Intermission

World of Remnant

The Heartless

The Heartless.

(This new speaker is a woman instead of a certain cranky old bird.)

The manifestations of the darkness in people's hearts.

(The screen shows a single small shadowy creature with glowing yellow eyes and antenna on its head as it crawled around.)

Unlike the Grimm that have plagued Remnant for centuries, the Heartless are not driven by a need to destroy the life of Man or their creations. Rather, they are driven to seek out the darkness in people's hearts to steal, consume and multiply.

(Where one single Heartless once see, there were now four, all of them crawling around.)

Their single desire to is to completely consume the world.

Unlike the Grimm, the Heartless are not vulnerable to the weapons of mankind, at least not in the same manner as the Grimm.

(There is a banging sound as a single Shadow is shot by a rifle and its body disperses)

Like the Grimm, the Heartless can be fought and even destroyed in battle. However unless one is using a special weapon, the 'dead' Heartless will just later reconstruct itself.

(That same Heartless that was show was now shown coming back together as a dark fog appeared and solidified back into its Shadow form)

Those with strong hearts and wills can combat the Heartless.

(A man in armor, wielding a sword in one and rifle in the other is now shown facing the Heartless)

But it would be extremely difficult, even if the Heartless are low in numbers and are the weakest of their kind.

(The warrior attacks, slicing and shooting as the four Shadows lunged at him)

If one has the gift of magic, then their chances are much greater.

(A man in a blue cloak, holding a staff with a blue crystal is now shown, waving the staff and conjuring a blast of ice that knocks the Shadows back)

But it is still dangerous.

(The Shadows return and in greater numbers)

For unlike the Grimm, the Heartless can bolster their numbers in ways the Grimm cannot.

(A humanoid figure with a pink glowing heart is shown in the center)

For in each person, there is a Heart and I do not mean the organ the pumps blood. I speak of the Heart that is the source of emotional beliefs, our source of strong bonds with those close to us and the ability to feel the emotions of others.

(The heart is then filled with a bright light on one side and a darkened mist on the other)

Light and darkness make up the Heart and if darkness is allowed to fester, then the Heartless will come.

(Shadows surround the man as the heart is filled with the blackness)

If a person's heart is stolen by the Heartless, then that stolen heart will be filled with darkness and create a new Heartless.

(The heart turns black as the Heartless pile upon the man who disappears, and a new Shadow appears)

It's why we have to be careful not to give into our deepest, darkest of thoughts and emotions while keeping our ego in check. And the stronger the darkness is one's heart, the stronger the Heartless will be,

(A big hulking Heartless is shown now, with a heart shaped hole in the chest)

The Heartless are part of the constant struggle between Light and Darkness for the only way to fully eradicate the Heartless would be to purge the darkness from the Heart of every being in existence.

(The screen fades to black)

Easier said than done.

Xxx

"And that's what happened, Master Yen Sid."

Yen Sid softly stroked his beard as he carefully considered what he had been told. "So, you both ended up on this Remnant at the near exact same time. Kairi was most worried about you, Lea."

The young man with long red spiky hair softly rubbed the back of his head. "Still trying to figure out how I got there. As best as I can tell, the portal that took me to Remnant was opened by someone who wanted me there at that specific point in time. They even reversed my age a bit to help me blend in at Beacon when I got there."

"Hmm…The only beings I know of who are capable of such magic are myself and Merlin. Nevertheless, it seems you were brought there to be at the right place at the right time, Lea." Yen Sid nodded.

"I recognize some of those worlds." Kairi stepped forward revealed. "The ones Aqua visited, I might not know all of them, but I've met people from some of them."

"What? How?" Sora asked in surprise.

"Dead Fantasy."

Everyone looked at Lea who narrowed his eyes at Kairi. "That's where you met them, during Dead Fantasy."

"'Dead Fantasy'?" Riku repeated.

"It's a world similar to the Mirage Arena." Mickey spoke up. "Master Yen Sid told me about it once or twice back when I was studying under him. He said they are Nexus Worlds, worlds that connect multiple worlds that otherwise wouldn't connect normally."

"You mean like the Smash Mansion?" Sora asked, recalling the world he'd accidentally travelled too during his year-long slumber where he encountered a lot of beings from various worlds and helped them take down a pair of powerful deities known as Galeem and Dharkon. The funny thing, he remembered seeing Riku, Kairi, Axel, a boy who looked like Roxas and of course Roxas himself were present with him as disembodied spirits who had lost their physical forms because of the two deities they all ended up fighting.

He'd also fought in what was called the Ultimate Tournament, making it to the finals where he tied with the other finalist, Kirby of Dream Land, managing to win in the sudden death tiebreaker.

Mickey nodded. "Yeah, exactly! Dead Fantasy and Smashville are two Nexus Worlds that exist in the Realm of Sleep where certain people go to in their dreams."

"How did you get into one then?" Riku looked at Kairi.

"I'm not sure." Kairi admitted. "I just remember falling out of the sky in the middle of a big battle and then I was in a city fighting against a ninja. The strange part? Naminé was there too."

That took everyone by surprise. "Naminé?!

"Yeah, I'm not sure how it happened, but I remember taking off my jacket and suddenly, it was almost as if Naminé took control of my body and was fighting in my stead. She even had her own Keyblade called Lunar Eclipse. Let me tell you, she used a variety of different styles and form changes, even turning the Keyblade into wings!"

Everyone processed this information before Kairi perked up. "Oh! And I also saw Tifa and Cloud there! Yuna and Rikku too!"

Sora widened his eyes. "No way! I saw Cloud and Sephiroth when I wound up in Smash!"

Yen Sid closed his eyes, slowly inhaled, and then exhaled. "It is possible that many of our friends and allies have visited these Nexus Worlds, taking journeys of their own. It's likely Aqua's journey through the Power of Waking allowed her to visit these worlds as well."

"Wouldn't be surprised." Lea crossed his arms.

"What's that mean, Axel?" Sora asked.

"It's Lea." Lea corrected. "When we found her, Aqua didn't seem to recall taking a millennium long journey through time and space. Either that was because of some sort of side effect, or someone was tampering with her memories."

"Like the old Organization did with me." Sora muttered, glancing to the side with a frown.

"Then we got caught up in the whole when that school was attacked." Lea frowned. "All because the idiot headmaster kept the magic lady in his basement."

"Aren't you being a little harsh, Ax-I mean Lea?" Sora asked.

"Nope, I am not in this case, kid. And even your bros will agree with me on this." Lea answered sourly but his face then softened. "The guy messed up a good deal before he learned his lesson and it's only because of the kid."

"I know you were mad at Oz and Qrow, Lea but we worked through it." A voice said behind him.

"Barely." Lea glanced over his shoulder. "You were caught up in that mess as badly as I was. I was surprised and yet not you managed to stay sane through it all."

"It was tough…" The person stepped around Lea, revealing himself to everyone. "But I had you and the others to help me through it."

Lea sighed but smiled. "Well, you'd probably be lost without us, kid."

Ventus smiled and nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I probably would be. Anyways, the others are recovering just fine."

"That is good to hear." Yen Sid nodded. "Though we still have the matter of addressing the possible threats both here and on Remnant."

Xxx

"So, the puppet and the failure are not only alive but somehow reborn as humans."

Master Xehanort's eyes remained closed as he stood atop the tallest of the thirteen pillars, discussing recent events with his True Organization XIII:

Xemnas

Saix

Xigbar

Marluxia

Larxene

Luxord

Vanitas

Ansem, the Seeker of Darkness

Terra-Xehanort

And Young Xehanort

"Vexen could not recreate the puppet because her existence on the world known as Remnant prevented it. Not even a copy could be made." Saix stated. "Her heart was removed from Sora's during the Lost Guardian's journey through the history of that world and the hearts she was connected with. It even explains how Ventus awoke under Marluxia's watch."

Marluxia glanced at Saix but said nothing.

"Well, it's all good we know this but we're still one member short." Xigbar cut in while rolling his eye. "Who can be our thirteenth member?"

"I believe I can answer that." Vanitas said before summoning a Corridor of Darkness over the empty pillar.

From the darkness, emerged a woman with short dark hair, was dressed in gold and black, a single flaming amber eye while her left one was overed and she had a black demonic looking right arm instead of a human one that traveled all the way up to her shoulder and even covered part of her upper torso.

"Behold, our thirteenth member: Cinder Fall." Vanitas introduced. "Someone's who just been dying to get even with those doo-gooder Guardians of Light."

Master Xehanort looked upon the young woman…and smiled.