Kingdom Hearts 3.5: Passions of Light

Untold Past

No one's POV
Umbra turned and looked once again at his friend. His friend's eyes were lost in thought as they looked at the ground. Umbra knew the pain this would cause his friend. But he had no other choice. If he were to tell his side of the story first, Sora and his friends would lose the meaning behind their actions. Umbra had to introduce Sora and the rest of the Guardians of Light to the truth of who is really behind all of this. Behind the war and their hardships throughout the years. He needed to do that before divulging information of the future he and Akari just prevented. Umbra only wished that the truth wouldn't hurt his best friend. His brother.

Yen Sid was going to begin with his questionnaire until he saw the look in Umbra's eyes. They bathed in worry and begged for forgiveness. For some reason Yen Sid did not want to worsen this young man's burdens. 

Akari snapped out of his train of thoughts. Only to find Umbra staring at him. He did not like the look in his best friend's eyes. "I'm sorry my friend..." Umbra told him, his voice low and timid. Like trying to avoid breaking delicate glass. The rest of the group heard this and were curious about what the X~Blade's master meant. Akari raised his scared eyebrow and asked: "What do you mean?". Umbra looked at the ground, holding onto his arms. Umbra dreaded the words, but he needed to say them: "It's not my story to tell..."

With that single sentence Akari understood what his friend meant. Akari's face paled and his breathe slowly escaped his lungs. The Guardians of Light saw this and became worried. They glanced at each other, but remained watching. "Umbra...Please..." Akari said, his voice shaken. Akari quickly looked at Ventus, then at Aqua. He was nervous. He looked at Sora, secretly hoping to find an escape. He looked back at Umbra with pleading eyes. "Don't you have anything else that you can explain?! Anything that isn't THAT? A-A-Anything at all?! P-Please, there must be something... our home or the X~Blade...Umbra, please..." Akari said, his voice shaking. His breathe ragged. "It wouldn't make sense to them without your story Akari. If I were to tell them the answers that they seek before giving them the instruments to understand them, our purpose here will become null. And you know this my friend..." Umbra told him, trying to stay strong for him. Umbra walked behind Akari's chair, bent over and hugged his friend. "I am so sorry to make you do this. But it's for their own good. They must know..." Umbra said. He detached himself from his friend but left his hands on Akari's shoulders. Akari looked at Ventus once more and then at Aqua. He shook his head and closed his eyes. Akari visibly tightened the grip on his pants, struggling to regain his calmness. "Breathe Ari, breathe" Akari said to himself multiple times. Umbra let Akari go and walked to the right side of Yen Sid's table (also Yen Sid's right side). He leaned on the table and crossed his arms. Yen Sid didn't mutter a word. In fact, the whole group stayed silent. Waiting for Akari to regain composure.

After a minute, Akari's breathing became normal and the color returned to his face. He opened his eyes and looked up. He felt the eyes of everyone in the room weighing on him. He felt pressured to tell his story, until a voice captivated his attention. "Why is it your story to tell?" Aqua asked calmly, her hands held close together in front of her. He looked down and sighed. He knew what came next and he did not like it. "Before I answer that, I need you to promise me something. Please don't interrupt. Heh... If you do I might be tempted to stop all together..." Akari said, trying not to sound rude but it did not help. The Guardians of Light looked at each other and nodded. "We promise" Sora said. Akari said nothing for a few seconds. "It's my story to tell, because I lived it..." Akari said. Noticing his sudden silence, his shame, Ventus asked: "You lived through what?...". Akari looked at Ventus. "I lived through the Keyblade War..." Akari told them. A few gasps were heard, but they kept their promise and listened.

"It all started long ago... in a world brimming with light and a town whose people seemed oblivious to the greater war between light and darkness. My home, my town, Daybreak Town. At this time each and every one of the individual worlds were all part of one enormous, connected land known as the Realm of Light. Or as in legend is called: The World. One day a man came to that town owning a mysterious weapon known, as a keyblade. The man called himself the Master of Masters. He would select and train 6 apprentices, each filled with light and possessing a strong resistance to darkness. Five of these apprentices would come to be known as the Foretellers, along with new names, keyblades, and roles to play in the town. The Foretellers created their own Unions and recruited the various children of Daybreak Town to those Unions as Keyblade Wielders. I was one of the many recruited into a Union..." Akari said. He then chuckled at the memories he relived. "My journey began by being recruited into the Union known as Unicornis" Akari said. Lea's eyes widened at the mention of 'Unicornis', since he heard Akari say something about it in the Keyblade Graveyard. "I chose to be there. Heh, I still remember my first day. After my choice I fought a group of less powerful Heartless and once they were gone I was almost immediately attacked by a Darkside Heartless. I was easily overcomes by the large Heartless, but was saved by my Foreteller, Master Ira. A tall man with blue hair and a unicorn mask covering his face. He forced the Darkside back into the Corridor of Darkness and saw as he followed it in order to destroy it..." Akari said and reminisced. "To say that I was amazed is an understatement" Akari said before continuing his story. "Then I was introduced to my future partner, a Spirit...", Akari told,"who explained to me that I had been chosen to become a Keyblade wielder to fend off the darkness that was quickly covering the World and collect Lux" Akari finished with a sort of tone like if he had heard that a thousand times. He looked at the Guardians of Light and noticed they had no idea what Lux was. "Oh! Right, Lux is basically the manifestation of physical light. Light that could be collected by Keyblade wielders like myself" he explained. "The Spirit said it had been tasked by Master Ira to act as my aide throughout my training. Sincerely, I was too excited to hear the rest so I went on through Daybreak Town and explored its streets, defeating several Heartless and collecting Lux. It was not until I arrived to an open plaza, with a fountain in the middle, that I found a spot without Heartless. Master Ira appeared out of nowhere, through a portal of light, and approached me. He congratulated me on defeating the lesser Heartless, but explained that I would need the help of others to defeat stronger Heartless. Another Darkside appeared and then up came running a numerous amount of Keyblade wielders from my Union. We defeat the Heartless and celebrate our..short lived victory. Master Ira warned me, and the others, that there were wielders alike us who gathered the light to fend off the darkness, but that other Unions did not share our goal for peace across the World. That they only did it for their desires. He then told us to discern who among us walked the path through darkness, and then he straight up left... After he left, I embarked on my journey through other worlds"