Senna was bewildered, how on earth did Master Xehanort know she was in the room and how long was he aware of her following them? He turned his head back right before they entered the room, but she didn't think anything of it because she was confident in the invisibility spell, she cast on herself and the silence spell so her footsteps couldn't have been heard.

"Now Lady Senna, I don't think I need to remind you about the rudeness of staring"

She blinked her eyes quickly as she started to apologize "M-Master Xehanort, please accept my apology, I- "

She stopped herself mid-sentence, not sure how to even explain herself since she didn't think she would've been caught.

"No need to apologize, Curiosity after all is what leads us to knowledge, and knowledge makes us wiser," he said not at all sounding upset over her eavesdropping on his and Master Eraqus's conversation, but instead he almost sounded pleased.

Before Senna could think of something to say he just continued "Now I assumed you were listening because something we said piqued your interest. As I said go ahead and ask and you will find that I am a man who will be honest with you in the answers that I can provide you."

"There's a lot I would like to ask, but I suppose I should start by asking about this Lunar Eclipse and what it has to do with me," she asked though it was obvious there was still an uneasiness in her voice, not knowing what to expect.

Master Xehanort just smiled as he began his explanation "You see a Lunar Eclipse is what happens when the planet of a world falls between the sun and the moon with the planet's shadow overtaking the moon's. This in turn causes the moon to appear red due to the sunlight reaching the moon must pass through that world's atmosphere. However, this only happens once every 300 years, a very rare event and it is said those born during such an event are often blessed by the moon itself. In my studies, I stumbled upon the name of a keyblade wielder Nevrexa, who was born 317 years ago. She was the only child recorded to be born during the event, and as she grew older, she started to display a remarkable talent for not just the keyblade but magic itself and became a leading figure in the keyblade war, one theory states that the moon is actually a spirit that watches over all the worlds and blesses those she deems worthy. The last known Lunar Eclipse happened 17 years ago in your world of Spira"

Senna took in that information, as well as what little she heard from both him and Master Eraqus. There was still some uncertainty about the whole story, but it did offer some explanation of why she looked so different.

"If I were to believe that, would that be the reason for my eyes and hair being the color that they are" she asks gesturing to her red eyes and purple hair

Master Xehanort just nodded "It is a strong possibility, though I cannot say for certain as Nevrexa was never mentioned beyond a simple page in my studies, and no predecessors to go by either. It is my own personal belief that those who have been born during a Lunar Eclipse are chosen specifically for a greater purpose."

"How can you be so certain that I was indeed born during such an event" Senna asked, feeling apprehensive that she could be born for anything important. She couldn't even stay and fight for her home, so why would fate or a moon spirit believe she was worthy of doing something extraordinary?

"I imagine you already know about the friction between keyblade wielders and summoners especially after your grandfather's sacrifice to seal Sin away."

Senna just nodded but did not understand what he was getting at "Yeah I only heard the disputes were over the exchange of knowledge between the two groups but then the keyblade wielders refused to get involved when Sin attacked and then there was no more communication on either side at least until recently."

"Yes, it was rather an unfortunate situation and Eraqus being the kind boy that he was, wanted to help, but our Master had forbidden us to entertain the idea. As students with limited means, not much we could have done at the time. All contact was then lost with the remaining Summoners, up until 17 years ago when your parents Vincent and Rena contacted Eraqus asking for his help in determining what being born during a Lunar Eclipse had meant since rumors of Nevrexa had also reached them."

Senna's eyes widened as Master Xehanort mentioned her parents specifically by name, so there must be truth to what he was saying, when she was sent away, she found it quite odd that her father had mentioned she would be staying with a keyblade master as up until that point she was under the impression both sides were no longer associated with one another.

Xehanort seeing the expression on her face continued "Unlike Eraqus, I have a particular interest in the keyblade war and the history surrounding it, and he would often indulge me as I theorized the matter of the war and the people involved. So, he contacted me, and all I could reveal was what was simply in the text, but I also shared the theory about how she was blessed because her skill with the keyboard was unmatched by any other and no one could compete with her magical abilities, not even the great master Yen Sid who is said to the most powerful of all magicians. How can one not be convinced with only two known people being born during such an event and them having abilities that go above our understanding that can even be compared to the gods themselves."

It was obvious, he seemed to believe in what he was saying especially near the end with his crazy hand gestures. It was still hard for Senna to even wrap her mind around the concept that she was chosen to do or be something remarkable. So much of it was just theories, but there was something about it she couldn't ignore either. Her eyes and hair were always a focal point to how people perceived her back home, and her parents were never forthcoming about it either when she asked why she didn't have green or brown eyes from either parent or dark brunette hair that each had.

"Is it a common theory, if that is the case then why would my fellow summoners treat me like an outcast?" Senna asked more to herself without meaning to say it out loud.

Master Xehanort just gave her a sympathetic look "It is but one theory out of many. Each world out there has its speculations about things that they do not know. Some view those born under the Lunar Eclipse as being cursed with unimaginable darkness that will bring nothing but destruction."

She couldn't help but let out a small gasp. She remembered Maester Seymour's words about red eyes being a sign of one who has given into the darkness.

Is that the reason why all the adults were so hateful towards me and in turn made the other children either avoid her or bully her?

"As I said, it's all but theories and speculation Nothing is concrete, but now that I've answered some of your questions, I was hoping you would answer some for me."

Senna nodded her head trying to clear her mind from all this information he just presented her, it was going to give her a headache if she tried to process all of it at once. She just would just get even more confused than she was. Plus, it would be very rude of her not to after being caught eavesdropping and then him graciously giving her some answers that she's been wanting.

"I know Summoners have been taught the same as us keyblade wielders about light and dark, how one is good and one is bad. However, I sense in you a struggle just as you have sensed the darkness freely in me."

He's incredibly perspective, even more so than Master Eraqus.

Senna gulped, but not from fear, if anything he might be the best person to talk about this kind of thing with. It was because her thoughts weren't exactly on the same path as she was taught, and even saying it out loud made her fear of the consequences.

"I am curious for sure; your eyes are yellow and I was taught at a young age that having red or yellow eyes are sure signs of someone giving themselves over to the darkness. I know what it is like to be judged just based on appearance, so I tried to reserve my judgments."

This caused him to smile, and Senna wondered if that was what he wanted to hear from her.

Suddenly he turned his back to her and looked up at the ceiling like he was reminiscing.

"We are a lot alike you and I; we have a need to satisfy our curiosity. Let me ask you Lady Senna, why are we so afraid of the darkness after all Darkness lurks in every heart."

She was surprised by that question, she never really thought about it that way before. There was never really a good explanation, it was always that darkness was the symbolism of evil.

"You know I never really thought about it before, It was always ingrained into my mind that giving into the darkness makes you evil, but that's not something I necessarily believed. Maybe it's just from my interactions, but I believe darkness is more than just what makes someone good or evil it also represents our flaws, the worst parts of us. No one is without their flaws, otherwise, that would mean we were all perfect."

Xehanort nodded in agreement with her

"Exactly, and if there's one thing people hate more than anything is the acknowledgment that they too are also selfish even those with the noblest intentions. That's why when I was no older than you are now, I was curious why people were so afraid of the darkness after all you can't have light without darkness nor darkness without light. So, if I could understand what darkness truly was, then I could channel it in a way that no one has done before and educate others on not fearing it as we have been taught. Eraqus and I, unfortunately, had a minor fallout over my pursuit of understanding darkness, but we managed to repair our brother-like relationship in recent years."

Senna was fully intrigued, it seemed he had found a way to balance the darkness within himself, without it consuming him.

So, his yellow eyes must be an effect of his tempering with the darkness.

"So how exactly did you channel it."

"It is simple, embrace and accept the darkness within. I found the more you run away from your darkness, the more vulnerable you will become to its influence and become as you say power hungry. However, by embracing the darkness you allow yourself to develop a certain tolerance for it that makes it harder for you to succumb to it. The key is finding the balance between light and dark."

It wasn't hard to tell this was a topic he was very passionate about, and Senna would be a fool to think he didn't bring up some excellent points. Light and darkness co-exist for a reason, they have to balance each other out otherwise too much of one thing would be dangerous.

"See I knew there was always something more to darkness because of all the negative emotions involved with it, which is what makes us human. We get upset, jealous, and greedy from time to time, but I do think it's only when we deliberately go out of our way to hurt others in our selfishness that it becomes an issue. Plus, we wouldn't have the beautiful sites that we do without darkness like sunrise and sunset and the stars that light up the sky" Senna said feeling reassured that she wasn't alone in her thinking

Master Xehanort then turned back to face her with a huge grin on his face as if he was pleased with her answer "It's a shame I think you would've made an excellent Keyblade wielder."

Senna tilted her head in confusion, not sure where that had come from, but before she could ask, she saw Master Eraqus returning.

"Ah, Senna, I apologize It seems we must have just missed each other, I went to go gather Aqua, Terra, and Ventus outside for our magic lessons. I hope Master Xehanort didn't cause you too much trouble" he said giving a humorous look to his old friend.

This of course caused the old man to smirk "Come now Eraqus I was just entertaining her with stories from our boyhood, especially our chess games we would always play."

"I'm quite surprised you would be so forthcoming about your losses to my ward."

Senna felt a weight lifted off her shoulders when he didn't reveal that she was eavesdropping on them, nor what they were talking about. She knew Master Eraqus wouldn't have been as kind had he been the one to discover her nor as forthcoming.

After exchanging a few more playful banters, the three of them made their way outside for the trio's magic lesson or more accurately it was more of a chance for them to show off what Senna had taught them

"Aqua will go first, and may I remind you while it is easy to undo the damage you three do to these grounds, try not to overdo it if you can help it."

All three of them just nodded as Aqua quickly made her way to the middle of the grounds, Master Eraqus then waved his hand, and several orbs of lights appeared.

Aqua started by throwing an Aero spell to blow the orbs back several feet away, before cartwheeling towards him and then casting a blizzard spell, and that destroyed several of them. Though with each one destroyed another one appeared, though Senna suspects this is how Master Eraqus designed them to be.

With each Magic spell, Aqua was casting against the orbs, there appeared to be several different colored orbs appearing around Aqua, ones that were not a part of this exercise. This time when Aqua jumped in the air, those orbs absorbed into her creating a purple aura around her and when she threw her keyblade at the attacking orbs, it levitated on its own as it destroyed several in a row before going back to Aqua.

Senna could feel the smile on her face getting bigger.

Wow that's incredible, It looks like each magic spell she is setting off is not only enhancing her magical capabilities, but it's putting light into her keyblade making it seem like it's acting on its own,

As a finisher, Aqua raised the keyblade in the air as she performed a spinning attack surrounded by the light that carried her through the attack. At that, any remaining orbs were all gone.

"Wow Aqua that was incredible," Ven said running up to her and congratulating her,

Aqua smiled and turned her way towards Senna "Well it was Senna's advice on how to perform a command style that got the idea in my head, really nothing more."

Senna was so happy to see that her lessons were paying off, she didn't even get flustered at the compliment like she usually would.

"All right there will be time after to discuss, Ven since you are so eager why don't you go next."

If there was one thing about Master Eraqus, it was that he hated being behind on schedule, he was a very punctual man and he expected the same from his pupils during their lessons.

Ven just nodded as Aqua took a step back towards Terra, as Master Eraqus recreated the balls of orbs.

Unlike Aqua, Ven focused on using Aero abilities to help slice the orbs, Eventually, something triggered his style command because now he was surrounded with a light green aura. He was so much quicker than he already was as he used several spin attacks.

Senna took a glance up at Master Xehanort and saw that he was attentive to Ventus, not that he wasn't with Aqua but with Ven, he was even more so. Compared to his reaction earlier, she wondered what the history was between the two. She had meant to ask, but they were too distracted by other things at the time.

She just shook her head, it was something that could wait for later, She just wanted to watch the display.

Ven's finisher was similar to Aqua's in that he performed a spinning attack, but his looked and was hitting more as a cyclone would.

After congratulating Ven, it was soon time for Terra's turn, and he was the one she was anxious to see what he came up with.

She was disappointed to see that he started off doing just his regular physical attacks which in themselves were powerful enough to take the orbs down in a single blow.

Maybe he is still struggling to come up with a magical command style.

Of course, the moment she started thinking that, Terra unleashed a few powerful fire spells at the orbs, which soon caused his keyblade to erupt in flames. Senna couldn't help but let out a laugh in happiness over seeing Terra's progress in magic.

However, reality came crashing back into Senna's head realizing what the finisher move could potentially lead to. The moment she saw Terra leap into the air and saw a fireball form from the keyblade she immediately put up a protective barrier as he unleashed the fireball to the ground causing a pillar of fire in the vicinity.

By the time the smoke vanished, much of the ground where the fireball hit was burnt and destroyed, and by the expression on Terra's face, he didn't expect that to happen. Senna looked over at Master Eraqus and while he didn't seem upset, he wasn't particularly happy about it either.

He just sighed but gave him a small smile as he gently reprimanded him "Terra, I'm proud to see the progression you have made when it has come to your magic, but you need to learn some restraint."

"Sorry Master" was all Terra could say.

Senna was proud of Terra, maybe even more so than Aqua and Ven but only because he struggled with magic more than they did and to see he put in his own time to be able to get better and come up with a command style instead of just quitting because he didn't have the skill for it.

"You have taught them well Lady Senna"

She looked up and saw Master Xehanort smiling at her approvingly.

Senna just chuckled "Well I might have given them the advice they needed, but the skill it took to do those things was all them, they deserve the praise. They are all very strong no doubt about that"

She then turned over to see Aqua also apparently reprimanding him by the look on her face as they talked, as Ven smiled and gushed about each of their new moves.

"Yes, Terra especially. If it wasn't for that protective barrier of yours, he might have accidentally got us caught up in it with how much strength he put into it."

Still not taking her eyes off the group "I'm sure either you or Master Eraqus would've put a stop to it if I didn't."

"Yes, but you were much quicker than either of us to respond. That is no small feat."

Seeing that the Aqua, Terra, and Ven were in a deep conversation with Master Eraqus, and one that Master Xehanort seemed to not want to have a part of, she decided to ask him about Ventus.

"Master Xehanort, I must first say thank you for all the information you were able to provide for me today, I don't know how I can repay you for providing me with some answers and clues. I was hoping it wouldn't be too much trouble if I could ask one more question."

He just nodded "Of course Lady Senna, you can ask me anything and I will be honest with you as long as you're honest with me."

"I was wondering Ven seems to act weird whenever your name was brought up and he quickly wasn't himself when you showed up earlier," She asked glancing over to the smiling Ven before looking over to Master Xehanort who had a sympathetic expression as he also observed Ven.

"Ah, so you noticed. Well, you see I was Ventus's first master, not Eraqus."

Senna was surprised to hear "Really, you were his first master."

"You see I found the boy a couple of years ago passed out as I wondered the worlds. The poor boy had no recollection of his past except that he was able to wield the keyblade. I could sense the potential within him, so I took him under my wing as my apprentice. However, I suppose my unorthodox teachings unlike Eraqus, put a strain on the boy's hearts. I don't even think I need to tell you; Ventus is a special case his heart is one the purest I have ever come across."

That's right, I can't even sense a speak of darkness in his heart, but why is that?

"So, I brought Ventus here, as I knew Eraqus would be a much better teacher than I could be to him, and in an environment like this his light would surely flourish."

Senna wanted to ask what exactly he did to Ven when he trained him, but she thought better of it. Obviously, he knew Ven wasn't cut out for it and brought him to someone who was better suited to train him. At least he had the foresight to realize that and make the necessary changes because maybe it's just her assuming but Ven doesn't seem like he would take well to dangerous training, and it might just be because he uses the darkness that his training would be severe.

The rest of the day went on as normal, for which Senna was grateful, with all the information she received today, she needed time to clear her mind and think about it later. She was thankful she had friends to help keep her distracted. So now she was outside doing her usual stargazing with Ven, Aqua, and Terra.

"You guys did amazing today, I'm so proud"

Ven rubbed the back of his head "You really think so, man I didn't realize how hard doing those command styles was since you have to use multiple spells before you even feel the trigger for it."

"Yeah, but once you get the trick down it isn't that bad," Aqua said.

Terra just raises one eyebrow "Says the girl, who is among the top two magic users in this group."

"I mean Terra you literally put a lot of strength into yours, despite almost burning us with that, I was really happy to see the fire command style you came up with," Senna said, not wanting him to feel bad it took longer for him to activate it. All that matters is that he showed that he can do it with perseverance and believing in himself.

Terra just looked down in embarrassment before he got up "Well I think it's time to head in, Are you guys coming."

This is a first, Terra is usually never the first one to suggest going back inside. Most of the time it was Aqua and on occasion Ven when he was super tired. Guess there's a first for everything though.

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea, an early night would be good," Senna said slowly getting up.

She wouldn't have minded being out a little longer, but Terra probably would've waited for her if she did and if he was ready to go in now then she didn't want to hold him up,

Ven pouted, but he also got up and started walking back to the castle with them.

Aqua and Senna were already in their section when Aqua asked a question that took Senna by surprise.

"You ok, Senna you seemed quiet most of the day."

She stopped right in front of her door before turning to Aqua "Yeah, I'm good, sorry I've been so distracted today.

Wait, was it that obvious? I thought I was doing a good job of trying to keep my mind distracted.

"You want to talk about it?"

She just shakes her head "Not right now, I still need to wrap my mind around some things first because I don't particularly understand them myself, but once I do, I can't wait to tell you guys."

Aqua smiles "Alright I'm holding you to it."

After bidding each other goodnight, Senna let out a long-drawn sigh as she flopped on her bed. This day was not how she expected it would go, it wasn't necessarily bad at all, it was just a lot happening. Master Xehanort was not at all like she expected, he was eccentric but he was very easy to talk to. The way he talked about light and dark was interesting, and how he spoke of finding the balance between the two. It was something he must have spent years researching and experimenting with to get where he was. While she feels he is trustworthy based on their interactions today and the fact that Master Eraqus himself thought of him as a brother, it still unsettled her that whatever training he put Ven through, it left some kind of trauma on him.

Senna rolled over to the left so she could look out the window and see the moon. She remembered his words from earlier.

It is my own personal belief that those who have been born during a Lunar Eclipse are chosen specifically for a greater purpose

She then recalled Nevrexa, it was said she was prominent in some keyblade war. Was that why Nevrexa was chosen, to be a participant in some great war? If so then what kind of purpose could she be born for, she wasn't meant to be at home when her people were slaughtered.

Senna just narrowed her eyes at the moon.

What is my Purpose?

Author's Note

Here is part 2 of Master Xehanort, and boy was this heavy with lore. It doesn't all need to make sense right now; more will be explained in further detail later on. What are your thoughts on Master Xehanort and his interactions with Senna?