"I made a mistake. I assumed that fragment of the χ-blade was discrete. It wasn't." The Warrior explained. "It was Darkness, through and through, and like all Darkness, it gathered, merged, pulled away, and most importantly, changed."
"The three of us make clear mental delineations of parts of our lives." The Mage said. "You make the distinction between your time as a Human and your time as a Heartless. I make a distinction between my time in my reality and my time as a wielder of Magic, the period thereafter. The Warrior is the same as I, but also makes a third distinction in addition to my two. First is the time as in our reality, then the time as a wielder of magic, and last the time when we took up arms and participated in the War." The Wizard takes a breath, before continuing. "Which is why there are three of us here, now. Those mental delineations turned into actual delineations. Neat breaking points in our memory and psyche. Upon placement into the χ-blade Fragment, we were whole, but then it merged with the greater Darkness, and we broke in three. Fitting, I suppose."
"The only part that stayed in that Fragment of Darkness was the first part. The beginning of our lives, the time in our reality, devoid of Magic and Light and Darkness. The second and third parts, however, were absorbed into the Great Darkness itself, and were subsequently scattered across the Darkness."
"And so, I came into existence, remembering only the first part." I nodded. "Why did it take so long? Shouldn't I have woken up immediately?"
The Mage's head shook. "The Dark Fragments of the χ-blade interact with Darkness in a special way. When they first split off, Darkness tried to reabsorb them. The other twelve Fragments were lost. You weren't. Our Essence messed with the process, and instead of coming back to the Great Darkness, you landed upon a World while it was forming, and when that World created its Dimensional Barriers to protect itself from the Darkness, you were mostly cut off from it."
"Mostly."
The Mage smiled. "Mostly. But not completely. The Essence that was left behind was not enough to overcome the Darkness, at first, but since the Fragment was still connected, Darkness still siphoned away at it, trying to reabsorb it. Over time, a very, very, very long time, that Fragment was reduced, until, eventually, the Essence that remained was able to overwhelm it. Self-actualization was achieved, and that Fragment began to think, and feel, and act. It took upon the roles of a Heart and a Soul and a Body, though it wasn't itself any of the three."
"And so I woke up." Well, that answers that... And has a few implications. "My early instincts... were a bit more than instincts." I thought aloud.
"Memories, though broken, remained connected." The Mage agrees. "And in the earlier stages of your existence, the Great Darkness was still trying to absorb you. Many of your more destructive impulses were a product of that, and that desire to consume more and more Darkness was the greatest of them all, because doing so would have almost certainly led you to become one with the Great Darkness again... To your likely detriment."
"Those instincts stopped." I noted. "After a point where I had consumed a fair amount of Darkness at a consistent rate."
"You achieved something of a self-sustaining existence, capable of growing slowly on your own even without input from the Great Darkness... Which you didn't stop taking anyway, so you didn't notice." The Mage supplies.
"And you?"
The Mage shrugged. "Our memories and experience was disincorporated, at first. Over time, however, as you gathered more and more Darkness, the parts started realigning. You kept tapping into the Darkness, drawing knowledge from it, and we began to come together once more."
"The fight with the Juubi was the final straw, huh?" I thought about it. "I was constantly absorbing Darkness, and thus... You came back together. Here in these depths, you called out."
"Like calls to like." The Warrior stated. "And in the end, we are the same being. Do you recall, when you first awoke, that terrible loss you felt? It was us. Memories lost, but still connected. A Heart and Soul destroyed, but still emoting and willing. All the friends we made, the bonds formed... Gone. No Heart, no Soul, no Body, and still feeling it. What a wonderous thing Darkness is, to have nothing and yet still be everything... And how horrible all the same."
"I learned to ignore that feeling." I shrugged. "No answers were coming."
"Fortunate and unfortunate all the same." The Mage agrees. "Still this is a mere distraction. The entirety of our existence has come together, once more. Unless your view of forking and reintegrating has changed with your experiences, then I do not believe you will have any problems with the ultimate intent."
I shook my head. "We are one and the same. Remnants, all of us. Myself a bit more successful than both of you, it would seem, but no different in the end. It will be useful knowledge, no matter the case."
They nodded.
The Mage bowed, and a moment after, cracked, form shattering like glass. The shards flew at me, and I remembered.
Cataclysm. Surviving. Learning. Thriving.
It was more than a lifetime's worth of memories. Magic made those who were skilled at wielding it much longer lived.
I felt... filled. A hollow inside me made less so. Memories slotting together like pieces in a puzzle.
The Warrior bowed, and, much like the Mage, cracked. I remembered.
Determination. Resolve. Desperation. Failure.
A shorter time. Trying to stop the War from starting, and failing... My friends, my apprentices, those who I held most dear to my Heart... Dying, one after the other, in the pursuit of a futile goal.
The hollow vanished, filled completely. I was complete, but with completion came such horrid memories.
Still, I am whole.
The feeling of it leaves me with a pervasive calm. I am... More than I had been before, and once again all that I had ever been.
I go to laugh, and fail.
But, really...
Is not having a mouth so much of a problem?
I twist myself, and a glowing crack appears on my face.
And. I. Laugh.
Kingdom Hearts, on one side. The Great Darkness, on the other. Myself, whole and complete, finally...
I am happy.