Hello, everyone! Here's a new chapter for Hearts of Darkness! It's been a long, long time since I updated this so I'm sorry about that. But anyway enjoy the chapter! Reviews and really appreciated so I can make sure this story doesn't suck.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or 4 certain character that appear in this story later...

"So, what happened with Ansem?" Lea asked Ria. The two of them were sitting in the town square with Laina and Isa eating sea-salt ice cream. Ria shook her head. "Can't tell you." "Come on." Lea persisted. "Nope." Ria said.

"You know you want to tell us." Laina said. "Guys, I really can't." Ria said. "Whatever." Laina said with shrug. "We'll find out sooner or later."

"Anyway," Ria said getting up. "I just remembered that I have to go pick up my little brother from a friend's house. I'll see you guys later." As she walked off, Laina looked at Lea and Isa. "Wonder what's she's hiding." Isa said. "Something tells me we'll find out soon enough." Laina said staring at the castle.

Ria continued to walk through the streets of Radiant Garden. She stopped in a front of a house and knocked on the door. A woman with dark hair and skin answered the door. "Hello, Ria." "Hello, Mrs-." Ria said. "Ah, ah, ah." the woman said. "I told you to simply call me, Julie." Ria laughed. "Of course."

"Please, come in." Julie said. Ria stepped inside. "I'll go get your brother." Julia said walking off. "Make yourself at home."

Ria wondered around the house looking at the pictures on the nearby table stands. She noticed something hanging on the wall in the living room. It looked like some sort of sword. It had blue swirls at the hilt, and the blade looked like a red sword with points of yellow at the tip as teeth. At the chain was a gold star. Ria adjusted her glasses and stepped closer to the mysterious sword.

Julia walked into the living room with Kota. "Okay, Ria, here's your…" She stopped when she noticed what Ria was looking at. "…brother."

"May I ask what this is?" Ria asked examining the sword closely. "It looks familiar." Julia's skin paled for a second before she regained her composure. "Oh, that's nothing." she said. "Just a old decorative for the house passed down from my family." Ria nodded and looked over the sword again. "Hmm."

"Anyway," Julia said. "I just remembered I'm late for something and I need to get ready. So if you'll excuse me…" And with that, Julie shooed them from her house. "Wonder what that was about." Ria said.

"Ria?"

The young apprentice turned to her little brother. "Yes, Kota?" "When we get home can you make me my favorite food?" "Macaroni and cheese?" The little boy nodded happily. Ria giggled and patted his head. "Of course."

Ria turned her head back briefly to the house. "That sword…" she thought. "I know I've seen it somewhere before."

Julia made sure Ria and Kota had walked off before she pulled out her cell phone and dialed a number. "Hello?"

"Julia? Sweetheart? What's wrong?" a voice answered.

"Ria came by the house today to pick up her brother, David. As they were leaving the house Ria noticed it and started asking questions."

"…how much does she know?"

"I only told them it was a old decoration for the house."

David sighed. "Look I'll be home soon. We'll talk about it later."

"All right." Julia said. As she hung up the phone she put her face in her hands and shook her head worriedly. "They can't find out. We've gone so long trying to forget about what happened."

The next morning, Ansem the Wise brought in his seven apprentices. "Thank you for coming." Ansem started to say. "I've thought about this and…I've decided to cancel the experiment."

"What?!" Xehanort said with a surprised look on his face. Even looked just as shocked. "But Master Ansem, why?" "It is simply too dangerous, Even." Ansem replied.

"Master Ansem, please, reconsider." Xehanort said. "Think of what we could accomplish if we preformed this experiment. All the possibilities." "Enough, Xehanort." Ansem said.

"But-"

"No!" Ansem yelled at him. "End of discussion."

Xehanort looked at Ansem with a slight glare in his eye and then bowed. "I'm sorry, Master Ansem. Please excuse me…" And with that, Xehanort stormed out of the room.

While Ria had been standing quietly with her head down and her eyes wide at what happened, Braig had simply smirked, Dilan and Aleaus had serious unreadable expressions on their face, Even looked even more shocked, and Ienzo didn't say anything. Ansem the Wise rubbed his eyes and sighed before dismissing the rest of his apprentices.

As the six of them left, they ran into Xehanort who was standing there with his arms crossed. "Well," Braig started to say. "What do we do now?"

"Simple." Xehanort said. "We preform the experiment without Master Ansem's approval." The other apprentices voiced their opinion at the same time.

"Hmph. This ought to be interesting."

"Are you mad?"

"Hmm…"

"…!"

"…"

"Are you serious?"

Braig was smirking again, Dilan looked at Xehanort like he was insane, Even was pondering the suggestion, Aleaus was speechless, Ienzo didn't say anything, and Ria looked at Xehanort, not sure if the man was joking or not, though she was positive he wasn't. In the time that she's known him, he's been rather serious about everything he does.

"You would go against Master Ansem's orders?" Dilan asked Xehanort.

"Radiant Garden is a peaceful town is it not?" Xehanort asked. "And Ansem the Wise wants to unlock the mysteries of the heart to learn how to keep it that way. The only way to do that is through discovery. And discovery requires experimentation."

"Where would we even preform these tests at?" Even asked. Ienzo lifted up his head. "There is a secret lab down in the basement of the castle, just past the computer room. I know the password."

"Excellent." Xehanort said. "And our test subjects are already down there." "Who?" Ria asked. "People who have broken the law have been locked down there. It's only reserved for the most dangerous criminals." Braig explained.

Xehanort smiled and looked at Aleaus and Dilan. "You two head back and guard the castle doors. The rest of us will wait until Ansem leaves his study and go to the lab." Dilan and Aleaus nodded and headed back to the castle doors.

David Katzroy opened the door to his house. "Julia?"

"David!" Julia said.

"You said, Ria looked at the Keyblade?"

Julia nodded. "What if someone finds out who we are? What if-" "Julia, sweetie, calm down." David said. "Listen. No one is going to find out about us. No one even knows who we originally were. We were given a chance to escape our previous lives and start fresh, so let's focus on the lives we're living now." Julia nodded and hugged him.

Later during the day when Ansem was out of his study, Xehanort, Braig, Even, Ienzo, and Ria sneaked into the computer room. "What are the passwords?" Xehanort asked Ienzo. "Our names." Ienzo said.

"But there's only six passwords on here." Ria said looking closely at the computer. Braig smirked. "Maybe Ansem forgot to add Even's name. Can't really blame him though. He is pretty forgettable."

"Haven't you heard of respecting your elders?" Even grumbled under his breath.

Xehanort typed in everyone's names and a seventh password was required. Xehanort typed in Ria's name and the door leading to the basement was opened.

Xehanort turned to Even, Ienzo, and Ria. "You three wait here in case Ansem returns." While Ria and Ienzo nodded, Even protested. "What?" he said. "Unacceptable! I'm going with you!" "You need to stay with Ienzo and Ria. Ansem would be unhappy if something happened to Ienzo and his new apprentice right?" Xehanort said./ Even grumbled reluctantly but stayed behind as Xehanort and Braig headed down to the basement. Once they reached the lab they found the machine already set up. Braig opened the door leading to the cells where the worst criminals of Radiant Garden lived.

As Braig and Xehanort approached one cell, the man inside glared at both of them and asked gruffly, "What do you want from me?" "Nothing much." Xehanort said. "Just for a chance to help you get out of here and be a free man again."

"I'm listening." the man said. "All we need is to preform a simple test." Xehanort said. The man looked at him suspiciously. "What kind of test?" "A simple psychological test." Xehanort answered. "All right." the man said warily.

As Xehanort opened the door, Braig pulled out one of his arrowguns and waved it in front of the man. "Just remember to not try anything. Got it?" The man nodded and Xehanort and Braig led the man to the machine. As the man laid down on the chair, Braig strapped the man's arms and Xehanort turned on the machine. A small red beam fired from the machine to the man's chest. The man's eyes widened and he screamed. "T-turn it off! Please!" He began to plead. "Please!"

"Should we turn it off?" Braig asked Xehanort. "Leave it on." Xehanort said. As the man continued to scream and beg he eventually fell unconscious. As Xehanort turned off the machine, Braig checked the man's pulse and was surprised to not find one. "What do we do now?" Braig said. "Lock him back up in his cell and don't tell Even or the others what happened here." Xehanort said.

As Braig dragged the body back to the cell, Xehanort began to write down notes of what happened. When Braig came back, he and Xehanort walked back to the computer room where Even, Ienzo, and Ria waited. "How did the experiment go?" Even asked. "It did not go as expected." Xehanort said. "I'll have to check the results later."

The next morning…

Xehanort walked down to the basement of the castle when Ansem wasn't in his study to get his notes which he had forgotten yesterday. As he grabbed them, he heard a scratching noise coming from one of the cells.

As Xehanort approached the cell and opened the door, he saw a small dark creature with antennae and bright yellow eyes crawling around like a shadow. Xehanort eyes widened when he saw the creature and he hurried to add to his notes.

The experiments caused the test subject's heart to collapse, including those of the most stalwart. How fragile our hearts are! My treatment produced no signs of recovery. I confined those who had completely lost their hearts beneath the castle.
Some time later, I went below and was greeted by the strangest sight. Creatures that seemed born of darkness...What are they? Are they truly sentient beings? Could they be the shadows of those who lost their hearts in my experiments?

Heartless are Radiant Garden now! Yay! So how was the rest of the story? Good? Bad? Terrible? Let me know, please! Thanks! Also, if you watch this show, I put in a Agents of Shield reference in it! See if you can spot it!