to know him better, and Reno is, thus far, the youngest male of the Turks, while Elena was the youngests of the Turks and possibly the only female of the team.
So the former Nobody of Sora decided to take Reno's advice and nodded, a bit nervously. Reno then grinned and offered the teen a small grin, "Ah don't sweat it, kiddo. When you see what we're about to do, that'll be nothing compared to what we Turks did years ago. Believe me, I was far worse, and the Turks were far more imidating and scary. Heck, one Turk named Balto-he even would give me nightmares for what he would do on the job."
"After everything that's happened, shockingly I don't think that's anything compared to...you-know-who." Roxas admitted, though he was a bit spooked on the description of the Turks.
Reno blinked, before he chuckled nervously before standing up straight, and rubbed the back of his head, muttering, "Yeah, I have to admit. Now that you mentioned it, that thing back in, whatever that place was, is a lot worse that I kind of had trouble sleeping last night."
The conversation was cut off when the cell doors opened, and Roxas decided to continue the conversation with Reno later when the former got the chance. Maybe after the mission. After getting answers from Shelke and Shalua, Roxas planned on going with Vincent to Nibelhiem before joining up with Sora and the others at Port Royal or at Olympus Coliseum. He had a feeling that the former was more likely than the latter.
The two sisters sat, handcuffed to their chairs since it was an interrogation. The WRO army surely didn't take any chances with them. There were other chairs in the room and a table that stood in between Roxas's group and the Rai sisters. The President took a seat on the chair opposite to Shelke and Shalua, gesturing both Roxas and the other Turks to do the same, which they did. Vincent chose to lean against the wall behind him, with his arms crossed in his usual stance.
After a moment's silence, Rufus then began, "I trust the two of you know what we're here for." it wasn't a question. More like a statement.
Shalua and Shelke were both silent, until Reno spoke up, "I'd answer the President if I were you, ladies." in a strong tone of warning. Roxas blinked in surprise. The cheerful and friendly tone from the red-haired man was gone. Now it was replaced by a cold demouner, sounding heartless and sadist, but it did also keep his hint of laziness, but other than that...it was as though Reno was a completely different person, a man on his job, taking it seriously 100%.
None the less, Roxas didn't say anything. No wonder Reno said that the Turks were going to be pretty scary during this meeting. If the Turks were this now, then they probably were worse back then years ago. Kind of like Saix and Xemnas. So the blonde-haired teen decided to keep his mouth shut about commenting on this and took up Reno's advice in thinking about the questions he wanted to ask to the sisters who nearly had him, Lea, Isa, Xion and Namine killed or why they were spying on them, about the vessels thing and all that.
"We know that you want to ask us about why we spied on you and your friends, Roxas." Shelke finally spoke, turning her gaze to Roxas, as did her older sister.
"In that case, then Roxas, you shall begin." Rufus said once more, turning to the younger blonde who, while surprised, nodded before the teen turned his gaze back to them.
Taking a deep breath and hoping to keep his cool, Roxas then began, "Okay. Tell me. How did you know about other worlds?" He figured that asking one question at the time would probably make things less complicated than asking several at the time. It would take longer, but he had to focus.
"Through the SND system, I have the ability to send my mind through a virtial reality and collect data. However, certain ones will start to take over my mind." Shelke answered.
"SND?" Roxas asked, confused.
"Synaptic net dive." Tseng answered the question to the boy. "It's a rare ability that is unheard of. It seemed that Shelke is one of those people with that kind of ability."
"Synaptic net dive?" Roxas asked again, only further confused.
"My specialty." Shelke continued, "While retaining consciousness, I project an image of myself into a virtual reality called a network. I can also use this ability to negotiate with data on the subconscious planes of sentient life forms. However, this often involves a great risk to my own sanity."
"Even people?" Roxas was stunned by this information. Even Vincent seemed interested, and Elena was astonded. Reno and Rude glanced each other, briefly in wonder, before the two men focused back on the two sisters.
"Interesting." Rufus thought, "And you and your sister used this data to possibly get into the minds of Roxas and his friends?"
"Not Roxas or his friends." Shalua spoke this time, and the attention was on her. "Sora."
"Sora? That island kid we met just a day ago?" Reno quirked an eyebrow.
"Sora's heart is unlike any other, despite that he really was just an ordinary boy in body, up until he first wielded the Keyblade." Shalua explained, "I'm sure Roxas could remember, but Sora was in a year sleep when his memories were interfered and altered. From the world where Shelke and I had come from, we were both taken from there to the ruins of Radiant Garden, and had followed Sora since then through the SND, which was also connecting him with Roxas and Xion."
"So that means you know where Xion and I actually come from, about our connections with Sora." Roxas realised. "So that means you also know about what happened to us."
"Yes." Shelke spoke again. "When DiZ hid a hidden data within Sora's heart during his year sleep, I was able to enter Sora's subconsciousness to discover his power to save you, your friends, and those who suffered in the past twelve years ago. However, with the crisis of the worlds, it was better off that Sora never knew about the memories of you, Roxas. I blocked those memories in order for him to only focus on saving the worlds and those he actually can save."
"You're the reason why Sora didn't do what DiZ actually wanted? Not that I agreed with DiZ's idea on his revenge against Xehanort in the first place." Roxas was shocked. No wonder Sora didn't have any clue about him as his Nobody up until Axel and Riku told him.
"DiZ's revenge against Organization XIII would only further the destruction of the worlds." Shalua spoke again. "But then you managed to save Axel through Sora, which gave him the chance to revive as Lea, and then-"
"Then Cosmos woke up and asked Xemnas's Kingdom Hearts to bring back Lea when DiZ's machine exploded, then she asked it to give Lea, Sora and Kairi the power to bring me, Xion and Namine back." Roxas realised. "But that still doesn't make sense in why you both wanted us to disappear and stop Sora from saving Ven, Aqua and Terra!"
"We were told to do so. In order to keep the worlds safe, sacrifices had to be made, because the fates of those losts were never meant to saved. According to our superior, it goes against the laws of the Keyblade." Shelke explained.
"Who is your superior?" Tseng questioned firmly.
Shalua and Shelke were silent for a moment, before the former gazed up with a blank but serious expression and answered, "Master Aced."
This only further confused Roxas and the others, as the boy asked, "Master...Aced?" before glancing at the President, the Turks and Vincent who all shook their heads which told him that they had no clue on who this Aced person was.
"Who the hell is this so called 'Master' Aced?" Reno asked.
"We cannot say." Shalua said. "All we know is that he has been asleep for many years, that he was supposed to be the superior of all Unions, and superior of the worlds, because only order is enough to keep peace and balance to the Realm of Light. We found him a year ago. He had a Keyblade."
"A keyblade!?" Roxas gasped. But then, what was the Unions thing? None of that made any sense. And this Aced person was asleep, just like Vincent, Ven and Sora?
"When we told him about Sora, and my abilities, Master Aced assigned us to erase those he saved in order to force him to defeat our enemies in the one who wields the Keyblade that once belonged to an ally that turned traitor. Xehanort was not the first person to wield his dark keyblade." Shelke continued.
"That still doesn't explain about why you called my friends and I vessels." Roxas pointed out. "Okay, so I was Sora's Nobody, and Xion was created from Sora's memories of Kairi, but the two of us and Namine are human now. Lea and Isa got their hearts back, and just recently, we managed to save Aqua, Ven and Terra. Xehanort's gone, and Sora and Riku both destroyed his keyblade. We prevented the Keyblade War from happening."
Shelke and Shalua both gapped in surprise, as the latter asked, "Sora and Riku managed to stop Xehanort and destroy his Keyblade?"
"Yeah that's right." Reno answered for Roxas. "As a matter of fact, the two of us Turks and our President were there to actually see it happen. Xehanort's little group, Deepground, the Remnants and Hojo are gone now."
"Our main concern now, is the true Chaos and if he awakens, Bhunivelze." Vincent spoke up for the first time from where he's at. "What do you know about Chaos and Bhunivelze?"
"So Sora managed to prevent the Keyblade war from happening, because he had allies including most of all of you." Shelke thought. "Not only that, the keyblade Xehanort inheritated is no more. But now Chaos has returned. Chaos, the counterpart of Omega and the God of Discord, created by Bhunivelze and the sea of Chaos from the Unseem Realm, and the hearts of those of the world of Gran Pulse and Cocoon."
"Huh?" Roxas, Reno and Elena asked, confused.
"I'm afraid neither of us know anymore than that. All we knew was what Master Aced had told us." Shelke continued, "Xehanort's keyblade, the true eye of evil. It once belonged to another, and it would grant the wield not only the power to extract their own heart into the body of another who encased themselves into darkness, but also to split their heart into twelve pieces, placing them inside broken bodies or voulenteers, turning them into clones of himself."
"So, Xehanort's keyblade could do that?" Roxas asked, concerned. If Xehanort's Keyblade really had the power to do that with whoever wielded it, then it's no wonder Xehanort was able to take over Terra's body, and then place pieces of his heart inside so many people and had almost done so to Isa and Vincent, had Roxas, Lea and the others not saved them. And if Sora and Riku didn't destroy the keyblade, then whoever else would wield it would end up repeating history as Xehanort.
"That's why different forms of groups could not be trusted." Shalua said. "Master Aced believes that only domination and order will keep the balance of the world."
"Then your superior is a bigger of a fool than my father was and I once was." Rufus said coldly to the two women. "Domination will not bring about peace and balance. It would cause nothing more than forming protesters against the one taking control. There would always be enemies in every corner."
'Peace and Balance is definately not on Maleficent's list. All she wants is to control everything and turn everyone else her slaves.' Roxas thought in his mind as the word domination made him think about the evil fairy. He didn't mention this outloud. They had enough problems to worry about.
"Just one more question." Roxas spoke up again, deciding that he should leave soon and get to the bottom of this with his friends. "Who was the first guy to have wielded Xehanort's Keyblade?"
"Master Aced didn't tell us. He said that it was a name that would no longer be spoken." Shelke replied.
"Well then, I suppose this concludes our meeting." Rufus decided since he and the Turks could tell, the Rai sisters were not going to reveal any more information. "The WRO will worry about your sentence later. Thank you for your time, Shelke, Shalua."
"I must warn you, Roxas." Shelke spoke up just before Roxas and the others could step through the door once they stood up. "For what Sora had done, Master Aced says that he is disqualified as a Keyblade wielder, along with Riku and all others who fell to their fates. Even if you do end up meeting him, you cannot defeat him."
Roxas glared at her, and said, "Since when there were qualifications in Keyblades apart from keeping the world order? Besides, Xehanort broke that rule twelve years ago, and for the record, you guys did to. I don't know who this Aced guy is, but don't think we can't defeat him. Sora stopped Xehanort, so Aced is nothing compared to what we're about to face." before leaving the room with Rufus, Vincent and the Turks, the cell closing behind him and leaving the two sisters locked.
But still...who is Aced? And if Xehanort wasn't the first person to wield that gothic Keyblabde...
Then who was?
A/N: A bunch of spoilers to those who haven't got Kingdom Hearts Unchained X and for everyone who didn't see the demo and are waiting for KH2.8 to come out in December this year. I decided to add the characters from KHX(Chi) to expand the reason for Shelke and Shalua's reasons for messing with Lea and the others in the previous story.
Look out for the next chapter.