X sat on a rock looking down on the dusty wasteland. At his feet was the same humanoid mouse he had fought with the last time he was in the Badlands. The mouse was unconscious this time. Without Ventus in the area X had found it too easy to take down the mouse. He didn't put up nearly as much of a fight. But that might have been due to the hoard of Heartless X had summoned to fight for him.
A keyblade glider landed on the other side of the area. X looked up slowly as the armor was dispelled. Ventus looked around frantically. When he saw Mickey he sprinted toward the mouse. X was amused at the display of worry. Ventus had only met the mouse once, that wasn't really enough to make a friendship. Or X didn't think it was.
"Mickey!" Ventus yelled. He skidded to a stop his eyes finally landing on the young Heartless. X smirked at Ventus and motioned to the mouse. Ventus looked at X with mistrust before he finished running to Mickey. He rolled Mickey onto his back and shook him slightly. Mickey didn't react to the stimulus. He was too out of it. Too close to dead.
"We meet again boy." X looked up to see Master Xehanort looking at Ventus with his hands behind his back. X sighed heavily and leaned back. This wasn't going to end well. Ventus laid down Mickey gently. He glared up at X before turning to face Master Xehanort.
"Master Xehanort." Ventus said. He took a step forward, but stopped suddenly and cried out in pain. He dropped to his knees and held his head in his hands. X smirked, it seemed that some of his memories were returning.
"Ah yes, so you are starting to realize what you lost, oh, but not for good. You had to lose in order to find. Now it can all be yours again, if you only reach out and take it. Reclaim the part that left you. Clash with him! Pure light against pure darkness, to forge the ultimate key. The all-powerful X-blade." Master Xehanort said calmly. Ventus screamed falling to the ground. X held back a snicker.
"Key...blade?" Ven muttered. X flinched a little at the name. He didn't know why that was his goal. They couldn't control Kingdom Hearts without it.
"Not the keyblades you and I carry." Master Xehanort said holding out his hand. A stylized X appeared in the air. "'X' a most ancient letter. Some say 'kye', but the meaning is the same." He closed his fist letting the X disappear. "Death. A letter that spells endings." X held in a laugh at that. He had never known that, Master Xehanort had forgotten to teach him that. It was amusing. Even his name was cursed. Master Xehanort held his hand in the air and summoned a dark portal in the sky above Ventus.
"And I have the power to make it." Ventus said softly from where he lay. X laughed from behind Ventus. He jumped down off the rock and paced around to be in front of Ventus.
"You bet. You and your dark counterpart." X said with a wicked grin. Things were finally coming to a head. They were winning.
"And Eraqus knows it, too. He knows exactly what you are. And your beloved Y." Master Xehanort said. X looked over his shoulder at him with a glare. Ventus didn't need to know about Y's roll in all of this. No one did.
"The Master?" Ventus asked. He pushed himself to his knees looking up at them with a forwn. "And what about Y?" He asked. Despite X's disapproval Master Xehanort continued his explanation.
"Haven't you ever wondered? Why he never granted you or that girl permission to leave his side, to grow stronger? Eraqus was frightened of you. If you were to learn the truth, realize what you are. He never trusted you. Why else would he keep you within his sight at all times?" Master Xehanort said. Ventus narrowed his eyes looking down in confusion. Master Xehanort wasn't wrong. Master Eraqus had to have known.
"Yeah. He never let us see other worlds, no matter how much we asked. But what does Y have to do with any of this?" Ventus asked as he stood up. His blue eyes were demanding, a look that really didn't suite the poor boy.
"Go." Master Xehanort commanded. With a push of his hand, a gust of wind blew past. Ventus was pushed back toward the dark portal. "You can ask the man yourself. Learn the truth, and remember you have a greater purpose!" He commanded. Ventus and Mickey were swept up into the portal that closed soon after they were swallowed. X sighed heavily and turned to face Master Xehanort.
"Did you have to tell him about Y. She doesn't know yet, and she doesn't need to know." X said coldly. Master Xehanort snickered.
"I did not imagine you'd be so protective over a sister you hate so much. She has taken everything from you." He said with a sly smirk. X rolled his eyes. Did the old coot really think he knew the truth. It wasn't hard to put together. He hadn't lost his heart by chance.
"No, you did. But that's not important. This works, I get everything back. It doesn't, I'll slowly kill you." X said. He flashed his eyes bright yellow in warning. Master Xehanort smirked yet again and walked to the edge of the cliff.
"Master Terra. Find me. We must speak at once." Master Xehanort commanded. Terra came very quickly afterward, X had a feeling he hadn't been too far away when he heard the summons. X chewed on his bottom lip, pretending to be scared. He could tell Terra took note of that almost right away.
"Master Xehanort, you wished to see me?" Terra asked.
"There is no time to lose! I've terrible news. Ventus has stumbled upon the secrets of his origins." Master Xehanort said quickly. His voice was filled with false panic.
"Ven? I just saw him, he passed right in front of me. What happened?" Terra asked, the panic spreading into his voice.
"Ventus is on his way home. If you could have seen the fury in his eyes...I'm certain he's capable of anything. I fear the boy may attempt to force the truth out of Eraqus. Master Terra, you must hurry back and see to your friend's safety." Master Xehanort insisted, disregarding the question. X stepped forward.
"Terra, he can't get hurt. Y would-" X began. Terra cut him off gently.
"I know." Terra said. Without another word, he left the world presumably returning to the Land of Departure. X let out a heavy sigh and rubbed the back of his head. Terra was really too easy to trick. X wasn't making too much of an effort to hide his tricks. Terra should have known. Why didn't he?
X shook the thought from his head. He didn't want Terra to know. He needed to remain in the dark just a little while longer. He needed to be ready as a vessel. Master Xehanort had to win. Because if he won X won. Right? No, of course. X didn't know where the sudden doubts were coming from. He had never questioned it until now. Why would he question it when things were going so right?
"Your manipulation has increased in skill." Master Xehanort said pulling X from his thoughts. X snickered and waved off the compliment.
"What can I say. I'm a natural. More I know him the easier it is." X said calmly. The pang in his chest told him otherwise. He was grateful he was such a great liar.
The Land of Departure was still one of X's least favorite worlds. It was too bright for him. From the top of the stairs leading into the forecourt, X and Xehanort watched as Terra and Eraqus exchanged words of remorse. X rolled his eyes in exasperation as he heard talk of darkness. He was really tired of this. Light over darkness. Talk like that lead to wars.
X was surprised when Master Xehanort shot a bit of magic at Master Eraqus. When it hit Master Eraqus he fell forward into Terra's arms and dissolved into light. X supposed his heart was returning to Kingdom Hearts like all hearts eventually did.
"Master Eraqus!" Terra cried out. Tears fell in a constant pitter-patter onto the ground as Terra grieved for his fallen master. X laughed at his tears. It made no sense. The man had just tried to kill Terra and now he was crying he was dead. Terra looked up at the sound of X's laugh. His blue eyes were filled with confusion as he met X's eyes.
"What a sight. Why do you trouble yourself with remorse, Master Terra? The man was bent on doing harm to your friend, his own pupil!" Master Xehanort said calmly. Terra turned his attention to the old master. X sighed once again.
"To be honest, I'd have lept at the chance to do the old man in. He was too blinded by his precious light." X said honestly. Terra returned his gaze to X once again. X only smiled at Terra. Terra ground his teeth and returned to glaring at Master Xehanort.
"Master Xehanort! Why?" Terra demanded. Master Xehanort shook his head.
"You know, at times I find your progress quite striking. But you still fall short. Let all that anger out, my boy. Give your heart over to darkness!" Master Xehanort insisted. He was ignoring Terra's question yet again. But that wasn't surprising.
"What do you mean?" Terra said. He got to his feet and summoned his own keyblade. X rolled his eyes. Couldn't have a civil discussion without one of those things getting involved, could they?
"Still so blind. Then I will make you see. Come to the place where all keyblade wielders leave their mark on fate, the Keyblade Graveyard!" Master Xehanort said as he summoned his own keyblade. It was a precaution in case Terra attacked. "There you will watch your dear Ventus, Aqua, and Y meet their ends, and the last light within you will die!" He said before turning to X. " X, find the keyhole." X rolled his eyes and paced back looking around the world. He could find the keyhole. But that would take more time then they had.
"Not worth the energy to find." X said. He put up his hand and shot a beam of darkness into the sky. It became a large orb that quickly began to consume the world. "I don't need such a low-rank method to destroy this place. Say goodbye to home, Master Terra." X said looking over his shoulder at Terra with a smirk. Terra could only stare at him in shock.
"What? X! Why are you doing this!?" Terra asked. X burst into laughter and doubled over clutching his chest. He turned around to face Terra again and wiped a tear from his eye. He hadn't laughed that hard in a long time. It was a refreshing feeling.
"For fun." X said calmly. He had to hold in another bout of laughter as he watched Terra's face fall. He was finally getting it. "Watching you start to trust me, believe a creature with no heart. Shoulda listened to Kiran. I can't wait to see you and all your friends die." X said coldly. He smirked as Terra clenched his fist and darted forward at X.
X sighed and sidestepped the attack, sending a wave of darkness at Terra from the side. Terra turned back to X again and made to attack him once again. X shot forward under Terra's guard and sent a pulse of darkness off his hand through Terra's stomach. Terra stumbled back in shock, coughing as he did so.
"Save it for the graveyard. Maybe when I'm done with Y I can play with you a little bit." X said calmly opening a dark corridor. Terra looked at X, his face slowly losing all its color. X chuckled once again.
"No, not, not Y." Terra said. X shrugged.
"What can I say. We have the biggest sibling rivalry the worlds have ever seen to settle." He said. He waved one last time before walking through the dark corridor and leaving Terra in the dying world. X let out a deep breath as the corridor closed behind him.
This was it.
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A/N: And thus starts the super short chapters leading up to the end. The next two chapters are going to be really short. I could combine them into one, but I feel they'll be better as stand alones. The tone for each one is really different, so probably not a good idea to mix them.
I want to once again thank you all for your continued support. It really makes my day anytime I get a vote or a comment or even when I look and somehow this story already has over 1000 reads. I can't find the right words to express my gratitude. So I shall just say it simply. Thank you all.