He didn't think he knew where he was. The cold of the area around hit the boy quickly, his body aching as he lay on the stone ground. His head raised slightly and the sound of water falling filled his ears. As he looked up, he found his vision blurring. He reached to rub his eyes, pausing when he felt moisture on his fingers. His hand stayed up, frozen for just a moment. After a moment or two, it came down. He glanced over his fingers, his purple eyes blinking as he looked at the fingers that had rubbed at his eyes. Was that moisture his tears? Had he been crying? Was he still?

The boy shook his head before going back to rub his eyes. He could still feel moisture. He hated that feeling. It was rolling down to his cheeks. The boy moved to sit up from his lying position, wincing and whimpering in pain as he moved. He couldn't even tell why his body ached the way it did. He couldn't remember why. His head leaned back slowly as he exhaled and he took a moment to shut his eyes. He exhaled again. A low growl came from him as his eyes opened. The tears were back.

He, despite shaking, moved to stand. His breathing had hitched with every movement until he started hyperventilating with the pain. He fell with a yelp, finding himself tripping over a rod after he began walking. After crashing down to the stone ground, he found himself tasting iron. He sighed, feeling liquid exit his mouth. The crimson leaked down below to his chin. The brunette-auburn reached and tried to wipe away the crimson before he moved to stand again.

He left a hand on the ground as he moved, that hand switching from closed to open continuously, twitching. He eventually took the hand from the ground, using it to dust himself off. He could feel the dirt itching and irritating his skin. The bandages he wore didn't help much, they only irritated his skin with that dirt. Now standing, despite the pain, he took a glance downward to see the rod that had killed his balance before.

He reached to pick up what he thought was just a rod, which felt strange against his bandaged hand. It was just as cold as the ground itself. He swallowed against the dryness of his mouth, making him taste the iron again. He found the rod was a staff, his purple eyes scanning over it with caution. Why was it down on the ground with no owner? Did someone lose it?

He continued to scan the staff until his eyes caught the top of it. He blinked a few times at the sight of it. At the top of the staff was a green colored orb. The boy found himself enamored by the glow of the orb. The rod itself was a brown color. The boy tilted his head slowly before he reached to touch the top of the staff, his hand only stopping when he heard the crackling of fire. He dropped the staff quickly and backed away from it.

Ahead of the young boy, green flames had formed and when they had died down, someone stood ahead of him in their place. There was a slender figure, fair and green-skinned. She had shining, yellow eyes heavily shadowed with violet make-up and her lips were painted red. Her head was topped with a black-horned headdress and she wore a long, tattered black robe with a purple trim and maroon flare edges. There were fin-like spikes on the sides of her neck, the spikes along with the collar of her robe creating an upside-down pentagram. Lastly she was wearing a golden ring with a circular black stone in it. The young boy could only stare as he watched her move closer.

The tall woman stepped slowly, making the boy step back just as slowly as she moved. She didn't seem to care much for him as she reached down, taking hold of the staff he had dropped to the ground previously. He watched her with a singular blink, tilting his head slowly in her direction. As she picked up the staff, she seemed to scan over it carefully. She stood straight after. The boy blinked again and found himself flinching when her yellow eyes turned on him. She hummed with curiosity, though she scowled after a moment. Her scowl made the boy look down to the ground.

"Have the Heartless taken your world?"

The question from the woman only confused the boy. 'His world'? 'Heartless'? He wasn't exactly sure what the woman was trying to ask or what kind of answer she was expecting, if she was expecting a specific answer. He wasn't sure he should answer her, or if he could. The boy looked up to her and opened his mouth to speak only to quickly close it when he saw her eyes scanning over him. The boy shivered. The boy found it hard to decipher if that was from the cold or from the fear he was feeling from her gaze.

He watched her scan him before she gave him a gentle smile. "You must be freezing out here, my dear." Her hand extended to him and he gave her a response of a blink, then a head tilt. She hummed. "Come with me." She urged her outstretched hand toward him.

The boy only found himself staring blankly at her hand. He hummed almost absent mindedly and he found one of his hands raising to take hers. He paused however. He looked at her face once more, scanning her yellow eyes. He felt something was off. He couldn't help but feel her eyes showed malice, or at least dark intent. Still, he had nowhere else to go…

The woman smiled at him, her expression softening as she spoke again, "I mean you no harm, child. I only wish to help you." Her words seemed genuine, but the boy couldn't shake the feeling of unease that lingered in the pit of his stomach.

His purple-pink eyes glanced from her hand a few times before he made his decision. Taking a deep breath, the boy finally reached out and grasped the woman's hand. The moment his hand touched hers, he felt a warmth surrounding them. He was confused at first but immediately understood when he saw the green flames forming around them. As the flames engulfed them, The woman was smiling at him. In seconds, they were gone.

The young boy opened his eyes the next moment to find himself in the middle of a dark room, his purple eyes flicking around the room. He didn't recognize this place either. As he took his glance around, his hands found their way to nervously tug at his white isolation gown he was wearing. He also nervously brushed at the white fade in his brown hair. The boy's gaze was only just a little absent minded, at least up until he felt warmth. He gasped softly, the boy's shaky body moving for the fireplace ahead of him. His movement was slow, but he eventually did make it to the fireplace, the boy moving to sit down slowly, humming after. A hand of his reached forward toward the flames, the boy looking around the room for the woman he'd arrived with, finding her nowhere.

Still, he heard her voice, and as much as he wanted to see what that was about, he was too comfortable in his warmth to care. Instead, he just listened from afar. It was the best he could do without having to get up.

"-So he's more than just a child." He heard her voice say, she seemed rather irritated. Something the boy found scary, to say the least.

"Okay, okay," A voice that sounded rather relaxed despite the words replied to her. "Geez Louise, lady, I'm just saying you bring in too many."

He heard her growl. What did the male voice mean? Were there more children here? He sighed, a small groan coming from him as he moved to stand. He moved where he heard the voices, his head tilting as he made his way. When he found the room the woman's voice was coming from, he peeked inside, his eyes blinking at the other- others when he saw them. One was a fairly normal looking, human with pink hair and silver colored eyes dressed in a pink ensemble with black pants while wearing red boots and the other was a more weird looking one. That man had blue skin, dark robes that turned to mist at the bottom and flames for hair, specifically blue flames. The boy found them a rather weird duo.

"Well," The pink haired man looked at the strange looking one. "I don't mind the new children."

Well, of course not." The blue man waved a hand. "Because you need a new one besides the thing you call a son."

"Myriad is fine!"

"Enough!" The woman spoke up again, causing the others to go quiet. Did she hold the authority here? She looked at the pink haired man with a tiny hum. "Kiva, may I request you teach the boy for me?" She questioned him.

The young boy saw how the man's lips pressed into a thin line. He'd nodded regardless of that fact. "Yes, Maleficent." There was a bow after those words.

'Maleficent' as he assumed her name was, nodded with a smile. "Thank you, dear."

Upon hearing the words, the boy was confused. Teach him what?

Instead of thinking about that too long, the boy ran back to where he'd originally been, going back to the fireplace.

Kiva, later on the same day, made his way through the castle in the world of his residence, a nervous look on his expression. The man was also anxiously messing with his fingers as he walked. He was supposed to go see the child the witch had brought in. As much as he didn't want to unfortunately. It wasn't anything against the kid though, of course.

Kiva was just not a fan of Maleficent bringing in children simply just to manipulate them. He didn't understand why people would try to do something like that. The man was someone who had to experience the witch's manipulation first hand. He wouldn't wish that upon a young child. Not with the way she treated the others residing within her castle.

Well, it wasn't exactly her castle. The world wasn't even her Homeworld. The world was simply one that fell to the dark. Kiva knew this world was once one of radiance. Light. He found it almost saddening that Maleficent had ruined a world that was once beautiful. Kiva had always seen the world it had originally been as a nexus for the light to thrive in, to become stronger than it had been. That was probably what they needed, the light to be stronger.

The man took his strides down the hall and only stopped when he found the boy right where he'd figured he'd be after Maleficent found him in the cold darkness. He was sitting in front of the castle's fireplace, his hands notably tugging at the gown he was clad in. Kiva frowned upon seeing him there. The boy's own light didn't seem strong enough to keep him warm. It didn't even seem strong enough to let Kiva know it was there. He couldn't sense it. Even with his own light he possessed trying to draw it in.

Kiva sighed softly, the man leaning against the entrance as he watched the boy. He seemed so quiet. As if afraid. He hadn't spoken a word to Maleficent, according to her, anyway. Kiva could only wonder why he was holding the fear that he was. He couldn't help but feel he understood it, however. He was young when he'd first met the dark fairy as well. A young man, anyway. He shut his eyes for only just a moment before he turned his attention back to the young boy.

He'd felt a feeling of nausea before his eyes had shut. A hand reached to his head as he gently stroked his pink locks and hummed. The young boy ahead of him hadn't turned to him once. He'd somehow expected the boy to be more vigilant. His fear was evident. If anything, Kiva had expected him to be anxious, panicked. Had Maleficent really managed to gain the trust of the young boy?

Kiva, despite his interests, decided on approaching the boy. He wasn't planning on doing it for the witch's interests, however. He just wanted to talk to the boy. Maybe he could keep him from getting hurt. He wanted to keep him away from the Dark Fairy's manipulation. A child didn't deserve that. Not again, and certainly not like he'd experienced her manipulation.

"Hello?" The man called to the young boy with a soft voice despite stepping back after speaking. He figured he'd moved too close.

The young boy turned his attention to the man, rather slowly at that. Kiva almost found himself curious but when he went through possible reasons why the young one was so hesitant he shook his head to himself. He quickly shoved his thoughts to ask or for any curiosity down. He didn't feel it was right to pry in the first place anyway. He hadn't exactly wanted to stoop to his wife's level. Sunako was always someone who liked to examine people, though he knew she only did that to find leverage, something to use against a person. He was one of her victims when it came to this. Sometimes he hated the fact that emotional attachment was a thing.

The pinknette male moved to wave again before the young brunette stopped by speaking. His voice was almost below a whisper but Kiva made out a, "Who are you?"

When the young one spoke, Kiva paid little attention to his words. He hadn't meant to, however. The man was more focused on something else. It was hard not to notice what had caught his attention .Specifically something regarding the boy's eyes. It was like they were glowing. He almost had to blink just once to believe it. A purple glow. He'd read somewhere that there was something special about that. He knew that the book he'd read was within this very room, as a matter of that fact.

Kiva's attention went to the bookshelf within the room before he hemmed and sent that young boy in front of him a smile. He waved. "My name is Kiva." He answered his question rather quickly before moving closer just slightly. "What's your name?"

The boy only seemed to blink at the man a few times before he actually answered the question. When he did, he said, "...I'm sure it'll come back to me." With hesitance.

His response had Kiva twisted in knots almost immediately. His words implied he didn't remember what his name was. The man didn't exactly like that thought. Kiva took a glance over to a bookshelf in the room and he had to mull over in thought about where he had seen that book the first time. After a moment, Kiva moved for the bookshelf, his hand moving straight for the book that held a red crimson color. Kiva found the color intimidating and the thickness of the book even would intimidate people. When the book came off the shelf, Kiva took both hands and held it, mindlessly opening it and flipping through it. He knew the eye color of the boy wasn't something normal.

When Kiva found what he was looking for, he found his hand instinctively reaching a finger to follow the title of the book's section. 'Eyes of Darkness'. As he read, he found himself intrigued again, if only for a moment. That intrigue fell as he continued on. The eyes had consequences, and how you got them wasn't pleasant. Kiva looked back at the boy. The eyes mess with your mind, and Kiva knew for a fact he wasn't the only one with them. Kiva…could only wonder how long he would live with the purple orbs before he was let go, before he'd find himself erased from existence.

The pink haired man wasn't sure if he was breathing when he put the book away. He couldn't understand why fate would give those eyes to a child. The head of the young boy was tilted when Kiva looked back and he shook his head before he began walking back. He made it back over, the man kneeling before the young boy as he reached a hand to put atop his head. The boy only blinked a few times and Kiva tried his best to give him a smile. He was almost surprised he'd succeeded because he didn't feel like smiling. He only wished this boy could know. He wished he could know he wasn't going to be able to live the life he was promised him.

But Kiva wanted to be the last person to crush a child's heart.

Years later, a boy was sitting on the table in the castle chapel, spinning a steel silver staff-rod in his right hand. He was staring up at the ceiling, his gaze not able to really be seen behind his mask. The only thing that could be seen behind the mask was a purple glow, one from his eyes. When he saw someone at the chapel entrance, he sighed, dropping his rod and putting a hand to his face.

His hair, which seemed to be a brunette color, was tied up with a black ribbon that was tied multiple times over his hair but the end of the ribbon still reached past his waist, over this was a silver veil which was flipped behind his head instead of in front of his face. He was wearing a silver face mask that concealed his identity well, due to it covering his whole face. Around his neck was a black collar and he wore a silver leather jacket buttoned up at the top, the bottom freely open above a white shirt that parted like an upside down 'V' right where the opening of his jacket started. The jacket he was wearing had four coattails reaching down to knee length while having long sleeves that were connected to the jacket with fishnet material below his shoulders along with a set of dove grey, torn fishnet fingerless gloves that seemed to reach his forearms. He had a dull purple cape reaching his ankles and just a bit further on that was hung on his neck by the hood which kept it in place where it was. There were silver shoulder guards that fell down to his wrists while he had a pair of handcuffs hanging down on his left wrist. The boy had black leather pants on, torn and had silver high-heeled, thigh-high, combat boots, a silver chain hanging down on his side.

"Oh, good." Spoke the voice of Maleficent as she began to approach. "You're here, child."

The boy, despite his annoyance, did hop down from the table and give the witch a bow. "Mother." He greeted her.

Despite his very obvious annoyance, the dark fairy didn't seem to care. He didn't see why she even would. She knew he usually acted like this. He did it to ignore everything he felt, because he believed showing emotion would make it easy for him to go soft. He'd rather show strength, not weakness.

He believed he was strong, at least in the eyes of others. For himself, he figured he could use some work. The boy watched Maleficent as she walked toward the table, causing him to look at the table himself. Most likely, he found she was going to show him something. Either that or she was going to take a look at something. He would much prefer the second option.

He opened his mouth to speak to her but when an image began manifesting on the table before the duo, he found himself quickly shutting it. He stared at the image until it manifested, finding himself interested. He had no idea why exactly. He looked at Maleficent again and from the young ladies on the imagery.

"What's this?" He couldn't help himself from asking. In response, he got a glance from Maleficent before she looked back at the imagery.

"Part of the plan I've mentioned to you before." She answered him simply as her staff moved slightly in her hand.

The boy hummed as a simple reply to her. Yes, she had mentioned a plan before. She had a plan to open this world's Keyhole. He didn't know all the details but he knew pure hearts were part of the answer to open it. Specific pure hearts. They were known as the Princesses of Heart. But according to his mother, there was rumored to be Princes as well. The Princes of Heart. But maybe that was just rumors. Though…

The boy found both titles unimaginative. He found himself thinking a talentless person came up with those titles. So unoriginal. These people were said to be pure light, in their hearts at least. He found himself scoffing at the thought. There was no way someone's heart could just be pure light. There was darkness in every heart. He believed that over anything about pure hearts. Pure light didn't make sense.

The boy looked at the image of the young ladies before he snorted. "So those are the Princesses of Heart?" He shook his head. "They don't look like much."

Maleficent dropped her staff to the ground. "Silence." She told the boy. He was quick to close his mouth and look away. He huffed before she spoke again. "Yes, those are the Princesses of Heart." She shook her head. "But those are only the ones we know of." She tapped the table, grabbing her son's attention. "I would like you to go and observe the other worlds and find me the others."

The boy looked back at her and opened his mouth again. "And get you the ones we're aware of right?" He questioned with a growl. He shook his head. "Make me do all your dirty work-"

He was cut off by the strike of green flames to his left arm, at his wrist. He screamed as the flames scorched his wrist and his eyes glowed a darker purple than they already were. He moved his other hand over his wrist with what sounded like a whimper. Maleficent was only scowling as she stared at the boy. She had a hard glare as she was looking at him.

"You will do what I ask, child." She spoke sternly. "Do I make myself clear?" She asked him as her staff raised.

Her son only gritted his teeth before his eyes glowed bright. He shut them and nodded slowly. He swallowed. "Yes, mother."

Then, the boy left the chapel, shaking his head slowly to himself.

Everything he was going through now was really no different from before, from the past.