"That was at the end." The Mage reminds. "There were things before. We got from our reality to The World by accident. What occurred to take us from flesh and blood to Darkness was much later. Starting at the beginning is obviously the better choice. You see, The World was a place of infinite potential. Both in creation..." The Mage sighs.

"And destruction." The Warrior finishes.

"It was a simple traveller that did." The Mage explained. "I investigated after the fact, trying to find a way home, but all I found was that our world had been... destroyed. That traveller... ignorant. They crossed into our reality, and brought with them Magic. Our laws and constants had no place for it, and the result was chaos. Another reality might have been able to accept the addition. Our specific set of circumstances could not."

"Our reality collapsed." The Warrior's head shook. "The people scattered across a multiverse so large that no number could ever describe it. We tried, and started at googolplexes. It wasn't enough. We gave up; it was a pointless endeavour."

"I'd been sent to a quaint little place, where Magic was strong, and knowledge of Light was everywhere." The Mage explained. "I met a kindly old lady, who took me in. I helped her out, and eventually, met most of the town. I found a wizard, who I asked to teach me."

"He did."

"I was a good student. And a very, very dedicated one. The wizard took me in as his apprentice... Though I still kept helping the old lady." The Mage laughs. "I learned. Kept learning. With my dedication, I eventually came to know all that the wizard knew. He'd been so happy..."

"And so he directed me to another. From her, I learned more. And then she directed me to another, and I learned yet more."

"Eventually, finally... I had the power, the knowledge, the skill, to look through dimensions and peer through time..." The Mage sighed. "And so I found out what happened to my reality. Oh, that knowledge... Terrible thing. I wanted to erase it from my memory, block it, but I'd known myself too well, and I would be far, far too curious to not uncover it, no matter what I did."

"And so, there I stayed, mastering the intricacies of Magic, teaching students of my own... until I heard rumours, whispers on the wind, whispers in Magic itself..."

"Somebody was seeking the Light." The Mage said. "A War was coming. I'd realized, then, for the first time with no doubt, when and where I was. I'd had inklings before, but... nothing concrete. I'd thought I could prevent what would come, and so I took up arms, and became the Warrior."

"Futility." The Warrior whispers. "I'd failed. Oh, certainly, I'd given it my all, forged a Keyblade from my own Heart, from my own Soul, used my Magic to protect... I learned to wield the Light, and when that eventually proved not enough, I sought the Darkness and learned to wield that, too."

The Warrior's head hangs. "But I could not stop the War. There were so many other Keybearers, and not all of them were kind and caring. Too many wanted the Light for themselves... And so the War started. The battles were devastating. Entire realities lost as part of the collateral... Too many lives to count were lost. Orders of Keybearers, built up over decades, were lost in minutes."

The Warrior looks up, frowning. "And if that wasn't enough, some of them did not have Hearts as strong as they thought they did. They fell, and Darkness consumed them. A Darkling is what they became, a parody of their former selves. They sought the Light because they'd sought the Light, causing more trouble... So many of us dedicated ourselves just to stopping the Darklings from growing into a bigger threat. Not enough. Never enough."

The Warrior went silent, merely breathing slowly. It took several seconds before the Warrior started up again.

"The Final Battle was a Cataclysm. The χ-blade... brought forth, and then..."

"Shattered."

"Alongside all my hopes and dreams. The World collapsing around us, fragmenting, Darkness rushing in like a great tide... There were Heartless larger than planets that devoured stars. Not that it mattered, everything was already dying and being consumed..." The Warrior slumped, even more. "So I did something very, very desperate. I leapt after one of those fragments of the χ-blade. The fragments of Light had been like tiny stars. The fragments of Dark had been tiny abysses, Darknesses so deep that they stood out even against complete blackness."

The Warrior held up a hand, as if to show it. "I grabbed one of those little fragments of Darkness. A tiny thing, yet so powerful... I had been, at that point, one of the most powerful mages in all The World. I had been, at that point, a Keybearer of little compare. I had been, at that point, desperate and determined. I cast a Magic utterly terrible. It crushed my Heart, distilled my Soul, merged them both into the purest Essence of my being... All that I was, my truest nature..."

The Warrior's hands clapped. "And then shoved it into that fragment of Darkness. One of the thirteen Dark Fragments of the χ-blade, and I gave all that I was to it. My Heart, my Soul, even my Body... consumed. I'd been hoping to create some equivalent to the Princesses of Heart, using that Dark Fragment. I was going to die either way, so I did it to ensure I might continue existing on some level... And the result is obvious."

"Me." So that's how...

What a thing I did.

"The next question, then, is why don't I remember it?"