Disclaimer: There are too many characters in this fic that it would take forever to list of the owners

Chapter 12 Enter Historia: Stocke's the Man in Red?

A/N This will be a loooooooooong chapter so prepare and there's lots of Maximus if you haven't played the DS game Radiant Historia then you'll probably find the last third of this fic very confusing, but it's my fic so I can do it however the fuck I want ok? Ok

Kairi, Riku, Zidane, Xion, Garnet and Maximus were sitting in the waiting room in the local hospital, Sora was in the A/E room, he had sustained heavy trauma to his head and severe bleeding. Xion was crying, Kairi was shaking with fear, Garnet was comforting them both while Zidane, Maximus and Riku where leaning against the wall with their arms folded and eyes closed.

"Was there anyone in the toilet when you found him?" the doctor had asked when they had brought him in, Maximus had said no but that was a lie, when he had entered Sora was on the ground but for a split second he saw a black haired, amber eyed Sora grinning evilly at him. When he had told Riku this he was shocked "God! Not again" he had said which had made Maximus curious.

Back in the Hyper Bolic Time Chamber when they had been training using Trance there had been a moment where Sora's appearance changed extremely and his power skyrocketed. When this had happened Maximus knew that there was some power hidden deep within Sora and not a good one, not only would if possibly affect Sora but it could also affect Kairi.

He had mentioned this to Riku while they were waiting he started getting really freaked out, "Christ I thought we were done with this bull shit" he said irritated. Zidane and Maximus looked confused "What happened before?" they both asked.

"A long time ago, back when we were children, Sora and Xion had an older brother, his name was Vanitas. He was a child psychopath; he killed animals for fun and badly injured a lot of younger children. Then one night he snapped and killed Sora and Xion's parents. He then…tried to sexually abuse Xion; Sora killed him in self defense" Riku had told them, they both looked incredibly disturbed.

"That's fucked up" said Zidane, Riku chuckled darkly "That's not even the worst part. Before Vanitas died he cast some weird black magic voodoo shit on Sora, transferring his soul into Sora. Now Vanitas's spirit rests within Sora and he nearly had complete control over him, then we met this guy called Garland he told us he could seal away Vanitas's soul and Sora could be free. But now it's seems like that's not the case"

"Garland?" said Zidane confused, Maximus turned to Zidane "Where have I heard that name before?" he said, Zidane looked puzzled but couldn't remember where he had heard that name, it sounded so familiar. Maximus turned back to Riku "So what do we do about Vanitas?" he kept his voice low. The three huddled "One of us needs to keep an eye on him and one of us need to find Garland"

"How are we going to handle this if we're been given missions by the academy?" he pointed out, Riku looked confused "I thought you guys didn't work for the academy anymore?" Maximus shook his head "We can go wherever we want but if there's a mission too dangerous for students we're the ones that have to handle it, we never leave the academy they just make your leash longer"

"Dammit" Riku said, just then the doctor appeared again "He will make a full recovery, he should be able to leave in the morning, he's a fast healer" Riku let out a half smile "Sora's been hitting his head his whole life and yet he's always fine, guess his heads as thick as he is" he joked.

They left the hospital, Kairi decided she wanted to stay behind and Riku knew better than to argue with her when she was emotional, he still had bruises from the last time. He was holding hands with Xion who still looked upset but wasn't crying anymore, he wrapped his arms around her "You ok?" he said as he kissed her on the head.

"I'm just scared Riku, Sora's all I got left I don't like seeing him get hurt like this" she said holding tightly onto him. "He's got all of us and we'll make sure we look after him and Kairi" he said, Zidane, Garnet and Maximus nodded "You guys can count on us" they said.

The five kept walking and they went back to the academy, once they had left two figures emerged from the darkness. "So what do you reckon Garland? His spirit will awaken soon and then there will be nothing that stand in our way" said a man dressed in gold and green armour with large horns on his helmet. "You underestimate those children Loki, the silver haired one has great dark power and you and I have seen what that science experiment was capable of and as for my dear Genome well even I am not fully aware of his full power, I sense that we should take these students with extreme caution" said a man in black armour with a red heart like light coming out of his chest, his eyes were blank and his hair long and grey.

Loki grinned evilly "They were able to defeat an ignorant weakling who was too full of himself, I'm petrified" he said sarcastically, Garland kept his same neutral expression as he said "If I recall they defeated you as well" Loki snarled and walked off "I was weak but since then he has given greater power than any Asgardian and with it I will crush those puny mortals and claim my rightful place as King of Asgard" he said before summoning a portal of darkness and stepping through.

Garland continued to watch the students as they walked away, he kept his eyes mostly on Zidane and Garnet "Your fate has been sealed my dear Genome and your princess will soon be back where she belongs, I look forward to our inevitable reunion, your brother is dying to see you" before he too left.

KHROS

All Sora could see at first was black, he could hear screams of pain in the back ground, warped imagery filled the walls. A screaming skull like face surrounded by warped red spirals appeared it convulsed and stretched out as he began to feel uneasy and nauseous. The warped scenery continued to change the face becoming more and more disturbing.

"Is this another one of your fucked up visions Vanitas!" he shouted into the darkness, sure enough Vanitas appeared rising from the floor; he was dressed in a red and black pinstripe suit. Vanitas grinned and shook his head "No this is more like the future; this is what I live in, what I feel. I was alone and scared and then he came to me. In my dreams and it was through him that I found my true purpose" he said in a trance as he spun around with his arms out.

"What is this anyway?" Sora asked as the room became filled with the screaming face, weird shapes appeared. "This is Giygas" said Vanitas then Sora could hear voices; it sounded like Kairi "Kairi! I'm down here!" light appeared from above and Sora leapt towards it. He moved up and up and then broke free, and then he heard Kairi screaming as he looked round to see he had burst out of her chest.

"Sora! Sora! Doctor please do something!" Kairi cried as she held onto Sora's hand as he thrashed and screamed in his bed, the doctors where moving frantically trying to sedate him, then he stopped and awoke, he blinked a few times and then saw her "I'm fine, just a bad dream" he said in the gentlest voice he could force.

The doctor's ran some checks on his blood pressure and then left the two alone, "What happened?" he said as he straightened himself up. "Someone smashed your head against the mirror in the Motorhouse, don't you remember?" she said, she gave him something to drink, and he shook his head.

"No I don't remember anything" he lied, Kairi looked annoyed "You had me worried" she said slapping him hard on the back of the head "Ow bitch!" he was about to say before she hugged him tightly, he looked confused "Errrm Kairi?" he said, "I'll go get you something else to drink" she whispered quickly before giving him a little kiss on the cheek and running out.

He sat there dumbfounded, not that he was complaining "Why did she have to do that? Now I won't stop thinking about her again" he smiled to himself. He had remembered back when they were younger, he had a massive crush on her and had given her a flower; she had giggled with embarrassment and then did the same thing she had just done.

They were close, they always had been but did that mean he loved her? He honestly wasn't sure, when Riku and Xion had confessed their love for each other he had accepted it and had never really thought about who he loved. He was too busy trying to stop Vanitas from taking him over and killing someone. He knew he loved her but did she feel the same? She had been trying to tell him something last night but they had been interrupted by his possession.

Outside Kairi was pacing back and forth; she didn't know what she was doing. She had never had this problem with Sora before, she couldn't believe something as simple as a childhood crush was affecting her, after the incident with the clown demon recently and the event of last night she had been terrified of losing him, he was her best friend but she knew she was kidding herself when she said he wasn't anything more.

She quickly grabbed a can of some soda from a vending machine and went back to his room, he was still lying there but he was reading a magazine "Hey I brought you some soda Sora, hope you enjoy it" she said as she went in, she set the can down and was just about to leave when he grabbed her hand and pulled her back "Sora?" she said her cheeks flushing.

He sat up and placed his hand on her cheek "Kairi" it was all he said before they moved closer and closer to each other, they were literally centimetres apart when the doctor walked in "You can leave now Sora" he said, they both jumped away from each other, faces bright red. "I'll see you outside" Kairi said quickly before leaving without looking at him.

Sora wanted to punch himself "Great now she's gonna think I'm a freak" he said to himself as he got changed out of his hospital clothes and into the clothes Kairi had brought over last night, he remembered when he had first woken up to see her curled up next to him, it had made him relax instantly. When he had changed he left and found Kairi standing outside talking to Riku and Xion, they both looked up and grinned when they saw him and Xion ran over to give him a hug "Sora! You're ok right? Anything serious? Did you remember who did this to you cause when I find out I'm gonna kill them for hurting my big brother" she said, Sora laughed; she always looked adorable when she was angry.

He put her in a playful headlock "Who'd be scared of a little goon like you?" he said laughing as she pulled herself out and punched him lightly in the gut, he pretended it hurt. She looked surprised and pressed her hand against his stomach again "Damn, you really did work out when you were in that Chamber. Hey Riku, come here, Sora's got better pecks than you!" Riku looked annoyed and walked over to see for himself, "Aye right, Sora's a twig compared to me. You see this? Working out straight for six year baby" he said flexing his muscles in an overexaggerated way.

"Or just jacking up on steroids" said Sora, Riku went to punch him and Sora dodged easily "Fuck you, I'm still better looking" said Riku flexing his muscles "And I've got a bigger dick, so I think I'm where it's at" replied Sora, earning an interested look from Kairi that he failed to notice. "Yeah well all that earns you is a punch to the bollocks" said Riku and hit Sora between the legs, "Oh fuck!" cried Sora as he collapsed in pain, Riku ran away howling with laughter as the two girls helped him to his feet "Boys" the two girls said as they dragged the still in pain Sora away.

"By the way Yen Sid need to speak to us so hurry up and drag his ass over there as soon as!" shouted Riku as he jogged away, leaving the two girls and the crippled Sora. "Motherfucker, I'll get back at him for that" said Sora still in pain. "Use Trance when you do" said Kairi; she looked very annoyed which puzzled Xion.

"Ummm Kairi? You ok? You looked annoyed" she said concerned as she helped Sora. "I can't believe Riku sometimes, honestly he's so immature and your no better!" she said poking Sora on the head, "Riku's kind of an idiot but he's got guts I mean if we had gotten stuck on an alien planet you would have freaked out the moment we saw any bugs!" said Sora.

Kairi slapped him on the back of the head again "You want another punch to the balls Sora? And for the record I got over my fear of insects years ago" she said huffing. "How about the other day when you had to sleep in my room because you were convinced there was a huge spider in your room, which there wasn't" said Sora raising an eyebrow, Kairi suddenly looked embarrassed.

"No I just ummm…never mind! Let's move we're wasting time" she said marching away leaving Xion and Sora alone, "Sometimes I wonder why I became her partner" he said, she giggled and nudged him in the chest "Cause you love her" she teased, it was his turn to be embarrassed "I do not!" he shouted and she laughed, she continued to tease him as they ran after Kairi and Riku.

KHROS

The Mysterious Tower

"I see, it is just as I feared. The Alliance has once again begun to move and from what we have learned they need this Phazon to resurrect the Heartless" said Yen Sid as Maximus and Zidane told him what they had learned from Riku. Mickey was there as well with Donald and Goofy, he looked puzzled "But what exactly is this Devils Machine that the pirates are using?" he asked Yen Sid. "I'am unsure, all we know is that there is some kind of great power residing inside and they wish to use it to transform their army into Heartless, if they succeed then it will be the end of all existence in the universe"

"So we have the Daleks, the Space Pirates, Homunculi, Demons and Cell which mostly likely means all of his enforcers as well. Damn that's a lot of people to be worrying about" said Zidane as Maximus continued to think. Then he looked up at Yen Sid "Master Yen Sid, I think I might know someone who might be able to give us more information, I will go visit him straight away" he said, Yen Sid looked surprised but nodded "I will trust you with that task Maximus" he said.

At that moment Riku and Kairi entered followed by Sora and Xion. "Hey look who's back on his feet" said Aht, Garnet smiled "I'm glad you're ok Sora, Kairi was worried about you" Sora chuckled "Oh yeah I know" he said looking over to Kairi who suddenly found the floor interesting. "I'am glad you're ok Sora but I'm afraid we'll have to leave the socializing for later, I have a task for you and Kairi and it is a dangerous one"

Kairi and Sora stood in front of his desk, they both looked determined which impressed Mickey, "Guess that extra training must have paid off" he thought to himself. Yen Sid straightened his beard and looked towards Sora and Kairi "As you may know one of our ally worlds Halloween Town was taken over by a group of powerful individuals, I'am sending you two to apprehend the situation and restore the town to its previous state"

Sora looked shocked "Halloween Town's in trouble? I hope Jack and the others are ok" Kairi agreed and Riku spoke up "Oogie Boogie told me that the Slenderman was the leader of the group but since he's dead we have an advantage" Yen Sid nodded.

"Once you have restored the town I want you to head to another world called The Great Hunting Ground, it is a world that we know very little about and we want you to go in a represent us" he said, Kairi looked interested "Ohhhh we get to go to a new world how exciting!" she said clapping her hands together. Zidane snorted "Yeah well the last time I went to a new world I had to spend four days in an isolated base in some icy wasteland fighting an alien monster that could simulate its victims and everyone was paranoid and trying to kill each other"

"Killjoy" said Kairi crossing here arms, Maximus nearly puked "Don't talk to me about Killjoy" Aht seemed to agree she looked incredibly disturbed "I still have nightmare" she said, Kairi decided not to ask.

Yen Sid then spoke to Zidane "Zidane I want you to go back to your hometown Alexandria, I want you to remain there until further instructions" Zidane looked confused until Maximus sent him a look and he understood. "Riku I'am sending you to a unidentified world where we have picked up some very strange signals, I want you to investigate, instead of using a gummi ship you will use this" he the look to Mickey who gave him a small blue rocket shaped object.

"This is a Star Shard Riku you can use to travel almost anywhere in the universe instantly" explained Mickey, Riku looked impressed then looked to Yen Sid "Ok Master I'm ready to go. Now how exactly do I get to this world" Yen Sid raised his hand "I will make the shard take you there" the shard began to glow and so did Riku "See you guys later!" he said quickly as he and Xion disappeared.

"I'll see you guys later, take care of yourselves and remember what I taught you Sora" said Maximus as he held out his hand, Aht took and waved at them "See yah later!" before Maximus used Instant Transmission and teleported away. Zidane winked and took Garnets hand "Sort out the sexual tension you two it's not healthy!" before using Instant Transmission as well. They both blushed and looked away from each other.

Kairi sighed "I take it we don't have any fancy cool way to travel?" she said to Sora. Sora grinned and held out his hand "Actually Maximus taught me Instant Transmission as well so we can go right now, ready?"

She took his hand and even that made her feel all fuzzy inside and embarrassed. "You ok?" he said and she nodded way too quickly. "Good luck you two" said Mickey, Sora gave him a thumbs up and they disappeared. Mickey turned back to Yen Sid "Well Master Yen Sid I'll be going now, I need to get back to the Academy, the student are being trained harder than ever and I need to keep an eye on things, Donald, Goofy lets go" he was about to move out when Yen Sid stopped him "Donald go with him, Goofy I must speak with you for a minute"

Donald looked confused as did Mickey but they both nodded and they left the two alone. As soon as they left Goofy turned back to Yen Sid "God this is embarrassing. I mean look at me Pride! What the fuck even am I?" he said in the voice of Envy. "I thought you didn't care what people thought you looked like Envy? Besides we need to stay in these forms so we can keep an eye on our little friends"

Envy growled "How much longer must we pretend to be friends with those twits?" he said pacing up and down the room "Not for much longer, I've sent all of them on death traps. Several members of the Alliance have been stationed there and they will be more of a match for them" said Pride.

"Speaking of which what did you do with the real Yen Sid?" asked Envy, Pride pointe to a musical score standing at the back of the room "He's locked inside there with good old Chernabog; I bet he's having plenty of fun" joked Envy.

Pride waved his hands and brought up holograms of destroyed worlds "Our comrades have been busy it seems, our victory is assured"

KHROS

Krakatoa

"Krakatoa, one of the slimiest most disgusting places in the universe, where all the evil who lost their worlds go to live. It's the perfect place to look for some information about evil figures" said Maximus and Aht stood in front of a steam punk like town. There were tall dirty building with large chimneys and mechanical devices all over them.

They walked through the town slowly, Aht stayed close to him she knew that this place was filled with people who would definitely do unthinkable thing to her if she was left alone. Many different creatures and thugs watched them as they walked past, none of them actually approached but it was clear they were holding back.

They moved to an alleyway and they went down, they found a door and Maximus knocked loudly. After a few seconds a hole in the door opened and someone looked out, Maximus looked into the hole "I want to speak to him" the person on the other side let out a startled yelp and quickly shut the door.

Maximus looked round at Aht with an amused look, "Aht if you please" he said as he moved out of her way, Aht skipped ahead and pulled out a giant mace from underneath her cloak and smashed the door down, she put her mace back and then motioned for Maximus to move "There you go sir" she said politely.

He shook his head amused "Where do you hide that thing anyway" he said as he ruffled her hair, she skipped behind him "Its magic silly" she said, the two stopped as a man with a green afro and 3D glasses was sitting at a desk in front of them, he didn't notice them.

Maximus was about to move when Aht stopped him and put her finger to her lips. She then tiptoed forward and when she was just a few inches away she leapt into the air and shouted "Boo!"

The man jumped off the seat and started shouting and swearing "Son of a fucking fuckedy fuck fucking piece of fucking shit. You fucking trying to kill me or something? When I get my hands on you I'll….oh! Oh!" he shouted when he notice Maximus standing behind her. He ran and backed up against the wall as Maximus walked closer to him.

"Oh Jesus please don't kill me. I had nothing to do with Lucien's most recent rampage through Equestria I swear!" he shouted frantically. Maximus laughed and then grabbed him by the shirt "Relax Wacky Scientist, we're here to him and that's all" he to the Wacky Scientist who nodded frantically.

He knocked on the metal door behind him, after a few seconds a voice came on "What!" shouted a voice that sounded like an old woman and someone who just inhaled a can of helium "Ummm boss there's uhh someone to see you" said the Wacky Scientist. "Tell them to fuck off" the voice replied loudly. Maximus knocked on the door "Open up Kefka!"

After a few seconds the door opened and Maximus let go of the Wacky Scientist "Behave" said Aht to him as they walked into the room. It was filled with potions and all sort of scientific equipment, sitting in a chair backwards was a man in a goofy outfit with many dots and colures, it looked like a clown outfit. His long blonde hair was tied in a ponytail and his face plastered in makeup.

When he saw Maximus and Aht he let out a maniac laugh and clasped his hand together "My, my dear Maximus you have certainly grown since the last time we saw each other, very nice" he said. Maximus chuckled darkly "I see you've been busy" he said looking around the lab, everywhere there were weird potions creating smoke of different colures.

"While you have been stupid Maximus" said Kefka, Maximus turned to him darkly. "Beg your pardon?" he said slowly. Kefka shrugged "Well I would have thought you would have come sooner to destroy me than now I mean it's a bit late is not. I hardly imagine you would find me a threat now?"

" I didn't come here to kill you Kefka, not yet anyway. No I came here for information" he said sitting down on one his many lab chairs, Aht did the same, she knew better than to say anything so she just let Maximus do the talking. Kefka grumbled and fiddled around with some test tubes before turning back to him "Well what do you know what to know"

"I want to know what the Alliances true purpose was" said Maximus. Kefka let out a sigh "Sad I was expecting a better question than that. I thought you already knew? Take over the world! Enslave the universe, you know that sort of thing"

"No not the psychopaths like you, I mean the ones that were so interested in this thing called The Devils Machine, I've heard about it before and know I want to know what it is"

Kefka grinned evilly "The Devils machine is what drew the Alliance together in the first place, it is what influences us. What gave us the ideas, what gave us our strength" said Kefka swaying around as if he was in some kind of trance. Maximus sighed and leaned in "What is inside the Devils Machine?"

Kefka stopped swaying and leaned in close "A being of devastating power, a creature so evil that's its own mind couldn't handle its power; it became insane and was stored inside the Devils Machine which is what conceals it. Inside lurks the most evil and most terrible thing imaginable, it cause absolute terror to any who face it, its name is Giygas. The Alliances Plan is to access this creatures madness and become Heartless"

Maximus looked confused, Kefka grinned evilly "Their entire army will become Heartless and they will simply become his puppets to complete universal domination"

"You mean Giygas?"

"No, who do you think built that machine for him? Before Giygas lost his mind he had a partner who worked with him in their early years. But when he became the mindless monster he is now this other creature became his guardian, so to speak. Alone he couldn't destroy the universe but with an Army of superpower full Heartless he will be unstoppable" Kefka began to laugh psychotically.

"You and your friends are fucking dead Maximus! I would cherish what little time you have left because next time we see each other I'll be making you my bitch!" screamed Kefka as they left his lab as he started laughing psychotically.

"What do we do know Max" as they walked through the town, Maximus looked disturbed. "We need to visit someone, someone we swore we would never visit again" Aht stopped moving, she looked upset "Max… I don't think I can"

He sighed as she started tearing up, he pulled her into a hug "I know but I really have to see them, you don't have to come if you don't want to" she pulled back and shook her head "No it's ok, let's go"

She took his hand and he used Instant Transmission.

They materialised into a room filled with many stair cases floating around them, in front of them was a large staircase and a huge wooden door. Sitting on the stair case were two young children, a girl and a boy. "You have returned to Historia Maximus" the girl said with surprise. "This we did not expect" said the boy.

"Teo, Lima I need to revisit the past" Maximus said simply, Aht squeezed his hand tightly, she looked very distressed. "I thought you wanted to hide your past, is that not why you haven't used the White Chronicle since you defeated the great evil?"

He sighed and looked down at Aht, she looked upset and he knew this was going to be harder on her than on him "There is some information I need and I can get it from the Alliance in the past when they were still in their beginning, that's all I want to do. I don't want to see all of what happened during that time again but I have no choice"

"Well to make things easier for you we brought along someone to help" said Teo. The door behind them opened up and from it entered a man in red. He had long blonde hair and was carrying a small shield on his left arm. Maximus and Aht looked shocked as he walked down the stairs towards them.

"Guys it's been a long time"

"Stocke?" said Maximus in disbelief.

Stocke raised his hands "The one and only"

"Stocke!" squealed Aht as she ran forward to embrace her old friend, Maximus ran forward as well.

"Aht you've grown so much since the last time we met and Max you look even more like a fine warrior than I remembered"

Maximus couldn't believe this "How are you alive, they said you died in the Sacrifice?" Stocke turned to Teo and Lima "I was given a second chance, I wanted to return and now that you're here we can all go back home together"

Aht's face dropped and she looked up at Maximus "Promise me we won't have to see it, I don't think I could handle it" she said as she felt a long bumpy scar on her belly. Maximus nodded and she transformed into his claws, Stocke sheathed his sword. "You ready for this?" said Stocke.

Maximus nodded "Yeah let's go" and together they moved through the open door and out of sight.

A/N Damn this was a long chapter but I really wanted to get as much done as quickly as possible. Now for all of you who are probably very confused as to what is going on with Maximus and Aht allow me to explain.

If you haven't already figured it out, Maximus and Aht come from a different world called Historia. This is where they first met and became partners and where they fought the Alliance for the first time and destroyed their original leader, who I won't name as he'll be seen in follow up to this sub-plot.

If you haven't played Radiant Historia which is the game where Aht and Stocke come from, it's basically a time travel game where you move backwards and forwards in time to resolve certain issues. Here their going back in time to what happened in Historia to find out more about Giygas and who is really controlling the Alliance. I know it's a lot to try and understand but fear not because once I'm down with this fic I'am going to be writing a prequel called Rage of Maximus, hopefully when that comes out more of this will make sense.

The next few chapters will focus on Sora, Kairi, Xion and Riku and what's going on with them. As usual please review and let me know how what you think, I know it's complicated but the next few chapters will be more "traditional" style chapters. Also for all you Soul Eater fans you'll probably enjoy the next chapter very much which is Chapter 13: This is Halloween: Welcome to Slasherville?