She was weightless, a mere speck of light adrift in an ocean of darkness. Exposed. Mira shivered, though she was not cold. The darkness had never bothered her before, but this vast emptiness was unsettling. Where was Xehanort's heart? Even if she was wrong about him having developed a heart of his own, her master's or Terra's should've been around somewhere... right?
"Where are you?" she whispered.
"Where I've always been, Little Star. With you."
She gasped. "Master? Please, show yourself!"
A pinprick of light, small and barely visible, broke through the darkness, calling to something deep within her heart. Mira floated through the emptiness, following the thread leading her to him. It didn't take long until she came upon a keyhole. Mira lifted her keyblade and out shot a beam of light. It swelled with such intensity, blinding her.
"Well done."
Her eyes snapped open, falling on Master Xehanort's hunched form standing a scant few feet away. "You're... you're here," Mira breathed as she rushed forward, wrapping her arms around him and burying her face in his coat. Master Xehanort rubbed soothing circles on her back while her shoulders shook with silent sobs. It didn't matter to her that such a display was unusual for them; she was finally back where she belonged. Mira's legs trembled, threatening to buckle under her.
"I am. But you shouldn't be, Little Star." His brows knitted together. "Why would you risk coming here?"
"I thought you were lost after your heart..." She couldn't finish the sentence.
"I'm well, as you can see."
She pulled away, peering up at him with teary eyes. "I wouldn't call this well. This is wrong-"
"Nearly everything has gone according to plan, and everyone has played their parts well-enough." A single grey brow rose as he eyed her. "Except for you."
Her stomach dropped. "What do you mean?" Why was he speaking of everything that happened like it was a stage play, or something equally inconsequential, rather than the horrible series of events that it was? Did he not see where they were standing? The stained-glass image under their feet depicted exactly whose heart they were trespassing in. Whose body he'd stolen.
"Namely, your interference at the Keyblade Graveyard. What possessed you to go there? You were supposed to remain safe in Radiant Garden."
"Vanitas invited me." If taunting and insulting her counted as such.
Xehanort scowled. "You should know better than to go off on your own when I specifically told you-"
"I didn't come here to be scolded." Mira took a fortifying breath. "I came here because as far as I knew, you were in trouble or lost forever."
"Cleary, that is not the case."
"Good to know!" Mira snapped, throwing her hands up. "How was I supposed to figure that out?! After seeing what you did in the graveyard..." her voice broke, "what did you expect I'd think when some amnesiac bastardization of you and Terra showed up?!
"Mind your tone," he growled. "As your master, I expected you to obey my instructions."
She flinched. It had been a long time since he regarded her with such coldness, but things were different now. Mira stood straighter. It was her turn to speak and his to listen. "I have expectations too, master. Like training me or at least keeping me in the loop! You instructed me to sit in Radiant Garden and do nothing! I could've helped you – maybe things would've been different."
"My plan did not involve you-"
"Maybe not, but it's affecting my life," she interrupted. "But that's not the only important thing you've been keeping from me!"
"Mira, there are things I keep from you for your own good."
"For my own good?" she whispered, incredulous. "You cannot for one second tell me I didn't need to know you dove to my heart and found a fucking barrier around it! And that it's affecting my training!"
His eyes widened and she took satisfaction from striking him speechless for once. "You read the reports."
"You left them out in the open. Anyone could've found them," she muttered, crossing her arms and looking to the side.
"How much do you know?" he asked tiredly.
"I know enough. You took Ven as your apprentice and tore his heart apart for an experiment, then planned on leaving him to die in the Destiny Islands. You abandoned me in the Land of Departure because apparently my training wasn't as important as Vanitas's-"
"That's not true. I wanted you to make connections with Eraqus's apprentices. You are all similar in age and it would've benefitted you, had it worked."
Mira glared at him. "Oh yeah? I'm struggling to visualize the benefit, given how much your actions have hurt them too."
"I'll admit, I didn't consider that, but the issue with your heart is more pressing than any hurt feelings those connections would have brought you. And in any case," his shoulders hunched a little more, "it didn't work."
"No, it didn't. And knowing that you kept in contact with Eraqus, but couldn't be bothered to write to me at all hurts even more. I felt so alone... I still do." Her eyes watered. Never had she dreamed she'd speak to him this way, but now that she'd started, she couldn't stop. "And when you finally returned, you just dropped me off somewhere else to keep me out of the way because you think I'm weak." Mira let out a self-deprecating laugh. "Honestly, I don't see why you'd bother keeping up this charade if you see so little value in me."
"That's enough, Mira." He rested a hand on her shoulder. "You have never been worthless in my eyes. I never intended to isolate you, and I regret the pain it has caused."
She sniffled and willed the tears not to fall. "What about the pain you've caused everyone else though? Eraqus was your friend... And Ven had been your apprentice too, but you hurt him. After he and Vanitas fought, a situation you created I'll add, he fell asleep and can't wake up. So Aqua went to go find Terra, whose body you stole, and now she's missing too. Her armor and keybade were found in Radiant Garden but there's been no sign of her."
"I can shed some light on her fate, though it will not bring you comfort." Her blood ran cold. "She and I fought in the town square, but I was fighting an internal battle with Terra as well. I turned my keyblade on myself to force Terra's heart out but doing so caused a dark figure to manifest and it opened a door to the realm of darkness."
Mira clenched her fists. "You threw her in, didn't you?"
He turned a reproachful eye on her. "I did no such thing. I'm sure you've noticed by now, but I'm not in control of the vessel." She nodded. "Forcibly ejecting Terra's heart destabilized its mind and weakened my control. Because of that, we fell into darkness. Aqua followed and sacrificed herself to return us to Radiant Garden. Unless she's found a way out, she remains trapped there."
Aqua... trapped in the darkness? "Is there any way to save her?"
"It is unlikely, especially for you."
"What's that supposed to mean? You just expect me to abandon her?"
"The realm of darkness is vast, and without a connection to her heart, you could search for years and be no closer to finding her than when you began."
"I can't accept that. She didn't deserve this – none of us did!" And if Mira did nothing, then every master she knew was out of commission in some fashion, leaving her well and truly on her own. Who would wake up Ven? Who would defend the light?
"Indeed. But sacrifices must be made, and she determined her own fate."
Mira froze, staring at him wide-eyed. "Sacrifices? You can't do that to people!"
"I will if I must."
A tingling numbness spread through her fingers, clawing its way to her heart. She backed away, blinking to dispel the tears welling in her eyes. "Am I also a sacrifice you're willing to make?" Why else would he waste so many years investing in some scrap he found on his home world?
"Never. I have important plans for you."
She shook her head. "I don't want to hurt people-"
"You won't," he reassured. "No doubt my plans have seemed cruel to you. But my intentions are good. The worlds are saturated either in light or in dark, and very few exist in between. I will restore the balance and unite us all under one sky."
"But you almost plunged us into darkness with your little keyblade war. How was that supposed to help anything?"
"The clash between light and dark was meant to give me access to Kingdom Hearts. With it, I could've reset everything – given us a new start."
A new start... free of the hurt and loss that'd plagued her childhood. The pain of abandonment. Could such a thing be possible? "How do you know it would work?"
"It has happened before. You know the tale; darkness once destroyed the world, but the light in the hearts of children gave us a second chance, and the worlds reformed as we know them today."
"But there's no guarantee that light will endure if you recreate the war... What if you make things worse?"
"That won't happen, not if I'm there to guide the light and dark into balance."
Mira crossed her arms. "Then what went wrong? There was a clash, but nothing's changed."
"The χ-blade was imperfect... In my haste to bring about the worlds' rebirth, I made an error. I thought I could imitate the same conditions of the first keyblade war with a single heart of pure light and one of pure darkness. In truth, the clash occurred between seven guardians of light and thirteen seekers of darkness. I was impatient," he admitted, averting his eyes to stare at the stained glass they stood upon. "Consequently, that plan failed. But I've created numerous alternatives, which I am currently enacting. I refuse to leave this to chance. But to ensure it succeeds, I would like your help."
"Why now? You've been content to exclude me all this time."
"Because your presence here has presented an opportunity. And I realize now that I should've included you from the beginning."
Mira bit her lip, torn between elation and fear. "What would you have me do?" He was offering trust, something she craved; but there was a high probability that, for everything he told her, he'd be hiding that much more. And his plans, though noble-to-a-point, were dark. What manner of crimes would he have her commit in pursuit of his goals?
"I need to gather additional vessels-"
There it was. Mira shook her head. "Why do you need more? Stealing people's bodies is not the solution to dodging old age."
Master Xehanort let out a long-suffering sigh. "It's not a matter of my age, Mira. I need thirteen vessels to house a portion of my heart to be the seekers of darkness."
"But those are people's lives!"
"Then what would you suggest?" Xehanort exhaled sharply through the nose. "If there was another solution, I would have used it, but the heart requires a living body to contain it."
Mira deflated. "Is there no alternative? If the body is just a shell to protect the heart within, there must be a way to make an artificial one."
"Don't be foolish, Mira. It's impossible-"
"I'll find a way," she insisted, mouth moving faster than her mind. It didn't matter if it'd never been done before or if it seemed impossible. She had to do it. Nothing could stop Master Xehanort when he'd set his mind to something. If he wanted to start a war, then a war there would be. If he intended on snatching people's bodies, then he would succeed. Discovering a better way to house his heart could spare at least a handful of people some pain. She owed it to them – to Terra - to try.
Xehanort pinched the bridge of his nose. "I wish you luck, then, but make no mistake: I will have my thirteen seekers regardless of whether you are successful or not.
She couldn't afford to fail. Lives depended on it. "I understand, master."
"There is also the issue of this vessel, however. I'm sure you've noticed, but neither Terra nor I are in control; it has a will of its own."
"I know. He's trying to 'unlock' his memories through experimentation. He doesn't seem to realize there's two hearts within him."
"Yes, which is why I need to regain control. Otherwise, I fear it may cause great destruction in the process of trying to 'remember.' But to do that, I need you to work with the foolish guard I enlisted-"
"Braig's not foolish," she murmured. "He's smarter than you give him credit for." Not smart enough to tell her when he found armor that clearly belonged to her friend, but that was beside the point.
He furrowed his brow. "You're close with him."
"He lives down the hall." An understatement, to be sure. But Mira had no plans to tell her master she and Braig had kissed. Not in a million years.
Master Xehanort sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I am not ignorant to some of what goes on outside, Mira. You are involved with him... romantically, are you not?"
Her cheeks suffused with heat. "That's... that's irrelevant."
His brow rose. "Guard your heart, Little Star. Ambitious men cannot be trusted."
"I've noticed."
Xehanort huffed. "I deserved that. But there's something you must know about him..." Golden eyes met hers. "He volunteered to be one of my thirteen seekers of darkness."
His words were like a punch to the gut. Braig? A vessel? "But... that can't be right... he's still himself," she mumbled, heart thundering in her ears. She took it back; he wasn't smart. He was a damn fool.
"That's because there is only a small portion of my heart within him, whereas Terra's body contains the entirety. He is still his own person, capable of his own thoughts, choices, and... feelings."
"Are you able to perceive these feelings?" she asked faintly.
He shook his head. "I am not. I can sense where he is at any time, but no more." At least there was that. She didn't have to worry about having kissed her master indirectly. "I would ask you not to pursue him further, but you're a grown woman now, and I can't make those decisions for you. Nonetheless, I wanted you to be aware."
"I... thanks," she whispered. If only Braig had offered the same transparency. But she couldn't dwell on that. Not yet. It was too much to take in. "You were saying you needed us to do something though, right?"
Xehanort placed a hand on her shoulder. "There are times when you're around the vessel that I resonate more strongly with it. More of those situations may allow me to take control."
"Or Terra will." She hadn't forgotten the flash of blue eyes and the rage that accompanied it.
Her master scowled. "I will do what I can to keep him subdued, but I need you to do your part, Mira." His tone brooked no argument. Could she bring herself to help him cast Terra's heart adrift? Or would it be worse to allow the amnesiac's heart to solidify its control?
Time was difficult to measure in that place; Mira had been catching her master up on what she'd been doing during the past years for what felt like hours, but it could've been mere minutes in the waking world. Though it didn't matter if she'd been there for days. An opportunity to talk like this might not occur again for a long time; despite the ugliness of their previous conversation, she had to make the most of it. He was all she had.
"You're saying you released the darkness from this man's heart, but it remained tethered to him, under his control?"
Mira nodded. "Yes. He was suffering and I thought it would help, but it only made things harder on me." Chasing after that jaguar in El Dorado had not been fun.
"That is not unlike what occurred when I ejected Terra's heart – that dark figure manifested, but it was still connected to the vessel. Perhaps it was a similar phenomenon." She twitched at the mention of her fellow apprentice but said nothing. They'd already spoken at length about the situation; no good would come from arguing further about it. No matter how wrong it was of him. "I am impressed that you managed to draw the darkness from his heart without killing him. That is a dangerous technique."
"The darkness was bursting to get free. I only gave it the opening it wanted. He might've died if I left it alone." Or so she hoped. Because if that was the case, she could convince herself she'd done the right thing and hadn't risked the priest's life on a whim.
Xehanort, rubbed his chin. "Even so, you did well. Most keyblade wielders could not muster the finesse necessary for such a technique, even if they could get close enough to that much darkness.
"That reminds me... When Braig and I travelled to El Dorado, he was worried that I didn't have a black coat to protect me from the darkness. You wore one just like his when you took me in, do you remember?"
"You've never needed protection from the dark. I believe the shield around your heart has ensured that."
"But how did it get there? I didn't even know about it until I'd healed-" she cut herself off abruptly.
"Healed? Not when you read the report?"
Mira averted her eyes. "Your report confirmed what it was, but I'd actually discovered it beforehand. Braig had gotten hurt after he fought Terra and it wasn't looking good for him, so..." she trailed off.
His face was stern. "Go on."
"So, I healed him, but I overdid it," Mira bit her lip, mumbling, "and exhausted myself magically."
His expression was thunderous. "You would risk your life for the likes of-"
"Master," she gripped his hand, "what's done is done, and I'm fine now." Stiffly, he gestured for her to continue. "A-anyway, I fell into a place not so different to this one. My own station of awakening, though I didn't know it at the time. That's when I saw the shield. It was like a cage around my heart..."
His fury abated only slightly, but his tone was even when he said, "In a sense, it is. I can't fathom how or why it's in place, or when it was put there. But its presence means you need to be careful, Little Star."
"Because it makes my keyblade disappear?"
"In part, yes. My theory is that it prevents you from connecting with others, which in turn hinders the stability of your keyblade. However, it may cause other adverse effects that we have yet to discover. Which is why I must ask you not to use the power of waking again. It was dangerous enough for you to use it without proper guidance, but the state of your heart adds an extra risk factor we cannot overlook."
Mira tugged at her sleeve, looking down. "I won't, Master."
"Good." Xehanort cleared his throat. "That said, you've lingered here long enough; it's time for you to return."
"I wish I didn't have to," she murmured, biting her lip.
"You have plans of your own now, and mission to complete, do you not? If you're successful, we will be reunited sooner than you think."
"I won't fail you, master." If she focused all her efforts on creating an artificial body for his heart, then every problem would fix itself. But first... "Ah," she scratched the back of her head, "can you show me how to get out of here?"
"We will discuss the importance of understanding a technique fully before using it another time," he groused, lips curling down in displeasure. "Use your keyblade and return the way you came."
"It's that simple?"
"Indeed."
Mira took a deep breath. "Here goes nothing, then." Glancing at him one last time, she smiled softly. "I'll see you soon, Master."
Summoning her keyblade, she jumped off the side of the platform, feet landing securely on the weapon. It would carry her faster than trying to float away. There was no wind in her hair as she moved further from her master, but something within her was being pulled, stretched. It didn't hurt, per say, but it was strange. Uncomfortable. She was nearly to the keyhole she'd come through. Mira clutched the fabric over her heart, glancing behind, but there was only blackness.
Her keyblade disappeared out from under her, and her eyes slipped shut.
He couldn't take his eyes off Mira, even while the others crowded around Xehanort, asking rapid fire questions about what occurred. Considering how taxing the power of waking could be, it was unsurprising the amnesiac woke first, but every passing minute had his stomach twisting with dread that something had gone wrong. They'd only been under for about half an hour, but for one untrained in using the power of waking, even that short time presented grave danger.
Her head lulled to the side, and she swayed in her seat, keyblade slipping from her grasp and falling to the ground, disappearing. He rushed to her side and cradled her in his arms. Xehanort's knowing gaze settled on him while the others exclaimed in surprise at the interruption.
"She's probably overdone it," he found himself saying. "I'll take her to her room." They let him go without much fuss, though he could feel that golden gaze following him as he walked away. She didn't stir the entire trek back to her quarters.
Much later that night, well after Mira was settled and everyone had fallen asleep, he pulled out the wayfinder she'd gifted him, turning it over in his hands. Moonlight glinted off the glass charm, refracting purple light onto the walls and across her face. Mira had given it to him to say goodbye, just in case. He should've tried harder to stop her, to stop the experiment after the spar, something. Guilt wasn't an emotion he often indulged in, but another glance at her sleeping face had him drowning in it as the reality of the situation came crashing down. Now he was the only one with the power to help her but doing so would jeopardize his role. He put his head in his hands.