So this is my first Kingdom hearts story and since I've always wanted to explore the story of DiZ, seeing as he was one of my favorite characters, and show he was a tragic hero, this was the first place to start. But to start off:

DISCLAIMER: Throughout this story I pretty much don't own anything since it's all based off of Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts II

I

Ansem

For years I have dutifully written my reports so as to convey the true events of what happened ten years ago and even before that. But those documents were merely supplemental records. Records to be read that may perhaps reveal the truth to those searching for it. But what I shall pen here, are the recollections of my memory, for those seeking the full truth of what has happened to the world and my hand in it. I regret some of what has happened in these pages here. But writing it down keeps me sane while I wait here in the realm of darkness. So here lies my document of truth…my record…my final Ansem Report.

My name is Ansem the Wise…and I've been a fool.

X X X

One evening I sat tending to the flowers that lay in the courtyard of my castle. In those days, radiant Garden was of the utmost beauty where the sun shone in on its beautiful pristine marble and flowers and made it shine. It was my home and had been since the beginning. That particular evening was one in a series of pleasant evenings. My guards patrolled the castle gardens as they always did and I propped up my chair and began to read excerpts from an ancient book. I had discovered the old text in the library and was most eager to read it. Given my current research I was most intrigued by any hypothesis I might be able to glean from a text.

Many of the pages were dusty and crusty with a very parchment like paper. Though Radiant Garden had a large library I had still read most of the texts contained there, so for me to discover yet another new book was thrilling and exciting. I opened to page 265 and there found a very interesting passage. It read thus:

Each journey gives rise
to chance encounters,
and each encounter brings
forth a farewell.
When a farewell leads to
a journey, the worlds open
their hearts,
Those chosen by the light,
or ensnared by the darkness.
Friends who share the same bounds,
though their paths may differ.
When you doubt the path trod
thus far, when the hand you
held is lost to you, gaze anew at the heart that once was...
for all the answers are within.

I found this most intriguing. My years had already been spent in trying to figure out the workings of the heart: why did people act in such a way? Were they merely impulses or perhaps something much, much more? To this end, I had devoted much of my life to study it. I had a computer in my study that contained numerous amounts of information on the subject. Still, I made sure not to cause any lasting damage in the process…a wise ruler such as myself should not compromise his position for a bunch of data. After all, that is all it is: data.

Nevertheless, the fact that there was here mention the heart of a world intrigued me. Was it even possible that such a thing existed? I smiled and smirked to myself and decided to go back to reading when one of my guards rushed up to me.

"Sir! Braig and Dilan are here to see you sir!" said the guard to me. I put my book down.

"Bring them in then." I said to him. Braig and Dilan were two of my oldest apprentices, succeeded only by my doctor, Even. I sat there waiting for a few tentative moments before my apprentices entered. They bowed to me and straightened up as I waved off their bows. They were my apprentices and my colleagues not my enemies…

"Lord Ansem!" Braig said to me. He always had a very strange accent compared to the rest of us. "We have made a very large breakthrough in the study!"

"What is it?" I asked, very excited at this news. On my latest experiment of emotions regarding the heart, I was ready to give up until Braig and Dilan decided to take the helm and head the experiment up.

"Ienzo developed the formula for it. It seems that emotion truly does affect the inner workings of the heart!" Dilan exclaimed excitedly. "Emotion can augment the heart, sometimes strengthen it, and sometimes weaken it. Rage seems to give the most strength in the end. Of all things…rage…" I saw an almost unbidden passion leaping into Dilan's fierce purple eyes. I scowled a small bit but soon wiped it from my face.

"Nevertheless, this is exciting! Our research is finally bringing us somewhere."

"Yes, we just need to finish a few tests on them and then we can assert and prove the theory and begin study the next working of the heart." Braig told me. I nodded knowingly.

"Splendid job my friends!" I said to them. "Can you finalize the report?"

"It's already finished!" Braig told me and I glowed with happiness.

"Good job my friends, let us always remember this day in our research." We spent the next few minutes rambling on about how we would continue in our research then they gave me a bow and left. I sat back down and rubbed my temples, certainlyI had always been fascinated by the heart but my apprentices had spurred me on to new heights and made me took my research to a new level. My youngest apprentice Ienzo had supported me in the creation of a lab in the castle basement and I obliged him. But crude methods of experiment were not enough to help me understand the mysteries of the heart.

I ended up constructing a computer room in my study. I took a program froma company known as ENCOM. Now where or what ENCOM was I had no idea but I modified the program for my own use and inserted a few programs in order to protect the town of Radiant Garden. I chuckled to myself a little bit, thinking of how I had been brought to work on this project. I would never have started all of this if it weren't for him: the one with the lost memory.

If I only I knew what I know now...well, it doesn't matter. Any speculation about what might have occured is pointless now.

X X X

Many weeks passed and our research into the heart continued. It became more difficult as we progressed as the heart was more complex, but we still believed we could master its wiles. Another apprentice of mine Elaeus was the one repeatedly reporting to me this week, telling me about the progresses that were being made. True, I was not down in the lab but rather I was doing my own work regarding the heart on my computer...well, that and taking breaks for Sea Salt Ice Cream. It was three weeks after Braig and Dilan's discovery that I finally met with my foremost apprentice: Xehanort. The guards announced him and let him past. He bowed to me and like all the others I waved it off.

Xehanort was a man with brown eyes and hair as white as snow...Heh, it's meaningless to describe him but regardless. He also had a deep voice that happened to be very persuasive.

"Master Ansem," Xehanort said to me. "Our research on the heart continues rather well."

"Yes, but what of the shadows in the basement, are they contained?" I had begun to notice these mysterious shadows, seemingly born of darkness fermenting in the castle basement, but Xehanort quickly assured me that they would not harm the citizens of Radiant Garden. "And what of the door? Have we found a way to open it?" A scowl passed over Xehanort's face, exhibiting his frustration over this roadblock in our research.

"We have not yet found a way to open it." Xehanort replied stoically.

"It is all right, we'll figure it out eventually." With that Xehanort announced he must return to his research and took his leave. I sat reading for a few more hours and as the sun was about to set behind the Rising Falls a bright light lit the sky. I stepped out of my study and saw one of the strangest things that even to this day surprised me and tortured me.

I had always been used to little sprinkles of light falling around the area but I never forgot what I saw. A meteor storm, and I knew not what caused it. The residents were in a panic and I ordered the guards to restore peace and stability as I watched the meteor storm. Chunks of the metoers hit the ground and I picked them up. They were light, pliable, and somewhatsquishky. They could be used for almost anything. After a few moments the storm ceased and all was quiet, though the sun remained as red as it had before. If I had known then, I would have known it was sign of more ominous things to come, but for now I was content with the new mystery as I returned to my study.

X X X

My apprentices and I continued to study even after the meteor storm, determined to find out what was going on around us. But I took more time researching on my computer. Until one day I had a visitor who I did not expect: a small mouse from a far off kingdom. The guards would not let him pass, but I was intrigued and bade him entrance to my study.

"You must be Ansem the Wise." the small mouse said to me. I laughed and told him that indeed I was, Ansem the Wise. He introduced himself as Mickey as he sat himself down. I offered him some sea-salt ice cream but he declined.

"So where do you come from King Mickey?" I asked him fervently.

"Disney Castle, on another world." Mickey answered me and I was shocked as to what he had told me.

"So there are multiple worlds..." I mused on this for a time. "Excuse me, but how did you get here and why have you come?"

"I came here by gummi ship." He pulled out a small block from his clothes that he was wearing and handed it to me, calling it a gummi block. I examined it and found that it was the exact same material as what fell from the meteor storm. I wished to press further but I had the feeling that this King Mickey would not tell me much more. He instead answered my next question.

"I came here because our worlds are all connected. I've been travelin' around and I noticed these shadows popping up all over the place but...I wasn't sure what they were after."

"The Heartless." I responded. Of course I had known that Xehanort and the others had given the shadows in the basement a name, surely a byproduct of our research with hearts. "Yes, we are intrigued by them as well, our problem is...we know not what they want save for the hearts of men."

"Yup, that's what I figure too, after watchin' everything. But after goin' through all the different worlds I came up with a theory: the Heartless are seeking after something. When I followed the Heartless I found a door, that must lead somewhere."

"Indeed, we have a door in our very castle, and yet we know not its mysteries...but still, you believe that the heart is what the Heartless are after?"

"Which means it's logical that they may be after the heart of the worlds!" Mickey yelped out. I thought on this; a new theory, a good one, was brought to the foreplay.

"But what would they do if they reached that heart?"

"I don't know. But I know it's down to someone with a Key to protect them." All of a sudden, in a display of light, a giant key, silver and gold appeared in my new friend's hand. He called it the Keyblade and told me stories of how the Keyblade bearers brought peace...or ruin. But he refused to tell me more on the subject. We talked animatedly for a few more hours before he left me with my thoughts. We had come so far with this new information I only leant back and smiled, remembering the first time I began my experiments. The first time I had met Xehanort.

So hopefully you enjoyed the first chapter, please review and for a sneak preview if you want it: the second chapter will be about Ansem finding Xehanort, a reminiscince chapter.