The Sapphire Sorceress

Disclaimer: The rights to Kingdom Hearts belong to Disney and Square Enix.

Act 46: Master, Tell Me The Truth

"Fear leads to obsession with power, and obsession beckons the Darkness."

How did I end up in this dark void again? While my body drifted in this endless space my mind began to remember what I've been doing since my unannounced vacation back to Castle Oblivion. Compared to doing assignments ordered by Saix, speaking with Axel, Roxas, and Xion when I was off-duty, and visiting other worlds I never got to see when I was whole being alone in this place was both unsettling and peaceful. The quiet, empty hallways provided a good place where I can think to myself reminding me of the Castle That Never Was. Unlike that place, however, there was no area that was off-limits to me including Vexen's personal laboratory.

'He gathered so much data over his time in non-existence which certainly helped me out.' The investigation certainly took up a lot of time, which I wanted to spend with my friends back at the castle however this was the urgent priority for me. Until this was solved I couldn't show my face again, the fact is being separated from my comrades will only make me appreciate them being around me when I return to the organization. At least that is what I figured until I began to dive into the lore stored in Vexen's computer.

"Namine, she couldn't be this..." Was what I first thought upon looking at the computer monitor in front of me, the lore contained and stored by the scientific officer of our group. He somehow put together the pieces for me that I didn't even consider before, and deduced who the somebody was that created that nobody. She was, in fact, a girl that I've encountered before during my last few weeks and someone who was also a keyblade warrior like Sora and myself before all of this lack of heart situation that I've been stuck in.

"Kairi...That is pretty ironic actually." Kairi seemed like a young, passionate, and strong-willed girl who constantly debated me on my beliefs and the belief of all nobodies; Namine was a weak-minded girl who had no inner strength to defy someone like Marluxia, but both had things in common with each other despite some differences between each other. Sitting back in the chair I was typing in, my hands touched the screen showing Namine's image on the monitor.

"They both care about Sora." That one boy gave them a connection with one another besides simply being made from the loss of their heart, and that boy is something that showed off what each girl has in common. Part of myself wondered if there was a way both girls could rejoin with each other to become whole since I doubted Namine could find a heart as her "birth" was unique even among all the other hollows shells like me. In the end, if I had to guess she would need to return to her somebody...

"Apparently, this is how she was able to effect the memories of Sora, the connection between herself and Kairi must have been able to make her manipulate the memories of him and those who were close to Sora." That explains how her ability could work around Sora, which was used by Malurixa in his failed coup against Xemnas.

'She's a witch underneath that innocent face!" I guess Larxene's words did have truth to them in the end despite feeling sad-no I can't really express pity rather pretend I felt guilty about Namine's situation. At least she will be okay in that mansion and not stuck in this place by herself once again, so that left me dealing with the other big piece of information I've discovered out of Vexen's data files involving someone else I didn't expect to hear about from this man.

"Xion's report..." The idea of Vexen knowing about he was one thing certainly we each knew about the other members of our group. That said if this report was considered top secret there had to be something important in this file on this computer. The question being what exactly was being held back from me since the files were in heavily encrypted codes that required a lot of work to unlock and read fully, which must be worth this amount of work considering how well Vexen locked down this information.

Looking back I wonder if I should have poked around with that computer considering what happened shortly after I began to leak out data on Xion, the logs about her condition, and many other things I might have been better off not being aware of...until the damn thing crashed on me in the middle of the data mining process. Apparently, the power somehow was cut from the lab, and I wasn't sure how to restore the lights in that portion of the castle beside heading further into the basement.

'I knew the only two ways this could happen were faulty wiring or...something or someone cut the feed to this lab on purpose.' Heading down to the lower areas of the castle I did notice a lot of wreckage from the last time this place had been occupied by somebodies and nobodies. Likely this was the work of Riku considering Sora spent the majority of his time in the upper levels. That idea was thrown out when I got a better look at the bite marks covering a few of the wires hooking up the live electricity throughout the lower basement areas.

'No mere person could do this kind of damage.' Between the chewed-up cords, wrecked pillars and monitors, and the ruined hallways I suspected this was the work of a heartless or some other beast from the darkness. Deciding to use the other monitors recording footage of the castle even today I observed the previous few days on the Nomura-o-vision screens. Looking for any strange activity nothing was coming up at first while I continued going through the series of footage. The storage of video wasn't giving me anything until a reel from about 10 days ago came into focus on the screens.

"Huh? The wires are still fine even back to nearly a week ago?" It seemed like the cables were still in perfect condition a near week ago, but then something happened as I observed the feedback from the recorded footage. Whatever took place in the basement must have occurred around this period of time I figured to myself, which ended up happening as suddenly the footage was cut off abruptly. The black screen made me realize my instincts were spot-on with that assumption on the date when this happened or rather what happened.

Rewinding the tape I could see strange shadows appear in a few clips, the harbingers of the dark indeed had been roaming around the place once again. Without the members of the organization to keep them in line, they've already begun to run over the castle once again. This meant I was also in danger of being attacked since they acted more rabid than the usual brands of heartless.

They would never stop hunting for hearts throughout the universe, and nobodies won't stop until they regain their own hearts. There had to be a way to break such a vicious cycle of misery for everyone, but the only solution thus far was using a keyblade's chosen to slay the monsters to free the lost souls within. I was no longer able to use such a weapon to free my own heart from the clutches of darkness, but perhaps someone else could do it like Kairi or even Roxas.

'I wonder if...that will free myself from this fate.' Considering each nobody is the hollow body without their heart that idea of there being heartless containing my lost soul would make sense. Still, I don't understand why that method would restore myself to normal with Xemnas wanting to construct an artificial Kingdom Hearts to fulfill that method instead...

Whatever. At least I know that I wasn't alone here, and I would need to hasten my investigation along with finding Ventus in this castle. First order of business was getting the power back on, which certainly was easier said than done.

"Phew...I should be grateful Vexen actually decided to keep a repair book instead of storing everything on a computer." Surprisingly dangling around the new electrical cords left over from the team assigned to this castle was not the hard part rather getting them connected into the right sockets. I wasn't exactly the best at this sort of thing, so when I kept getting shocked by the live wires I had to mess with my uniform had gotten a bit dirty and tattered in the process along with some dirt getting on my face.

'What is this feeling...heartless!' Sure enough, those predators began to come out of the darker parts of the room, but they looked different from normal shadows. Their bodies seemed more humanoid, the limbs longer in size, and they felt more powerful in their strength. Alongside them were those huge ball-shaped heartless that gave me trouble when I explored the upper areas; that was then however and I am not exactly a new nobody trying to understand her place in the world anymore.

"There are people waiting for me to get back home! You monsters won't hold me back anymore!" Yelling out with pride I began my attack on the enemy with no hesitation in my body or mind. My fans were beginning to crack under the pressure of the previous battles, so I couldn't play around with these creatures as I felt my body undergo the full power of my Lore ability.

"Time to blow you all away!" With my magical strength, my Aero spell caused most of the heartless to get spun around the area, which made them easier to strike with my Monsoon. What I didn't expect was the fact my enemies were capable of moving through portals of darkness as well, the one behind me got the drop on my backside.

'They're no pushovers...' I could feel a sting in my body despite not having any real emotions, the memories of being stripped of my soul must have been creating this feeling. This wasn't fear...I had to remember that I couldn't be human or think like one without a real soul to prove that I truly exist. The colder I felt the stronger my abilities would get, the confirmation of my status as a nobody.

"I have a right to exist, the monsters who seek out hearts for their hunger have don't deserve such a luxury!" My fans were striking back at the enemies in the room while I began to charge up another spell attack in the form of Aqua Breath. I could sense the water in the air become colder by the second as waves of liquid formed into bubbles, the balls of H20 charged at the faster moving heartless shadows. Combined with the wind-based magic this attack ensured they wouldn't be able to move out of the way in time.

I couldn't help grinning as the enemies who ripped away my life were now the ones being hunted by my newly-discovered powers. This ability certainly helped eased my despair of not being a somebody when this was the benefit of my training. Yes, the roars of pain from these beasts were music to my ears but I was craving to dish out more punishment for everything such monsters as this put nobodies through. My powers were only growing stronger as these heartless quickly faded into dust.

'Would others consider this sadism? Perhaps I've picked up a few nasty habits from the likes of Larxene, and speaking of that..." Looking over at the wires of electricity I decided to play with the last remaining shadow beast that was trying to crawl back up with his comrades being reduced through my magic. With the heartless struggling to move-I used Haste to quickly strangle the beast in the cords while stabbing it with the live socket making a "taser" out of this cable.

"Don't like that, huh? That must hurt, a shame I can't really share that feeling since you monsters snatched away my soul!" Watching the soulless abomination howl out in suffering my grin increased into a manic-looking smile, and I couldn't help a fake giggle of happiness from coming out of my lips.

"You better let your friends know that if they mess around here again then you will all get this treatment!" Dropping the cables away from the beast's neck I'd hoped it would take heed to my painful warning, the mistake was evident when it simply charged at me once again only to get stabbed in the chest while I saw it fade away with a cold, emotionless expression covering my face.

"That is what makes us nobodies superior to you pitiful, hopeless, and thoughtless heartless." Turning back to the beast's ruined form I went back to the task at hand, which empowered the basement area once again. Looking back I was wondering if torturing that heartless was necessary. They couldn't understand things like negotiation, so what purpose did that all serve to me exactly? Let me see now...ah right I decided to explore more of the castle while the computer was rebooting, which might explain how I ended up back in this realm of unconsciousness pondering my own thoughts.

The hallway where I discovered the secret area was in fact near the entrance of Castle Oblivion. I suppose it would be fitting such an important hidden path could be found at the beginning of this fortress and the pathway up. The panel was almost identical to every other piece on the wall, but this panel was colored slightly differently than the other spots. What also made it stand out was the surface that had a different kind of paint on it unlike the other parts of the wall, so I took a chance to press and it revealed a hidden pathway in the floor.

"I certainly made this place quite a complex labyrinth-like he wanted." The complement would be more rewarding for Eraqus if he was here with me. Despite being so judgmental about Terra he did try and keep me, Ven, and Terra on the right path in our lives. Without him, each one of us was lost under the machinations of Xehanort, and now we had been separated from one another...until now. This small step was going to lead me down the path to finding one of my precious comrades despite how long he was stuck here, the former keyblade warrior would be thrilling to see my face again...at least that is what I hoped would be the case.

That is when reality smacked me in the face in the form of the armor belonging to my old Keyblade teacher and master. I couldn't believe that is was here for any other reason besides my past self-placing it here as a final line of defense against intruders, but then I saw the final security measure put into place...a keyhole blocking the path further into the castle.

"A...dead-end..." There was no possible way I could move on the past this point without my keyblade, and even if I had one...

"AHHH!" Then, I remember fighting the soulless armor standing in front of me. Unlike the heartless, it was far more quickly in speed, greater in attack power, and certainly able to think and move with greater efficiency than those creatures. With simply one move it actually sends me to the ground despite casting Slowga on the inanimate armor belonging to my former master. The strength of this suit was evident with my body being on the floor while this huge piece of armor lumbered around to stand in front of me.

"Remember, there are no winners―only truths, for when equal powers clash, their nature is revealed."

"Master?" No, he couldn't really be here despite this piece of metal belonging to him. Was it a simple memory that was brought out by seeing this old thing again? Then, I saw the Master's Defender come down to hit me right in the face. Despite not being the real genuine article it certainly reminded me of when Eraqus would train us. Hearing his voice through the memories I had when he was teaching us, the nostalgia was both pleasant and painful.

"If he were to―If those powers were to prove too much for him to handle, I want you to bring him back to me at once. It's for his own good. I could not bear to lose any of you to the darkness."

Forgive me, master. I know my duty was to ensure Terra would not fall into the darkness, and that is where I failed in my duty as both his friend and your chosen Keyblade Master. If it means surpassing you to correct that mistake, then let this be the first step...those were my thoughts before I was swiftly defeated in battle. I didn't surrender easily, the fight actually surprised me in how long it took before my fall came, and that was with the destruction of my fans created by Vexen's work. Without my weapon defeat was certainly for me as I was knocked around by the metal armor.

'Funny, it seems that my security worked a bit too well in the end.' Ahh, now I can remember what exactly brought me into defeat with my final moments involving crawling on the ground to reach the door that I couldn't open regardless of my actions. In the end, my trip here was mostly a waste of my time except for learning about Namine's somebody and perhaps something on Xion's secrets that Vexen might have uncovered. All of the secrets I wished to know would never be uncovered if I fell here and now...

"Master, I'm sorry..."

Now, here I was swimming through an endless stream of black space with no end in sight or rather lack of sight around me. Trying to find a source of light all there was is nothing, the stuff I am currently made from these days. Calling out to the darkness there wasn't any heartless lurking around me at least, but then I saw a strange stain-glass circle sticking out of the void. I could swear this was a place I've been to before in my life, but I wasn't sure when that time was or why I could have been here in the past.

'Do you still seek the path of a keyblade wielder?'

Huh?! That voice why did I feel like it was someone I knew? Walking around I could see that I was back in my normal attire with no blue lines covering my body. For a moment I thought that my time as a soulless, heartless nobody was a dream; raising a palm over my chest I knew that the lack of a heartbeat woke me up very quickly. If I was still without what made me a somebody, then why am I stuck in this strange place right now? Looking down I could see...Terra?! Terra and Ventus were on the floor with each trying to reach out to one another, but where was my image on this surface?

'Soon, you will no longer exist if you continue moving down this path you're on, Aqua.' Wait! You mean I won't exist completely like I'm gone forever or something else. Nothing response, huh? How could I be certainly this isn't a trick of the mind or someone messing with my head. That is when I saw the floor begin to crack under me, and I couldn't use my magic here leaving me falling down further into the darkness. My body fell onto another surface with more stained glass showing off the images of Sora, Riku, and Kairi with a faded Namine behind her. I supposed that was supposed to represent her being that girl's nobody.

'These three are main players in this game while you likely will serve as the opposition if you can survive the events to come in the future. Do you wish to stay in your position or become independent like before in the Realm of Darkness?'

You must not know me that well random disembodied voice, which explains why I can't trust whoever or whatever you might be...

"I've never desired to be alone, the fear of being without someone else still haunts me ever today." It didn't keep me from fighting off the heartless or having a small glimmer of hope to escape from that empty world, so what makes you think I will stay here if Roxas, Axel, and Xion are waiting for me to come back in one piece!

'Are you sure they want you back? That she wants you to come back?' What do you mean by that exactly? That she means Xion-and that she doesn't want me to return to the organization. Turning around I saw a figure in black, the uniform resembled the outfits nobodies like myself wear all the time. Running over to the figure I couldn't grasp the shoulder of whoever was hiding under the hood, which seemed to be transparent all of a sudden.

"Your actions might result in a better future, but they also can ensure Xehanort's victory as well. It will be on your shoulders to either reclaim your lost self or remain as your current self...' Great more cryptic words that are meant to confuse me. Hold on why is this figure turning around, the left arm I noticed suddenly reached out to me like it wanted me to shake its hand or something.

'Rejoice, you will soon have everything you desire as will I...'

That voice sounded low in tone-I knew who this voice belonged to and it was definitely a female speaking to me...

"Xion?!" I knew this might be some illusion, but hearing her again while being stuck by myself for a few weeks made me happy. She didn't move from her position or even move the arm still extended out for me to shake. Should I offer out my hand to her? Was this some kind of bizarre test I had to answer for this random voice in my mind? What if I refused to take that gloved hand then? I suddenly felt the floor get black again like before in that horrible nightmare with different yellow eyes peeking out-the heartless!

'You wish to destroy the heartless even without a weapon? Can you even survive the darkness which once claimed your light? You've tried many times to stop the darkness, and yet in doing so, you have unwittingly become the very thing you seek to stop.'

"Are you referring about darkness? What of it?! If Riku and Terra have taught me anything it is that all darkness is not evil in nature, the people who use it for a sinister purpose are the ones who should be stopped!" Looking back at the hand and feeling the liquid black substance around my feet I stood my ground regardless of what exactly is going on right now.

'Such determination is why you were blessed with the power of the keyblade.' I could feel the figure suddenly take hold of my hand, which made her reveal part of her face under the hood, and a smile was being shown to me that looked rather disturbing.

"You will grant me, even more, strength once you're part of me...'

This is just like before when I was inside of the Chamber of Repose! Xion was saying this same stuff back then, but I wouldn't let this happen again! My legs tried pulling themselves out of this sinking liquid that reminded me of the quicksand in Agrabah. Xion like before was grabbing my body, and I could feel myself getting sucked into her form as she was sapping away my strength.

"What does this mean?!" Why is this illusion of Xion doing this to me? She isn't my enemy rather a precious comrade, so what is making her do this?!

'Don't you understand? The truth is still lost to you along with your keyblade...'

The truth is what I want to know more than anything, but why does it involve Xion. As I watched the hooded figure suddenly pull back, she began to writhe around like she was in some kind of pain before screaming out.

'H-Help me, Aqua. Ple-ease don't let them do-' She yelled out as her body suddenly went motionless, much a puppet who's strung were suddenly cut. Then, the head moved upward as the pale face of Xion's was replaced by tanned skin...

"Don't let the influence of others stand in your way," The voice changed, which put me on guard about who was now under the hood even while my body was sinking into the darkness. "You need to find Ven no matter what."

Yes, I do wish to see him again...

"Gather your strength, retrieve that power you are entitled to have, and become the keyblade master you were chosen to be!" Just like before my nightmare reached its climax with the hood revealing a parody of myself with the ears and yellow eyes of that old bastard who ruined my life.

"Are you going to let your old master school you even after all this time or not?!" This is not real! I am not here right now with this fake image, but then a very real hand grabbed my hair tightly make me gasp out in pain.

"Wake up and complete your mission!" Hearing a warped version of myself give me this motivation was almost enough to make me laugh at this, on the other hand seeing this mirror image of myself grab me by the throat with those disturbing yellow eyes peering into my face was nothing I should be laughing at. The cold, lifeless liquid began to reach up to my neck as I thought I was looking at Xemnas instead of my own twisted image.

"The heart...you mustn't allow that girl to destroy your-no our heart!" What? What heart are you talking about?

"Hmm, I suppose it doesn't matter in the end, but regardless of what happens next you must regain the power of your keyblade." A bright light suddenly broke through this sea of darkness, the liquid covering my body faded, and I could no longer see the strange woman who was speaking to me a few moment ago. My body fell onto the cold floor. The heartless were now gone, which let me crawl away from this strange dream or perhaps reality I was stuck in with another figure holding out a hand for me to grasp...

"Wake up already, sleepyhead!" Hold on this was a male voice this time...and it belonged to Axel? Why was he here trying to pick me up off the floor...of Castle Oblivion? My eyes looked around to find myself no longer next to Eraqus and his old armor rather my personal area in the castle. He must have taken me away from danger, and that must have meant that was merely another dream I experienced or what I hoped was simply a bad nightmare affecting my head. The firey-redhead of nobodies waved at me while I got up off my bed shared with Larxene.

"So, did you and sparky say anything in this room off-limits to boys like me?"

"Don't joke about that. Not that nobodies like ourselves can really have a sense of humor..." Sighing I didn't want to discuss anything about Larxene considering the place I was in while speaking with my other friend.

"Oh, damn I didn't realize how much you cared about her. I'm at least grateful you all of all people could sweeten up that sourpuss, she usually treated everyone else like they didn't exist or a piece of meat to play with."

"Believe me, Axel," You wouldn't know the half of it. "She was like the rest of us in that deep, down withing herself she just wanted to have a heart that wasn't broken." If she regained herself her life would still be filled with hardship, but I truly believed she deserved redemption despite her actions and feelings displayed to everyone in Organization XIII.

"Is that why you've been working so hard with Xion and Roxas?" Axel's concern was evident as he was bound to question my reasons for ditching every back at the other castle. And that answer, the truth would not be something he might not want to hear from me.

"I can't go back until I get by my keyblade...and my friend." Looking at the broken fans on the floor Axel likely knew that I was now without a tool for assistance, and despite having my magical skills I would be a sitting duck.

"Hold on a minute," He held out his hand to try and boost morale within me. "You can still bust out plenty of spells, so what if you don't have Vexen's dumb weapons to help you now."

"You don't understand it isn't just the lack of a weapon. When I was fighting Master...no my previous master's old Keyblade Armor I began to wonder about the truth. Down in Vexen's lab area, I learned who was the somebody of Namine, but most importantly I found stuff on Xion."

"Xion? What in the name of Moogle was Vexen doing in that cruddy old place of his..."

"I am yet unsure about that, the data files currently are still being download as we speak, but it will take some time before they can be finished with decoding the information." That is why I wanted to seek out my other goal of finding the Chamber of Waking, which almost came into completion before literally and figuratively hitting a dead-end.

"Can you tell me the truth about Namine or Xion?" I knew Axel would not stop bugging me, so I explained the deal with Namine and Kairi while leaving out what might be going on with Xion and the word Replica. He took it pretty well considering what he had to do with Namine during her stay under Marluxia's clutches.

"Huh. All that time and none of us could put the pieces together about who Namine was "born" from. It kinda makes us seem a little dumb now that you told me, a silly thing in hindsight."

"Not really, Axel. How would we guess that the nobody of a keyblade wielder was a girl who had to survive on her own for quite some time? If you're wondering I don't know how she is doing in that mansion, but I doubt that I will be able to see her again until I can use my own keyblade again."

Axel suddenly took hold of my hands, his eyes staring at me with a pretty serious look in his eyes.

"You HAVE to come back! If you don't return you will be considered a traitor, the fate of such people...is becoming a mere Dusk." Gulping I knew that my actions were moving on a slippery slope, as it could lead to a horrible fate. I had to return with something of worth, but I can't lose myself either...

"Do you think that you can stay for a few more days? I know that I'm close to something here, and if I can just keep diving further in the answers will finally be known to me!" What I had to know is...will Axel stay with me or fulfill his missing, and drag me back kicking and screaming.

"Heh! You really think I would let you hang out in this dreadful place by yourself. Remember that you aren't in Namine's situation. You are not alone, Aqua oh err Auxaq." Yeah, I guess that is what makes me lucky. Even without a soul, there are people I can count on to help me. Looking up at the ceiling I wondered if Eraqus was looking at me from some place, watching my actions to regain my heart along with everyone else.

'Are you happy with me, Master?'

[ Kind of a fluff chapter with little development, but I felt like we needed to slow down after last time. Anyways Kairi will confront Aqua's heartless next time, so perhaps the heart stuck inside will be freed thanks to her. Close to 50 chapters so far in this series, and we still not close to the finish line as there will be plenty of more twists, turns, and roadblocks along the way. Thank you for sticking around to read as usual guys. ]