Kingdom Hearts: Zarosis [Epilogue Added][FINISHED!]

[Merci]

 

Seeing as Rinne was too lazy to unlock my necrobumped thread, I had to make another one. I iz angry, I know. And then there came the new update, which forced me to create yet ANOTHER new thread JUST so I can edit titles.

 

Anyway, I've made a page for this on the Kingdom Hearts Fanon Wikia.

 

 

[spoiler=Prologue]

Who am I?

 

The being walked through the darkness. He had many things going on in his mind. He didn’t know anything and there were too many questions going on in his head.

 

What am I?

 

Thousands of small pitch-black creatures with yellow glowing around him stared at him, as they kept giving way for the confused being to walk in any direction he was walking in. They simply stared and moved about and nothing more.

 

Where is this?

 

A strange-shaped sword then appeared in his hand. He stared at the sword for a while in confusion.

 

Sometimes questions can only be answered by force….

 

He gripped onto the sword tightly. He then turned towards the black creatures around him. He gripped his sword even tighter and swung it towards the black creatures. The black creatures, in response, started charging at him. He easily swung his sword here and there destroying every one of them which was in range of his reckless attacks. After a good few minutes of swinging and destroying, only one was left.

He lifted up his sword above his head and was about to destroy it when at the last second, an image appeared in his head. It was the image of a boy, teenager maybe, wearing a baggy black sports-like outfit with light-brown messy hair. The image faded and then a voice could be heard in his head.

 

“You are nothing but a mere shadow. You are Z.”

 

He was confused at first but then shook it off and prepared once more to strike down the last black creature simply standing there, watching him.

 

“Sora…..”

 

The same word appeared in his head. Slowly, the words ‘Z is’ began to appear above the word ’Sora’. The three words then collided and slowly began rearranging them until they formed the word ’Zarosis’.

 

“…..Is not you…..”

 

The being, taking Zarosis as his chosen name, quickly snapped out of it, and then suddenly found himself in a dark castle. In front of him was a stone stabbed with the same sword he used to destroy the shadow creatures from before.

 

“But…..”

 

Zarosis walked up towards the stone and then gripped it firmly.

 

“You are him......”

 

He pulled the sword out of the rock and then without another word, he easily navigated the castle and walked outside. He turned to see the castle again, only to see ruins. He then turned again and then started to walk outside the now-ruined gate, not knowing what to do, he carried on, firmly holding the sword in his left arm. He then smirked.

 

“Sometimes, you have to go wherever you need to go, rather than want to go.”

 

 

 

Anyway, each chapter is supposed to answer a few questions, but then raise a lot more confusion. Also each chapter ends with a comment from Zarosis.

 

[spoiler=Book Cover]

 

 

Note that Book Cover is different from 'Banner' or 'Title'.

 

May contain Birth by Sleep, 358/2 Days, and Coded spoilers.

Note that this fanfic follows a 'Chaos' theme so the chapters aren't really in order. In truth, if I didn't follow a 'Chaos' theme, I would have given up a long time ago.

 

[spoiler=Chapter 1: The Dark Meridian]

Zarosis swung his sword here and there as thousands of soldiers went charging at him. He kept defeating them one by one easily. More and more kept coming but Zarosis didn’t show any sign of tiredness. After most of the soldiers had been defeated, a figure jumped off from the main building and landed near Zarosis. It was probably a woman Zarosis concluded by the structure. “Perfect.” He muttered.

 

Zarosis, after finishing another few soldiers, turned to the woman. “I’m going to assume you’re their leader. I want answers. I want to know wh-“ He couldn’t finish his sentence. The woman was already close to him and he could barely block her attacks. “We’ll talk later then,” He managed to say.

The woman and Zarosis faced off with their strange-shaped swords. They were able to block each other’s attacks. Zarosis, almost getting hit by the blade, got an idea. Before she could land another attack, he managed to trip her with his left foot. He then quickly dropped his own blade, grabbed her blades and then proceeded to throw them away. And before she get up, he picked up his blade and pointed it at her head.

 

“I need to know a few things, and I heard that someone with your description could answer them,” Zarosis said calmly.

“If you want me, Heartless, then why did you kill everyone else?” She replied in a nasty voice.

“Because they attacked me first, and besides, most of them aren’t dead, only sleeping in their own right.”

”Fine….And how is it that a Heartless like you even has self-control? Let alone emotions or intelligence.”

“I have no idea what this ‘heartless’ is, and besides, I’m the one asking questions here. First question, what is this symbol?” He held the symbol attached to the chain around his neck like a necklace, one that didn’t want to come off easily. He then showed it the woman.

“Is this some kind of joke? That there is proof of you being a Heartless.” The woman obviously thought he must be joking.

“Oh never mind. My second question, what is this sword?”

“It’s not a sword, it’s a Keyblade, most like a fake or copy.”

“How can this sw-….Keyblade be a fake? It hardly feels like it.” He began swinging it around while still keeping it at the woman’s head. It was too real to be a sham, for that Zarosis was sure.

“Only people with a strong heart can wield the Keyblade. A Heartless like you has no proper heart.”

“Question number three, you keep on going about me being a ‘heartless’, WHAT is a heartless exactly?”

“A corrupted Heart….born from the heart being-“

”You’re crazy. Good-bye.”

 

He was about to strike, but before he could, the Keyblades he had thrown away reappeared in the woman’s hands and she attacked before he could, and he was wide-open. A piercing pain like no other went through him, his mind was screaming. The pain was difficult to explain, it felt like a headache only it was a thousand times stronger. In an attempt to stop the screaming pain, he pushed his own Keyblade forward with the rest of his effort. The screaming pain slowly faded away, and then he fainted, not knowing the outcome.

 

When he woke up, he felt like he had been asleep for centuries. His tan skin was wet. Actually, his entire body was wet. He crawled up on the beach ahead. His body seemed very weak. He collapsed and rolled over, facing the dark sky ahead. It was strange. There was a sun, yet the sky was dark. He could see the sun ahead. It was just a white circle with a blue glow around it, and it was the only thing that gave light to wherever he was.

 

“I’m on a coastline….” He realized. The coastline was dark, the water was dark, and everything was dark. It was only then he noticed his own clothing. Sure enough, he didn’t really care about what he wore, but it looked similar to the vision he had long before, a bit similar, his own pants were baggy, even though they were dark blue, and he also wore gloves. He had no more clue, simply no more clue. No idea how he got here, or what his connections are, or what the visions are in the first place. He could only push on.

 

After a while, he got up and began walking into the ocean. It grew deeper and deeper and soon it got so deep, he had to swim. He began swimming forward until he could no longer see the dark meridian. He just kept on swimming. The ocean was calm and his dark blue shirt moved about. His shirt only reached about to his stomach, but from there, his purple undershirt took over. His hood floated in the ocean. The sky is still dark, he thought to himself.

 

After only an hour of swimming, Zarosis was tired. But there was no land to rest on, and the water was getting stronger. The currents were rising and Zarosis was being swept aside by the waves. It was difficult to maintain a straight path, and then another wave took him, which completely threw him off-road, but he was already too tired to swim. He accidentally opened his eyes and they just burned from the salt water, so he closed them again. He was pushed back to the top of the ocean by a coming wave before he could rub his eyes, and was then brought back down by yet another wave. He could never escape this ocean. And then he got too tired to do any action, and fainted, or rather, slept. He drifted down deep into the ocean where he continued to drift down until he hit the bottom.

 

After a while of floating around at the bottom, he regained consciousness, or rather, awoke. He opened his eyes again accidentally, but then found that the water here was clean and pure, or something close to that. He could see in this water. And his energy had already returned to him during the sleep or unconsciousness. He swam to the top of the ocean and then found it was morning, and the sun burnt his eyes, as if he had never seen it before. And finally, land was nearby. His white miraculously still spiky hair was soaked, his clothes were soaked, and everything he was, was soaked. He was beginning to think if his clothes had shrunk.

 

He got on a beach much different from the other one. And then he saw a curved tree, like a tropical tree bent down so much you could sit on it, a paopu tree to be exact. Wait, what, paopu tree? How’d he know that? Well, either way, he lay down with his back against the curved tree, and looked across the clear blue ocean. This time, the ocean was bright instead of dark, and the sun’s light was strong instead of weak, where the clear ocean reflected in in a remarkable manner. Zarosis himself admitted it was probably beautiful, but he didn’t stick around for long.

 

He soon got up and turned, facing a bigger island. He decided he could get some answers there. He went across the paopu tree and began walking towards there, only for darkness to yet again overtake him.

 

He awoke again, finding himself in a never-ending darkness, or so he thought. He was floating, and wherever he looked, there was nothing, nothing but darkness. Then slowly his mind wondered away as he could hear voices and sounds in his head.

 

He could hear something swinging in the air and someone saying ‘Hmm…’ multiple times before the person finally said something.

“Hey, this yours?” The voice asked in a carefree way. It was probably a teenager who said it. Zarosis didn’t know what he meant, but he thought that it was probably not directed to him.

“Lea, we don’t have much time.” Another voice said in a little more serious tone than the other voice,.

“I know, Isa, I’ll be with you in a sec.” He could hear the person called ‘Lea’ walk up to him, or it sounded like that, because the sound got slightly bigger with every step. “You playing with this? What a baby.” He could hear someone silently sigh. “I’ve got these.” He then heard ‘Lea’ take something out. “Ta-da! Cool, huh?”

“That’s pretty lame, too.” Yet another voice said, probably a bit less deep than the other voices. In fact, it sounded a bit like Zarosis’s own.

“I’ve got a name, you know? It’s Lea. Got it memorized? What’s your name?”

“Ve……”

Slowly the voices faded until he could no longer hear them, and then they were replaced by different voices and sounds.

 

He could hear clashing, probably between two blades, until they stopped after a while.

“Why!? Why do you have the Keyblade?” Someone asked. It was another teenager no doubt, but the voice was completely different from the past three.

“Shut up!” Another voice said. This voice was very similar to that other voice different from ‘Isa’ and ‘Lea’. Another clash could be heard, and he could hear someone pushed away.

 

He then heard the other figure walk towards the former and then heard the latter throw his blade into the ground, next to the former probably. After a while, he heard a surprised sound from the latter and panting from the former. He could hear the former grab the blade and then swing it towards the latter and then heard the latter retreat. He then heard the former run towards the latter, probably in rage. He heard some kind of attack being unleashed by the latter but then he heard the former shout ‘Ha!’ and go through it. He heard the former’s blade strike again and heard the latter back away. The former striked again and then the latter retreated again.

 

“Why don’t you quit?!” The former shouted. There was a slight pause but then the latter said something very odd.

“Come on S…” The word began distorting for a bit but then the speech restored. “….I thought you were stronger than that.” This surprised both Zarosis and the former. Zarosis also wondered why the voice became corrupt when it was going to say this ‘S’ word, but then soon went back on track clearly.

“Get real! Look which one of us is winning!” The former said, much to Zarosis’s shock, and to the former’s as well, as he could hear. What was that ‘S’ word anyway?

“So it’s true. You really are his Nobody. Guess DiZ was right after all…..”

The voices and sounds then began fading away again, and then Zarosis slowly returned to reality.

 

“This ‘S’ word….what is it?”

 

 

[spoiler=Chapter 2: The Man with Silver Hair]

It had been a couple of days now since the castle, but he was still lost and confused. Although despite that, he had no more visions. He could figure out ways to get answers, by walking in a completely straight direction. He was currently walking in an alleyway. His hood was up, but he neither noticed or cared. He went out the alleyway only to see people walking around, chatting and stuff like that. He stepped out into the light and looked about him. There were stairs that led downward. Strange, he thought to himself. Why would they put stairs outdoors? He wondered around for a bit. Nobody had noticed him, nor did he care.

 

It had been a few hours and he had only been able to explore one-fourth of the entire city. It was huge. And the only thing that he could actually distinguish was the ruins of an old, sort of hollow castle, which looked like it recently collapsed. He lied against a wall and thought to himself.

This place has hardly anything useful. It’s just so peaceful, too peaceful, with the exception of that hollow castle, of course. That just doesn’t fit with the rest of city so far….

 

He noticed two people walking away but he just ignored them. They were unimportant. One had long but kind of spiky red hair, it was actually difficult to describe it, he couldn’t figure out the right words. He had green eyes, and yeah. The other one had a little shorter hair, which was blue, but still counted as difficult to explain. He thought they were going to ignore him, but then the red-headed one paused. He turned and looked at Zarosis, staring at him carefully for some reason, examining or something.

“I think I know you from somewhere….” The red-headed person said, definitely examining Zarosis.

“Hardly, first time here.” Zarosis replied, annoyed. The blue-headed person moved his head in a way that meant ‘let’s get going’ to the red-headed person, but the red-headed person didn’t notice.

“Anyway, my name’s L-“

“Let’s get going, we don’t really have time for this.” The blue-headed said in a more serious tone, putting his hand on the ‘L’ person’s shoulder, and then moved his head in the ‘let’s get going’ way again. And they walked away.

“Sheesh, Can’t you give me break? Seriously, I….” Zarosis was able to hear before the voices became too far to hear the rest of the sentence. And for some reason, he watched the ‘L’ and the ‘I’ people walk away, talking. And also felt a strange moment of sadness as they walked out of his view, but ignored it simply because nobody had talked directly to him before, but he knew there was a bigger reason, he just somehow knew it.

 

After another long while of wondering around, he had covered the second half of the city. He decided that the rest of the city can be explored later. And so he took a step forward, heading towards out of the city, only for darkness to cover everything in his vision.

 

There was nothing but darkness, he couldn’t see a thing. But then he heard a voice speak….

“Pitiful heartless,” A figure said in a calm yet familiar voice. “Mindlessly collecting hearts. The rage of the Keyblade releases those hearts. They gather in darkness, masterless and free….until they weave together to make Kingdom Hearts. And when that time comes, we can truly, finally exist.”

“Huh? Who are you? Where is this?” He asked, looking around, but there was only darkness.

Whatever was said next faded away, as Zarosis faded back into existence and reality.

 

When he opened his eyes, though he couldn’t even remember closing them, he was in a white building, and a cloaked figure was standing in front of him. The cloaked figure had tan skin, pointy ears, and silver hair. Zarosis stood there, clueless and confused.

“You seek answers.” The man said, in a voice identical to the previous one. “I can show them to you.”

“Who are you?” Zarosis had to ask.

“I’m what’s left. Or maybe, I’m all there ever was.”

Before Zarosis could reply, darkness took him again. But he managed glimpse a smile on the man’s face before he was once again covered by darkness.

 

“….It’s not like I have memories from before. Don’t you remember? I acted like a zombie.” A voice said, but it was very unclear, so Zarosis couldn’t really describe how it sounded like. It hurt his brain deciphering the words.

“Right, that first week you could barely form a sentence.” Another voice said, which sounded strangely similar to that ‘L’ person from before. This voice was clear. And then he heard a sound which was probably the latter hitting the former on the shoulder as he said, “But come on, you’re still kind of a zombie.”

“Oh thanks!” They began laughing for a bit before the latter said something.

“Hey Roxas, bet you don’t know why the sun sets red. You see, light is made up of lots of colors. And out of all those colors, red is the one that travels the farthest.”

“Like I asked, know-it-all!” They then began laughing again for a longer while before it slowly stopped. Zarosis could then notice after a while the air, if there was any, somehow get extremely colder. It was a long while before this ‘Roxas’ person decided to say something. “Seriously though, where is she?”

And finally after a long wait, Zarosis began fading back into existence, this time hopefully for real.

 

“Head towards the Castle of Yara. I will take you there.” The same figure from before said, standing in front of a now-kneeling Zarosis. “Show the soldiers no mercy, but do not kill any of them. The leader is a woman who wields weapons similar to yours. She can answer your questions. However, it is best to keep her in a position where she can’t move first, and make sure all the soldiers are unconscious. Goodbye.”

Before Zarosis could ask questions or protest, he was once again engulfed in darkness.

 

When the darkness disappeared, he was in front of a gate, a large one of metal. And he seemed colder himself somehow. He felt somewhat happy at the destruction he was about to cause, he had thoughts he never had before. But no, those thoughts are unimportant to him. He looked at his right hand, which was gripping the strange-shaped blade. Funny, he didn’t remember holding it before.

He jumped up and miraculously went over the gate. He stared forward. There were thousands of soldiers around him.

“Hi.” He said, for some reason excited. But he knew he shouldn’t be excited, so why was he? Either way, he waited for the soldiers to make their move. It was unusual, to have so many soldiers in one place. He wondered what had happened enough to summon every one of them, but he decided it unimportant, and also decided to heed the silver-haired man’s words. Many soldiers charged at him, and he knocked them all unconscious easily using the side of his strange-shaped blade. The other soldiers probably thought they were dead, and so they themselves proceeded to charge at him.

 

“A thousand verses one, this is very unfair.” He said as he knocked more soldiers unconscious. “Very unfair for them.” He proceeded to swing his sword from the side, knocking out even more soldiers, and began fighting his way through the horde, and in the process, his hood fell off, not that that was important. This was just too easy. And then he caught himself thinking that. What is wrong with me? He thought. And then the excitement slowly faded away from his heart as he re-regained his self. He knocked a few more soldiers aside. And then he wondered.

 

“Who was that person? He seemed familiar somehow.”

 

 

[spoiler=Chapter 3: The Unavailable Person]

Zarosis and the woman were at a camp-fire. To tell the truth, Zarosis had never seen a fire before. He had seen huge cities, ruins of great castles, and creatures beyond nature and he had never ever seen a fire before.

“Is it some form of water that flies?” He asked, simply dumbstruck by the fire.

“No, it isn’t water in any way whatsoever.” The woman replied.

“So is it some kind of rock that moves?”

“I think the word you’re looking for is ‘solid’, and no, it isn’t.”

“So it’s an air you can see.” He reached out his hand, and it began getting hotter and hotter, and he hadn’t even touched it yet. But as soon as his hand went through the supposed air, it hurt him like a sharp hot dagger, and he immediately withdrew his hand, blowing it. The woman only sighed.

“It’s probably air, but one which is very hot and doesn't spread out to everywhere.”

“So it’s hot air?”

“Hardly.”

 

Zarosis still couldn’t figure out what a fire was. It was kind of like a mix of water and air. But in the end, he gave up trying to figure it out. And then he remembered to ask something he was wondering.

“What was your name again?” He asked the woman.

“Reta Warvenia the second, princess of the country of Yara, daughter of Diuqil Warvenia the eighth and Reta Warvenia the first, leader of the Battle of Nocab Nettor and the Invasion of Ydadon, rightful and only heir to the throne, known by many names such as-“

“I asked your name, not every one of your titles….. Wait, you’re a princess?!” He was utterly shocked, he had no idea she was a princess.

“I wore a golden tiara, the one which you just so happened to knock off during our first duel without even noticing it, have white robes that are of the richest material, and I speak in a noble manner and you still didn’t know I was a princess?”

“Nope.” The woman called ‘Reta’ could only hang her head in utter confusion. Zarosis himself wondered why he never saw it. “I guess I was so focused on fighting you that I never really noticed what you wore.”

“Don’t you ever pay attention to anything other than fighting?”

“I do….when I’m NOT fighting.”

“Well, maybe next time, you shou...…”

He couldn’t hear what she was going to say next because he was once again engulfed in darkness, and faced yet more voices.

 

“……you should….huh?” Reta was confused all of a sudden. The boy, Zarosis, had just fainted. She had to act quickly and pushed him away, otherwise his face would have fallen into the fire. But then again, he acted like that before, shortly after he attempted an attack during their first duel. He fainted. Does this always happen to him? Well, he is essentially a Heartless and all, but I still don’t really get it.

 

“He told you how he felt, did he? Impossible, a Nobody cannot feel anything.” A deeper voice replied, different to every other voice. This one was of an adult, and a lot more serious. And then he began fading back into reality again, he was actually getting tired of hearing this stuff all the time. How many more times must he hear it? And then he faded into yet another vision or something like that.

 

There was nothing, until a strange waving sound appeared and then he heard a person walk out of it. “Why do I always get stuck with the icky jobs?” The person said as he walked out of the waving sound. The sound was exactly the same as the ‘L’ person from before and almost the same as the ‘Lea’ person. He heard a buzzing sound and then the strange waving sound disappeared. And then, for the first time, he had vision. He was standing in grass, and the person who walked out was in fact the same person as the ‘L’ person from before, only he had a black cloak. He continued walking towards the gate and Zarosis just watched. An air of sadness blew in the air.

There was a slight pause and then the ‘L’ person said something.

 

“Xion… what are you going to do?” He asked to what seemed to be an invisible person in front of the gate. There was another slight pause and then he said something else. “Well, to be honest, I always felt that was best, right from the very beginning. But you know, it still really bugs me. Something about this just stinks.” He clenched his hand in anger or sadness, Zarosis didn’t know. Another slight pause went through the air. “But how do you know that? Everybody thinks they’re right….” His voice became more unfamiliar with the carefree voice he had heard back in that city. Another slight pause.

“They’re gonna destroy you!” He shouted, only to be surprised at something, what, Zarosis simply didn’t know. And another slight pause went through the air, but Zarosis was feeling sad for something, he felt like he was going to cry. The ‘L’ person took a difficult deep breath as he tried to control his anger. “What’s your problem?!” He shouted in a fit of rage. “You both…think you can do whatever you want. Well, I’m sick of it.” He faced the gate, or something that was in front of it. “Go on, you just keep on running.” He held out his hand and a small fiery sound came from beneath it. “But I’ll always be there to bring you back!” A strange weapon that looked circular and red, with silver spikes and circles around the edges, and two black handles shaped like crosses in the middle appeared from beneath his hand and he grabbed it. A fight then commenced. And Zarosis finally realized, the person the ‘L’ person was talking to, that person was simply unavailable in his vision. And for some reason, he shed a tear.

 

Reta watched as a tear came from Zarosis’s unconscious body. “And I thought nothing could break him.” She muttered.

 

It seemed fate didn’t let Zarosis have visions with images twice. But what he was hearing was simply important, and sad, in a way.

“Who are you….again?” Somebody asked. It was the same person from that vision before the Heartless castle, the same one which got him wondering the ‘S’ word. He was speaking in a way as if he had a headache. “It’s weird. I feel like I’m forgetting something really important.” There was a slight pause, but Zarosis knew better. He focused everything into trying to hear the unavailable person, the ‘Xion’ person. And he heard her, yes, a girl, in mid-sentence.

“..…better off now…Roxas.” She said. She spoke very weakly, and then he heard her collapse, and heard the Roxas person grab her before she hit the ground.

“Am I…the one who did this to you?” He said, confused and still seemed like he had a headache. Zarosis could hear strange crystal sounds coming from where the ‘Xion’ person was talking, floating into the sky.

“No… It was my choice…to go away now. Better that, than to do nothing…and let Xemnas have his way. I belong with Sora.”

And the voices slowly faded away as Zarosis felt a piercing pain of sadness in his chest. He then slowly returned to reality.

 

Reta watched as Zarosis woke up from unconsciousness, tears in his eyes. He wiped them away, confused. “So, Zaros, what happened to you just now? Is this usual for you?” Reta asked.

“The crying isn’t. Blame the visions. They get even sadder with each one.” Zarosis replied.

“Oh, I see.” Reta then thought for a while. He could have been experiencing his original’s memories, but usually only a Nobody is like that. She would say her suggestion later though.

 

Zarosis looked around after a while, noticing the sky, which was getting darker. “It’s almost night. Time to go.” He said. Reta nodded. Reta packed her things up and Zarosis just tapped his foot. When she was finally ready, the sky was dark. They put out the camp-fire, something which surprised Zarosis as to how that was possible, and then left off into the forest. Zarosis then thought to himself.

 

“I finally know the ‘S’ word. Sora!”

 

 

[spoiler=Chapter 4: Brothers]

“You were looking for me?” The silver-haired man said. He was staring at the reflecting sunset. He then turned to Reta and Zarosis. “But unfortunately, I have no time for you now. Please come back tomorrow for your next mission.” He spoke in that same calm manner, as if he was in control of everything.

“Enough already, I want answers!” Zarosis shouted. This man was his only lead. “Who am I?! I know you know!”

“I have told you. You are him who is not you.”

“You mean Sora! Tell me who he is!” Zarosis summoned his Darkside Keyblade and stared at the man in rage.

“You’ll find out soon enough.” The man then raised his hands and a spear that looked like as if it was made of pure light appeared in it, well, above it. He then shot the spear at Zarosis at such intensity. There was no way to dodge it.

 

I can’t let this happen! He thought. As soon as the blast was fired, Zarosis dived deep down into the dark canyon below. Then he opened his hand to the bottomless hole below and summoned a corridor of darkness as he fell, but he forgot to concentrate on his destination. It looked like a door-shaped black hole-thing made of black smoke and it emitted a waving sort of sound. And he fell into it. I wonder if Reta is OK….. I’m sure she’s fine, I’ll check on her some other time, if I have it. And I really need to practice using that corridor thing, it’s not as easy as pie.

 

He had barely escaped with his life. He arrived at some strange place. But then he realized he hadn’t. He was simply in another vision. He was in a white room. At the center was a strange closed-flower-shaped machine. In front of it was a girl with blonde hair in a white dress, probably around his age. A person dressed in a black and red robe with his face covered by red bandages came from a white door and approached the girl.

“You seem to be struggling.” The man said. This voice was similar to one of his other visions, one that wasn’t recognizable at all. The girl just put her hands to her heart.

“A Nobody is interfering, I think.” The girl said, with a sad look on her face.

“A Nobody?”

“I keep trying to piece his memories back together, but what if some of the pieces got lost? There would be no way for me to finish.” She paused for a moment. “If that happened, and they found their way into someone else, he’d never get them back.”

“Oh, I think he can do without a memory or two.”

“But what if he needs those memories in order to wake up? What if they’re the key?”

Zarosis was very confused by this vision. He then began fading into yet another vision.

 

When Zarosis jumped off, Reta didn’t worry. He was associated with darkness so he would be able to conjure a corridor of darkness. And she took that moment to attack the silver-haired person, but he simply turned and effortlessly knocked her away. Even with her Keyblade, she still couldn’t land a hit on him.

“I have no use for you, begone.” He said in a calm yet intimidating voice. Reta was powerless against him. She grabbed her Keyblades and tried to attack him again, but he simply blocked with his arms.

“Just who are you anyway?!” She shouted in rage, trying each time to try and hit him.

“I’m all that’s left.” He then sent her across the forest ahead with a simple punch. She was sent flying like a doll. And then she hit a rocky wall with her back, pain screaming through her body. The pain felt like you were hit by a strong, powerful, giant rock, only it was exactly the opposite. She tried her best to best the pain, but it was too much for her, and she fainted, wondering if Zarosis was alive.

 

“….You can’t turn on the Organization!” The ‘L’ person shouted. They were on a dark street, the same one from Zarosis’s previous vision. “You get on their bad side, and they’ll destroy you!”

“No one would miss me.” The Roxas person replied. He then continued to walk on, leaving the ‘L’ person behind. The ‘L’ person seemed sad.

“That’s not true! …..I would.” The ‘L’ person let his arms hang. And then Zarosis faded back into existence.

 

Zarosis was tired of all these visions. He had to know. There had to be another way to find out. But the silver-haired man had altered his course, a fact which he just realized. In front of him were many dark creatures, like the ones from before, only they were all humanoid. They all had the same gloves, same short, large shoes, and same hooded shirt. However, their clothing was colored entirely in shades of black and grey. Their skin was also black, as was their same spiky hair. They all also carried a copy of his Keyblade. They all also had glowing yellow eyes, the one thing that connected them to those other creatures.

 

They all stared at him and he could hear whispers……

“No! I’m not one of you!” Zarosis shouted, raising his Keyblade. He fought his way through them all, but they were just as skilled as him, only slightly weaker. None of them followed the Mook Chivalry, apparently, either. Zarosis had to punch, kick, head-butt, jump, and swing all at the same time just to stay alive. He jumped onto one of black creature’s head and began jumping through them as he swung his Keyblade at them. But this advantage was not to last. One of them happened to show a tiny sign of intelligence and as he jumped, that one thing grabbed onto his foot and pulled him down, where the others followed.

 

He was pinned to the ground and then the black creatures began to strike, only every single one of the creatures wanted to strike. Whenever one tried to strike, another pushed it out of the way, and before that one could strike, another went in its way. There were too many that wanted to strike him. This continued for a long while, until they all killed each other, except one, the last one. The last one obviously had no idea what a ‘slow and painful death’ is supposed to be. It quickly began running to Zarosis on its four legs.

 

He noticed this one was different from the others. This one constantly emitted what could only be described as Darkness from its arms and back in the form of misty black and violet wisps. It lunged at Zarosis and he prepared to block it, when to his surprise, it abandoned its Keyblade completely and slashed him with its left hand, where he saw claws appear for a split second as it cut through him. They hurt a lot, like three sharp knives stabbing at your shoulder. He expected blood to pour from it, but instead was a strange black sticky kind of liquid. As the pain went through him, he striked with his Keyblade, and the black creature retreated.

 

Anger...hatred...corruption……becomes power. Everything that exists……will be devoured! The black creature said in Zarosis’s mind. He didn’t know how it said that, but then he replied with three words.

Now shut up.

He pointed his Keyblade at the black creature, and then it shot a small, but bright, beam of nothing other than light from it. The beam immediately went through the black creature, and destroyed it, before it could retaliate. It melted into a black liquid, and then the black liquid slowly faded away. Zarosis was then confused as to what that was or how he did it, or anything, anything at all. Another vision then hit him, this one completely different from any other he had ever experienced.

 

There was a boy, probably around his age. He had large yellow shoes, a white and black overjacket as well as a red jumpsuit and a pair of white with yellow gloves and some kind of crown necklace. He had spiky brown hair along with blue eyes. He also had tan skin. He was accompanied by a humanoid duck wearing blue clothes and some…..something that vaguely looked like a humanoid dog. He didn’t know. They came out of a giant door and entered a white room. They then faced a cloaked and hooded figure.

 

“Well, Sora. Did you enjoy meeting your memories?” The cloaked figure asked the boy, Sora.

“Yeah, it was good to see everyone….but what do you really want from me?” Sora replied.

“What do you have to give?” The cloaked man began walking towards Sora as Sora summoned his Keyblade. But then a Corridor of Darkness appeared behind the cloaked man and out came none other than that ‘L’ person.

“Hello.” He said in a carefree kind of way. Sora only stared at them in some sort of anger.

“What do you want?” The cloaked man asked.

“No hugging the hero.” The cloaked man turned and then threw something at the ‘L’ person. The ‘L’ person grabbed it, with a smirk on his face. The thrown item was some kind of blue card. The cloaked man then turned to the ‘L’ person.

“Then perhaps you would like to test him.” The cloaked man was then covered entirely by a corridor of darkness before disappearing into it.

 

“Perhaps I would.” The ‘L’ person then turned to the Sora person. “My show now, Keyblade Master. Who am I? Oh, my name’s Axel. Got it memorized?” He touched his brain. Now that was very odd. This Axel person and the ‘L’ person were exactly the same. He could have sworn they were.

“Uh….sure.”

“Good, you’re a quick learner. So, Sora, now that we’re getting to know each other better….” He rose his hands and then stretched them out to his sides as the same chakrams from before appeared in them. The Sora person and the other people, upon seeing this, readied their weapons, prepared if this Axel person were to strike. “….don't you go off and die on me now!” And then a battle ensued as Zarosis began returning to reality once more.

 

“Sora, huh? Not as awesome as I expected.”

 

 

[spoiler=Chapter 5: Black and White]

When Zarosis opened his eyes, this time for real, he was horrified at what he saw. The black creatures, the very first thing he remembered, they were around the castle. The sky was dark again, and the castle, the castle had transformed somehow. Everywhere he looked, there were more creatures. His Keyblade appeared in his hand, and he began fighting his way through the creatures, they only attacked when he attacked. He stopped and looked around. The black creatures went about their business and ignored him. Those things, they could very well be ‘corrupted hearts’, as the woman said.

 

He walked through the horde of the black creatures. They were only as big as a full-grown dog. They only attacked him when he attacked them. It was strange. He looked up and saw a massive, muscular, humanoid giant black creature. Its legs were rather short for its size and its feet were very thin and curled upward. Its arms were quite long, and it had two relatively small, twisted wings on its back. There was a large, heart-shaped hole in the black creature’s chest. Its head was covered in dozens of twisted, black tentacles.

 

It was huge, as huge as the castle itself. It looked about, to see if there were any intruders. Well, here was an intruder in somewhat plain sight. And nothing bothered to assimilate, delete, destroy, obliterate, kill, eat, or whatever they did to intruders. And then an intruder which was definitely not him appeared. The intruder was a woman. Reta, if you will, but Zarosis didn’t know that at this point. The woman went across the horde of black creatures, destroying them fluently.

 

The woman then noticed Zarosis, and began charging at him. Knowing this was definitely not a good thing, he summoned his Keyblade, only for the black creatures to recognize him as another intruder, the irony of this. He destroyed some of the black creatures and then attacked the woman, but she blocked. Two more black creatures, these ones the size of adults, appeared. The woman and he each destroyed one with a simple strike. They then retreated from each other and began destroying the horde of black creatures.

 

Once they were all destroyed, the last remaining was the giant, who was about to attack Zarosis with its left arm. There was no time for Zarosis to do anything, but before he could, the woman jumped and pushed him out of the way.

“Don’t get any ideas.” She muttered. Zarosis was surprised by the action but took the giant black creature as a greater threat. They both ran up the black creature’s arm as it lifted it. It attacked with its other arm, but the two simply jumped and landed on the creature’s shoulder as its left arm was destroyed by its right arm. They both slashed at the head before they jumped down. The black creature didn’t feel anything and its left arm was regenerating .

 

It attacked with its left arm again, punching the ground. The woman and Zarosis jumped out of the way, but a strange black….puddle appeared from behind the black creature’s fist.

 

Black creatures arose from the black puddle, and then the woman and Zarosis destroyed them. Dark wisps then came at them, but they jumped out of the way. Zarosis then struck the left foot of the creature before running up the leg and up to the chest. Then he stopped and slashed at the head again. He then got down and then the woman pointed her hands at the head of the black creature and shouted “Thundaga!” Thunder was then shot from the sky and it directly struck the head, blasting it off. The black creature was defeated, only for it to fall onto the duo. And then everything was black.

 

Someone was running through some dark hallway. He had bright blue eyes and spiky hair that was a golden blond. He wore a jacket that was somewhat black on the left side and somewhat white on the right side. The collar of the jacket was red and pleated. He also had a chunk of dull green and grey armor on his midsection that appeared to be under his vest, and another piece of armor on his left shoulder. His pants were balloony, but slightly outward before closing up about halfway down his legs. The pants were colored in shades of grey, black, and white. He also wore an ornate, dull green and grey piece of armor on his upper-left arm. He then noticed there were three others behind him. They all were dressed up like colorful witches, Blue, green, and red to be exact. And all three of them also had wands.

 

They then came to a stop and saw a figure standing away from them. “So, you’re the one who released Aurora’s heart after all that trouble I took to get it?” She, yes she, said in a deep and evil voice. She then turned to face the others. Green-skinned, the obviously evil woman’s yellow eyes were heavily shadowed with violet make-up. The dark witch's 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 also fin-like spikes on the sides of her neck. The spikes along with the collar of her robe created an upside-down pentagram. She carried a staff with a glowing green orb at the tip.

“Maleficent!” One of the good witches said. Zarosis didn’t know which though, they all looked the same.

“So you took Princess Aurora’s heart!” The blonde said, with an angry look. He sounded a lot like that person who was with Isa and Lea in one of his first visions. Zarosis noticed he was holding a Keyblade. Most of it was dark-gray, while the rest was somewhat golden. It was difficult to describe. The blonde readied his Keyblade, which he was holding in a reverse grip, and began running towards the ‘Maleficent’ person. He then jumped and was able to strike when ‘Maleficent’ raised and opened up her arms, before disappearing in green fire, before it disappeared. The blonde looked around, surprised. And then he heard a voice from up ahead.

 

“A Keyblade…. You must be Ventus.” Maleficent said. Ventus then looked up ahead and saw Maleficent standing above what two staircases connected to.

“Huh?! How do you know my name…and about the Keyblade, too?” Ventus had a surprised look.

“The Keyblade is the key to gathering hearts. Terra is the one who showed me.”

“Huh? Terra!? Terra was here?!”

“That’s right. Terra stole Aurora’s heart for me.” Ventus closed his eyes and shook his head, as to what appears to be him not being able to accept this as the truth.

“Don’t lie!” And then Ventus drew his Keyblade.

“I was told not to harm you…but it seems that there’ll be a change in plans!” And then she opened up her arms. Meanwhile, the three good witches quickly looked around and then waved their wands. They then turned into shining spheres that then flew towards the battle about to commence. But Zarosis couldn’t see the battle. Instead, he simply faded into a few more minutes afterward.

 

Maleficent was now panting, coming up from a staircase. “You’re lying about Terra stealing Princess Aurora’s heart!” Ventus declared. He was no longer holding his Keyblade.

“It’s the truth.” Maleficent replied, getting back to the spot she was before the battle commenced. “Terra stole the heart of his own free will.”

“You’re lying…”

“Don’t be fooled, Ven!” A different woman said this time. Zarosis assumed that Ven was short for Ventus. Ventus then turned to see who said that.

“Aqua!” He said. The woman, ‘Aqua’, had blue eyes and her hair was blue and short. She wore a black and blue, high-collared halter top, two pink, intersecting belts over her chest, and black shorts. On her arms were white bell-sleeves and tan, fingerless gloves. She also wore a small, segmented piece of armor on each of her upper arms. She also bore two strips of blue cloth that drape over either side of her hips, along with a smaller, white strip of cloth tied around her waist, draped in the same manner. Finally, she wore pointed, armored, silver boots with a sharp "hook" on the outer side of each.

 

Aqua ran towards Ventus. “Terra would never do such a thing. You know that too, right?” Ventus came away from his depressed face.

“Yeah.” He said, with a smile on his face.

“I see. So you’re Ven and that’s Aqua…” Maleficent said. “What a beautiful friendship you three share. However, reality is a cruel thing.” Both Aqua and Ventus looked at Maleficent with rage, but then Aqua turned to Ventus again.

“Master gave me the order. Ven, let’s go home together.” She said, holding out her hand to Ventus.

“What about Terra?” Ventus replied, with a sad face.

“Terra can’t go home yet.”

 

Zarosis then heard a voice in his head. It sounded somewhat like Ventus’s and somewhat not.

Follow Terra, and you’ll see for yourself…how Terra won’t be Terra anymore.

Ventus still had a sad look. “Sorry, Aqua. I can’t go home yet. I have to hurry and find Terra!” He then ran away from Aqua.

“Ven!” Zarosis noticed the green good witch about to chase after him, but the red good witch stopped her and shook her head.

As Ventus was running, he said, “Terra, where are you?”

 

Ventus was now completely clad in armor. His suit of armor was sporting steel blue, gold, and black armor, with several red lines decorating it. Actually, Zarosis had no idea how he knew it was Ventus. Also, he had no idea how he was keeping up. Ventus was riding through what appeared to be space standing on some kind of board. And then suddenly a person who wore a black and red organic-looking bodysuit surrounded by some red and black aura flew past Ventus and then turned to look at him.

“That guy!” Ventus said as the other person turned again before flying away, remarkably faster than Ventus’s board. Ventus then increased his speed and followed the person.

 

Ventus was now in some wasteland. His armor and board disappeared and then he fell to the ground, landing on his feet. “Where’d he go?” He asked, looking around. He then turned and saw the person. “Alright, what did you mean about Terra being a different person?”

“Exactly what I said, idiot.” The person replied walking towards Ventus. “The Terra you know will be gone forever.” He then paused to a halt. Ventus looked at the person with rage. The person then lifted up his right hand, and then nothing other than a Keyblade appeared in it. It was primarily in shades of red and black but the overall appearance was difficult to describe.

“A Keyblade!?” Ventus was surprised. But then he summoned his Keyblade and got ready for battle.

“Good. Let’s see what you’re made of.”

And then a battle commenced.

No less than few minutes later, Ventus was sent flying into the ground. He struggled to get up. Meanwhile, the person began walking towards him as he asked, “Still at such a low level?”

And before Zarosis could see anything else, he faded back into existence, left wondering.

 

He was now somewhere else. His back was against a tiny hill, height only about two meters. And he was now in a forest, with the castle nowhere in sight. The sky was a bright blue“About time you woke up!” The woman shouted, behind Zarosis, surprising him and making him sit straight. “Just be lucky I deemed you human enough to be saved.”

“Whatever. Why are we here anyway? You had a castle?”

“It was destroyed by those Heartless you so happened to create with that Keyblade abomination of yours. And soon the Heartless are going to catch up with us.”

“Catch up with us?”

“I ran twenty miles dragging you along. I stopped for rest, and I’m going to continue in the night.”

“Well, that figures. By the way, I'm Zarosis.”

“That name doesn't really suit you, you know.” But either way, Zarosis couldn’t help thinking about the vision he just had. That was the longest one yet.

 

“Ventus, huh? What’s his story?”

 

 

[spoiler=Chapter 6: Battle through Memories]

“Destiny Islands.” Zarosis muttered. Up ahead was definitely an island. He didn’t know how he knew its name though. He began walking forward, somewhat exhausted after what he's been through. It felt somewhat comfortable that chain necklace was no longer hanging around his neck, but it was difficult to get used to it not being there anymore. He then took another step, only for a hand to come out of nowhere and grab him. He turned and saw, the silver-haired man was still alive.

“How did you?!” Zarosis managed to say before the silver haired man blasted him with something.

“I did say that not even a moon can stop me.” The silver-haired man muttered. He then raised his hands and everything was engulfed in darkness.

 

He was standing on a floating circle with strange pictures on them. He recognized one of them as belonging to that Ventus person but he didn’t have time to look around any further. There was no sky, only darkness. Near the borders of the circle were Ventus and that other person, without his helmet, revealed to have black spiky hair and pale skin, and a strange new Keyblade. They were fighting, but he didn’t have the time to watch the epic battle. He turned and, just in time, managed to block the silver-haired man’s attack with his own Keyblade. The silver-haired man struck as Zarosis blocked, pushing him away. He nearly fell off but managed to gain his balance.

 

He battled with the silver-haired man throughout the circle, never overlapping with the other battle between Ventus and the other person. The silver-haired man attacked again, and Zarosis attempted to trip him, but instead the silver-haired man lifted up his foot, dodging the tripping attempt, who then proceeded to hit Zarosis with his Keyblade. It hurt a lot, but Zarosis could endure it. He ran towards the silver-haired man and attacked again, only to be blocked. The silver-haired man then quickly grabbed Zarosis by the neck and threw him across the circle. He fell off, but managed to grab onto the edge. He then jumped back up. He charged right back at the silver-haired man, but the silver-haired man just lifted up his right hand and both of them were engulfed by darkness.

 

Now they were in some mountainous place, where an armored person, clad from head to toe in armor, mostly in shades of brown, gold, and red, faced another but similar silver-haired person wearing skintight, black, high-collared shirt, and some kind of long skirt. Both of them had Keyblades, and were battling with each other. And they were surrounded by some purple fiery wall. The sky was still hidden in darkness, but this time he could tell the sky was there. The silver-haired man appeared behind Zarosis and blasted him into that purple fiery wall as the armored person fought off the other silver-haired man.

 

The silver-haired man then waved his arm and Zarosis was sent by a giant wind into the seething wall again. Zarosis got back up again, and then fired a dark fireball from his own hand, but the silver-haired man just ran through it as if it was nothing and then attempted to attack again. Zarosis dodged out of the way, and then hit him from the back. He then proceeded to do heavy swings at the silver-haired man before backing away. The silver-haired man was unfazed. He just turned and raised his arms again, where they were once again engulfed in darkness.

 

They were now standing in the air. Around Zarosis was a town of some sort. And the sun was up, but setting, which made the now bright sky red. In front of him was some kind of tower, but he couldn’t get to know what kind, because it was blocked by a gigantic humanoid monster at a titanic size, just as big as the tower itself. It was bizarrely-shaped and was predominantly silver and black. The humanoid monster was embroidered with numerous spikes and ribbons. It also held two Keyblade-like, pink and silver weapons. Facing it was someone who had an uncanny resemblance to Ventus, wearing a black coat, and wielding a simple Keyblade, who was walking in the sky, about to the height of the monster’s chest, as was Zarosis and….yeah.

 

Zarosis quickly turned and blocked before the silver-haired man could hit him. They began attacking each other, and each other blocked each other’s attacks. Then Zarosis changed his style of fighting and pushed through his next attack, getting the silver-haired man off-guard. He was about to deliver another heavy attack when the humanoid monster swung her Keyblade-like weapon. Zarosis had no way to block or dodge it, but it just fazed through him. He was confused, and in his confusion the silver-haired man retaliated with a swing from his Keyblade.

 

It hurt, but Zarosis could keep fighting. He quickly thrust his Keyblade forward and hit the silver-haired man. Then he fired another dark fireball at him. Finally, he ended with another from his Keyblade. The silver-haired man just took this as nothing and knocked Zarosis aside. Zarosis went to attack again, only for the silver-haired man to disappear in darkness. He looked around, surprised, and then the silver-haired man emerged from behind, Zarosis dodging just in time. He attempted to counterattack, but then suddenly something blocked his attack before his attack could hit. He pushed on his attack and finally the invisible barrier was broken, where he delivered attacks to the silver-haired man. The silver-haired man then retreated before raising his hands up yet again, where they were once again engulfed in darkness.

 

This time, there was yet another silver-haired man, this one wearing a white cloaked covered in black designs. He was facing that Sora person and someone with white hair, about the same age as Sora, wearing a white and yellow vest, his pants were a pair of baggy blue denim jeans, and his feet with a simple pair of sneakers. They were both fighting against the other silver-haired man. And then Zarosis noticed where they were. They were in an eternal white, with small black symbols floating about. He engaged in combat with the silver-haired man, this time the silver-haired man was attacking fast.

 

As they fought, with Zarosis struggling not to lose balance, a black scribble shot from the ground and the silver-haired man appeared from above it. Zarosis followed in pursuit, and attacked, only for the silver-haired man to go further up with another black scribble, with Zarosis following through the black scribble. He fought the silver-haired man, and noticed those other two fighting the other one, who was also using a black scribble to further up with Sora and that other person following in pursuit. Occasionally, Zarosis would be hit, only to follow right back up and face off again, and Sora and that other person did the same.

 

Then they dropped to the ground. Zarosis quickly attempted to strike the silver-haired man, but he disappeared into thin air, and then reappeared behind Zarosis, about to strike. Zarosis turned, and as he did, saw the other silver-haired man do the same. Zarosis was able to block the assault, as was Sora and the other person in the other battle. He was able to hold off the disappearing and reappearing assaults, before the silver-haired man then reappeared again and they faced off, attacking and blocking each other’s attacks. Zarosis ran for a finishing attack, only for the silver-haired man to raise his hands once more, where they were once again engulfed in darkness.

 

They were now on a beach, where Sora and that white-haired person from before, as kids, were fighting each other with wooden swords. Zarosis continued his fight with the silver-haired man, where he was finally gaining an edge, catching the silver-haired man off-guard more than once, and his strength mysterious returning to him. He caught the silver-haired man off-guard once more, and was about to do the finishing strike, when a vision consumed him, at this crucial time.

 

Zarosis was in a white room now, where that girl in the white dress from one of his previous visions stood, along with the guy Sora and an anthromorphic mouse who wore a black vest with white lining and whose pants were red and baggy. The two latter were looking upwards.

“And those existences right now are connecting within Sora.” The girl began in a kind voice.

“I get the feeling I’ve met them.” Sora said.

“Yes, you’ve met two of them before. The other people, I don’t know them although I can tell they have a very important connection.”

“Yeah.” The mouse looked at Sora before turning to the girl again.

“Perhaps if you really had to remember them now…” The mouse began, but the girl just shook her head.

“I don’t know them. But that point is definitely coming when it is necessary for them to awaken. And the only person who can help them is Sora.” Zarosis was kinda confused. She was referring to Sora as if he wasn’t standing right there.

“It means their bond becomes the key, doesn’t it? I understand, Naminé. Now I’ll inform Sora in the outside world.” This increased Zarosis’s confusion even more.

“Yes, please do.” The mouse and who Zarosis now doubted to be ‘Sora’ then nodded. ‘Sora’ then hung his arms behind his head in a relaxed manner.

 

“Well-“ Naminé began.

“Hold on.” ‘Sora’ said.

“Huh?”

“As for you. The me I don’t know kept a promise with you.”

“Because even if I was gone, the promise Sora and I made wouldn’t be erased. So for that, this is my compensation.” She paused for a moment. “I’ve damaged a lot of people.”

“But what will happen now to the Naminé that’s right here?” Zarosis gave up on trying to figure it out.

“I am only data meant to convey a message. From the start, nothing existed within this data. Though my record from this will also be erased, together with the message, the feelings, and things seen during your journey will be delivered to the other Sora. By doing so, I am one more person being healed.” And Zarosis figured it out despite giving up, this was data, and the people here were only data.

“For everyone connected to Sora.” Data Sora said. “I understand, Naminé!”

“Yeah.”

“So then…” Data Sora began. “There’s just me. There’s something I want to tell Naminé. Thank you.” Data Naminé smiled and then she disappeared as spears of light and data replaced her. And as that happened, Zarosis began fading back into existence.

 

When Zarosis had fainted again, Reta had somehow arrived to the scene and quickly grabbed his unconscious body and threw it away, from the silver-haired man’s reach. She looked around, confused as to why she was on a beach, and saw two kids fighting. The last thing she remembered was searching for Zarosis. And then she noticed the silver-haired man.

“How unexpected.” The silver-haired man muttered. “To think that one’s will could be strong enough to summon a person.” Reta quickly summoned her Keyblade, which had recently been replaced with a different one. This one’s color scheme consisted of various grays and blues. The hilt is silver and is separated from the shaft, while the teeth jut out in a rounded fashion. The Keychain at the end of the blade was a water drop.

“Just go already!” Reta shouted before quickly running in rage at the silver-haired man. And she held him off for as long as Zarosis was unconscious. And then Zarosis was finally waking up, with only a couple of words in his head.

 

“I know the people who that Naminé was referring to.”

 

 

Chapters 7-13 at Post #3.

 

[spoiler=Epilogue]

[spoiler=Read all the Chapters before proceeding.]

Answers no longer sought after ten years…….

 

Zaros simply sighed. He looked a lot older now, being twenty-four (That’s what the people had concluded, anyway, by his appearance) now. His spiky white hair was less messy now, but it was still somehow miraculously able to retain spikes, and his tan skin was less tan, but still tan. He wore an onyx tunic over his white, long-sleeved shirt. He still wore purple gloves, baggy pants, and big shoes, though. He had no idea that Reta’s family was so weird when he came to all that time ago.

Well, he was a king now, but it still felt uncomfortable being called that. He envied the soldiers. They went out to battle all the time, but the king only fights when necessary. He sighed. “Is this seriously what they call a happy ending?” He asked himself, after a random thought appeared in his head.

 

The questions still sought out……

 

Sunami, now a teenager tapped her foot. “Well?” She asked at last, impatient. “Did you get out that information?”

“No, m- my Lady,” The scientist replied nervously. “The Dark Clone Project remains locked to us. It requires a password.” Sunami just sighed.

“The password is ‘Zarosis’, idiot. Z-A-R-O-S-I-S. Should I repeat myself?”

“A- Are you sure?” The scientist had doubt in his eyes, and that just enraged Sunami even more.

“Of course I’m sure! Now type it down before I feed you to the Heartless!” And the scientist began typing it down, still doubtful, yet even more fearful. “I-It works!”

“I told you so.” And then she drew her Keyblade, which looked like the Keyblade owned by ‘Sora’, only the end was filled with a Heartless symbol, and the blade was onyx. She then proceeded to slash at the scientist before he could react.

 

Another time ……

 

Reyah wondered for a while as he looked out into the sky. “Verde,” He began. “Do you ever wonder that something bigger is meant for us, for everyone we've remembered or forgotten?”

“When did that come into your mind? It’s funny though, I was about to ask you the same thing. But I guess, if there is something bigger waiting, then we’d know when the time comes. Or at least, our Hearts would.”

“But what if we don’t have Hearts?”

“Then I'd find it. What else could I do? Could you do?”

 

Kingdom Hearts too Lies unto Nothingness......

 

 

 

 

[Kōsuke Ueki]

So you finally took my advice about remaking this thread? ^_^

 

I told you it would work.

[Merci]

Here's the rest of the chapters:

[spoiler=Chapter 7: Enemies visit]

 

Reta took the black cloak that was left on the ground and then put in on. She then put on her hood.

 

“Isn’t that stealing?” Zarosis had to ask, while putting on his own hood.

 

“Oh please, the person’s nothing more than thin air anymore. I doubt it would matter.” Reta replied. “You may be affiliated with the dark, but I so happen not to be. And besides, I’m not a fan of it, so I won’t be switching sides anytime soon. I just have to live with this as I travel through those corridors of yours.”

 

“Suit yourself.” Zarosis then turned to what was now nothing, thinking that that ‘Marluxia’ person might come back and reappear anytime. The very thought of that person put a chill in his spine. At least that person was gone now.

 

“So what are you waiting for? We can’t just walk.”

 

“Huh? Oh, right.” Zarosis opened up his hand and then focused. Black smoke came from nowhere and then they formed a door-shaped thing, emitting buzzing noises. Zarosis and Reta then walked into it.

 

 

But apparently, the portal didn’t lead anywhere special, or maybe it did. Zarosis and Reta were floating in big, black nothingness. “So much for that, where are we?” Reta asked.

 

“How should I know? I was focusing on a random piece of rock.” And then a small rock drifted by, passing Reta and Zarosis. That was apparently the rock that matched what Zarosis was focusing on. “I thought we would get to the beach, not a place where ground, water, and air doesn’t exist.”

 

“Never mind, just open up another one of those corridors and get us out of here. Though I do wonder how in Hades we can even breathe in this void.” And just then, Zarosis’s and Reta’s legs suddenly became heavy, wiggling to stay straight. Zarosis fell to his knees, and then noticed there was ground.

 

“That was unexpected.” He said. He pounded the ground to make sure it was real, and it definitely was real. But then the ground shook and began to tip over, and all the debris along with Zarosis and Reta began to slide down, and it hurt. Zarosis and Reta summoned their Keyblades and stabbed the moving earth just so they don’t fall into the supposed bottomless hole or space. They were holding onto their lives, and even if whatever below them wasn’t bottomless, falling at this height was bound to crush them. And then two pieces of earth extended from the earth they stabbed their Keyblades into, one below each person, and then they took out their Keyblades from the earth and landed on the extended ones.

 

 

But then the extended earth separated from the main earth, but instead of falling, it simply floated. Meanwhile, the earth began spinning, or maybe turning, and then a huge gigantic enormous giant big humongous being faced them. They could only see its face, which looked like it was tall enough to touch the clouds. It was difficult to actually distinguish it, since it was so big and all, and Reta was simply freaked out. Being only able to see the gigantormous head, the body going down into the endless abyss of darkness and nothingness, who wouldn’t be?

 

 

For some reason, Zarosis wasn’t. He simply stared at the gigantic being in awe. And then the gigantic head spoke, in a female voice. Apparently, it was female. But unfortunately, she spoke in Greek.

 

“Ti paraxenos allokotos morfi kai schima ….” It sounded like that. And it was way out of either Zarosis or Reta understanding. The being was actually whispering, but it sounded like she was speaking through a perfect megaphone. The gigantic head tilted sideways, which surprised Zarosis and Reta. Imagine the largest building in the universe fell over in five seconds and then went straight to normal again. It was like that. The eyes that were as large as towers studied the two beings, curious.

 

 

“OK…..Can we go…. now?” Reta asked at last, at the tip of being reduced to a helpless little girl. She was shaking with fear from the giant. Zarosis turned his gaze to Reta and then sighed. He then opened up another Corridor of Darkness and then they jumped into it, well, Reta fell into it, but that counts too. Meanwhile, the being just watched curiously as they went into the black smoke, not to emerge from under it. And then the black smoke disappeared, the being now having an idea.

 

 

Zarosis and Reta were now somewhere else. Reta took a deep breath, and looked around, or would have if Zarosis hadn’t succumbed to yet another vision. “So much for that.” She muttered as he fell face-down into the sand.

 

 

But this wasn’t a vision. Zarosis was completely physical and the person in front of him could see him. The person was wearing a black cloak. It was wielding what looked like a strange-shaped white Keyblade and a strange-shaped black Keyblade combined. With its free hand, it unzipped its black cloak and then threw it off, revealing it was another one of those black creatures. It had black baggy pants with red at the bottom and had the same symbol he and most of the black creatures had. It had two wings at about two meters. One of them was feathered, like a bird’s, dark blue. The other was more like a bat wing, in colors of black and red. It also had black spiky hair and glowing yellow eyes. It also had a red and black overjacket as well as a black jumpsuit.

 

 

Zarosis drew his Keyblade and faced the black creature. He could hear whispers in his head.

 

Join us, brother….and we can be complete…...

 

Zarosis was really annoyed by this claim and charged at the black creature. He struck with his Keyblade but the black creature simply blocked with its own.

 

You are one of us….accept the truth….

 

Zarosis then parried the humanoid creature’s next attack and then thrust his Keyblade forward straight into its chest. It was knocked away and began grasping its chest in pain, but then let go, stood up, and glared at Zarosis again.

 

….you could be so much more….

 

It then disappeared into darkness, where it left Zarosis hanging. Zarosis then noticed his surroundings. He was in a white room. And then to his surprise, the humanoid creature appeared out of nowhere and thrust its ghastly Keyblade at Zarosis. The ghastly weapon was less than an inch from his heart when he faded back into existence, just in the nick of time.

 

 

Meanwhile, Reta had to face problems of her own. She summoned her two Keyblades, both had colors of black and blue, and faced the enemy. It was a man wearing a black coat. His hood was down, revealing his silver hair and tan skin. He had a calm, yet annoyed look on his face.

 

“And you are?” Reta asked, ready to strike if the man proved to be a threat.

 

“Nobody important to you, Princess Reta.” He replied. He then opened his hand and a spear of darkness appeared in it. Reta easily blocked it using her Keyblades. “I am surprised you can wield the Keyblade. I did not anticipate you could wield them. If I knew that earlier, I would have never sent Zarosis into your company.” He then kneeled and a Keyblade appeared in his own hand. “Things just don’t want to go according to plan…..”And then he disappeared in a hush of the wind., leaving nothing but marks on the sand, the only evidence he was there. Reta could only stand there, confounded. And then after a short while, she noticed Zarosis beginning to wake.

 

 

Zarosis awoke, breathing heavily. He only just made it through from that one attack. He turned and saw Reta, a dire look on her own face.

 

“Something bad?” Reta asked, shaking her head.

 

“Sure, let’s call it ‘bad’.” Zarosis replied. “But it was barely only just ‘bad’. It was a lot more than that.”

 

“Same here.”

 

They both then turned to see an island ahead of them. Zarosis felt as if it was familiar, and then realized he was in this very spot only a few days before. He stood up, and began walking towards the place beyond them. “This time for sure.” He muttered. Only for a wave of darkness to cover him. Reta saw the wave of darkness and jumped into it, but in the end, all it succeeded in was bringing both of them to the destination the wave of darkness intended.

 

 

“Why does that keep happening to me whenever I try going there?”

 

 

 

 

[spoiler=Chapter 8: Twenty Miles?]

When the Darkside, as Reta knew it, fell, she noticed the Heartless boy faint for some reason. She grabbed the Heartless boy’s ankle and began dragging him across the ground. She got him out before the Darkside hit the ground, before fading into nothingness. Reta could only sigh. I can’t believe I just saved the life of the one who technically destroyed my own Kingdom, and it hasn’t even been an hour yet. She looked around and saw there were no Heartless around anymore. She would never see them again until she could find Kingdom Hearts and release the Hearts in it.

 

She turned and began dragging him across the ground. More Heartless would come soon. She exited the castle’s now-ruined entrance. It had only taken a week to lose her entire kingdom, ever since that boy appeared and attacked it. She knew all about Kingdom Hearts, but she didn’t know where to find it. The boy muttered something in his unconscious state but Reta didn’t catch what it was. It sounded something like ‘Soorah’. She only continued on, with the boy’s face scraping against the ground as she dragged him along by the ankle.

 

She had only gone a mile or so when the Heartless had reappeared. She ignored them and walked on, the Shadows around oblivious to her presence. But as more and more Heartless appeared, each wave seemingly stronger than the last, Reta began to doubt she could ignore them longer. She picked up the boy and put him on her back, and then began running, where the Heartless around, Mega Shadows, they were like Shadows, those black creatures, only scaled up to the size of an adult, so happened to be stalking around.

 

They began running after her, and she was running away from them. Usually, she was a fast runner, but with a boy her age on her back, it slowed her down. The boy began muttering words like ‘Maleficent’, ‘Terra’, ‘Friendship’, ‘Cruel thing’, and ‘Keyblade’. It made her suspicious, but the hours to come made her forget all about it. The Mega Shadows were not one to give up easily and they followed her in pursuit. Reta decided she couldn’t run away like this. So then she threw him off his back, he so unfortunately landing on a hard rock, and then summoned her Keyblades. She then proceeded to battle the Mega Shadows.

 

The first one lashed at her, but she just ducked and then struck from underneath, where the Shadow then faded into nothing. The second one charged at her, and she turned and shouted “Fira!” A fireball appeared from her free hand and it blew the second Heartless away, before it faded. She sighed and then dragged Zarosis by the ankle and began dragging him again. He might as well have broken bones from how he’s been handled, but Reta cared more about herself than a Heartless, especially one who had her trapped once. There was no justification for that, or so she thought. Across the forest, as it was a forest they were going through, there was no more Heartless roaming about.

 

She then let go of the boy’s ankle and it fell to the ground. The boy was still unconscious. Reta had calculated that it had probably been an hour since she left, and she was probably about ten miles away. She lied against a tree and suddenly her body felt very weak. Reasonable, she was barely paying attention to it. But she couldn’t rest. The Mega Shadows were able to follow her far. There were probably more to follow soon. As she knew about Heartless, the people in the castle were the only ones left in this world with uncorrupted Hearts. With them gone, she was the only one left. And for some reason, she had dragged along a Heartless with her.

 

She didn’t really know why, though. The grass of the forest was soft, as all grass here was. But there weren’t any animals, not even a single insect. Nothing except her and the Heartless she dragged along. She only sighed. She got up, leaving the Heartless behind, and walked forward a little bit. After a while, she noticed the forest ended and in front of her was the end of a cliff. She kicked a rock down and it fell and fell into the darkness below. They would either have to climb down, which was impossible even if she left the Heartless, or go around. Going around sounded like a lot better idea, a lot, especially since Reta had only just noticed a storm, and there was little shelter.

 

But the Heartless wouldn’t care about rain, she would have to ignore the storm and keep going. She went to get the boy, but he had already waked up. “Huh? Where am I?” He asked, looking around. Reta was somewhat surprised, she got used to the unconscious body.

“A forest, where else?” She replied. Well, at least he could travel on his own feet now. She felt she should just abandon him there; the Heartless wouldn’t care about him.

“Why are we in a forest?” He looked around. He then jumped up and summoned his Keyblade. He went into a stance. “I remember……answers.” His eyes were deep, unlike the confused look from before. He attacked the surprised Reta, and she quickly summoned her Keyblades and blocked the attack. He pointed his free hand’s index finger at Reta and immediately a dark blast came from it, knocking Reta a few feet away.

“Oh come on, I helped you in the battle against the Darkside and still you fight?”

“Give me my answers, child!” He shouted, and fired a dark beam of light from his Keyblade, Reta dodged it, but she saw it went very far, and many trees in the path had instantly withered and became twisted. She decided she had to fight him, but he attacked first. He swung many heavy attacks at Reta, all blocked, but each swing quickly ate away at her stamina. The attacks were unnaturally powerful, even more so than the force of a Darkside.

 

The battle, continued for a while, before the Heartless knocked both Keyblades out of Reta’s hand with an attack. He was barely tired, while she had traveled quite far, and was diminished. The Heartless quickly picked up the two Keyblades with his free hand and threw them at Reta’s Heart. She dodged and caught their hilts, but not before the Heartless shouted “Dark Firaga!” and fired big black flames from his free hand. She blocked with her Keyblades, but she would barely be able to keep up much longer. The Heartless began running towards her with his Keyblade, and then she was able to strike, when at the last second changed her mind, and kicked him in the face instead.

He dropped his Keyblade, and began moaning in pain as he covered his face. “Ow, when you did you kick me? I remember standing up….I remember……answ-” But she didn’t take any chances. She dropped one of her Keyblades and punched him in the face, which made him tumble into the ground, knocked unconscious.

“Remind me again not to make him remember anything that I don’t know about.” She muttered, rubbing her fist. “I can’t believe I resorted to kicking and punching. When did I go so low?”

 

It was only an hour when Reta resumed her journey, dragging the Heartless again by the ankle; the Heartless’s back soft on the grass….for a few minutes. Then the ground switched to hard ground again, and his back began scraping the ground again. Reta hadn’t completely regained her strength but it was good enough. She decided to walk at least ten more miles before rest. And then she would have to find a way to escape….the Heartless. The Heartless can help her. That thought remained in her mind the entire journey. Water had not occurred to her at all. And the minutes passed, everywhere around them was like a cold desert, but there was nature a few more miles ahead.

 

And then she got there. The rest of the land in front of them was more grass. They would rest here, and then they’ll be on the road again. There was a small hill up ahead and Reta set the boy’s back against the hill. She then sighed and sat down. The Heartless symbols on the boy’s shirt had disappeared, but the necklace with the Heartless symbol was still there. The boy was just difficult to explain. They were surrounded by trees, another forest. The landscape was plain enough. She wondered what she would do now. She had spent the last few days fighting off the Heartless.

 

It was a wonder to her that she still had her heart. The boy then woke up. He stood up and then summoned his Keyblade.

“Die! Die! Die!” He shouted before swinging his Keyblade at Reta. She blocked the attack with her Keyblades and then kicked him in the gut. He dropped his Keyblade, and then Reta whacked his face with her left Keyblade, knocking him unconscious yet again. She then turned and saw the path endless.

 

“How far have I gone again?” She asked herself. She knew it wasn’t two hundred miles, and it couldn’t be ten miles. “Sooooo…..I’ve gone twenty miles?.....I’m now regretting not taking math lessons.” And then she sat down and began thinking about what had happened.

 

Before the Heartless boy could strike, the Keyblades he had thrown away reappeared in Reta’s hands and she counterattacked when he let his guard down holding his Keyblade, which was most likely a sham, up . She struck two parts, one of her Keyblades hit where his Heart is supposedly is, but the other hit the Heartless Symbol chain necklace. The Heartless was suddenly surrounded by darkness, ready to consume him. Reta endured this powerful darkness, and was about to retreat when suddenly the Heartless boy swung his sham Keyblade forward….and hit her head. She fell unconscious from that powerful blow.

 

When she woke up, there were Heartless all over the place. And the soldiers who were knocked unconscious were still unconscious. A maid ran out the castle door, followed by the usual Heartless, called Shadows. Reta summoned her Keyblades and defeated the Heartless chasing the maid, but the maid was just consumed by Heartless waiting nearby, and turned into a Heartless herself. Others followed, guards, visitors, magicians, but they were all overcome, not strong enough to hold off the Shadows. One held them back for a while, but before Reta could reach where he was….

 

He was, too, overcome. And then Reta realized that was her uncle. The creature that followed wasn’t a Shadow, but a Darkside. Those giant creatures with their faces surrounded by tentacle-like things and had a heart-shaped hole in their chest. It was hopeless. She retreated into the castle, and warned the ones inside and still unconsumed to try and find a place to hide inside and not to run outside. Some didn’t heed her and others didn’t have good hiding places. It was already night and Reta was really tired now, and her head felt dizzy. She collapsed into the ground, and then realized that she herself was getting consumed.

 

It was the Heartless boy and his Keyblade. That Keyblade could do the opposite of what normal Keyblades do, but it looked to her it could also work vice versa. There was no more time to think. She ran into the throne room, which was filled with Heartless that she couldn’t name, and then quickly went into a secret basement. Then for the next few days, she would come out and hold off the Heartless, searching for any other survivor. She was able to save a few guards and servants but that was just about it. During one of Reta’s holding offs, that Heartless boy appeared and for some reason aided her in destroying the rest of the Heartless.

 

Reta then noticed the boy waking up from the hill. She herself was lying on the other side of the hill while she was thinking about what happened. She stood up and walked to the top of the hill. The boy then woke up, and Reta took a second to examine that he was now himself again.

“About time you woke up!” She shouted. She noticed the boy being surprised and then sitting straight, as if he was just woken up by a teacher at class. “Just be lucky I deemed you human enough to be saved.”

“Whatever. Why are we here anyway? You had a castle?” Reta, at that point, confirmed that she had given him enough amnesia to make him not remember.

““It was destroyed by those Heartless you so happened to create with that Keyblade abomination of yours. And soon the Heartless are going to catch up with us.”

““Catch up with us?”

“I ran twenty miles dragging you along.” Actually, Reta wasn’t really sure of that, but approximates work too. “I stopped for rest, and I’m going to continue in the night.”

“Well, that figures. By the way, I’m Zarosis.” What an odd name.

“That name doesn't really suit you, you know. I’ll just call you Zaros.” But Zarosis was already deep in mind.

 

“…….and why does my body feel like it had been dragged along a rocky road for a long distance?”

 

 

 

[spoiler=Chapter 9: The Heart-Shaped Moon]

Zarosis opened his eyes, and then quickly went on alarm. He was back in reality.

“You dare defy me?” The silver-haired man said.

“Yes, yes, I do.” Zarosis replied, summoning his Keyblade.

“To think a plan so great could go so wrong in one tiny mistake. No matter, I’ll just create another one.” The silver-haired man raised his left hand and then his Keyblade appeared in his hand. “Meanwhile, you would have to be disposed of.” He lunged at Zarosis, and before Zarosis could block, he was knocked off his feet. The silver-haired man then turned and sent Zarosis flying into a wall. Zarosis hit it, and then looked at the silver-haired man in anger.

“Just who am I?!” He screamed out. But the silver-haired man just stood there and smiled. “You are a clone, what else could you be?”

 

Zarosis was still on his knees, shocked. “But who am I a clone of?” He muttered. But the silver-haired man didn’t really give him any time to think about it. He raised his hand, and a spear of light (Or was it?) appeared in it. He threw it at Zarosis, but Zarosis jumped out of the way. This was going to be a difficult battle. “And why did you clone in the first place?”

“That is nothing you are going to know anytime soon.” And the silver-haired man darted at Zarosis. Zarosis tried to block, but the silver-haired man just disappeared. He then reappeared behind Zarosis and kicked him to the ground. He was then rolled over by the silver-haired man and then he grabbed Zarosis’s chain necklace and held it up, forcing Zarosis to jerk upward. “But would it matter?” He grabbed the chain of the necklace with his free hand and then began squeezing it. And then suddenly, Zarosis was consumed by darkness.

 

He was now on a circle, like a platform, one which was oddly familiar. On the circle was a picture of that baggy-pants boy, Sora, sleeping, which took up about half the entire circle. The rest contained smaller circles with pictures of other people, those anthro animals, that white-haired person, and some girl with red hair, to be exact. There was no sky, it was just endlessly black. And in front of him was that Sora-like-black-creature-thing, the one he had faced in his supposed ‘vision’, the one he barely survived.

 

It stared at him with its yellow eyes, as if it wanted to be lunge at him and kill him, and it really did. It lunged at him with its strange-shaped Keyblade and he blocked. He was stronger now, that was for sure. He blocked off the attack and then pointed his hand at the creature, before shouting, “Dark Firaga!” A black fireball was sent from his hand and the black creature was sent backwards from the attack, but it just went back up.

Your hate increases your strength every time……but you could always get more……by joining I, Ayros……

He didn’t give any time for this ‘Ayros’ creature. He shot another Dark Firaga at Ayros, but it just blocked, although it was sent further backwards, now on the edge of the platform. After yet another Dark Firaga, it was sent off the edge, but it had wings for a reason. It rose higher and higher into the empty and pitch-black sky before charging at Zarosis from above.

 

Zarosis blocked the attack from above with his Keyblade, but the attack nearly sent him off the edge, and he didn’t have any wings. He got his balance and was about to get away from the edge, only for Ayros to do another attack and send him towards the middle of the platform. He slid across the glass ground, before rolling over and regaining his stance. He jumped up and struck Ayros with his Keyblade, before following up with another Dark Firaga. Ayros was sent into the glass ground and broke through it, falling into oblivion. Just to be sure, Zarosis crept along the glass ground and took a peek at the hole in the platform, only for a dark hand to come out of it and drag him in.

 

He could see a strange glowing light somewhere, but it was difficult to see. Ayros held him by the neck, and Ayros had become huge. It was now shaped more like that gigantic black creature he and Reta had faced at her castle, excluding the black spiky hair and gigantic Keyblade, which just made it look stupid. Zarosis tried to break free, but it was difficult, and a huge ball of flames was appearing. Ayros was charging an attack.

You shall be consumed…….

Zarosis quickly broke free, summoned his lost Keyblade, and attacked Ayros’s head before the attack could charge. Then, from there, he jumped from the head and caught the floating platform again, and pulled himself up.

 

He breathed heavily, that grip was very strong. The hole in the platform from before had disappeared, but there still wasn’t time for him to rest. Ayros returned in a version similar to its original version, only now shaped more like the common black shadows he had faced, more like a kid. The Keyblade Ayros held was now shaped more like a common wooden sword, and the clothes were now small red shorts and a common black t-shirt. But the wings, the wings were ten times as long. At first, he thought that form was Ayros’s weakest, but he wasn’t able to hit it at all. It was too quick, and its strength was even more powerful than the previous form.

 

It lunged at Zarosis and he blocked the attack, but was thrown close to the edge of the platform. It quickly ran towards him, but he tripped it. He ran back to the center of the platform before Ayros could wake up again, and then fired a Dark Firaga at it, but it jumped over the edge, and it then flew into the emptiness, before pointing its Keyblade at him. A light began coming from its tip and Zarosis quickly understood. He pointed his Keyblade at Ayros and a beam shot from it, and Ayros countered with a beam from its own Keyblade.

 

The two beams hit each other and then the two beams became like one beam, the Keyblades connecting them, but there in the center, there was clashing. For a few seconds, the light on Zarosis’s side began going back, and then he realized what was happening. He pushed on the beam and then the beam began going towards Ayros, before it stopped exactly in the middle. The two powers clashed like two explosions refusing to go into each other. The beams were expanding, and Zarosis was beginning to get pushed back and Ayros too.

Clash of the Keyblades…... Whoever succeeds becomes dominant.

Zarosis didn’t understand what that meant, but he knew it was important. He pushed on, walking towards the airborne Ayros, until he was underneath it. He then stopped his beam and jumped out of the way. The beam hit the platform but reflected off into the literal-empty sky, with Ayros watching the beam go up.

 

Zarosis then jumped up and hit Ayros with his Keyblade. Ayros fell to the ground, and then he proceeded to thrust his Keyblade, and Ayros, an inch from the ground, was hit, and sent sliding across the glass platform, before finally falling into the darkness below. And just to be sure, Zarosis ran up to the edge, and blindly fired a beam from his Keyblade towards the darkness, where Ayros was struck where the ‘heart’ supposedly was, while falling, and finally disappeared, but not before its saying final words to Zarosis’s mind.

How stupid……

The platform then began shaking, and then suddenly Zarosis himself fazed through the glass and then fell into the darkness himself, but he returned to existence a few seconds later.

 

He opened his eyes and found himself back in reality. He quickly redrew his Keyblade and saw the silver-haired man facing him. “Perhaps I should have just moved onto Raasosia.” The silver-haired man muttered before drawing his own Keyblade. “And so I will, after you are gone.”

“....Who is Sora?” Zarosis asked, with his head down. He had noticed the dark colors on his clothes were getting lighter, and he had guessed it was probably because of the removal of the chain necklace.

“Somebody you’ll never meet.” And the silver-haired man disappeared from where he was standing. Zarosis was surprised, and looked around, searching for his enemy. And then suddenly, everything around him became dark. He looked around, surprised, and then saw faint gray lights in the darkness around him. They were getting larger, and larger. And then Zarosis finally realized and quickly went into a defending frenzy as lasers were shot from almost literally every angle. Sometimes, one would hit, but he didn’t leave time to scream in pain.

 

Finally, after a few seconds, as that was how long it took, it ended and he could see the background again. He saw that he was now on a street, but he didn’t get to analyze further when the silver-haired man slashed at him with his Keyblade. Zarosis quickly retreated and then the silver-haired man was suddenly enveloped in some kind of barrier. The silver-haired man then began sliding to Zarosis. Zarosis held his Keyblade in defense, but the silver-haired man just ‘went through’ Zarosis. It felt like you had spun around for five minutes, and was now very dizzy, which he was.

 

But the silver-haired man left not a pause when he reappeared and slashed at Zarosis again. Zarosis managed to block the attack before retreating again. The silver-haired man was too strong, Zarosis concluded. He looked behind him and saw a massive tower, reaching up above the clouds. Not knowing what he’s doing, he opened the door with his Keyblade before running into the tower. He was inside a small room, everything was black, and there were white stairs that went up spirally. Zarosis then proceeded to run up the stairs.

 

The silver-haired man suddenly became distressed, and chased after Zarosis. Zarosis was very tired, but he continued on up the stairs. After a few minutes, he was already exhausted, but kept on running. He was running very floppily, but kept on running. More minutes passed but Zarosis kept on running, despite being completely out of energy. Soon, he was running on all fours. He ran up the spiral stairs on all fours, and he didn’t get tired until an hour later.

 

And that was just it. An hour later, he was still running on all fours, and he was a million times more than tired. It was difficult to explain how the sensation felt. The silver-haired man himself tired and had to stop for a few minutes, putting Zarosis heavily in the lead. Zarosis continued up the stairs, never even stopping. He ran up the stairs like a cheetah, as fast as can be. He had no idea why he was doing this but he knew it was better than nothing.

 

And after yet another hour, where he had switched to dragging himself up with his head, he had finally made it to the top. He tried with all his effort to examine his surroundings. He was apparently high in the sky. There was a floor here, but there were no walls or roof. The sky was completely black and there were no clouds. But there was something. There was a giant moon the shape of the Heart right next to the edge. He wiggled himself over to there and saw it. It was glowing, glowing red, and it was even bigger than that earth-woman-thing he and Reta had met before. The red light radiating from it was blinding him, but he ignored it. He wiggled further on to the gigantic Heart-moon-thing, before fainting.

 

“Roxas….” Axel began. He and Roxas were sitting on a yellow clock-tower, it seemed. “….are you really sure that you don’t have a Heart?”

“I dunno,” Roxas replied. “I can’t…just look inside. But I figure….if there is something in there….inside us…then we’d feel it, wouldn’t we?”

“True enough.” Axel then handed a strange cuboid shaped blue ice cream to Roxas, while getting his own one out. They then had ice cream as they watched the majestic sunset ahead.

 

Zarosis suddenly woke up with a start. His energy was half-back, and the white-haired person was nowhere in sight, probably still coming up the stairs. He went on his feet and summoned his Keyblade. At that moment, the silver-haired man came running up the stairs and Zarosis quickly attacked him. The silver-haired man, taken off-guard, quickly retreated and nearly fell off. He looked behind him and saw the abyss below. He then faced Zarosis, before his eyes widened.

“….Kingdom….Hearts….” He muttered in fascination, but Zarosis just attacked again. The silver-haired man went out of his daze and blocked Zarosis’s attack. “Hmph, not even a moon can stop me, Zarosis. And neither can you.” He attacked Zarosis, easily sending him close to the edge. Zarosis then jumped desperately off the edge, and reached for the Heart moon. He could only reach it with his feet, and in an act of desperation, began running up the gigantic moon.

 

The silver-haired man just watched this, before jumping from where he was standing and landed on the barren yellow land up. Zarosis also reached there. They faced each other with their Keyblades, but the silver-haired man was way out of Zarosis’s league. Zarosis was quickly brought to the edge of the Heart moon, and then silver-haired man jumped at him. He barely managed to dodge, and the silver-haired man fell way down, but unluckily, he landed back on the top of the tower. Zarosis then decided to do something else. He ran all the way quickly to the other edge of the Heart moon before jumping off, turning, and doing something as stupid as can be.

 

Something very stupid indeed. He focused everything and then pointed his Keyblade at the Heart moon, before firing a slim beam of light from it. It then hit the Heart moon, and the Heart moon was flung forward, where it then crashed into the tower, with the silver-haired man still there. He had succeeded, but apparently, he hadn’t thought of what to do next. He plummeted down to his death, and then suddenly, everything was shrouded in darkness.

 

He still had his eyes closed when his feet lightly touched the ground. He opened his eyes, and saw that one thing, that one island.

 

“Destiny Islands.”

 

 

 

[spoiler=Chapter 10: The Pink-Haired Man]

Zarosis and Reta began traveling further through the forest. Reta was relieved she didn’t have to carry him further anymore. That was enough on her hands. “You know,” Zarosis said after a while. “I think we’re a lot farther than twenty miles, unlike you said.”

“I did say it was an estimation, didn’t I?”

“No, you didn’t. And I don’t even know what that word means, is it a food?”

“Don’t be stupid.”

 

They continued on into the forest, life absent, excluding the plants. And then it happened, the flowers were suddenly engulfed in a ball of darkness before a black creature (Only it wasn’t black, it was green) popped out that was the shape of the flower engulfed, only a ton bigger. Zarosis attacked with his Keyblade, but the creature just fired a fireball at Zarosis, knocking him off his feet. The black creature continued with another fireball at Reta, but she blocked the attack a lot easier with her two Keyblades.

“You should learn not to charge straight into battles, Zaros.” She said. She then ran towards the plant and with a single strike, defeated it. Zarosis just rubbed his head and stood right back up.

“Oh, sure, and you’re the sage from now on?” He said.

“Don’t get me wrong.”

 

They continued on through the forest, until there was a fork in the path. “So…..” Zarosis began. “Which way do we go?”

“We split up, what else?” Reta replied. “I’ll go right and you’ll go left. Simple as that. And then we’ll meet up back here.”

“Why would we need to meet up at all?”

“Because you’re basically a clueless zombie on the loose who can’t even tell the difference between a branch and a tree.”

“What’s a branch?”

“Exactly.” Zarosis felt beaten, but he just sighed. He then began walking left. Meanwhile, Reta took the other path, and they walked on their paths.

 

Zarosis continued walking through his path of the forest. The ground was getting less and less grassier, and less and less trees around. However, he stopped. He sensed something. It was a feeling difficult to explain, but he just felt something. And then it happened. A man appeared from darkness right in front of him, wearing a black coat and holding a green scythe, and he also had pink hair reaching down to his shoulders. The man looked confused for a moment and looked around, as if he had gotten there by accident, and then he saw Zarosis.

 

Zarosis quickly drew his Keyblade, and waited for the man to strike. The man only grinned when he saw the Keyblade. Suddenly, a wave of darkness appeared behind Zarosis and the pink-haired man took him by surprise by pushing him in with the wind from the swing of his scythe. He then jumped in, himself. Everything was dark, but he could see faint lights….they were in space? The pink-haired man lashed at him with his scythe, but Zarosis just ‘swam’ away. It was very odd, being in space like this. And then while ‘swimming’, he hit an invisible wall. Seeing the pace he was going, it didn’t hurt. But he checked all around, and then he realized he was on some kind of ‘space bubble’, if that was even possible.

 

The pink-haired man again attacked him and Zarosis blocked the attack, before hitting him with his Keyblade. The man was knocked back, but slowly. It was difficult for the man to regain his stance. Meanwhile, Zarosis turned to the invisible wall of the bubble before attacking it with his Keyblade. He heard a shattering sound, and then he was suddenly sucked into space. His skin began burning unimaginably and he couldn’t even breathe. He was going to die, and it wouldn’t have even been of suffocation. And then darkness closed in on him, saving him.

 

He suddenly woke up on a beach, breathing heavily. He coughed for a moment and took a moment to catch his breath. And then he noticed he was on a beach, but this one was different than that other one. He just knew it. This one wasn’t familiar by a long shot. There were two boys playing on the beach, with wooden swords probably. He got up, and just looked at them.

“I, Reyah, shall smite you with my holy sword!” One of the boys suddenly shouted before swinging his wooden sword at the other boy, and the other boy blocked. Zarosis hung his head, that wooden sword didn’t look holy at all. He was confused.

“And I, Verde, shall um….what was that word again?”

“Surrender?’

“Yes!.....No! Face my wrath!” And ‘Verde’ swung his wooden sword at Reyah, and Reyah retreated.

 

Zarosis was completely lost at this point. They didn’t notice him by the least. He was about to stand up and walk away, when the pink-haired person appeared from nowhere, in front of the two boys. They were startled, and then the pink-haired man took their wooden swords. He examined them for a bit, before throwing them away. He then raised his right hand and his scythe appeared in it in an explosion of petals, literally.

 

The boys just clapped as if the pink-haired man was just doing it for show. He looked around, and then saw Zarosis. He then knocked the two kids aside effortlessly before running at Zarosis. But as he ran, he began fading, starting from his left. And by the time he reached Zarosis, it was only his scythe and head left. He swung the scythe, and Zarosis blocked it. Zarosis then watched as the pink-haired man disappeared completely. The two boys noticed him then, and then he had no idea what to do.

 

He had apparently summoned his Keyblade, and they know wanted to know about it, apparently.

“Hey,” The Reyah kid said. “Cool sword! Can I hold it for a bit?” Zarosis just tilted his head. He then spun his Keyblade around and caught it again by the fuller and then held it out to the boy. The boy grabbed the hilt and began examining it. It stayed in his hands for about six seconds before it reappeared in Zarosis’s hands. “How’d you do that? Talk about nothing meant! I barely even have an idea!”

“Ideas, shydeas, I have a friend waiting, and I’m not about to be waiting here.” Zarosis replied. The Keyblade disappeared from his hands in a flash, and then Zarosis began running back, but he had no more clues on where he was going.

 

But he got there anyway. He didn’t know how, but he found Reta out of the forest. The trees and everything inside was more or less green, but outside was complete barren rock and sand. Reta noticed him with surprise. “How’d you even end up over there? Didn’t you go all the way from the left? And from there to where you are now is a lot longer than the journey I had to take. How did you do that?”

“Long story.”

“Great. Now what is it?”

 

Zarosis proceeded to tell her about the pink-haired man, the spacey-wacey thing, and the two boys. But her reaction was more surprising than he thought. “YOU DID WHAT?!” She shouted at him.

“What? I only gave him the Keyblade, and only for a few seconds…..”

“You’re barely even stronger than me, and you already have chosen a successor! I mean, seriously!”

“Successor? What do you mean?”

“Never mind, just forget what I said.” Reta then sighed, though still very irritated what whatever she was irritated at. Zarosis didn’t get it.

 

And just then, the pink-haired man reappeared in an explosion of petals, his scythe in his hand. He then grinned.

“The power of the Keyblade…..” He muttered.

“Who are you?” Reta asked.

“…Marluxia.” He was then about to attack, when Zarosis held out his hand and then a dark portal emerged from it, and the Marluxia person just ran into it. Zarosis and Reta expected him to emerge at the other side, but he didn’t.

 

“How’d you do that?” Reta asked.

“I dunno.” Zarosis replied. Reta began thinking for a while before finally coming to a conclusion.

“Of course! All those ancient dark Keybladers used something like this. I think it was called a Dark Corridor, used to travel across worlds. You focus on something as your destination, and then the Dark Corridor will take you there.”

“Umm….alright.” He then walked into the so-called Dark Corridor, with Reta following him.

 

“So what were you concentrating on?” Reta asked.

“Keyblades.”

“…..Oh.” They were both in a barren wasteland, with Keyblades everywhere. And the Marluxia person was just marveling. “Excuse me.” She then summoned her Keyblades and attacked Marluxia, but he quickly turned and blocked with his scythe.

“So you have the Keyblade too?” He asked rhetorically, but surprised. He blocked off her next attack, but when it was his time to attack, he was struck by Zarosis. Marluxia moved about, before Reta finally finished him. And then Marluxia disappeared into darkness, leaving his black coat behind.

“Talk about an anticlimactic death.” Reta said as her Keyblades disappeared.

“So what now?” Zarosis asked as his own disappeared.

“I feel that now that you know how to use the dark corridor, it’s probably pointless to walk.” She began stretching for a bit, before turning to the black coat.

“I’d probably lose my sanity without that cloak.” She then said.

 

“That Marluxia person…..just who was he?”

 

 

[spoiler=Chapter 11: The Limitless Tower]

Zarosis opened his eyes finally, and then took a deep breath. “DiZ? What kind of name is that?” He muttered as he looked around. He was now in some land filled completely with grass. The sky was an endless blue, and he couldn’t spot anything beyond the grass. He looked around, confused. But then the grassland suddenly began quickly turning brown before withering into pieces, and the ground suddenly became a wasteland.

 

And then he could hear sounds. Sounds coming from afar, sounds of metal boots, of galloping horses, and of clanging metal, which made Zarosis shake a little. They came from both of his sides. Within a second, they were within his sight. The soldiers and knights on his left were armored, and they were all wielding Keyblades. On his right were cloaked people, and they too were wielding Keyblades.

 

Just then, he noticed he himself was wearing a brown cloak, with his hood up. He was wielding a Keyblade, but the Keyblade wasn’t his. It was shaped differently. It was like an oversized ordinary key, but the blade and teeth of the Keyblade were gold and the hilt was silver. He, confused, turned and saw someone clad in armor in colors of gold and silver, wielding a Keyblade like his, only inverted.

 

He quickly jumped away as the armored person swung his Keyblade at him. He then, not knowing what he was doing, raised his hand before bringing it down, which sent down a huge rock from the sky. The armored man pointed his Keyblade at the meteor before it shot a light, piercing the meteor, and completely obliterating it. But he just smirked as the pieces of the meteor fell down onto the army in front of him.

 

The armored man turned, either shocked or angry, he didn’t know. He then heard the army behind him stop, and the remains of the army stopped as well, only about fifty meters from each other. He had apparently equalized the armies the way it seemed. He smiled an evil smile he never even knew he had before point his hand at the opposing army. His army obeyed and then they charged towards the enemy as the enemy did the same, but then darkness clouded him, and suddenly, he was falling.

 

He then softly floated to the ground, and as soon as his feet touched the bottom of the black abyss, white birds came out of nowhere and something below his feet began glowing. The white birds flew into the black abyss, and then he looked down. A platform was appearing under his feet. He looked around, confused, and then faced a figure. The figure was about his size, and was wearing a black coat, with his hood up, covering his face.

 

Suddenly, the figure summoned a Keyblade, one which he could no longer describe. He noticed he himself was still wearing his coat and his unfamiliar Keyblade. And then he looked down, and noticed his reflection. His hair was white, but it was straight and went down to his shoulders. He had yellow eyes, and his face looked more like an adult’s. He then suddenly turned right back up to the cloaked man. And then he kneeled some for reason.

 

“It has begun.” He muttered, though he didn’t know what, or why. “So now will you grant me my one wish?”

“No.” The black man replied in a sinister voice. The voice echoed throughout the abyss. “For all I know, your army and your opponent’s would end up in a draw, and the armies would destroy each other. Yes, even you.” Zarosis felt angry at this, and clenched his fist.

“So what am I to do?! Just dawdle?! I spent a hundred years! A hundred years!”

“Yes, and this is the part where I abandon you, King Zarosis. In this war, the Keyblades will be scattered, and their secrets lost. I have foreseen the future, and of course, I foresee your reincarnation as well, and he is a lot different than you.”

“No….I shall never die! Not in a star’s lifetime!” And he charged at the cloaked man in rage. But the cloaked man just waved his hand, and then the platform began disappearing.

“Too bad, because soon, the stars will begin disappearing, one by one, by corrupted Hearts.” And then darkness overtook him, and all was blank.

 

He could feel himself drifting down somewhere. He opened his eyes and then realized he was himself again. His feet tapped the ground, and then looked around. He was now standing on a tall tower, and he was so high, he couldn’t see the bottom. The top was only about two by two meters wide, but Zarosis stayed calm, although he had no idea how he was supposed to get down.

 

The wind was heavy here, and Zarosis had to kneel and grasped the ground to keep him there. One small fall and it’s all over, even if there wasn’t much he had to end, other than unanswered questions, wonderings, and a thirst for the knowledge. Actually, that’s a lot to end. The thought just made him try harder to keep himself on, so as to not plummet towards his death.

 

But then the strong wind came, and he was swept off the small two by two meters of land despite how hard he tried, and plummeted to his death. Although in actuality, he was just plummeting into the ocean, but at that height he still would have died. Zarosis quickly got his footing on the tower which looked like it was falling with him, although it was just him at high speeds, and began running down the tower, trying to slow down his fall.

 

Don’t get him wrong, he did try to grab onto the tower, but he was going too fast, and his hands were burnt the moment they touched the tower. He then finally summoned his Keyblade, turned, and stabbed it into the tower. And then a super-heavy sensation went through him. And then he realized, he had just lost control of his arms.

 

They were grabbing his Keyblade, which kept him safe, but he couldn’t even lift up a finger, let alone heave himself up. He was stuck in the middle of the sky.

I refuse to die starving to death here, stuck in the middle of some gigantic skyscraper, he thought. He heaved up his legs, and then they touched the tower. He then began walking on the wall, struggling to turn the other side. And then he was lying on his Keyblade, which was stabbed into the tower.

 

And then something happened. The steel of the tower which the Keyblade had struck broke off, but then Zarosis struggled to go down slowly, with the Keyblade making so much screeching noises, that the noise would have bled a highly-sound-sensitive animal. Zarosis kept the Keyblade to the tower with his head to the hilt, as his feet were busy keeping him balanced, and as his arms were apparently broken.

 

He slowly slid down the tower, the screeching noises beginning to hurt his ears. At this rate, they’ll probably pop and I’ll be left without ears, he thought. It was only an hour later he saw the ocean way down below him. He had to use his feet to use his elbows to cover his ears, and that wasn’t very comfortable. It wasn’t in the least.

 

His Keyblade then broke off from the tower when they were only about fifty meters from the ocean, and then he fell into the deep blue sea. His arms were still broken, and his legs could barely move themselves. He hit the ocean hard, and it did nothing to ease his unnoticed-before pain. A pain from his arms suddenly went through him, and then he was screaming, although all it achieved was coughing from the water in his mouth.

 

Is this a way to die? He suddenly thought. What a stupid way then……. He then drifted slowly to the bottom of the ocean and hit the sand below. His eyes were closed, but his ears could still work. And then everything was blank, as if he had just fallen into a deep sleep, at the very bottom of the ocean.

 

“…perhaps you should just scrap the whole project….” A voice said, although it was difficult to hear, and so it was difficult to describe it.

“Nonsense, Project Z is my most successful project by far. There may come a time when I would have to dispose of him in favor of Project AA, but I’m too unwilling for that.” Another voice replied, this one being the same as the one that brought him to that one castle. “I’ll give him one more test. Personally, I don’t have a single clue as to how he survived that.

“Or how he ended up in the Sea of Dreams, for that matter. My work is flawless, but perhaps there was something different than what I had expected in the Castle of Yara.”

“And now it is my turn to say ‘Nonsense’, I had personally gone there to check, but the princess does not have a Keyblade.”

“But he has the mark of being attacked by a Keyblade on his chest. And you said the princess used a simple katana as her weapon, and so we modified him to protect him from a weapon like that. But what did that achieve? What did that achieve at all?”

“We should remove his current personality from him and replace it with his original personality if he were to have a better chance.”

“How on earth can that be a better chance? It only makes him less effective, with an ability of emotion.”

“So says you, whose Heart was only newly brought into the world.” And then Zarosis drifted back into a deep sleep, unable to hear the rest of the conversation. But before then, he felt a needle go into his head, as if something was being injected into it.

 

“…..what were they talking about……?”

 

 

[spoiler=Chapters 12: Twisted Purposes]

It was difficult for Reta to continue fighting the silver-haired man, seeing as only a short while ago, she was just sent into a cliff, and she didn’t have Zarosis’s super-recovery-at-mere-minutes ability. She began to wobble but did her best to attack and guard against him. And then Zarosis finally awoke, springing up and blocking the silver-haired man’s next attack for her.

 

Zarosis and Reta then retreated from the silver-haired man. “So, Zaros, how’s it going then?” Reta asked.

“Terrible.” Zarosis replied. They then were about the charge at the silver-haired man, when something distracted Zarosis. Reta didn’t notice why he was distracted, however. “Look.” He said, pointing to a brown-haired person with blue-eyes and somewhat tanned skin. “He looks like that silver-haired guy, doesn’t he?”

“I don’t see any resemblance but that’s up to you. Anyway, help?” Zarosis then snapped back into reality and then aided Reta in the fight against the silver-haired man. Reta’s new Keyblade was surprisingly light for her, and yet strong. It was easier to block the silver-haired man’s attacks. And Zarosis’s Keyblade also felt stronger.

 

The silver-haired man realized that he would never win this way. “I spent an entire year creating Kingdom Hearts, and that kid just releases it on me!” He exclaimed, blowing back both of them in anger. “I’ve had enough of you!” He punched the air at Reta with his free hand, literally, and Reta blocked the air attack, but she was still sent a few feet back. “Sora’s influence is too strong even to a clone with as little connection as possible. That, and the Lord had instructed me to remove his personality meter, and that was a mistake he never should have made!”

 

Zarosis and Reta just blinked blankly. The silver-haired man looked like he was transforming. “Did he just say you released Kingdom Hearts?” Reta asked.

“That Heart-Moon thing? I just flung it him, I never figured it was this ‘Kingdom Hearts’ thing.” Zarosis replied.

“So that means everyone you turned into a Heartless is….” But she was interrupted.

 

Where the silver-haired man stood was now a creature that looked like a Darkside, but it was silver, and it was a hundred times bigger than the average gigantic black creature. “Heroes, whose purpose was twisted into being here…” The being began in an echoing, creepy, yet divine voice. “...I will not allow it to end this way...I am eternal…” And the fight began.

 

The being quickly raised its hand and struck the ground with its palm. Reta and Zarosis jumped out of the way, but the force from it blew them away like feathers. Zarosis hurried back to the arm, which was still rising back up, and ran up it, while Reta had fell into the sea, and she couldn’t swim. Not that Zarosis knew about that, he continued running up the arm, but he was still running up it after a couple of minutes had passed.

 

A purple ball had slowly begun appearing in front of the face of the being before it was fired at Zarosis. Zarosis just ran up faster and the blast hit the arm, breaking it off. The other arm began rising and was about to attack Zarosis, when he reached the shoulder. From there, he began running to the neck and then attacked the head of the being with his Keyblade, thrusting.

 

But that felt nothing more than a sting from a bee. The being attacked him with its other arm, but he went under the chin, and the being ended up attack its own shoulder, where the rest of that arm disappeared into nothingness. Zarosis pushed his Keyblade upward into the chin and began making a hole, which was very creepy, and disgusting.

 

Meanwhile, Reta quickly doggy-paddled back to shore, before she began running across the sand, and struck the foot, not that that mattered. That just felt like another sting. She then started hacking across the ankle until it was half cut off. Then she proceeded to blowing up the rest of it with magic. “Firaga! Firaga! Firaga!” She shouted, and flaming balls began blowing up the rest of the ankle.

 

Zarosis continued to make the hole, hacking through the bits of darkness, when a black arm extended from the hole, and pulled him in, a very uncomfortable experience. But inside the head wasn’t what he had expected. It was all empty, only lights in colors of green and yellow and blue and white and purple. The black hand suddenly disappeared into darkness and Zarosis looked upward.

 

There he was, the silver-haired man, his arms and legs spread out as if he was worshipping something. His eyes were closed, and wisps of red were circling him. He was also wearing a skintight, black, high-collared shirt. He was also wearing some kind of long brown skirt-thing. He also bore armor on left arm. Zarosis was at first confused, before deciding to strike. He prepared his Keyblade.

 

And then Reta finished hacking off the foot. The entire being then began crashing down into the ground, as there was no way it could balance itself with only one foot. Reta ran for her life to get out of the way. And then it hit the ground. And then she realized something. “I forgot Zaros was up there.” She muttered.

 

There was a huge rumbling all around Zarosis, and suddenly, he was tipped over in surprise. The silver-haired man, and everything around them tipped down, and they plummeted into the ground. The fall was quite long, so Zarosis took his time facing off with the silver-haired man. The silver-haired man drew his Keyblade, and Zarosis did the same. They fought equally, before the silver-haired man raised his left hand. A hole appeared from there, and the silver-haired man went in, and Zarosis followed.

 

They were standing on…..none other than a rainbow. Zarosis and the silver-haired man attacked each other. “I think it’s about time I know your name!” Zarosis shouted as he deflected the silver-haired man’s attack.

“My name? I was never given a name, and my original name I have forgotten.” The silver-haired man replied. He then proceeded to knock Zarosis away. “But what about your original name?”

“My name is Zarosis, and who I was original to wasn’t me. You said so yourself. That means my original name and my current name is Zarosis, the one and only.”

“You’re wrong about that last statement, ‘Zarosis’. The Dark Keyblade King was also called Zarosis. But you naming who you are were just a coincidence, one which led to something that was no coincidence.” Zarosis blocked the silver-haired man’s next attack before using his might to throw the silver-haired man off. And at that moment, Zarosis was consumed by darkness, for another vision.

 

There were three people sitting on a tree. He identified it as that bent tree from before, although he had forgotten the name. One of the people sitting on it was Sora, another was that white-haired guy from earlier. And the last was a red-headed girl. They were staring out into the ocean, for some reason. A tear suddenly went down Zarosis’s face, and he, in surprise, wiped it away with the back of his hand. And then reality came back to him.

 

Zarosis quickly woke up and then summoned his Keyblade, and stabbed it forward, he closed his eyes, and then he heard a scraping sound from the Keyblades, as if they were brushing against each other. When he opened them, he watched as the silver-haired man staggered backwards. “I never thought….” The silver-haired man muttered. The silver-haired man then dropped his Keyblade, and it dissolved into shadows.

 

The silver-haired man himself fell on his knees, and his body moved about, as in a daze. He then fell on his face, before dark wisps began coming out of him, until it grew to darkness. He stayed there like a ragged doll as Zarosis watched pitifully. And after a few more seconds, and then finally, the silver-haired man was no more. And then darkness began consuming Zarosis himself. He watched, emotionless. It was over.

 

Reta quickly scurried where the dark being once was, searching for Zarosis, but she couldn’t find him. She began digging through the sand, she called out his name, but there was no answer. No answer at all. He was gone. It had been a very short journey….but he was already gone. She looked upwards. It was night, the stars were up. There was nothing else to do, it was hopeless.

 

She summoned her Keyblade, and then cut off a big palm tree with it. She made multiple big cuts in it, enough for her to fit in. She may as well return. She pushed the tree towards the ocean and then set sail. She should return as soon as possible, even if the thing she was riding in wasn’t exactly a proper boat. A long journey home.

 

He floated through darkness, feeling nothing. Not even sadness. He didn’t say, or think, anything. He just floated there, surrounded by nothing but black. He didn’t give it a thought, and he didn’t know what. And then he found himself closing his eyes, although that didn’t make a difference. He then began wondering about what just happened. He remembered.

 

As he attacked, the silver-haired man’s attack also hit him, a draw. And half his questions weren’t even completely answered yet. He continued drifting off into the darkness. And then he saw it, a light coming from above. It was shaped rectangular. He wondered what it was exactly, but brushed it aside before beginning to ‘swim’ there. He then swam to the light, and reached out his hand…….

 

“………My questions…..I had the answers all along……”

 

 

[spoiler=Chapter 13: The Subject]

“Target has finished Dive to the Heart.” The scientist said at last. The old man let out his relief before he grinned.

“Good, bring him here.”

“Right, sir.” The old man then turned and walked through an automatic door as it opened. He walked through a corridor before finally turning to a room on the left. He waved his hand and the door effortlessly opened. Everything was going according to plan.

 

He entered the room, closed the door behind him, and then walked to a chair for him and him only. He slowly sat onto the chair and then waited as the black screen in front of him turned on. What appeared on the black screen was a boy at around twelve. He was wearing a formal black suit, and had dark blue spiky hair. He himself was sitting on a chair much like the old man’s own.

“So, status report, ‘father’?” The boy asked. The voice of the boy was normal, except that it sounded too formal for the boy, even with the suit on.

“Everything’s going according to my, Zora’s, plan, as usual.”

“I knew that already. More specific, please?”

“The subje-“

“Zarosis.”

“….Zarosis……has finished his awakening. I’m currently sending out a few men to collect him, and bring him to your lair, as you instructed. It was difficult to create him. Under Xehanort’s orders, I sealed the previous experiment who failed, Ayros, into the chain necklace. Ayros has long since been consumed by Xaisos who in turn was consumed by Waros, and so on until our first failed experiment, Aroas, who was consumed by none other than an ordinary shadow. The chain necklace which was then put on the subject, of course. Through Ayros’s influence which goes on right to the ordinary Shadow, he will act as a pseudo-Heartless with the power of darkness. Like a Sora who obeyed the dark.”

“Uhuh. I was your first successful experiment, wasn’t I? But you didn’t have the heart to experiment with me, which left me with the power of Light. So then, now that your review is finished, any last words?” This last sentence surprised Zora. Zora got up from his chair, and was about to ask why, when the door suddenly reopened. The boy was standing there, along with the subject.

 

“What is the meaning of this?!” Zora shouted angrily. He turned to the screen and saw the boy was still sitting on the chair.

“Double-crossing, betrayal. The usual. And that, is called ‘recording’ and ‘lip synching’.” The boy replied. Meanwhile, the subject was on all fours, and his Keyblade was in his mouth.

“You dare betray your creator?!” Zora summoned his Keyblade. It was in shades of red and black, and the end looked like an outline of half a star.

“You’re too old to fight me, ‘father’. I’m out of your league. I’ve been out of it ever since my first cell was created.” The boy summoned his own Keyblade. This one looked normal, like an ordinary skeleton key. The blade was silver while the hilt was gold. It also had a chain coming from the bottom of the hilt, and attached to it was three black circles which would look like a mouse face with two big circle ears.

 

“How….how can you summon that?” Zora couldn’t believe it. That Keyblade was with Sora. How could this boy use it at the same time?

“It was easy. I had my own awakening only a few hours ago, ‘father’.”

“But how is that even possible…..Zerosky…you don’t even have the strong Heart to wield it……”

“I’m surprised too, but this is no doubt something Sora has caused. Now then, this is it.” Zerosky let go of Zarosis’s collar, which he had been holding, and Zarosis immediately lashed at Zora. Before Zora could defend himself, Zarosis’s Keyblade slashed through him. And then darkness began covering him rapidly. “Oh, and by the way. I’m renaming myself ‘Sora’. The real Sora doesn’t have to bother. Bye-bye!” And then ‘Sora’ walked out of the room, while Zarosis himself followed, before running in the opposite direction, and screams soon came from that direction.

 

‘Sora’ then went into a different room. Now that his old man had been disposed of, it was time for a talk. He closed the door behind him and then looked forward. “Hello, Xehanort.” He called out to a hooded figure at the end of the room, staring at the dark sky above. “How’s your Kingdom Hearts thing going?”

“It’s been going well, boy. Thanks to your new ‘machine’, I can now build Kingdom Hearts without the use of the Keyblade, but it consumes too much resources. That’s the problem. And I’m not Xehanort, that’s another person entirely.” The silver-haired man replied.

“Well, anyway. I’ve got a Keyblade wielder somewhere around the building. Although he’s an animal at times, the animal thing will soon wear off. I assume you know Zarosis?”

“Yes…..I remember him…”

“Good. Then I don’t have to explain complicating things to you. So, how was your chat with him?”

“He’s…..interesting…..”

“And by the way, are you sure you don’t want a name?”

“If I am to instill fear, knowing the name of that fear lessens the fear. For the fear to be absolute, a name must not be given. And fear corrupts the Heart.”

“Have it your way.” And ‘Sora’ turned again, and walked back towards the door.

 

He looked around. Zarosis had trashed the place. He saw Zarosis running back towards him, and before Zarosis could attack, he grabbed his hood, and pushed it down, which ended up pushing down the rest of Zarosis. But then Zarosis retaliated and thrust his Keyblade blindly, but the very act itself surprised ‘Sora’. He looked down and saw Zarosis’s Keyblade running through his stomach. He looked up slowly with fear in his eyes. Darkness began covering him, and then he disappeared into dust.

 

Soon, the survivors came with reinforcements and finally got hold of the beast Zarosis. They restrained him, and then someone, the silver-haired man, walked up and put his two fingers onto Zarosis’s head. Suddenly, the two fingers went inside as if he put his fingers into a vertical puddle, and pulled something out. It was a chip. He then closed his hand, before opening it. Small pieces of metal fell from it.

 

And then he turned, before a girl at around six years old walked up to him. She had short brown hair and brown eyes. She was also wearing a black scientist lab coat made for her size. “Greetings, Mr. no-name.” She said in a voice of superiority, similar to that of Zerosky’s. “My name is Sunami.”

“And what brings you to talk with me, Ms. Sunami?”

“Call me Suna. And I was wondering something. I have researched and value your past work. Or at least that of your past self, of Hearts, when you were still an apprentice of Ansem the Wise.”

“And how do you know that? How did you even research?” The silver-haired man was now listening closely. Who was this girl exactly?

“Simple, I went back in time to see it for myself.” He took a step back. What was this talk?

“What….do you mean?”

“But I saw a flaw in your experiments, a big one. Why did you even bother to gather more people for your experiments? Why, when all you had to do was clone a Heart?”

“We didn’t have that kind of technology back then, child.”

“Ah, but you do now, don’t you?” And then the girl suddenly walked away. The silver-haired man was sure the back-in-time thing was just the imagination of the child, but she made it sound so convincing. No, cloning a Heart was beyond him. He continued to walk on, trying to forget the entire meeting with that Sunami girl.

 

Zarosis woke up from the dream. It was so sudden, so fast. He remembered only small parts of the dream. He remembered screams, his strange-shaped blade slashing about. It remained too much a blur. It was all a blur, all of it. He tried to gather the broken parts, but it was too difficult. In the end, he just decided to continue on.

 

Beyond was darkness, and he didn’t know where to go. But he needed his answers. He turned, and saw that he could no longer see the castle ruins. He had been walking in a straight path the whole time, he was sure. He just fell asleep while walking, nothing more.

 

“A long journey for my answers. But will I ever get them?”

 

 

[Kōsuke Ueki]

So that conversation is a clue as to the creation of Zarosis, right?

[Merci]

Right.

 

I'm now seriously running out of room for chapters, and I highly doubt I can make more than 13, so the last chapter would be 13, and that takes place exactly after the prologue.

[Kōsuke Ueki]

Now that's unlucky. 13 chapters is bad.

[Merci]

I know what you mean. Only a few days ago was Friday the 13th, but that day's long gone for now.

[Merci]

Chapter 12 finished. One more and an Epilogue and we're done!

[Merci]

All chapters finished......but is it over? No, there's still an Epilogue to be made. And there is also something else.

[Merci]

I made a page for the Kingdom Hearts Fanon Wiki. Link's on the first post. Epilogue nearly done.

[Kōsuke Ueki]

I never even heard of this Wiki and now I can see other Fan-made KH stories. ^_^

[Merci]

Epilogue added.

 

Questions Remain.

 

Sequel is implied.

 

OH MY GOD OH MY GOD DID I JUST FINISH MY FIRST ORIGINAL-SOMETHING FAN FICTION???!?!?!?!??!?!?!??!?!?!

[Kōsuke Ueki]

Well, I'm glad it's finished. And just so you know, I'm making a Devil May Cry Fan fic later. You mind looking at it when I post it? I'll PM you when it's open.

[Merci]

OK.