Before I begin, I'd like to extend both an apology and explanation to my fantastic readers. As you may be able to tell, I've been inactive for quite some time. Because of recent events, one of which had included a kidney stone and hospital stay, I haven't gotten much writing done. As for non-hospital related issues, I'm sure you're all familiar with the hassle of balancing school, a job, and a relationship. I do apologize for the lack of new chapters, and I'm attempting to write more often now. Please excuse the infrequency of my posts, and try to enjoy this chapter, if you think it's any good.

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Asher looked remorsefully at the stars as the Gummi Ship approached Castle Oblivion and the World That Never Was. Odd name, that. It was certainly there…wasn't it?

"What's wrong, Asher?"

"I don't know, Star. It's just…have you ever felt like there might be no point to it all? Like we're just here for as long as we are, and in the end that doesn't make any difference?"

"Sometimes. Sometimes the world seems like too much, and you feel like it might be easier to give up and let it take you."

"I'd like to think we make a difference in the world. I'd like to think that we mean something in the grand scheme of things. I'd like to think there's something more; that even when we leave this world, that we're still somewhere."

"Yeah. It's always more comforting to think like that."

"But where IS that somewhere, Star? We can't see it from here. We're in our world, and those who are gone are in theirs, and there's nothing between. We can't know what it's like, and that's not a pleasant thought."

"I don't really know, Asher. Maybe the other side is what these Heartless are all about. Maybe the other side is darkness."

"I'd hate to think there wasn't anything in the end. I'd hate to think that there really WAS an end."

"Maybe there's not. Maybe the darkness isn't an end. Maybe the darkness isn't cold and unforgiving. The darkness might be warm and pleasant. Inviting to someone after the cold grip of life begins to fade."

"Maybe. I don't know. But if there's light, and that's life, and dark is for after life…where is nothing?"

"Hm?"

"There are Nobodies. Beings that don't truly exist. The World That Never Was. Things that aren't there. And not just those things. Thoughts. Imagined instances and creatures and people. Where's there place? If there's something for life and the afterlife…where does nothing go?"

"I think I get what you're saying. I don't know the answer. People say that nothing doesn't really exist. That it's the absence of something. But that doesn't quite make sense, does it? Think about it, we define real things by what we can see, what we experience. If someone is hallucinating about something, even if another person can't see what they're seeing, it's real, no matter how imagined it is. It's real to them. Maybe nothing's the same way. Maybe people don't like to think of nothing really EXISTING, so they run from it like they run from the dark. But look out into space. What do you see? Stars. That's something. Darkness. That's something too. But…it's also nothing.

"When you get right down to it," Star said, sighing and resting her elbows on the small windowsill-like metal plateau beneath the window, "nothing's there. You CAN see it. In times of pain, you can FEEL nothing. If you're deaf, or deafened, you HEAR nothing. You can even SMELL nothing, if odors are removed from the air you're breathing. If you can feel it, if you can hear it, if you can smell it…isn't it there?"

It might have been obvious to someone else to attempt to say something about how you don't really 'see' nothing, and that you actually don't see anything. It wasn't obvious to Asher, because he was thinking more deeply than someone who might have thought of that answer. He was thinking too deeply, for he didn't have an answer. None at all. Only a question. "What's it all worth in the end, Star? What's the point?"

Star smiled at him. "I think, in the end, it's all about the little things, Asher. We've been given life, something complex and precious and fragile. We should enjoy it. We should LIVE life, because that's life's purpose. I think that, even if there's some divine purpose to life, what's important to remember about it is that it's to be lived."

Asher smiled, but it wasn't exactly a happy smile. It was a smile of one who had thought of those things before, of one who long ago decided what he wanted out of life. It was a weak grin, formed from a fragile joy, out of a small hope of living how one wanted. It was a gentle, world-weary smile that Star hoped she'd never see again. It frightened her. It also made her uneasily sad. Something about him seemed to emanate off, affecting those around him, like an echo resonating through the heart of anyone willing to listen.

"You miss Trista, don't you?"

Her words were met with the same world-weary smile. "Very much."

A particularly grim-looking woman stared into a ball made of crystal, which was being held up by a claw-shaped piece of stone in a main room of Castle Oblivion. "They're coming, Pete. They want to destroy our Heartless and dismantle the castle. And after all our hard work."

She shook her head, tsking. Pete, the strange, overweight, catlike humanoid wearing an outfit that looked like a British flag, knew better than to interrupt.

"We can't have that. Besides, who have we hurt, Pete? Who? I've taken this castle as my own, and I've been content. I've not harmed anyone. If Sora and King Mickey never thought to remove me as this castle's ruler, why should these…these…"

"Runts?"

"UPSTARTS?! Foul, despicable, the both of them. No better than children. Older than Sora, to be sure, but even less wise than that fool was! Brandishing their little Keyblades as if they were invincible. As if they were the bringers of justice to these worlds. How little they know. What is justice, anyway, Pete?"

"Well, I think—" Maleficent cut him off.

"That was a RHETORICAL question, Pete."

Pete's ears drooped and his cheek fat sagged in disappointment. His low voice bubbled as he groaned and managed to work out an apology for lacking that knowledge. "Sorry. I just didn't know, is all. Ask a man a question, normally, you 'spect an answer."

Maleficent's horned, grey skinned head turned toward Pete, her scowl showing without hesitation that she, for this moment at least, disliked him with the utmost intensity. And rightfully so, this despicable creature never saw fit to completely cut his ties from her. The more tightly she squeezed his plump, spineless neck, the more he groveled and begged for forgiveness. It got her nowhere with getting rid of him, and, more importantly, it made her sick. "Stop your grumbling, you pathetic fool, and see to it that our…guests will be properly entertained."

She had no intention of killing the children, of course, or turning them into Heartless. But, misguided fools such as these should be educated as to the proper order of things.

Asher sighed. "Well, looks like we're here. At least the ship set us down right outside the castle. I didn't want to have to work my way through this place."

Star looked back through the dark alleyway, surrounded on all sides by buildings of unimaginable size, dead ends, and branching alleys. "That's for sure."

Castle Oblivion certainly was interesting to look at. A huge, white, medieval-style castle it was, as if it had come straight from a children's fairy tale book. On the front of the castle was the insignia of the Nobodies: a heart that sat atop a cross. Asher never really knew what that meant, and neither had Xanthas. The castle floated gracefully above a seemingly infinite abyss, a hole, void of all things, even darkness, as it seemed. A bridge to the castle was visible in the twilight. It appeared to be made of crystal, and Asher stepped on it cautiously. Crystal was, of course, glass, and glass could sometimes be notorious for not being able to hold one's weight. When he was sure it was safe to cross, he motioned to Star to follow him. "C'mon, let's go. The sooner we get out of this place, the better."

Star nodded, and the two walked across the bridge and entered the castle. The interior of the castle was like an alien world to the two of them, more alien even than anything else they'd seen in their journeys. The floor seemed to be made of metal fused with glass, and it wasn't even close to possible to ascertain what the walls were made of. They were white, but that was all the two could figure. Perhaps—after all, this castle was once the home of a notorious group of Nobodies—the walls were simply made of NOTHING, brought into this world where nothing could be a physical thing, pulling and twisting at the minds of those who couldn't possibly understand. After moving through what seemed to be an endless series of strangely quiet rooms, they happened upon a room where an arena hung from the floor.

Star looked surprised. "This looks like a Pokemon Gym!"

Asher shrugged. He didn't know what a 'Pokemon Gym' was. "Hear that, Star?"

Star quieted herself, and managed to hear a faint sound. It was like music, but strangely…sad? Was sad the right word? Was there a right word to describe it?

"Can't figure out what it is? Not surprising. This…is the Hall of Empty Melodies. The depressing songs of a hundred thousand broken dreams litter this place. Every note is another hope crushed for some reason or another."

"Eerie. But, at the same time, it's kind of beautiful."

"Maybe. Let's just keep moving. There aren't any Heartless here, so…" He paused and looked up at a ledge. Standing on the ledge was a black-robed, grey-skinned woman with a slender body and a face that made her look almost malnourished. She wore a hat with two horns on the side that looked like they belonged to the devil—or maybe they were HER horns, Asher couldn't tell—and her yellow eyes seemed extremely foreboding.

She smiled slightly wickedly. "Welcome, children, to Castle Oblivion."

"Who are you?" Star asked.

"I'm Maleficent. This is my castle. Who, may I ask, are you two? What is your purpose here?"

Asher scoffed. He knew the type: arrogant, confident. She already knew who they were and why they were here; she just wanted to know if they'd lie. Well, it was best to tell the truth anyway.

"We're masters of the Keyblades. Our Gummi Ship told us that there were Heartless here, and we've come to destroy them."

Maleficent laughed. "Destroy them? How preposterous. So, what is your ultimate mission?"

"I thought that would be obvious," Asher said with equal arrogance. "We're going to eliminate all Heartless in all the worlds to bring about peace."

Another laugh, this one louder. "Boy, girl…you have much to learn. You're both young. Not as young as Sora was, when he first started his journey, but just as foolish."

"Listen, lady, don't get in our way, here. We've learned enough about the Heartless already."

"HAVE you, now? Interesting. So, then, I take it that you believe you couldn't possibly learn any more about them through this doorway?" She waved her hand toward a doorway up on the ledge behind her. A staircase appeared between themselves and the ledge.

Star smirked. "C'mon, Asher! I bet there's Heartless in there!"

Asher paused. Something about that doorway seemed familiar. He couldn't quite put his finger on it…

He and Star walked up the stairway and stopped in front of Maleficent. "So, if you think you have nothing yet to learn, then, by all means, step right through that doorway. If you truly are as WISE as you seem to believe, then you will have no problem facing the challenges ahead." Asher couldn't help but notice the disdain in the word 'wise'.

"Fine. Let's go, Asher. We'll fight those Heartless whether she thinks we can or not."

Nodding uneasily, Asher followed her into the next room. When they entered, they could see nothing but white. The door closed behind them, and they saw that they were on a white floor with a white wall behind them. However, when Asher leaned back against the wall to get a full scope of the enormity of the room, he found that it was no longer there. They were surrounded by the whiteness, but could touch none of it, save the floor. If Asher and Star weren't uneasy before, they were now. Before they could say a word, each disappeared from the other's view.

Asher found himself on a platform floating thousands of feet above a busy street. As he looked around, he saw clouds slowly drifting by. As he looked down at the street, he could see the cars like little ants, busily trekking in straight lines, stopping and going, stopping and going. Where the place was, he didn't know. However, he had a feeling he already knew what was going to happen.

He heard a voice. "Xanthas? Ah, not again!"

Asher turned around. Great, it was Demyx. He knew where he was now. "We don't have to fight, Demyx. It's Asher now, not Xanthas. You're just a memory here, brought to life by this place."

"Don't have to fight? You know, that might be a relief…if I planned to run away."

Demyx smirked and walked closer.

"It's too bad. Last time, I thought they'd sent the wrong guy. Now, I realize you're not all that tough. I was just a little…distracted. But," Demyx strung a particularly emphatic chord on his guitar, causing water to geyser out of the floor hundreds of feet into the air, "not this time, Xa—Asher. This time, you die."

Asher called on the Keyblade. He waved it in front of Demyx. "Got a new weapon now, Demyx. I'm more powerful than Xanthas was."

Demyx snuffed a slight laugh. "Too bad it won't help you," he said, lifting his guitar. He played three more chords, these ones silent, summoning four strange water images of himself. "Dance, water, dance!" he cried, and the forms burst into life.

Asher sighed and swiftly eliminated the four water doppelgangers with one swipe of his Keyblade. "You know that never works."

He then moved forward and slashed at Demyx. As the Keyblade made contact, Demyx melted into ordinary water and splashed onto the ground. Asher, alarmed, felt a slight wisp of wind pass by his ear, and brought his Keyblade around just in time to prevent Demyx from driving his guitar into Asher's throat. "That's a new trick."

Demyx smirked triumphantly. "That's nothing."

Suddenly, he melted, just like the fake Demyx before. Expecting another fake, Asher stepped forward, looking for the real Demyx. As Asher's foot splashed into the puddle of water, the puddle began to flow behind him and lift itself into the air. Before Asher could react, it had reformed as Demyx and he was caught in a strangle hold. Asher barely managed to turn his head enough to see Demyx's face, a victorious smirk poisoning his pretty-boy demeanor. His golden hair blew slightly in the artificial wind of the memory.

"Too bad you didn't stand a chance, eh, Asher?"

Asher managed to spit in his face. Demyx, disgusted, let go of Asher's neck to wipe the spittle off his face. Asher took the opportunity to wheel his right arm around, his Keyblade tucked in his body, the blade end pointing outward. As the blade entered Demyx's body, it became evident that this was the real one. There was no blood. Why would there be? Demyx was a Nobody. Instead, he slowly began to disintegrate, his body turning into darkness, finally dissipating several feet away.

"You bastard," was all he had to say before he once again faded from existence.

"Well, that was certainly anticlimactic. Is this the best my memories have to offer?"

As if in response, the scenery shifted, leaving Asher's head reeling. He found himself in the dark streets of The World That Never Was. Standing in front of him was another cloaked figure. "Riku?"

The hooded figure said nothing, only drew his weapon, the Way to Dawn. It looked slightly like Asher's Keyblade, but it was a purplish-black and very menacing. The figure attacked fiercely, nearly knocking Asher off his feet when he went to parry. Asher took a step back. A cocky, adolescent voice resonated from the figure. "What's wrong, Xanthas? I thought you wanted a challenge."

"I'm not Xanthas, I'm Asher!"

"Doesn't matter. You couldn't stop me from getting to Roxas, and you can't beat me now."

Asher gulped. Riku might be right. He shook the feeling off. No sense worrying about that now. He rotated the Keyblade in his hand so that the blade faced back toward him instead of out toward Riku, and brought it around slowly, scraping it against Riku's weapon. The metals rubbing together made an eerie clanging, scraping noise in the silence of the night. He attempted a series of strikes: one to the right shoulder from above, which Riku harmlessly sidestepped. He slashed upward toward Riku's groin, attempting to split him in two. Riku's blade caught his and flung him backward. He attempted to cut down Riku's legs, but Riku easily jumped over Asher and jabbed his elbow into Asher's back. Cursing, Asher performed a successful leg sweep, sending Riku collapsing to the ground. However, as Asher brought his Keyblade up to thrust down upon Riku, Riku jammed his sword into the ground in mid-fall, using it not only to catch himself, but to pivot around and kick Asher hard in the gut. Asher stumbled backward, half in surprise, half in pain.

Asher couldn't see Riku's face under the hood, but he was sure that Riku was smirking. "C'mon, Asher! Try to keep up!"

With that, Asher seemingly vanished into thin air. He reappeared behind Riku, landing a very hard drop-kick to Riku's head. Riku went down. "You know, I REALLY wish I knew how I did that."

"It's the blade, Asher. The Keyblade makes you powerful. Your problem is that you don't know how to use it."

Rising to his feet, Riku stepped back and did a back flip, disappearing from view. Asher looked up and saw him perched on top of an extremely tall skyscraper, taunting him. He looked at the skyscraper and instantly realized that he couldn't climb it on his own. Searching, he found another skyscraper directly next to it. Seizing the opportunity, Asher ran toward the skyscraper, jumping by kicking his foot off the building and landing with the opposite foot on the other. He kicked again. He continued to kick, each kick bringing him successively higher, until he had finally scaled the building, flying toward Riku with an almost murderous disposition. Riku jumped back, and the two found themselves locked into combat, dangerously plummeting toward the street below. Asher attempted a sequence of wild slashes, each parried expertly by Riku. It was like Riku wasn't even trying. With a final parry, Riku tilted back his head—his body following suit—and flung Asher over himself, causing Asher to slam into a neighboring building with enough force to break bones. The cracking sound that followed wasn't pleasant, but Asher was lucky. The building's masonry might have been damaged, but his body was still in fighting shape. However, the shock of the impact temporarily inhibited Asher's mobility, and he began to fall again. Riku landed expertly on his feet in an almost catlike manner. Asher plummeted face-first, his head slamming into the asphalt.

"Feeling the pressure yet?"

Asher amazingly got to his feet. Apparently his body could take much more of a pummeling in this memory-room. He wasn't so sure that was a good thing. "I'm fine. What about you? Getting tired yet?"

"Nope. Not even close."

"Fine, then," Asher said boldly. "If I can't tire you out, I'll just kill you!"

He charged at Riku, who didn't even bother to parry Asher's attack. He simply grabbed Asher's Keyblade by the hilt and kneed him in the gut. "What makes you think you can?"

Asher took a swing at Riku with his free hand, but Riku grabbed it. He drove his knee into Asher's abdomen again, with more force. Almost delighted with Asher's pain, Riku continued to attack until Asher almost felt like he'd been disemboweled. A final thrust caused Asher to choke and collapse into his own arms as Riku let go of him. As Asher caught himself, he looked up, barely able to see the outline of Riku's face under his hood. "That's right," Riku smirked. "Down on your knees and beg for mercy."

"You son of a bitch," Asher gasped.

Riku raised his blade, and Asher expected him to bring it down on him with full force. Asher closed his eyes, waiting for the moment that the dream—and perhaps his life—would end. But the moment never came. After a few seconds, Asher opened his eyes to see Riku with his back turned, walking away. "Come back here, Riku!" screamed Asher in confusion. "Come back here and fight!"

Riku paused and shook his head. "Fool. You lost."

He walked away, disappearing into the shadows. Asher got up, trying to figure out where Riku went. Suddenly, he heard a familiar voice. "Well, Asher…That fight," the person said, apparently trying to hold back laughter, "was a bit less than impressive."

"I suppose you're going to fight me, too, Axel?"

"Aw, c'mon, I thought you'd know me better than that! Sure, I knew you as Xanthas, but you're basically the same guy, right?"

"So why are you here?"

"You didn't keep your promise, Asher."

"What promise?"

"The promise Xanthas made to me."

"Oh, that promise."

"Yeah, Asher. THAT promise."

Asher sighed. "It's not as easy as you think, finding a way out of being a Nobody. I was lucky. I found my heart. I…I don't know where yours is."

"Don't be stupid. Of course you do. It's where everyone's heart is."

"But how do you expect me to get it back to you?"

"It doesn't matter."

"What do you mean, it doesn't matter?"

"I mean, I'm gone. I don't exist anymore. Not just as a Nobody, I was destroyed. Faded back into darkness."

Asher frowned. "I knew the Organization was defeated, but I never heard you died...but…how do you know? You're just a memory."

"I know, it's weird, isn't it? Seems like if you're gone, you're not really gone, y'know? People always talk about people living on in someone's memories…well, I guess this is the literal interpretation. I remember the last moments of my life. I gave it for Sora…for Roxas. I just wanted to see him again."

"So why live on in MY memories?"

Axel laughed. "If only I knew. Doesn't matter, though. Looks like YOU'RE stuck with me, kid."

"Axel, I'm sorry…I really would have gotten you your heart back…"

"Well, it's a little late for that, now, isn't it?"

Asher hung his head.

"Well, what do you expect? It looked like only a few SELECT Nobodies actually got to become somebodies again. I just didn't quite make the cut, I guess."

"Well…maybe there's still a way. Maybe if I can find your heart, and get it back…"

"A noble sentiment, Asher, but I don't think I'll expect you to carry it out. As…trustworthy as you are, you don't always seem to get the job done, if you catch my drift. Anyway, I didn't meet you here in this interesting little dream world to chew you out for not keeping a promise."

"You…didn't? Then why are you here?"

"I'm here to give you a little…Keyblade ethics lesson. Kind of the opposite our pals in the Organization gave to Sora. See, they tried to throw Sora into confusion, because they were using Heartless to capture hearts. When a Heartless is destroyed, the heart can become a part of Kingdom Hearts, or, in Xemnas' case, his artificial Kingdom Hearts. Kingdom Hearts is made of light. However, it's also made of darkness. There is darkness within the light, just as there is light within the darkness. Being Keyblade Master is about keeping BALANCE between the worlds of light and darkness."

"By destroying the Heartless."

"NO! Destroying Heartless isn't enough, and it shouldn't always be done. Heartless are dark, as people are light. They define each other. One can't exist without the other." He tapped his head, pointing to his brain. "Got it memorized?"

"So, if I just keep destroying Heartless…"

"More people will begin to lose their hearts to create more Heartless to balance the loss of darkness."

"And if I don't destroy Heartless?"

"Then the Heartless will take away other people's hearts, also turning them into Heartless."

Asher shook his head. "Then I can't win."

Axel smiled. "Not in any conventional way."