Disclaimer: I don't own the characters; all credits go to the game!

He opened his eyes and saw an old man standing next to him; he was staring with a pair of weird yellow gold eyes. The old man grinned. The boy himself was lying on a ground covered by sand in open air and felt exhausted. When he tried to sit up straight, it felt like he was using his muscles for the first time, they felt heavy as lead. What was he doing here?

"Where am I?"
"You're at the keyblade graveyard. A fading memory of the past."

The boy looked around, and saw more than a thousand keyblades pinned on the ground. It seemed to be a desert of old and rusted keyblades, who were definitely not fitted to fight anymore. Why was he here? But more important...

"Who am I?"
"You're now one of the thirteen seekers of darkness, a creature of my making named Vanitas."

The boy felt weird; would he be satisfied by this answer? He felt such emptiness in his chest that he couldn't stand it. What was his purpose in this world? How could he fill this empty feeling?

"I'm Master Xehanort and you'll become whole if you do as I say."
"I'll become... Whole?"

Vanitas' attention was now on Xehanort. If this man knew how to make this empty feeling go away, then it was worth doing what he said... Xehanort turned towards the keyblades.

"Behold. These lifeless keys used to be full of power, united with the hearts of their masters. On this barren soil, keyblades of light and darkness were locked in combat... As the great keyblade war raged, countless of keyblade wielders gave up their life in search for the one, ultimate key. The X-blade."

Xehanort turned towards Vanitas who stood up.

"And you're a part of it. That's why you feel empty. Your heart can't wait to reunite with the other parts of the ultimate key. This is your sole purpose in this life."

Vanitas thought about it. What if this man was right? Then he could make this bad feeling go away...

"Can you already see it? Darkness covered the world once, in legend. We know so little about the Keyblade War, only that it was just the beginning. Amidst the crisis a precious light was found. It is a curious tale, and one worth exploring. They say ruin brings about creation. So what would another Keyblade War bring? When the darkness falls, will we be found worthy of the precious light the legend speaks of? I must have these answers. The -blade needs to be forged, and with it, the door to the Keyblade War unlocked!"

Xehanort turned back towards Vanitas.

"Will you become whole again and help me find the answers I seek, Vanitas?"

Vanitas didn't hesitate, it was his purpose and this man could help him with it.

"Just tell me what to do."

Xehanort smiled at his new creation. This time, it might actually work...

"You only need to gather the other parts of the ultimate key."
"And who are we talking about? How will I know where to look?"
"There are seven of them, all bearing a keyblade. You only need to find four more. I'll take care of the seventh one and the other two are already within our grasp. You'll find them at various worlds: Twilight Town, Hollow Bastion and last but not least, one in the world of darkness. Defeat them and bring them here, if necessary by force."
"And how will I defeat them?"

Xehanort laughed and turned to Vanitas: "I guess I forgot to tell you that you have a keyblade of your own. And no worry, your skills are at a higher level than them. I took care of that, you won't lose."

Vanitas held out his hand and tried to imagine how a keyblade would look like and how it would feel to fight with it. When this man was right, then he himself would soon turn into a keyblade himself. Is that really what he wanted? To be owned by someone and used for battle? He just wanted to be whole, that's all. Something was missing, something that he forgot or lost along the way... If he did what this old man told him to, he could be a little closer to the answer.

"I'll first go to the depths of darkness."
"Do as you wish, you can travel by summoning portals of darkness to where you want to go. I'll tell you some tricks to fight better."

And so, Vanitas got some advice from Xehanort about what he was capable of with the dark power that was in his might. These tricks were dirty, but they meant a quick victory.

"Hurry Vanitas, I don't like to be kept waiting."

And so, Vanitas began his mission to gather four of the seven keybearers by summoning a black portal. When he stepped out of it, he stood behind his first target. She didn't notice him and kept wandering around. It looked like she had been here for a very long time. Vanitas didn't hesitate and sent a black orb to her back with his keyblade. She was surprised and the attack hit her. She jumped out of reach and looked cautious. She had short, blue hair and a blue outfit.

"What do you want from me?"

Vanitas was kind of disappointed that she didn't immediately summon her keyblade.

"Let's fight. Summon your keyblade."
"Do you even know who I am?"
"It doesn't matter. You already lost."
"We haven't even started! I'm the keyblade Master Aqua and I won't lose to you!"

Now she summoned her blue keyblade and attacked him with a combo attack from magic and strength. Vanitas looked bored and dodged it like it was nothing. She attacked again, but now faster. Vanitas blocked it and all her following attacks. Aqua was getting tired and her strength weakened with every attack. Was it because of the darkness? She kept her distance from him. He had blocked all of her attacks but he didn't even show a drop of sweat. What was going on?

"I think you already noticed. You already lost before you even began."

What did he mean by that? Aqua thought about the fight, but he hadn't attacked her even once or maybe... The black orb at the beginning! He had hit her back!

"I'm draining your power, you'll soon pass out and I'm only getting stronger."

Aqua had never heard of that kind of attack and didn't know how she had to reverse it, so she just improvised and hoped that it would be of some help. She had to use that attack...

"Well, then I have to defeat you with this last blow..."

Aqua charged her power for her ultimate combo of light. It was a combination of ice magic, thunder magic and strength. She started showing a white aura and started her attack. She was halfway when her power suddenly disappeared. And she hit the boy with a normal keyblade attack.

"I told you you're too late."
"No... I... It was.."
"It's no use, just sleep already."

Aqua couldn't believe that she would actually lose to this kid. But she lost strength in her legs and had to admit her defeat. The last of her power left her and she passed out.

"Well, that's one of four."

Vanitas lifted her up and laid her on his shoulder. He summoned a black portal to the Keyblade graveyard to give her to Master Xehanort and hoped that he would soon get rid of this bad feeling in his chest. Only three more to go.

Hey everyone! I get the feeling that this chapter went way too fast, but I don't want to make the story too long and there are a lot of things that still wander my fantasy for this story, so I hope you can forgive me!

Thanks for reading! :D