Broken Barriers: Secret Reports

by BioQuillFiction

First published 14th of November, 2017

Extra content and adventures from our little Broken Multiverse.

This is extra content relating to Grey Hearts and Life of A Nobody

Chapter 1: Loss

Quiet. That’s how Daybreak has been for the past three months. Time still moved forwards, people went about their lives, but it was as if the city’s spirit had left when Zeke vanished. The council kept working, even without him, his replacement was his wife Moon Dancer, though she never set foot out of Daybreak, paperwork had to be done by someone.

The children of Zeke’s family fared no better, if not worse than the city. Button Mash dove even deeper into gaming to avoid realty, Rumble went from world to world, fighting anything he could, Dinky read nearly every book in the Daybreak public, and private libraries. Sweetie Belle and Applebloom spent their time as Scouters, searching further than others dared. Scootaloo, often ran off, gone for days at a time before coming back, often hurt, covered in scars...and blood, her blood. Frisk, Asriel, and Chara often worked with the remaining reconstruction efforts, working from dawn til dusk. And Diamond Tiara, who owed Zeke for everything, often stayed in her room. She completed her mark of mastery he had given her before he vanished, yet it meant nothing without his prais.

She sat in her room, No Name in hand, lights off, staring at it. “Why?” She asked. “Why can’t I find you...why won’t you show him?”

Time and place child. No Name whispered to Diamond. It had done this not long after her father vanished. Always whispering, always in the dark, and always when Tiara was alone.

“Psst, time and place for what?”

Reunions, battles, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained… Huh… Diamond got up, stretched, and turned the lights on.

“Maybe some venturing will take my mind off of things.” Tiara opened a DTL and walked through it. When she exited, the world she was on was one she had been to several times, a large grassland with only few buildings spread out. According to witnesses, it was the last world Zeke was seen on. After Daybreak arrived, the enemies of the world, titans, were quickly eradicated, and among other secrets, the world soon became better. The walls the world's inhabitants hid behind for years were now just walls surrounding a city, mankind spreading out and reclaiming the world that’s rightfully theirs, and sharing it with the others, as per Unity agreements. They didn’t mind much at all. She found a spot atop the walls, and gazed out on the expansions they’ve made.

Homes, factories, a mine bearing rocks for construction and coal for fires, both residential and factory. She sighed. “Okay...what should I do...what can I do?” Hours passed as Tiara gazed off at the sky. At mid dusk, she had a thought. Wonder what the others are doing. Rumble’s likely in another fight, Buttion’s gaming, Applebloom and Sweetie are likely scouting, Scoots...huh. Wonder where she heads off to? Well, one way to find out. She lifted No Name, and opened a DTL. “Well, let’s go find Scootaloo.” She muttered, walking in.

Diamond Tiara walked out of the DTL, and found herself in a strange version of Ponyville. There was a mix of humans, ponies, and other life forms. “What the? Where’s Scoots?” She pondered, looking around.

Meanwhile, in a renovated Castle sitting in the middle of the Everfree, a certain young Dire wolf pup was training with his Reflection’s Diamond Tiara.

“Come on Diamond. Again.” Joy says to his Diamond, floating gently above the ground with Lindworm.

“You cheat ya know.” Another Diamond Tiara replied, getting back up off the ground. In her hands, also held the No Name Keyblade. “Those spears can become like, fifty, I only got the one weapon.” She complained, dusting herself off.

“And your enemies could do just the same and not hold back.” He says while vanishing and gently kissing her cheek before teleporting back to his original spot. “They will also be faster, stronger, and otherwise more bullshit than I am. That's why we’re training.”

She rolled her eyes. “Fine. Let’s get back to-”

CRACK, BANG!.

The earth shook violently. “What was that?!” Diamond screech.

Joy looked around...and his stomach sank. Rising from the dirt behind Canterlot Mountain...was a Titan Shadow Creature.

“No...nonono!” Joy shouts. “Diamond get to the house and warn everyone!” He shouts at her before shooting off towards the Titan.

Meanwhile, the panic in Ponyville was massive, save for Diamond Tiara, staring at the creature. “Huh. Not a heartless. But this isn’t gonna be good.” She said, turning No Name into a Ventus like glider and soaring up at it. As she flew, she spotted something odd. A wolf, flying towards it also with spears floating around him. “Huh, guess this place has hero’s then.” She muttered, flying up to it’s head and jumping onto its shoulder. “Now...Weak spot.”

As Joy flew in a panic, he spotted something that scared him, Diamond Tiara. Flying towards the Titan, and landing on it’s shoulder. “Diamond the fuck are you doing here!?!” Joy shouts at her.

Diamond looked at the wolf, then rolled her eyes. “Wrong Diamond Tiara pup!” She shouted back, summoning No Name. “Now help me find a weak spot or go fetch a stick!”

The next thing she heard was a very pissed off roar, and the sound of flesh and bone being ripped apart was heard as he tore apart the Titan. “How about you learn to not be a bitch.” She hears Joy growl angrily.

“Maybe you should look before you leap.” She replied, pointing at the Titan with No Name. Joy Looked, the damage he dealt was being healed by black ooze coming out of the cracks and holes he made. The next thing he knew, a large hand swatted him like a fly, sending him crashing into Celestia’s court room. “Moron…” Tiara muttered, using her climbing skills Zeke had taught her to search to weakness in it’s armor/skin.

Joy crawled himself out of what was the court room, and looked out at the Titan from the hole he had made on his crash landing. “Okay that's it. No more mister nice wolf.” He growls, his spears glowing a bright green and dashing after the Titan. “Get off the Titan Diamond! Now!” Joy shouts, all his forming a single point and starting to spin like a drill.

“Well shit.” She said impressed, jumping out of the way as Joy made impact. Time seemed to slow down the closer Joy came to it’s armored skin. When the tip of his attack finally made contact, time sped back up, and and all that could be seen for miles around, was a bright, green light piercing straight through the Titan’s chest. When the light faded, the Titan fell to it’s knees, then fell back onto the ground as it’s body melted into a mercury colored blood before evaporating into a sparkling mist. “Huh. Dog’s got bite.” Tiara said, landing on top of a tree.

“And now onto you.” Joy growls from behind her. “So, what brings you to this fine Equestria?” He asks, noting that she was right that it wasn't his Diamond, due to her short sleeved shirt and no cuts on her arms.

“Looking for my sister.” She replied bluntly. “No Name took me here, so she has to be here somewhere.”

“Any defining features that are different from this worlds? And who?” Joy asks, remembering the horror show from that day but not sure which of her siblings is here.

“Scootaloo. She’s been vanishing and coming home with all kinds of scars and blood on her clothes. Hers too, moms tested it just in case.”

“Oh dear…” Joy mutters. “Does she have any preference for hideaways? Like near a waterfall? A canyon? Forest? We got an entire planet to search.”

“With all the scars she’s been getting, she’s picking fights way over her limits, but just enough to snag a cheap victory. Know anywhere shady that will let kids fight til near death?”

“Las Pegasus was burned down to the ground.” Joy says with some thought. “The Diamond Dogs are run by Rune so no...Baltimare.” He nods. “We need to go to Baltimare. Still don't understand why there’s still crime when darker shit is going on…” He grumbles. “Come on, I'll show you the way.”

“Alright.” Tiara said, turning No Name into a glider and following Joy.

Meanwhile. An older Dire Wolf ran out of the castle, shield and Keyblade in hand. He looked around, and everything was fine. “Awh crap, missed it!”

“Ben! You forgot your pants!” A mare’s voice called from within the castle.

“...Good thing too…” He sighs out before walking back inside. “Hope their okay. Good job Joy.” He mutters to himself, knowing if anyone could do it Joy could.

“Hey, I know we don't keep much contact but...how's your family been after...what happened?” Joy asks Diamond, continuing to lead her to Baltimare.

“Well, you know Scoot’s is doing something to get herself hurt, Rumble is getting into fights both in and out of the arena, everyone else is mostly secluding themselves. Moms are trying to act normal, but they’re still bad.” She said, her tone expressionless.

“Sounds like what Ben did when his parents were murdered.” He says. “Just secluding himself from everyone, but not getting into fights. Maybe we should go their and try to help. You know, as friends.” He says. “And maybe the rest of our family can come along to help.”

She gazed at Joy before looking back. “Why? We only met at the funeral. We’re not friends. Acquaintances at most.”

“Cause me and Ben have been friends with Zeke for a while, Ben's fiance's have apparently met your mothers often enough, and just being there to give a helping hand to those that need it is always a good thing to do.” Joy explains. “At least you didn't become a literal embodiment of rejection like I did.”

“I owe everything I am now to dad. If not for him… I dunno.” She trailed off, going silent.

“And my Diamond owes me just as much. I saved her when her dad was most likely murdered and my herd helped her be who she is today.” Joy explains.

“You have a herd? Doesn’t a wolf have a pack?” She asked, giving me a sly grin.

“Technically I was originally a human so I should be saying Harem, but they're all basically the same so meh.” Joy shrugs. “How about you? You found anyone to love?” The wolf asks. “Or am I spouting nonsense?”

“Well it’s all the same thing in the end. As for love. No. not exactly looking either.”

“As some people say, love might be closer than you think.” Joy says while looking around. “Ah, there's the city.” Joy says while the city of Baltimare was in sight.

Diamond and Joy landed in the streets. There was ponies everywhere, cars driving by. “So, where to?” Diamond Tiara asked.

“First time actually in this city.” Joy says. “So not much of a clue but...I think Filthy lives here now with his brother.” Joy says, thinking he remembered that right.

“Huh, alri-”

”BOOM!”

“Detour.” Diamond Tiara said, dashing off towards the explosion.

“Can I set foot somewhere and not have it create an explosion?” Joy huffs and rushing off to where the explosion came from.

Joy caught up with Tiara, turning the street corner as Nobodies were swarming the streets. “Damn, haven’t seen these assholes in a while.” Tiara said, summoning No Name.

Joy walked up and took a deep breath. “Halt!” Joy barks, a wave of Nothing shooting out towards the Nobodies that were filling the streets and ordering them to stop.

They froze for a moment, then started up again. “And that was supposed to do what?”

“Me and Ben control Nobodies, that should have worked…” Joy frowns. “Someone's already controlling them. We need to find who it is and stop them.” Joy growls.

“Up my alley then.” She grunted, slashing Nobodies at impressive speeds.

Joy moved through the Nobodies and cleaved through them like the nothing they technically were, searching for the one that summoned them and attacked the people.

The two fought until there was nothing left. Then the sound of clapping was heard. “Impressive Tiara.” It was a mare’s voice.

Diamond Tiara froze, looking behind her…”Mom?” Across from them in the street, stood Tiara’s birth mother, Spoiled Rich.

“Okay so your not my worlds Spoiled.” Joy frowns. “This worlds Spoiled died. So what are you doing here?”

“No, I’m her mother.” Spoiled said, pointing to Tiara. “Got locked up for child abuse and negligence. Little harsh considering she came out as such a brat.”

“Takes a brat to defy a bitch.” Tiara said, raising No Name to Spoiled.

“No wonder why people called you Spoiled Bitch.” Joy says while pointing a Lance at Spoiled. “You ran away like a pissant from punishment once apparently, but you're not going to run away again.”

She smirked. “Who said anything about running away.” Spoiled said, snapping her fingers...and Samurai Nobodies appeared. “Like they say, to have it done right, best do it yourself.”

“You understand nothing of the powers you think you 'control’.” Joy growls, his body glowing a dull grey.

“She has a good idea.” A voice that sent a wave of fear down both Joy’s and Tiara’s backs. Walking out from behind Spoiled...Core… “Long time no see pup.” He was different now. After what Zeke did to him he was just a Nobody now, but he now wore a purple Organization thirteen cloak.

“Oh come the fuck on…” Joy groans. “What are you doing here Core? Wanted to gloat over what happened to Zeke?” He asks.

“We both suffered a loss that day.” Core said, raising an arm. “But past is past. My plans are set back, so, nothing else to do other than gather the resources needed.” In both hands, appeared Dark versions of Xemnas's Light Sabers. Spoiled lifted her hand out, and a gold and silver version of Marluxia's scythe appeared.

Joy growled and readied himself for a fight. “Alright, let's see if my special training will pay off.” He mutters. “Ready Diamond?”

“You take on Bitch. Core’s mine.” Tiara said, rushing in and slashing Core. The two dodging and blocking eachothers attacks at breakneck speeds.

“Come now puppy, momma’s got a treat.” Spoiled said, black rose petals starting to appear in the air.

“Haste.” Joy mutters, speeding himself up and summoning a wind shell around him. “Alright lady, let's see what you got. Zephyr Slash.” Joy says before an invisible bolt of wind shot out at Spoiled insanely fast.

She side stepped, dodging the attack and then appeared right next to Joy, and whispered. “You have one minute.” She then jumped back as a counter appeared over Joy’s head going from sixty to zero.

“Well then.” Joy frowns. “Let’s get going.” Joy says before vanishing and attacking Spoiled at insane speeds.

Diamond Tiara and Core both were matching each other move for move. “What’s the matter? Lose your touch?” Tiara asked.

“Regrettably, thanks to your father.” Core replied, he spin kicked, and Tiara jumped back to dodge it. “Care to ask how your mother came to join me?”

“I’m gonna guess the prison break that happened after Dad… Screw you.” She said, throwing No Name into a strike raid, which Core dodged.

“Tell me, why do you hate Diamond?” Joy asks Spoiled. “Is it because she wasn't the perfect cash grab for you? Because you saw your fuck ups in her? Come on Spoiled, you got to have a reason other than being a bitch.”

“I only had her because Rich wanted a child. Like I was always told, marry money to make money.” She replied, swiping at Joy. “I never cared about her, or Rich. What’s the point of ‘families’ and ‘love’ when everything eventually rots and dies? Life and money may be temporary...but infamy if eternal.”

“You only cared about money huh?” He asked while dodging the swipe. “Then you understand nothing, and will always understand nothing.” Joy says before vanishing and ramming his fist into Spoilers stomach like a freight train. “Typhoon.” He mutters before a gust of powerful wind rammed itself into where he punched and forcing Spoiled back, leaving a painful indent.

“How much longer can you live this way Core?” Diamond said, managing to land a hit, but took one herself. “Why push on this way?”

“I’m not one for fading...neither was she.” He replied, firing his lasers off at Tiara, who moved fast to block them.

“Your Unum is-”

Core was suddenly in front of Tiara. “Lost in Void.” He then leaned in real close, and whispered. “From your perspective, I’m the bad guy. But know this, without me, everything would have been killed off long ago.” He then vanished, and reappeared next to Spoiled crater Joy hit her into. “Get up, we’re leaving.”

“Fine.” Spoiled said, floating out of the hole. “Damn that mutt can hit.” She said as she and Core vanished into Dark Corridors.

“Damn, they got away.” Joy growls. “Diamond, are you okay.” Joy asks, rushing towards her just in case she needed help.

“I’m fine. Come on, let’s go fine Scoot’s.” She said, quickly rushing down the streets. What was that about? Without him everything would have been dead long ago?

“Did Core tell you anything.mid fight?” Joy asks while keeping up with Diamond.

“Just nonsense.” Tiara said bluntly.

“What? Where he said there's worse things out there than him?” Joy asks. “Cause me and Ben have met worse. Psychopaths are...kinda scary strong honestly.”

“Nothing like that. Just that without him everything would have died long ago. What a joke.”

“Oh…” Joy frowns. “Oh…” He repeats. “Oh come on he's going with that cliche!?!” Joy barks in anger. “God damn it…”

“Just ignore it. He’s just trying to get under your skin.”

“I've barely seen this cliche but...maybe.” Joy shrugs. “Who knows. Right now we need to find Scootaloo. Now, where's a shady fighting ring…” The pup frowns, not knowing where anything is right now.

Clank.

Tiara stopped, and held Joy back from moving passed her. “You hear that?”

Joy took a moment and his ears swiveled a little. “Yep.” He nodded.

“That’s a lead more than what we got now. Which way?”

Joy listened, and heard it again.

Clank.

“This way.” Joy says, leading the way carefully as his dire wolf hearing helped out alot.

Tiara followed. They arrived in an allie way where they saw Scootaloo...fighting her own Keyblade? “Come on Blight, stop holding back.” She said, covered in cuts and her clothes bloodsoaked.

Joy frowned and bought and elixir that appeared from his assistant. “Okay ma’am, you're gonna have to relax before you pass out from blood loss.” Joy calls out and walks over to the bloody Scoots.

“Screw off.” She waved Joy off, her Keyblade swinging at her as she grabbed it with her, deeply cut and bleeding hand.

“Diamond, hold her down while I force her to drink this.” Joy frowns, knowing he'll have to force it.

“Hold on Joy.” Tiara said, walking up to Scootaloo. “What are you doing?”

“...Getting stronger.” Scoot’s answered.

“By nearly killing yourself?!”

“Dad went through worse!”

“Dad was a human Keyblade! We’re just ponies! Scootaloo, what are you trying to prove?!” Tiara demanded.

“That we can pick up where Dad left off! Core is still out there and other bad things are still festering.”

“But you can’t get stronger alone like this!”

“What would you know?! After the funeral you and most everyone else just isolated yourselves, at least I am trying!”

“At least we aren’t coming home bloody!”

“I wouldn’t expect a spoiled brat to know.”

Tiara flinched...her anger grew...and her left hand started sparking with darkness. “I am not that bitch anymore.”

“Maybe not, but who you are now isn’t an improvement.”

A dark flash appeared in the Tiara’s hand where darkness was sparking...it was a Keyblade...Gazing eye appeared as she slashed Scootaloo, sending her flying into the wall behind her. An image of blood appeared on the wall of Scootaloo before she collapsed after the impact. “S-Scoot’s!” Tiara yelled, realizing what had just happened.

“Fuck!” Joy yipped before rushing over and basically forcing the elixir liquid down Scoots throat, hoping he wasn't too late to heal her. “Should have interrupted sooner, should have tried to stop this before it got this far..fuck fuck fuck…” Joy mutters worriedly. “Come on you fucking thing work.”

“Come on sis…” Diamond Tiara said, tears blurring her vision. Seconds passed, and with luck, the potion took effect. Her cuts began mending themselves. “Oh thank stars!” Tiara said in relief. She then took seat next to the still unconscious Scootaloo, looking at the new Keyblade, then summoning No Name. “How? Where...did this one come from?” She said, looking at Gazing eye.

“Apparently that's No Names true form in some way.” Joy say. “Just like Ben and my Keyblade. It was originally Duskblade, a Keyblade that was held by one without a whole heart...but Reunion is what you get when you have a whole heart.” He explains. “Make sense?”

“I guess...but...why?”

“Your darkness.” Joy says. “You were so pissed at Scootaloo your hand was crackling with Darkness. I think it was because of that.”

“Damn it…” Diamond Tiara said, disbanding her keyblades and punching the wall. “Damn it...damn it...damn it…” Diamond Tiara started to cry. Tears rushing down like waterfalls.

Joy moved behind her and hugged her, his action filled with comfort and want for her to feel better. “Please...don't.” He says gently and sadly. “I...know it's hard...but please don't hurt yourself…”

“He was right…” She muttered.

“Who?” Joy asks.

“Back before Zeke, dad, came...the man who nearly killed all of Equestria...He ripped out everyone’s hearts, no hesitation...he got to me...looked me dead in the eyes, and smiled. He said ‘we’re the same’...he was right.”

“No.” Joy says, turning her around swiftly and holding her shoulders, his bright blue eyes staring dead into Diamonds eyes. “You are nothing like him. You are just sad and confused. You love and care for your family so much, don't you ever think you're him. Anger can blind anyone...please you just...need help is all.”

“Agh.” Scootaloo grunted, waking up. “Damn sis, where'd you learn to hit that hard?” Scootaloo soon found Tiara hugging her tightly. “Hey...sorry…”

“We all miss dad…” Tiara said, letting go of Scootaloo and wiping her tears away. “Look at us, look at Daybreak. Dad would hate to see us all like this.”

“Yeah.” Scootaloo agreed. “By the way, who’s the the wolf?”

“Names Joy, brother of Ben and...friend of Zeke's….” Joy sighs out. “Feeling better?”

“Right...you were at the funeral. Wait...are you the one that left that box of never ending sweets?”

“Of course. Someone needed it.” Joy says.

“Momma Celestia has gained like, ten pounds since she got it. She’s eating a lot of her sadness...in hindsight, not the best thing to give grieving women, heck, even mama’s Rainbow and Rarity have gained weight since getting it. And those two are fitness freaks.”

“I was meaning for everyone to eat some, and get it out of the way, not to gain an ass load of weight.” Joy huffs. “Celestia probably has a big enough ass to begin with.”

“Let’s just say she keeps that box in her bra now...yeah, she had to upgrade to a bigger bra with all the weight too...heh, Dad wouldn’t have minded I think.” Scoots said, making Tiara giggle.

“Would any man disagree to their women growing a little bigger here and there?” Joy asks with a little smile. “Or woman considering my Celestia eats carpet like mad.” He mentions cause why not.

“Heh, guess so…” Scootaloo stood up, helping Diamond Tiara stand. “So, what now?”

“First, let’s try and get that box away from our moms, then, snap the rest of our sibling’s out of their dread. If Daybreak falls because of us, we’d be unworthy to call Zeke dad.” Diamond Tiara stated.

“Works for me. So, any idea’s on getting that box away from mama Celestia?”

“Wait till she showers, and if she takes that thing in there with her, we cast Stop and grab it, then burn it.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“Glad to hear your getting along.” Joy smiled.

“Yeah. Thanks for helping me find her.” Diamond Tiara said.

“Your welcome.” Joy smiles gently.

“Let’s head home.” Scootaloo said opening a DTL.

“If you or your family ever needs help, just give us a call okay? Friends shouldn't have to be alone...let alone family.”

“We’ll try and remember that.” Scootaloo said, entering the DTL, leaving Tiara and Scootaloo alone.

“So...harem, herd, or pack?” Tiara asked. “That is going to bug me unless I get a clear answer.”

“Go with herd cause your a pony.” Joy shrugs.

“Alright then, see you later for our date.”

“Wait what?” Joy asks. “A date? So suddenly? I thought you wanted to hit me in some cases throughout today...but I suppose I should see that as affection cause of Jenny.” He mentions with a chuckle.

“Na, I just like fluffy men.” She said, pecking his cheek before jumping just in front of the DTL. “Bring the herd for me to meet.” She said, entering the DTL as it closed behind her.

“Well... she'll get along great.” Joy sighs out warmly.

Scootaloo and Diamond Tiara exited the DTL outside of their mothers bedroom. “Alright, is she in there now?” Scootaloo asked.

“One way to find out.” Diamond Tiara said, opening the door. Inside they saw their mother Celestia, as she usually is these days, wearing only bra and shorts, eating whatever came out of that infinite sweets box.

“Oh, hello girls.” Celestia said, lickong off her fingers of whatever she just ate. “You need anything?”

“Um, yeah…” Tiara started. “Don’t you think it’s time to, I dunno...close up that box for good?”

Celestia chuckled, then smiled. “Girls, I assure you I am quite alright. Alicorns don’t need to fear the risk of unhealthy eating.”

“Did you count out obesity?” Scootaloo said bluntly. “Seriously mom, Dad…” She took a deep breath. “Knowing Dad, he would have found your extra features sexy, but you are now wearing a bra twice the size of your old one, and you now take up both your, and two of the other moms sections of the bed.” As Scootaloo talked, Celestia’s jaw dropped. She could not believe her ears. “I mean seriously, I’ve walked in here a few times while you are are still asleep in your pile and I see mama Twilight and Unum using your gut as the bed and the same boob as their pillow.”

“...what she said.” Diamond Tiara added. “Look...Scoot’s and I...realized that, dad might be gone, but he’s not lost to us unless we let what he built fall, then we not only lost our home, for a second time, but we will have practically forsaken dad.”

Celestia’s face was a mix of shock, guilt, and a hint of embarrassment at her daughter’s comments on her weight. She took it all in, and took a deep breath. “You...you’re right. The time for mourning has to come to an end.” Celestia said, picking up the box and handing it over to her daughters. “Take it and...either return it or burn it.”

“Thanks for making this easy mom.” Diamond Tiara said, taking the box. “So, gonna start working out to lose the weight?”

Celestia chuckled. “Heck no, Scootaloo is right about everything, but the plain and simple fact is that Zeke would find me sexy like this. He’s watching us from the afterlife. I’m just gonna give him a view.”

“You mean you’re finally bigger than mama Maud and you’re not giving that up?” Scootaloo said bluntly.

“That too. Now go get your siblings. Snap them out of their funk too. Zeke may be gone...but Daybreak and his image for our Unity stands strong still.”

“Yes mom!” Both Diamond Tiara and Scootaloo said with a small salute as they ran off to burn the box and get their siblings.

Once Scootaloo and Diamond Tiara were out of the room, Celestia closed the door, walked over to a wall torch. A secret door opened up behind the bed, revealing jars and displays of cookies cakes, and other sweets. The room was also extremely cold. “I love you girls, but I still love sweets, plus, I wanna add to what Zeke can see from his view in the afterlife.” Celestia said with pep, grabbing a jar of cookies and munching on them two at a time. “Best eat what I can before the others come, this is the last of our sweets for a while.”

[space]

Chapter 2: Button Mash and Dinky Doo

“So, how should we do this?” Scootaloo asked and she and Diamond Tiara walked down the halls. Plotting to gather their siblings.

“Well, the only ones home right now are Dinky and Button.” Diamond said. “We can probably find Frisk, Chara and Asriel easy, as for Applebloom and Sweetie Belle...that might be harder.”

“We can ask the Scouting H.Q?”

“That should work.” Tiara agreed. “I’ll grab Dinky, you deal with Button.”

“Why do I get Button?! He hasn’t left his room since dad… It’s gonna stink in there…”

“Yeah, but you can probably drag him out of there better than I can, plus, his Keyblade has range, you can dodge easier than I could.”

“...Point taken. Fine, but you owe me.”

“Fair enough.” Tiara agreed as she and Scootaloo shook, then quickly split up to each deal with their siblings still at home.

Scootaloo ran up to Button’s bedroom door. It was decorated with posters of games and the handle was replaced an old game controller, built into the doorframe to act as a keypad. Enter the right password, enter, wrong password, door stays locked. Scootaloo looked at this, summoned her Keyblade, and tapped the controller as it clicked, the door sliding open instantly. “In a place full of Keyblades...why bother with locks?” She pondered, entering the room. She expected it to be lights off save for either the tv or computer screen light, but the lights were on and the windows were open, letting sunlight in. But, as expected, Button was laying down on his bed, playing the first gaming device Zeke had given him. “Hey.” She said,

Button glanced over, spotting her. He sighed. “Hey.” He said as he continued playing the game.

“You beat all those games yet?” Scootaloo asked, taking a seat on his bed. To her surprise, Button’s room was clean, and well kept, even his bed was made.

“Most, this is the last one till I’ve beaten them all.” Button said, his tone somewhat sad. “What brings you here?”

“You. Diamond and I are trying to snap everyone out of this grief. She got me out of it, we got mama Celestia out of it, she’s gonna work with the other moms, and I’m getting you, and Tiara is getting Dinky.”

“Huh. What you do to get Mama Celestia out of it?”

“Basically called her fat, but that dad would find her even sexier.”

Button snickered. “Yeah. Probably.” He said, a small smile on his lips. “What did Tiara do to snap you out of it?”

“We argued, she nearly killed me, then we talked it out.”

“Really? Well to convince your hard head it would take that.”

“Hey!” Scootaloo said, punching Button in the gut as he clenched his stomach and paused his game quickly.

“Called it.” He huffed, air trying to re enter his body.

“Yeah, well, we can’t just sit here and do nothing...Dad’s gone...but if we sit around and let his work fall apart… then we aren’t worthy to be his kids.”

Button looked thoughtful, sitting up and looking at Scootaloo. “We really wouldn’t, would we?” He said, chuckling. “He saved our world, our lives, and brought back nearly everyone… You’re right… Alright, what’s the plan?” He asked, a determined look on his face as he turned off his game and got up out of bed.

“Let’s go see how Diamond Tiara is doing with Dinky, with luck, she'd have snapped her out of it, or is close.”

“Alright, let’s go see if she’s alright.”

Diamond Tiara stood outside her sister Dinky’s room. A door that was once decorated with marker graffiti and crayon drawings on paper tapes on the door like posters was not all taken down and replaced with a “Do Not Disturb” Sign painted in red on the door. Dinky was hit really hard, only really talking to her birth mother and not much anyone else. She knocked on the door. No response She knocked again. No response.

She knocked a third time. “Read the sign.” Dinky’s voice spoke from behind the door.

“Dinky, It’s Tiara, open up. We need to talk.” There was silence. “Either you let me in or I am gonna unlock or bash this door down.”

The sound of Dinky sighing came from behind the door before the door slid open, revealing Dinky, dressed in a lab coat. “What do you want? I’m busy.”

“Here to snap your out of your sadness…” Well, if not sadness, something. Tiara thought.

“I’m not sad. I’m a tad peeved about being interrupted.” Dinky said, tapping her foot.

What happened to her? She was so sweet...is she? “...Replacing sadness with anger huh?” Tiara said.

“Say what?”

“Before Dad died you were a sweet, kind, innocent girl. Now, you’ve isolated yourself from almost everyone, when we do see you you’re either nose deep in a book or mad. Why are you trying to avoid feeling sad?”

“I-I...IT’S NOT FAIR!” Dinky yelled, making Diamond Tiara jump. “I NEVER KNEW OR HAD A FATHER GROWING UP! THEN ZEKE...the perfect dad…” Dinky began to tear up. “It’s not fair…”

Tiara hugged Dinky, and she burst out crying. “We all are dealing with dad being gone, but denying that sadness and fact just makes it worse.”

“Yo Tiara, how’s- oh, nevermind.” Scootaloo said as she and Button Mash can running down the halls. “Man, forgot how long these halls were, Button and I got lost on the way here. Somehow ended up in the kitchen before finally finding this spot. So Dinky, you aboard?”

“Yeah. Just...give me a moment.” Dinky said, walking back into her room and closing the door. There was some noises, clanking glass and the sound of something heavy being moved. The door soon reopened, Dinky dressed in a sky blue hoodie with sunflower pattern shorts and flip flops. “Had to get something casual.”

Her siblings just rolled their eyes. Dinky’s fashion has, on many occasions, received a faint and/or instant wardrobe redo by their mother Rarity. And after every redo Dinky somehow got all her old clothes back. “So, what now?” Scootaloo asked.

“We find Rumble, Chara, Asriel and Frisk will be easy, but Rumble and Applebloom and Sweetie Bell will be harder.” Diamond Tiara explained.

“How? Doesn’t Rumble do a lot of fights in the arena?” Button asked.

“Yeah, but he’s still a scouter. He might be off on another world.”

“Then let’s ask the Scouters office.” Dinky suggested. “I’m sure they’ll tell us.” The group nodded, Tiara, Scootaloo and Button heading to the Scouting office, and Dinky heading to the newest Reconstruction site.

“I see, are you certain?”

[Nods]

“Alright then. I’ll inform the others, and tell Crow about Master’s death personally.”

“We must begin planning immediately.”

“I know. Daybreak still has Core’s heart. Get that, Core will live again.”

Chapter 3: Dark Half of Him...

Time is said to heal all wounds, yet non can heal a split heart, Drezke was half of a being, now, possibly forever to remain this way. As such, he made home in the place where beings like him belong. The Realm of Darkness. A cave, lit by lantern, decorated with only a sleeping mat and magic burning stove. Frustratingly enough though, sleep escaped Drezke. He didn’t know it if was the Realm of Darkness’s doing, or what he was.

You should do some scouting. Discord said. Somehow, in this state, all other Keyblades voices were no longer audible to him, save for Discord. Somehow.

“Sure.” Drezke said, getting up off his mat and summoning the Kingdom Key D. Stepping outside his cave, pushing aside the ragged cloth that was used as a door. Outside was black sand, crystals or unknown origin, and bizarre rocks that had blue glowing cracks. He picked a random direction, finding himself some hours later in a swallowed world. Dark age buildings scattered about. Before him, a stone archway, with fog blocking it. “Huh. What’s behind you?”

Drezke stepped into the fog, and once on the other side, stood a tall creature. Not a heartless, an inhabitant from the world that was swallowed. It stood ten or more feet tall, held two large swords, and had some sort of armored goat head.

Drezke whistled. “Wow, you are ugly.” It roared, charging at him as he side stepps it’s attack. It rammed into the wall and he jumped, slashing off it’s head. It’s body phasing out as an orb of light floated where it was killed. “What the?” Drezke said, walking over to it. “Huh...wonder what you do?”

”It’s just souls.” Drezke didn’t even bother with a reaction. Psychopath had been paying him regular visits for a while.

“Looks weird.” He replied, looking over to Psychopath. “So, what are you here for?”

”Bypass a rather difficult plan. It’s simple, this half and you reunite, the host is whole, and this kingdom hearts will be under our control, and we can make every compatible body in this pathetic realm into one of us.”

“You want to make an army?”

”An army we already are, but numbers are always fun to raise, especially if it’s body counts.”

“You know I’ll refuse.”

”For how much longer? You and I both know you crave to be whole again. You are nothing but darkness. That ‘conscience’ you are pretending to have will die off sooner or later, and you’ll find yourself listening and acting on what comes naturally to darkness like you.”

“Then I hope who ever kills me makes it quick.”

”Ah, there it is, that pride in dying for what’s right, shared by many a grand fools that have faced us in our time, but never has it been so present in any than in Cript and all his reflections. Heh, too bad he is the only one of his reflections to break away from us.”

“How is that?”

”How? ...We don’t know. Everything was going smoothly, a quick test run, wiped out an entire plant that earth managed to colonize, next thing we knew we were headed back to earth, and we lost connection. We tried time and time again, but we could not regain full connection to his body...then, one fight against him… he was using our own power against us.”

hmmm. Strange. Perhaps there is a way… “What are the requirements to being one of you?”

”A mind that can kill without consideration, that can find enjoyment and even pleasure in the death of others, and a body that can handle the raw energy and pain.”

“Pain?”

”We are the physical embodiments of Murder. We fell, for all eternity, the pain of every kill of every sentient being from the very first to any and all we kill and others kill to the nanosecond.”

“If that’s true, then why keep killing?”

”...”

“...You only want to end everything to end your own pain.” Psychopath was now in front of Drezke, choking him to the ground.

”Our entire existence it the pain of the deaths caused by all you sentient pieces of thilth! So long as there is life intelligence will keep coming back and out pain will NEVER end. Not as long as even the tiniest atom exists!” Drezke spit into Psycho’s face. He grunted, letting go. ”Help us make our pain end.”

Drezke coughed. “You should be asking that help from Cript. Not me.” He said roughly When he looked up Psycho was gone. “Damn you.” He grunted, standing up.

“Ugh...Where?” Drezke wondered. After that ’chat’ with Psychopath Drezke wandered around for awhile before blacking out. For some reason. As he got up, his head pounded like thunder playing the drums. When he looked at his surroundings...his eye’s widened.

He was inside some sort of metal structure. Blood covered the walls and floors...and him. “No, nonononononononono! DAMN IT!” He yelled, slamming his fist onto the ground, tearing through the rather thick metal that made up the floor. Psychopath was right. He was starting to lose it. The whispers and thoughts that came with being dark like he was, added to the Pure Darkness he took in when Zeke fought Core, he was on a timer. He forced himself up, walking along where he could, finding little. A firefight was obvious, but the marks were from a mix of Keyblades and heartless.

It...was massacre.

You didn’t try to snap me out of it?

Your madness infected us all! If it wasn’t for me already being mad I wouldn’t have remembered any of it...and frankly...I wish I didn’t.

“Damn it…” Drezke grumbled. “We’re low on options…”

“*Sniff. Hic*.”

“Shh!”

Drezke looked up. Those were the voices of someone young. Two people...survivors.

He ran, the source not being far as he pushed a button and opened a door. Inside were...a small grey filly, unicorn, crying while being held by an older charcoal grey unicorn filly with white and red mane and tail. She had a cutie mark. A yellow bird singing. “S-Stay away!” The charcoal filly said.

“...You saw…”

“I-I heard it all, Monsters. Gunfire. W-why?!”

“...I’m broken. Half of who I was...my other half is possibly gone… Things like this will keep happening to me…”

“C-can’t anypony cure you? Fix you?”

“...I don’t know, but I doubt they can.” Drezke said, looking at the two foals. “What’s your name?”

“I’m Velvet. Velvet Remedy, and this is Littlepip.”

So young. Such strong light in her, and Littlepip, such a great light and darkness. Balanced but not unified like I was. A hard life is ahead of her. Drezke thought. “Come on. This place isn't fit for you two anymore.” He said, Velvet hesitate in her following as she carried Littlepip in tow.

The found the entrance to the bunker, and as Drezke stepped out, Velvet stopped at the entrance. “What's wrong?” He asked.

“It's just that...after the war, stories were told about a pony who came out of our stand, and she died, because there was nothing outside. Just darkness.”

A war? Just Darkness outside? Drezke calmed himself, feeling the energy through the world flow. Such strong darkness. It's tainted this world down to it's heart. “Wait here. I’ll be back.” He said, walking to the backmost of the...cellar, he realized. He found a stairway up, and when he opened the door, two things met him. An ever expanding layer of clouds that covered the sky...and a pungent, foul darkness that radiated from the very soil.

“So this world gave into its own darkness…” Drezke signed, snapping his fingers as horde after horde of heartless and unversed appeared before him. “Listen closely. Find every being on this planet that is lost to their own darkness...and end them, take the heart of you wish but put an end to the lost inhabitants. And find whatever is doing that!” He yelled, pointing at the cloud layer above them. “And put a stop to it! That’s unnatural, I can tell that much. Any who have not given into their darkness bring them to me, this world is dying and I will fix it. If I can’t do at least that, then I might as well let the darkness take what’s left of Zeke that I have. Now go!” With that order, they scattered, and across the face of this post-apocalyptic Equis, genocide began.

Death was Drezke’s gift to this world, darkness consuming the darkness, and sparing the little light that was there. Drezke, had his second part to play in this, summoning the Kingdom Key D, he found the Keyhole to this world, it above the very cellar he had come out of, and it pulsated with the darkness that infested it. Summoning Discord, he flew up to it...and reached into it. “Consume Darkness.” He cast, all the world's darkness that had dripped into its heart began to absorb into Drezke, the pain caused him to scream in agony, as the pain the world suffered all these years in darkness was now becoming his.

Death, war, selfishness, anger, rage...evil. This world went through hell, and Drezke took it all, till only the light remained. Finally, with all it’s darkness inside him, he pulled his hand out of the Keyhole, it disappearing as he did, and he fell to the ground. He now possessed an aura of darkness, and his skin paired to an ash grey. Calming his new darkness, his dark aura settled, but his skin did not return to it’s normal hue. “Damn, even being only darkness, it still can have...side effects on me.” He muttered, getting back up. The Heartless and Unversed bringing those Drezke said to. As he expected, most were children...and a...Zombie pony?

He shook it off, heading back into the cellar and finding Velvet still standing at the entrance, Littlepip now sleeping on her back. “Ah! What happened?” She asked, scared.

“Relax. It’s my consequence.”

“Consequence? For what?”

“You said all that was out there was darkness...you were right.”

“Th-there was just darkness!?”

“Mostly, very little light...I took away the darkness...And left only light.” He said. He motioned for Velvet to follow, and she did, he lead her up the stairs, and when he lifted the door above them, rather than a layer of clouds, bright, burning sunlight greeted them. Velvet needed a moment for her eyes to adjust, but when she gazed upon the ever blue sky, the sun...she cried.

“We...we all, none of us have.”

“It’s okay.” He said, patting her head. “Take it in. Your world, is being reborn.”

Zeke saved his world...I have to keep that part of him alive at least.

Chapter 4: War on Daybreak

Tiara found Applebloom and Sweetie Belle with relative ease, they were on a world where an evil kind was trying to take over and they were helping a young hero named Link save it. Once the king was dealt with she told them what was going to happen and they agreed, smiles on their faces for the first time in months.

It was then that all their Keyblades began glowing, in patterns of three. Their blood ran cold. Daybreak was under attack.

Opening DTL’s, they ran in… and froze. Nobodies, the very things that brought Equestria to its knees were back, after what was rising from the ashes.

The fillies all remembered those days. Grips tightening on their Keyblades in rage. Diamond Tiara summoned her newly acquired second Keyblade and wasted no time going after them. Rage fueled her movements, her strength...her heart, and yet, she kept her darkness in check.

“Well well now, this is interesting.” Drezke said, standing over Yellow. After Ben tried to fight his light half...that Yellow, clone of Zeke, was filled with darkness, dark hearts, and even had a X-blade wanna be made of them.

“What are you going to do? Finish me off?”

“No, well, you’re half right.” Drezke said, using his Kingdom Key D to slice his arm that held the false X-blade off, then tore open his chest, reaching in and taking out the ticking time bomb of darkness that was the Hearts of every Xehanort Core ever recruited. “I’ll be needing this. Now then, go decay elsewhere.” Drezke said, opening a DTD and kicking Yellow into it, closing it once he was inside.

Spoiled Rich had few joys in life, her emotions were always far from her grasp. Taking out her own heart and becoming a Nobody was painful, but she felt no different than when she had her heart. But, after reading Core’s notes, and placing pure darkness where her heart used to be, she’d never felt more alive. The power was breathtaking, armies of mindless warriors at her fingertips, her heart forged into a scythe. A tool she was all too familiar with growing up on the Trottingham farmlands.

Her family specialized in milk, but she tended to wheat crops. Between the darkness, able to let her to flood this land in Heartless, and the Nobodies, that her heartless body allows her to controle, to invade this world she once called home, and, if all went well, something more powerful would be hers to controle. Spoiled Rich was many things, if asked she would say, a planner, a thinker, a goal getter. After all, she pursued Filthy Rich. Got out of her farm life and gained a position of power, wealth, trinkets that while amusing, didn’t bring her the joy watching the land she once called home set a fire with war that she caused. Yes, she didn’t care about money, fame, fortune. No. She cared about power, infamy, and above all, death.

She sighed, giving a smile as Daybreak was tossed into chaos, her Nobodies relentless in their numbers and attacks. “Nothing compares to knowing the power you hold can befall whole worlds. Core...I will obtain the Psychopaths power, and end what’s left of Zeke Ventral, his loved ones...and allies. Your work is the only beauty I have ever seen, and I swear, you will not fade.”

How low I fell. How dark I went. Everything I did when my body turned me into a Keyblade… Shameful. At least, it dying the way it did means I will never come to light...this darkness corrupts me, breaks me...puppeteers me.

How can I be like before? At what point did my goals become so twisted, so vague...so evil?

If I can...I would tell them what I wanted to really do, before all this, before darkness took me. If only...I could tell them, do something to right my wrongs…

Joy had little to do. His girlfriends were off on another girls day, and little interest came to him from books to read or games to play. “Maybe I should check up on Diamond…” Joy muttered, standing up and summoning Reunion, opening up a DTL to Daybreak. “Maybe something special will happen.” He mutters before walking through the door.

Once through, he found himself quickly blocking an Assassin Nobody, it’s attacks quicker than normal. He then counterattacked, ending it as it vanished in a puff of grey, black and white. He then looked around...Nobodies were attacking Daybreak.

Joy growled, a grey aura surrounding him. “Enough!!” Joy barked, his voice reverberating to all Nobodies. “Your Heir commands it!” He commands. They stopped for a moment...then continued their attacks. “Fuck this nonsense.” Joy growled, summoning Lindworm and cleaning through Nobodies with ease.

He impaled a Dusk, but this one didn’t die. Rather...it’s zipper mouth opened wide...where a Neoshadow head came out, it’s body shifting to pose and move more like a Neoshadow now.

“Riiiiiiight….” Joy muttered. “So...that's a thing…” He said while summoning Reunion and cleaving through the thing.

As he kept on the fighting, he found himself hitting someone else's back, when he looked, he saw Diamond Tiara there, wielding both No Name and Gazing Eye. “Joy? When did you get here?”

“Not three minutes ago.” Joy says. “So why the hell are Nobodies with Heartless in them attacking?” He asks curiously.

“No idea, they looked like normal Nobodies, but some when they should die partly open up and a Heartless takes over, which is strange, since Heartless can’t set foot on Daybreak.”

“Either they figured out something weird, or this is some bullshit that shouldn't work.” Joy frowned. “Okay, so what super special ultimate bullshit are they looking for?” Joy asks, already knowing they're looking for something important.

“This city has secrets of the Light from before the war, that Hells Armory crap of the Master of Masters experiments, and Core’s heart, take your pick.” Diamond Tiara said, slashing apart a Berserker, that opened its head up and a Invisible head popped out. Along with its claymore, it pulled out an Invisible’s sword in the other hand. “Oh come the fuck on…” she grumbled.

“Ventus Ire!” Joy shouts, a sphere of wind suddenly appearing around the Invisible and ripping it to shreds. “Where's Cores heart? That's probably what their after.” Joy growled, knowing only Luxu could access such a damned place.

“Laboratory, mama Twilight’s been getting close to getting it right.” Tiara said, spin kicking a Dusk. “It’s in the castle, if that is what they are after, let’s go!” She said, knocking Nobodies aside and heading for the castle.

Joy followed Diamond quickly. “Let's hope we can get to him before they do. His heart probably isn't corrupted so Core might see some reason if he came back.” Joy says, not knowing if that's possible but remembering Namine’s future telling he was a tad optimistic about him at least being good enough to stop this asinine war.

As they raced through the city, Twilight was in a panic. Her tests being so close to the perfect result. Core’s heart. Since it arrived Twilight had been studying it, trying to find ways to remove the excess darkness corrupting it. Already she went through ten specialized containers to extract the darkness, but still it pulsated with the foul aura. Too long, too hard she worked to let another Nobody invasion stand in her way from completing this. “Come on…” She mumbled, the computer calculating the probabilities and simulations.

The laboratory doors burst open, four dancers making their way in. “Oh no you don’t!” She yelled, pulling out her Keyblade and casting Thundraga, taking them all out. “No heartless hollow husks of people are messing this up for me. I lost too much when Zeke died, I am not losing this.”

“Here to help. What do you need?” Joy asked Twilight while rushing into the room with Tiara. “I figured out how to extract darkness from a heart with hollow crystals….but I see you already figured that out…” Joy frowned, seeing the containers filled with the shit.

“It keeps regenerating the darkness. I need to find a way to take it all out at once, even a small amount left behind will generate the whole thing back into its original state.” She explained, watching the computer calculate. “So close.”

“Mom, where are the others?” Diamond Tiara asked.

“Your other mothers and some of your siblings are guarding the nursery. It’s safe there.”

While Twilight and Tiara talked Joy used his Assistant and scanned the heart, typing in how to get rid of the constant regenerating darkness. “If anything can solve this it would be this…” Joy muttere, wondering what he has to do to solve this.

Regenerative Darkness in a Heart.

There are two cures for this type of Darkness. One, a Reject Darkness ability, or, transfer the Darkness to another heart.

“Fuck…” Joy muttered angrily.

“Yes!” Joy looked up, Seeing Twilight looking excited as the computer screen flashes green. “Perfect outcome!” She yelled, running over to a machine that was...rather large, tubes and canisters like the ones full of darkness sticking out of it. After typing something in on it’s screen, she pulled a lever and the machine roared to life. “In ten minutes, Core’s heart will have no darkness whatsoever in it.”

“Can you make that faster?” Joy asks worriedly. “I doubt we have enough time.” Joy says, his ears twitching at the sound of something coming close.

“Play dead mutt!” Spoiled yelled, rushing in and swiping her scythe towards Joy’s head.

Her attack was blocked, though. By Diamond Tiara. “Hello mother.” Tiara hissed. “Should have guessed you were behind this.”

“Heard she took up the business of ‘I'm a crazy bitch, must destroy everything cause fuck it’.” Joy says simply, moving back and keeping his lances as a shield for Twilight and the machine. “Need help kicking her ass?”

“Oh, I’ve improved since you last saw me.” She said...her eyes turning like Core’s were. “So much.” She said, vanishing then appearing between Tiara and Joy. “Sixty seconds.” She said, appearing at the doorway as a timer set at sixty and counting down above their heads.

Joy’s eyes widened. “I don't think so.” Joy says while he summoned Fair Game. “Revoke.” He says, the word reverberating in the air and the timers above their heads crackled and slowly went away. “You are not killing my Diamond.” He says bluntly, readying himself for a fight.

“Fine then, plan B.” She said, snapping her fingers as a...tiny person in an organization thirteen cloak appeared.

“Hi.” Joy says to the new person, already knowing this won't end well. “How are you doing?”

“13, kill them.” Rich said, the tiny person nodding before...an Oathkeeper and Oblivion keyblades appeared in their hands as they charged.

“Or that.” Joy frowned while grabbing two lances and dashing after 13.

When Joy met 13’s attack, he was surprised at the force behind it given 13’s size. “Tough guy huh?” Joy asks, hoping to get 13 to say something.

13 said nothing, only managing to break the stalemate and get a hit in on Joy, sending him flying across the lab. “Hey! That’s delicate equipment!” Twilight yelled.

While Joy dealt with 13, Tiara and her mother circled each other in a more open area of the lab, both waiting for the other to attack. “So, seems you acquired another one of those Keyblades.”

“Yeah, took me by surprise.” Tiara replied. “I see you ripped your heart out.”

“Yes, makes a better scythe than it ever was my heart.”

“Huh, looks like I was wrong, you did have a heart, it was just as cold as you were.” Tiara blocked, her mother’s scythes tip inchis from her face, held a bay by her block.

“Cold is an understatement.” Rich said, the two starting their battle.

“Can you actually talk?” Joy asks 13. “Or are you a blind servant to Spoiled over there because reasons?” Joy asks curiously, slashing at 13 swiftly.

Again, silence. 13 performing a… Roxas from Final Mix fight attack, pillars of light trying to fry Joy.

Joy dodged quickly, avoiding the pillars of light as he started doing his own special thing of sending bladed winds straight towards 13 as he got closer to strike him.

13 moved fast, dodging each of the bladed winds and was not met with Joy, the two meeting in a clash again, this time, energy floating out, the impact knocking 13’s hood off… Joy’s eyes widened...Sora...no, Roxas. He felt it...13 was a Nobody.

Joy’s fist started to shimmer with pure Nothingness, not believing they would use Roxas as a test subject. “Why must everyone…” Joy muttered, disbanding his lance and ramming his fist into 13’s chest. “Empty Force.” Joy mutters, a sudden surge of Nothingness ramming into 13.

13 stumbled back, and began to vomit...a slug with the Nobody marking on it came out as 13 passed out.

“Oh my god…” Joy muttered. “God damn it…” He growled, grabbing the slug and putting it in a bubble of air to keep it from escaping.

It was then Joy heard a scream...a scream that sent fear into his core. “AAAHHHH!!!” He turned around, seeing Tiara covering her eyes...blood leaving out from under her hands.

“Now DIE!” Rich yelled, stopping when...Darkness. Joy and she looked, darkness from the canisters began flowing out, and into Tiara. “What?!”

“GRAH!” Tiara screamed, the darkness flowing into her and creating an aura that was MELTING the surroundings, a Guardian...two guardians appearing behind her. One grabbing Spoiled, squeezing her till audible cracks were heard while the other grabbed her hanging legs and yanked, her legs being ripped off. “I’M NOT WEAK!” Tiara screamed, the guardians dropping the now legless Spoiled Rich as Tiara moved her hands away, her eyes like glowing yellow orbs that were a Shadow Heartless’s eyes. Her Keyblades appeared, and she attacked, stabbing them into Spoiled arms, and looked her dead in the eyes.

“You...brat.” Spoiled said weakly.

Tiara didn’t respond, but in a quick motion, grabbed Spoiled’s head, and twisted it til her eyes now faced the floor, and she went limp.

“Diamond!” Joy barked, dropping his lances and rushing over to the poor girl. “No...no no no…” He muttered in fear, hoping she's okay.

The guardians both grabbed Joy, squeezing, but not enough to break bones as Tiara looked at Joy, those eyes felt...wrong.

“Diamond...it's me, Joy.” He says, tears filling the corners of his eyes. “Diamond please...I know you're in there...please don't be gone…” He whimpers, not wanting to lose someone he loves.

”jOy?” She said, her voice...not natural, demonic. She then grabbed her head, screaming as the darkness inside her was reacting, the Guardians fading, Joy falling to the floor until…

Ding.

Joy looked, seeing the machine Twilight started finished...and the darkness it extracted broke out of it’s containers, forming a pile of ooze on the ground before them...and took the excess darkness from Tiara, and when none was left, she fell over. Joy ran over, finding her just unconscious. Then...Joy couldn’t move, everything gained a...negative photo look as the ooze began forming...into a young girl...then, one by one, nineteen more young children all appeared.

“Sister.” They all said, bowing to her.

“It’s good to be free.” The one that formed from the ooze said, stretching. “Core turning his heart into a Keyblade made it all near impossible for me to escape, damn, and here I thought it was going to be fun trying to possess his heart.”

“What now Eve?” Another asked.

“For now, rest. Finally, our family is back together, and soon, we’ll pick up where we left off.”

“Death to Kingdom Hearts!” They all chanted, one by one vanishing til only that girl remained.

“Yes. Death to Kingdom Hearts.” She muttered, vanishing also as everything returned to normal and Joy could move again.

“AAAAAAHH!!” Joy screamed and backed away from the empty spot. “No….nonono….it couldn't be that Eve? S-she w-was just a little girl!” Joy said in panic, not believing what he just saw.

“Calm yourself.” Joy turned around, seeing...Core’s heart, floating there, pure white. “And yes, the floating heart is talking.”

“How the fuck did you keep her in your heart!?!” Joy barked at Core. “An Embodiment….I never…” He shook in fear, not knowing why he was so scared but knowing it was genuine.

“It was not easy. My body, er, Nobody most likely doesn’t remember what happened, but I do...I just lost Unum, and was content to fight wielding her X-blade until I died. Then, Eve came along. The first Embodiment, the first to fall into darkness. My Nobody might have claimed that title, but it’s rightful owner is Eve, and her kin. She is the reason darkness is what it is today. She saw me wielding the X-blade and...mistook me for it’s wielder. She entered my heart, and I was split, me, the heart, floating around outside of my body. Not finding what she was after, she was about to leave my heart...but I held her down. For two thousand years I held her back til Core, my Nobody, turned me into a Keyblade. That immobilized the both of us, by the time Unum returned me to being a heart, Eve fell asleep, and slept...til that machine ripped her out of me. It’s both a blessing...and a Nightmare come true.”

“You better help us out asshole.” Joy says, shaking his head to get his head back on straight. “Only you know how to start solving this, and all your followers will at least believe your back.”

“I am the half the Core you and your allies have been fighting, the human half. Those freaks will never listen to me when they sense I have a heart...besides...I don’t have a body. That Huxley fellow killed it in such a way that, if I went to where Nobody bodies go after death, there would be no end to my searching, for there's nothing for me to find. To put it bluntly...I can’t help much...and with Eve free...You’re screwed.”

“Like hell.” Joy frowned while pulling out his assistant. “I'm pretty sure there's a way to give you a body...even if it's a golem at least.” Joy says, hoping this will work.

“I...wouldn’t.” Joy looked up, seeing Cript there.

“Eve...fucking Eve is out there and Core, or whatever his real name is, can help at least. Why can't I put his heart in a magical golem at least?” Joy asks with a frown, Cript seeing the poor kid trying to stay busy instead of freaking the fuck out about seeing somethings he wasn't entirely ready for.

“Two reasons, one, this.” Cript said, walking over to Spoil corpse, ripping off the right arm sleeve as a really long number was tattooed on it. “This Spoiled was a fake. And as you can see, mass production, and more solid than the Ventral clones and Yellow were. Second…” He said, walking over to Joy. “This is an issue that can’t be helped. There are worse things going on at the moment. That and Core’s heart has a destiny, one that will be clear in time.”

“Can't people just give simple answers for once?” Joy whimpers bitterly, buying an elixer for Diamond. “I mean...Ben learned something important about Core...But sometimes can't a simple ‘here's what's gonna happen during a horrific time’ be too bad?”

“All I can say is that Drezke is going off the deep end. He...killed the Psychopath...by destroying the light half of Zeke’s heart…”

Joy stared at Cript. “Oh...oh no…” Joy muttered. “But...then Zeke can't…” He trailed off, fearing his friend may never exist ever again.

“I can’t say much, but I will say this. Matter in all forms can’t be created or destroyed, that’s even out of my power to do that, but it can be changed into something else...and placed elsewhere.” Cript said, vanishing before Joy could speak again.

“God damn it…” Joy sighs out, moving over and gently feeding Diamond the elixir. “Your still helping us here Core, you know that right?” He asks the heart.

“I guess. I’ll help how I can...though, all of the Embodiments were here at once...can the Crystal Heart of this place handle that much darkness?”

“Um...the Master of Masters made it...I hope?” Joy says nervously, scared that shit might get worse now.

“Ugh...what happened?” Joy turned around, seeing Twilight getting up. “Last thing I remember my machine went ding…” She said, fainting again.

“Fuck…” Joy said while walking over and feeding the rest of the elixir to Twilight. “Christ...first Ben says he's gonna have the people who were completely corrupted by Psychopaths...now Embodiments are going to kill Kingdom Hearts cause fuck it.” He sighs out. “But hey...at least God will be happy to see you right Core?” Joy asks the heart.

“I...have no idea...we weren’t exactly talking even before I fell into darkness...wonder how Dad is doing?”

“Question...who is your dad?” Joy asks. “I'm not sure if me or Ben ever learned that.”

“Yen Sid.”

“God damn it Disney.” Joy huffs.

Combat. That’s all he did. He woke up in a world of black and white, where Silhouettes of Heartless and Nobodies came at him from everywhere in full force. In this strange place, he felt no hunger, thirst of need of sleep. He did, though, feel pain, exhaustion, and there was no magic...but then again, Zeke couldn’t do magic without DIscord wither, and all he had to use was a broken Starlight Keyblade. Broken Keyblades littered the grounds of this place, and they were all that worked against the Silhouettes.

Hacking away at the Silhouette of a Neo Shadow, Zeke fell to the ground. “Damn it...this sucks. If this is hell...It’s debatable on if I belong here or not.” Zeke chuckled. Joking was one of the few ways he kept his sanity. This place was black and white, save for him, and looked like large forests, empty towns, and never ending Silhouettes of enemies. He looked up, seeing the Silhouettes of three Large bodies charging towards him. “FUUUUUUCK! I liked it better when you guys were on my side!” Zeke sighed, forcing himself back up. As they came in, there was a flash...and they were gone.

“Hm, well this is a first. Never thought I’d see intelligent life here.” A voice called out. In place of the Silhouettes was a teenage male. His hair was a dark onyx, the same could be said for his eyes. He stood at about 5.6 ft tall, and wearing a white tank top and his bottom half was covered with the lower part of an orange jumpsuit. He also carried a broken Way to Dawn

“Hey…. Wait...I know you!” Zeke siad, gaining a second wind as he stood up and pointing accusingly. “You’re the jerk that messes with the Foretellers ad broke one of my son's ribs! Core’s apprentice… Damn it what was your name...I know it was the same as a bird…?”

“Well that’s surprising cause I definitely don't know you, and who or what ever you’re talking about. Wait… did you say Core? You know that bastard?” The young man glared at him.

“Know him, he’s the reason I’m here! ...I think...I learned this ability to take in darkness, and since my heart balances out light and darkness I took in the darkness he had in him...I guess it was too much cause next thing I knew I was telling the others to back away then I woke up here with a Silhouette Darkside trying to turn me into chewing gum on it’s foot.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down there buddy. I didn’t understand any of that. But do you know how you got here? Last thing I remember was that Core did something to me and I woke up here.” Crow said rubbing his temples.

“Sorry know, last thing I remember was telling the others to back away after taking in Core’s darkness then...Darkside trying to turn me into shoe gum. Guess it was too much for my heart to balance out then...Crap, hope I didn’t turn evil, die, or get split like Ventus from Birth by Sleep.” Zeke sighed, scratching his head with his broken Starlight Keyblade.

Crow sighed. “Well I guess I gotta search for another way out of here. By the way you’re talking I’m guessing you know about KH stuff, and what’s going on with the world now. I’ve been here for a while so I would appreciate an update.” He held his hand out. “I’m Crow.”

“Zeke, and yeah, a LOT of crap has happened. Here’s a key fact to know right off the bat though, our earth, the world we were born in and stuff. Made up, a figment of God’s imagination til the 2012 crap and he cherry picked the good ones to explore his world, which every world is every tv show, book, movie, video game, etc being real and Kingdom Hearts is the main thing with all of them… Gonna take a moment or shall I continue?”

“From all that, it sounds like it’s gonna be a long story. Why don’t we just go to my shelter and talk there?”

“Cool, I’d say got any food but in the time I’ve been here I’ve not gotten hungry...or thirsty.”

Crow shrugged. “That’s life in Purgatory. Or at least that's what I call it.” he said as he walked off, with Zeke in tow.

“Huh, I like it.” Zeke said as he followed. After a while, Crow lead Zele to his shelter, some sort of train that likely didn’t run at all, the inside setup like a home. “Wow, I’ve been in hang outs like this before.”

“Same, back on Earth that is. I used to hang around train stations, under bridges, but my group always chose to hang out on top of a clock tower. Weird huh?” Crow jokes.

“Very Kingdom Hearts two.” Zeke laughed. “Those games got me through some messed up times.”

“My siblings and I loved them too.” Crow looked down solemnly. “I wonder how they are?” He muttered under his breath.

“They...wouldn’t happen to be named Alex, Kira, Jenny, Dan and Lan would they?” Zeke asked.

Crow’s eyes widened slightly. “How do you know their names?” he asked slowly.

“I met them, being able to wield the X-blade means I can open portals through the multiverse...though a magic mirror in my Equestria leading to a human version of Equestria helps too. Met them when some chick stole an element of harmony, there’s an evil you there causing all kinds of chaos with Unversed.”

“Equestria? I bet Kira had a hand in that.” Crow chuckled. “So… how are they doing?”

“Last I saw them was the battle that brought me here...so good...I hope they still are. I know Lan finally got Girlfriends, Alex has one, Dan too...and Kira...um...I don’t know how, but she lost an eye.”

Crow’s expression didn’t change, but one could tell that his eyes were filled with rage. He turned his back to Zeke.

*Slash!*

Then at a speed faster then the eyes can see, he was in a slashing position with his broken Way to Dawn in his hand. After a moment of silence, one section of the wall had fallen to pieces.

Zeke whistled. “Now why are you so mad? They said last time they saw you, you were damning them from a juvie cell?” Zeke asked, his tone mocking, attempting to get a reaction, and an honest answer out of Crow.

Crow sighed. “Well when you’ve been in juvie for two years and in Purgatory for abou one, you start to think about the life choices that lead you here.” He rubbed his forehead. “So they tell you about that huh?”

“Yeah...about you running with the Ventrals...My, umm...family…”

Crow turned his head towards Zeke. His eyes saying he was ready to murder, but immediately calming down.

“Well, you seem like a nice enough guy for now. You’re part of the damn family that got me thrown in juvie, but that was my fault too.” He sighed.

“I’m not exactly in a good boat with them either.” Zeke said, checking under his shirt, seeing his mark still there, and showing Crow. “I was born a red eyed Ventral, you know that means I was to lead them into the next great crime rush...I never stole, never killed, most I did was hack for blueprints of banks so my cousins could rob them and hotwire cars. In Ventral fashion, I was masked for death… My family, from what I learned though, worked with Core for a while, then, he cloned them after a few died, made them stronger, faster...and crueler. My family is evil, but only because the world saw us as so. Out in this new reality, they finally realized they can chase their real dreams, have normal lives. All except for my brother Dillen and grandfather left, scattering and making lives for themselves someplace. Before I fought Core and ended up here...I ran into my grandpa and brother...I killed my grandfather...and tossed my brother into the Void, the space between reflections. They were everything media portrayed our family as...there was no helping them.”

Crow nodded with his eyes closed, listening to every word. “Heavy stuff man. Well at least we have something in common. We’re both in a rough patch with our families. But you were at least a good black sheep there.” Crow sighed. “Look, I messed up in the past and forsook the only people in my life that cared about me. I did and said things I can’t take back and I don’t ever think I could go back to them. At least you had the strength to move forward while I spent so much time damning their existence. But now, all I want to do is go back to them and say sorry a hundred times over. I just wish I had that chance.”

Zeke sighed. “Well, how about this.” He said, getting up and putting a hand on Crow’s shoulder. “We find a way out of here...and you tell them it til you go horse. I don’t consider myself part of my old family, I made a new one...Sixteen wives, and a lot of kids, half adopted, the other half...infants...man, when I get back I’m on diaper duty for a year…”

“Well, I guess I can be a bit more optimistic.” Crow smirked. “Sixteen wives huh? That many kids too? Sounds like you got your hands full.”

“It started out with just, like, five, and even then I was tempted to jump out the window.” He chuckled. “I may be a Ventral...but I have zero lady skills...landing them was just dumb luck. So, shall we get going...cause I think your act of anger made enough noise to attract unwanted guests.” Zeke said, pointing back.

Crow looked, seeing Silhouettes of Large bodies, Neoshadows, Invisibles heartless and Dancer and Berserker nobodies heading towards them...by the hundreds.

“Ah, looks like its Tuesday.” Crow joked as he brought out Way to Dawn, with Zeke by his side with his broken Starlight. “Oh wait, so Lan… what was that about girlfriends? As in plural?”

“Yeah, long story.” Zeke said, ready for the horde incoming. “So...I’ll take the ugly ones, and you take the REALLY ugly ones.”

“Sounds like a deal, and when we’re done you can tell me all about them. I gotta get some teasing material when we get out of here.” Crow laughed.

Chapter 5: Drezke's True Goal

After the attack and the apparently fake Spoiled Rich was dead, the Nobody, heartless, whatever they were, were dealt with rather quickly. Joy brought DT to the infirmary. It’s been three days and she hasn't woken up. He called his other girlfriends and told them he’d be gone for a while. Diamond Tiara was hooked up to the works. Doctors said it was a miracle she was even alive. She had enough darkness in her to cover all of Daybreak in Darkside heartless. The Crystal Heart was fine, but it almost suffered a meltdown. “Can't things ever be simple?” Joy asks bitterly.

He looked over to Tiara, she had a breathing and feeding tube in her, and it pained Joy to see her with them.

“Damn it.” Joy muttered, using his assistant to buy more of those special crystals to see if he can help save Diamond. He bought at least ten of them as they sat on the ground. “Hey doctor.” He called.

“Yes?” One of them said, stepping in. “You have a question?”

“More like a stupid idea.” Joy says. “Who do you think has good concentration, a good heart, and is willing to help me do something really stupid to help Diamond?” He asks the doctor simply. “Cause I'm gonna need a bunch.” Joy asks, lifting a crystal and summoning Reunion. “Cause I'm gonna be trying to extract all the excess darkness in her and putting them in these crystals.”

“Afraid not. This is something her heart has to sort out young man.” The doc said as he left leaving.

“Has enough darkness to cover the planet and apparently her heart has to solve it.” Joy frowned. “I call bullshit.” He said, looking at the still sleeping Diamond. “Damn it...can't I do anything to help?” Joy asks himself sadly, taking a seat on one of the chairs nearby and trying to think of a way to help. “If I can't do this...no that's the Foretellers realm of expertise…” He muttered to himself, thinking diving into her dreams would help possibly but not knowing anything about that.

“Hello there.” Joy looked up, seeing Zeke’s Luna enter, taking a seat and moving it over next to Diamond Tiara. “I take it you are Joy?”

“Yes I am.” Joy nodded. “But I'm not really feeling joyful at the moment.” He sighs out, making a bad pun about his situation.

“Heh, I can tell.” Luna said, looking over to Tiara. “Even before the Nobodies first came, I kept a close eye on Diamond Tiara. So young, going through such cruelty at her mother's hands. When Zeke got rid of them, saved what was left, she had nightmares. Such horrible nightmares about the one who caused so much harm. I calmed them to my best abilities, but somehow, that horrible man’s face keeps coming back to her. When Ben and Zeke brought the dead back...her friend...Silver Spoon...didn’t come back. We assume she moved on, to a better place. Still, Tiara mourned her friend, she was the little bit of light she had in the times before.”

“Funny how similar and dissimilar my Diamond and your Diamond are.” Joy says. “The...Manehattan incident killed Silver Spoon and her parents...including a not super evil Spoiled as far as I know...then a family curse or someone killed Filthy...but instead of nightmares my Diamond...you'd think she shoved her arm in a wood chipper before I helped her.” He shook his head. “I'm sorry for rambling but...the two suffered losing those they cared about so much in different ways...but…” He trailed off sadly.

“Seems they are destined to suffer. I have never been one for Destiny. I don’t know about your reflections Luna, but I never wanted to be a demi-goddess of the moon and a princess.”

“What did you want to be?” Joy asks curiously.

“A baker. I guess in that I am guilty of Celestia being such a sweets addict. But, I learned my talent, moving the moon, and became an alicorn.”

“For some reason I'm reminded of Pantheon…” Joy said. “Haven't met him or gone to the world he lives on but he is a powerful Spartan Warrior...and apparently he’s always wanted to be a baker even if he's the best Spartan in his world.” Joy says, remembering League of Legends back from Earth.

“Well… After reading all I could in the records room...I think I can Dive you into her dreams...maybe get her to wake up.” Luna said, gaining Joy’s full attention. “It will be tricky, and dangerous.”

“I don't care, please help.” Joy says, almost pleading with how much he wanted to help Diamond.

“Alright, close your eyes, and I’ll perform the spell.”

Joy closed his eyes, relaxing before he felt...light, wind blowing against his face. When he opened his eyes, Joy was falling. It was a lot like Dream Drop Distance, though, rather than orbs, there were just random rocks and heartless flying around.

Joy summoned Reunion just in case. “Diamond?” Joy calls out, diving down in hopes it is like DDD and he'll find Diamond soon. As he was falling, he cast spells to deal with the heartless and rocks that got in his way. Finally, he was approaching her Station of Awakening. DT was leaned to the side, like Sora’s. Orbs of those she cared for all around. Joy saw himself there too. When he landed he looked around, seeing nothing til he turned around. There, he saw Zeke’s Keyblade Armor, standing in Lingering Will pose with Tiara’s No Name Keyblade.

“Of course.” Joy muttered. “Hello?” Joy asks the armor, having a good feeling what's gonna happen soon.

You? Well now, this is interesting. A voice spoke. Joy couldn’t actually hear any voice, but he knew what it said.

“Yeah, it's interesting that I'm in the mind of a girl I love.” Joy says to the unknown voice. “Who am I talking to if I may ask?”

Names are trivial, but, I suppose something is on order. You may call me No Name. That’s what my wielders have usually called me..

“There, no name for time as it were I suppose.” Joy shrugs. “But names hold power, so don't call it trivial. But how are you doing?”

As good as I can. My wielder is surrounded by darkness. Ancient Darkness. My new… ally, Gazing Eye, came to her when he sensed her darkness. You were there, if memory serves.

“When she hit Scootaloo too hard.” Joy says. “But how can I help Diamond?”

Help her? That is what Gazing Eye and I are doing. He is this armor, in the form of someone she trusts and misses, and me, in my form, to protect her from the darkness around us. Around her. Too long we have been separated. We almost forget we are brothers.

“Interesting.” Joy says. “Never got to talk to Keyblades given...well I'm not X but...it's interest to talk once and a while.”

Yes. It’s been a while. Oathkeeper and Oblivion, Myself and Gazing Eye, Your Reunion and Duskblade. Tell me, what do you think we all have in common?

“I mean besides the obvious ‘two sides of the same coin’ thing?” Joy asks. “Cause besides that I have no clue given I barely know the history of keyblades.”

Yes. We are all twins. Oathkeeper, the keyblade of light and promises. Oblivion, the Keyblade of bravery and courage. Gazing Eye, the Keyblade to see the future and all its possibilities. Myself, No Name. The keyblade to enter and explore those futures and pasts. Duskblade, the Keyblade of pain, the hurt a heart and a body feel after becoming something they never should have been, and Reunion, the Keyblade of happiness, pain no more and two beings becoming one again. We are the only twin Keyblades, as far as we’ve learned.

“The more you know~.” Joy said in a sing song tone. “But besides this wonderful lesson, how do I help...clean up?” Joy asks, motioning to the dozens of things he probably has to kill.

To rid this much darkness? End it’s source. We are not only protecting her from the extra darkness, we are protecting you from what is in her. A fragment, a speck of Eve was in all that darkness that possessed her. Even though Eve took it back, that speck remained, a link to Eve herself. Strong, but not as strong as she. End it, and the darkness will leave.

“Mind pointing me in the right direction? Cause I have no idea where to start.” Joy says, not knowing anything about Diamonds dreams.

If you are truly ready, then Gazing Eye and I will release what we are holding back. Are you ready?

“Hold on.” Joy says before casting several buff spells on himself to make him faster, stronger, and more tanky, and double checked his items, which he had several elixir's.”Yep.” Joy nodded, readying for the fight. “Let's get this fight going.”

The armor and No Name faded to light, and when it left, stood a much taller, and older looking version of the Eve Joy saw that came out of the darkness not so long ago. She stretched. “Man, those brats kept me stiff as hell.” She then looked up, seeing Joy. “Oh yes, you. I remember you. You were there when I finally escaped Core’s heart.”

“Hello Eve.” Joy says, Lindworm surrounding him as he readied for combat. “I see your more like your original self rather than a child.”

“That is my original self, this is just what I look like cause this is me over whoever this girl is.” Eve said. “See for yourself.” She said...peeling off half her face...and Tiara was there.

“Joy!” She yelled, Eve covering her…skin back over.

“Such a drama queen this girl.”

“Let her go!” Joy shouted at Eve. “Diamond has nothing to do with this, just let her go.” He says, wanting to protect the one he loves dearly.

“Hm, let me think about that...no. Truth be told, I’d rather kill her than keep her. Such a dark heart, yet helplessly clings to the light.” Eve said as she began pacing back and forth. “So dumb.”

“Why is she dumb?” Joy frowns. “Is it because you see her as lost potential to control? Or is it because she's not dumb enough to grab that Apple?” He asks her.

Eve raised an eyebrow. “Why does everyone make that reference with me? Well, anyway, no. She’s dumb because she’s clinging. You all think darkness is so evil and the light is so good. Black and white perspective you idiots all have.”

“Me and Ben? Not really.” Joy says. “We know full well it's in the hands of the wielder to show if something is good or evil. Darkness can do just as much good as light can and vice versa, but I suppose people fear darkness cause most of the things that keep appearing and trying to murder them on a daily basis appears from one side half of the time.” Joy explains with a frown.

“Heh, fair enough. Still, you were there when I got out. You know our goal, wanna know why we want to kill Kingdom Hearts?”

“One, sorry for referencing you to the ‘Adam and Eve’ story, if Cain existed and caused Psychopaths to exist then me.” Joy starts. “But why do you want Kingdom Hearts dead? One of three reasons, one because fuck it, two because that is what Darkness wants to do, or three because Kingdom Hearts has some dark secret that not many know or some cheap shit like that.”

Eve looked over at Joy. “In the beginning, there was just the one world. We called it Playground. There was the sun, forests for eternity, Kingdom Hearts, which shared the sky with the sun, always watching over us...then there was us. Children. The first life made by Kingdom Hearts, were children. Back then, there were countless of us, and I remember when I first woke up on Playground. Met other kids. We were taught by Kingdom Hearts language, math, to make tools, the works. We played and frolic in the forests, which provided all we needed. Then, Kingdom Hearts told us we would not be children forever. We would age, become adults, and...produce babies, to become kids and the cycle continues.

“Everyone began aging...everyone but me. As my friends grew old, met their partners, made the first families...I stayed a child. Years passed, I watched the first deaths and the beginning of burials, old friends dying, more and more of them as time went on. I traveled, wondering why just I wasn’t aging...turned out, I wasn’t. I found the first towns, farms, and after a long time, I found nineteen others who didn’t age, just like me. We were kin, in the end, as time went on, we always had each other. Those towns and farms became cities and castles, they...forgot about us. Forgot we were ageless. All who saw us thought us orphaned children. We were older than any of them could fathom, we knew their first ancestors...and they treated us like ignorant children.”

“We didn’t age, but we got hungry. Too young to work, we had to steal. We were quickly branded thieves and sent to the next town or city...time after time...after time. After we had long lost count of the years gone by, of our true age...we begged, cried to Kingdom Hearts to let us age, let us be normal… He said we didn’t age, because we were not of his making. It was then he showed us his light...and our true forms were revealed. We were these...things. The bits of Darkness that would become what it is today. The shadows Kingdom Hearts Light failed to reach. We ran, ran for help from the descendants of our friends...they treated us like monsters. And when they begged Kingdom Hearts for a way to defend themselves against us...he gave them Keyblades!

“We ran and hid for years, and they grew in their numbers. Darkness began growing in their hearts...and they blamed us. Finally, they made the one special Keyblade that can kill us...that damned X-blade. We knew though, it was made from light and darkness, and drew power from Kingdom Hearts himself. It would take a special wielder to use its power. A person born with a heart that was in perfect harmony, balance with its light and darkness. Unum. She dealt with everything we threw at her. Finally, we figured...they will always see us as monsters. Demons...Devils, so that’s what we will be. Rage used our powers, and ended her, our first kill ever. When I saw Core in the Realm of Darkness, wielding the X-blade, I thought he was some sort of back-up wielder. I’m sure you know the rest.

“We want to end Kingdom Hearts, because he let us exist just to be the bad, the evil you Keyblade wielding idiots fight. He knew what we were from the beginning...and told us when it was too late and armed the ones that were hunting us. Killing Kingdom Hearts is revenge. Payback long overdue.”

Joy looked at her. “So you want to kill Kingdom Hearts...because people don't understand your pain and wanted to kill you off?” Joy asks. “While...this is all a lot to take in...it sounds like all of you need a friend...who doesn't see you as the monsters everyone, even yourselves, think you are.” Joy explains, feeling sad for the Embodiments considering what he just learned.

“We saw Kingdom Hearts as our father, and he let us be hunted down and become what we are now! He armed the hunters and we had to learn what we all could do from scratch while he taught them all how to fight us, hurt us! We would have taken death over this torture!” Eve yelled, a strong wind blowing Joy back as he quickly used a Lindworm spear to stop himself from falling off the edge, Eve in front of him. “Before we killed Unum. We begged, pleaded to our father one more time. Please. Help us. Kill us… He said no. So we will kill him, and let him have the mercy we never did!” Eve yelled, darkness forming in her hand as she raised it and the Soul Eater Sword Riku had appeared. She then slashed at Joy.

Joy raised Lindworm and blocked the slash. “You want the sweet mercy of death?” Joy asks Eve. “How can I do it without hurting Diamond?” Joy asks, dodging to the side so he could get some room to properly fight.

Eve jumped back, now standing at the edge of Tiara’s Station of Awakening… and laughing. “Just try!” She said...taking a step back, and fell off. Joy ran over, only to almost fall back as a giant hand grabbed the edge. Then another...and what came up was something Joy had never seen before. It’s head was a skull, wrapped and covered in black and purple exposed muscles. Yellow glowing dots were the eyes, and it’s arms were like that of a Darkside’s, it’s chest wrapped in bandages. ”This is what we really are!” It yelled, Joy realizing...this was Eve’s REAL form. ”We will give our father the mercy we begged for! We will end him like they’ve all tried to end us!” Eve yelled, taking a swipe at Joy.

Joy dodged away from the swipe, flying up in the air. “I'd love to say you honestly look cool…” Joy starts. “But I have a feeling you just need some rest.” He says, Nothingness surrounding Reunion as he slashed, a wave of thorns shooting out towards Eve’s titan form.

Eve raised a hand, the thorns wrapping around it. ”Heheh. Not bad, but I feel nothing...she feels it though.”

Eve opened her mouth...and Tiara was there, stuck in the dark and purple muscles, trying to struggle free. “AAAHHH! STOP IT! IT HURTS!” Tiara cried. Tears falling freely.

“Diamond!” Joy shouted, the thorns disappearing immediately as he rushed forward, hoping to save her from Eve.

Joy was about to reach, when Eve shut her mouth closed. Joy almost lost his arm. ”Not that easy wolf.” Eve now had two MASSIVE Soul Eater swords, one in each hand, and was swinging them at Joy, who was trying to dodge each of the hits.

Joy got hit, once he was hit, the wind was knocked out of him and Eve grabbed him, and squeezed tightly. Joy screamed, his bones breaking and organs bleeding from the inside. ”Pathetic. If this is all Kingdom Hearts could bring us to fight, then ending him will be a cakewalk!”

As Joy felt his consciousness going, he saw between the teeth. Tiara, looking at him. Fear, horror, sadness. She was scared. As Eve was about to finish Joy off, Joy appeared on the other side of Diamond Tiara’s Station of Awakening, all his weapons appearing around him in a circle.

“You really think Kingdom Hearts sent me?” Joy asks, staring up at Eve. “I may help the Light not die against people like you who choose to be monsters, but I am much more than Light itself.” Joy tells her and starts floating up in the air with all his weapons. “You understand nothing Eve...but when you hurt the ones I love…” Joy says. “Lets see what Darkness can do against Nothing.” He says, his weapons now spinning around him as Nothingness Thorns wrapped around his body, grey armor forming around him as they all merged. Joy now was adorned with armor bearing the Nobodies symbol on the chest and helmet, and his weapons all came together, forming a single, large Keyblade that was the length of a Greatsword. It’s grip and handlebar was a tail, it’s blade a body with folded wings, and it’s tip a dragon's head breathing nothingness thorns. It’s Keychain was a crown with the Nobody symbol.

Joy swung it, not caring how or even what just happened. Eve raised her arms to block, and Joy swung. There was a pause...before Eve’s form began to fade. Joy’s new found power didn’t last after that one attack, his Keyblade returning into his weapons and his armor vanishing as he fell to the Station of Awakening. When he looked up, he saw Eve, on her knees as her skin was evaporating, revealing Tiara’s body underneath. “Heh...if dying is anything like this...we should do this again.” She said, falling over as Darkness covered her for a moment before vanishing, leaving an unconscious Diamond Tiara behind.

“Ow…” Joy muttered, feeling his entire body sting in pain from...whatever the hell just happened as he moved over to Diamond, hoping she was okay. “Diamond?” He asks, hoping she was okay.

“Ugh…” Tiara grunted, getting up and rubbing the back of her head. “Damn...that bitch left a crick in my neck.”

“Oh thank god you're okay.” Joy smiled happily. “Ow...damn it that hurts.”

“I should be the one saying that. Those thorns of yours hurt like hell!” Tiara said, giving Joy a light whack to the back of his head.

“Ow!” Joy barked in pain. “I'm sorry okay? At least you weren't getting crushed a whole bunch...then...doing whatever the hell I did.”

Tiara looked at Joy for a while. Then, she laughed, Joy confused, just laughed with her. “Damn...guess we’re never going to have normal dates. Tell you what, next time I’ll save you.”

“I'm the hero here.” Joy says. “I save my wonderful Diamond from danger.”

Tiara grabbed Joy by the neck of his cloak, pulled him in and planted a kiss right on his lips. Joy was happy, enjoying it. Finally, it ended. “We’ll see.” She said, light blinding them both.

Joy jumped awake, looking next to him where Tiara was getting her tubes and such taken out. “Now remember Tiara, it will be a few days til you are back to full strength.” A doctor said as they pulled out that feeding tube that goes up your nose from her nose.

“Owe!” Tiara yelped as it came out. “Fine.” She said, grabbing a tissue and wiping her nose clean. She then turned around, seeing Joy awake. “Well now, look who finally woke up sleeping puppy~” Tiara said playfully.

“I'm looking at Sleeping Beauty right now.” Joy said just as playfully.

The doctor finished up taking all the wires and other things off of Tiara, who now was just laying in bed waiting for the final few blood test results before she got to go. “Damn, these patient gowns are comfy.” She then looked over at Joy. “And being nude under this would give you a view if I just turned on my side~”

Joy blushed, his tail wagging against his will. “What would your mother's think?” Joy asks, wondering if she's gonna have to actually fight them for some reason.

“Let’s be honest, in any reflections they’re none to talk. From the few meetups I listened in on your reflections version of them are worse than mine.”

“You should meet my harem...they tease too damn much.” Joy sighs out.

“Heh, I bet. Also heard you knocked them up.” Tiara said, Joy almost frozen from shock.

“How did you hear this?” Joy asks worriedly.

“Got an invite to the baby shower from your reflections Pinkie.”

“Of course.” Joy shook his head. “Its Pinkie after all.” He chuckled. “And I suppose the rest of your family was invited?”

“No, just me.”

“Ah.” Joy nodded. “Well okay then. But...I'm sorry I hurt you...and not be able to stop you from getting hurt so much.” He sighs out, ever so thankful Diamond is safe but upset he couldn't have protected her from this to begin with.

“Eh, don’t worry about it.” Tiara said, shrugging. “This is just the first step in a long road of crap to get to the end of the rainbow.”

Joy was going to point out something but kept it to himself. “Well at least your safe and sound. But...I still have no idea how I did that.” Joy frowns, wondering how he got armor and a kick ass looking greatsword keyblade.

“Well, enough about that.” Tiara said, Joy suddenly finding himself covered with her gowned...her still in it as she moved to sit on his lap with him on the chair. “It’s time to rest and relax til the next battle, right?”

Joy blushed and nodded. “Uh...yeah, sure.” Joy says sheepishly.

“So, how about tomorrow, we go on a normal date, well, try to make it normal. I can ask Scootaloo if she and her boyfriend wanna tag along and make it a double date?”

“Sounds good to me.” Joy nods. “Just...don't be surprised if my girls suddenly appear for some reason.” Joy says sheepishly.

“Heh, well then, I’ll plan the date, you just come by my place to pick me up.”

A throne. Without asking him, without consulting, they built him a throne. Drezke, they wanted him to be a king. The world who’s darkness he purged wanted him to rule. He was no king. He was only half of the man he once made.

Still, he sat atop it, surrounded by children, largely children, few adults, and infants the Heartless gathered. All who were savable on his new world were present, in a kingdom being built from the remains of an old one. He gave them all keyblades, those he could. Surprisingly, the filly Velvet had with her, Littlepip, was given Oblivion, and Oathkeeper followed immediately. Velvet herself gained Rejection of Fate.

https://www.khwiki.com/images/6/6f/Rejection_of_Fate_KHD.png[/center]

Velvet was determined to train, but didn’t believe ending lives was the answer. She wanted to heal them, believing those with darkness in their hearts were merely sick, and as such, should be helped. So, Drezke respected her wish, and implanted within her, a link to him. He taught her Consume darkness, and all that darkness that went into her, would flow into that link, and into him. It would spare her, heal her target, and he gained the power.

If power was all Drezke was after, he’d be taking in the darkness from the Realm of Darkness. No, Drezke needed the energy, the fuel for his plan.

When he was equal to the Embodiments in strength, he would go after them, and rather than attack, he’s consume them, but, not until he had enough darkness to make the Crystal Hearts effects on his newfound darkness nule. He needed the Void Keyblade.

“Once I’ve taken all of them in, I will strike myself down, ending both my pain, their threat, and with luck, darkness itself.” He said to himself. He was often alone, as he wanted. After running into Yellow and taking the Xehanort Hearts and fake X-blade, he kept the hearts, and broke the fake X-blade, freeing all the hearts trapped within it. So many children Core took for that weapon.

“I will end darkness. At any cost.”

Zeke and Crow began traveling. It was all there was to do aside from the constant combat. With each battle won Crow and Zeke grew in strength and coordination. Though, one question still rang in their minds. “How come the Heartless and Nobodies Silhouettes are partnering up?” Zeke asked, the two walking a trail in a seemingly endless forest.

“Not really sure dude. It just happens sometimes. From what I could tell from my limited KH knowledge I’ve made a theory. I think they pair up because they try to find even the smallest remnants of a heart or a body, so they just attach to each other, even if its their own or not.” Crow said.

“Huh...that would make sense. When I had control over them, I could sometimes hear the heart lost in the darkness, but not with Pureblood heartless. I found out you can inject them with light and they gain sentience, made an Invisible my Nanny.”

“Wow, that's pretty weird to think about. A heartless looking after a child when they are originally just beings that steal hearts.” Crow jokes.

“Well, if you think about it, the Purebloods are just strong negativity, so, they are basically super strong Unversed.” Zeke and Crow looked ahead, and stopped in their tracks. There was a town ahead, like many they had seen before...but this town was largely destroyed. “What the?”

“Hm, been some time since I’ve found a town. Hard to come by when you start walking again.” Crow explained.

“But...why is it wrecked? Looks worse than the ghost town my older bro had his eighteenth birthday party at AFTER it was over...Pretty sure the ghosts left that town after that night.”

“Not quite sure dude. When you’ve been here and think that you’re the only intelligent being around you don’t get much of an explanation.” The two walked into the town, finding large slashes and cuts in every building and the soil. “Nice place to take up shelter though. More places to hide out than just open wasteland.”

“I dunno man, I don’t think whatever did this is gone.” Zeke said, looking around and stopping when he spotted something abnormal. “Hey, check this out.” Zeke said, pulling out a sword that was stabbed into the door of one of the buildings.

“A blade? Never seen a weapon outside of my keyblade here before. Maybe it was left here and this city was pulled to this world or something. Hard to believe anybody can live here.”

“No...it looks familiar…” Zeke said, looking at it for a time...then his eyes went wide. “I know who’s this is.”

Crow raised his brow. “Well don’t keep me in suspense man. Who?”

“He was a survivor of the Keyblade war. Wore this red lab coat and black bear mask. He ripped out his own heart to controle Nobodies and killed just about everyone on the Equestria I ended up on...How in the fuck is he here?” Zeke questioned, looking at the sword. “We best leave n-” Zeke then felt something cut his arm as he and Crow turned around. There, the Silhouette of the man Zeke ended so long ago stood, swords floating around it and a book in its hands. “Shit.”

“This an acquaintance of yours?” Crow summoned his Keyblade, prepared for another fight.

”I knew I’d see you again.” It spoke, the voice sending chills up Zeke and Crow’s backs. ”Now, it’s my turn to kill you.” He said as dozens more swords appearing and rushed to shish kabob the two.

“Okay than less than an acquaintance!” Crow yelled as he blocked an oncoming blade.

Change.

“You hear that?” Zeke asked, deflecting the swords as fast as he could.

Crow knocked back another few swords coming at him. “Hear what?”

Take his hand, and change.

Zeke grunted, knocking more to the side but more came still. “Huh...Well, better than nothing.” Zeke said, knocking more aside before dragging Crow and taking cover behind some half ruined building. “Take my hand.” Zeke said.

“Your hand!? You better not be getting cold feet on me!” Crow yelled skeptically.

“Look, crazy BS like this happens to me a lot, just do it and if nothing happens, if we survive this, you can lead wherever we go next. Just grab my hand and hope some magic shit happens...Do not take that out of context.”

“Not really! But you sound like you know what you’re talking about. If this is some kind of trick then we better not speak of it again.” Crow said, taking Zeke’s hand.

In that moment, Zeke’s whole body glowed in a golden light, it glowed and glowed, blinding Crow. When he could see as the light died, Crow found himself holding the X-blade, though, it was different. One of the Kingdom Key’s that made it was a dule black, the other an ethereal Kingdom Key D, and the white of it that made up the rest was a golden yellow. The keychain was wrapped around his right arm, and part of his Torso. The Keychain itself was much like the X-blades, though, the heart behind the crossed Keyblades was blue.

Holy shit! Zeke’s voice yelled from within Crow’s mind.

“Ahh! Don’t yell in my mind dude!” Crow said out loud. “Did my life just turn into Soul Eater?”

Been to that world, turns out Lord Death was the X-blades second wielder, and was there when the world wa split off into the many we have now and the multiverse. But, in short, yes. Damn, I knew Kingdom Hearts turned me into a human Keyblade, and my kids could shift into Keychains...but this is new to me. Didn’t think I could shift also. Zeke explained.

Crow smirked, “Well whatever the case,” He swung Zeke around with his right hand and held Way to Dawn in the other. “We’re twice the Keyblader now! Time to kick some ass!”

Crow jumped out from cover, the Silhouette sending more swords, Crow tossing them with ease, Zeke’s Keyblade form size making blocking easy.

Owe! Damn, they feel every hit!? This sucks! Zeke complained, Crow ignoring him as he made his way closer to the Silhouette. Crow now was bringing Zeke into a swing, ready to slice the Silhouette.

Crow swung, now behind the Silhouette as it began to fade, it’s outlines fading and the book it was holding fell to the ground.

“Huh? Did we win? That was far too easy.” Crow said.

Zeke’s Keyblade form glowed, a bright light covering all of him as Zeke appeared next to Crow, human again and falling on his butt. “Owe! Damn it, that sucked.” He groaned, getting back up and dusting himself off. “Huh...If that worked...I wonder if…” Zeke thought, holding out his hand. Sadly, nothing happened. “Damn… Hmm.” Zeke hummed, walking over to Crow and taking his broken Way to Dawn.

“Hey! I’m still using that.” Crow objected.

“Just...let me try something.” Zeke said, holding the Way to Dawn in both hands and gripping tight. “Come on, come on...I know you can hear me...brother.” There was a flash, Way to Dawn was whole again. “Ha! I knew it you little shit.” Zeke said happily.

I’d leave at that comment but my welder is right next to you. Zeke heard Dawn speak.

“Man...never thought I’d miss having Keyblades talking in my head.” Zeke said, giving Dawn back to Crow. “He says he chooses you. Take care of each other.”

Crow gently took The blade from his hands, and did a few practice swings. “Balance is great, I guess because he’s whole again. Plus it's nice to finally use one without cutting my hands on the jagged, weathered hilt.”

“Heh, now let me try.” Zeke said, taking out his Starlight. After a time, Starlight was whole again also. “Yes. Well, looks like we have some real weapons now. About time.”

Crow dispersed his Keyblade, and picked up the book that was left by the silhouette. “What do you make of this?”

“Hopefully? Answers.” Zeke said, taking the book from Crow and opening it.

As theorized, this is Purgatory. The place where enemies slain by Keyblades go, Heartless, Nobodies, even the ones like me end up here. If legends hold true, this land also holds the true selves of those with Balanced hearts who’s darkness and light are split.

It’s known that our personalities are made up of some of our light and darkness. People with balanced hearts personalities, qualities, everything are even between their light and darkness. So, when their heart splits, two identical, but very different beings are created in the process. It’s here where their true selves end up. The lucky bastards, they’d have hope of ending up here. Their halves bodies are made up of the energy their halves of the heart they make up. This is where their body ends up unless they are reunited. They can leave here if the door is found. Two things are needed though, a whole Keyblade, and the door.

It’s impossible to get both. All the Keyblades here are broken, and the door changes locations daily. I’ve seen it once, the day I arrived. Magnificent in design, but useless to me. My heart is in the realm of light and here I am. Hm, I wonder though, if this is the afterlife for Heartless and Nobodies...where do we go when we die here?

Zeke closed the book. Rubbing his forehead. “So...We both have balanced hearts...and are split...Core split you I’m guessing...and mine split when it became out of balance…” Zeke said.

“So that’s how it is huh? Wither the two versions of use fuse back together, or we have to find this door. Both sound pretty difficult.” Crow sighed.

“Yeah… Wait...So, these are just our bodies...so if we leave here, we’d be Nobodies...like he was...Wait a minute...I remember what I looked like as a Keyblade...weird, I know, but...one half of me was ethereal...and the other was dule black...I don’t think that’s normal.”

“Are you not supposed to look that way? It looked pretty badass.”

“X looks like, well, you know what he looks like. If I’m some sort of human version of him, I should be nearly identical. That one Keyblade was just black and the other looked like a Kingdom Key D, but was ethereal… X reflects the damage of the world we are on, when it’s all fine, he’s whole, when it’s not, he’s cracks and such, like how Vanitas held it when Ventus fought him...What if I’m reflecting my own damage...something happened to one of my halves. That’s the only thing I can think of.”

“Well if we’re talking about symbolism, then it seems like your dark half decided to stick around while you right side skipped off. Kind of ironic when you think about it.”

“My light and dark halves are in harmony. I’d meditate and talk with them, they treat each other and act like brothers. No, something bad must have happened. They even constantly balance each other out, if Dark got too strong Light would just reflect him, and back and forth. Knowing that...I shouldn’t even be here anymore if they fused...something really bad must have happened.”

“Then we better find that door and get you out of here. You gotta keep them in check right?”

“I guess...And I’m sure you want out of here as quickly as possible. So let’s get out of here and force your halves to rejoin and figure out what happened to mine.”

Crow paused for a moment. “Sorry, can’t do that dude.”

“What? Why?!”

“From what you told be on what my family is doing right now, they are doing everything they can to bring me back. I can’t just show up before that happens like it’s nothing. I have to wait here till they achieve their goal. That’s when I’ll apologize. My first priority right now is to get you out of here. They need you out there more than me.”

“Like hell! You read that book too, you die here your halves can’t rejoin.”

Crow smirked. “Then I better not die till then.”

“You- Huh?” Zeke said, pausing as he turned around. Silhouette Darkside, Neoshadows and Demon Tides heading for them...lots of each. “Son of a! We are not done with this talk.” Zeke said, ready for the incoming hordes.

Crow got ready as well. “I guess they didn’t tell you how stubborn I am.”

Chapter 6: Absent Silhouette-Part 1

Joy spent the night in the guest room of the castle, he heard Ben was in Daybreak, but spent the day searching around for proper date clothes. He didn’t know whether to go classy or casual, so went for something in the middle, a pair of black shoes, black pants, and a dark grey shirt and sweater vest. He even brushed his hair for this. He stood waiting for Tiara and her sister to arrive in the lobby of the castle. “Any minute now…” He muttered, pacing around as he started to fuss about what might happen today. “Ben had a better time with a date...well...actually it turned into a kind of adventure twice…” Joy mutters to himself, almost forgetting about that.

“Hey there, you must be Joy?” Joy looked up, seeing Death the Kid walk up to him dressed in a white tux rather than his usual black.

“Oh, hey Kid.” Joy nodded. “Yes, I am Joy, brother of Ben. How are you doing my very OCD friend?” Joy asks casually.

“Heheh, yeah, but ever since I started dating Scootaloo it’s been kinda...halted. Before I’d wake up first thing in the morning and make my hair symmetrical, then check my whole house to make sure everything was symmetrical, but after I started dating her that...lessened. I woke up this morning, didn’t give my house much of a second look, didn’t even fix up my hair till later in the day.”

“How love changes us all right?” Joy chuckles.

“Hey there you two.” Tiara’s voice made the two turn around...and drop their jaws.

Diamond Tiara was dressed in a long violet dress that exposed part of her left leg from the knee down. She was also wearing a small purse that matched the dress. Scootaloo was wearing a black dress with pearl earrings and necklace, her hair in a bun, both girls had light makeup on. “So, what do you think?” Scootaloo asked, walking up to Kid and taking his hand.

“I-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i.” Was all Kid said, his face red with blush.

“Uh…” Joy gulped, his nose trickling with blood at the sight. “I feel...a tad underdressed...and even if I was properly dressed...I'd feel underdressed from your beauty alone.” He says to Diamond, unknowingly flirting with the mare.

She chuckled. “Glad you like it, come on, I got us seats at Crystal Palace. Was here back when this place was just the Crystal Empire, owner came back and re-opened it.” Tiara explained, wrapping her arm around Joys and leading the way and Scootaloo and Kid followed.

“Cool.” Joy nodded. “But...my world's Crystal Empire didn't appear till a few weeks ago my world's time...so I don't know much about what was here before...things.” Joy says nervously, not knowing what the Crystal Palace was besides the giant thing in the middle of Daybreak.

“Heh, it’s a restaurant. Figured we’d go there for a meal and small talk then head our separate ways for our dates.”

“Sounds simple enough.” He shrugs. “Let's hope nothing happens during our simple date, like two pistol women appearing and wondering what Kids doing.” Joy says honestly, sadly forgetting their names at the moment.

“Oh, you mean my weapon partners?” Kid asked from behind Joy and Tiara. “They’re back home Keyblade training. They’re usually the weapon, or wielding each other as a gun, so using a Keyblade is new to them.”

A bit of a walk later and they reached the Crystal Palace Restaurant, where they were seated and given menus. “So, what looks good?”

“Well…” Joy says, feeling like he should pick something for the fancy atmosphere. “Screw it, the Ribs seem fine with me.” He says simply, not caring if he has simple food but he'll at least not make a mess.

“Same.” Scootaloo said.

“That does sound nice.” Tiara added.

“Well, I’d rather not be the odd man out, I’ll have some ribs too then.” Kid said.

They ordered four plates of ribs, which came with their soda’s. To their surprise, the food was rather clean, yes it was ribs, but they were cooked in a way that they were moist, flavorful, and the sauces didn’t stick to their fingers. When that was done they split the bill, each covering their own meals, then exited the restaurant. “Well, Scoots and I are gonna head of to the park for a late afternoon walk.” Kid said.

“Yeah, then we’re going to the movies to see a new horror movie out called Paranormal Activity.” Scootaloo finished.

Joy was gonna say something about the movie but stopped himself. “Okay, hope you two have fun.” Joy says. “But when you've experienced actual scary things or fights...horror tends to not be there ya know?"

They shrugged, walking off one way while Tiara grabbed Joy’s hand and lead him off another. “So, that was a good meal.” Tiara said.

“I was honestly expecting to make a small mess with the Ribs, kind of to make the four of us in a fancy restaurant look silly and we started laughing.” Joy shrugs. “But hey, I'm a bookworm and an anime nerd.” He adds, knowing he got that from those places.

“They probably enchant their food to keep things clean.” Tiara said. The two walking along the road for a time before they came across a park, walking through it, they spotted a statue...of Zeke. He was standing tall, wielding the X-blade and aiming it to the sky. “When the Foretellers gave us the news, we built this for him. Dad always told me that the ones that do the greatest good from his world often died young...guess that curse of earth struck again huh?” Tiara asked.

“What's weird is that...Ben is gonna have a statue of himself in Manehattan, in a park just like this.” Joy says, summoning his Lexicon weapon. “But with this book in his hands...holding all the names of the forty nine thousand dead inscribed in it…” Joy sighs out sadly. “I'm sorry for bringing it up...again…” He sighed out.

“It’s alright, no matter how many die, the worlds all move on. I just wish the Foretellers told us where he died, they never said.”

“It's for the best.” Joy says. “The world...is not in the best shape in any way…” Joy shook his head.

“You...know where it is?” Diamond asked.

“I was there with the others.” Joy tells her. “But...it's for the best you don't go.” He tells her. “The world he died on...is soaked in Void energy, it's best you don't go. You haven't faced Void yet...and I just...want a nice date okay?”

“Joy.” Tiara said, grabbing him by the ear and pulling him down to her exact eye level. “Take me. Now.” While Tiara spoke calmly, in Joy’s mind Tiara had transformed back into that darkness possessed thing from a few days ago, both her Dark Guardians staring him down from his imagination.

Joy looked her dead in the eye. “I would love to tell you no, whether you liked it or not, but I know we're gonna go there whether I like it or not.” Joy sighs out. “Just give me a moment…” He says while getting her hand off his ear and taking a deep breath, remembering the place and opening a DTL. “But don't say I didn't warn you.” He frowned.

Tiara reached into her purse, taking out her Keyblade armor sleeve and putting it on, then slapping the button, her armor covering her before she and Joy walked into the DTL. Once there, Tiara took a look around. “Wow...this place is bad.”

“From what I heard from the locals...this all happened from people using the power of Void, the antithesis of Nothingness.” Joy tells her. “And given it's Void...it can only get worse.”

“Yikes, so where did dad…” Tiara stopped at the edge of a crater that was pulsating with both darkness, and light. “This is where…”

“The exact spot where he was cut down.” Joy says. “All of us were there...but too slow to not stop the final attack Core’s body landed on him…”

“No wonder they didn’t say...there’s isn't a body at all to...hey, what’s that?” Tiara asked, jumping into the crater. Joy jumped in after her, and before them, right where Zeke was split, was a sphere of darkness and light, the image of the X-Blade on it.

“And of course there's an Absent Silhouette.” Joy frowned, walking up to the thing. “Okay...so how the hell do I activate this thing?” Joy wonders, not sure about what to do with something he's only seen passed by in Speedruns.

“Maybe you touch it?” Tiara questioned, grabbing Joy’s hand before reaching the other for the orb. When she touched it, there was a bright flash, and the two now stood on a Station of Awakening. Zeke posed like Sora on it, in the background was the Keyblade graveyard in the background and Kingdom Hearts above it. “Wow…”

Joy summoned Reunion and Frozen Pride, knowing where this is going to go whether they liked it or not. “So...this is his Station of Awakening huh?” Joy wondered, looking around for where Zeke’s armor or something would pop up to attack them.

In front of them, the sphere floated, til it molded into...Zeke. “Dad…” Tiara said, taking a step forward. Joy held Tiara back, the illusion Zeke bringing out the X-blade. “What, what is this?” Tiara asked, summoning No Name and Gazing Eye.

“This is an Absent Silhouette.” Joy says. “I don't remember the finer details, but if memory serves it's a being made of memories that, in most cases, fight those that summon it in its arena.” Joy explains to the best of his ability.

“But then...how will it fight? Like dad did...or all out like he never did?” Tiara asked.

“This isn't the Data Org fights Tiara.” Joy says, knowing that will fly right over her head. “I don't know how he'll fight, but right now he's gonna fight, even if it's his own daughter.” He says while standing in front of her and raising his shield.

“So...we’ll see what Dad always held back?”

Before Joy could answer, his Assistant flashed red, his vision...altered, he saw a Kingdom Hearts 2 MP and HP bar, and one for Diamond Tiara...and Zeke’s… It was exactly like the data thirteen hp bars. “Well...he's got a fuck ton of health that's for sure.” Joy says honestly.

Zeke then raised his Keyblade, and the battle began.

Zeke rushed, Joy raising to block, but Zeke fell to the ground and sweep kicked him over, got up and grabbed Joy by his arm and threw him across the field. For Tiara, he was swinging with the X-blade, but while she blocked he used his free hand and punched her in the gut, even armored, the wind was knocked out of her.

“Oi! Douche Canoe!” Joy shouted at him, dashing towards him and baseball dive kicking Zeke’s legs and getting him off balance, Joy putting his shield on the ground and shooting an ice spike towards Zeke to get him more off balance.

Zeke jumped up, but then, Joy felt time slow. Zeke’s jump up was coming back down and going to strike on his chest, but Joy saw something...new. It was green, and on the ankle of the foot Zeke was going to strike with. Joy, going on instinct, grabbed it, and then something took over as he then spun Zeke around, tossed him up into the air, and jumped up, landing a hit on his back as the two fell back to the ground. Zeke, upon landing, kneeled down. “What was that?” Tiara asked, air filling her lungs again.

“Reaction command.” Joy says. “All I needed to do is press triangle and do good things.” Joy explained with a silly smile at the in joke.

Not wasting anymore time, Joy and Tiara landed as many hits as they could on Zeke, Joy seeing his HP drop, but not by much, when he finally got free of their attacks only one bar was gone. Zeke raised his free hand as several Keyblades appeared around him and he rushed in to attack, Joy blocked but a hit landed on Tiara, and Joy saw half her HP bar drain away from it.

Joy tried to attack, but one of those Keyblades met his swing before disappearing. He tried again, same result. “Oh go fuck yourself.” Joy frowns, throwing his shield like Captain America and ice shot towards Zeke as well as the shield.

Keyblades blocked each hit, but he now had just a single floating Keyblade left. Joy dealt with the straggler personally before landing hits on Zeke again, He countered with a side step, knocking Joy into the air and then swiping him in mid air, sending him higher before teleporting like Sephiroth to repeat.

Joy summoned Lindworm and blocked the attacks and side ‘stepping’ in mid air as he slashed at Zeke, hating how he can suddenly teleport.

Using Lindworm to his best advantage, he blocked each of Zeke’s attacks, he summoned Sharpshooters to land hits, Tiara ganging up on Zeke as well from the ground. When two of his hp bars dropped, Zeke jumped off the Station of Awakening, and flew back on his Keyblade glider, aiming it’s weapon half, a bow, pointed at Joy with a Keyblade as the arrow.

Joy channeled a charged shot with Sharpshooters and fired it straight at Zeke, the shot bouncing slightly to correct it's course to hit Zeke. The pup then moved swiftly around in the air and kept firing bolts at Zeke to try and get him off his glider.

Zeke either took hits or deflected them, the deflected hits shooting right back at Joy. When half of Zeke’s hp bar went down he disbanded the glider, falling off the edge of the station of awakening, and came back on flying on Keyblades themselves like Vanetus did at the Keyblade graveyard, some shooting out as he passed by.

“Oh come on.” Joy groans and dodges the Keyblades shot at him and moving down, summoning Lindworm to help block the attacks sent at Diamond. “This is gonna take forever…”

Tiara was casting spells at Zeke, some hitting others missing. “Grr. Hmmm… Time Splicer.” She said, her body glowing with a pink aura before she teleported, landing a hit on Zeke as he froze. She then landed multiple hits before it faded, she fell back onto the station of awakening before Zeke was no longer frozen, three hp bars going down. “Well that worked.”

“It sucks cause I know nothing about these special powers.” Joy frowns. “But I'm just learning Latin and it's magical powers…” Joy says before a bladed whirlwind smacked into Zeke hard. “But were down five and a half health bars out of...eighteen or so.”

After a few hits finished off that bar, Zeke jumped back onto the Station, a Master Keeper Keyblade appeared in his other hand and he charged at the two, slashing and blocking their countering attacks.

Joy switched to Skysplitter and powered up, before punching the ground and a massive pillar of jagged earth shot up under him. Zeke was knocked up into the air...then flashed white when it took out another hp bar, he came back down, his attire red and red static pulsating on him as he ran quick, charging at Joy. “Oh motherfucker.” Joy says before swapping to Lindworm quickly and tried to defend against the charging Zeke.

Zeke dodged it all with ease before landing a combo on the pup, sending him off the edge, Joy saving himself by switching to Sharp Shooters and teleporting, taking shots from above his jump reach, taking out another HP bar. When that went down Zeke flashed again, his attire blue now and wielding one Keyblade. Keyblades appeared in links and floated just outside the station as Zeke jumped on it, sliding across them while he shot out magic projectiles from the X-blades tip.

Joy summoned his Lexicon and the book flew open. “Reflect!” Joy shouted, a green and white barrier surrounding him and Tiara, causing the magic projectiles to fly back at Zeke. “Your mage shit ain’t working here.”

As if he heard him, Zeke then shot chains of light at Joy, them wrapping around his barrier before he pulled it up off them like a box, and then, continued to fire projectiles at them. Joy blocked, and saw them reflected back and hitting one of Zeke’s Keyblade track, it vanishing when hit. Smiling, Joy switched out for Sharpshooters, hitting all of the track Zeke was using. Once they were all gone, Zeke jumped back onto the station, and Joy hit him with Skysplitter, taking out a whole hp bar at once. Another flash, and Zeke now wore yellow attire, wielding Master Keeper yet again as he slashed Joy across the battleground.

“How many phases do you have!?!” Joy shouts, skidding to a halt and summoning Lindworm. Tiara ran in, meeting Zeke in a short lived battle of clashes before Zeke slashed her, Joy saw her HP drop to zero and she vanished. “Damn it!” He shouted in rage, vanishing and stabbing down at Zeke with all his spears.

Half of his bar went, and Zeke counted with an upward strike, to which Joy pulled out a sharp shooter and offloaded a mag, taking out the rest of that bar. Zeke flashed again, this time, to something Joy didn’t expect. Zeke wore all black clothes, and had two wings made from Keyblades held together by chains of light.

“Now while that looks cool,” Joy says, recasting all his buffs on himself. “I don't think I'm gonna like it.” He frowns, readying Lindworm to defend against the oncoming attacks.

Rather than welding any Keyblades, Zeke waved his hands as they appeared and slashed at Joy, who tried to block or dodge them as best he could. Zeke got in close, and time slowed yet again for Joy as he saw the green energy appear on Zeke’s back, but didn’t reach it. Joy found himself flung and tossed onto a crucifix of Keyblades, held down by chains of light as Darkness rose up from around the floor and began attacking him. It took effort, but Joy broke free, quickly casting cure before jumping back from another attack.

“Well this sucks.” Joy mutters before summoning Fair Game. “Look who's on top of the game!” Joy says while throwing Fair Game all around the Station and disappearing. Joy then proceeded to attack from several places at once with a bunch of card clones, the cards flying and rushing at Zeke.

Zeke covered himself with his Keyblade wings, they taking the hits but his bar still dropping. When the attack ended, he slashed both hands, waves of Keyblades heading for Joy, who quickly pulled out the Lexicon, cast reflect, and let the spell deal the remaining damage to Zeke, who lost another bar. Zeke went back to looking normal in another flash, but raised a hand up as light and dark copies of him walked out of him, each carrying a Keyblade.

“Cause shit can never get easier with the final phases.” Joy sighed out, summoning Lindworm and focusing, dozens of green spears covered in Nothingness Thorns were summoned as Joy floated in the air. “Alright, let's get going.” He says while moving his hand, the spears shooting at Zeke and his clones quickly.

The clones were easily dealt with, Joy taking out his Sabers and landing hits on Zeke before he could counter. Another bar went away and Zeke vanished, appearing up high in the sky and coming back down fast. Joy went up to meet him, the two clashing blades before Joy began pushing back, taking out Skysplitter in his free hand and slamming it into Zeke. The attack made him lose a whole other bar, and he came back to the ground.

“There…” Joy mutters, checking how much more health this fucker has. A quick count revealed Zeke had twenty bars of hp, of which eleven were gone now.

He looked back over to Zeke, who grabbed the X-blade by the grips of it’s two Kingdom Keys, a small flash went down it’s middle, and Zeke pulled it apart, the X-blade split down the middle as he wielded both halves back handed.

“Oh come on~.” Joy complains, summoning Skysplitter and falling to the ground, swinging it down as hard as he could at Zeke.

Zeke struck both halves of the X-blade into the ground, the whole Station becoming covered in chains of light. When Joy slammed Skysplitter into the ground, nothing happened. He looked back up, seeing Zeke in front of him, cross slashing him.

“Shit!” Joy yelped and barely dodging the attack, seeing some strands of blue hair get cut off at how close he dodged as he jumped away and got Lindworm back out to prepare him for more of the fight.

Zeke was charging again, Joy summoning both Reunion and Memory Stealer and locked blades with Zeke, the two pushing back and forth for a break. Joy summoned a Lindworm spear in the air, and made it slash Zeke across the face. WIth that, Joy broke through, landing a strong combo that took out another bar. “Eight more to go.” He says, pressing his advantage before Zeke had room to breath.

Zeke jumped back, pulling out his Wayfinder as it began to glow. His body flashed white, and he...wasn’t there. The hp bar was the same, but there was someone else there, an older man, dressed in winter wear, wielding X, dark hair, green eyes. This new figure slashed the X-blade, and sent waves of light energy towards Joy.

Joy dodged quickly. “Oh come the fuck on, how many forms do you have?” Joy asks, throwing wind spears at the older Zeke.

Joy saw the Hp bar had a name over it, Vincent. He, with almost blinding speed, spun and blocked each thrown spear with the X-blade, then charged in fast towards Joy.

“Hold on I'm supposed to be fighting Zeke, not Vincent.” Joy frowns. “Who the hells Vincent?” He wonders, rushing forward with his spears at the ready.

Vincent was fast, countering all Joy’s attacks, and unleashed even faster attacks and combos. Joy ended up casting Reflect, letting it’s return damage take out half the bar. Vincent then cast Thunder, the electricity sent a whole new kind of pain through Joy’s body, but shook it off, casting Blizzard, which seemed to deal a lot of damage to Vincent, that spell taking out the rest of the bar and in a flash, Zeke was back.

He jumped back, pulled out his Wayfinder again, and it glowed, and in another flash, another person appeared, this one a little older than Ben, Joy figured, with brown hair and blue eyes. Joy checked the HP bar, the name was Grathon.

“And yet another new person.” Joy frowns, wondering who these people are. “Alright, let's keep going.” Joy says while rushing forward and slashing at Grathon.

Grathon glowed white, and so did the X-blade. Joy knew what was happening, and jumped back before being smacked with a Critical Mass, he then began smashing the Keyblade repeatedly into the ground, creating large areas of impact that Joy jumped to get away from.

Joy summoned energy spears and shot them at Grathons legs, thinking of knocking him off balance to stop his hammer time.

Grathon quickly spun around, Joy almost getting hit before they both jumped up and crossed blades, Grathon suddenly spinning, knocking Joy’s spears up as he delivered a strong combo on Joy, who saw his HP bar go low, and flash red. He managed to get away before Grathon could slam him, casting another cure before pulling out his Chakrams and shooting fire out of them like a vortex, the next bar going down all the way. When joy stopped, Zeke was standing there, bringing out his Wayfinder yet again, another flash, and this time, he was a...she. Young, blond, blue eyes...and crying.

She let out a scream, a loud scream that made Joy cover his ears as it was like the air itself cracked, shards like glass floating in mid air as she jumped into one. Joy barely saw the name. Raga.

“Raga?” Joy muttered, preparing himself for what new gimmick this girl had up her sleeve.

Joy was surrounded by the glass like shards, from behind Raga came out quickly and slashed him across the back before jumping back into a shard.

“Gah!” Joy shouted in pain, using his winds to try and collect all the shards so he wouldn't get back attacked again.

Joy gathered all the shards together, then summoned Skysplitter and smashed them all in one go. Raga fell out of the debre, half the bar gone. When she got back up she started crying, the X-blade floating on its own and spinning around her as she, rather slowly, walked towards Joy.

“Wait…” Joy mutters. “Am I fighting...previous X-blade wielders?” Joy asks himself, hoping backwards and slamming Skysplitter into the ground, a giant wave of jagged rocks shooting after the girl.

The attack took out the rest of the bar, and it was Zeke who came back to the ground. Again, he jumped back, pulling out his Wayfinder. Who he changed into next only confirmed Joy’s suspicion. A man, wearing a black tux, white gloves, a crooked top hat, and Lord Deaths old mask was there now, wielding X. The name now read Mors.

“Ah, so this is what Death looked like before Core did a thing…” He mutters. “That would mean the last form is Unum…” Joy mutters, his lances slashing at Mors quickly.

Mors moved as if he had no bones, then grabbed the X-blade from it’s blade half and smacked Joy around with the grip.

“Ow, you bitch.” Joy frowned, backing up a bit. “Ventus Ire!” Joy shouts, three tornadoes appearing beneath Mors in hopes it'll deal good damage to the strange combatant.

Mors raised the X-blade, spinning it fast and collecting all of the tornadoes Joy created into one large one, which he let die before a large shadow appeared behind him. He walked into it, his mask moving all the way up to the top of it, a shadowy hand raised X and swung. Joy blocked, energy sparkling all over and around the clashing blades. Joy saw another reaction command, but it held a simple phrase. Jump and guide.

Trusting the bizarre magic, Joy jumped, and his Keyblade guided X to spin around and slash Mors, who only had a few hits left on his bar as he fell out of the shadow. Joy jumped, taking his time falling to land the final hits on Mors. When the bar was gone, he reverted back to Zeke, who jumped back away from Joy immediately, and pulled out his Wayfinder, this time, the light glowing gold as this time, the light flashed over him, and out appeared Unum. Unlike the one Zeke has, this one had silver hair, and blue eyes.

She smiled, and took a pose like Riku.

“Hello.” Joy says to Unum, taking the same pose as Sora even if Lindworm was surrounding him. “Let's get this over with.” He says while charging in, Lindworm shooting out to slash or stab her to try and give Joy a chance to attack with Reunion.

Despite her rather simple movements, Joy could tell Unum was...holding something back.

“Holding something back?” Joy asks her simply.

He didn’t get a reply, what Joy got was...a simple battle...til he got her bar down to one hit left. Then, she jumped up, Joy watched as the X-blade glowed with a bright, blinding light as she gained a blue heart outline on her chest. She was suddenly behind Joy, his instincts going mad as he ducked down from her swing, he let himself fall, turned around on the ground and summoned Sharpshooter and fired a single bolt. Unum just looked at him, still smiling as she left in a flash of light, Zeke appearing back.

Zeke jumped back, and stared at Joy for a time.

“Any more tricks up your sleeve X?” Joy asks, feeling like he was fighting X more than Zeke at this point. “Or is that all?” He asks, pointing Reunion at him and ready to deal the final blow.

He raised the Wayfinder, it flashed and Joy felt...connected. Zeke now floated, Lindworm appearing around him, a Sharpshooter in one hand, Skysplitter in the other, and the rest of the weapons he and Ben use floated around Zeke, the X-blade, even Reunion, Memory Stealer, and Dusk Blade floated around him.

Joy looked at that for a moment. “Well that's just not fair at all.” Joy says simply, preparing to fight this new segment of the fight. “Has all mine and Ben's weapons...and his...shit.”

Zeke started off firing Sharpshooter, flying around quickly to get in close to land a hit with Skysplitter. Joy using his Lexicon to reflect the arrows back at Zeke he shot, and when he got in close and hit with Skysplitter, the full damage was dealt, taking out two of his three remaining bars. One left.

Zeke then pulled out the Kunai knives, throwing them at the edges of the field and flew up, Joy looked around, and was then electrocuted. The landmine like attack lasting a short while, but it dealt massive damage, Joy finding himself back at one hp. He looked up, and raised his Keyblade to block in time as Zeke now wielded Reunion, and they were in a stalemate. Zeke pressed down while Joy was keeping him up. Joy cast reflect, the attack phasing through him, and the splash back knocked out the last of Zeke’s hp.

All of Joy’s and Ben’s weapons vanished from Zeke, who now only had the X-blade as he fell over, landing face first on the ground.

Joy panted heavily, looking at Zeke face down on the ground. Before he did anything he chugged a potion so he was at least has some health before poking Zeke with Reunion. “Yo? You finally done?”

No response. Joy looked around, expecting something else...and got it. The Station of Awakening glowed white, the light covering it completely and once it was covered in light, it faded, and the Station changed. Now, it was all Kingdom Hearts, with images of the X-blades wielders, even Zeke. Joy turned around, looking at Zeke. To his surprise, the X-blade glowed white, and in a flash, turned into a blue haired, gold skinned version of Zeke with silver and white clothes. It stood up, and helped Zeke up. Zeke and the X-blade, Joy assumed, grabbed hands, and Zeke changed, in a flash, becoming a Kingdom Key D version of the X-blade.

X then looked at it for a bit, then pointed ‘Zeke’ at Joy.

“Um…” Joy starts, not sure whether that was a decoration of combat by X or something else. “What?” He asks worriedly.

X then raised ‘Zeke’ with both hands, and took a combat pose.

“Oh go fuck yourself.” Joy says while Lindworm surrounded him, grabbing Sharpshooter in one hand and readied to fight. “But if you want a fight, let's go.”

Author's Notes:

Zeke's Absent Silhouette Stats

20 hp bars (That's more than both Data 13 and the Lingering will)

Att: 78
Def: 55
Mag: 10
Level: ?

Chapter 7: Absent Silhuoutte-Part 2

“Went from one boss fight and into another...cause fuck it that makes sense.” Joy frowns, prepared for X to make his move.

Joy saw the HP bar was less than Zeke’s, by about half, and the name did read X-blade. X then raised his hand, countless Keyblades floating upright, forming a rotating wall around the Station’s edges, and Joy jumped when he saw a giant Fenrir blade sweep the floor. X was running along the walls, casting Firaga.

Joy used the wind to dissipate the fire magic, firing arrows with Sharpshooters at him to try and get him to trip or hit at least.

X blocked each shot, running along the moving wall of Keyblades as now two giant Fenrir blades swiped from above and under Joy, who was hit by the upper swinging one. Joy saw in the center of the Station, the green glow of a reaction command. He ran to it, and the image of Skysplitter was over it. Trusting the Reaction’s magic and instinct, he summoned Skysplitter, and hammered it onto the ground, a shockwave making all the Keyblades forming the wall stop, and stick out in many ways. Joy looked up, seeing X look down at him, jumping along the top of the now broken wall of Keyblades, grabbing one and throwing it into a strike raid at the pup, and repeated it.

Joy raised a hand and dozens of energy lances shot out and intercepted all the strike raids, before opening up his Lexicon. “Reality Slash!” Joy shouts, blades of energy shooting out and seeming to cut the very space around it as they rushed towards X.

X was hit, Joy seeing as a bar vanished from the single attack. In retaliation, X floated, waving his hand as the Keyblades all flew and went down off the side of the station of awakening. What came back up was a giant hand made up of the Keyblades came back up, swiping and trying to hit the pup, who used Sharpshooters to teleport away from the attacks. Shooting it only sent the bolts back at him.

Joy then saw X floating above it, waving his free hand in the way the Keyblade hand was attacking, and teleported up, only for the hand to grab him and begin to crush him. Joy summoned Lindworm, making the air move and pressurize till the hand exploded back into Keyblades. X flew in for a hit, but Joy spin dodged him, and summoned Reunion and landed a strong blow to his back, sending him falling face first to the station, another bar vanishing.

“Christ, never gonna get a break.” Joy mutters, bringing out Skysplitter and an aura surrounded him as he dived down towards X and swung Skysplitter to try and deal more damage to him before he could recover.

X rolled out of the way, jumping back up and kicking Joy in the process like Sora fighting Riku on Destiny island, then X waved a hand over Keyblade Zeke, it being covered in flames, and with each swing X shot waves of blue fire towards the pup.

Joy summoned his chakrams and spun them, igniting them before throwing one giant white hot fireball towards X as both an attack and a defense.

The two canceled out, X appearing out of the dying flames and taking a swipe at the pup, who nearly jumped back, summoning Frozen Pride and casting Blizzard, stunning him for a bit as Joy used Lindworm to land several combos, taking out two bars.

“Well at least this is going a lot faster than Zeke's, Christ did he have too much health.” Joy muttered to himself.

X then flashed, his form changing to something radiating light, and jumped up, jumping into a portal of blue light, moving over Joy, and coming back out and swiping, taking out half of Joy’s health before jumping out and swinging at the pup.

Joy blocked with Reunion quickly and brought out his Lexicon. ”First time for everything…” Joy says while his book starts glowing green and white. “Book World!” Joy shouts, pages flying around X as a book appeared behind him and tried to capture him into the book world.

X vanished, appearing behind the book and closing it, tossing it to the ground and it dispersing in a puff of pages and nothingness. As X came in for an attack, Joy used his Lexicon and cast Reflect, X’s attack failing and the splashback taking out a bar. X then got back on his feet, in a flash, changed to a pure white body, wielding two Kingdom Key’s now.

“Why can't I have cool forms?” Joy huffs. “Or at least figure out how to get that sweet armor and greatsword keyblade, that was awesome.” Joy says to himself, knowing X was just a silent fighter and nothing else. He rolled his shoulders and hearing them crack as he readied to fight the new form.

X was fast now, that or Teleporting as he kept appearing in front of Joy and landing a single hit before teleporting away. Whenever Joy got close he teleported again and behind Joy to land a hit.

Joy cast Cure real quick to keep himself up. “Okay, if you want poke.” Joy says while his Lexicon opened and a green aura surrounded him. “Armor of Thorns.” He says, his body looking no different even though the green outline surrounded him before he rushed after X, swinging Reunion at X, hoping the trend will keep up and cause X more harm with his poke than anything.

X teleported again, but when he swung Joy’s spell took effect, and X was harmed, his form dispersing and his normal form appeared. Joy then took in several hits, draining another bar before X jumped away, this time, a DTD opened under him. He sank down, and jumped back up in an Anti form, still wielding Keyblade Zeke.

“Ugh~” Joy groaned and healing himself again, bringing out an ether and using it on himself to keep his mana up. “This sucks, why is there so many fucking forms? Even super bosses don't have this much shit.” Joy says while readying himself for what's to come next.

X then ran quick, spin kicking Joy and thrusting Zeke into a rapier like motion, then speeding behind Joy and landing three hits that sent him down the ground.

“Fuck…” Joy muttered before summoning Graceful Dahlia and vanishing, appearing in the middle before spinning his scythe and slamming the handle into the ground, three giant orbs covered the ground and rose petals shot out towards X. “This sucks.” Joy mutters, casting cure on himself again.

The attack seemed to do the trick as X lost another bar and reverted back to his normal form. He then looked at Joy for a time, before phasing through Joy. When he turned around, Joy was facing an ethereal copy of himself, wielding both Reunion and Memory Stealer while X had Memory Stealer, Reunion, and Dusk Blade floating around him. Joy saw his copy only had a single small hp bar.

Joy groaned. “Go fuck yourself... “ He then brought out Skysplitter and rammed it into the ground, pillars of jagged earth rushing out all around him in a shock wave going from him to the end of the arena.

Joy’s attack left one hit on his copy, X spun slashed Joy. When he caught himself, he dealt the final strike on the copy, then rushed up, a Reaction command appeared and Joy took it.

He and X were now across from one another, the two charged, and clashed blades as X flung Joy into the air, Joy used Lindworm to catch himself, then sent a wave of sharp wind and spears to X. X fell, and let go of Zeke, who Joy grabbed, and dealt a string of Combos till there was one hit left.

X then vanished, appearing height above the battleground. He snapped his fingers, and Kingdom Hearts appeared behind him as his body glowed with a blue aura as he came back down. Joy hit him, but it bounced off his body like as if Joy hit a wall. Chains of light grew out of X’s back, and wrapped around Joy, tightly. X then raised Zeke and swung, Joy making himself fall over to dodge.

“Damn it.” Joy growled, Nothingness Thorns snaking around the chains and forcing them off Joy enough for him to escape his bindings. “Has to be some weakness…” Joy mutters, summoning his chakrams and throwing a wave of fire at X.

They bounced off, Sharpshooters, reflected, Lindworm, nothing. X just walked towards Joy while he offloaded whatever he had.

“Damn it.” Joy growled, trying to think of a way to hurt him. “There has to be...wait…” Joy mutters before opening his Lexicon. “Maximize Magic: True Dark!” Joy shouts, before a circle appeared under X and a massive column of pure darkness erupted in an attempt to hurt him with his natural weakness.

X was covered in the darkness, then, there was a flash, the darkness turning to...doves, Joy saw, all flying away while X stood there unfazed. He then continued his walk towards Joy.

“Go to hell.” Joy frowned, summoning Reunion. “Alright...let's hope this works.” He says while the keyblade started to radiate Nothingness, the pup swinging and Nothingness was shot towards X, hoping that would hurt him at least.

X sidestepped the attack, appearing behind Joy, and lifting him up, and over the edge. Joy held onto X’s wrist, and dragged him with him over the edge into the darkness. Joy then jabbed Reunion into the side of the Station of Awakening and dropped X, who fell into the darkness below.

“If it's anything like Eve it'll come right back up.” Joy says while getting back on the Station so he didn't plummet into the vast darkness.

When Joy got back up to the Station, he saw X was back into looking like a keyblade, he and Zeke, who was still a Keyblade, rested embedded into the Stations floor.

“Okay, phase three to this bullshit fight.” Joy frowns, wondering if he has to activate it by grabbing the Keyblades or someone appears out of nowhere to use them.

The whole Station was engulfed in light, and it spread out far past the edges. Joy found himself in a dirt clearing, outside this clearing was grass, and trees, tall trees as far as the eye could see. Above him, Kingdom Hearts, which began fading into a mist, and between the X-blade and Zeke in his Keyblade form, posed in a kneeled pose was a blonde/blue haired male. He wore simple cloth clothing, was barefoot, and looked young, younger than Joy did. “Hi.” He said, standing up.

“Hi.” Joy says. “How you doing?” He asks simply.

“Good, you’ve come far. I’m impressed. Tell me, do you know who I am?”

“Your not X, and your not Zeke, I want to say your some physical manifestation of Kingdom Hearts itself but I doubt that cause of...some reasons.” He says, feeling nervous about mentioning Eve.

“No, I am. I’m Kingdom Hearts. It’s nice to talk to a wielder of my Keyblades. Been so long since any of you talked with me.”

”It's a tad hard with everything these guys deal with.” Someone said causing Joy to yelp.

“Ben?” Joy asks, looking around and finding Reunion floating there.

”Nah, just me. Albeit I would sound like him given I have a piece of his heart in me.” Reunion says.

“Around me, you can hear your Keyblades speak. Like Zeke does. It’s strange, but nice.” Kingdom Hearts informed.

“Well...X was right with how you sounded like Ben.” Joy says to Reunion simply.

”Eh, either way. But hey, I think someone also needs to speak.” Reunion says. ”Come on out Memory, no need to be shy.” Reunion says, Memory Stealer floating up as well.

”Hello.” Memory Stealer says, the keyblades voice seeming to...shift between voices Joy knew. ”How are you doing father?” Memory asked him, her words sounding like everyone's voices were changing every time it said a word.

“Doing good. I just float up in the sky.”

“Why do you sound like everyone?” Joy asks Memory.

”My power is to take away people's memories, so I use my wielders memories to give myself a voice.” They explain.

“Ah.” The pup nodded. “So...do we have anything to talk about before the third phase of this very long boss fight?” He asks curiously.

”Oh there are tons, like how you and Ben need to calm down on fucking.” Reunion told Joy, causing him to blush brightly. ”But I think an important thing is…’she’ is out and about again dad.” Reunion says to Kingdom Hearts, not speaking her name for obvious reasons.

“I know...I know.” Kingdom Hearts sighed.

“That raises a question though…” Joy says, looking over Kingdom Hearts and his kid like form. “I suppose they are all supposed to be your antithesis? Even down to the fact you all look like children?” Joy asks curiously.

“About.” Kingdom Hearts nods.

“And you couldn't have given them a straight answer about who they are...why?” Joy asks simply.

He sighed. “It’s...hard to tell. Back when not even Void existed, I had a thought. I thought...what would this place look like if it was...different. It was then that I discovered I had...abilities. In order to give form to something, you have to see it, and for a long time I was molding blind, so, I created light, and saw my creation. A world, a planet, the first ever, and I called it Home. When exploring my creation, I found these things, little orbs of darkness. The Embodiments. What I felt from them created fear, dread, misery, and other emotions I never felt before...but I knew, they were young, I could feel that, they were like me. New to everything around them. I wanted them to learn to create like I did, but they had no intelligence. I created hearts, souls, bodies, aging, time, the sun, everything. Finally, it was ready for life, the first life, children. I made many types of children, some like your families, some human, others of all kinds of races. I poured magic into Home, to make it an adventure for them, and finally, placed the Children down, and in thirteen bodies, I placed the darkness in, so they could have intelligence. I wanted them to learn sooner...but then I saw just how different they became, how...scared, they made others.

“When they begged me to kill them I...couldn’t. I knew they had a purpose, a reason they existed, so...I said no, each time. Then I received wishes from the others for a way to protect themselves from the darkness...if I had said no to them, time showed me a future where nothing was alive anymore, so, I created Keyblades, taught them to make them, and finally, they made me the X-blade. A Keyblade can harm them, but not kill them...not alone, it’s the heart of it’s Wielder that can kill them. I think a lot, think it was a mistake to give that early darkness intelligence. There was just something about it that...I trusted, I felt close to.”

“Opposites attract.” Joy says. “I heard Eve’s side of the story...and honestly...it really does sound like this all could have stopped...if you helped them learn about who they are, instead of telling them no. They trusted and believed in you, and all you needed to do...was show them help, not through death, but understanding and love.” Joy explains. “But...you probably already know that cause being an ageless being gives you a lot of time on your hands.”

“I know...I know...But the past can’t be changed.” Kingdom Hearts said, grabbing both the X-blade and Zeke, their Keychains extending and wrapping around his chest, locking themselves to him. “I can only hope the future moves on. Now then, come one Joy, let’s finish this, you’ll get out of here, and your rewards.”

“And of course…” Joy sighs out, Memory disappearing while grabbing Reunion. “Ready to beat up your dad?”

”This is gonna hurt.” Reunion muttered, knowing full well how strong his father was.

“Okay...so how many phases do you have specifically? Cause good lord the two other parts had like, ten or something.”

“I’m your last opponent, and don’t worry, I don’t have much.” He said, Joy looking at his HP bar… there was only one hit on it. “I won’t make it easy though.”

“One hit point huh? Well this is gonna be a bitch and a half.” Joy frowns, Lindworm circling around him. “Final Round.” Joy says, readying himself for combat.

Kingdom Hearts chuckled. “Fight.” He said, waving both his weapons towards Joy, who was suddenly assaulted with Keyblades, orbs of light, beams of light, and miscellaneous debris that flew towards him.

“Ouranos.” Joy says, the wind around them suddenly rushing around him and destroying the debris and blocking all of his attacks, the pup using the winds to move swiftly towards the child ready to get up close and personal.

Kingdom Hearts vanished, then appearing on the other side of the battlefield. “Sorry, but I always wanted to try this.” He said, a dark glow appearing around him. “Heartless Angel.” With that said, A small sygile appeared over Joy, followed by great pain, his HP bar down to one hit and his MP empty. He then looked up at Kingdom Hearts, who raised his hands as pillars of flames spawned around him, drawing Joy in.

“Oh you cheeky fuck!” Joy laughed while running away from the pillars of fire, chugging a potion and popping an ether to help get his health and mana back. “This is your fight, not a Sephiroth fight even though the reference is welcome.”

“Every move that exists in battle, I have seen, and learned.” He said, nothingness thorns appeared and he was spamming Reversal towards Joy, then whacked him into them. “Had lots of practice too.” He laughed.

“You are having way too much fun.” Joy says before summoning Skysplitter and thrusting it into the air, his aura flaring up as he pushed Kingdom Hearts away from him. “Sorry if I destroy your world.” He says.

“Stopga!” Kingdom Hearts cast, Joy frozen where he stood. Kingdom Hearts chuckled, walking behind Joy, and pulling his underwear up and over his head and jumping away before the spell wore off.

Joy broke the spell and got his underwear off his head. “Seriously dude!? A fucking wedgie?” He asks with a frown.

Kingdom Hearts just chuckled. “Balloonga-Tornado!” He shouted, magic balloons, massive magic balloons shot out in a swirling tornado.

Joy leaped back high into the air. “Meteor Crash!” Joy shouts before using Skysplitters special attack, diving into the ground before Skysplitter dug into the ground, creating massive pillars of earth that rushed in all directions attacking KH, before he took a step back and ripped Skysplitter from the ground and more waves of jagged earth rushed after the child.

Kingdom Hearts dodged aad jumped around the shooting earth like he was playing dodgeball. He then jabbed both his X-blades into the ground when it was over. “Home’s Rebirth!” He said, chains of light breaking apart the ground entirely, images of every world in the skys floated by as Joy was balancing himself on a chain linking an image of Radiant Garden and Agrabah.

“Whoa jesus.” Joy says worriedly. “The hell did you do?”

“This is what I wanted the X-blade for.” He said, standing on the chain across from Joy with ease. “I didn’t accept it because it was made to protect me, I accepted X because it could use my power. The chains of light, I taught this spell to five special Keyblades, and only those five can use them, when paired with X, and special wielders, they can bring all the world back into one. They can bring EVERYONE back to Home.”

“Let me guess...you need either Kingdom Key, Way to the Dawn, Master Keeper, No Name, or...I suppose Kingdom Key D or something?”

“Kingdom Key, the Keyblades in their original, true form, Way to the Dawn, darkness and light working together, No name, controle over time, Master Keeper, controle over the fabric of space itself, and the X-blade, to access me for the power to properly fuel it, but it comes at a price.”

“But there's four Keyblades with X-blade...but what about the fifth? Do you just need a copy or something?”

“X is the fifth Keyblade. Silly.” Kingdom Hearts said, charging in as Joy brought up his to block. “Just remember, for bringing Home back, there is a price to such an act.”

“Sacrificing your entire being? Becoming the new X-blade? What?” Joy asks curiously.

“It will drain me, and I will sleep within Home, for how long, I don’t know. X will be destroyed, as will the four others, all their reflections will...and their wielders...will die.”

“That's stupid.” Joy frowns. “Like...I know you are literally binding two worlds together but that's still...just a bad use of time, energy, and lives. And...sadly Home...won't entirely be whole...cause Psychopaths are a thing that exist.” He frowned, glad to be staying balanced on the chain right now.

“It doesn’t just bind two worlds Joy, it binds them all, across every reflection in this realm, all realities, linking and locking all worlds we see as stars, and brings them back into one, as they were originally, undoing all of what Core did all those years ago. The Psychopaths are a threat that will be dealt with, in time, but for now, this is why I accepted X. This is what needs to be done, otherwise, Home can never be brought back.”

“But why at the cost of shattering Keyblades and killing people? Isn't that a tad...out of nowhere? Killing the wielder of X-blade and destroying X is obvious cause...well it's obviously an act that takes so much power...but killing everyone else to do it? Why though?”

“Joy, All of my power will course through them all. It would be like using a paper flame thrower, wielder and weapon will burn out from it.”

“Well...there has to be another way...that doesn't involve Cript cause he has enough problems as is.” Joy shrugs. “I mean...if Master of Masters figured out...all that, he probably figured out a way to bind the world's back together to make Home.”

“Who knows, maybe. If he can put aside his hate of the X-blade, maybe. Now then, let’s end it.” Kingdom Hearts said, rushing in at Joy.

“It was more fear than anything.” He says while rushing forward, Lindworm and Reunion at the ready to defend and attack.

Joy saw a reaction command, and it Read, End It. Trusting the magic, Joy went in, he and Kingdom Hearts clashed, energy sparking in all directions. Finally, Joy broke through, and slashed through Kingdom Hearts. The environment turned dark, Joy was alone in the darkness now, looking around.

“Maybe that wasn’t a good idea.” Joy says worriedly. “Hello?” He called out worriedly.

Joy heard...footsteps. He turned around, and saw something...funny. A small Mushroom Heartless, dressed like an Organization thirteen member running towards him...and then tripped and slid the rest of the way towards him.

“Uh...hello?” Joy asks, always found the Mushroom heartless silly and adorable considering how they acted and looked.

The Mushroom heartless got back up, gave Joy a fast clap of applause and then jumped, thirteen chests appeared behind it before it jumped and vanished in a puff of darkness, leaving behind a keychain on the ground. It was a blue heart, with a Keyhole in the center.

Joy took the keychain and bringing out Reunion, switching it's keychain for the new one to see what it was.

What appeared was a Keyblade with Kingdom Hearts as the hand guard, a hollow center for the grip, it’s blade hearts with faint images of the past X-blade wielders, Zeke at the top, and a mini version of the X-blade itself as the tip.

Joy decided to scan it with his Assistant wondering what this special keyblade was.

Hearts Guardians.

A Keyblade linked to the past Wielder of the X-blade, it’s power is there power, and now, is yours.

You can learn and perform all of their special powers wielding this weapon.

Att: 12

Mag: 10

Def: 9

“Hmm…” Joy hums. “You know...let's use a different keyblade for right now.” He says while putting Reunion’s keychain in his pocket and walking up to the treasure chests. “Do I get all of them or just one?” Joy wonders, not sure if it's a pick one thing.

Joy taped the first chest, what floated out was a red orb. Joy grabbed it, and his Assistant flashed.

Learned Valor Form.

Gained rank one Drive Gauge

“Sweet.” He smiled, going for the other chests since they didn't seem to vanish immediatly.

The second he opened, at first, seemed to have nothing, till his assistant flashed again.

Gained 40,000 EXP

Leveled up four times.
Learned Firestorm
Learned Time Splicer
Learned Diamond Dust
Learned Balloonga

500,000 munny earned.

“Wonder if Ben has all the Command Styles given how much he's trained.” Joy wonders while going to the third and opening it.

The third held fifteen Mega-potions.

The fourth held Ten Ethers.

The fifth held twenty drive recovery orbs.

The sixth was empty, but his assistant flashed.

Learned Drive Recovery. Recover Drive Gauge when MP bar is charging/when attacked.

“Cool.” Joy nodded, needing to look through his abilities to see what he has learned before going to the seventh and onward.

The Seventh held a small charm. It had a ukulele on it. His assistant beeped.

Summon charm added, summon Stitch in combat when needed.

Stitch has been placed in your home.

“Wonder if Luxu ever gave Stitch his Ukulele back?” Joy wonders while going to the next,

The eighth chest held fifteen platinum bits.

The ninth held a spellbook.

The tenth held a… Keyblade armor sleeve. Joy put it on, and pressed the button, his armor looking something akin to the No heart battle in birth by sleep, but smaller, thinner, and not as flashy.

“Works for me.” Joy says with a smile. “I'm keeping that that's for sure.” He smiles while disengaging the armor and checking the last three chests.

The eleventh held ten of EVERY synthesis item Joy knew, and others he didn’t.

The twelfth held a book...Titled Winnie the Pooh.

“You helped Ben through some troubled times.” Joy mutters with a little smile, hugging the book gently before going for the last chest.

The last chest flashed with a bright light, blinding Joy, and when he opened his eyes...he wasn’t home, he wasn’t where the Absent Silhouette was, he was shorter, in a forest...and not in control of his body.

“Huh...Where am I?” Spoke a voice from his body, a voice that wasn’t his.

”What the?” He asked himself, his body moving and finding a pond, who he saw looking back surprised him. Eve...but she appeared human.

“Is that...me?” Eve asked, Joy realized he was watching her memories from her perspective. “I look...funny.”

Author's Notes:

Yup, some backstory to the Embodiments. Also, if any of you would be so kind, I would like to see some art, doesn't have to be good, some art would be nice.

Chapter 8: The Past of Darkness

Eve, that was the only thing the girl new. That was her name. She didn’t know how, but she knew her name, and that was about it. “Where am I?” She asked herself, wandering the forest around her.

Forrest noises found their way to her ears. Birds, wind blowing through the treetops, it was relaxing. Calming. It was a peaceful beginning. She looked into the water, seeing fish swim about. Eve laid down next to the water, just watching the fish. Time passed like nothing as she just enjoyed watching the simple creatures swim about.

A simple start for a simple beginning to everything. A world of wonder, journey, and discovery ahead, and to start it off, the one who would become the source of all darkness, laid happily in the daylight of the world in its infancy, watching fish swim in a pond.

Months passed, Eve found other children, and with their fathers aid, Kingdom Hearts, learned to build homes, tools, farm, and hunt.

Eve was a gifted huntress. She always brought home to her village meat for eating, furs for keeping warm, and new plants to farm. These actions felt natural to her, she had no explanation as to how, or why, but it...felt right.

She stood kneeled in the bushes, bow drawn, waiting. All her surroundings, the littlest noise reached her ears, waiting for the next kill. It seemed with any weapon Eve picked up she learned and mastered with a fast pace. Bow’s, mace, lance, spear, shield, and swords. Swords especially treated her well, she made them dance in her hands.

Slowly, from her field of view between the leaves, came in a stag, looking around at the grass, looking for what seemed good. Eve waited, waiting for the stag to come right into place. Finally, it was in place, and she let go, the arrow flying out and striking the deer in the heart, hunting was her sport. No one matched her.

“Another meal for the town. If I wasn’t alone this time I’d try for another.” Eve said to herself, giddy at the materials this kill will bring in.

Well...this is something. Joy hums to himself, continuing to be the passenger on the Eve backstory train. Glad to learn her backstory...so I can get to understanding her more. He tells himself, knowing no one could hear him given this was a flashback.

Eve brought the kill back to her village, it was small, homes built from stone and wood. Farms were growing, animals were in carrals, and there were only...kids. “Hey, Eve brought home another one!” Someone called out, the whole village running to help Eve bring in the hunt.

“Heh, thanks guys. Thing is freaking heavy.” Eve said, stretching.

“How you always land a perfect kill, I’ll never know.” Said a boy with silver hair, brown eyes, dressed in all blue.

“Heh, thanks Sid.”

“You know that’s not my whole name, it’s YEN Sid, not just ‘Sid’ Eve.”

Oh my mother of god, Yen Sid as a kid...never thought I'd see the day. Joy says to himself. Maybe I should go to his tower...talk about some things...oh wait we completely forgot about Mickey as he was looking for Terra Aqua and Ventus shit!” Joy frowns, not believing they forgot about the mouse for this damned long.

“Yeah, yeah. So, how goes your magic mumbo jumbo?”

“Sorcery, and...slow.”

“How come?”

“I hate reading…”

“Hey, if Kingdom Hearts says you are to learn it, who are you to say no?”

“I know, I know. He said it would take time, but this is taking forever…” Yen Sid groaned.

“Baby.”

Oh my god this is hilarious! Joy laughs, seeing the young Yen Sid complain about reading and acting...well like a child. Wonder what would happen if I bring this up to the old version of him? That's...probably not a good thing but it's good to have some fun.

Days turned to years...years to decades. In that time, Eve never aged, never changed. She traveled, and found others like her, Joy recognized as the other Embodiments. They stuck together, creating a family, and while the world and the people changed, they didn’t. “This sucks…” One of the Embodiments spoke, one they knew as Pride. “Every day all we do is go into town, steal what we need, then run back to the hideout.”

“What else can we do?” Eve asked, carving a piece of scrap wood.

Ask Kingdom Hearts for help. Joy tells himself sarcastically, knowing that's going to be the next thing. Or maybe you could have used magic to make yourself look older cause that was an actual smart move.

“Maybe...we can talk with father again?” They all turned to look at the smallest of them all, his hair a mess, wearing overalls, and no shirt or shoes.

“He rarely talks back Igy.” Eve replied. “But...what other choices do we have?’”

The Embodiments all stood atop a hill, Kingdom Hearts sitting in the night sky. “Father, why? Why aren’t we aging? Why aren’t we like everybody else?!” Eve shouted to the moon.

”That is...hard to explain Eve.” The moon replied.

“Tell us!”

”I can’t tell you...but...I can show you.” A light shined over the Embodiments...and they began changing. Their skin eroding off, decaying, dark ooze bleeding from their skin, their eyes becoming glowing, yellow orbs or faintly glowing light.

Well...that's a thing... Joy mutters worriedly.

”You are...my opposite, I am light… you thirteen are Darkness. I can’t explain to you what you are...because I didn’t make you...I found you.”

Eve and them all looked at what they were in horror, Joy felt the fear in them, it was worse than what he felt when he was Rejection. “Kill us…” Eve mumbled. “KILL US!”

”I...Can’t.”

“DAMN YOU FATHER KILL US NOW!!!!”

”I won’t! I...can’t.”

Ever since they changed, the Embodiments began running, running form the towns they knew, the people they knew. Everyone who saw them, wanted them dead. Then, they saw Kingdom Hearts give mankind Keyblades. Weapons...to kill them.

Joy felt their emotions, their betrayal, their anger. It was this anger that let them create the first Purebloods, Shadows, Neoshadows, Darksides, and something Joy hasn't seen before. They were humanoid, chrome skin with black hair, and pulsating white eyes. They attacked, but were never to kill, they were just to distract humanity so Eve and her kin could hide away, hide away in a place out of the lights reach, a place they forged, where the only light from their former home was a moonlit beach.

“What are we gonna do? Sooner or later, they will find us…”

“They’ve treated us like monsters...we created them, to satisfy their fears...and now, they made that damned Keyblade, for father…” Eve said, her words dripping venom. “Unum is strong...it’s them or us now…”

“You mean…?”

“Yes. Rage, draw power from us...and end her...painfully. Send those Light loving bastards a lesson.”

One of the Embodiments nodded, vanishing.

“This...will be the first time we ever killed anyone…” The one Joy remembered was called Igy, said.

Well...this is all sorts of fucked... Joy muttered to himself. So that's who killed Unum...and then caused all this to go into motion... The pup muttered. All of this...could have been so easily stopped.

“It’s time Igy...we...can’t keep this act up… they want us to be monsters...so let’s give them demons.” Eve said, vanishing and appearing outside...a tall, framilier tower.

Yen Sids tower? I mean...they were friends. Joy said to himself. I hope this doesn't end poorly…

She walked up the steps, and entered Yen Sid’s chamber, there, sitting at his desk, was the old man Joy knew all too well. “Greetings Eve, long time no see.”

“Hey Sid.”

He laughed. “All these years...and you still call me that, old friend.”

“Heh...old habits…”

“Hm, judging from your expression, you finally let go, didn’t you?”

“...Unum should be dead by now…”

“Core will be out for blood.”

“I know…” Eve sighed, tears trickling down. “Why did he have to love her?!”

“Hearts can never be understood, neither can love. You and I know that better than anyone.”

God... Joy muttered sadly. No one deserved any of this...if Eve and the others just...found help from others sooner... He trails off, not sure if they could have been helped given what they are.

“I know…” Eve said, darkness coating her body, and faded away, revealing her in an older, adult body, but her skin was still ash grey. “First we lost Hollow...Now…”

“If you don’t do something soon Eve, we will lose two sons, you have to find him, and spare him in some way.” Yen Sid said.

Wait WHAT!?! Joy barks in surprise. Eve is God, Core and Hollows mother!?!

“I know...I know...I wish I could have been there for my boys…”

“At least Core won’t be without a descendant.” Yen Sid said, Eve looking up and seeing a baby carriage in the corner of the room. She got up and looked, seeing a baby in there. “Wh...when?”

“Unum didn’t want Core to know, you know how protective he is of her, a child, he’d retire from the guard.” Yen Sid chuckled. “She delivered him to me a month ago, and with everything going on, God and I are discussing where to raise him, and we settled on the realm he created within himself.”

“That...would be safest…” Eve said, looking at the sleeping infant. “What’s his name?”

“Unum named him Adam, but for his safety, we are renaming him Nicolas Ventral.”

“Ventral...isn’t that the name we used to call-”

“The Valley where I proposed, yes. Now, sadly, they call it The Pride Lands. I prefer the old name.”

Are you fucking kidding me!?! Joy shouts, not believing this info dump at all. Zeke’s related to Eve, Yen Sid, Unum and Core? Wait...doesn't that mean he's committing incest with his god knows how many great grandmother? Joy wonders. This is gonna piss off Core, Yen Sid, and Eve so fucking hard...and confuse both Zeke and Unum so hard.

“Oh...I wonder what kind of life he will live?”

“He is Core and Unum’s child. He will be amazing. I can only imagine if he is to ever pick up a sword, he will be a gifted fighter.”

“For generations I bet.”

Kick a guy in the dick while he's down why don't ya? Joy groans, not believing their correct but in the worst way possible. And technically he was an amazing healer...until Psychopath blood happened…

“So, will this be the last time I will be seeing you?”

“...sadly.”

“I feared as much…”

Eve walked up to Yen Sid, giving him a kiss and placing a small gold ring in his hands. “You were always the light in my life.”

“As were you. I just wish...the kids could have known you, the you I always knew.”

“Maybe one day...in another life.” Eve said, vanishing, leaving Yen Sid alone.

Joy opened his eyes, finding himself in...Yen Sid’s tower. “So,” Joy turned around, seeing the wizard in question walk up from another room. “You beat my little creation. I am impressed.” He said, taking a seat as his desk.

“I have so many questions for you Yen Sid.” Joy says to Yen Sid. “Or should I call you Disney cause that's your name backwards...or should I tell you Eve is out and about again?”

“I am fully aware of her return...And, of what you have learned. I must admit, part of me is relived, the other...fearful.” The old man said solemnly.

“You mean besides the fact your grandson helped spawn generations of Psychopath hosts on accident or because Zeke is married, plowing, and had kids with your daughter in law technically?” Joy asks the old man.

“The Unum Zeke is with, is a clone God made, an attempt to get Core to come back to us...what he did, we didn’t expect. There is no blood between them. What happened to Adam...we could never have predicted.”

“I suppose Eve heard about that?” Joy asks, trying to ignore the Nobodies talking about that massively powerful nobody somewhere.

“No. At that time Core’s heart was binding her to him, something she could have broken easily, but didn’t. For that was the closest she had even gotten to hugging her child, or rather, her child hugging her. She found comfort in it, and stayed, till Twilight pulled her away.”

“Core is nothing but a heart...I have literally no idea where God is...and Hollow is probably helping my friend in the Void.” Joy says.

“God is in hiding, trying his best to save what is left of the realm he created within himself. Sadly though, he is failing. So much has spilled out into the reflections, he won’t hold them in or last much longer…”

“Well sounds like he needs help...and what do you think of Core and Hollow?” Joy asks.

“I am glad to hear Hollow is alive and well, and that Core’s heart is back. That, is who Core truly is.”

“Ah.” Joy nodded. “So...about you being young and not liking reading a whole bunch.” Joy says with a little grin, still finding that part hilarious.

Yen Sid merely laughed. “I was young, no matter the generation, the young will dislike what is hard at first. I got better over the years, even to this day, there is much I am still learning.”

“‘The young will dislike what is hard at first’...is that what Eve said the first time you two did it?” Joy asks with a shit eating grin.

Yen Sid burst out in laughter. Several tears falling from it. “Heh, I walked right into that one, didn’t I?” Yen Sid said, wiping the tears away. “Well then, I must say, this has been pleasant. Here, I would like you to have this.” Yen Sid said, handing Joy a Blue Wayfinder, with small stars and a moon on each of the points. “I feel it is time you received one.”

“Ben got Cores...and now I got yours? Huh...nifty.” Joy smiles gently and taking the Wayfinder gently. “By the by, has Mickey ever dropped by here asking if you knew anything about Terra Aqua and Ventus?”

“For now, my pupil is attending to his kingdom. He is a king, after all.”

“Ah, makes sense.” Joy nodded. “Sorry it's just...my brother said he told Mickey some vague information on those three...little did we know we got the three together again...and Luxu...and then things kept piling on from there.” Joy sighs out. “Ever hate that domino effect of learning one thing then a bunch more crap just pops up for you to learn, or have knowledge or person just tag along cause fuck it?”

“Heh, been there, done that, it’s why I live in isolation nowadays. So then, what part of your Destiny are you considering?” He asked, confusing the pup.

“What part of my destiny am I considering? That's...vague as hell. But I...don't know really. Honestly at the moment I'm trying to figure out how to be a good father and be a hero…” He sighs out. “So what about Destiny should I know about? Besides it being a load of crap half the time?”

“As you know, Ben is destined to become the King of the Realm of Nothing, you, you must take up a place in the castle. For only the king can wield all the weapons. When he takes the crown, you can only keep one of them you choose to fulfil its role. The Chakrams, the Warrior, the Knives, the Elf, the Claymore, the Moon’s Knight, the Lexicon, the Mage. Need I go one?”

“Can I still keep my keyblade though?” Joy asks. “Also...maybe me and Ben should have figured more stuff about this whole King of Nothingness thing...cause we are basically clueless about it over all.”

“Yes. Keyblade’s choose their masters, they will not leave you, but only one of the Weapons of Nothing will stay with you, the one that you choose, and chooses you.”

“Well...that’s neat to know in a vague as hell way.” Joy frowns. “Ben has seven more weapons to master and we are clueless about Nothingness...so as you can see we're doing great jobs.” Joy says sarcastically.

“To find a weapon, the one you choose, and chooses you, call to it, as you would call to your Keyblade in battle. What comes, will be yours to master, but not to surpass the king.”

Joy nodded. “Right.” Joy said before doing what he was just told and focused on the weapon. As he thought about a weapon he would choose he immediately thought of Lindworm out of force of habit considering he always summoned it first before his Keyblade. “Maybe…?” Joy mutters while summoning Lindworm, gently taking one of the lances and focused, wondering if this was his weapon.

“The Spear, the King's Bodyguard. Why am I not surprised.” Yen Sid laughed. “This is the task I give to you Joy, find those who are meant to be the owners of the remaining Weapons, and when the time comes, serve your king.”

“First I'm reincarnated as Ben's emotion of Joy...then I become his adorable little brother...now I have to keep him safe and find people to also help?” Joy chuckles. “Well...wouldn't want him to get too carried away.” Joy nodded. “And I find it ironic that most of Ben's masters are gonna be with him...just wonder what they'll think when they have to call him King?” He wonders before seeing Lindworm glow. “The hell?” Joy wondered, seeing the six spears shifted, the once simple looking lances it seemed to look more...draconic in a sense. The six spears seemed to turn into dragon lances, lines of green and grey energy gently pulsed in the lances, and even if the weapons grew bigger Joy could tell he could wield the weapons just as easily as before. “Huh...cool.” He says with a smile. “Dragon lances...feels as light and fluid as the old ones, but stronger and more...draconic.”

“You are their owner, till death. Now then, go along, and find who is to wield the rest of them, before Ben takes the crown.”

“So off to Equestria and my own separate adventures I go.” Joy says, disbanding Lindworm and summoning his Keyblade. “Still like the design of this keyblade, it having all the previous X-blade wielders on it fits.” Joy says with a smile.

“Yes, my finest work I must admit. I rather enjoyed crafting it. Wielding it allows you to D-link with the past wielders. Not like how the Absent Silhouette did, but their power can be yours when needed.”

“Cool.” He nods. “Hearts Guardian...it's gonna be nice to wield and be friends with.” Joy says. “But...don't be surprised if Eve comes here after I leave...but...should I tell anyone about the stuff I learned today?”

“That is for you to decide. I can ask you not too, but the choice is yours in the end.”

“Well Ben's going to know at least since we're mentally connected.“ Joy shrugs. “But…is there anyway I can help Eve and the other Embodiments not trying to kill all life as we know it?” Joy asks. “You know...in a none life taking way?”

“In my lifetime, I have learned only this, The Embodiments, they are not solely beings, it is a title, or job, obtained only through the darkness within them, the first Darkness. It can be passed to another, but only if both parties are willing. No one I have met would take that, nore would Eve give that curse to any other. If you find a way...please, tell me. It would be nice to finally grow old with her. The reason I am even alive still, is because I swore, I would not die until she dies.”

“I...think I can find a special crystal to hold onto her curse...one thing about being the son of Cript is that you get a lot of chances to do the impossible.” Joy says with a nod. “It’s been nice talking with you Mr. Disney.” Joy says. “But...know where God is? I'd like to start my adventures with saving your son.”

Yen Sid shook his head. “All I know is the last place he ever called home, a world called, Farlands. A rather strange place where magic and science seems to share the same road.”

“Ah…” Joy nodded before checking his Assistant for where the Farlands are before just opening a DTL blindly.

After getting some coordinates, Joy nodded, heading off to find God, and hopefully, save him.

Chapter 9: Vanitas's Own.

It's been about a month since he and the others got the report from that pegasus guard about what happened while they were on patrol. Vanitas was looking from the border of Everfree Village in the direction of where it happened. Tirek. He attacked the three guards and only one was able to get away. The other two are most likely dead knowing him, but that wasn't the only thing on his mind. The guards also found an orb in that direction before Tirek jumped them. He had a feeling about what it was. An Absent Silhouette. Unlike Lingering Wills, they can be anything from strong to weak, and are just a cosmic and magical imprint of something no longer existing. Vanitas went out to see for himself.

When he reached the area he saw the two other patrols bodies, long decayed with obvious signs of being nawed on my whatever animals were around. Their necks were twisted and mangled, a clear indication as to how they died. Behind them is where Vanitas saw it, the Absent Silhouette. It radiated power, darkness, and light.

He was surprised by both of them being there. From how they were balanced he figured who's Silhouette this was. Zeke's. He didn't know anyone else with a balanced heart and after what happened to him he wasn't surprised. That also means this thing was very powerful. He didn't really know if he could win, but it was a way to test himself. To see if his training is actually paying off. Now or never. “Let's do this.” He said.

Vanitas touched the orb. In a flash of white, and when he opened his eyes, he now stood on a Station of Awakening. Zeke posed like he or Ventus from their fight on it, in the background was the Keyblade graveyard. In the background of that, Kingdom Hearts above it. Across from him was the orb, shifting and molding until it formed Zeke, who brought up the X-blade.

Vanitas looked at the X-blade for a second. Remembering he was created to forge that blade once. Now he fights it's true wielder. He summons his Keyblade, Void Gear, and prepares to fight. “Hastaga.” He ups his speed and charges with a Dark Blitz. Keyblade surrounded by darkness.

Zeke blocked, each strike Vanitas went for was blocked, then, Zeke countered. The impact knocking Vanitas back some before he got back up fast, blocking and crossing blades with Zeke, the two trying to push the other aside.

Vanitas broke the lock and used a Command style. Dark Pulse. Surrounding him in darkness increasing the power of his strikes before using a Shotlock. Dark Salvo. Sending multiple blast of darkness at Zeke. The attack stronger than normal thanks to Dark Pulse.

Zeke took them, and then rushed, swinging the Keyblade, Vanitas ready to block, only for it to be thrown up as Zeke then punched Vanitas in the stomach hard, followed by a roundhouse kick that knocked Vanitas to the ground.

He got up quickly to avoid a slash downward and used Dark Firaga to send Zeke back. He switched styles to Firestorm and hit Zeke with a barrage of fire attacks sending him back before using Thundaga on him knocking down to his knee. He let Firestorm go to conserve stamina. Switching between styles can take its toll. Good thing he has been training this as well as some other things.

When Zeke recovered, he raised a hand, several Keyblades surrounding him as he rushed at Vanitas, who swung, only for a Keyblade to meet his swing and deflect it, giving Zeke his hit and almost knocking Vanitas off the Stations edge.

He quickly tried to get some distance but more keyblades came after him. He used Dark Thundaga to stop them, then had to block a swing from Zeke. He pushed him back with a kick to Zeke's chest before backflipping away then used a new style. WindBlade. One of Ventus’s favorite Command styles. He disperses Void Gear to summon six blades of wind that almost look like wings on his back. He rushes back at Zeke with one blade in hand. Another Keyblade tries to intercept him but a windblade counters it as he and Zeke clash.

The Keyblades around Zeke disappeared, and Zeke backed away, and jumped off the Stations edge, flying back up on his glider, aiming it’s bow like half at Vanitas, using a Fenrir Keyblade as the arrow.

Vanitas was a little use to that do to Aqua and John having similar gliders. The Keyblade as the arrow was new though. He used the wind blades on him to quickly move out of the way when Zeke shot. He had to use all the blades to stop it with the force sending him to the edge of the station. He looked back to see Zeke aiming another one.

Rather than fire, Zeke’s glider disbanded, and he fell back down, and flew up again, this time on a gust of Keyblades, much like Vanitas himself did so long ago in the Keyblade Graveyard.

“Copy cat!” He yelled at him.

Zeke rushed in, the attack swiping by with the gust, but it was an easy dodge, until his gust of Keyblade floated there, and the front half began forming an almost mouth like contraption. Vanitas prepared himself, as the contraption began gathering energy, and blasted a beam of light and darkness at him.

“Protect!” He disbanded the Windblade style and used Void Gear to use a defense spell. The beam hit the shield and broke in a second. Which gave him time to use the style Thunder Bolt to get out of the way. He looked back to where to Keyblade contraption was and let loose a lot of lightning at them.

The contraption fell apart and Vanitas saw Zeke land back on the station, a Master Keeper Keyblade appearing in his other hand as he charged at him.
Vanitas formed a blade of darkness in is left hand and clashed with him. He had to focus his darkness more to keep it from shattering against the keyblade. They continued this for about a minute until he was sent back from a kick to his head from Zeke. when he recovered he saw a dozen keyblades flying at him at great speeds and tried to block them only to block less then half while the others cut into him a little.

Vanitas powered down his command style from the damage he took. He was injured and was on his last legs. He had one last trick, but hasn’t perfected it yet. It takes a huge toll on his body after just a few seconds. Its why something like this is basically encouraged not to do, but he didn’t have a choice. It only works with one style at the moment though. Dark Impulse. He activated it and let darkness surge inside him. He looked at Zeke before taking something out from his pocket. A Wayfinder. “Funny. Even after everything. Me and my other still have this connection. Ventus. Help me. Give me your power.” He held the Wayfinder to his chest and activated his D-link with Ven. D-links and Command Styles aren’t supposed to be used at once. It takes a massive toll on the user, and from some reports Xehanort has told him. Has lead some to their death. It was a major risk, but thats why he trained till his bones nearly broke.

He felt a massive surge of power. From both the link and style. He felt them mix, and then felt them conflict. This conflict is what causes the strain. Vanitas gritted his teeth and got ready. Holding his keyblade like Ventus does. Before he vanished before Zeke’s and appeared behind him in less then a second. There was a flash, and Vanitas saw Zeke was now wearing a red version of his normal attire, before quickly and rapidly landing multiple hits on Vanitas.

Van quickly got up and used sonic strike which was way faster and stronger and hit Zeke. He then landed multiple hits before jumping back and using the spell Ragnarok. Its Shot lock version which launched multiple blast of magic that collided with Zeke. He saw Zeke through the smoke and noticed he changed again.

He only had the X-blade now, and his attire was a dark blue. He slid, as if on skates, across the field and off the edge, rising back up on a ring of keyblade that he spun across as he fired magic projectiles at Vanitas.

With his current speed he was able to easily block them before rushing Zeke. he knows this kind of form. Strong magic and range, but low close range and physical abilities. He got up close before using Ars Arcanum to quickly land multiple strong hits sending him onto his back.

When they both fell back to the battleground, Zeke flashed again, his attire yellow, the X-blade floated in one hand while Master Keeper was gripped in the other as electricity itself seemed to eradiate from him. He rushed in, landing multiple hite before finishing with a spinning attack that drew Vanitas in before slashing and pushing him to the edge.

He was hurt. How many stages does Zeke have?! He wasn’t going to win. He wasn’t stupid. If he was right his next form would be similar to Sora’s Final Form. which increase both magical and physical abilities to their max and beyond, and he doubted he would be done there. ‘Well. Guess this is my limit. How am i supposed to beat this?’ He saw Zeke walking towards him. Preparing to finish this. He closed his eyes to get ready for the blow when he heard a noise. He opened his eyes to see two things. One. Zeke was sent back and was on one knee. And two. Somehow. John was there. “John?! How?

‘John’ looked back at him. “Get up Vanitas. You can still keep going.”

“I can’t. Zeke is too powerful. Even if i somehow get past this one the next one will beat me.”

‘John’ shook his head. “So what? Core was way to strong for me also. Did that stop me, Zeke, or the others from trying? There will always be someone stronger. You aren't’ at your limits yet.” ‘John’ put his hand on Vanitas’s shoulder and he felt something hit him. He… somehow knew a new spell. “Don't give up. Darkness craves those who are weak willed remember. May your heart be your guiding Key.” with that ‘John’ vanished. Vanitas thought for a second before he realized what happened.

“Dang. guess my Heart is more stubborn than me.” He said with a small smile. He got up to see Zeke had changed again. He was in the Final Form Drive. He smiled before bringing out his Keyblade again. The strain from the D-Link and command style combo taking a huge toll but his next move will help.

Zeke was now dressed in all black, Keyblade forming wings out of his back as they were held together by chains of light. He waved his hand, Keyblade appearing and all trying to slash Vanitas, who blocked them with just seconds to spare each.

“Ok then. This is my last trick. So here goes.” Vanitas lifted his keyblade up before using the spell. “Nature’s Gift!” Most don't know or even heard of this spell. It comes in pairs. Nature’s Gift and Nature’s Favor. For the most part these are the same. Both strengthening the users offence and defence more than any other spell while healing them. The difference is one thing. Gift increases the power of Darkness type moves while favor increases Light. Vanitas felt his power rise to a lvl he hadn’t reach even when he used the X-blade itself from before. He looked at Zeke before they both clashed again. Only this time, for now, Zeke was being pushed back.

Zeke retaliated, Keyblade coming to his aid in an attempt to bring Vanitas down, which didn’t work as darkness protected him, and then, Vanitas broke the stalemate, slashing Zeke in a perfect Zentenzukan. Vanitas Saw Zeke drop to his knees, his form gone and looking almost weakened.

He didn’t let his guard down for even half a second. He figured Zeke had more forms and got ready for it. He felt the strain from the combo of his but not as bad. The spell from before really helped with its strain, but he shouldn’t rely on it forever. After this he is going to up his training. He has to master this. He saw Zeke stand up, and grab the X-blade from the grips of it’s two Kingdom Keys. a flash of white went up and down the blade from it’s center, and Zeke pulled it in two, the X-blade was now in half, and Zeke wielded each half back handed, one half pulsated with darkness, and the other irradiated an almost holy light.

A dual wielded X-blade form? This looked to be trouble. He focused on his darkness and let loose as much as he could. He was at his full power, and He felt the strain from his Link-Command grow stronger. He didn’t have long. He and Zeke stared at each other. Then clashed.

Vanitas clashed with Zeke as best he could, but the strain from his power was slowing him down. The spell was weakening from the strain and he was losing. Zeke suddenly slashed him in the chest with both keyblades forming a X on him with one side being light and the other darkness. He fell to his knees when he saw Zeke hold both blades to his neck.

Vanitas felt...something take over, a flash of green before he spun on his knee, kicking Zeke’s leg and knocking him over allowing Vanitas to free himself. Before Zeke could get up Vanitas went in for an attack, and Zeke jumped back, pulling out his Wayfinder as it began to glow. His body flashed white, and he...wasn’t there. There was someone else there, an older man, dressed in winter wear, wielding X, dark hair, green eyes. This new figure slashed the X-blade, and sent waves of light energy towards Vanitas.

He dodge the blast as best as he could. ‘What in the Heck?! Is that one of the X-blades previous users? Zeke's other forms are them? Whats next?’ He got up to fight. Even though he was low on strength. He felt the Link-Command move disable a little bit ago. After...whatever happened when he was about to be decapitated.

The man then vanished, appearing behind Vanitas and grabbing him by his helmet, the pressure causing it to crack and begin to break. Vanitas now knew how Ventus felt when Xehanort did that to him. Once there were large enough cracks powerful lightening shocked Vanitas, smoke rising off his body as it went on.

The next thing he knew he was opening his eyes to see the sky. He slowly got up and looked around. He saw the Absent Silhouette a few feet from him. He realized he lost. He was a little upset from that, but now knew where he currently stood. He has an objective now. He saw a boulder a dozen feet away and walked up to it. He cut off a chunk to show a smooth slab of rock. He carved his name into it as well as the number of stages he fought.

Vanitas. 12 stage. Failed.

He at least gained two things from this. A new spell that will really come in handy, and he unlock his Reaction Commands. He looked to the orb before turning around and leaving. One day he will be back to finish this. Although if he had to bet on it. John might be able to beat it before him.

As he was ready to leave, Vanitas spotted something near where he woke up. A small box. He walked over to it and picked it up. Inside were two things, a letter, and an unopened, freezing cold bar of Sea Salt Ice Cream. Vanitas opened the note. Inside, was one simple sentence.

I’m waiting, brother.

He looked at this before smiling under his helmet. Putting the Ice Cream back in the box for travel. He summoned his glider and left.

Chapter 10: A Spoiled Girls Story

I remember when I was young, times were hard, but my family got by. We were dairy farmers. Cheese, milk, anything that required milk to make we also made and sold. I remember the story as to how I got my name. Mama said the week I was born, just the day before our freezers blew out and all the milk in it went bad. That’s how I got my name, Spoiled Milk. I hated my name. It’s why when I was young I prefer it when others called me Milk rather than Spoiled, but sadly only my sisters were kind enough to call me Milk, while everyone, acquaintances, teachers, even my parents, all called my Spoiled.

I had to have been at least six the first time I lashed out at my parents. There was this doll, every other filly in my class and in town seemed to have one, all but me. It was a simple doll of an old cartoon donkey that wore these horrid pants, but, I was six, and I wanted it. I never knew what want was before then. My mother called me spoiled, and I looked at her confused, that was my name after all. It was then what she explained to me what it meant...and I felt shaken. Before I ever asked for anything, she branded me with that word as my name. “Then it’s a good thing you named me that!” I yelled at her, and ran to my room. She named me after a word used to define the rich, those that got everything they wanted and never showed appreciation.

When I was ten, that first fight still rang in my head like an echo that would not seace. I hated my name even more so. My mother and I got into another fight when my birthday came around. Birthdays in my family were...simple. It was the only day of the year we didn’t have to do anything. A free day. I just asked if we could go out for dinner for my birthday, at least to a Hay Burgers… I knew money was tight, but before I could even tell her I had some bits saved up from wherever I could get them, she denied me then and there, told me that asking for anything in this family was as selfish as leaving it… So I did.

I left with only a letter on my pillow. ‘I guess you got me down to a T, by naming me Spoiled, mother.’ It was all I wrote, for it was all I wanted to say. I used the bits I wanted to use for a family dinner and used them to buy a train ticket to wherever. I got off in Ponyville.

It was a nice town, I admit, but I spent all I had on the train ticket and having only worked on a dairy farm my whole life, I didn’t have skills enough to work on the apple or carrot farms. I passed by a super store. It was massive, in my home town the largest store was only ten feet by ten feet… This was almost a quarter mile long back and easy sixty feet wide. I wouldn’t have believed such a large building could exist if I didn’t see it for myself. I walked in and asked if they were hiring. They were, for a night stocker. I got hired and worked my first shift ever that same night.

That was also the night my ex-husband came into the store, checking on things for his father. He saw me and he...turned pink. Never before had a colt ever seemed to like me in that way, so I just asked him if he was ill. I didn’t know any better, I didn’t know what it was like to catch the eye of the opposite sex until then.

Within the months that passed he kept trying to court me, and I had enough bits to rent a room with some others. I only spent money on what was needed. Never did I want to be called spoiled again for anything other than my name. I barely paid Rich any attention when he was trying to impress me. I wasn’t the one for romance or anything of that sort. That was...until he gave me something. A gold ring, with a diamond on it. That was the first time anyone had given me anything, and he told me “Anything you want, I will buy.”

I was speechless, reasonably. I didn’t know if he meant it or not, so, I decided to test it. “Take me to dinner, and I’ll see.” I said, him grinning and saying he’d be back at seven for out date.

I would have accepted any restaurant, no matter how cheap… But Rich, as his name told plain as day, took me to a restaurant were just a table cost more bits than I was making in a month. When his mother found out about me, and my story, through means I still don’t know how, she took me into their home. She said if I was to be her daugher in law some day, I might as well be taught how to act like nobility.

I was being given all these things. A large house, a bed and sheets that felt like sleeping on the softest cotton, food that was plenty and seconds and thirds were even allowed. It was how heaven must be like. I loved it. Of course, coming from where I came from, I took a while to adjust. My mother in law had to almost force me to spend more than twenty bits on anything. She was a big spender, but got things for her family as well as her. Something about a proper lady always buying for others as well as herself.

In time, I found myself spending over a hundred to three hundred bits on my shopping days. I began to like my name, spoiled. I was spoiling myself, any no one was there to argue about it. In time, Rich proposed, and I accepted. I knew that day was coming, and that wedding was the most we ever spent on anything.

In time though, I began to feel empty. I was in my prime, could buy whatever I wanted thanks to a rather well paying job, School Board leader, my husbands company raked in more bits than we knew what to do with, servants did the things I used to do daily. Yet, I began to feel empty. Buying myself things didn’t satisfy me anymore. Rich thought a foal would make us happy, bring out my happiness, and to be fair, even when we were just foals he always wanted some of his own. So, I agreed, and after a year of trying and nine months of being pregnant later, our own little Diamond Tiara came into our lives. I still felt...empty, after the birth, but I did care for her. I wanted her to have everything, and everything I gave. When I wasn’t there to watch her, which was often, there was always a pony there to watch over her. She and Rich were inseparable, but I knew how wrong ponies could be, treating the rich like villains in some silly cartoon.

I knew being born into money would make life both sweet and hard for her, so, I was hard on her. I wanted her to be strong, so she never knew the pain it feels to have people call you...spoiled, just because. She became a bully, and in my eyes, that was better than a coward, or a blank flank. When Silver Spoon came into her life, it was nice, seeing she had someone that, no matter what, still stick with her and be there for her. There was something about that foal that...reminded me of something. Then I met her family, and the puzzle pieces lined up.

When her family was young, before she was born, the worked as silversmiths, forging silver trinkets for ponies of all classes. Then, they got their break. Princess Celestia was found of their craftsmanship, and commissioned them forge silver utensils for the royal dining room. At least eight hundred sets were required, and they accepted. It took them nine years, five of which Silver Spoon was alive for. Even when she was so little she helped them by polishing and placing the utensils in their holders. It’s how she got her cutie mark, a silver spoon, its meaning that of arrangement, not just with utensils, but anything out of place, even an inch, she could tell.

When they finished, Celestia paid them triple the original price for their hard work and time spent. She also gave them a royal warrant. Such an item quadrupled their products value, sales, and allowed them any property within Equestria. Free of charge. They bought a large piece of land and opened up a silver mill, forging silver day and night. Dozens of ponies worked for them, and with their product name and brand now with so much, the work easily was paid off with just a few sets of silver utensils and such. Workers were paid well, they now were wealthy, and could give their daughter whatever she wanted.

For that reason I always liked Silver Spoon, she had a happier story than mine, and I envied her for that.

Then...The Nobodies came.

At first just a fright, scary stories plastered on the front pages of the news papers, quickly became a mass extinction. I remember how they killed me. Rich, Tiara and I were all packing, preparing to leave for an island we shared with Silver Spoon’s family. Then, two of those skinny, wiggily ones came in. Rich tried to fight on off, his rapier having no effect on them, while I tried to sneak out the back with Tiara… At the back door, one of those larger, bulky nobodies was waiting. It threw me across the room. My leg broke from the force, and they dragged Tiara away. Rich and I were conerd. Injured, tired, and scared.

I don’t remember exactly what happened after that, but everything was dark after. Every now and then I swore I heard voices, but I couldn’t see. Couldn't feel, physically and emotionally. Then, I saw light. I was awake, alive, in my home, Rich next to me… We were both naked.

Guess that’s what happens when you come back from being both a heartless, and a nobody. Thankfully we were able to get dressed quick, our suitcases we had...when we tried to escape were still nearby.

It took a while before those Daybreak people came and found us, and even longer to discuss the terms of how to assemble our lives again. I just wanted the money… I couldn’t go back to being how I was when I was a filly. Then I said something, something that Zeke was hoping for. After I said that, he had me thrown into the dungeon for child abuse. Rich never visited, neither did Tiara. I was alone, bitless, and locked away in a cramped jail cell.

I felt rage again. Like when I was a filly, yelling at my mother, I felt rage. I wanted revenge. I just wanted my life back...and for a misspoken word, I was punished. It was then that his lacky came. Crow, a rather odd individual. He broke me and several others out, and that’s when I met him… Core. Never before had I seen anyone with that kind of power. He didn’t need to buy or ask others for what he wanted. He took it.

I wanted that kind of power. I needed that kind of power. So, I studied under him. All his experiments, I was a part of, either at the scientist, or the test subject. The pain wasn't the worst thing I dealt with, it was the others. Others who wanted to follow Core, but died or left. It was pathetic I wanted to prove just how much I needed the power he had, so, I had one of those Keyblade wielders that followed him, remove my heart. Everything became...so clear. No longer was my mind fogged by emotions and the issues, the burden of having a heart.

I felt fulfilled, having no heart whatsoever. I was now a hollow shell of who I was, but I have never felt empty since it was removed. Even my cutie mark made sense now. A gold and diamond ring. Not the symbol of a wife of the rich, but a symbol of the two most valued items in the world. Diamonds were the symbols of power, hard to break, near impossible even, and gold, the symbol of power through wealth. Together, they were power. I wasn’t born to become rich, I was born, to become powerful.

Even with Core dead, his notes remain, and so do his methods for power. For now though, I’ll leave my chest empty. I need something stronger than darkness, or a dark heart. I need a heart of pure, immeasurable darkness. It’s why I agreed to working with that Drezke, dark half of Zeke’s heart. The very man who lead me down this path, his darkness I will take for myself… and use to make Core’s dream reality. I will kill Kingdom Hearts, and send everything, back to the void. Then, and only then, can I embrace the true, original, darkness.

Author's Notes:

So before anyone asks yes, this is another chap long overdue, and I know not a lot of people read this side story to Balance, it's mostly to fill in some holes I forget to fix in the main story as well as flesh out and develop side characters more, so, here you go, another chapter long overdue cause of my crippling writers block.

Daybreak Files: Case #000C45D1

Author's Notes:

In order to keep chapters going for this story, aside from the Zeke Absent Silhouette fights, this will also include Daybreak Case Files of off 'camera' events to fill in gaps and explore the now long gone empire.

Location: Wall Maria Top Walkway

“So, these are the problem?” Squall asked. He and Ulysses where sent out after Zeke had vanished to this world, his last known sighting. It was infested with giant humanoid man eating monsters known as Titans. In the recent years two unknown and abnormal Titans appeared, breaching this outermost wall. One massive, able to stand over the wall itself, and an armored on that bashed through the gates like they where paper. They vanished completely suddenly after.

“Yes. While the Armored and Colossal Titan haven’t been seen since only more of these monsters enter the hole daily. They mostly wander around now that there are no more people and scratch at the walls if they hear something loud on wall Rose’s other side of on these upper walkways.” This lands most powerful fighter, or so Leon was informed, Levi, spoke. After proper introductions where met, Levi wanted a demonstration on how Daybreak deals with other worlds issues. He can tell these two won’t die, but he wonders how many Titan they will kill. Right where he and Leon stood easy fifteen titans where roaming about. “So, where is your partner?”

“In position on the other side of Wall Maria.” Leon answered.

“Already? It takes days to get-”

“We have our own means of rapid travel.” Leon spoke, interrupting Levi. “As for that hole, that will be quite the challenge. It’s too large and the wall is too thick for a proper repair job… An improve job can work for a while.”

“Like?” Levi questioned.

“We’ll need more Keyblade wielders. With all the panic going on in the government about our Founder going missing making a call for backup could take more time we don’t have. I don’t suppose you can lend any soldiers for us to train?”

“How long would it take for them to use...those weapons?”

“A week at least to learn the basics and get the hang of it.”

“The current Cadet Core is graduating in a week.” Levi spoke. “They’re fresh, moldable fighters. Those that take it seriously.”

“It’s better than nothing.” Leon said, summoning his Keyblade and giving the handle to Levi. “Take the handle, and after this ceremony is complete, the Keyblades power will be yours. I can tell you will be one of the best fighters.”

Levi, looking at the supernatural weapon, grabbed it’s handle. “If it means victory, then I’ll gladly use them to their full potential.”

“Good.In your hand, take this Key. So long as you have the makings, then through this simple act of taking, its wielder you shall one day be. And you will find me, friend no ocean will contain you then. No more borders around, or below, or above, so long as you champion the ones you love." Leon spoke, Disbanding his weapon. “Welcome to Daybreak Empire Guardians Guild Levi.”

“So, what do you make of these guys Eren?” A blond, thinly built boy spoke. Armin. The boy next to him, brown hair with an unmoving willpower, Eren. A long time childhood friend.

“Some are good, others…” Eren trailed off, motioning to the snobbish trainee with disdain.

“Not them.” Armin corrected. “Those two that were seen with Scout Captain Levi. They were with some weird weapons.”

“They looked strong...those weapons though...I've never seen anything like them before.” Eren said honestly.

“Think it’s some kind of new Anti Titan weapon? The designs looked so strange I thought it was a toy at first.”

“Their designs are...colorful to say the least.” Eren said, given that color seemed to be more dull even in the lush open fields. “But...I can’t shake the feeling that those are actually really powerful…”

“Wonder what kind of metal they’re made of for those designs to even work?” Armin questioned. “Steel is one but their thickness borders on being a blunt instrument.”

“Yeah, that is a problem I noticed. They look more like clubs than swords.” Eren said. “Also...why do they have a key shape to them?”

“Dunno. Well whatever they are the whole camp aside from us cadets are setting up some crazy obstacle course outside.”

“I noticed that to...I wonder what’s with the sudden change?” Eren questioned. “I doubt this has anything to do with the Titans…” He muttered bitterly, wanting to have been a Scout to kill Titans and avenge his mother not deal with whatever those new people had in mind.

“Eren.” A dark haired, asian looking girl said, walking up to the boys. Mikasa, another old childhood friend and almost big sister figure to the two. “Instructor Keith Shadis wants us all outside. Apparently these two new men have some advanced methods and a plan to patch the hole in Wall Maria, temporarily from what I overheard.”

“That’s a pretty big hole the titans made...wonder how they can fix it…” Eren thought, wondering what kind of methods they know that can fix a hole in the wall that big that fast.

The cadets all where marched outside, where Keith Shadis spoke up. “Alright, listen here Cadets. I have no doubt that any of you have failed to noticed the two unusual gentlemen beside me. While I can in no way disclose the information, I can in fact tell you they they have a plan to seal up wall maria temporarily, while crews can safely begin permanent repairs. I shall let the Gentlemen speak now.”

The first of the two abnormal men to walk up had his hair in thick dreadlocks, wore an outfit with a strange symbols that alone spoke pride and history. His face was half covered with what appeared to be a gas mask of sorts. “I am Ulysses.” He spoke, his tone hollow, but firm and demanding of respect and attention. Eren stiffened up. “My partner Leon and I come from a place you do not need to know about at the moment. Nore will we tell you anything unless we know you are worth this mission.”

“We need at least seven of your cadets to aid us in this mission. If you prove yourselves, we can guarantee your Wall Maria will be fixed, and these Titans will be exterminated.” The other, Leon spoke.

”They come out of nowhere, asking us to help them in their mission and it’ll kill the titans?” Eren thought to himself, staring down the strong man. ”What’s their game here? Even if they ask us what to do they can’t promise us the world like this.” He thought, very suspicious of what he was told even though he heard some of his fellow cadets murmur to each other about how the new people can end their titan problem.

“We understand none of you have reason to trust our words.” Leon spoke again. “So then, Ulysses… Show them.” Ulysses nodded, raising his weapon up as… A circle of light began forming around him, the energy raising to the heavens. Every member of the Cadents, the mentors, even Captain Levi where awe struck at the sight. Ulysses then brought his weapon down, pointed it at the nearby hill, and from his weapon’s tip fired a single orb of pulsating light. When it hit the high point of the hill, what followed was an explosion of white light that blinded all for possible miles and was seen by those behind wall Sheena. When it faded, the hill that was there was now a crater that met Ulysses at his feet, and spread around in a perfect circle for a mile around, and went even further down. “Any questions?” Leon asked, looking at the cadets.

“How…” Eren breathed, that one solitary word seeming to have encompassed everyone's fear and awe.

“How?” Leon asked, his eyes falling on Eren. “It’s what these weapons can allow us to do.” He explained, raising his. It was chrome, simple in it’s design and more resembled a sword than Ulysses. “These weapons are older and more powerful than anything you can imagine. Yet they are only the tools for us to focus out our own strengths.” In his other hand, Leon crafted an orb of light, making everyone on edge at the display. “What Ulysses did that with his weapon, not three months after he became a member of the people I represent. I have been with my organization from the beginning. What he just did, I can do from my own fingertips after just two years. And that’s not even the most advanced power at my disposal.” The orb disbanded. “We need seven of this Corps strongest, any less and what we teach you might not stick.”

Eren gulped, not expecting literally any of this to happen. “Oh…” He said, so flabbergasted at the feat of strength that he couldn’t think of his blinding rage for the Titans.

“With the seven chosen here today, your titan problem will become legend.” Ulysses said. “After that, well, our organization could always use more talent. Cause I can promise you this, and I know you’ll be taking it to heart. There are greater threats than these mindless monsters.”

Eren took a deep breath and hardened his heart, knowing that if they could get their hands on this power they can win this war and kill all those bastard Titans. “When do we start?”

Leon smiled. “In one hour. The obstacle course being constructed will put most of you into the medical tents for weeks to months. Survive it, and you’ll get your very own Keyblade.”

Armin felt conflicted. His head was filled with terror and Anxiety about what Leon and Ulysses just displayed, but he also felt… hope. “Eren… that was nuts...right?” He asked. Eren, Mikasa and himself sat on the edge of the massive crater Ulysses made with one attack. “I mean… Look how deep this hole is. It’s like a mineshaft…”

“If it means the Titans will be no more than that’ll be a good thing.” Eren said honestly.

“Eren, they said this test will land most everyone in the hospital for potential months. What if it kills you?” Mikasa spoke up. “I promised your mom nothing bad would happen to you.”

Eren clenched his fists. “It’s because of mom that I’m doing this.” Eren growled.

“I know that. But if you die trying to avenge her then what’s the point in even have tried?”

“Then I won’t die then.” Eren countered simply. “Simple as that.”

“Nothing is ever that simple Eren…” Mikasa said, taking in a deep breath. “I’m going in with you on this, just like when we joined the scouts… but if you are about to get hurt, I’m taking the hit and knocking you out of the way.”

“Mikasa.” Armin spoke up. “If you get hurt, who’s gonna look after Eren? I can’t bale him out of trouble like you can.”

“I can take care of myself alright? I can take a few hits, I don’t need to be looked after like a helpless child.” Eren frowned.

“Even so, who knows who, if any of us might make it through this course if it’s this bad, cause after what that Ulysses guy did… Do you think what Leon said was true? That...there are worse threats than Titans?”

“I don’t know Armin…” Eren signed out. “But if they have those weird powers...then maybe they're right.” He said, not knowing much about what’s going on. “But again...if it means our Titan problems will be over...then we have to listen to them.”

“Makes you wonder… where did these two come from? And if they have weapons and abilities than can make this crater… where were they? And where did they come from?” Mikasa asked.

“Too many questions and too little answers…” Eren sighed out.

“Yeah.” Armin agreed. “Wonder if- GAH!” Armin shouted, a tall, black creature about half his size suddenly rose from the ground, not out of the dirt, out of...nowhere. It’s hollow yellow eyes and large, twisted jagged mouth in a disturbing smile as it looked at the three. Then… nine more where appearing. “What are these things?!”

“I don’t know!” Eren yelped, looking around for any weapons to use against these new weird things.

Mikasa reacted, kicking the one before her in the head, only for it to do nothing as it grabbed her ankle, and bit into her skin, drawing blood. “Gah!” She yelped, trying to pry the beast off of herself. “Eren, Armin, run!”

Eren grabbed a stick and swung it at the creature, trying to get it off of Mikasa. “Get off her!”

As Eren was trying to bash the creatures head in, failing as it showed no signs of releasing her, they were suddenly met with the gleam of Ulysses Keyblade, it’s fast thrown landing embedded itself in the ground where the creature was, impaling it and killing it as it died in a

Eren didn’t understand how the hell the Keyblade hurt that thing when his bashing wasn’t but he didn’t care. “Come on!” He said, grabbing Mikasa’s hand and running with her away from the creatures. “Come on Armin!”

Armin, not far behind, followed Captain Levi, who himself seemed to have Acquired his own of these weapons. His was strange. It’s tip had what looked like a creatures metalic head as the blade resembled a skull of sorts. Once inside the Mess Hall, Eren placed Mikasa down while one of the medics that ran in with the cadets tended Mikasa’s wounds. All the while from the windows the whole cadet corp witnessed Levi’s combat in action, as well as Leon’s and Ulysses.

“What the hell are those things?” Eren muttered, seeing Levi and the two strange fighters beat all those shadow things like they were nothing.

When the last of then where slain a massive swirl of some sort of dark gas or something emerged from the crater… and what rosed up looked at tall as a Titan, but it had all black skin, vine like things around it’s head, with only it’s empty yellow eyes looking out, it’s moby muscular, and while it’s feet where small, as where the wings it had on its back, it sent fear into everyone. “Eren…” Armin muttered. “Is that… what they meant… worse than Titans?”

“But...that’s impossible! There’s no history on a Titan like that…” Eren muttered in a panic, staring up at the thing.

Everyone watched as Leon, in one single jump, reached the monsters head level, and swung his weapon, knocking it over as Ulysses delivered the second, finishing blow as it too, now vanished into the black myst like vapor. With that, Leon walked into the mess hall, all eyes on him. “Course is gonna be a bit late, eat up while you’re in here.” He said casually, closing the door as he exited.

“So...he just waltz’s in after killing...whatever the hell that was, tells us to eat, and then leaves?” A cadet asked slowly, their brain trying to process what the fuck happened.

“Is this...normal for him?” Another cadet, brown haired teen. Sasha Braus, spoke.

“No idea…” Eren shook his head.

Within the hour, the cadets ate the the course was completed. Four meters long, and filled with various exercises and obstacles ranging from standards to deadly. One section even has series of large swinging logs… ends sharpened into points… “This course is based off what I and Leon practice weekly back home.” Ulysses spoke. “It’s the basic version. Seven of you make it to the end, and you’ll be working with Leon and I personally.”

”Basic is murderous?” Eren thought to himself, thinking if this is what they went through in basics then literally everything he would have done for the cadet training would be a cake walk.

First up was Mikasa, who ran through the simple parts, but stopped herself before the moving platform section, calculating her moves before jumping, then running through the swinging logs, and lastly climbed a three meter rock well and landed safely in a three foot wide hole filled with water. The hole was deep, deep enough to splash in safely. “Mikasa.” Leon spoke, helping her out of the water. “Welcome to the team. Let’s hope the rest of your cadet members can make it.”

Majority did not. Most broke a leg, arm, feet, or even unconscious. The second to make it was Sasha, then Connie, Armin surprised even himself, Krista surprised everyone, she made it through without a scratch. Ymir made it right after Krista. All that was left was one spot, and now it was Eren’s turn.

Eren took a deep breath and put on a very determined face. ”Alright, my turn.” He thought to himself, ready to do anything and everything to get past this obstacle course and be apart of whatever Leon had in mind.

Eren ran, so far so good as he passed the basic obstacles. He almost fell off the moving platforms, and nearly broke an arm on the swinging logs. His last obstacle was the fall. His plummet had to be perfect to make it into the small water hole. With some mental predictions, Eren jumped, but overshot, and landed face first a foot in front of the water hole. Leon walked over to Eren. “You conscious?”

“Physical pain…” Eren whimpered. “Indescribable…”

“If you stand, you get the spot.” That sparked something in Eren.

Eren was dead set on getting the spot, and even though his entire body screamed at him not to because he fell face first into solid ground from a high place he shakily got up.

Once he stood firmly on both feet, Leon nodded. “Alright, that's our seven.” Eren was laughing with joy and pride. “The rest of you will continue your trainings as normal. You seven and Levi… Follow us.” Leon said, leading the way out of the grounds. Mikasa and Armin helped Eren along. “Congrats Eren, you had me worried when you fell face first into the ground.” Armin said.

“I’m still in massive pain.” He said, not able to feel his nose at the moment cause it was broken.

“Looks like you’re as stubborn as ever.” Mikasa said. “You do know that what comes next will be a whole new kind of hell, right?”

“I’ve come this far, I’m not backing down.” Eren said.

The next day the seven Cadets were at Wall Maria, a simple camp set up where after a night's rest the seven stood in a row, Leon and Ulysses stood across from then while Levi was off to the side. “Listen up, what I say here is truth. If you have questions, feel free to ask. First off, Ulysses and I are not from your world.”

“I mean...it’s kind of obvious when you think about it.” Eren brought up, never having seen those two before and finding their clothing rather off compared to literally everyone else’s.

“We come from a place called Daybreak Empire. While we work and live there, we were not born there. I was born in a place known as the Arizona Wastelands, in a tribe known as the Twisted Hairs.” Ulysses spoke.

“And I was born in a world known as Radiant Garden.” Leon spoke.

“What were those creatures that attacked yesterday?” Mikasa asked.

“Heartless.” Leon replied. “There are two kinds. Purebloods, the ones that attacked you yesterday, and Emblem. Purebloods are made from darkness, the specific ones that attacked yesterday are known as Neoshadows, and then the big one is known as a Darkside. They are some of the stronger ones, but outside their own realm they are much weaker. Keeping that in mind, like your titans they have numbers, mass numbers and various abilities and forms.”

“Why couldn’t I hurt them when I hitting them as hard as I could?” Eren asked.

“Think of it as trying to break down a bolder with your bear hands.” Ulysses spoke. “While normal weapons can harm them, they can not kill them.” Everyone gasped when Ulysses weapon APPEARED in his hand, in a flash of white light. “Keyblades can not only kill them, but they can also free the hearts of those trapped inside the Emblem heartless.”

“Which brings me to that.” Leon added. “Unlike Purebloods, Emblem heartless are made from someone’s heart falling to darkness. So if you see one of those monsters again and they have a symbol on them of a red and black heart, that’s someone’s entire core essence, the heart, trapped within it. They crave powerful hearts to create more powerful versions of themselves. The stronger the heart, the more powerful the emblem heartless.”

“How can Heartless be Heartless...if they have a heart?” Krista asked in confusion.

“It’s just a name.” Ulysses said. “Don’t ask, not even we know why that is, but it fits and it gives the enemy an identity.”

“What are your weapons? Keyblades?” Armin asked.

“They are…. Huh, now that’s hard to explain.” Leon said. “While true, we learned to forge new ones, repair them even within the recent years, but what I can tell you is that each Keyblade has a name, and chooses its wielder. Mine is called Sleeping Lion, and Ulysses is called Guardian Soul. While multiple exist of each Keyblade, they also rank in terms of power and rarity.”

“How do you know which one you’ll get if they just...randomly pick you?” Eren asked.

“You don’t. You’ll just see when it comes. What we will be doing today is bequeathing you each with your very own Keyblades, and you will be trying to summon them. Levi here has his own now, Fenrir. A powerful Keyblade fit for warriors.”

“Sounds...too simple.” Eren frowned.

“Trust me. Summoning them is the hard part.”

Once each of the cadets was bequeathed a Keyblade with the inheritance ceremony, they immediately began trying to summon them. “So, is there something we have to do specifically?” Krista asked.

“Try reaching out for it with your heart. There’s a Saying on daybreak, older than we know. May your heart be your guiding key. Keep that in mind when calling forth the Keyblade that has chosen you.”

Eren had no idea what that could even mean, even if the weapons were called ‘key’blades but he shrugged it off as he tried...whatever it was they wanted. ”Reach out with your heart? What is this a children's story?” He thought to himself, thinking the ‘power of your heart’ was something a child would hear in made up stories.

“Oh!” Everyone turned around. Krista, in her hand, held a Keyblade that looked as if it was grown from a plant, three flowers at it’s tip.

“Pixie Petal.” Leon spoke. “While not the best in terms of combat, you can land powerful blows and times and, bare with me when I say this, casts spells much stronger than they are normally.”

“Spells?” Eren asked honestly. “What do you mean?”

Leon smiled, raising his Keyblade towards Eren. “Drift.” A dark aura pulsated around Eren, then, he floated up a few feet in the air above everyone’s heads. “That’s called Zero Gravity, a simple spell to incapacitate enemies while you deal damage to them.”

“Simply put, magic exists, in many strange ways.” Ulysses said simply.

“Magic…” Eren couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Magic exists…” Eren shook his head. “Didn’t...expect that.”

The spell wore off, and Eren fell on his back to the ground. “So...I can do that?” Krista asked.

“With time.” Leon said. “Now back to it, Krista, follow Ulysses and he’ll teach you how to properly use your Keyblade.”

“Right...is there anything else those things can do besides...magic?” Eren asked.

“This.” Leon said, throwing his high into the air, out of sight. There was a twinkle of light as suddenly, what flew down was some kind of floating wagon made of metal. “Gliders. With this we can travel across whole worlds within hours to minutes.”

Eren was shocked at the sudden floating wagon of metal. “How…?”

“Magic.” Ulysses said simply.

Eren face palmed. “I have a feeling that’s what you’ll say to explain a lot of things.”

After Krista, Mikasa got hers to appear. It was called Void Gear, and looked rather intimidating. Leon said only four other people in Daybreak had this Keyblade, which put Mikasa in with an elite crowd it seemed. Conny was next, his was called All for One. “Woah… Eren, it’s way light. Much lighter than our swords.” Conny said.

“Wonder what the symbol is?” He wondered, thinking the actual ‘blade’ part was a symbol for something.

Ymir got hers next. Hers looked as intimidating as Mikasa’s. Leon said it was called End of Pain, another rare and powerful Keyblade. Armin was next, his was called Wayward Wind, it looked like part of a bigger weapon to be honest. Then was Sasha, who got a REALLY long one called Ends of The Earth. If it wasn’t for these weapons being so light, Eren believed she could never ever pick it up. It was taller than her. All that was left is Eren, the only one without his yet.

Eren didn’t know how this even worked to begin with, just people hand their keyblades appeared in front of them. He tried doing what Leon said, trusting his heart to summon the thing if possible.

“Eren.” Leon spoke, startling him. “Having trouble?”

Eren growled. “No, I’m fine…” He muttered, even though Leon could tell Eren was lying and was having trouble.

“Eren.” Leon said, kneeling to his eye level. “You're clouding your mind. You’re angry. What’s made you this full of rage?”

“I mean, besides the fact that this is apparently so simple for literally everyone but me?” The angry teen frowned, stating the obvious at the moment.

“Sometimes people’s Keyblades can take years to appear. Other times, it’s because something is keeping it from appearing. Tell you what, how about I tell you a story from my past, then you tell me one from yours.”

“Um...sure?” He said slowly, not entirely sure about the sudden story time.

“Back home, before I knew about Daybreak, I was a warrior. A commander of the outermost regions of my homeland. One day… something bad happened, a friend of mine lost his way, and from his rage research, a new being was born. Not long after, this new creature was killing my people and laying waste to my home. To make matters worse, a witch, somehow able to control these monsters, invaded, and I had to leave. For six, long years my and the only survivors we could bring lived on a world called Traverse Town. A sort of refugee camp world for those who lost their own. But, one day I met someone with a rather unique keyblade. He gave me mine, and within the month, he helped me reclaim my world. That man is the founder of Daybreak Empire. In less than two years, he’s helped lots of worlds with their problems, saved many more and built Daybreak on the belief that everyone should know how to keep themselves safe, but only if there is no one to keep them safe. Everyone on Daybreak has Keyblades, everyone is taught the spells, how to make it into a glider, how to fight. But they have the choice defend others. And most do.”

Eren blinked. “Uh…” He muttered, not sure how to respond to all of that.

“Now then.” Leon said. “Tell me your story, your past.”

“Why? After literally everything you said?” Eren asked.

“In my story, I started off as an arrogant warrior, blinded by overconfidence. Losing my home taught me the meaning of dred, and suffering… but also humility, and honor. Because of this, I received my Keyblade right away, given to my by our founder. If I was still the same person I was back then, I likely might not be here, or even have this Keyblade, or one at all.”

“Yeah, all that...while I killed slavers as a child to save Mikasa...and then literally saw my own mother get eaten alive by a titan.” He said sadly. “And...I couldn’t do a damn thing to save my mom from that damned titan.”

Leon hummed, then patted Eren’s shoulder. “I think I know your issue.” He said, standing back up. “You're only focused on the negatives of your past. This is the source of your rage. You’re angry at the world and that you can’t seem to change how it is, right?”

“I wanted to become a scout so I could change it...and I hate myself for not helping mom…” Eren sighed out, Leon seeing that Eren was just an upset teen that felt like a failure.

“Eren.” Leon said, kneeling down to his eye level again. “Remember the good times. I want you to remember your mother, what she did for you, how happy you two where… Remember the warmth of her hug.”

Confused, Eren sighed, closing his eyes. The memories brought forth a great sadness, but also… joy. He remembered his mother's warmth… and for a second, swore she was in front of him, hugging him. He jumped, breaking the image and feeling scared. “Wh-what the hell?” Eren panicked, feeling way too much for what should have been a little trip through memory lane. “Why...why am I scared?” He muttered worriedly, finding the hug was nice but the sudden fear made him worried.

“Because you know she’s gone.” Leon explained. “She might be gone from this world, Eren, but she’s still with you here.” Leon said, poking Eren’s chest, over his heart. “So long as we remember those we’ve lost foundly, they aren’t truly gone. All hearts are connected, living or dead.”

“R-really?” He asked, putting a hand on his chest.

“We all lose someone or something we care about, but so long as we remember the ones we care about, we can always have them with us.” Leon said. “Now then, try summoning your Keyblade again, with this in mind.”

Eren nodded and took a deep breath. “Well...alright. “ He nodded while trying to summon his keyblade, remembering the warmth of his mother being there for him as a child.

Eren heard the now familiar sound of the Keyblade appearing...but he heard...two? He opened his eyes… two, one in each hand. “Eren, you have the Twin Keyblades, Oathkeeper, and Oblivion. Only one other person we know of has both. I’m impressed.” Leon said with a smile.

Eren took both keyblades and looked over them both. “Wow...this...is really something.”

Leon then pat Eren on the head. “Because of this development, I’ll train you personally. If you pick it up quickly, you’ll out match your friends over there.” Eren looked over to the others. Ulysses having them practicing swings and Krista managing to shoot a ball of fire out from her Keyblade, startling everyone as Ulysses applauded, everyone laughing after the event.

“Well...can’t wait to get to training.” Eren said, having a feeling he’s got a lot of work to do.

It had been a few days since Eren and his friends got to training. In that time they learned the basic spells, Fire, Blizzard, Thunder. Reflect. SPecial attacks, Strike Raid, Stun Edge, the basics. Now though Ulysses and Leon had a different lesson in store. The group stool at wall Maria’s edge, Leon and Ulysses standing at the very edge, backs to the drop. “Now then, you’ve all learned the basics, now it’s time to learn about unique abilities that you can pull off with and without your Keyblade.”

“Without?” Eren asked. “Like that ball of light Leon did?”

“Not that advanced. Remember when you all watched me take out that Darkside, I jumped up to its head in one go.” The cadets nodded. “That was an advanced high jump. Such abilities are passive. You can perform them at any time once learned.”

“So...you can just jump that high without ODM gear?” Eren asked.

Leon smiled. “Ulysses?” Leon asked, with that one word Ulysses fell backwards, falling down the wall. The cadets ran to the edge, only to see Ulysses FLYING back up. “You won’t need ODM gear at all with these abilities.”

“He’s literally flying, how?” Eren asked bluntly.

“Passive abilities are spells and enchantments, often cast on the person and is permanent.”

“Of course...more magic…” Eren sighed out.

Leon cast out the spell on everyone. The ability was easy to master. Maneuvering was the tricky part. But after a few hours it became easy. “See, not that hard at all.” Leon said, watching the cadets fly in formation.

“Did any of you expect any of this?” Eren asked the others.

“No.” Conny said.

“Never in a million years.” Ymir said.

“This is so fun!” Krista said.

“We’re literally flying with clubs that are somehow swords...and magic is real…” Eren said. “Man...never thought any of this would have happened.”

“Now then, yesterday I received a package from Daybreak.” Leon said. “It’s a gift for you all.”

“So soon?” Eren asked curiously.

“Yes.” Leon said, turning around and picking up a box. “You’ve seen the metal sleeves Ulysses and I wear, right?” Leon asked, showing his. The large sleeve was grey in color, with what looked like a button on it.

“Yeah, what does it suddenly turn into armor or something?” Eren asked, coming up with something that seems a little outlandish even for what’s been shown here.

“Exactly.” Leon said, pressing the button and ina bright flash, his whole body was covered in well fitted, full body armor. “Keyblade armor is specially designed for not only deep space travel, it’s protects you from lethal attacks and darkness.”

“Okay, magic exists, we can fly...but deep space travel? Excuse me what?” He asked, finding the place where the stars are being accessible a little less believable than magic.

“It’s true.” Ulysses said. “If you are unable to travel with DTL’s, Doors to Light, deep space travel is used. When traveling with a Keyblade, space takes on a different form for us, known as The Lanes Between. This allows rapid travel between worlds.”

“Right then…” He said, feeling like that shouldn’t be right but knowing magic is magic so whatever.

“Now then, come here. I have Keyblade armors for you all.” Leon said, opening the box as he pulled out one of the sleeves that transforms at the push of a button.

Eren moved over to get said sleeve. “And they all just...fit perfectly fine?”

“The straps are adjustable, and once activated the spellwork resizes and fits the armor to your body type, so are you age and grow up they’ll still fit perfectly.” Leon explained.

Eren nodded while taking one of the sleeves and put it on his keyblade sleeve and seeing how it actually adjusted to his arm. “Okay…” He said while adjusting it to his arm.

After it fitted itself Eren activated the armor, the bright flash covering his whole body before it faded. Eren’s armor was a black color with gold trims on the edges, and Eren had to admit, it felt almost like normal clothes.

“Fit’s perfectly…” He said honestly. “I can’t even tell it’s there.”

“That’s how it is. Now then, call forth- huh?” Leon said, everyone turning their heads to the spot down the edge of the wall. There, three titans were scratching up at them. “Huh, well that’s annoying… Cadets! Fall in!” Leon ordered. Everyone rushing into a formation on the wall. “This will be your first test of your new powers and abilities. Using your new found flying and teamwork, kill the three titans below.”

“Well we can test if these things are sharp enough to cut through a titans skin.” Eren brought up.

“Succeed, and your world will belong to your again.” Ulysses said. “Defeat these Titans below, and the first of their whole species will know extinction like you all have feared for over a hundred years.”

Eren nodded. “Alright, time to kill some Titans.” He said while gripping Oathkeeper and Oblivion a little tighter, ready to go off and kill those bastards.

The first of many was slain, and from this day forward, this world no longer feared these once monstrous creatures. Now, they feared the humans.

Daybreak Files: Case #384F34G0

Author's Notes:

Warning, if you are not caught up with Balance, Life of a Nobody and Grey Hearts, then you may/will get lost.

Location: World 44KJHZ50 (Bolitaria)
Reflection: ZZ94T
Report: #384F34G0 (Walkers)
Operative(s): Patches the Hyena
Operation Task: Trannie Training
Report #: 1/7

It had been four days since Clementine brought her friends to this world. Shortly after she and Zeke’s family left. Now they wait. The group all sat around the Boletarian palace arch stone. Mostly because old fears of something out in the woods kept in their minds.

“So, when do you think Clementine will be back?” Tenn asked.

“Hopefully soon.” A.J said. “I miss her…”

“She will.” Violet said. “She...she has to.”

“Yeah, but when?” Louis asked. “It’s been days. I know she’s...something else now, some kinda uber magical girl but...we’ve mostly been just helping the people here hunt and gather stuff.”

“It’s a nice castle though.” Willy threw in. “Like out of a fairy tale.”

“I think we are in one now Willy.”

“Yeah, went from walking corpses to demon armageddon recovering world… some fucking fairy tale.” Violet sighed. “At least the issue here is pretty much done with. Though hard to tell what’s worse. Walkers or demons?”

“At least these demons no longer have the numbers walkers do.” Willy said.

“They are strong though… and can use weapons.” Mitch added.

“Fair point…”

“This is some kinda… fever dream if ya think about it. First Clem disappears for weeks, appears back with all kind of magic weapons and powers, she was even bullet proof!” Ruby recalled. “Got magic swords and magic guns… what can they even do?”

“From what we saw Clem doing with them… a lot.” Violet said.

“Yeah.” AJ agreed.

“Alright then you lot!” Entered a man clad in leather armor, shield and spear both sporting clear Keychains. “Time to get off your asses.”

“And, who the hell are you?” Violet asked.

“The name’s Patches. Patches the Hyena.” He introduced. “Ol’ Master Thomas put me in charge of training you lot til he gets back from his meetings in New Daybreak H.Q.”

“Training?” AJ asked.

“Yeah training. You got Keyblades, well I’m gonna teach you brats to use them proper.”

“And where do you get off calling us brats?” Mitch asked. “There’s eight of us and just one of-” Mitch suddenly found himself in Patches grasp, flung into the air, til he was out of sight. The event made everyone stand and back up.

“Now then,” Patches said, turning to face the others. “Any objections?” Everyone shook their heads in response. “Good.” Patches said, counting with his fingers down from three. At two Mitch could be heard screaming, and after one Patches caught him and placed him belly first onto the ground. “Now then, off to the woods.”

As Patches opened the gates and walked into the outside forrest, the others helped Mitch up. “Mitch, are you alright?” AJ asked.

“I… I swear… I think I crapped my pants…” Mitch replied.

Louis took a sniff, and yes, the noticeable smell of feces began to fill the air. “Yeah… I can tell.” Louis said, waving away the stink from his nose.

Once Mitch was in some clean pants and washed up a bit, the group met up with patches in the forest. Tall giant trees reaching to the heavens surrounded them. “Alright then, first and foremost, bring out your Keyblades.” Patchs said, the group doing so. “Perfect. Now then, show me just how hard you lot can hit with them. Hit a tree, and I'll evaluate how much you’ll need work.”

The first up was Violet, who struck at a tree but didn’t get very deep in it at all. Louis, Ruby and Tenn didn’t do much better. Mitch got about half way before his Keyblade got stuck in the tree. Willy didn’t even make a scratch. Omar and Asim got as far as Mitch did. Aj however managed to make a clean slice along the trunk of the massive tree. “Very impressive for such a little fella.” Patches said with approval ad AJ’s inborn skill. “Now that I know where each of you stand, I can show you where I want you all to be.”Patched summoned his spear-Keyblade, the tip glowed for a faint moment before he thrusted forwards, a powerful burst of air followed suit as countless trees in front of him were all now missing five feet wide holes of themselves, some of them even falling over as their stability failed them. The group dropped their jaws. “And I’m not even a Keyblade Master.” Patches added.

“What can a Master do?” Louis asked.

“Much, much more.” Patches answered simply. “First off, basics. We start with blocking, and we need to see in which you all fall into in terms of your abilities. Depending on strength you can use either one or two hands to aid in blocking. If physically you are weaker, magic can be incorporated into your defenses.”

“And how does that work?” Violet asked.

“A Reflect spell.” Patches said, demonstrating as he was covered in a glass like barrier for a short time before it faded. “A simple and often essential spell for combat.”

“Why not just always use it then?” Ruby asked.

“Because it requires magic to use of course. Only those who have an excessive amount of magic can use it as a constant form of blocking.”

“Wait, it’s called reflect? Does it… counter blocked damage?” Asim asked.

“Yes, glad you noticed.” Patches said with a smile. “Physical and magical.”

“Okay, so then teach us already.” Violet said. “Our world is littered with undead freaks and we’d like to save if.”

“So was mine, and then some. Now look at it. Just a few months ago this forrest was covered in fog littered with soulless husks of former humans and demons. Now it’s back to its natural glory. Granted there’s like only five of us left, but plenty of real estate for anyone who wants to move to another world. Just not in the Valley of Defilement, place is not suited for life other than insects.”

“With a name like that I can see…”

“Yes. Now then, a simple attack to practice is Strike Raid. It has other elemental variations, but we will focus on it’s basic form.” Patches demonstrated the attack. “Notice that it actually returns to you, meaning that when you throw it, it’s acting like a boomerang, returning to your grip.”

Nodding, the group began practicing the attack. Aj managed to get it on the second try, and the others all followed suit quickly. “Haha! This is awesome!” Louis cheered, catching the return of his weapon.

“Good, you all catch on quick. Next are Finishers.”

“Finishers?” AJ asked.

“Yes. When attacking the ideal strikes before retreating or backing up to avoid attacks are three consecutive hits, a finisher is a more powerful fourth and final strike before rushing back. Mine is called Heat slash. A simple but effective finisher that deals some extra damage with fire by lighting the tip of my key-spear on fire before the strike. There are many to learn and while it is possible to learn them all and shift between them, it's easier to stick to the ones that you develop and come across naturally.”

“So what is our finishers?” Asim asked.

“Everyone starts at the first, simply named Finish. A jump with a full body weight swing down on your target. Simple, and easy to preform.”

“And how do we learn these other Finishers?” Violet asked.

“Over time they will activate for you on their own. Their information can be learned and practiced through texts, but your Keyblade will give you them and their information when you are ready for it.”

“Our Keyblades?” AJ asked.

“Yes. Keyblades choose their masters, they have minds of their own and personality, only few can hear their voices.”

“Like Clementine?”

“Yes. Especially her and the others like her.” Patches said. “Now, onto something much more fun. Command Shifts, and Shotlocks.”

“Sounds fun.” Willy said.

“Oh they are. Command Shifts activate after performing a certain amount of any combination of attacks, special attacks mind you, or spells. They adjust your normal combat style and provide quite the kick to your attacks. Shotlocks are a means of focusing on a certain amount of enemies, then unleashing a powerful spell to deal with them. Now, interestingly most Shotlocks make you untouchable, but only while they are active and not all do this.”

“So use them often then?” Violet asked. “Shotlocks I mean.”

“They do have a cool down period, and they recharge in several ways. First is with items, second is by dealing damage to your opponent, or if you learn how by taking damage yourself, the more damaging the hits you take the quicker it recharges.”

“How do we learn abilities?” Louis asked.

“Same as with Shotlocks and most anything else, when you are ready, your Keyblade will give it to you, or, you can practice from textbooks.”

“Okay...how did you get so strong you were able to throw Mitch into the sky?” AJ asked.

“All part of managing your magic lad. Once you acquire a Keyblade you are given a certain amount of magic to use, depending on what your body can handle at the time. As you get stronger through training and combat, you can allocate more magic to yourself, this magic become split. Most goes to your body, allowing you to perform some abilities and even impressive feats that should be impossible, but to us, is natural as breathing.”

“Feets?” AJ asked.

“No, Feats AJ, F.E.A.T.S. it means doing what's impressive or even Impossible.” Louis clarified.

“Oh.” AJ said. “Like what? More aside from magic?”

Rather than reply, Patches turned to the nearest tall tree, taking a running start then running up it at the 90° angle and even around the large trunk without even leaning or missing a step. He then stopped, falling a lethal height but landing safely to his feet, unharmed. “Like that.” He said to his jaw dropped students.

Report end. Continued in later report.

Nothingness File: Case AC905

As Joy and Luxu walked the Void tainted reflection of John's Equestria, they walked up to the Absent Silhouette of Zeke. “So, think this thing gave itself an Update?” Luxu asked.

“Most likely all things considered.” Joy shrugged. “But let’s see how much it changed.”

“Something tells me this is gonna suck.” Luxu said as the two entered. Suddenly many people were lined along in rows. Ben himself too was here. As was Joy, and others. Those who beat Zeke's Silhouette and those who were now part of Zeke were challenges here. “Oh… well this is interesting.”

“A lot has changed since I was last here.” Joy said in surprise. “Like...literally none of this happened besides Zeke being here.”

“Well at least it changes with the guy. Wonder why though?” Luxu pondered, eyes falling upon a hooded figure. “Ha! Take that you rotten fucktard!” He yelled at the motionless figure.

“What?” Joy asked while seeing the hooded figure. “Wait...no Ben saw him when he tried to stop Kexez...your dad?”

“Yeah. He failed. Oh this is priceless. Started the first Keyblade war and everything to avoid this very thing, and he failed. Oh I am so happy that basterds planning all went down the crapper.”

“Yeah, that’s one hell of a way to be told fuck you.” Joy said. “So, who do you want to start with?” The young dire wolf asked.

“As much as I want to fight pops, I'd think fighting Ben would be… interesting.” Luxu said. “This Absent Silhouette should know everything Ben can do, things he doesn't know yet. We could learn a lot from it.”

“That would be interesting.” Joy said.

“Although… fighting a copy of you fully powered would help you out much more.” Luxu added.

“So who first, Ben or me?” Joy asked curiously.

“Hmm….. Ben. Will be a fun experience at least.”

“Ben it is then.” Joy said while walking over to Ben as he summoned Lindworm. “Alright, we choose you.” Joy said while poking Ben’s shoulder.

The two of them were suddenly standing atop Ben's station of Awakening. Ben appearing in a haze of Nothingness Thorns. They noticed this version of him had his crown atop his head, and wore a smaller version of the old King's armor. “Oh, well that's interesting.”

“Right then.” Joy said while he prepared Lindworm and his keyblade.

As Luxu brought out Lunatic, Ben charged, no weapon drawn as they simply summoned an aura of Nothingness out and began rapidly striking the two unarmed, knocking Joy down and putting Luxu on the defensive.

“Jeez, he’s fast.” Joy muttered while getting up quickly and dashing towards Ben, swinging one of his lances towards him while he was focused on Luxu.

With rapid, fluid motion Ben summoned his own wind, redirecting Lindworms Lance's at Luxu, nearly hitting the ancient Keyblade wielder. “Woah!” Luxu said, nearly falling backwards.

Ben took Luxu's moment of distraction, slashing at Joy with a whip of Nothingness thorns, wrapping it around Lindworm and Joy, mangling Joy's right arm and making a Lance from him that was sent back at him, piercing his left leg all the way through.

“Fuck!” Joy barked, grabbing the spear with his left arm and pulling it out, before turning into Master Form to heal his wounds. “Okay, this is some grade a bullshit.” Joy growled as he dashed swiftly towards Ben, using his lances to try and block or distract him as he swung his keyblade towards his opponent.

Luxu took an opportunity to Charge up Lunatic, activating Rage mode as the two charged Ben.

Ben sidestepped the Lance's, and grabbed both Joy's Keyblade and the charged Lunatic in each hand, taking both out of their hands and hitting both with their own weapons.

“Agh… anyone get the license plate on the train that hit me?” Luxu groaned as he came to consciousness. They were still Inside the Silhouette, but out in the selection hallway. “Fuck… took us out with one hit. Ben is holding back.”

“I have a feeling Ben...even the Silhouette was taking it easy cause...I know Ben, he could have done what he did a million other ways.” Joy said while rubbing his head. “Fuck, he’s a lot stronger than he gives himself credit for, could have kicked the shit out of Zeke the first time I went here honestly.”

“Yeah but that was then. What about...now?” The two looked over at Zeke's figure, standing at the backmost end of this hallway. “He is an Admin now… and Kingdom Hearts. What can he do now?”

“I mean...technically speaking before he was Kingdom Hearts in here. He had all the power without holding back.” Joy said honestly. “But want to try it out?”

“Is it wrong that I do?” Luxu asked, handing Joy a Mega potion while downing one himself.

Joy downed his mega potion as well, feeling a lot better. “Well then let’s get going.”

The two activated Zeke's fight. Upon entering they noticed Zeke's Station of Waking was different. Now it was an image of a massive many floating cities atop endless water. All connected by Bridges and cable cars.

Zeke appeared, attire a simple white shirt, pants and shoes. They opened their eyes, a glowing blue with a dark aura around them. “Oh. That's creepy.” Luxu said.

“Yes it is.” Joy said while summoning Lindworm and preparing for a fight.

Zeke summoned a Starlight, and in a flash was behind the two, Luxu managing to block the strike for both but was blown back by the impact. Joy struck at Zeke, who blocked with their arm the downward strike before backing up, shooting off several volleys of darkness and light at Joy. “Different or same?” Luxu asked as he got up. “Never fought this before so don't know.”

“This is a bit new.” Joy said while blocking the volleys with Lindworm. “But about the same to be perfectly honest all things considered.”

As Luxu was about to rush in, a Soldier heartless blocked him, getting a bit in. “Agh!” Luxu yelped, their cloak torn a bit along the chest. “Shit. These things were weaker in the realm of darkness!” He said, fighting the common but oddly strong heartless as Zeke jumped, a Demon Tide appearing alongside Keyblades, the two creating a swirling mass of Damage Zeke was riding around, and dealt attacks at Joy with.

“Okay…” Joy said while dodging and blocking the attacks as best he can. “Can you kindly fuck off with that nonsense please?”

Zeke jumped off the demon/Keyblade tide, Shadow heartless raining down with Keyblades, the two dodging and now dealing with many enemies.

“Okay so this is a bunch of new, like we’re supposed to fight Zeke, not literally everything else.” Joy frowned and this sudden turn of events.

As the two cleared out the heartless wave, Zeke came back out, raising a hand as all the still remaining Keyblades floated up, each gaining a copy of Zeke to wield them as Zeke themselves hid within the crowd of look alikes. “Okay now THAT is Bullshit!” Luxu yelled.

“So...why the fuck are we scared of bad guys again?” Joy asked, the fact Ben beat them both with his bare hands and Zeke can do this just makes it feel like literally nothing can stop them. “Like...really? Why are we even here at this point?” Joy asked while seeing the literal hundreds of Zeke clones. “So...you take the four hundred on the left, I’ll take the four hundred on the right.”

“They're not going to be as strong as him, so it's mostly just dealing with their numbers.” Luxu said. “Get behind me.” Luxu said, pushing Joy behind him as he raised Lunatic, it's Rage mode activating but it was different, glowing far brighter. “Moons Wrath!” Luxu shouted, slamming Lunatic Down as a massive blast of energy went outwards, the entire arena engulfed by it as the force of the impact blasted high speed winds in every direction.

When the effect ended all the clone Zeke's were gone, leaving the original protected by a Reflect spell.

“I mean...I was hoping for you to continue to reference but sure that was cool.” Joy said honestly.

Luxu didn't reply, but fell to his knees, grabbing his side. “Shit. The backlash was more than I expected.”

“Well looks like I’m gonna have to protect you while you recover.” Joy said while standing in front of Luxu knowing Zeke would want to attack right now.

Zeke lifted a hand up, the X-Blade appearing now as they swung it. For a second it seemed as if nothing transpired, but then a shockwave of energy blasted Luxu and Joy off the station of Awakening.

The two hit the ground at the selection hallway, still awake unlike with Ben. “Well, could have been worse…” Luxu said, downing another Mega Potion.

Joy also downed a mega potion. “Okay so that’s two out of a few dozen that we can’t beat so far...seriously the hell happened?”

“People change, this thing must change to reflect the changes to the people who beat someone in it.” Luxu said, sitting on the ground and looking at the slice to his cloak. “Shit…”

“Well I’m sure Rarity or Coco wouldn’t mind patching that up.” Joy said honestly.

“No…” Luxu said with a sigh. “I've worn this very cloak since before I even Met the Foretellers. It's stitches and magic are both long forgotten arts. No one alive today can repair this cloak.”

“You do know Zeke is literally Kingdom Hearts right? We can ask him for help.” Joy said. “And technically your old man is still alive so he might know as well.”

“Do you want me to kill you? Never will I ask that piece of garbage for help.” Luxu said, standing up. “Besides, he's not even really my dad.”

“Then what the fuck.” Joy frowned. “You said he was multiple times.”

“In title, maybe. He made me anyway.”

“Well better start explaining then.” Joy said honestly.

Luxu took a breath. “You'd know me better by this. I'm a Replica.” Luxu stated. “Made from his memories of himself at youth given a physical form. The day I woke up he told me I was the only one he could truly trust, because he trusts no one but himself.”

“Well...that’s a thing.” Joy said honestly. “Oh um...question, given that we have Kingdom Hearts 3...should I even bother questioning those parts?”

“Had you and the others never arrived to this reality that would be the path I would have walked, you arrived and changed history, the future he saw now altered, so the past changed to adapt to the changed future.”

“Alrighty then.” Joy said honestly. “Sounds about right...I mean, we were ten or so years behind the start of the KH1 right?” He asked, remembering that Terranort was still Ansem’s apprentice so it had to be a long time ago for them.

“Time wise yes.”

“Alright.” Joy nodded. “Time is weird.”

“It's not as many as you think it is.”

“What?” Joy asked curiously, wondering what he meant by that.

“People refer to time as a flow, like a river or stream. In fact it's more like a layered object, like pages in a closed book, the words can change easily and traversing the pages, to past and future, can be done in several ways. The easiest is by sending one's heart back. When traversing the past you keep your memories from there as it's events that have already happened. When traversing the future, the experiences and memories are kept in the future, upon returning to your point in time, it's a natural prohibitory of paradoxes.” Luxu said, standing up. “At least, that's how it works for our realm. So, who next?”

“Alrighty then…” Joy said. “Um...who do you want to go against now? Cause so far this has been nothing but a shitshow really.”

“Hmm… How about… dear old 'dad’.” Luxu motioned to the hooded silhouette of his maker. “I know all his moves. We can use that to our advantage.”

“Would be fun to actually fight someone that won’t one shot us.” Joy said honestly.

“We'll see.” Luxu said.

Upon entering the next arena the two stood atop a station of Awakening that displayed only the blue eye of the Gazing Eye. “Him and that damned eye of his.” Luxu huffed.

“How the hell is his eye still working after all these years and him losing his entire body?” Joy asked honestly. “Magic only goes so far when keeping an eye from just turning to dust.”

“It's more like he linked the Gazing Eye Keyblade to himself. That Keyblade is the reason after losing his body and heart, he still lingered. It's an anchor for him, now that he is back fully and pretty much immortal now all it does it send him what it sees in the future.”

“Oh boy, I wonder if he’ll say something bad about the future during our fight.” Joy said honestly, knowing these enemies don’t actually talk but it would be funny to hear some future sight crap from him.

“Likely.” Luxu said, The Master of Masters appearing, no weapon drawn.

Joy summoned Lindworm and prepared to fight. “Again with the starting off with no weapons huh?” Joy brought up, wondering if it’ll be a Ben thing all over again.

Snapping his fingers, The Master of Masters summoned forth the Foretellers Keyblades, each floating around him, then The Gazing Eye in his right hand. Luxu was gritting his teeth. “Don't you dare use those Keyblades!” He roared, summoning Lunatic and activating Rage Mode.

“Well...this isn’t gonna be pretty…” Joy said nervously as he kneeled down and vanished, sending his lances down towards his opponents from up high.

The floating Keyblades deflected the Lance's, and Luxu crossed weapons with the Silhouette of his maker, neither getting a hit in as they blocked or evaded strikes. Joy created a barrier of wind, using it offensively as he rushed the Master, the floating Keyblades getting deflected as they managed to hit him.

Joy grabbed one of his Lances and when he got close enough he tried to stab one of the Master’s legs, trying to at least slow him down and let Luxu get in some clean hits.

He managed to stab his left foot, the action gave Luxu three clean hits in before he backed up, floating high above them as the Foretellers Keyblades all formed a circle around him and began lighting up. “Joy, toss me up there!”

Joy pointed a lance underneath Luxu, the ancient keyblade wielder feeling a build up of wind before it rocketed him up towards the Foretellers Keyblades. Luxu soared up towards his maker and former maser, activating Rage form, but Joy noticed this one held a red tinge to it. “Moons Sorrow.” Luxu said, the impact nearly blasted Joy off the arena, only stable by a lance or three embedded in the ground behind him for stability. When the force of the impact was done Luxu had Jumped back to Joy’s side and The Master of Masters was seemingly unconscious.

“Scan.” Joy blinked, his eyes glowing gently as he tried to see how much health the bastard had.

The Master of Masters only had one bar, but it was very low now. A few more clean hits can end this.

Joy didn’t want to know what phase thing he could do, or what final attack he could do as Joy made sure to turn the ‘unconscious’ enemy into a pincushion before fully getting up. “Don’t care, your not getting up ya old fuck.”

Luxu and Joy rushed the unconscious person, ready to land the final hit. The Master of Masters reacting at the last second, casting Reflect Just before Impact. Luxu noticed, and pulled Joy and himself out of the way before the spell returned the damage.

“Well the cheeky bastard still has some fight in him huh?” Joy growled.

“He never stops fighting.” Luxu growled. Activating Lunatic’s Rage form again. “I got one more of that attack in me. Give me an opening.”

“Alright.” Joy said before just immediately using on of his Signature move. “Ouranos Fall.” Joy said while the Master of Masters suddenly felt like an entire Earth’s atmosphere was condensed down onto him, forcing him into his knees as he bared the burden. “Five point five quintillion tons is holding him down, end it!” Joy said, there being some strain in his voice as the attack was pretty powerful.

Another red ting covered Lunatic as Luxu rushed in, Keyblades trying to deflect the incoming hit, but Luxu seemingly warped behind him, slapping Lunatic on the Master of Masters back.

After the force of the impact faded again, they saw thirteen chests before them, and slowly descending above, a Dancing Number 1 Organization 13 Mushroom Heartless. “That...is… so worth it.” Luxu said, chuckling as the little guy floated down towards them.

“Hey little guy, how you doin?” Joy asked the Mushroom.

Once the Mushroom hit the ground they clapped at the two, doing a backflip, vanishing back into Darkness and leaving behind a MASSIVE chest. Luxu whistled. “Woah. Never seen a chest this big.”

“I have, and so did Ben and we got so much crap from it.” Joy said honestly. “So, start with the small chests or the big one?”

“Hmm. Small. Save the big one for last.” Luxu said, the two opening the first chest. Inside was Two Keychains. One was Braveheart, Joy recognizing it from KH3, the other was a Keyblade that Joy had never seen before. It's blade looked like gears climbing to a clock, it's hour and minute hand formed the teeth, it's grip and handguard was were a series of stop watches. “Holy shit.” Luxu said, taking it. “It's back.”

“What’s back?” Joy asked curiously.

“My first Keyblade. An early prototype of the No Name Keyblades. Time Flow.” Luxu said, feeling the blade. “When he gave me the Gazing Eye, he said this would be destroyed… it's the only one of its kind.”

“Well this place is magic.” Joy said. “I was told Lake, Zeke’s light half, was killed off a while ago...and then Ben came here and beat it and got Lake back somehow.” Joy shrugged. “So super magic can bring things back apparently.”

Luxu placed Time Flow down, summoning Gazing Eye. “I have my Keyblade back. So I won't need this anymore.” Luxu said, throwing Gazing Eye off the arena's edge, and into the abyss below. “Good riddance.” He said, picking Time Flow back up.

“Right then.” Joy said while taking Braveheart and opening up another chest. “What’s in chest number two?”

The second chest held… a cell phone? “A gummi phone?” Luxu asked. “Huh, a newer model too.”

“Cause that’s what we need, a phone.” Joy said. “Still find it a little stupid that in KH3 they have freaking Twitter…”

Chest number three had materials to upgrade Keyblades, chest four had ten thousand Rem, which Joy and Luxu split. Number five held upgrades for both Lunatic and Lindworm. Lunatic now able to create three are impact rings from one hit, and Lindworm now able to send air bullets from each Lance tip at will.

“Cool.” Joy said honestly. “This is gonna be nifty.” Joy said while opening up the sixth chest.

Inside the sixth chest was a note, it's words being translated by his Assistant so he can read it.

Beware your Traitor.

“Well that’s not ominous.” Joy said. “Wonder why this is a thing…”

“Is this telling us one of the council is a traitor?” Luxu warned. “If that's true then… who are they working for? I doubt Spoiled. After Trixie was captured we beefed security and perform weekly memory scans on us all.”

“I’ve heard Nexus is supposed to be a big bad organization from Cript and Ben, but so far they have literally done fuck all and don’t seem that scary.” Joy said. “But we’re going to keep them in mind cause they are basically Nazi’s so maybe Nexus?”

“I’ve crossed paths with them before twice. First was when they were harvesting a world of all it's resources. This was back when I just lost my body, so I could fight them. Second was when a scout was exploring the Realm of Darkness, if it wasn't for a Demon Tide showing up they'd have escaped with a page from the book of Prophecies I found after the Keyblade war. Thankfully when it showed up they dropped it while running.”

“Alrighty then, so just standard bad guy stuff.” Joy said.

“From what I do know it's their ability to buy people's trust. They can be your childhood friend and you'd never know it til they want you to know. From what I gather it's not uncommon for them to recruit infants after birth and over the years slowly mold them into their little loyal puppets. They take their time and gather data before acting. They are extremely patient.”

“And yet their leader was killed off offscreen from what Ben was told.” Joy said honestly. “Cript did it cause who would have fucking guessed, but still that doesn’t really ‘bode well’ for their track record.” Joy said honestly, knowing he shouldn’t underestimate them but considering what he’s seen, done, and what Ben can easily do it kind of diminishes their ‘fear factor’.

“Well the scout I ran into was easily able to keep up with me, and I have thousands of years worth of combat experience and training, ancient knowledge and long lost Keyblade arts, and that guy kept up with it all. They avoid conflict but when they need to they can apparently stand their ground when needed.”

“I mean, from what Cript said they basically churn out Psychopaths like it’s going out of style...which to be perfectly honest it kinda did a while ago.” Joy said. “We haven’t even fought any of those bastards in a while but...they’re not that scary anymore to be perfectly honest.”

“You ever kill one?” Luxu asked. “Don't underestimate an enemy just because another can deal with them easily. That's like saying the Lingering Will fight in KH2 is easy because you saw a guy on the internet beat in on a LV1 critical mode run without taking damage.”

“I mean...I beat Zeke without the fucker holding back because of this crap.” Joy brought up. “So by pomp and circumstances yes, yes I have.”

“You did but now as you saw it's changed, because Zeke changed. Each loss means your enemy changes, perfects their tactics. And we both got one shot by Zeke just a bit ago. The more someone losses, the stronger they get for the rematches.”

“This is just gonna go in circles at this point I can tell.” Joy said honestly while going to the next chest.

“That's our different perspectives I guess. Let's check the next chests then.” Chest number seven held some, oddly enough, Japan sodas, eight had a book. All but one page containing seven words were blank. “May your heart be your guiding key.” Luxu read allowed. “ Why only write seven words in a book this large?”

“Well first up why does it say that specifically?” Joy brought up. “Like...oddly specific it would have words in it from your time.”

“It’s older than Daybreak. When Kingdom Hearts, and this is legends long forgotten, gave people Keyblades, and the X-Blade, it spoke these words. They date back to the birth of the first Keyblades, and X itself. They hold a lot of meaning.”

“So then why the hell would a book have those words in it if that’s the case?” Joy questioned. “Does the book have any identifiers?”

“Not really. All dull brown, no noticeable title… hmm. I wonder…” Luxu placed the book down, raising his Keyblade and as the tip glowed a Keyhole appeared on the cover of the book. “It is!” He said, shutting it down. “It's a Datascape.”

“Oh boy, I wonder where it leads?” Joy said. “But first, the other chests.”

Chest nine was a Book of different Shotlocks, ten was synthesis materials, eleven was an Ultima weapon Luxu let Joy have, and Twelve was a Moogle charm. “Hey, I remember these. If you get knocked out they wake you up immediately.”

“Cool.” Joy said with a nod. “Now, onto the big one.”

The two walked up to the massive chest. Upon opening it, nothing seemed to jump out. The two looked at one another then Luxu jumped up to look inside. When he looked inside he immediately fell off, landing on his ass and backing up in fear. “No, no, no.” He said, hyperventilating.

“It can’t be that scary.” Joy said while floating up to look inside the chest. Joy now understood Luxu's fear. The Void Key Keyblade was in the chest. “Excuse me how the fuck!?” Joy asked in fear.

“It can't be here. No, bad dream.” Luxu said, gripping his head. “It should have been destroyed with Daybreak. I checked myself, it was shattered.”

“This place doesn’t give a rats ass what happened in our world...either this place, or the Mushroom’s are so strong to just make brand new ones out of thin air…” Joy said worriedly.

“Why bring that thing back?!”

“Well...let’s see if there’s a note here…” Joy said while floating down to the Keyblade and checking to see if there was a note. “Also...maybe we might hear the thing talk which is a scary thought…” There was no note, but Joy did try to see if this Keyblade had some kind of mind to speak with. “Hello? Anyone in there?” Joy asked while focusing hard to hear the voice of the Keyblade.

Show...me… A low, disturbed voice spoke, sending chills down Joy's back and making his fur stand on end.

“Show you what?” Joy asked, having a very bad feeling about this.

Show me… a Keyblade…

“You won’t try to kill it will you?” Joy asked.

I need...to kill. I exist, to slaughter. I will end… every Keyblade, and shatter… the X-Blade.

“No.” Joy frowned. “Cause guess what numbnuts, that’s not your calling anymore.”

Pittifull statement, you believing I actually listen to the one who wields me. Quite the opposite.

“I mean, if you say so.” Joy said while the Keyblade felt Nothingness creep onto it’s blade. “Nothingness is the Antithesis to Void, and I’ve gotten pretty good at countering it. So, would you like to change your tune or will I have to make it bad for you?”

Hehehe. A chain put onto a wild animal only works for so long, young pup. After all, I've been returned to life to find the one who will wield me truly. I can sense they and you have crossed paths once, I doubt you even realized.

“Chains?” Joy asked, the Keyblade feeling the thorns start to dig into it. “Who said anything about chaining? Your too dangerous for anyone to use, so maybe I should just shatter you before you can find your wielder and stab us all in the back.” Joy growled.

Hehehehehe. Hahahahaha! Damage me, yes. Shatter me? You nore your King can pull that off. Besides, I can feel the one that will wield me, and give me what I ask for. Guess that note was right after all, you do have a traitor in your castle.

“Who is it?” Joy growled. “And you don’t understand a single thing either me, or Ben can do. And believe me, if Ben was here he’d have done more than just ‘shatter’.” Joy said, knowing full well Ben is an Admin and was strong enough to do just that.

I've enjoyed this little conversation, but I'm afraid it has come to its conclusion. I won't tell you who your traitors are, but I'll let you know a clue. It's the people you'd expect the least. Hahahaha! Void Key laughed, vanishing from Joy's grip in a haze of void.

“Dumb fuck doesn’t even know Ben would find him and the traitor rather quickly.” Joy said honestly as he flew out of the chest.

“You didn't pay close attention.” Luxu said, still on the ground, grabbing his head. “He said Traitors. Plural… we have more than one. Even if we find him and the one… we have stars know how many more…”

“Ben’s gonna fucking flip...wait no, he’s already flipping the fuck out.” Joy said, thankful for their mental connection sometimes as Ben’s hundreds of thousands of clones at this point were now on a hunt for whoever the fuck were the traitors. “Sometimes forget he has his own personal army of himself sometimes.” Joy brought up.

“Joy, if we are dealing with Nexus, then we aren't going to find them.” Luxu said, finally standing up. “Like smart rats they know how to hide, in shadows and in plain sight.”

“Nexus agent’s, as far as I remember from when Ben went to an old world of Cripts, is that all Nexus agents have a small blue dot on their hand. Now sure they can probably hide it and it would be dumb if they didn’t but...well Ben’s an Admin, and given Ben knows there are traitors he can ask Cript how else to find Nexus agents.” Joy said honestly. “Nexus maybe formidable against unprepared forces, but when you have them faced off against prepared people who know what they can do in some way shape or form...they’re not that scary.” Joy said. “Cript made them sound like they are a super strong thing, I-” Joy was suddenly cut off as he fell to his knees and shouted in pain. “Gah! Fuck what the hell!?!” He shouted as he felt someone in his head.

”I’ll make this right... Joy heard someone mentally say before the voice and feeling suddenly vanished just as quickly as it came.

“Joy!” Luxu said, rushing beside the pup. “What's wrong?!”

“Well...don’t know who but someone said ‘I’ll make this right’...” Joy said while shaking his head. “Fuck...now I want chocolate milk for some reason…”

“Personal experience tells me when someone says they will make something right, they don't actually have good intentions.” Luxi said, helping the pup up. “Let's get out of here. I'm dropping you off at the infirmary, and then I'll talk with the others about this Traitor, possibly traitors.”

“How much you want to bet one of them is Grael?” Joy asked while putting a hand to his head. “But...the voice...sounded pretty sad.”

“I didn't hear a thing.” Luxu said. “Wonder why you heard it only?”

“There’s only one person I share a mental connection like that…” Joy said slowly. “But...I don’t know. But again, have any good obvious guesses as to who might be the traitors?”

“Like I said, they could be people we know and trust wholeheartedly. In all honesty though I doubt it's one of the council.”

“Let’s hope that’s true.” Joy said. “But Ben would have already done the obvious of hunting down anyone with a blue dot on their hand, Nexus probably wouldn’t know Ben has that knowledge.”

“If they know he and Cript are now family then they might. Plus, they have some minor manipulation of Code, hiding said mark would be simple I imagine. Like disbanding and summoning a Keyblade.”

“Ben is is a little weird with his paranoia. He either believes nothing’s wrong when other people are around...or at the moment he’s making every little detail the biggest thing in the world.” Joy brought up. “So it’s going to be a pain for whoever Nexus is having hide in our place to actively hide.”

“Whatever the case, something tells me something worse is still coming.”

“Yeah...something much worse.” Joy said worriedly, still not knowing who that voice was when only him and Ben shared that kind of mental link.

Nexus Reports: Infultration

Operative: [REDACTED]
Subject of interest: Heir to Nothingness Ben.
Task: Infiltrate and Observe Subject.

Entry Number: [REDACTED]

Subject’s arrival from home world has not affected their own biology in any way. It seems unlikely environmental factors will be an issue for them. So far Subject has taken residents in local Library of Ponyville. Subject is a rather serious, depressed individual with clear psychological issues. A likely obstacle. Given Subjects personality treatment is an unlikely. Subject appears fully capable of wielding all of the Kings weapons, lack of experience is clearly visible in their combat.

Entry Number: [REDACTED]

Subject has gathered more mates, surprisingly. The fact they received one was a surprise, two and unexpected outcome. Subject's combat experience grows, but proper use of their weapons still shows amature levels of skill and technique. It would seem that, subject has made contact with Project Cript #77321097, also known as Zeke Ventral. Their contact lead to an interesting discovery. The two can bring back those fallen to dark was by summoning their Heartless and Nobody. This Core individual they encountered was noted in Agent [REDACTED] notes. Orders state to ignore them.

Entry Number: [REDACTED]

Shortly after both the encounter with Core, Subject has joined Cript #66012371, the first successful Cript Project specimen's family. They have gained an anthropomorphic dire wolf appearance. A recent incident in the world due to an unexpected Shadow creature appearance, a Titan, left the city of Manehattan demolished with very few survivors. Subject places all blame on self. How 'heroic’.

Entry Number: [REDACTED]

Recent events have allowed me Access into Subjects personal life. An unexpected but invaluable opportunity. Personal conversations with subject have allowed me to obtain extra data, as well as from their respective family. More so than I ever got from my ever blind little mole. Relationships have played their part and I've been rewarded for establishing them prior to Subjects arrival.

Entry Number: [REDACTED]

Subject is aware of my presence. I highly doubt they can tell I am their traitor. Before their search began the Void Key Keyblade appeared to me. I've sent it to Nexus HQ for testing and if possible, Replication. Such a valuable tool should be more openly available to us. Subject's Starfish clones are approaching. Entries will be suspended for an unknown period of time.

Operative: [REDACTED]
Subject: ???
Objective: Study the anomaly.

Entry Number: [REDACTED]

Subject has been born. Appears to be intelligent higher than that of a standard infant. Possible forced rebirth with memories intact, too early to tell.

Entry Number: [REDACTED]

Subject is now a year. Both he and his sister possess a vastly higher intellect than that of their peers, while Subjects likely stems from their forced rebirth, their sister seems intelligent based solely of luck of genetics. As to be expected of the majority of Twilight Sparkle Reflections.

Entry Number: [REDACTED]

Subject summoned forth two Keyblades. Oathkeeper and Oblivion. This anomaly truely is interesting. Time to use my relationship with Subject to my Advantage.

Entry Number: [REDACTED]

Subject and their sister have left for Ponyville. All data proves Subject is a natural born version of our Scouts. Their is Psychopath blood within them, perhaps this could become os use.

Entry Number: [REDACTED]

Subject has encountered Agent [REDACTED] Target and Project Cript #77321097. Confirmation of data about Subject being g reborn. They've established a form of cooperation.

Entry Number: [REDACTED]

Subject has left for a year of training with Cript, that Cript. Upon return they arrive to a world they are no longer fully familiar with, recent events lead to mass deaths and abductions. I myself picked up a few residents for examination back at Lab Kel #7732. These subjects are getting g very strong. With this realms Princesses either retired from royalty or fled it, it's government structure is unstable. Infiltration of government and local authorities complete.

Entry Number: [REDACTED]

We have been revealed. How is unknown but they do not know who we are. Agents [REDACTED] and [REDACTED] at risk. I am clear however. We will be acting soon. Now the fun will begin.

Operative: [REDACTED]
Target: Cript Project #77321097 (Zeke Ventral)
Objective: Handler

Entry Number: [REDACTED]

This world is dying. Typical, I'm embarrassed to be one of these lowly Equines. I'd have left for HQ but I'm Project Cript #77321097's Handler. Finally the experiment is going to be put into a proper environment, and real data about this one's potential can be retrieved. It's taken two resets to get their mental state to where we want them, after finally eliminating that thorn in our sides that seduced the project. He'll be arriving soon. Best take possission.

Entry Number: [REDACTED]

It's been some months. This Yellow Core and some others after making contact with Agent [REDACTED] target and the anomaly have revived many. Keeping my possission is easy, and nobody is the wiser, typical. My species is idiotic. The project shows excellent combat prowess, bus seems to hold back. An issue clearly, must be rectified somehow.

Entry Number: [REDACTED]

Subject has evolved. Prior entries explain their evolution from Human to A X-blade. Now a second body they've taken and the same result. This is truly unexpected, but invaluable data nonetheless.

Entry Number: Final

Project is a complete Success. Admin rank and power obtained. Data submitted to HQ. Now I wait for further orders.

Gathering Evil.

I've been feeling, so strange lately. I'm complete, I've faded. I'm no longer even truly alive. Yet somehow, I feel like I've given up on something so important. Yet, I don't know what that something is? Sometimes, I catch glimpses of their life now. The real me. They're happy. That's good at least. I don't think I did what I was truly meant to do.

…

Huh?

…

Can you really?

…

How do I know I can trust you?

…

Fair enough. Will I hurt them when I'm freed?

…

Alright then. I accept

An interesting proposal. And I can feel that power you promise radiate from you. Tell me, why me?

…

One of many? Do you seek strength in numbers?

…

Ah. So you seek those worthy to help you cultivate your ambition. Enlighten me, what is it you seek to obtain.

…

Hahahahaha! Oh my friend, we will get along swimmingly.

I see, higher being. To follow you I can finally obtain my goal of the elimination of all life.

…

Yes. Yes I understand. My plans in the past while well structured lacked the aid of others whose skills I lacked.

…

Yes. And I can make those heros pay for reducing me to this… putrid form of flesh and blood. Fin the Human and Jake the Dog will die for this.

Do tell, what can you offer me?

…

And they will only me, so long as they are not of the darkness of this… realm, correct?

…

And while I also gather like minded individual, all of us have a reason to take vengeance on that weekend Keyblade empire… Daybreak. Like speaking foul trash just saying it's name.

…

How? Doesn't that Zeke control all Keyblades?

…

Oh. How interesting. Very well then. We are in agreement. When will I receive this… Void Key?

…

Very well.

Tell me creature, why should I cooperate with you?

…

The Omnitrix is mine, this is true, and you believe yourself capable of obtaining it for me?

…

Craft them?! Can you truly?

…

Give that to me! Yes! Finally!

…

Is that so? Well then, it would seem Tennyson and his allies are now finally mine to crush like the Insects they truly are.

…

Oh? Intriguing. Tell me more.

…

Yes. Yes! An alliance it is then, keep your end of the bargain and produce to me these Ultamatrixes you promise, and I shall follow your orders.

This child, she will be the key to all my planning.

…

I see. What is it you would ask in return?

…

Heh. I can work with that.

I see. An interesting arrangement you propose. Why me exactly? What drew a being of your superiority to me?

…

Ambition? Surly there is more to it than that?

…

I see. My ethics, style and calculative movesets are what you wish to make use of?

…

I can appreciate a good game like any other, so, what will I get in return for this alliance?

…

Is that so? Hmm… agreed. I look forward to our partnership.

I see. Quite the interesting proposal you have offered. I accept.

…

Yes, that simple. I can tell you are a man of… many skills. Skills we both can make use of. The simple scratch my back and I scratch yours agreement is all I require.

…

My motives are not as solid as money, power or infamy. No. I require Judgement.

…

Yes. I enjoy testing heros and seeing what they are truly made of once pushed over their limits into the abyss of panic and Insanity. One such young hero continues to intrigue me. Robin. Do you know of him?

…

Sidekick or not, he has the fortitude to become something Noble, or devilish, is broken enough.

…

I'm Glad we can see eye to eye on the matter. It's so hard to find someone who shares or can at least understand the concepts of my ideals.

If it's war you crave my friend, then we are at your disposal. We crave a proper war, complete war. Can you truthfully offer me such a war?

…

Yes! Wonderbarg! Give me a war that no one, not mortals or demons and God's alike will ever forget! Now then, get with the resurrection, it's hot down here in hell!

So let me see if I can understand you here. You break into MY office, kill MY colleagues, and you have to audacity to say you want to form an alliance?!

…

Any what makes me think you won't stab me in the back later on?

…

What kind of goal?

…

And why would I want to be a part of that?

…

Hmm… you can really give me what I want?

…

Ha. Now you're talking my language.

Such nobility of yours. I'm honored to be speaking with you.

…

I see. Why ask me? I'm just the queen of a small kingdom?

…

Hahaha! That I am. I've been called many things. I accept the offer then. Just one condition.

…

Keep me and my loyal right hand here together.

…

I'm amazed. Most assume us lovers, when in fact the truth is quite sad and hardly anybody remembers. I'm impressed you saw the truth of the matter.

You have the entirety of our organization at your disposal, my king.

…

Change our ways? For what reason?

…

Our goals and yours do co-exist fluidly.

…

You… you mean that?

…

I...I never imagined the day would arrive…

…

Yes. Yes of course. Once we are where we belong, we can finally stop hiding and observing. Finally the experiments can stop.

…

Hm?

…

Oh. OH! Oh my king… how devilish of you.

…

Three. One for each.

…

Oh yes… that will break them spiritually for quite some time.

…

Yes. Replication is providing stable.

…

Yes. Finally, we will become Admins again. Nexus, is yours, my king.

Daybreak Files: Case 7495748KJ

The training went well for the group. A.J was very talented for being so young, he’s mastered Dark Volly, and enjoyed the Thundershock command style.Patches was surprised to see he developed a unique ranged style of fighting using specific attacks and spells.

Violet was a surprise to Patches, she was a brawler, Critical impact was her preferred Command style. She didn’t like Shotlocks all that much and loved the explosion finisher. She even managed to learn to shift her Keyblade into gauntlet form. A very difficult task even for most Keyblade masters. She even managed to utilize Valor form, shifting out a second Keyblade for pure energy flooding her arm and fist to deal strong hits, or her Key-Gun for powerful bash attacks or harder hitting shots. She was a one girl army.

Louis was a wild card, as always. His attacks were random but planned with forethought. He was difficult to predict, and often annoyed his opponents with terrible singing. All in all, Patches pitied the poor fool who fought him. it had been a while since any of them heard word from Clemintine, but they knew she was alright. She was, as Patches put it, someone above God, so knowing that, they didn’t worry too much, but they did still miss her.

“When do you think Clem will show up?” A.J asked, the group sat at a campfire, fresh farmed veggies and pork cooking over a flame.

“I dunno. I try not to think about it, but in all honesty it’’s hard not too.” Violet spoke up.

“Ditto.” Louis said simply, roasting a fish over the fire. “I mean, we’re safe, we’re becoming bad asses, we’re well fed for the first time in years… and yet even though we know she is okay, it’s just not the same without her here.”

“Think she’s thinking about us too?” Willy asked. Out of all of them he still needed work. Patches often had to help him out more than the other.

“I’m sure she does.” Asim said. Often times he was hesitant to be near fires, since he was a pro, how he got into the school in the first place, but Patches taught him to embrace it, so long as he used his fire to help others, not just to see things burn. Asmin was a true Keyblade pyromancer. Every fire based attack and spell he knew, Flame salvio was his Shotlock and Firestorm his Command Style, his own fre resistance was now so great, he could place his hands within fire and not feel the burning heat, but the gentle warmth. He now often scared his friends with how he acted at times, but it was him. He was finally his true self. “If we’re always thinking of her, then she is too.”

“Yeah. It will be okay A.J.” Mitch spoke. Since hi training began Mitch’s anger had lessened. His temper was always aaaaaan issue in life, but now he had a funnel for it, a way of properly venting it, through his training and explosive spells and attacks, he could be himself and help others, no longer was he called a menace. “What was that thing Patches always said? May your heart be your guiding key?”

“Yeah, it means hat as long as you listen to your heart, you’lll be alright.” Ruby said. Unlike the others she was the team medic. Purely focused on healing spells and items. She carried many potions and elixirs, things of that nature and learned to use the healing spells at their fullest without draining all of her own magic. Of course for the more serious injuries she did keep a mobile medics kit with her at all times. While she could fight she was mostly the medic of the team.

“Yeah. You guys are right.” A.J said confidently. “We’ll be okay, annnnd when Clemintine finally does visit, we’ll be Keyblade Masters, and have killed every last walker on earth.”

“From your mouth to god’s ears kid.” Asim said.

The next day Patches was helping Willy with Flowmotion again, the others sparing for combat practice. After a few hours WIlly managed to run up one of the giant trees and land safely rather than on his face, Patches called them all to form a line. “Alright you brats! You are all improving so well! Save for you Willy, you still need work.” That earned a chuckle from everyone at Willy’s expence. “Now then, today we have some special guests arriving from Daybreak. These are the currently top three ranking fighters in Daybreak. They are officially called the Triple Threat, but the people often refer to them as The Bad Time Trio.” Patches announced.

“Bad Time Trio?” Asim asked.

“Yes. They each alone are very powerful, but together are nearly unstoppable.”

“Must be good with their Keyblades.” Louis said.

“Actually, while they are god with them they don’t always if ever use their Keyblades in combat. They use special magic attacks native to their own world.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“When will they be here?” Violet asked.

“We are here buddy.” Said a rather low-yet high pitched voice. Violet spun around, then screamed, backing up as she laid eyes on a standing, talking Skeleton in fuzzy slippers, shorts and wearing a blue jacket. “Hey no need to scream, it’s like you got the Skeleton scared out of ya.”

“That was horrible Sans.” Patches groaned.

“Woah.”AJ said, walking up to Sans. “You’re alive?”

“As alive as the skin on my bones.” Sans said.

“But you don’t have skin?”

“Jeez kid, pretty blunt aren’t ya.”

“Must not be very HUMerus.” Said another voice, also appearing behind violet, making her scream yet again and run off behind Louis, stood a taller Skeleton, smoking a cigarette, somehow, and wearing shorts, showes, and an orange sweatshirt. “Heh, I like that girl.”

“Can ou two stop that!” Violet screamed. “I about had a heart attack!”

“Yeah...so who are you then?” Louis asked.

“Names Papyrus.” The taller skeleton said. “And that’s Chara.”

Violet slowly turned her head around, seeing Papyrus was motioning behind her, and saw the creepiest little child ever. She promptly ran off back to the castle screaming so loudly, it was heard all the way in the Valley of Defilement. “Geeze, not very brave is she?” Chara asked, wearing shorts, shoes, and a green hoodie.

“Huh, two Skeletons and a kid?” Louis questioned.

“I may be a kid but I’m stronger than most adults.” Chara said.

“Alright get in line you lot, and someone go fetch violet today we work on your evasion and pattern recognition!” Patches yelled, Ruby running off to find Violet and the others getting in formation, waiting.

After an hour Ruby came back with a rather angery Violet, to be fair though she did get the scare of her life three times. “Now then, You’ve all done well and developed your own combat styles down to a T, but it’s important to not become too predictable.”

“Predictable?” Asim asked.

“Yes. For example, Louis , you always start an attack or combo with a powerful upright swing and end it the same way, Violet, you start with a hard thrust forwards, and end it with a hard slam down.” Patches said. “There is nothing wrong with having an attack pattern and style that you find comfortable and easy to use, but rely on it sol and the enemy can predict your attacks before you even make them simply by following how you move and your stances.”

“So how do we avoid that?” Violet asked.

“Have multiple. Make many, and then change them up randomly, even figure out how to shift between them mid-combo to throw off the enemy.”

“That’s where we come in.” Sans spoke aloud. “While our attack patterns can be earned and dodged they are fact and often sporadic. We often also combine them together at the same time, leaving little if any room for the enemy to dodge us, leaving them only the option of taking the hits or trying to block them.”

“We also make sure to keep the ways we swap between our attack patterns as rapid and hard to tell when or which pattern we will switch too.” Papyrus added.

“And while some of us don't deal too much damage we can make up for our lack of damage, durability, or endurance with some special little abilities.” Chara finished.

“Mine is called Karmic Retribution.” Sans said. “The sins on your soulI use to deal damage over time, while I can only ever deal one damage, even with my Keyblade, but with Karmic retribution all my damage stacks per hit, dealing extra damage over time and ignores all forms of defence, even magical.”

“I like to call mine Karma Counter. For every attack I block, depending on the sins on your soul, the damage you dealt to me is multiplied per sin back to you.” Papyrus said.

“I call mine Revenge Caliber. Per person slain by my enemy my speed and durability increases, however it does not affect my endurance at all.” Chara said.

“So how do we learn abilities like that?” A.J asked.

“Over time, with study, sometimes special people can just teach or give them to you. It all depends really, but your lesson today isn’t about that. It’s about randomizing your attack patterns, and learning to be evasive.”

At that moment, Sains andPapyrus raised a hand, bones shot out from the ground and appeared in thin aig as blue and Orange Gaster Blasters of all sizes also appeared, AndChara made glowing red knives and fireballs appear all around them also. “So let’s get started.” Papyrus said.

“...Fuck..” Violet spoke everyone's shared thought aloud.

True Enemy.

Jerocho’s realm was destroyed after their first encounter when Cript imprisoned them within themselves. But things happen, things change. People change. What was once a bitter hatred for each other evolved into something more caring and loving, it was then the two realized their destinies as Mother and Belief. Jericho’s new hide out was deep in the near edge of creation, a small little fortress in it’s own right. Here Jericho’s elites and he himself, as well as the children of Ben, Eclipsa and Zeke were at. Cript was going to get all four out of there.

“Cript?” Jericho asked, sensing them arrive before they appeared in the nursery with them and the children. “WHat are you doing here? This might-”

“The cycle has been compromised.” Cript said, pulling Jericho up, handing him Nancy while Cript picked up Nix and Eclipse Jr. “Someone...something screwed with the timelines.”

“I thought that was Nexus when they took away Marcy?” Jericho asked, holding Nancy carefully.

“So did I but when I went back because Ben asked me for a favor I felt what was there and Jericho… It was stronger than me.”

“What? How can that even be possible out of the two of us you are the strongest and the Mother by right, how can anything be stronger than you?”

“I have no idea but this war is going to be something far, far worse than what was originally planned by the cycle.”

“What can be worse than an Admin war?”

“Extermination.” Cript said, holding Eclipse jr and Nix carefully. “Come on, they likely kno-” Suddenly, void began to fill the air, and creatures, creatures Cript nor Jericho had even seen began appearing. “Shit, they do know. Get! GO!” Cript yelled, opening a portal while handing Jericho Nix and Eclipse Jr, and shoving the group through, closing it fast.

“Ever fast to self sacrifice.” That voice sent chills down Cript’s back, not because of its tone, but because of who it belonged to. “Of course, that’s pretty pointless given you can’t die Cript.” Said the voice of someone who should be dead. Vincent. “Surprised?”

“I am. I’ll admit.” Cript said, regaining their composure. “So, what did I kill? Clone, substitute, you somehow back from the dead?”

“The last one yes. You see Cript you know that every Cycle you and Jericho are made time and time again to become the new Cycles Mother and Belief, and it makes ending an entire creation pretty pointless since you can’t die. But then that’s when my salvation, my goddess came to me.”

“Goddess? Since when are you a religious type?” Cript asked, readying a spell.

“You two are so alike, but unlike us, she and I have a common interest. Delete Everything.”

“Alike? What are you getting at you fucking megalomaniac.”

“You’re smart. You got two guesses. There’s countless cycles, countless Mothers, Beliefs… How far back do we have to look to find the first?”

“The first… of course. No wonder they were so strong, the oldest and obviously most powerful form of me… But if they are me, why are they evil, why are they helping you?”

“Loss is a hell of a thing.” Vincent said simply, raising their hand. “It can drive even the most sane and logical of us to complete insanity!” They shouted, slamming their hand to the ground. “Heavy Shake!”

The whole realm began shaking, breaking apart and more of this Purest Void began leaving inside. “Fuck.” Cript hissed, slapping their hand against the wall. “Ten Coffin Funeral.” At that, Ten coffins emerged from the breaking earth, and ten powerful undead emerged from them, charging Vincent. Cript knew it wasn’t going to last long, so he took the time to back away, looking for a safe spot to open a portal. “Come on. Any of this crap gets back with me it’s hell to pay.”

“Blissful Sleep!” Vincent shouted, a blinding light filled the hallway as Cript dodged into a room.

“Fucking hell.” He yelped, seeing some of the ones Jericho first took as recruits, covered with the pure void. “Seriously!?” He yelled, side stepping ones charge and elbowing the other, quickly crafting a powerful fire arm pistol from code and shooting the third as he dodged them, and putting some of the weapons special bullets into the others. Thankfully they stayed dead. “And now, the going down.” He said, punching the floor, falling down to the next as Vincent broke the rooms door down. Cript bolted into the hallway, trying to lose them.

“You can’t hide Cript! I can smell your power from anywhere!”

“Smell huh? I’ll fix that.” Cript muttered, taking a deep breath. “Rotten Air, Decayed Filth.” They said, exhaling a putrid fog that managed to stall Vincent a bit, the rancid stench rusting the walls and breaking the lights.

Taking the opportunity Cript opened a portal under them, and emerged back at Ben’s Castle. Quickly they closed it. “Phew!” They said, taking a seat. “Shit… this is a lot worse than expected… Heheh… At least it’s a fight that will last.”

“So that’s what’s happening?” Jericho asked. “Fuck, what about the Cycle? We’re kinda fucked if we don’t-”

“Relax Jericho.” Cript said firmly. “The time for that has not happened yet, nor is it near yet. There should still be time to both end this war and reverse the damage. But we are going to be changing the rules and way the cycle typically goes this time around.”

“Shit… Damn it if only I was eternal like you none of this would be happening.”

“Dosen’t matter now, fact is, this is worse than we expected. A lot worse. We’ll need all the help we can get, all the power we can get so the others have a fighting chance.”

“So what do we do?”

“... Admin Marriage.”

“Say what?!”

“Zeke is already a reflection of me, so that will make it stronger, plus if we fuse hearts like how Zeke and Eclipsa did, add in Ben, you… Yeah, this can work.”

“But that will be irreversible! And the Mother and Belief sharing a body?! We don’t even know what will happen when that happens, and the others-”

“May or may not become them also. In the end, it might just give us the edge we need.”

“But what about them? What kind of life can they all have if they become like us?”

“They can still have a life. Their family, ours, it will all become one, and the world that will come after will still provide challenge, adventure, and inspiration… for all eternity…”

“... There’s no talking you out of this, is there?”

“Nope!”

“Fuck…”

“Depends, do ya wanna?” Jericho immediately fell over with a beat red face, making Cript laugh. “Awh, so shy.”

“You tease…”

Surpassing Teachers

Breath rapid, lungs burning, the adventurer rushed through the damp alleyway, death itself chased him. It wore a purple robe and wooden facemask with no image or even eye holes. How he could see him, the adventurer wondered, but what made him flea truly was his demons, appearing in flashes of black that materialized from nothing. What misfortune brought me to this? The adventurer thought in fear as their pursuer calling forth even more of the demons.

"You can't escape me." The pursuer said as the came ever closer to their target.

"Why are you doing this?! Aren't you supposed to be a hero now?! Answer me Core!" These words were his final, as when he rushed the corner, he ran right into his pursuer Core, who jabbed his hand through the man's chest. Gripping his heart and breaking it.

"I'm not Core... I'm not anyone important." They said, removing their hand from the targets body. The lifeless corpse falling down and forming a puddle of their own blood.

"Very good Core, or do you prefer your serial number? K39?" Spoke the vipore tongued voice of Spoiled.

"Either is fine by me Master."

"I think this test is proof enough it's time to show Daybreak and all those hero's it's time they take her war preparations much more seriously. And remember, your priority is to retrieve the child, I don't care what you do with the birth mother."

"Yes Master." Core said with a bow. "I will gather the others."

Core sat at their desk within Daybreak. The paperwork was endless, but expected. The simple day to day work flow became routine fast but they had their field missions. Given their expertise with darkness and affiliated powers hey we're sent when an unknown negative energy was discovered. "At least all those years are going to some good use." Core muttered to himself, the latest reports on the front lines were looking worried. The number of casualties was climbing, as we're the enemy forces. More soldiers had to be selected and while hey we're not in short supply he found it distasteful to send out so many to their deaths. But if Core knew anything it was that war cost lives. Plain and simple.

With a sigh Core signed of on yet another deployment sheet. This time over fifty thousand as a start and more with extra supplies by week's end. Core wished to be out there, fighting, truly atoning for all those years he spent tying to destroy the realm of light. Reality itself. How foolish he was in blinding loss. Another mail delivery was delivered to his office, interrupting his reflection. He waved the delivery person. Or pony, Rather, given they were equine, a goodbye before sorting out the latest news and requests. A single file was labeled as urgent, and with rehearsed ease opened he files contained within.

What he read was worrying.

King Core, it is with great concern that I inform you trace amounts of void energy as well as some darkness. Upon investigation we discovered a base set on this world experimenting with boh heartless and void, we could not confirm this however the beings outside match they typical design of most pureblood heartless, only with horrifying mutations. Locals on this world known as Central City, have stayed clear of the place and even the local heroes of this world can't enter.

Those who attempted have either been deathly injured or have yet to exit, not even our own troops can enter the building. We request your assistance on the matter and please ask you attempt to gather Intel on the facility.

"Hmm. Pretty bold of them to set up shop so far into our own territory and claim it as their own. This spells trap all over it, but it's also gotta be a cover up. A distraction from the real attack here. Question is what?"

Getting up, Core placed all the extra documents to the side and looked up the location of this world, finding it. He began preparing to head out when, to his surprise, Luna, either Zeke's, Ben's or the many of Cript's came up to him.

"Hello Core." They said calmly.

"Luna... Which?"

"Ben was my husband first. To make things easier the others all agreed that given out marriage to Ben first and his affiliation to Nothingness, ruling it and all, we would go by Nobody names."

"Oh so the normal names but mixed around then with an X in it?"

"Yes. Mine is now Alxun."

"That... Sounds pretty cool. But why are you here then Lu- Alxun?"

"To Shadow you, of sorts."

"Hm?"

"As you know, I have a strong affiliation towards the sleeping worlds, but also to darkness, given past experience. I was hoping to learn a thing or two from you and then, one day, show Ben he doesn't have to worry so much. Even if he will still always worry I hope it will at least ease his mine some."

"So a miracle then?" Core said, he and Alxun sharing a laugh. He still felt that name strange, but it would take time for him and her to get used to it.

"Perhaps, but we both share a strong bond to the darkness. For reasons out own we let it consume us so the pain of out Hearts would numb. Hearing and reading about Drezke and looking into it has shown me one thing. Darkness and light can and do co-exist. Darkness can protect light when it is weak, and light can help darkness grow stronger."

"A codependent relationship?"

"Symbiotic more like it." Alxun stated with a smile.

Core gave a smile. Perhaps I can make use of all that research after all. Core thought, hope bringing some light to his past wrongdoings. "Alright then Lu- Alxun. As of O'Day, you are my disciple of darkness. We will show them all that darkness is not evil by nature."

Alxun gave a bow. "Of course, Master."

Core chuckled. Nobody has called them Master in an eternity. "Well then student, our first mission shall be an investigation."

"Investigation?" She asked.

"I got a report and request to investigate some heartless on a world far from the front lines that have void tainting them."

"How far from the front lines?"

"Too far. No idea how they could have slipped passed the barriers. But this whole thing writes trap all over itself. If they aren't too difficult you take out the heartless and I'll deal with the base in question."

"Understood." Alxun said. Summoning her keyblade and even a well made replica of Ben's Frozen Pride. Thought it's design looked more akin to a moon.

"A shield? And a replica of Frozen Pride at that. How?"

"I always did prefer a shield to accompany me and my blade. As for how it was The Admin Lord who made this for me actually. Said something about putting his true talents to use in this war."

"Interesting. Well, let's put it to the test." Core said. Summoning their own Keyblade, Kingdom Key.

The world in question was far more science based than magic but it's science took a turn for something on par with magic or the supernatural with how a single explosion of energy changed all of its inhabitants. Or at least a minority.

The suspected base in question was a single building more towards the main cities outskirts. Here heartless of both pure and emblem variants crawled about. A clear taint from void caused their bodies to mutate and malform. A shadow now had two extra heads, was twice the normal size and eyes covering all three of its heads. A dark all now had two tendril arms with razor like claws at the ends. And even the simple soldier now carried a massive broken, jagged and poisoned sword imbedded into it's right arm while the left was a shield. The alterations were clearly forced.

"Experimenting." Core said. "I remember doing similar to some heartless when I took the void symbol from John. The results I got were more basic but nearly identical."

"How strong are they compared to the originals?" Alxun asked.

"On my test not that much. What it did do, surprising, was up the intelligence of the emblem heartless, and increase the hp of the purebloods. Hear tests look incomplete but much more advanced than what I got. Spoiled must have made these."

"Spoiled rich? The one from Zeke's world?"

"Yeah. She was my former prodijay. Clever, smart, venomous. She had potential in everything i wanted at the time. Huge mistake."

"Best rectify it soon. How much of your research and such does she have?"

"All of it." Core hissed.

"Shit. So what's out move?"

"Hmm?" Core thought over, more than countless life times of strategy and tactics played through his mind on how to go about this. Many ending in injury or casualty, so all those were out. "What type of dark based abilities do you have?"

"Abilities, it's Dark Dash, Dark Scan and Darkness Harvest."

Quickly thinking them over, Dark Dash was very akin to a normal Dash Dodge move, but depending on the individual either immediately warped them the distance or something similar with the same effect, puts them into a small ball of darkness and rapidly moves them. Both keep the user from taking damage while using it. Dark Scan, much like it's standard variation shows your enemy hp, but also their weaknesses and when/where to attack to deal the most damage. Darkness Harvest is a leaching ability that when a successful block is met the enemies that hit it will lose some health, given to the blocker. A very useful ability. "Those will be useful. Alright, I'll get one someplace we can test it out in isolation to see how well you'll do against multiple." Core said, Alxun nodding as he got ready.

Core placed the tip of his Keyblade to the soil, taking a deep breath. Searching the area, one was a bit away from the others. The Darkball. Taking his chance, Core made his move. "Relocation." He said, his Keyblade activating as darkness pulsed from its blade, to the tip, into the earth and outstretched its way to the heartless he targeted. The beast was grabbed by black talons and pulled into the ground. "I sent it to the Keyblade Graveyard. Let's go."

“Right.” Luna said, opening a DTL under the two to the Keyblade Graveyard. The two were some distance from the void tainted heartless. “So, I attack and if it’s too much you’ll jump in and help.”

“Yes. Now, remember, while it should have a similar enough attack patterns but those tendrils will be new, and likely fast and high critical hit rates.”

“Alright then.” Alxun said, raising her keyblade.

Using Dark Dash, Alxun managed to get in close enough to use Dark Scan.

HP: 2,000/2,000
Weakness: ???
Crit ATT Time: Not Detected.

Not detectable? Alxun thought, confused. Must be the void in it.

With no identifiable weakness, Alxun charges a dark spell. “Dark Pulsation, Ice!” She cast, darkness pulsating from her keyblade then cloaking it in dark ice as suddenly it shot out towards the Dark Ball. The dark ice impaled the Dark Ball and proceed to expand with each pulse. There was five pulses, five growths of the ice spike, turning it into an ice bolder. When the magic wore off, the now frozen ice ball hit the ground, breaking the ice ball free and letting Alxun get another scan on its HP. Only 1,980. Less than she had hoped.

“That void alteration must have really boosted it.” She said, placing a hand over her heart, in its grip was her Wayfinder. “Best see how this works.” She said, the Link magic working so she was linked with Ben. Their energy flowed into her and she began sparking Nothingness Thorns along her body and Keyblade. An ethereal outline of Ben’s No Name appeared from the Grip of her Keyblade and around her weapon. She began sparking the Nothingness Thorns like Lightning.

“If void is keeping me from dealing proper damage, it’s time to use it’s opposite.” Alxun said, rushing at the Heartless and slicing it clean down the middle. A Flash of Nothingness and Darkness blew out from the impact that dissolved the void tainted heartless. It’s drops were normal, save for one item. Picking it up, Alxun’s Assistant identified it.

Crystalized Void Shard.

Synthesis Material. Used for infusing Void within. Ulike normal Synthesis materials, this can be brewed for herbal remedies to boost Void based abilities or even gain them.

Variations:

Crystalized Void Rock

Crystalized Void Chunk

Crystalized Void Stone

Crystalized Void Ore

Crystalized Void Bone

Crystalized Void Artifact Shard

Crystalized Void Ashes

Crystalized Void Blood

Crystalized Void Mothers Hair

"Interesting." Alxun hummed as Core came up.

"Good job. With Ben's D-Link it makes a perfect counter for the void mutations. How much longer is your D-Link good for?"

"About three hours." Alxun said. "If I convert normal Mana to D-Link Mana five, and I have some Balloon letters and other D-Link restoration items."

"Impressive. You think like a soldier."

"Taught like one too. Was learning these things from the guards long before all this. Let's head back then."

With a nod the two opened a DTL back to Central City and with Alxun dealing with the Heartless, very well thanks to the D-Link with Ben, Core rushed for the building. He reached the door, locked. "Either a big bomb or empty. I'm betting on Empty." Core said to themselves as tapping the lock with their Keyblade opened the door, inside was completely dark, and Core missed the chance to dodge as another's foot suddenly impacted his stomach, tossing them back a distance.

Core had become used to having a X-Blade body, this meant a dulled sense of pain to anything or anyone under a certain power level… that kick hurt.

“Whoever you are, you’re strong.” Core said, jumping back up to their feet. The slow clap of the attacker echoing from the doorway.

“Well, well, well, well, well. It’s about time I met you.” Core tensed up. That voice was… Walking outside the building was… Him. Dressed in his old purple robes and blank wooden face mask. “I’ve been looking forwards to this encounter.”

“How… what are you!?”

“What is the question. But you’re me, and I’m you, and you left a good student to take over your work.”

“Spoiled… she cloned me? But how are you that strong? The factory was only ever able to make them as strong as the base materials and memories of the cards.”

“Originally yes. My older brothers all were far, far weaker than I am, but I was able to be made stronger. Far surpassing the you of the memories that make up my heart. If you want to call it that.”

“Jeez. Was I always that intimidating?”

“Everything I am came from you as the foundation. Your student just built a far superior structure around it. I am Core Number K38. But just K38 is fine.” They said, summoning forth a copy of Core’s old Keyblade. Dark Heart. “Now then, let’s test just how well you taught your prodije.”

"I never taught her everything." Core said, disbanding Kingdom Key… and summoning the X-Blade.

The two rushed in, the clash sent out a shockwave that upturned the soil, leveled the nearby building and broke windows and set off car alarms all the way through the city. Alxun was mid way through the enemies when the shockwave hit. She was tossed aside like a ragdoll for quite a distance by the impact.

Breaking the clash, the two entered a dearly dual, Core attempting to end this fight quickly with a fast, powerful blow, but K38 dodged with exact speed and agility. To even a trained eye, all one could make out were gusts of wind and sudden impacts to the ground below. Deep gashes and craters in the upturned soil.

Alxun got herself back up, her D-Link abruptly ended by the shockwave. Looking up she saw the two slowed down enough to see Core take injury by the copy, a deep gash across their chest. Core managed to grab the copy by their clothes, dragging them into an impairment on the X-blade. "Core!" She shouted.

"Hehehe. It looks like there is room for improvement." K38 said as their body began to turn to ash.

"What are you here? What is Spoiled planning?" Core demanded.

"I'm a disposable test. A semi failure. Managing to injure you tells her all she needs to improve on. You taught her well but she has far exceeded what you were capable of with her new allies."

"Nexus?"

"Who else? This world held data and resources valuable to experiments. It's a world where the lines of science and magic cross so naturally they are basically the same. Why else do you think Nexus and Spoiled took interest here? The sights? No, they are after what this world calls Meta Humans. They hold the ingredients needed to perfect my siblings." K38 said, the last of their body turning to ash. "This war is only beginning Core, I injured you today, but tomorrow my siblings might just be able to kill you." The copy said, the last of them now ash in the wind.

"Core?" Alxun said, Core floating back down to the ground. His wound bleeding but not blood, light and darkness. Slowly it began closing.

"My past has finally come to haunt me." He said simply. "I'll be facing this head on…" they then smiled. "At least, for the first time in so long… I won't be alone."

Tainted Equestria: Hope Given

Tainted Equestria. That's the nickname this world received after the void itself bled into its core. Once a bright and life filled world now brought its inhabitants to the brink of extinction and into the depths of despair. This land, is beyond salvation, yet those who stay, stay out of honor and duty. This was the world they were born to, and void or not, this world was their home, and it was still here, still whole. Beaten, cracked and malformed but whole nonetheless. They would be damned before leaving it.

It's only known settlement, Evergreen Village, it's numbers small, but people strong. The best guardian here was Vanitas. He protected this world, but he wasn't alone.

Aid came from Daybreak, food, medicine, the basics. Vanitas was by the latest shipment. A king from the capitol arrived. The government and how it all worked went well above him, but aid was aid. And this King, was someone he knew too well. "Xehanort." Vanitas said with a tone as cold as ice.

"Vanitas. Surprised to see me?"

"Extremely. Weren't you dead, or last I remember, working with Core?"

"A lot has changed Vanitas. More than I can explain."

Huffing, Vanitas turned away from his former master, the man who ripped him out of Ventus's heart. "So why are you here?"

"I understand Keyblades have lost their power, from what was told you have a few correct?"

"Yes. We've tried many ways to repower them but nothing. The light of Kingdom Hearts no longer reaches here, and the void of this world blocks darkness so we can't modify then to use that either."

Smiling, Xehanort nodded. "Bring me to them."

"Find them yourself." Vanitas said, taking leave.

Brushing off the encounter, Xehanort searched, finding the lifeless Keyblades. Sighing, he placed a hand over them. "It's alright, I'm here." They whispered softly, touching their chest, over their heart as a warming blue glow emerged, it's light sending forth power back into the weapons. Their full metal burst to life as their colors returned. "There we are. You're welders are gone, I'm afraid, not even their hearts are to be found. Rest for now, you will find new wielders, and the fate of your former wielders will not go unjustified. The one who will end their murderer will arrive here soon, and their lives will be avenged." Xehanort said, disbanding them.

Taking leave, he stopped, looking out to the clouded sky. "What are you looking at?" Said the former princess of the night, walking up to Xehanort with her metallic limbs.

"This town. How far have you been able to search?"

"Only the ruins of Ponyville and Canterlot. Why?"

"There are more." Xehanort said, raising a finger towards a direction. "There's hundreds, many far north, and more across this world still."

"Many… you mean, there's still ponies out there?!" Luna asked in fear and hope.

"Ponies. Griffons. Dragon's, Yaks, Changelings, and so many others. Across this whole world I'd say in total there are five thousand, two hundred and forty six beings still alive here. Not counting basic wildlife."

The former monarch of the night smiled, laughing as tears flowed like rain. "I thought… I tried looking for others, their dreams…"

"The void of this world would have altered it's dream realm counterpart. It limited you." Xehanort said, petting Luna along her neck for comfort. "Fret not. I'll find those who are in immediate danger, and the rest will be found."

"How… how many in Equestria alone?" Luna asked.

"One thousand, two hundred and sixteen."

"This place isn't big enough for them all."

"Not yet."

"Hm?"

Still smiling, Xehanort walked over to the makeshift wall. Stones and concrete pasted together, fortified by large tree trunks. "This will never do." They said that the warming blue light from their heart now covering their arms, soon images of ones and zeros were appearing in it. "Eroquis… I'll make you proud." Xehanort said, letting the code flow out a large distance around the small village, covering the Forest and even into the Ponyville ruins. Former ruins. The buildings now broken and shattered became whole and complete as the days before. The castle of the two sisters and it's half repaired state now stood tall and proud again. Once everything was repaired too days before, many new buildings, roads and even the apple farm was grown back to glory. Lastly, around it all, raised a Wall fit for war. Two miles high, three miles thick, and fortified by ruins of protection, ancient and powerful.

The citizens were away struck. This surpassed what they witnessed from Cript so long ago. This was a miracle. Cheers and praise erupted as hope filled their hearts. Luna sat speechless, watching as Xehanort left through the walls tunnel outside. One of many. Already with walls and barriers every half mile, for extra protection.

After a long walk, reaching the outer wall and took a step outside, the stopped. "I know you are there Vanitas." Xehanort said, the figure in question appearing out from the shadows.

"Mind telling me what the hell this is?" Vanitas said, waving at the mountain of a wall.

"There are others. So many still alive outside where you haven't reached. I prepared this place to house them all. There is more than enough room, and with hard work more than enough food."

"But why? Since when do you ever-"

"Like I said." Xehanort interrupted. "A lot has changed."

The first stop Xehanort reached was the ruins of Appleoosa, then Dodge City. Between the two a total three hundred were here. Sensing the hearts of others was a useful ability for tracking and searching. As part of Kingdom Hearts, he was able to use this to find the survivors.

This town was not large, no tall buildings but many were destroyed. Through clearly not from battles, this type of damage had to have come from what Blueblood did. "Now then, where could they be holding up?" Xehanort asked nobody as they looked around, sensing the hearts of this area in a massive group, but not where. The void of the land scrambling their exact location from them. As they gazed around the former town, they spotted a large field filled with apple trees. "A food source is the perfect encampment."

Running over towards the orchard, upon closer inspection many tents, makeshift tree houses and campfires. Many ponies and even buffalo walked along the encampment.

Making his way into it, an earth pony stallion with a brown best, Cowboy hat and a deep scar along his neck ran up to him. "And who might you be fella?" They asked with caution.

"Relax, I come to offer aid. There is a proper settlement, Evergreen Village, it's safe and secure there. You can see the walls from atop that hill up there. Surely you saw those glowing lights?"

The stallion remained skeptical, but nodded. "We saw those blue lights. But we don't know what that was. Who are you anyway?"

"My name is Xehanort. What is yours?"

"Braeburn. How do I know I can trust you? After that event, a lot of good creatures died, and folks have been as jittery as a newborn foal."

"What can I do to get your trust then?"

"This settlement, who is there?"

"Many, all ponies, your Buffalo friends are welcome as well. The Princesses, Twilight Sparkle and Applejack-"

"Applejack!? My cousin's alive?!"

"Yes. She and Applebloom are alive. Wounded and recovering, but alive nonetheless."

"What about Big Mac? Granny Smith?" Xehanort simply shook their head. The news hurt, but Braeburn sighed. "At least somepony I know is alive and well. You said so are the Princesses?"

"Yes, but not without Injuries themselves."

"I see… I'll talk with the others. A lot of them are still in shock and the buffalo have lived here for Generations. Might not be easy to convince all of them that there's a better place out there."

"I understand, but speaking from experience, Pride ends a life quicker than time. Culture knows no single spot or location, it knows only the people who keep it alive."

"Those are wise words. Might have to use that if things go south."

"I'm heading to Dodge Junction next. I'll be back shortly."

"There are ponies alive at Dodge Junction?"

"There is life on the world still. Scattered and broken, but alive nonetheless." Xehanort said with a nod, taking off for the next town.

Using a small darkness ability for teleportation, Xehanort arrived at the town within minutes. The town was far better off than Appleoosa, but still had it's damage. The cherry tree orchard here was expanded passed it's initial fences and some ponies were seen harvesting them.

Xehanort spoke with Cherry Jubilee, the sudo leader of the survivors, given it was her orchard that kept them all alive. It was a unanimous vote to move to Evergreen Village, but Cherry Jubilee didn't feel right leaving her family farm. "Then let's move the farm" Xehanort said.

"Uh, sweetheart, did you hear yourself? This is over five hundred Acer's of fully grown cherry trees. To move it all would take at least a hundred train trips and the trains have not exactly been operational since that day."

"I have a trick or two up my sleeve." Xehanort said with a smile. "I just need to check in with the Appaloosa survivors."

"I figured either ponies or the buffalo would have made it. Tough town they are, new but sturdy, the ponies and the location."

Xehanort gave a nod. "I'll be back, I'll see what Appleoosa say-"

"Don't bother." Turning, Xehanort saw Vanitas enter the room. "They're here already. Whatever you said to them got them hopefully. I just confirmed that hope."

”Well, let’s get them to Everfree Village.” Xehanort said.

“And how are we going to do that?” Vanitas asked.

Smirking, Xehanort walked outside, Cherry and Vanitas close behind. Seeing Appaloosa’s survivors here as well, he raised an arm to the sky. In a flash of blue, Keyblades filled the sky, one each floated over to a pony, or buffalo. “Gliders?” Vanitas asked.

“No. I just wanted to get that out of the way first.” Xehanort said, both arms began glowing blue, soon those strings of code appeared within them as well. He pinched his thumb and middle finger together, and snapped.

Blinking, everyone was dazed for a moment, seeing they were elsewhere. Cherry trees and apple trees decorating the whole of the new area. Braburn recognized it as Ponyville, though far fewer ponies. Nody knew what happened, but they were not in Appaloosa, nor Dodge Junction. “Welcome to Everfree Village. You’ll find I merged things quite nicely.”

“Show off.” Vanitas chuckled.

“How in the…” Braburn asked.

“Best not to ask. The explanation will only raise more questions.” As Everyone began to explore, finding where to settle in, Xehanort was beginning to leave again. “So soon?” Vanitas asked.

“There are still so many, and there is something on this world that dislikes the hope I’m giving. I’d prefer to find the survivors quickly."

"Fair enough. So, care if I tag along?"

"So you trust me now?"

"Not in the slightest. But, much like you I claim to have turned over a new leaf, and I take every opportunity to show it."

Xehanort gave a slight smile. "Fair enough. Let's go then."

The following week so many were found. From Las Pegasus to the Crystal Empire. While it favored better in terms of condition, it was frozen over. The void of the land tainted it's crystal heart, making it as useless as stone. Those still alive were barely alive, held within the Castle. It was here Xehanort found Cadence, her child Flurry Heart and husband Shining Armor. Much like with Applejack and Braeburn, this reunion with family was met with tears of the purest happiness. Once every pony in Equestria was sent to Evergreen Village, it was time for the lands outside.

Yaks, Carabo, Zebras, Deer, Dragon's, Changelings of other gives and even monsters of the Badlands and such moved into the village city over the course of a month. Xehanort's power allowed the place to be modified so all had a home. Farms were made fast and soon simple projects began. The names of the dead from all's homelands were to be edged into the wall, power and arms began to get crafted. The farms flourished with so many able bodies to tend them.

All was well, though Xehanort still sensed something. "You're positive you located everyone from Canterlot?" Xehanort asked Vanitas.

"Yes. It's not like there was many who survived that mess to begin with… why?" Vanitas questioned.

"I can sense something there."

"Some...thing?"

"It's alive, but in a twisted way."

"Twisted? Maybe it's Tirek."

"No. No he is keeping his distance. My displays of power were not just for show but a warning to that monster. It will buy you enough time to prepare for whatever he tries but also enough time for John to return."

"So that's why you made it so visual… can't you kill him?"

"I can try but aside from eating Keyblade power he has also been eating void. I'm not certain how I'd be able to pull it off, but so long as void flows through his body, it's a very unsafe gamble." Xehanort said, he and Vanitas taking leave for Canterlot ruins.

As they search, long since decaying bodies now near skeletal, some mummified. "This was a shitshow…" Vanitas sighed.

"At least their hearts are at ease." Xehanort said, sensing the odd presence nearby. They reached a street corner where a large crack was sealed up, and a headless skeleton was rested near it.

"Blueblood…" Vanitas hissed, recognizing the headless skeleton.

"Yes." Xehanort said, walking over to the skeleton. "Now where…?"

"What are you looking for exactly? And why here?"

"It has to be… here." Xehanort said, look at a specific area along the sealed crack. He made a fist, got on his knees, and pinched through the already broken stone and dirt below.

"What… who would be alive underground, especially after all this time?"

Not answering, Vanitas watched as Xehanort felt in the ground for a while, finally finding something and pulling it up. Both were speechless. "It's about damn time…" Growled the still flesh covered head of Blueblood, his Outsiders mark shining bright on his eye.

Marcy, Diane and Zeke walk into a bar...

The capitol was a large place and it only ever got larger. The newest members, Marcy, the past life if Eclipsa, Diane, the past life if Ben, and Zeke. Same as he is in this life, or perhaps, timeline. Now a half wolf, half snake being they managed to get used to moving around. As well as shapeshifting. Powers came fairly easily to them.

"So what should we do?" Diane asked. "For the most part we are kinda just… extras…?"

"More like back up… I think?" Zeke questioned.

"We are whatever we wanna be." Marcy said with a nod. The three were within the castles bar. Around them was the family, and by extension… or blood, the relations were still confusing, theirs. Ben's, Hearts, Eclipsa's, and Cript's. "But yeah… we kinda got nothing to do."

"Should we asked the others?" Diane asked.

"I'd rather not do paperwork." Marcy groaned.

"There has to be something…" Zeke sighed. While the booze was nice, their newfound powers, abilities and bodies made it nothing more than liquor flavored water.

"I remember from Ben there is an arena… and if I recall right a bunch of missions Cript's family does, meaning we can also do it." Diane said.

"That sounds interesting." Marcy piped up.

"Should be." Zeke nodded. "So where and how do we… do that?"

"Unlike Ben I am taking full advantage of the assistant. Whenever they were asleep I'd take over for a while and learn about it. First let's make an official party." Marcy's and Zeke's assistants beeped. A message for a party invite was on Holo screen. The two accepted. "Now let's select a mission." She said, showing them the tabs to find for the list of missions.

"That's a lot." Zeke said.

"Yeah. What do we pick?" Marcy asked, flipping through them.

"Well you two need more practice in fighting than I do." Diane started.

"I am offended." Zeke joked.

"Hat har. But it's true. At least what I know comes from Ben and while yes you know how to fight you don't know how to fight with powers Zeke. And Marcy is a blank slate."

"True sadly." Marcy agreed. "So something simple to start off?"

"I think I know a place." Diane said, quickly searching the tabs until she found the mission she was looking for. "This is the world where Ben trained with his Chakrams. It's infinite enemies, one safe spot. Stats wise we'll be fine and the Assistant has an Evacuate trigger that sends us to either the last safe spot we were, or to another party member."

"What's the trigger?" Zeke asked.

"I've set mine to activate if my HP ever reaches below forty percent."

"Mind showing us how to do that?" Marcy asked.

Once a quick trigger setting was made, the trio headed through the DTN Diane made and we're now in the safe zone. Marcy and Zeke were reasonably terrified upon arrival. "Jesus fuck!" Zeke jumped. "So… what kind of Heartless are these?"

“Shadow Creatures. Kinda the same but still different and far, far more deadly.” Diane said simply.

“Oh... “

“So how are we going to do this? We don’t have a lot of experience in fighting.” Marcy said. “Aside from Zeke… and you apparently so… I’m the oddball here.”

Diane chuckled a bit. “Don’t worry, it will be easy to pick up. First let’s pick you a weapon. You want Keyblade, organization 13 one or… something different?”

“I...dunno. My shtick is about the same as Eclipsa’s so Grey, but that’s more of a booster than anything so…”

“Mafic maybe?”

“Don’t know any.”

“Right…”

“Guns?” Zeke offered.

“That can work.” Marcy piped. “There any around here?”

“Uhh.” Diane stated, pointing towards the Assistant on her arm. Then to the ones on theirs. “Just buy one.”

“With what money?” Zeke asked. Diane facepalmed.

She then explained to the two that, being part of the royal family meant they had their own allowances that were renewed each month. The amount they had for an allowance nearly gave Marcy a heart attack and made Zeke question why his family ever bothered stealing when in one swift moment he had more than the Ventral’s have ever stolen in recorded history.

Marcy got herself quite the armory. A riot shotgun, small machine pistol, assault rifle, and some revolvers. She then got several hundred million rounds of ammunition for each and set her assistant to auto reload the weapons for her. Zeke just brought out a Kingdom Key. “Alright, so we're doing this?” Zeke asked.

“Yup.” Diane stated. Summoning Lindworm.

“Welp, time to get some experience under our belts.”

Hours turned to days, days to weeks. Weeks to Months and Months to a year.The trio learned much.

Marcy learned how to focus and channel grey properly, as well as a fair bit of magic. She managed to also summon forth Oblivion, Oathkeeper, and even Better Half.

Zeke gained a fine control over keyblades in general, as well as a wide variety of skills with the X-blade. While still warely of its power, he had control over it. Magic was still difficult but the basics he mastered.

Diane, now developed her own separate skill set from Ben, using the thirteen weapons in a way unique to her. Her heart had come back and grew stronger than the prior, her love now, like Ben, a driving force to become ever stronger.

The trio, while much like their counterparts, now were their own beings. Their training ground was soon ever easier than before. One they could only make it ten or so feet outside the safezone. Then a mile. Then ten, then, one day, hey fought their way around the world, through the endless waves of monsters.

When they did that, they packed up their things, went back to the capitol and walked back into that same bar they left a year for this training. “Didn’t we go to that world to do something?” Zeke asked.

“Don’t remember.” Marcey stated.

“Same.” Diane said.

“So, what next? We have enough experience and skills, and confidence to fight, so what's next?” Zeke asked.

“Hmm…” Diane pondered, looking through her Assistant. “How about… Whatever we helps people.”

“Sounds good.” Marcy said.

Zeke just shrugged. “Why not.”

Take It Back

Patches would never admit this, but he was proud of his students progression. In one short year, they all had the skills on par with a Keyblade Master, however, Willy was still the weaker of the group, he was able to hold his own well, but his faults were a simple matter of practice and execution. “Alright ya brats line up!” He called out.

The group all lines up, Violet, Louise, A.J., Ruby, Aasim, Mitch, Willy and Tennessee.

“So what’s on today’s docet chief?” Violet asked simply.

“You have all performed well, in fact your skills all far surpassed my expectations. Except for Willy, you can use more work.” Willy proceeded to give Patches a look of disbelief and annoyance. “Regardless, I feel you are all ready for your Mark of Mastery Exams. However, A.J, Tennessee, and Willy, you three will not be taking the exam.”

“What? Why?!” A.J and Willy both asked.

“Because, A.J., Tennessee, Willy, while you three have the same skills on par with your friends, save for you WIlly, simply put, the rules state you must be at least fourteen to take the exam. You’re too young by a year, several in A.J’s case.”

“You sure? At least Tenn and Willy have seen more hell than whatever these Mastery Exams can offer.” Violet pointed out, given the world they all came from.

“It’s not about experience, it’s simply a rule of the kingdom that the minimum age for anyone to take a mark of mastery exam to be fourteen. I know A.J would easily pass, his skills are far surpassed his age, but rules are rules.” Patches said. “That said though, the one to give you all your Mark of Mastery, is arriving soon.”

“And by ‘soon’ you mean about now?” Violet asked curiously.

“Possibly.” Patches said.

As the group waited around their usual fireplace, time passing fast as they ate a snack. “So, what do you think this exam will be?” Louis asked.

“Combat likely.” Aasim said.

Violet had a bad feeling in her gut as she thought about what could possibly happen from what she learned about the Mark of Mastery tests and other documented successes from Ben and Heart. “It’s gonna have to be something that pushes us passed something important to us…”

“Wonder what that will be.” Ruby sighed.

“Whatever it is, we can take it.” Mitch said.

Violet wasn’t sure as she gently stoked the fire with a stick. “Well...as long as we’re together right?”

“That’s the hard part.” The group turned, a familiar voice they had not heard in what seemed like an eternity spoke behind them. Clementine. She was wearing a dark camo green pair of pants, heavy boots, and a simple white shirt. But her hat was still atop her head. Immediately Violet and A.J ran up and hugged her.

“It’s been forever Clem!” Violet said happily, tears filling her eyes at seeing her beloved friend again.

“We’ve missed you!” A.J said.

“I know Goofball, Violet. Being an… Admin apparently has been weird, and then apparently being a Queen of an entire empire, one of many, but one nonetheless, has a lot of… paperwork. So much paperwork…” Clem sighed.

“Hey, hear the lovin is nice if gosip is anything to go by.” Violet chuckled, remembering hearing some stuff about Ben’s raging sex drive among other’s in that god knows how large harem.

“Heh, yeah… part of the family but, still a minor, and not that interested really. Mostly I’m either in the office and training with Lord on some Admin stuff. Heart with Keyblade stuff, mostly either training or paperwork.” She said, letting both go. “So, are you all ready for your Exam?”

“Ready as we’ll ever be.” Violet said honestly. “So...you can tell I have a bad feeling in my gut I know where we’re going right?” Violet asked, a look of uncertainty and sadness crossing her face.

“Kinda. You each will be getting individual mark of mastery exams, then we form up, and take back our world from the Walkers.”

Everyone's face grew determined, their reason for training, all their work, leading this moment was within view.

“Well then what are we waiting for?” Violet said simply, pulling out her Keyblade and resting it on her shoulder.

“Right then.” Clementine said, opening several DTL’s with a snap of her fingers. “That never gets old.”

“I can bet.” Aasim said.

Aasim, Ruby, Mitch, Louis and Violet proceeded to enter the DTL’s, Willy headed off with Patches for more training, and Tennessee and A.J walked with Clementine. “So Goofball, care to give me a tour?” She asked the young child.

Violet walked out from the DTL and into a world where the moon hung high in the night sky. She was in a forest of sorts, a few animals from the distance could be heard.

“Alright...so far this doesn’t seem out of the ordinary…” Violet muttered as she checked one of the trees to see if she could tell what species it was.

It was a tall birch, looking around the forest where she arrived it was hard to see anything. Looking back up her eyes spotted something flying above the trees, too high to make out details but low enough to be noticed.

“Well...that’s interesting.” She said while starting to climb up the tree to get a better view as to what was flying around. “Might as well get a good look at the land…”

Climbing the tree was fairly easy, managing to reach the top, she saw nothing but trees for miles around, and in the sky, flying around, was a Heartless, it’s bright yellow eyes piercing through the darkness around them as she got a good look at it. It’s appearance was almost angelic, pale grey wings out it’s back, attire something akin to a toga, with a large golden sword in it’s right hand, and a smaller buckler shield in its left.

“Well...I don’t remember that being covered…” Violet muttered to herself. “So...forest for miles on end, and an Angel Heartless...goodie.”

She saw the Heartless’s eyes suddenly shine, like searchlights piercing through the trees looking below. Was the test having to deal with the Heartless… or something else?

Violet frowned, slowly moving down the tree as she wondered if it was searching it’s territory, or hunting. “Let’s hope it’s just a normal search…” She muttered, landing on the ground and moving swiftly and quietly.

As she was exploring the area, keeping distance between that Heartless and herself, she heard something, a faint noise… crying? Picking up pace, she soon found a tree with a large hole under it’s base, and inside was a small girl, in a white dress… with a blue hat. She recognized her easily. Clem!

Violet immediately bolted over to her and kneeled down. “Hey hey, it’s okay.” Violet said gently. “No need to cry.” She said softly, trying not to panic as to why Clem’s alone and crying.

“Who...Who are you?” The young version of her friend asked, keeping a small distance between herself and Violet.

Violet felt a little twinge in her heart at not being recognized by her friend. ”Remember Violet, this is a different Clem…” Violet thought...before taking a moment. ”Wait, didn’t Clem say that she was fuzed with every other Clem in Existence?” She thought to herself, remembering Clem talked about having memories of other Clems across all sorts of Reflections. “My names Violet.” She said gently. “What’s your name?” She asked politely.

“Clementine. Why are you here?”

“I’m here to help.” She said. “Are you hiding from something?” She asked, pretending to not know about the Heartless.

“No, I got lost.”

“I understand.” She nodded while gently sitting down near the young Clem. “What were you doing before getting lost?”

“Well, Lea, this man I’ve been traveling with, and I were walking along the roads when there was some of those Monsters ahead. He hid me here and then left to deal with them. It’s been hours though.”

“What did the monsters look like?” Violet asked gently.

“Like people, but… not.”

Walkers, Violet figured. A familiar enemy, so where did that Heartless come from?

“Have you seen any...other strange creatures around?” Violet asked softly.

She shook her head, so she hasn't noticed the Heartless.

“Where were you heading?” She asked gently.

"I don't know." She said, Violet shifting inside a bit more, This Clementine getting more comfortable around her, and that Heartless's light waved by, missing them, but it was nearby, making Violet uneasy. "All I can remember before we ran was heading to Atlanta."

“Alright.” She nodded. “But we better get moving soon…” Violet said, trying to keep her nervousness down so Clem didn’t get scared.

Careful, they emerged from the hiding spot, Violet looking around, seeing that now there were walkers all around, but the heartless was gone. Quickly, she grabbed a rock, throwing it at a tree some distance away, gaining their attention as she soon bolted out, carrying the young Clementine in both arms.

Maybe my test is to keep Clementine safe? Violet thought, taking a quick breath as she checked to ensure none of the Walkers followed them.

“So why were you going to Atlanta?” Violet asked gently as she carried her off to find some road.

"Lea, we were going to find my parents. They were on a trip to Atlanta before this all happened." Clem whispered, Violet could tell she was keeping an eye on the rear.

She paused, hiding under a thick tree as that Heartless flew overhead again, it's light missing them as it moved on. Walkers and a Heartless unlike others before, definitely an issue. If she summons her Keyblade or Key-arms, the Heartless will find her instantly, and noise will draw the walkers.

”God I hope these things aren’t controlling walkers…” She thought to herself, fearing what would happen if Heartless managed to control the Walkers.

Once the Heartless was a distance away, she ran from tree to tree, keeping cover from the Heartless above and thankfully not seeing any walkers around. The more she walked the more the woods began to itch at her mind, something almost familiar about them as she ran through the trees.

To her joy, she came across a road, running along it till she came across a highway exit. “Wait a minute…” She said aloud, seeing the sign. “This is… “

“What’s wrong?” Clem asked.

“N-Nothing.” Violet asserted, carrying the young Clem into the ruins of her old home town. Did my Clem send me back home after all? And why here of all places? Violet pondered, passing several places she’d pass by all the time back when she was young.

Seeing Walkers ahead, she rushed for the shelter of a nearby pool house, lights still worked, to her surprise, and so far seemed empty. She smirked, glad to know have picked up a few easy spells for wandless, or even Keybladeless magic. “Detect.” She whispered, her magic activating as soon, anything in the building, dead or alive, was visible to her. She loved this spell, perfect for sneaking, and clearing an area.

There was one possible walker laid down by a pool table in the back, two definite walkers in the bar kitchen walking around, one possible walker in the men's bathroom, and another possible one in the manager's office. Careful, she placed Clem onto a chair, a fair distance from them all. “Wait here, if anything happens, call me, alright?”

“Okay.” Clem said.

Violet proceeded to walk over to the one layed on the floor in the back, seeing it’s unmoving body did not assure her of its state. She grabbed a dusty pool cue, the wood still in fair condition. She stood just behind it, poking the thing. It did not move, but, it was better to be safe, as she jabbed the pool cue’s tip into it’s rotting skull, the smell was bad, she had forgotten just how horrid Walkers could smell. It was a male, clothes, leather and was clearly a biker, no bike outside so it was likely looted or tossed elsewhere. She felt in their pockets, finding a large boot knife. “Useful.” She said.

The feelings all seemed to flood back at once, the feelings of worry at every corner, looting the dead, walking or not for anything useful, the clear lack of food in all directions. The dead and fears hit her hard, but she held onto her heart, and remembered, remembered the year she spent to come back here, to fight… “Fight… Right, that’s why I did this. I’m going to take this place back.” She said to herself, quickly rushing to the bar kitchen.

The two walkers there took immediate notice, walking slowly at her. Smirking, Violet wasted no time grabbing one walkers neck, and jamming the knife into its skull, splitting it as it dropped dead. She yanked it out, throwing it at the other with practiced force and aim. The knife landed right between its hollow eyes, sliding into the hilt, knocking it over as she walked over to it, pulling it out of the corpse. “Feels good.” She said, quickly checking the manager's office. Here, was what was likely the manager, dead unlike the others, a clear gunshot in their head. Nodding, she rushed to the men’s room, the final walker in the bar was laid against the wall, starting to move as Violet entered. She smirked, having a small running start, she stopped right in front of it, and swung her boot into its head, a splatter of blood, gore and chunks of wall sprayed about. She forgot just how much stronger she had become, since learning about Keyblades and their enhancement magics.

“Jeez...and in hindsight, why was I afraid of these things?” Violet wondered to herself. “These stupid things basically kill themselves just on biology alone.” With a nod, she did one final sweep, she lugged all the bodies out the back door, then walked up to Clementine. “Alright, I’m gonna need you to stay here while I go and make sure things are clear, okay?” Violet asked young Clem.

“Okay… You’ll come back, right?”

“Of course.” Violet said. “I promise.” With a smile and nod, Violet left Clem in the bar, casting a barrier spell around it for safety. She then adorned her Keyblade armor, and summoned her Way to Dawn Keyblade, and Hope, her Key-Arm machine pistol. With a smile, she saw as the Heartless arrived immediately. Looking at her. "Bring it ugly."

The heartless roared, it's sound echoing for miles, and attracting every walker around for those miles. It charged at Violet, who gracefully dodged, shooting off a few shots at it with Hope at it's lower half. It crashed into the barrier, bouncing off the magic wall as Violet cast a barrage of ice spells to stop it dead before taking a deep breath, the Heartless frozen in ice as she raised the tip of her Keyblade to it, pulling the hilt to her chest as her Keyblade glowed. "Shift, Blade Charge." She said, a crystal like extension across her Keyblade in the shape of a sword appearing as she attacked, with swift, calculated movements, she struck, each attack landing a hit and dealing powerful damage. When the ice broke the Heartless was sent flying into the building across the road. “Time to get started.” She said, cracking her knuckles.

Error Report: 1

WARNING!

WARNING!

CLASS MD(MOTHERS DEATH) END OF REALITY EVENT IN OCCURENCE!

ACCESSING CAUSE AND SOLUTION

…

…

ERROR!

GLITCH DETECTED

SCANNING

…

…

WARNING!

CLASS XK GLITCH DETECTED

ACTIVATING: CODE NULL

Void Mother stood over the corpse of Ben, seeing their crown that once proudly declared who they were embedded into their skull, their chest nothing but a gaping hole as she looked around at her Children’s work. Even though she took a little more casualties this time around, she still saw her Void Beasts making sure any straggler was either devoured or dead. “And another Cycle falls to Void.” She said while picking up Ben’s corpse. “And you could have made this so much simpler.” Void Mother said simply, as she looked at the Den Mother who called her mere existence Hypocrisy itself, and even though she didn’t have her heart anymore she could objectively say that was the case, but the story was always told from the Winners perspective so she didn’t much mind hearing it for the umpteenth time.

Y-y-you aRe m-mY SunS-hIne

Void Mother blinked, looking at Ben’s corpse as she saw it...twitching. “What the…?” She muttered.

M-mY only S-S-Sunshine

Void Mother dropped the body as she saw Ben’s body start...regrowing. “What? How!?” She panicked.

You m-Make me H-HaPpy

Void Mother snapped her head up as she heard more voices chime into the weird distorted song, seeing all the mutilated corpses of Ben’s family and allies all...rising up,weird tendrils replacing their ripped apart bodies. But she could tell they weren’t Tendrils...

They were Void Tainted Nothingness Thorns...

“Impossible!” Void Mother shouted in panic. “Vincent! Get over here!” She called out as Vincent appeared in an instant.

“My...My lady…” Vincent panted, Void Mother seeing something she wouldn’t believe ever would happen.

Vincent was Afraid.

When Sk-kies are G-g-grey…

“Ma’am, we need to run. Now!” Vincent pleaded, Void Mother honestly shocked that the Embodiment of Evil was pleading to run...only for the first Void Beast to scream in pure agony.

You’ll never know Dear…

The glitched voices kept growing and getting more clear, as Ben...got up and pulled the crown out of their head, Void Thorns fixing their body.

How much I love you…

Void Mother looked over at a Void Beast howling in pain...blinking as she saw it being skinned alive. “What...what’s going on?” She took a step back, seeing what she thought was brutality against all her enemies...only to be shown what Brutality really meant.

Please don’t take my Sunshine Away

As they all continued to sing, Void Mother heard her servants all scream in pain from every corner of this Void Covered Cycle, hearing them all beg for mercy, for the sweet release of Death as Ben picked up his broken Keyblade. “Y-you can’t attack me, I’m still a Mother!” She shouted, only for her to feel a small wind blow past her. Void Mother gently touched her cheek…

Blood.

“Get out of he-” Vincent tried to call out to his Goddess before feeling something grab onto his legs...Heart and Cript.

“J-J-Join uS F-F-Father.” They both said in a broken tone, both of them pulling out weapons and stabbing them into his legs.

“Gah! Get off of me!” He shouted as he grabbed a Void Blade and cleaved the two off of him.

The other Night Dear, I lay sleeping

Void Mother backed away, wondering where everything went wrong.

I dreamed I held you in my arms

As Ben took a step forward, still singing that accursed song they took another swing, Void Mother blocking it with Void itself. “I am Void Incarnate! You will not stop me!” She shouted, long lost emotions rushing back to her as she looked down and...saw a glowing in her chest. “What? How!?!” She panicked, backing away quickly as all her long forgotten emotions rushed at her.

But when I awoke, dear, I was mistaken.

Void Mother shivered as she held herself, trying to keep herself together as Ben slowly walked towards her.

So I hung my head and Cried

Void Mother couldn’t bear it all as she cried, cried for everyone that died because of her own actions, everyone that was dying because of whatever the hell was going on...Crying for her Belief.

You are my Sunshine

Void Mother heard someone else start to sing, as Ben swung down a resounding ‘Clang!’ was heard, and as she looked up...Belief, Her Belief, was there in all his glory, as if Nothingness didn’t take him away from her.

My only Sunshine

Belief swiftly knocked Ben away and grabbed Void Mothers hand, picking her up. “I’ve still loved you, even after all these Cycles.” Belief said as he lead her away from the battlefield, the two beings seeing what Absolute Depravity was everything that wasn’t corrupted by whatever the hell was going on was only getting ripped apart, slowly, meticulously, and with such extreme precision they thought whoever was behind this took great joy in the art of Torture.

You make me Happy, When Skies are Grey

As the two continued to run, they heard the singers continue to grow in massive numbers, Ben leading the charge as they chased after them.

You’ll never know Dear, how much I love you

Nothingness Belief and Void Mother came to a halt as more Void Nothingness Tainted Zombies appeared out of thin air, encircling the both of them.

Please don’t take my Sunshine away

Nothingness Belief and Void Mother both held each other, even after all these Cycles, no matter what happened...they still loved each other till the very end.

But as the two lovers held each other, waiting for their inevitable end...all they heard was a slow, drawn out ‘Shh’ across the wind. “Wh-what?”

All of the Void Thorn Zombies looked around, wondering where the noise came from...only for a being to walk through one of the Zombies towards Belief and Mother, the zombie ceasing to exist.

The cloaked figure looked at both Void Mother and Nothingness Belief, seeing the two both completely whole, as he shook his head. “______” It ‘said’.

“Glitch?” Belief asked. “But that’s impossible, we’re at the end of a Cycle, how can this happen?” He asked in disbelief.

“___” It pointed at the Nothingness Thorns that were Void Corrupted, before the thing it was pointing ceased as well.

“He’s got a point…” Void Mother said, before taking a deep breath. “So...what’s Null doing here?” She asked.

“Fix.” It said, it’s word holding some strange power as both Mother and Belief saw screens appear, and show them what was really happening.

“Oh god…” Void Mother muttered in fear.

“So...your just going to kill us all?” Belief asked Null, only for it to pull out...Memory Stealer?

“____” It ‘said’, the Keyblade it held nothing like Memory Stealer, as no matter how hard Void Mother and Nothingness Belief tried to look at it to get a good idea of what it was...it’s like it never existed and they had no idea why they were looking at Null’s hand.

“So...how are we going to get out of this?” Belief asked while seeing all the Zombies preparing to attack the trio.

Null only looked at the two, as ___ floated above them as he jabbed his fists into both of their chests, pulling out two cards and knocking them both out. “Next…” It said as it saw the two fell into portals of Code as it stretched. “Cycle’s End.” It said, grabbing it’s Keyblade and stabbed it into the ground. “Another Cycle ends...so Another Shall Begin.” It said as everything was absorbed into it. Every single bit of this Cycle, all being Deleted at once, wiping the sheet clean for a new start, as the First Mother and Belief were put down back at the Beginning, as Null vanished as if never existing.

Forgotten Logs: Grey

In the age long since forgotten by mythes and fairy tales, resided the beginning of life. The machine that runs our world sparked into life, and the foundation of our existence, Code, came into being.

The code began to cluster together in compatible strands, forming blips of consciousness and self awareness. The first Admins we're born. Of them, two stood out, both holding power over life, and linked by an unbreakable bond. But one of these Admin, as the world became forged before them, did not see the same beauty and wonder that the other did. They saw the lies, deception and malice not only their creations possessed, but his fellow Admins held as well. For sixteen thousand years, he has fled to an isolated area, away from his other half, life, and admins. A place known as the Far Lands. Here he set up shop, and began learning how to end this imperfect creation, properly.

The Far Lands were nothing if not barren and bleak, an eternal sun hung high in the sky, the soil baked and burned by its endless heat. In a tower laboratory in the center of this lifeless landscape Vincent, one of the Admins of Life, worked without rest to perfect his plan. "Just a little more." They huffed. This project has taken them. As the funneled the last ingredient into the vial, an explosion caused them to get blasted against the wall. Looking back, their vial contained a small amount of energy, Colored Grey. "Yes! It worked."

The grey, just a tiny speck, began to do as intended, and grow before his eyes, doubling it's self every second. The energy to end this reality was complete. Then Vincent heard a voice as the grey pulsated, the voice monotone, emotionless, and even genderless. 'Primary function: Successful. Goal: Overload the machine, perminatly. Time till complete: Unknown. Creator: Vincent.'

"What the?" He said, tapping the glass of the vial. "That should not have happened. Either way, at least it knows it's objective." Vincent took the vial to the center of the tower lab, a large glass orb set firmly in stone. He moved the Grey Energy into the glass, various spell matrixes activating as he did. "I'll have to study everything about this new energy. Need to make sure people don't write it off as pointless too fast. Otherwise this will take longer than it already will." They mumbled to themselves, taking notes.

'Enhancing spell matrix.' Grey spoke, the Grey staying contained, yet leaking through and enhancing the spells containing it and monitoring it.

"Oh? Now that's interesting." Vincent said, seeing the spell matrix amplified and it's analysis report rapidly speeding up. "This can be very useful."

It was some time later that a change occurred. By this point grey had grown enough to warrant it's own room for study. Yet it all began with a question. 'Creator Vincent. Inquiry: What is defined as Life?'

"Anything and everything that is either physical such as the dirt and stones. But there's more to- wait…" Vincent realized, placing their notes down. "The fuck did you… fuck it's concioucse!"

'Inquiry: Was I not ment to have thought?' Grey asked, it's voice still emotionless and monotone.

"No… shit." Vincent huffed, looking at their hands. Even without Code, his creations are life. They gripped their fists, then had an idea. "But, this can work out. If you have thoughts, it means you can learn. Perhaps, you may not be exactly what I wanted to create, but this could work out even better."

'You are my creator. You are my will. My goal is still the end of the machine, as you intended.' Grey spoke, a faintest hint of emotion in the voice, however it simply could have been Vincent's imagination.

"Well then, if you can think, then you can Learn. Might be time to get back in touch with some of my siblings…"

'I shall go back to my task of growing while waiting, Creator Vincent.' Grey said before going silent.

Vincent returned sometime later after taking off. Grey noticing there was someone with them. A young Brown haired woman who gave off a similar feel to Vincent. "This is it." Vincent said.

"That? You bring me to middle of litteral nowhere in the hottest place in creation second to a suns core and it's for a cloud of fog in a jar?" She asked.

'Creator Vincent, who is this female? Her energies share a 98.3527% to your own. Grey spoke in it's emotionless voice.

"Code be damned it talks?!" She yelped.

"Grey, this is Karlia, my sister and the Admin of Form. Karlia, this is my latest project. It calls itself Grey." Vincent said.

"So ... you made living gas?" Karlia asked

"It's an energy, actually. It seems to exponentially boost the anything it touches, from complex spell Matrixes to the raw energy itself. Even code."

"Really? And why am I here?"

"Put that brain it apparently has in a body."

'Creator, Why do I need a body? It asked, having the faintest touches of curiosity in it's voice.

"Let's just say it will help in the long run." Vincent said.

"So that's why I'm here." Karlia said with a sigh. "Alright but you owe me." She said, clapping her hands together, opening them code formed around her hands, dripping to the floor like water and it all crawling to the center of he floor before her. A puddle of code moving and churning before, something emerged from it. It was a body, young, early teen years in age, brown hair, and male. "Now for you." She said, placing a finger of the glass Grey called home. They felt themselves drawn to her touch, once there Karlia moved the concioucness to the body, a snap of her fingers clothing it in a leather cloak and pants. "There."

"This is…is this what feeling is like." It, now he, said, rubbing his fingers as he slowly sat up. His eyes opened to show whatever color Karlia had made them had changed to a smokey grey.

"Good. Thank you Karlia." Vincent said.

"Hey, what's family for. Well, I'm off, later bro." Karlia said, taking leave.

"What is family?" Grey asked Vincent as soon as Karlia had left.

"Family huh? Family is… people you've know your whole life, who care for you and vise versa…" Vincent said, clearing their throat. "Enough about that, it's time to start really testing you."

"Very well." Grey said, though his mind was elsewhere.

"Creator, I have done research on verious topics, yet the concept of children and parents keep appearing." Grey said, by now small hints of emotion apparent, but as long as they don't get in the way of the goal, they don't matter.

"That's irrelevant information for you Grey." Vincent said, tinkering away at his own desk. "You're not a person, your sentient energy, almost like us Admins."

"I understand, however, I checked many definitions from countless cultures, and by definition I would be your child." Grey said, working at his own desk to ask like this didn't bother them. "I just can't help but be curious if you think of me as your child in a sense."

"... You're a project. Not a child." Vincent said with a huff, getting up from their desk. "I'm going out." Vincent said, taking leave rapidly.

Grey watched them leave before putting a hand to his face. "What is this liquid? Why is salt water leaving my eyes?" He said quietly after Vincent had left earshot.

Some hours had passed and Vincent was still not back yet. Grey just reading through various notes and such. "Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck this desert!!!" The loud groaned scream of someone who wasn't Vincent yelled from outside.

"I blame you…" Another voice, different from the first and also not Vincent, groaned like the first.

Grey took a breath and focused on the invisibility matrix they had just been studying before activating it. Once confirming they were invisible, grey pressed themselves against a wall. 'Who are these people…?' he thought, prepared to do whatever was necessary.

Looking outside, they saw two people, roughly their physical age. Both were female, based on biology books Vincent had Grey read, one with long blond hair and blue eyes, The other shorter brown hair with brown eyes. Both drenched in their own sweat. "Persila, if we die I'm fucking dragging you to hell…" The brown haired one said.

"And when you do I'll drag you along with my crazy escape plans Malty." The blond, Persila, replied.

Taking a deep, calming breath, Grey spoke, using the echo to his advantage to make it hard to pin where the voice is coming from. "Who are you? Why are you here?"

"Ahh! Ghost!" The blond yelled, shooting off various pyromancies in random directions… then collapsing. "Too tired… too hot… end me now…"

"Knew I could have learned some ice magic before coming here…" Malty said, falling over like the other.

Grey was tempted to just throw them out… but felt a pressure in his chest from that though. Remembering the small room Vincent never uses unless it is to have Grey sleep, Grey walked over before lifting the blond up first and taking her to the room, before returning for the other. 'Why am I doing this? Won't Vincent be upset with me?' he thought as he laid them down in the cooler room on the bed.

To be safe he took their bags and weapons, locking them in and searching their bags. 'Why do they need weapons? What were they searching for? Why do I care?' Grey thought, always asking the question Why.

Malty's bad contained some clothes and bandages, a mixture of herbs, a pouch of small stones with small symbols.

Persila's bag had various dried meats, two bottles of water, both near empty, a pouch with the same symbol bearing stones, and another pouch containing sweet smelling hard orbs. They smelled like cherries.

"Strange, no sign as to what they are after." He said before moving a few bricks and hiding the supplies in the wall. "What do I do when Vincent returns…"

"What about when I return?" Grey jumped, for reasons not entirely understood by them. Vincent entered the doorway, a large dead creature tied to their back. "What happened while I was out?"

Instantly, in the emotionless voice Grey was known for. "Two beings tried to enter the tower. As I had no combat training as of yet, I resorted to using my energies to overload their own, and fall dead. The sands must have covered over their bodies already, or a wild animal, as I left them outside the door." Grey said, blanked faced and empty eyed dispite the inner termoil raging inside of them.

"Bullshit. No animals live this far in this region, and the soil is too baked to even toss up enough sand for that." Vincent said, dropping the dead animal. "I should know, I BUILT this region of existence. It's lifeless eternal sunbaked wasteland for miles in all directions. Still though, why would people travel this far out here? You're hiding them in your room aren't you?"

'Quick Grey. Half truths, or they die.' Grey thought, still not sure why he even cares. "Apologies. You are right they are inside my room, however I could not find out what they were looking for in their belongings. I planned to keep them there in order to study the effects of my energies on living being that are not directly a admin or made by a admin." Grey said, not a single lie, but not the whole truth.

“Not piss you’re lying, pissed you’re bad at it. Where’s their stuff?” Vincent said, looking around.

Grey pulled out their weapons before moving a few bricks aside, pulling out their packs. "This is all the two females had in them."

“Females? That’s new.” Vincent said, looking through the belongings. “Bare minimum supplies, just medicine and food… and Cherry hard candy.” Vincent said, sniffing the bag of candy. He looked at their weapons, they both had two longswords. Unsheathing them, their blades were marked by a symbol. A Wolf with a Snake wrapped around it. “They’re adventurers. This is the symbol for the Adventure Guild Galitropa. Pretty far, their headquarters is a months walk from here. Idiots must have come here in search of new locations for villages or a Dungeon.”

"Whatever the reason, both were frail. Starved, over heated, and dehydrated. They would have died had they been forced one more day of walking." Grey said.

“With these supplies they wouldn’t have lasted a full day. No night here, always daylight. Let me see them.”

Grey didn't know why he felt a out in his stomach as he walked over to his room, unlocked it, and held the door open. "They passed out shortly after arriving. To maximize chance of survival, I left them in here where the air is cool and damp."

“Hm.” Vincent said, looking them over. He then looked over at Grey, walking over to him. “Hand. Now.”

Grey offered his hand. "What are you going to do Creator." He asked

Vincent, using their thumb nail and creating a cut, Grey’s blood leaking out, red and grey. He dipped two fingers in it, then walked over to the females, on the backs of their necks doting Grey’s blood on them. He then begins muttering things, a spell as the blood takes form of a seal. “Like I am your creator I too… and my other half, made these creatures before you. One thing I want you to learn, and understand without hesitation Grey, we are ABOVE them. Since you chose to spare them, they will be your responsibility. That seal will link you to them, you will hear their thoughts, feel their intentions. Best part, if one tries to kill you, the wound will appear on them, and kill them both. Any injury you get will appear on them. They are, and will forever be, your lessers. Like… Pets. For lack of a better word.”

"Very well creator." Grey said with a nod, looking over the two bound to him. 'Now, why did I spare them…'

“Come on. Unlike you and I these creatures need to eat. Which makes your lesson for tonight a two for one.” Vincent said, picking up the dead animal. “Never imagined I’d have to use this room.”

Grey followed Vincent down to the lower levels of the tower. To his surprise a hidden basement level was opened. Pressing a button stones began glowing, brightening up the room. Grey recognized it as a kitchen, from the few books that were not solely information.

"Not that it isn't useful to the current situation, but what was the point in having this if there is no need to eat?" Grey asked, following Vincent to a large table with a assortment of knifes.

“Decoration mostly. That and while we don’t need to eat, we can for fun or just to enjoy the flavor.” He said, tossing the animal onto the table. He took out a knife from a drawer, handing it to Grey. “Slice the belly open, and gut it. A first hand experience in biology.”

Grey nodded, doing as he was told to the letter, all while having his mind still on the two females in his room.

Once all the guts were out and tossed Vincent has Grey clean our the inside with water, which Grey was surprised this tower had a working well here in it’s surprise kitchen. And began splicing the beast up. “Remember, force when cutting bones. They don’t break that easily.”

"Yes Vincent." Grey said, despite having no struggle at all after enhancing his body. "I have also discovered I can enhance this body physically much the same way I do spells and other energies." He decided to tell his Creator.

“Good.” Vincent said. Once the animal was washed and sliced, Vincent had Grey light a fire in the stove, the flame burning off pure magic rather than wood or coal. Once the meat was screwed he placed it on a rotisserie. “Keep spinning it. If it’s raw they get sick. Weak creatures.”

"Yes sir." Grey obeyed, doing as he said. "However, for creatures as weak as they are, it is impressive they survived for as long as they did with that miniscule amount of supplies."

"They're likely new. Must not have the resources or wealth yet to at least purchase a covered wagon with a stone beast to pull it. Beings made from stone are the only other beings that could pass through here, other than fire based ones or demons." Vincent said.

Then grey slipped. "I wish I knew why I spared them… it… frustrates that I don't know."

"Biology." Vincent said. "They're female of your physical age, you're a male coming into that age, you've read the biology books, you can figure it out."

"It may be." Grey said, though himself not believing that to be the case.

Grey had to admit, the scent of the meat cooking over the fire was producing a newfound discovery. Hunger, and want. They wanted to consume it, despite not needing to.

With the entire beast now cooked Vincent had Grey carry it all up in a large platter. Placing it on the table, Grey checked on the two. Still out cold.

“What do I do…” Grey sighed out before walking over and trying to gently shake the blonde awake.

To their surprise, the Blonde, Persila, if they remembered correctly, stretched her arms, yanking Grey into their embrace on the bed. "It's too early mom…" She said hazily as she fell back to sleep.

Grey felt his face heat up for some reason. ‘Why is my chest pounding?!’ He thought, not understanding any of this, trying to get free but not finding any way that doesnt end in harming Persila. ‘Why do I care, why is my chest pounding, why did I save them, why was water coming out of my eyes, why why why whywhywhywhywhywhy?!’ He thought, breaking down as tears streamed out of his eyes, though he didnt know why it felt good to cry.

"So how are the-" Vincent asked, stopping dead in his tracks as he saw Grey in the situation. Vincent backed up out of the doorway, and closed the door.

Grey just whimpered pathetically as he felt sleep come for him.

"Aaaaah! Pervert!" Grey awoke to that screaming in his ear, a pain as she kicked him off the bed and through the door, breaking it as he rolled into the main room where Vincent sat, overseeing the event.

"Four hours. Huh." Vincent said casually as Grey got up on two feet.

“I have no clue why that happened.” Grey said emotionless again.

"W-what are you gonna do with us?" Persila asked, fear I'm her tone as Malty woke up, seeing the situation and gaining similar fear.

“I have no idea. You are the intruders into our home. And Persila was it? You were the one that dragged me to bed, not the other way around.” Grey said, blank faced and emotionless.

"Lies!" Persila declared.

"Persila you do that all the time… fuck you've sleep walked into my bed to cuddle. Not that I mind." Malty said.

"Enough." Vincent said, tone low but silencing them both. "First off, you two are idiots for trying to travel this wasteland unprepared. Second, You have trespassed on my land."

"And… who are you?" Malty asked.

"Vincent, Admin of Life." Malty and Persila seemed to be processing that for a moment, looking Vincent over before their eyes went wide with a mix of fear and awe. "That being said, as punishment for both you and… the kid here." Vincent have Grey a fairly hard smack to the back. "You're his property."

"What?!" Persila and Malty both said as once in shock.

"I've already placed the slave crests to the back of your necks, and linked them to him. Try and stab him, the wounds will appear on him, poison, it will flow through your blood, try and leave and the second you make it a mile the crest will stop your hearts." Malty and Persila checked each other's necks, seeing the crest marks and dread filling their thoughts. "You'll be sharing a bed with the kid. Theretonly the one here and while I can make more I'm not wasting code on two idiot adventurers. Either sleep with the kid or sleep on the floor. Either way I don't really care."

Grey looked at Vincent and even he couldn't hide the emotion in his eyes. 'Did… did he just call me kid?' shaking his head, grey turned to the other two. "I, along with Vincent, have made you food. I Have no wish to use you two in any way, only to complete the studies Creator Vincent sets before me. There is no need to fear for your safety."

"Creator? Oh right, Admin… and we're now slaves to a teenage boy…" Malty said. "Fuck…"

"You two eat and then just clean or something. Do something useful." Vincent said, tapping Grey's arm. "Let's talk privately." Vincent lead him to the next room, a small library filled with many books Grey has already read. "Now then about that display a few hours ago."

"The one where in I asked if I could been considered your child? I already understand. I am not a person, but a project. One that was never ment to have sentience in the first place." Grey said

"No, the one where you were in the blondes arms crying. It was… unexpected. But after some review of your development and your rapid evolution I realized the cause."

"Oh?" Grey said, the faintest hint of… nervousness in his voice, only recognizable due to how monotone he normally is. "And what was the cause?"

"Me. Like it or not, and I don't, I am an Admin of Life. Despite my best efforts to make you ONLY energy, you grew a mind, and now with a body you're developing emotions. Rather poorly but it's development nonetheless. Even if I tried I can't remove them, so I… called someone over here to… help you out with that. Plus given you saved those two girls it means there is something about them, biology or not, that made you make that choice so if they can further your development it's worth the headache of having them here."

"I… don't know what to say." Grey said, aloss for words for the first time in his short life. "Who is it that will help me with these… emotions I've been trying to suppress?"

"Her name is… Diva. She's… the Other Admin of Life." Vincent said.

"Other…. Strange. Everything I read said normally there is one admin for one aspect. But now thinking on the nature of life at a primal level, it makes a form of sense as it requires a male and female to create new life, regardless of species. All female species even have forms of fatherhood. I retract my statement." Grey said, going on a bit of a rant there.

"Heheheh… yeah but with Admins it's different. We aren't built like the life in those books. Hell kid we made them. We are made from code." Vincent said, raising a hand as the green number energy flowed in his hand. "It's the building blocks of everything. Endless and can do anything. It's only able to be used by Admins. Everything in those books you've read, Diva, Myself, or others constructed and made it. When we were made we were a lot like you, just code floating in the Empty, then we realized we could think. Over time we learned to manipulate the unclustered code and give or take a few sextillion years the world is as you see it now. It's rare for Admins to be made in twos but not impossible. Aside from Diva and myself there's the Admins of Abilities, Joseph and Yimmi. Also the Admins of Fire, Gro and Gru."

"Then… If you and the others worked so hard to create Existence, even with all its imperfections, and spent so long developing under what most mortals would call a family with one another, why make me, and my purpose for existing." Grey said, being veuge for any listening ears that might be around.

"Let me show you." Vincent said, placing a hand to Grey's head. Grey saw the early years if existence. Planets, suns, life, plants, water, animals. Beauty. Soon as time passed a new life was entered. Sentient life. As intelligent as the admins, but lacking their power, a being to build and explore the vast reality they were given. Two turned to four, turning to hundreds turning to thousands as soon these intelligent beings covered various planets and In various shapes and races/species. The admins teaching them farming, hunting, building, fighting the primal monsters built to challenge them. Then… death. One of these beings smashing a rock into the head of their own kin long after it has died. More was showed, these beings creating wars, corrupting admin teachings and knowledge and using it for slaughter. Young and infants killed and burned alive, no mercy given or to be seen by the killer. Cities rised and fell because of this cycle of kill, rebellion, fear and misery they would spread time and time again. "They abused our teachings. Used it to murder one another, not advance what we built for them. In the end, all they do is kill."

"What about the ones that don't? I know what I have studied, there are those that never kill, even one going as far as to stop a war by just walking, no violence. What about those who don't fight out of desire, or even need of resources, but simply to defend themselves from the very ones that disgust you?" Grey asked, whipping the strange liquid from his eyes again.

"I thought about them too." Again, Vincent placed a hand to Grey's head. Images of these few special beings living their lives, growing old, children, dying, the children… holding the blade… "If their own offspring can be as heartless to kill them off why should we let them make that discovery the hard way? Better to die ignorant of such cruel truths than learn them from experience."

"I will not argue with you Creator, but… i… feel… and I don't know why these words come to my mind… but 'the brightest lights shine in the Darkness.' I know not why I think that, or why my chest hurts from saying such words." Grey said, his hand over where most beings would have a heart.

"Well as long as you don't forget your-" The ground. Shook. Violently but just for a moment. "She's early…" Vincent groaned. Grey took a look outside. The vast endless baked desert their tower home resided in was suddenly at the center of a vast, unending Forest. Mountains with large waterfalls in the distance, even a river where fish swam in was just outside their front door. "Damn it she Terraformed the whole area!" Vincent barked angerly.

"So, this is what a forest looks like." Grey said simply.

"Heeeeeeeey Vincent!* Appearing in front of Vincent was a black haired, green eyes woman with what Grey's research would describe as a healthy and desirable figure. "Did ya miss me?"

"Like… a little." Grey took notice of that, knowing Vincent was going to make an insult, but stopped part way.

“Is this Diva, the one you spoke to me about?” Grey asked.

"Oh. My. Gosh!" Diva said, upon laying eyes on Grey she ran up to him, pinching his cheeks. A sensation that filled Grey with much physical pain. "He's so handsome!"

“I am?” Grey asked, rubbing his cheek.

"Diva, this is Grey. The one with the emotional issues." Vincent said with a huff.

“Nice to meet you. Creator Vincent told me you are to help me with these emotions?” Grey said, his voice mostly monotone, with hints of other emotions inside.

"Yeah. She's better at this than I am."

"Such a cutie! Tell me, when did Vincent make you? Has he been a good Daddy to you?" Diva asked.

"Diva…" Vincent growled.

“He is not my dad. My creator, yes, not my father. He has said so himself.” Grey said with not much emotion shown, but Diva saw right through it, seeing the sadness hidden in his eyes. "Besides, I am a project. The sooner I can control these emotions, the sooner I can suppress them and go back to my studies."

"Actually kid, she's not here to help you suppress them, she's here to help you embrace them." Vincent corrected Grey

"What?" Grey said, shock present on his face.

"When you were having that… episode, your energy production levels skyrocketed. Forty percent increase in multiplication. Even after you passed out, just having contact with that girl kept it raised to a two percent increase. In short, your emotions play a large role in your energy production. The stronger the emotion the more rapid rate you multiply your energy."

Grey went silent for a moment. "Alright. Alright I'll… try."

"Good. Now then, Diva, go give Grey lessons. I'll be someplace less… green "

"Awh, Vinc, don't be such a downer." Diva said with a smile.

"It's Vincent and your the one who turned the place into a forest." He said with a roll of his eyes. "I'll be back in a few days." With that, Vincent left, Diva had a clear look of sadness as he left and lasted well after til he was gone.

She shook it off, looking over to Grey. "Alright then child, let's see what you can feel and express." Diva said.

"Well… I sometimes get a pressure in my chest, followed by salt water coming out of my eyes. The first time it happened was when Vincent confirmed that I was not a person but a project. And because I was not a person, he was not my father and me not his child." Grey began.

"Oh that man left knowing I'd have…" Diva growled. "Okay, that can actually be a few emotions. Mainly Sadness and Misery. Sadness can happen for a lot of reasons, like what Vincent said to you. Swear if he wasn't… anyway, and Misery is a worse form of sadness, basically after experiencing it you find it hard to find any reason to be happy or to move on, and often the cause for this misery will longer with you for a long time. And don't hold it against him for being a jerk. He hasn't been the same since he saw what our kids were capable of."

"He showed me... and yet I can't help but have these words come to my head. 'The brightest lights shine in the Darkness.' I don't know what it means or why it… feels warm." Grey said.

"Oh. That's something Kingdom Hearts says all the time. Guess little bro already knows about you."

"Who is Kingdom Hearts?" Grey asked, cocking his head to the side in a way that ended up looking adorable.

"One of our little brothers and the Admin of Hearts. Despite being one of the youngest he is one of the more powerful ones of us."

"Huh. What other emotion should I embrace?" Grey asked, his voice slightly less monotone.

"A good one is allway happiness. Everyone should be happy. Now then, what can make you happy?"

"I… don't know. I mean, I enjoyed it when Vincent taught me cooking, and when I saw the two mortals after I made sure they were safe. Though I still don't know why I did it, save them I mean." Grey explained.

“Oh? You have some here? Where are they?”

"In the tower. Because I spared them, Vincent bound them to me… one of them also caused the episode Vincent no doubt told you about, admittedly in her sleep." Grey said simply.

“Oh. Good to know. Our kids were born with emotions so I guess they would be a great help in helping you understand them also. Also, bonded how?”

"Well, one of them mentioned the term enslaved. They can not harm me without the same happening to them, and can not leave very far from the tower without dieing. Also I can hear their thoughts, though have been uncounsously blocking it for their privacy." Grey explained in detail.

“Oh, I think I know that bond. Cosmic Entanglement. Powerful hex that, wonder why Vincent used it though? Normally he’d just go with a basic branding hex. Well, in any case let’s go say hello and get to work.”

Grey nodded before leading Diva inside. "I apologise if I come off as cold. I was not meant to have a conscious much less emotions." Grey spoke with sinserity

“Oh I’m aware, trust me. Vincent said in his letter than you were meant to be a new kind of energy or power, stronger than magic or something. From what I understood he got it right but you still grew a mind. Makes sense, Vincent and I can’t make anything without it being alive. In some way, shape or form.”

"Interesting." Grey said before making a small orb of his namesake into his hand. "As for what I do… I enhance anything I come into contact with, including the body and code." Grey said before causing the orb to disappear and he opened the door for Diva.

“Forever talented.” Diva said, looking over at the table where Malty and Persila were still eating at the cooked bore. Grey felt some pride in seeing they were eating it without any noticeable worry or disdain.

"I take it you two enjoy the boar? Good." Grey said, his pride slipping its way into his voice.

“It’s tasty.” Persila said, a mouth full of the beasts meat.

“Better than farmed pork.” Malty said.

“So you are the two mystery people.” Malty and Persila took notice of Diva at that moment, dropping their food in shock. “I see my reputation is still standing.” She said happily.

“Diva of Life… Holy crap…” Persila said.

“Yup, that’s me. I hear Grey here saved you two.”

“Heh, we suck at planning ahead. Mostly Persila.” Malty stated.

“Hey!” Persila snipped back.

Grey did something he had never done before. On his face appeared the smallest of smiles. "It could have gone worse. You could have bumped into my fa-... My creator." Grey said with a slight air of humor.

Diva smiled at hearing that. She knew it was there, just needed a proper push. “So, you two, what are your names?”

“My name is Persila.”

“I’m Malty.”

“Persila, Malty. Lovely names. Where do you two come from?”

“Well, I’m from way north, Kragons Tulf. Bunch of viking villages and such. I am one too, kinda.” Persila said.

“I’m from Malgoru.” Malty said.

“Malgoru? I’m afraid I haven’t heard of it.” Diva said.

“You wouldn’t. Small isolated city way in the East Kilvanu Mountains. One path in and out of the place and even by horse of flying magic it’s a three day journey.”

“How did you two meet?”

“The Adventurers Guild Galitropa, they sent me and her to the West Wastelands to help settlers fend off the wild beasts. Malty and I bonded in the heat of battle and kept traveling since.” Persila said.

“Aren’t you both a little young to travel and adventure? You’re both no older than fourteen at least.” Diva asked.

“I’m fifteen actually.” Malty stated. “That being said I left home because while Malgoru is nice, you can see the whole city in a day, two if you are lazy. I wanted to see more.”

“I left after my mom died.” Persila said, twiddling her food around. “She was… a brothel whore. No idea who my dad is, but all I know is that I didn’t want to live my life like she did. After she passed from the Burning Plague six years ago I got on the first train I could out of the city. Just road til the end of the line in Scala Ad Caelum. People there were nice, raised me til I was old enough to adventure out with confidence.”

"At least you got to be with her. From what I read, some never meet their mothers when they have that profession. Keep the memories close." Grey said in a sudden spout of compassion, confusing even himself.

“Yeah. She was nice, learned a lot from her, aside from the obvious.”

“The obvious being how to flirt and fuck.” Malty stated bluntly.

"The first of which is useful for any situation. Getting into buildings, information, what have you. The later only useful in intimacy." And the compassion was gone as grey read off the uses for those skills like a dictionary.

“Eh, you’re not wrong.” Persila said.

"You two are remarkably calm for two females bound to a being with no control of their emotions, and told you'd die if you try to leave." Grey said, looking at the two.

“Sometimes life just happens like that.” Persila stated. “In the end as long as we aren’t dead any situation can end up in our favor or at least not get any worse.”

“That’s remarkable positivity Persila, I wish more beings could think like that.” Diva said. “Now then, let’s get to work. Grey here, your master I guess, needs to learn about emotions properly. We will be teaching him happiness.”

“Teaching emotions?” Malty asked. “How are we gonna do that?”

“However we have to.” Diva stated, “We can start with the most basic way of making someone happy.” Diva said. She turned to Grey, kneeling down a bit and wrapping her arms around their torso, and holding them in her embrace gently. “This is called a hug Grey.”

Grey's mouth opened and shut, unable to voice the thoughts going through his head as he felt a warmth blossom in his chest. "Why does it feel… comforting?"

"A hug can be many things, but is often a sign of trust or love." Diva said, hugging Grey tighter. "A hug can tell you a lot about a person too. For example, judging by your question and reaction, this is your first time getting a hug. It's a way to say high to someone you know very well or care about, and a way to say goodbye when someone has to leave for a while. A hug is many things, but as for why it is comforting, it's because it's the second best way of embracing another person."

Grey hesitated, the other two seeing a torn look on his face before grey returned the hug akwardly. "I…. Thank you."

“You’re welcome.” Diva said.

“Wow, really doesn’t know much does he?” Malty asked.

Persila perked up at that. “Then, does that mean you have never fought a monster or beast?” She asked, standing up in anticipation for Grey’s answer.

"No. Vincent has not started my combat training as of yet. As for why I don't know much, I was created only a few months ago." Grey informed them.

“Heh, so you’re just a baby then?” Malty asked.

“No time for jokes Malty, this man baby child… person… whatever he is must know the thrill of a fight! Admin Diva, when you made this place a forest, did you also create animals and monsters?”

“Of course, basic requirment for anything I make.” Diva answered. “And just Diva is fine.”

“Right then.” Persila said, grabing hers and Malty’s bags and then pulling Malty and Grey by the wrists down the tower. “We need to show this guy how a good fight goes.”

As the three reached the doorway, Grey halted just before stepping outside. In the short time they had existed, they have never gone further than ten or so feet from the tower exterior, and he could tell Persila would take him far further than that.

"I… don't know. I never left the tower." He said, a slight spark of fear evident on his face.

“Oh come on, the world won’t bite you. Much.” Persila said with a laugh, pulling Grey through the doorway and into the forest with Malty.

Running through the trees, the grass the flowing river, the fish swimming in it, the smaller animals, so much life, so much going on around him. So many colors, smells and plants. The barren, empty desert he was born into, was now teaming with life as if it was always this way.

Panting, his body not used to much activity, Grey was only able to keep up due to being dragged along, and putting some of his energy into his body. "This… is beautiful." He said, looking around.

“That’s what an Admin of life can do.”Malty said.

The trio ran for what Grey calculated to be half a mile before Persila halted them. Pointing around a tree’s corner, there was a large boar. Much like the one Vincent brought, but easily four times larger. “A Primal Alpha Boar. Those things are tough.” Persila said with a smile.

“So, just like Diamond City?” Malty asked Persila, handing her her sword as Malty drew her’s. “Watch and learn Baby man.”

Malty and Persila split, heading around in different ways around the giant boar before rushing at it from both sides. The boar seeing this, charged Malty. She smirked, passing a hand across her blade.

“Power of the sky, heat of the sun, speed of light. Power on.” She said, the blade now crackling with electricity. She slashed, the bolt of Electricity jolting into the massive boar, paralyzing it for a moment as Persila lept onto it’s back, driving her blade into the back of it’s head. The boar fell over with a loud thud as Persila and Malty gave one another a proud elbow bump.

“Still got it.” Persila said.

"That was impressive." Grey said, looking at his own hand as grey smoke flowed around it. He was so focused on his hand he didn't notice the primal bear behind him until a shadow was over him. Time seemed to freeze for him as his brain processed the situation. 'Large, territorial predetor. Most likely angry over intrusion of territory and lose of meal. Strike in coming in 1.59737 seconds. Body integrity: Optimal. This body would substan the blow, however it would leave the other two in danger. Objective: Protect the females and nutrualize the threat.' the grey flowing in his hand condensed into itself, the two girls feeling a crushing amount of power localized into that tiny area before with a pivot that broke the sound barrier, grey turned around and punched the bear in its chest, sending it flying with a fist sized hole threw its body, leaving grey panting before falling over, somehow tired.

Persila whistled. "So there's a fire in that chest after all." She said, her and Malty walking over and helping Grey up.

"What happened? I stopped thinking and just…. Acted." He said before looking down at his blood covered hand.

"Sometimes it happens." Malty said. "Some people act without realizing or thinking, their bodies move on their own when there is danger."

"You both are unharmed, correct?" Grey asked

"Yeah. Not a scratch." Persila said.

"Think you went Overkill enough?" Malty asked with a smirk.

"Overkill? Is that when one uses more energy than necessary to complete a task? If so, then I fail to see how, as my objective was to nutralize the target and… protect you two. As for the energy, that was hardly any of me, only the amount I had at the ready condensed." Grey said, a faint blush on his face when he mentioned protecting the two of them.

"Yeah, but we're not that easily broken. I mean fuck look at yourself, just that little bit if your power and your hand got fucked." Malty said.

Grey looked at their hand, blood mixed with Grey, his own, bled from various wounds along his hand and wrist. "Maybe you need to learn how to control just how much you should hold back when using that power of yours." Persila said.

"It's… not easy. I am my power, and I am constantly growing and multiplying myself. I enhance everything I touch, including myself." Grey said before wincing, the pain now making itself known.

"Well, energy is energy." Malty said. "And if you are the energy, then of course you can control it. Control yourself."

"I… I will try." Grey said finally, grunting in pain when his hand twitched.

Over the next Week, with Diva, Persila and Malty's teachings and help, Grey learned the basics of emotions. Joy, sadness, pain, comfort, and dread among others. In terms of controlling themselves, Grey was able to reduce his power to a drop no bigger than a skin cell. Doing so gave enough power to be useful but not harm their physical body.

Vincent had returned in this time and when she could Diva would force him to participate in Grey's teachings and activities. Their latest activity however.

"This is a bad idea." Vincent said bluntly.

"He needs to experience community and the other beings. We have to bring grey to a town or city." Diva countered.

"I get that, it will help his development but what if something happens. You three and myself is one thing, small and controlled, out there among the mortals, if he blows up it's on you."

"Oh please, Persila and Malty can help teach him sentient being customs and cultures. This will be good, trust me."

“I think it will be good for all of us. It will help teach me more, while also letting Persila and Malty visit their home. They have been looking more and more depressed with each day, and frankly they don't deserve that.” Grey said, adding his own two cents.

Vincent groaned. "Fine, but I'm going with."

Grey smiled “I don't mind, do you M- Diva.” Grey said, catching himself.

"Not at all!" Diva said, In a snap and flash, her normal attire was replaced by a white long sundress and large yellow hat.

"Shit…" Vincent groaned.

The town they entered was called Sphere Hills. A place where floating islands dotted the sky for hundreds of miles all connected by bridges built by man and magic, everything connected.

Grey saw people walk all out and around, all races and breeds. The influx of new faces was an amazing sight and the noises and voices were all so new. "This is just… wow!" He said, a smile on his face as he looked around.

"And this is a small town too." Persila informed. "The bigger cities like Scala will blow your mind."

"She's not wrong either." Vincent said, dressed in his typical attire. "I sense sixty two thousand, eight hundred and forty two people here, including unborns. Small compared to Scala, whose current population is at just shy of eighty two million. Even then no where near Home City."

"They're at little over forty two Centillion about now." Diva said with a nod.

"That's… wow." Grey said. It's strange, feeling a large range of emotions, but at the same time, it felt nice.

"So, what should we do first?" Diva asked.

"Persila and I should check in with the Guild Office since we're here." Malty said.

"And tell them what?" Vincent asked.

"We found an artifact that turned that desert into a forest. Good cover story?"

"Well, better than giving away the current residence of the two admins of life and this kid." Vincent said, that last part he gave a somewhat hard tap on Grey's back. "Go on then, I'll just wonder and try and lose Diva."

"Hey!" Diva snipped.

Malty and Persila left with Grey following. The Guilds Office was a tall stone building with various guild symbols on its front wall.

Persila and Malty entered, Grey following and eyeing everything and everyone. Their talk was fairly short and simple with the Guild representative, and when it was over Persila took them all over for a snack. "So, never had ice cream before?" Persila asked.

"Heh, well, I didn't start eating food until a week ago when we had that boar." Grey admitted.

"Here." Malty said, handing Grey a paper bowel with a cold brown treat. "Can never go wrong with chocolate."

Grey shrugged before taking a spoon and putting some in his mouth. For a moment he froze before a look of nervana spread across his face. "Hmm wonder what sea salt ice cream would taste like." He said, as the ice cream man looked at grey with a look of inspiration before rushing to the back room.

With treats in hand the trio looked at all the sights and shops. Grey looked over at a weapons shop, wondering what types they would have. He had read about the basics, swords, Sheilds, Spears, Lance's and bows, but not sure how many there were.

“Would you all mind if we stop in there?” Grey said, pointing out the weapon shop.

"Hm? Thinking of buying something for yourself?" Persila asked.

"Do you even have your own money?" Malty asked.

"I...erm… I could make some but I don't want to cause a economic crisis." Grey said, embaresed as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Hmm… you boost everything you touch right? Is it permanent?" Persila asked.

"Well, unless I make it not so." Grey said with a shrug. "I could add to a spell matrix or a person, and until I remove the energy,it's boosted and gets stronger every moment."

"Hm…" Persila thought for a time, quickly entering a different store then exiting. In her hands was a small vial of red liquid. "This is a cheap health potion. Can you boost it's quality?"

"I can try." Grey said before taking a breath, and having grey smoke flow from his body ant into the potion. The liquid turned into a silver color, the power radiating from it growing by the second.

"Hm. Well then, let's see what they'll buy it at."

The trio entered the weapons shop, Grey seeing all the varied weapons on display on the walls, in barrels, in display cases and even a few left on the floor. "Welcome to the Hording Hog weapon shop, what do you need?" The merchant behind the desk asked.

"Yes, can you appraise this?" Persila asked, placing the potion on the table.

"Hm? Don't typically deal in potions but sure kid." The man said, hands around the potion as magic flowed around them and the potion between them. After a bit of time it stopped, the man still for a bit. "Where in the hell did you get this?"

"A dungeon." Malty said quickly.

"If my appraisal spell worked, and it should, best one out there, this potion heals you for way over Max health, and keeps healing you for a solid month after drinking it!"

"Seriously?" Persila asked, surprised and giving a quick look at Grey.

"Yeah. This potion is worth more than this whole block of shops."

"Huh. Well… know anywhere we can sell it? If we were a single team it would be priceless, but as a team it is hard to split something like this without someone being cheated." Grey said with a suprising about of diplomacy.

"The only place you could even sell something like this is the Auctioners Guild. They are more business than anything but all the rich fat cats buy rare and hard to come by items. My money says more than one will be willing to buy this month-long immortality potion."

"Thank you. With any luck we'll be back to buy your wares. Maybe even give you a small cut for pointing us in the right direction and not cheating us out on it's real value." Grey said with a smile.

That potion ended up selling for well over six million rem. With the money the group needed a slightly better cover for the tower and all that, Vincent did some alterations to the tower home. Now it was massive, the lower half now a dungeon entrance as to sell that story about the potion better and the top half where the group lives. Special magic and code worked in to hide visual and audio giveaways just in case, as well as a secret way in and out of the tower so no one knew it was a tower.

This size increase of their home gave a lot more space and empty rooms, but helped in also with the issue Grey had with finer control over weaponizing his power. "Alright." Vincent said, he, Persila, Malty and Grey all in the new schoolroom he built as a new part of the tower. "What do you know about dungeons Grey?"

“I know adventurers dive into them for loot and experience, that they hold a hoast of monsters, and some need to be cleared less the monsters come out.” Grey said

"Mostly correct." Vincent said. "To start, I made Dungeons. Was one of my attempts at keeping our intelligent creations from killing one another. Didn't quite work out as hoped. Needless to say you are right about their loot, monsters and all that. There's a wide variety of dungeons but they all fall into two categories. Floored and Fields. Floor dungeons go up or down a vast number of floors, some even reaching a million floor, but only the hardest of dungeons have that many floors. Such as our tower is now, but, then there are field dungeons, such as the forest now surrounding the tower. Field dungeons spawn monsters at night and normal various animals in the day. Of course the monsters don't disappear in the daytime nor do the animals at night. They coexist with one another, but not all of them leave one another alone. Field dungeons can have floor dungeons spawn within them, these are harder Dungeons when they do."

“Thats interesting. I’m guessing our dungeon is not only to sell the story but to train my abilities?” Grey asked.

"Exactly. This is a level four dungeon. Second hardest in reality."

“Well then, how are we going to do this? Use Me as a weapon rather than a booster.” Grey asked

"Sorta. When you boosted that potion, I noticed the boost effect was only while you were holding it. After that it kept the stats and effects but didn't grow by itself oddly. So, we'll be using this as a means as seeing how infusing your power into weapons, armor, and of course, these two." Vincent motioned to Malty and Persila.

Grey nodded. "Ready when you are dad." He said before wincing, not catching himself in time. "I-I'm sorry."

Vincent said nothing. "Get to it then you three. Just get as far as you can in floor one for now."

Awkwardly, Grey, Malty and Persila left, heading out the secret exit and into the dungeon. The tower's dungeon first floor was made entirely of cobblestone. Various long hallways and rooms decorated the floor as well as cosmetic paintings, banners and the likes. "Well that was unexpected." Persila said.

"Yeah… just a bit." Grey said, sighing. "Let's just focus on this."

"In that case, care to upgrade our swords?" Malty asked, she and Persila pulling their weapons out. "They'll break just touching a monster in a level four dungeon."

Grey nodded before griping the swords, having his power flow over them as both began to change, the blades now having a swirling smoke design in the metal. "Here, try them out now." He said handing them back.

Persila and Malty gave them a few swings, nodding as the trio headed into the first area. Two goblins with crimson red eyes met them. They were fast but Grey defended while Malty and Persila attacked, the Goblins going down in one hit each. "Definitely effective." Malty said, looking the blade over.

"Hmm… I'm going to try something." Grey said before taking a breath and focusing. Before the two, for a brief moment, they saw what grey truly looked like, appearing like a lake of grey colored fog, before it flowed over his body, forming two short swords in his hands. "Huh, worked better than I thought, though I was aiming for bastard swords."

"That's cool." Persila said.

With their weapons and teamwork the dungeon was fairly easy to clear out. Even the rooms with Multiple strongly armored monsters proved at best teadius. This success gave Malty, Persila and Grey some rare and powerful armor.

"You two should have the best ones. The ones I touch will just get better anyways." Grey said, gesturing to the heavily enchanted armors.

"Fair point. Oh, try this!" Persila said, handing Grey what just by looks seemed to be a simple set if black leather armor, but was perfectly fire, ice, lightning and Spectral proof. "Better than your normal clothes."

"Thanks." Grey said with a small smile, the armor only gaining a grey trim once grey put it on. "How do I look?"

"Not bad. Still scruffy but more like an adventure." Malty said. Her own armor was a lightweight metallic armor with a chrome polish. Persila's was a light blue mix of metal and leather.

"So, that was floor one, wanna continue or head back up?" Grey asked after moving a bit to get used to the armor.

"Best head back." Malty said. "Pretty sure Vincent will want a report on how this all went."

"Yeah… I just hope my comment didn't make things too awkward." Grey said, apparently that he wanted to continue so to not face the music.

The trio made their way back up, Persila stopping them just before they opened the door. “You hear that?” She whispered.

Listening in at the door, shushed laughs could be heard. “Laughing?” Malty asked.

"Be quiet, but we can check it out with the same invisibility spell I cast all those weeks ago." Grey said, drawing the matrix in the air before all three of them turned completely invisible. "Now, hold each other's hands so we don't lose the other." Grey said, slowly opening the door.

Once inside and invisible, the trio went towards the source of the noise. In one of the bedrooms they saw- “Oh god!” Malty yelped, breaking the invisibility spell. Before them under blankets on the bet was Diva and Vincent, both clearly intimate with one another, now interrupted as they saw their audience.

“This… is exactly what it looks like.” Diva stated, Vincent face palming and hiding under the blanket.

“So… you three came back fast.” Vincent said, some time later after the incident.

"Uh, yeah." Grey said, unable to look Vincent in the eye.

"So, what was up with that exactly?" Malty asked.

"That was… old emotions. You all know Diva and I are the Admins of life, it was… hard, leaving her and all I knew to…" Vincent shook their head. "For now let's just say it's complicated and leave it at that."

"If ya say so player." Persila said with a chuckle.

“Why don’t you spend more time with her, especially if what you have planed for me works out.” Grey asked, rubbing his arm. Recently it has been harder and harder to keep it a secret, the reason for his existence.

“Drop it.” Vincent sternly said. He then took a deep breath. “So, how did the combat go?”

Grey sighed. "It went well. I made short swords out of my power, their swords are stronger, and the first floor is clear." Grey said, Persila and Malty noting that whatever it was that Grey kept hidden was eating up at him.

“You made swords out of your power? Not just infusing?” Vincent asked.

Grey took a breath before summoning the two to his hands. "I turned my energy into matter, and made these." He said, handing one over.

“Incredible.” Vincent said, looking them over. “I didn’t even think you could shift your energy into matter.”

"I just… felt like I wanted a weapon that suited me, and focused." Grey said, sheepish.

Looking it over, Vincent studied the design, their energy and form. He touched their sharp edges, a cut formed on his finger. “Huh, that hasn’t happened in-” Suddenly, a blast of Grey from Vincent’s cut sent him flying against the wall, Grey, Persila and Malty also.

Grey got back up, the blast of his own energy not harming him, and Malty and Persila were not hurt badly… but Vincent…

"Dad!" Grey yelled, ignoring any restraint as he sprinted over to the bloody mess that was Vincent. "Diva! If you're here hurry down now!" Grey yelled, using his power to amplify the sound waves as he held his dad's bleeding head in his arms.

It was several hours later. Diva did what she could, but called the Admin of Biology, the small grey admin walking out of the bedroom. “He’s in bad shape. Whatever energy he made that you are kid, it damaged his very code.” The tiny admin spoke.

“Will he…?” Diva asked.

“You are his other half, he’ll need a steady constant flow of your code to rebuild his.” At that, Diva ran into the room immediately.

Grey sat down, his back against the wall and cried. "I didn't… I didn't know that I could hurt him…" Grey said, having been a emotional mess ever since the event.

“Do you know how exactly Vincent created you lad?” The Admin of Biology asked.

"I… I could find the notes, but he was trying to create a energy that constantly grew without end. He didn't know I could boost anything I touched, or that I would gain sentience." Grey said getting control enough to answer the questions.

“Hmm… Interesting. Well, I may not know what you are as a whole, but to do that much damage to an admins code, you yourself have to be an Admin.”

“Grey’s an Admin?” Persila asked.

“To deal damage that lethal, yes.”

"How do we check?" Grey asked, looking up at the small admin.

“Let me see your arm. Any arm.” The tiny admin asked.

Grey offered his arm, looking apprehensive. "What are you going to do?" He asked.

“A simple way to confirm if you are an Admin.” They said, code flowing over their hand as they passed it along Grey’s arm. In a spark of dull green colors, Code formed and flowed around his arm. “By… My word.” They said, shocked and speechless.

"Am I an admin?" Grey asked, looking at the code flowing over his arm.

“Well, yes but… your code is different. While it operates much like the normal, it’s foundation is completely different. Whatever you are, what Vincent Created, he didn’t just make energy, he invented an entirely new form of code. Nothing like this has existed before.”

"So… it was like two operating systems trying to work in a single computer?" Grey said, his head looking over to the room where Vincent was.

“Well, yes and no. It’s designed much like the code myself and Vincent and Diva use, but it’s foundation is different, something from scratch not created when the machine first turned on. Interesting… your ability to self replicate your code and energy seems primal.”

"Primal…. So I am basically the first truly new admin since the birth of the machine, and my powers are primal in nature?" Grey asked, happy for the distraction.

“In a sense, yes. But, new code like this is an unknown. It seems you best be cautious. By the time we Admins gained our consciousness as clusters of code, it was far less primal.”

"Yeah…" Grey said, looking over to the room again. "I can guess why."

“He will be asleep for quite a while. Diva will take care of his health, their code structures are similar enough that just being next to him will allow him to heal and rebuild his code. All you three can do is wait.”

Grey nodded. "Thank you… For everything." He said to the admin before unconsciously resting his head on Persila's shoulder.

The Admin of Biology left, Grey taking a look at Vincent. Wrapped in heavy code constructed bandages, Diva laid next to them on the bed, arms gently wrapped around him as code flowed between them.

"Mo- Diva, I'm sorry, I didn't meant to." Grey said, bits of his code still flowing around his arm. "I don't think even dad- even Vincent knew what he had done."

“I know.” She said, still looking at Vincent. She looked over at Grey, seeing Malty and Persila were not in the room. “I know… why Vincent made you. I know what you are. I know Vincent all too well to have not figured it out why he made you Grey. To be perfectly honest it doesn’t actually bother me.”

"It… doesn't?" Grey asked, looking a Diva with a look of surprise. "But… I'm meant to end everything, no hope of a restart, no comebacks, I am the world ending event most authors write about. I am the end. And that doesn't bother you?" Grey said, tears falling from his face. "Then why… why does it bother me so much?"

“Because that isn’t all you are, and Vincent left that part out.” She said, holding him still and taking a deep breath. “We are the Admins of Life, Grey. He built you to end THIS worlds resets, but I know the nature of your code just from seeing how you use it. You are the end of this world, but you are the beginnings of a new one. One Vincent felt this one could never become.”

"How?! I am designed to end the machine, to end it all until nothing remains at all!" Grey said, not even realizing he started yelling. "I… I don't want to hurt anything. Yet my existence is the end if everything."

“To end this world, yes, but an important thing Vincent and I learned early in our lives and experimenting in our code and how our creations work, if we create something that is made to kill, it will also make something new. You are built to end this world, but if you succeed, you will also create a new one.”

"I… how do we know? I'm an admin and I don't know of what. And how many times will I end a world and rebuild it? How many times until it becomes too much? How many times?" Grey shouted before going quiet again. "I… I never asked to be created. I don't want… I don't want to be the end. I don't want those who I care about to leave because of me." Grey said, looking at the floor as a tear fell from his face.

“Then don’t.” Diva said.

"What?" He said looking up with his watery, grey eyes.

“If you can create, create. Or, if you can’t stop yourself from expanding, find something, or make something, that can. Balance yourself out.”

"I… I'll try." Grey said, taking a shuttering breath. "I'm… I'm sorry. That had built up from the moment I woke up. I'm sorry."

“There is no need to apologize Grey. It’s important you never suppress your emotions.”

“So…. what do you think I’m the admin of?” Grey said, trying to change the topic

"That you will have to discover for yourself. We all had to."

“That sucks.” Grey said, a small frown on his face.

"If you are still unsure, maybe you should speak with our sister, the Admin of Death."

“Maybe… how do I contact her?” Grey asked.

"That's… the hard part." Diva sighed. " She lived in the furthest explored southlands, a frozen wasteland called Graveyard. You'd have to go there in person to speak with her."

“Yeah… if it was just me I could figure something out, but I would need to bring the other two along…” Grey sighed.

"You can keep them safe."

“I… I’ll try. But only if they want to go. I’d never force them to go.” Grey said with finality

"Doubt you could stop them."

“What do you…” Grey said before slowly turning around, seeing the two at the door.

"We got your back Grey." Malty said with a grin.

"Didn't hear all of that but if it helps you out, we're okay with it." Persila said.

“You two are willing to travel a frozen wasteland, filled with who knows what, too meet the admin of death?” Grey asked.

"Gives us a good chance to test out the gear. Plus gets you out there and seeing the world." Malty stated.

"Thank you." Grey said with a soft smile. "When do we go?"

"Whenever you're ready." Persila said with a smile.

"You two…" he said, shaking his head with a smile. "Let's get packed. I might be fine, but we need to pack food at least for you two." He said, walking pasted them, his love palpable, even if he didn't notice.

"Given all the cash we now have buying food won't be too much of an issue I imagine. Hmm. Enchanted bags will be a must though." Malty said.

"..... How much would a basic bag of holding hold when I touch it?" Grey asked the air.

"Hmm. A typical bag will hold up to seven hundred items, so not sure how much you'll boost that up by." Malty said.

Grey shrugged. "Probably make it nearly bottomless." He said with a small smirk, one that little did he know would become a signature of his.

"Well, beat go get the supplies then." Persila said. "I know we can catch a DTL in scala ad caelum, but to get there from here we'll be lucky if we can find a Dragon Rider to fly us there. Would only take two days flying, three if it's a Garknakal Dragon."

"Yet I have the feeling something will go wrong." Grey said, summoning his blades and creating sheaths for them. “So how do we open a DTL?”

"A DTL, or Door to Light, can only be opened by a Keyblade Wielder. Sadly neither I or Malty have one. Their Grand Council of Keyblade Masters decides who gets one and who doesn't. I didn't get one because they said my Heart wasn't pure enough. They're ridiculously finicky in who they pick. But bright side we don't have to get one we just need to find a DTL station that can open one for us that can take us to a town called Lorver. It's the closest town to Graveyard."

“That doesn't sound fair. Isn't there keyblades attuned to darkness, such as Oblivion? Shouldn’t the keyblade choose the heart for it’s self, rather than a bureaucracy?”

"Tell that to those old pricks." Malty said.

Grey felt his powers flowing around him, the grey smoke flowing out of the pores of his body. “I might just if I ever meet them. They are not the ones who control destiny. Keyblades fall under Kingdom Heart’s domain, NOT theirs.”

"Guess that's a lot stop along the way." Malty said with a laugh.

Grey calmed down and chuckled along with her. “Sorry bout that.”

“Eh, at least you care more than most people. Everyone else mostly just accepts that as fact and that’s it. Well, come on then, let’s let Diva heal Vincent and head on off.”

"Yeah. Though if we stop there, prepare for me to challenge them to a duel. I'll used a 'Wooden sword' against their keyblades." Grey said, his idea already forming.

"Well, this will be interesting."

Once the group got their supplies in order they managed to find a Dragon rider to Scala. Grey looked at the gigantic beast, so tame and gentle. Once it took off Grey looked out at the world from the birds eyes, and smiled. The world was so big, and it only got bigger the farther you traveled.

"This is amazing…" Grey said breathlessly.

"That's the world. It never ends." Persila said with a nod.

"Always something to see." Malty agreed.

"I wish this would never end. I wish I could protect this." He said quietly. "What is Scala like?"

"City build atop man made floating islands within the ocean. Every island connected via cables carts travel along. Pretty freaking massive." Persila stated.

"So long as we make that detour, any place you two wanna go while we are there?" Grey asked.

"Not really." Persila said.

"I've never been so not really." Malty said.

"You two ready to see this so called council get their asses handed to them." he asked with a smirk, his plan already in motion

The two day flight went by fast, Grey seeing a lot of the world from a birds eye and even marked some places to see on a map he purchased. Scala was… gorgeous. It's design, bright colors and bursting with life and people was amazing. "The council is all in the center island. We'll either need to catch several cable carts there or find someone willing to fly us there." Persila said.

"Or we take a fun way. Do you two trust me?" Grey said, standing up.

"We're kinda bound to ya, so yes." Malty said.

"So long as that trust goes both ways." Persila said with a smile.

“Kay then.” He said before handing the rider a few coins before holding old to the two and jumping off the dragon, flow motion onto one of the cables. “Wooo hooooo!”

Once the trio landed, Malty and Persila hugged the ground, Malty throwing up. “That was cool… Never do that again.” Persila said.

“Do that again and you’ll get a first hand experience in having a sword shoved up your ass.” Malty groaned.

Grey just shrugged, smirk strong on his face. “You all enjoyed it, admit it.” He said with a chuckle.

Malty gave Grey a death glare, and in that split second, Grey felt a pain every man fears, as he grabbed his genitals, and fell to the ground.

After that recovery, Malty kept a bit of distance out of anger from Grey, though it was only two feet behind.

“Sorry....” Grey said once he had calmed down. “That was me being a bit of a jackass.”

“So like any man ever?” Malty said.

“Malty, Grey could have told us beforehand, but he is still new to people and communication and… pretty much everything.” Persila said, losing her point as she was now lost in thought.

“At least he knows how hard I can kick now.” Malty grumbled.

"Look I'm sorry Malty. I got lost in the rush that I didn't think about you two… I'm sorry." Grey said, looking down in shame

“Hmm… Prove it.” Malty said, the trio stopping as Persila and Grey turned to look at her. “What are you willing to do to prove it?”

“I uh…” Grey said before sighing. “You have a freebie to do whatever you want to me for a day. Beat me, dress me, make me fuck a guy, you name it.”

“Hmm…” Malty thought it over. “Alright.”

“Alright. Cash that in whenever.” Grey said with a small smile. “Where do we go from here?”

“That place.” Persila said, pointing up at the tallest building on the island next to them. “That’s the grand council’s building. It’s also where they make Keyblades. I hear just to make them take thirty years of training and schooling. Not sure if it’s true though.”

“Knowing them, likely.” Malty added.

“Well then, lets go prove to these old farts that They are not the ones who decide who is a keyblade wielder and who isn't.” Grey said, walking with so much determination the other two could have mistaken him for someone else.

Once the three reached the building, two Keyblade wielders stopped them, their Keyblades both Olympia Keyblades. “What brings you to the council?” One asked.

“Simple. I wish to speak to them on the possibility on becoming a Keyblade wielder. And if that is not available I will still speak to them on other maters.”

"Oh, you want a Trial of the Heart?" A guard asked.

“Oh yes.” Grey said with a smile, only the other two able to know he was lieing through his teeth.

"Then head on in, just leave your weapons in the lobby. No weapons aside from Keyblades are allowed. Armor is fine though." The other guard said, the two disbanding their Keyblades.

“Well, Mind If I bring a wooden training blade? I just want to test something with the council’s permission. Besides, how much damage can a untrained kid do with a wooden sword against keyblade masters?” Grey said, rolling a 20 on his persuasion.

"So long as it's for training." They shrugged.

Entering, they placed their weapons away in rented storage lockers before Grey kept his training wood swords as the trio entered. The council was twenty, all cloaked in black robes.

“Hi there. How are you all doing this fine day.” Grey said, standing before them with two wooden swords in his sheaths.

"Do you seek power?" One asked.

"Do you seek friendship?" Another asked.

"Do you seek knowledge?" A third asked.

"Answer honestly." All spoke, Grey feeling a magic field activate within the room.

"Well, I've always wanted to seek my own destiny. But in you all are forcing me to choose, it would be friendship." He said, glancing behind him to his friends with a smile.

“You choose friendship. Which would you give up in exchange?”

"I guess knowledge, though why would I need to give something up? Just because I want friendship doesn't mean I can't study, or train for the other two." He said, holding back the edge in his tone, if barely.

“You choose Friendship, and would give up Knowledge. Now, does Temptation distort your ideals?”

The whole room went dark, Grey seeing they were suddenly alone as a light shined up above them. “Heh, what are you doing?” Grey turned around, seeing himself but skin was the same color as their eyes. “You know what you were built for, why play around with the insects?”

"Because I care. Because even if I will cause the end, I don't want to. I want to hold those I care about close. I want injustices in this world to be done away with. I wish that everyone be given the chance to grow and grab their own futures with their own two hands. Because they are not insects if I can find something in them that I love." Grey said, walking up till he is face to face with himself.

“You forget, you have no choice. Every second you exist takes away from the time their world has. Maybe it won’t be tomorrow, and maybe not even hundreds of years from now, but one day, you’ll see them all die, either by your hands, or by your energy.”

"And when it happens, I will learn to live with it and find a way to move on. But I won't deny myself happiness. Death comes to us all. It is inevitable, even for people like us. One day we too will end." Grey said sadly before his eyes hardened. "But look around. Mortals live with the knowledge that every day could be their end. Yet they love, laugh and find happiness. Why can't we?"

“Because we are not mortals. We are barely Admins. What we are does not exist anywhere. Hell, did you forget that body isn’t even what you truly are? Just a flesh puppet to move around in.”

"I am me." Grey said with a small smile. "It doesnt matter the form, or if there ever is one. We still think. We still feel. We have a heart, and I say that even if we lose our body, I think that those who care about us will continue to care, making it all worth it. Now that is not to say there are those who arnt worth it. I bet half of this council, if not more are self centered individuals, playing with powers not their own. However, those who have done no wrong shouldn't be punished for the wrongs of others, otherwise it makes us no better then them."

"It's what dear old dad built us to be. Heh, if we can almost kill him, put in the effort, how many of these old fools can you kill?"

"I can kill them all, but can is different than will." Grey said calmly.

"You didn't even try to kill Vincent, and yet he's hanging by a thread. You didn't even try, he barely got cut by your blades, a cut almost killed him, when will it get to the point being near someone will kill them? How can you keep yourself in check then? Isolation? You'll go mad with your needy desire to be around people now."

Grey frowned. “Because I won't let it get to that point.”

"Acting like you actually have a choice is the matter is a fools beleifs. But who am I to convince you otherwise, I'm just the you that could have been, the you Vincent invissioned originally."

"And yet you still are me. You are also the me I will show those who dare try to play with powers not their own. You are the me I will show those who dare harm that in which I hold dear. You are still me, just as much as I am still you."

"Agree to disagree." They said, shrugging. "So, your plan is to what? Abuse your power? Or take a power you know nothing about?"

"Earn a power that I know nothing of, and learn both about, and from it." Grey said with a shrug of his own.

"Heh. Ever the good boy, for now anyway." The other me vanished, and I was back in the council room.

"Well, your virdict?" Grey said with a smug grin, hoping they say no.

"A final test we have for thee." The center sat Council elder spoke, old and wise I'm her voice. "Conflict in mind, are battles hard won." She said, a mirror appearing in front of Grey. "Conflict of the heart, can lead thine undone."

Grey's reflection then walked, without Grey moving as it left the mirror, it's transparent form stopping less than a foot before them. The reflection blinked, eyes glowing yellow as both it and Grey were pulled into the mirror by a sudden blinding light. Looking around Grey and their yellow eyed copy stood in a seemingly endless mirror reality.

"Well, this is creative, I'll give the old farts that." Grey said, staring down the other him.

The copy stated back, skin shifting to a pitch black color as well as their hair. They blinked again, this time their eyes shifting to a pure grey color, as Grey felt his power begin to flow from the copy.

"A literal mirror match." Grey said, walking forward.

The dark copy charged in. Grey reacted fast, mirroring the mirror before he gathered energy to hit the reflection.

The two swing a punch, both their gathered energy clashed in an explosion, but the darkness around the copy latched onto Grey's arm, a tendril of pure negativity growing Barb's suddenly that dug into their arm, a scream of pain as their copy smiled devilishly, teeth shifting to needle like fangs and tongue elongating like a snake as it threw Grey off into an invisible wall. Looking back, Grey saw it grow another barbed Tendril around it's other arm, and a dark aura emerge from it's back.

"That's interesting… why a snake though?" Grey said, grunting as he forced himself to his feet. With a breath he began to draw a spell matrix, overloading it with grey before firing off a ball of plasma at the beast.

It's right arm and tendril merged, forming a curved longsword looking blade as it funneled Darkness and Grey into itself, slicing the plasma in half before rushing in again. Thinking fast, Grey formed their energy swords, crossing blades with the beast as the impact sent grey and grey boosted Darkness into the air around the two.

Grey suddenly had an idea as he started to funnel light and darkness into each of his blades, using a phsudo-Balance mixed with his grey to combat the darkness. "Take this!"

Grey managed to push them back, managing to get a clean cross slash in on their head. Their upper skull above their nose falling off and desintegrating. For a moment their darkness and grey began subsiding, then suddenly began expanding.

Quadrupling every second as a dark silhouette replaced the missing skull half, eyes a bright yellow glowing grey along their outlines as their dark aura cloaked the battlefield.

Yet grey stood defiant, not even taking a single step back. "I am not fearless. How ever, I have courage." He said before flash stepping back to it, slicing with the grey infused light sword, but hanging on to the dark one. "Courage is not the lack of fear. It is being afraid, yet fighting in anyways!" He said before bringing both blades together. "You are nothing."

Their dark aura blacked out everything. Grey went in for a slash, but, something in the darkness grabbed his blades. "Nothing huh?" That voice, Grey recognized. Walking out of the darkness was Vincent, hand gripping Grey's blade. "So why does that make you?"

"Dad?" Grey said before trying to teleport away.

He was grabbed by the hair on the back of his head, thrown to the ground hard. "You have one purpose. One job, one reason for existing!" Vincent said, stomping a foot on Grey's gut. "Then you go and grow a brain and a consciousness and suddenly you think you know better than the man who made you. You think you know better than me?!" He kicked Grey again, sending his rolling a few feet. "I created you!" Another kick. "I created all these mortals you have stupidity grown so attached to!" Kicked again. "You think they are all worth saving, but that's a lie. I know my own creations better than you ever will!" Vincent then picked Grey up by his shirt, looking them right in the eyes. "Conscious or not, you'll do your job."

Something inside Grey snapped. He started to chuckle, followed by a laugh. "Oh, I know not everyone is worth saving. In fact, deep down, I know over half of these morons don't deserve my kindness. But you forget something father." Grey said before drawing a blade and slicing with the intent to kill. "Not everything needs to die. But if killing is the only way to peace, then I'll do so happily!" He shouted feeling his dark and light flare up, shaking the very illusion he was in.

Vincent smiled. “Then off to the slaughter, my little-” Vincent stopped talking, looking down, there was an arm through his chest.

Grey looked behind Vincent… only to see… Vincent. Still badly injured, bruised and slightly bleeding. “Don’t… talk…” They said, eyes almost lifeless as they gripped their fist, an explosion of large vines from the dark copy that vanished, as well as the area.

Grey saw themselves back in the council room, everyone in shock, as the injured Vincent was still there. Looking at Grey.

Grey gulped but listened to his dad, shaking as he looked at his hands. Vincent began walking, or rather, limping, towards Grey. Grey closed his shaking hands and looked down, crying as he sobbed quietly, the faint words only heard by Vincent. "I don't want to be evil."

As Vincent walked up to Grey, stopping right in front of them. Grey flinched when he saw Vincent raise a hand, only to feel it suddenly gently pat his head. "What did… I make you for… again?" After that, Vincent fell over.

It was a mad rush to get Vincent back to the tower and into Diva's as to heal him again, Asmith, the Admin of genetics, checked up on Vincent again.

"How is Dad?" Grey asked again for the second time in less then a month.

"It's as I expected. His code was too damaged, while Diva is healing him, parts of, well, him are either missing or incomplete." Asmith said with a sigh. "While his and Diva's code is identical, the code that stores traits like personality, ideals, even his memory is missing large chunks from even as far back as our early days from what I analyzed. While Diva can heal him physically, mentally who knows if his code can reconstruct what was damaged or missing. For the time at least, when he does gain the strength to properly awaken, he will be fragments of the Vincent he was, and who knows if he can regain all of who he was."

"I… I… didn't…." Grey broke, whatever fight was in him gone as he collapsed to his knees. "Why… why did he have to go after me… he would be okay! It's my fault. If I was never created, none of this would have ever happened. I never asked to be created! I wish it never happened!"

The next few months were all largely silent. Grey was lazing about. Vincent hasn't moved since that day, still as death almost. Then finally… "Grey." Persila said, the man buried under ten blankets.

"Mph…." He said. By this point grey had attempted to end his life multiple times, each time stopped by one of the two girls. All he brought, all he was destined to bring, was pain and destruction. Best to end the threat. But they wouldn't let him.

"Vincent is awake… and you are gonna wanna see this."

Grey poked his head out of the covers before sighing. “Fine.”

Persila lead Grey to the central room of the tower, where he saw Vincent, wearing bandages and short as he looked at the holding pod that Grey's true form and self, his energy resided. He then looked over at Grey. "Hey… what's this thing again?" He asked Grey. "I… know it's important and relates to you… but I can't remember what it is… or you really."

“That… is me in a sense. You made me to be a energy that self replicates into infinity.” Grey said carefully, not sure if this is a trick or not. “You never intended for me to have sentience, nor for me to basically become a brand new admin with my own code, but I am, and you did.”

"Huh… sounds about right. So… ah, you're my new son then!" Vincent said, giving Grey a pat on his head. "Been a while since I raised a kid. At least, I think it has… not sure."

Grey looked thoroughly creeped out, turning to Diva, mouthing “Help me!”

"Uhh, Vincent. Mind if I speak with Grey for a while. There is a dungeon in this tower." Diva said.

"Oh? Sweet." Vincent said, jumping out the nearby window.

“Okay…. Who is he? That is not the dad I remember.” Grey said, wide eyes and honestly a bit scared from the shift.

"It's because he doesn't remember. The wars and bloodshed of our children. That much and more seems to be blank still. This is Vincent… before that all happened. It's nice to see him like that again… but it hurts too." Diva said, holding a hand over her heart.

“I… I did this to him… and he’s going to find out all over again….” Grey said, looking at his hands, still remembering the blood.

"Will he though?" Persila asked. "The last major war was over seven hundred years ago, hardly anyone outside if a school talks about them and all in all the world is fairly peaceful now."

"It could also give Grey time to… figure out what he really is from his notes." Malty offered.

“Wern’t we going to go see the admin of death for that originally?” Grey asked, not looking from his hands… again…

"True. Hmm… so, what should we do now then?"

"If we tell him all at once it might backfire." Diva sighed. "We'll have to hope he remembers on his own. Might take a long time though."

"So we lie to him?" Grey asked.

"We will tell him, just after a bit of time has passed."

The month passed by fast. Vincent being nice, considerate and happy was still something everyone was weird about, but everyone kept on. Eventually Grey walked in on Vincent by the sphere his true form was held in. He was, to Grey's surprise, looking it over from some display that was never there before.

"What, what is that?" Grey asked.

"This?" Vincent asked. "It's a Console. Admins true power, a Console gives you full and total access over whatever you use it to access. In this case, you."

"And… what does it tell you?"

"Honestly, not a clue. Whatever I was thinking when I made you I can't make heads or tails of it now. But good news is, there’s parts I can understand.”

“...Like…?”

“Well, according to this you can generate this unique energy that is, well, you forever, self replicating and boosting all other energies, even code! A lot like the Generation ability, in fact I belive I must have used Generation as a baseline. Anyway, the bright side is, From the console I have full control over how fast, how much, all that stuff about your ability.”

“...Can you… Shut it off?”

“Sort of. There’s no shut down per say, there is however an alternative version of your grey you can generate. It’s just labbled as Beta though.”

“Is it like my current grey?”

“Kinda. It self generates but it does it by converting normal code into your grey. However it only lasts for as long as you are using it, and disbands itself after a minute or two back to normal raw code.”

“And my current code does it permanintly?”

“Yeah. Why though is the part I still don’t fully understand.”

“Well, can you put me into beta… please?”

“Good call, energy like this you could accedentily hurt someone.”

Grey flinched at that, though Vincent did not notice as he put Grey into Beta. Grey felt the Beta version of his powers take over, if was diffrent, slightly. It’s potency was far less, and was only present when he commanded it, not eternally present.

“I feel so much… lighter.”

“Not surprisnig. Well, that’s about the only thing I really understand. Everything else is encrypted, and given it looks like whatever I did I can’t remember, I’m just gonna leave all that alone.” Vincent said, closing up the Console. “Now then, Diva mentioned you wanted to speak to my little sister, right?”

“The Admin of Death, yeah. Can you open a portal or something?”

“Son, I can do you one better. I can show you how.” Ever since he woke up, Vincent kept calling Grey his son. It was a conflicted emotion to hear him say that. "There are two ways Admins learn. First is how I've been teaching you, books, word of mouth, that stuff. Then there is a simple data transfer."

"Data transfer?"

"Kinda like sharing memories, but only the important stuff." Vincent played a hand to Grey's head, in a rush, Grey just knew, a complete understanding of code portals, how they work, realities gridline layout, and the coordinates of the tower and the Admin of Death's location. Vincent saw Grey stagger a bit. "It's always like that, only really use it when you can't completely explain something."

"R-right." Grey said, rubbing their temples. Shaking off the headache, Grey tested it out, and successfully opened a portal to Graveyard.

Graveyard was as the name implied. A snow laidin flatlant covering further than the eye could see. Each tombstone had a name, age, and other information about the dead. "What brings you here?" Looking up, Grey saw her, the Admin of Death. Her skin ash grey and blue, eyes white with decay and hair deep black, wet with the slime of rot.

“Uhh… Hi. So, the name is Grey and… I need you to help me."

"You seek out death to help with a matter relating to life?"

"Not exactly… I know you can tell I am an Admin, Vincent made me and… he made me to… to hurt and to kill, to end everything."

"Brother's grief and hatred have devolved then. What are you crafted to do? Smear the blood of life across the ground? Tear apart the soils of reality and burry our mortals?"

"Well, I grow. I'm actually energy, this body is just how I go about and such, I'm this energy that grows and grows and doesn't stop…"

"Ah, to fill and suffocate the world is his goal. Slow and painful, memorable for the cruelest of reasons. I'm almost worried he might claim my title."

"This is serious! How do I keep from being that… being what I am…"

"Vincent is many things, but he is still an admin of life. He can't kill, even if he spills the blood of his creations across the ground they die but are reborn immediately, as such he can not create a destroyer without being forced to create it's own counterpart."

"A… counterpart?"

"Take poison for example, it can't be made by Vincent without also crafting the antidote to it. So, there must be a counterpart to you. Something or someone that can undo what you do."

"How… how do I find it, them?"

"That you will have to figure out from Vincent, but don't fret, I hear brother is not in possession of all of his marbles, so tricking him or getting information can be easy if he remembers it at all, if not, well, best of luck to your journey to come."

Over the next few months Grey tried to see how much Vincent would remember. It came back, bits and pieces over time but never the whole amount. In that time also Grey felt their urges to fight, to… kill, their code and programing trying to remind him what he was made for. In fact, Grey became exceptionally close to Persila and Malty. They seemed to suppress and calm the little episodes, the trio growing closer and more connected.

Grey didn't like endlessly trying to ask Vincent these questions and just end up confusing him. "Damn it…" Grey huffed, sat in his room on his bed. "Why does this all have to be so complicated… why did I have to gain sentience."

Grey sat in their room for a time, pondering nothing and everything. After a time they got up, heading to the tower's roof, a good place to stargaze and be alone. As they arrived out of the hatch they stopped for a moment, seeing Vincent up here as well. "Vincent?"

"Sit." Was all Vincent said, though the tone and emotionlessness of his voice put a pit in Grey's stomach. Grey sat next to Vincent on the rooftop. "I remember everything." Upon hearing this Grey felt an internal panic building. "The wars, the deaths… your purpose. All of it."

"What… what are you going to do?" Grey asked nervously.

"Me? Huh… that's actually a good question." Vincent sighed, Grey not expecting that answer. "I spent so long, believing everything was flawed and should never have existed, but… the time I forgot, those new, unclouded memories reminded me… I was the flawed one. Diva and I, Me especially are so flawed. It took me forgetting I was trying to create something to end it all to realize all those wars, murders and bloodshed I hated them all for… it came from somewhere… came from me, because I was so willing to do just that. I'm a hypocrite."

"So… what will you do now knowing this?"

"As much as I would like to, this time I won't forget everything. Bloodshed and murder are… something that comes from me, and therefore exists in all of you, you especially. So… knowing this, I guess I'll just leave things as they are, maybe go back to guiding them."

"Wait, seriously?"

"Heh… yeah. I realize now that life, like it's makers, is imperfect. Peace and all that can exist, but I guess in the end violence is just part of life."

"... What about me?"

"You?"

"I mean… how can I… stop growing and stop this urge to…"

"Heh. When making you, I put a lot of effort and work to ensure you would keep growing and expanding, but I did put fail-safes."

"Fail-safes?"

"Failsafe one, the beta grey. Which you already have." Vincent said, Grey giving a smile and laugh. "Failsafe two, deactivation of your other half."

"Other half?"

"Those urges and such you have, it's your most basic instincts, your code that keeps you trying to follow your directive, the reason I made you. It's will be a pain to deactivate and even more so to remove, and then lastly is erasing grey the energy."

"You can destroy it?"

"Not really destroy. It's a conversion program, like how your beta grey converts normal energy and code into grey energy temporarily, this program converts grey inal normal code and energy permanently."

"But with grey gone… I will have to go as well. After all, that ball in your lab… that is me… hey, there's an idea…" Grey said, thinking. "We will need kingdom heart's permission, but what if we take that instinct, and instead transfer it into a weapon than could handle that pressure. A keyblade. So that in times of great need I can call upon my other half when something threatens that in which I want to protect. Surely transferring the code is easier than deactivation and deletion."

"It would be, but remember, Keyblades have minds too, let's just hope it doesn't develope one like you did."

"Hopefully… so, how do I… or how do we go about this?"

"Well, first I'll call up Little Bro then we'll worry about the rest."

Within a few hours, Kingdom Hearts arrived. Grey did not expect them to be a young child, clearly no older than ten or so. "Long time no see Vincent." Hearts said.

"Likewise. So… we need a Keyblade." Vincent said. "One than can hold in a lot of power and dangerous code."

"So it's a X-Blade you want. " Hearts asked.

"Yeah, if it will work."

"Easy. So, where is this dangerous code then?"

"In him." Vincent pointed at Grey, who scratched his head in embarrassment.

"Oh? So you're gonna pull it from him?" Hearts asked.

"Yup." Vincent said as he walked over to Grey. "I won't sugar coat it kid, this is gonna hurt. This line of code I'm taking out is part of your base foundation. You'll live, obviously, but it will hurt. You ready?"

"Never been more ready." Grey said with a nod.

"Alright, brace yourself." Vincent rolled up their sleeve, code flowing out from them around their arm and hand.

Grey tensed up for a bit, once Vincent made contact, Grey felt a pained stab into their very being. Their code being cut through as Vincent removed the unneeded code. The few minutes it was, felt like hours to Grey. Finally though, Vincent pulled the length of code out. Grey catching their breath finally as Vincent sealed it within a cage of code. "That sucked…" Grey huffed.

"That it did. But, the worst is over now. Just gonna run down to the final floor of our dungeon and get the last thing needed to free you Grey. After that, guess we just live."

Grey smiled, feeling hopeful for their future for the first time in their life.

Of Grey and Darkness

"So why are we here again?" Heart asked as they and Eclipsa slithered down the castle hallways.

"I found a room. The best thing ever!" Eclipsa said excitedly.

"Okay?" Eclipsa lead Heart to a large stone looking set of double doors and she pushed them open. Inside was an entire arena, family members sat in seats and watched as others fought in the arena. "Gladiatorial combat?"

"It's the strongest arena in the kingdom the family has! Family only and no holds bar."

"Have people died her?"

"No, there's a lot of codework in place to prevent that, even when fatality injured or even completely crushed or vaporized."

"Huh. So you want to enter?"

"The both of us."

"Okay. Been a while since I fought, but if I'm gonna do this I'm gonna do it my way." Heart said as they shifted to their human form. "I fight better like this anyway."

To enter all Eclipsa and Heart had to do was show their Assistants under a scanner and they were entered. A simple and faster system than paperwork.

The matches were set as one vs one. Those entered when it was their turn were teleported into the ring as of the end of the prior match. Winner received various rewards relating to their tastes, hobbies, ect.

Eventually Eclipsa was pulled for her match against Leon Scott Kennedy. "Eclipsa." Leon said.

"Leon. Nice to see you again." Eclipsa said, summoning Oathkeeper and Oblivion.

"Likewise." Leon said, taking out a chrome handgun.

"A gun? Really?"

"Keyblades and such are good but you can't beat a good gun."

"Those normal bullets or something special?"

"Dark Monofilament."

"Packing a punch. Smart. We got HP bars?"

"Yup. Set to one hundred the both of us. Each hit is one point down. First to zero loses."

"So the power behind the attacks doesn't matter?"

"Nope. Just the physical hit."

"So that means Combos are king then. Good to know." Eclipsa said as she readied Oathkeeper and Oblivion.

Leon loaded his gun. "Let's do this."

With a grin Eclipsa rushed Leon, delivering a dual upwards slash that the combat hardened soldier side stepped with instinctive and calculated ease.

Leon immediately pulled out his trusty knife, which was upgraded to Mono Filament as well, and tried to stab Eclipsa with a fast and well trained thrust.

The Naga’s scales took the damage. Smirking she elbowed Leon who slashed upwards, slashing Eclipsa’s arm and drew blood and grey energy. He side rolled a tail slam from the naga before, keeping knife in hand took out his gun and began shooting the dark monofilament bullets at her weaker none scaled half.

“Can’t be this easy right?” Kennedy asked while seeing the bullets rush to Eclipsa.

While some hit the naga used Oath and Oblivion to deflect the others. She smirked. “Nope.” She then connected the two tips of her keyblades together. “Splinter Volley.” She said as Grey shot out in small sharp darts by the hundreds from the keyblades. Leon rushed, dodging most but still taking hits from the rapid fire.

Leon lifted his gun and fired a bullet at a dart that then proceeded to ricochet around and start knocking away all the other darts that were rushing at him. “Alright, that stings.”

“Heh. Took you down some hits at least. I’d say we’re about the same on remaining hit points.”

“Sounds about right.” He said while rolling his shoulder. “Now let’s have fun.” He said before throwing his knife at Eclipsa, the Naga dodging it with ease only for Eclipsa to be surprised that Leon wasn’t where he was until she heard several gunshots behind her.

Eclipsa felt six shots hit her. Three hit her lower back, the rest hit her scales. As Eclispa began to turn and ready a blow she saw Leon smiling as suddenly the three that hit her; she felt them drill into her skin, into organs and bones and she widened her eyes. Three massive explosions tore her in two pieces that rapidly flowed back together and she was healed fully. “Spiral Nuke Bullets… Overkill much?” Eclipsa asked as an audible pop set her spine back into proper position.

“Considering even Dark Monofilament bullets did jack all, I needed to have something that could deal real damage.” He said honestly while reloading his pistol quickly.

“I forgot that normal bullets, Dark Monofilament or others aren’t the only types of ammunition these days.” She said, stretching as she breathed deeply, letting grey start to cloak Oath and Oblivion.

“Alright, let’s get serious.” The former STARS officer said while getting into a proper fighting stance for his weapons.

Eclipsa rushed in, Leon using both Kingdom Hearts and Code to move at equal speed to Eclipsa. The two moved fast enough to be blur’s to the normal eye, but to the audience and each other they danced around one anothers attempts at attacks. Eclipsa cast magic, Leon rushed out of range. Leon shot tracking exploitative bullets, Eclipsa blew them or deflected them before impact.

The two took a distance stance from one another. Eclipsa watched as Leon pulled out a different handgun. Eclipsa took note of the weapon. For a handgun, it looked like a small cannon, and was built to hold a single bullet over several in a magazine. “New toy?” She asked.

“New to me. It’s actually a weapon from a world, one Drezke was, is, king of. They gathered a lot of dangerous weapons from this place, this gun was one of them. Cript had to admit, it was impressive for what it is. So, he improved it.”

“Cause of course he did.” Eclipsa said with a chuckle. “So, what is it?”

“Stand still and find out.” Leon said, and began to pull the trigger.

Eclipsa rushed them. As her keyblades were reaching the weapon Leon pulled the trigger all the way back.

Eclipsa woke up in a bit of a stupor. Her head felt… off. Body sore, first time in a while. She was in her room, no, not her room specifically. She spotted Cript sitting in a chair in front of her bed. "Sorry about that. Beta's are very… unpredictable.”

“The hell happened?” Eclipsa groaned while trying to figure out what was wrong with her head.

"The gun Leon used is a beta. The original version of it, and it's bullets were… impressive but crude and quite lethal after two shots. I refined it, and used a safer, yet more dangerous material."

“So why does my head feel off?” Eclipsa asked. “Also really? Safer but more deadly? That doesn’t sound right in the same sentence.”

"Headshot." Cript said simply. "And it is. Safer in that it won't harm the one shooting, just the target. Used the metal from those deathless hurting bullets King found in the Mother's Tomb. Can't kill us but makes healing a bitch. As for why your head feels off, well… you're still regrowing half of it."

“And magic hasn’t helped the healing process why?” She asked curiously. “God I can already hear King complain about this…”

"Because it is a material designed to keep deathless from healing properly. Makes the injury resist, nullify healing of all kinds. Magic, science, every kind it just keeps it from affecting our bodies. So, we just heal slowly."

“Again, why can’t healing magic work again?” Eclipsa asked honestly. “Deathless regeneration I get not working, kind of like Carbonadium in Marvel, but not even allowed to use other healing methods to work?”

"You tell me." Cript said, pulling out one of the Deathless hurting bullets. "Cause as far as I can tell, you made this metal."

“What?” Eclipsa started. “How, why, and again...what?”

"When I took a look into the code of this bullet, this metal, I found the most complex, detailed and impressive code sequence I have ever seen. Lord was baffled for crying out loud, but… how I know it's of your making is the fact that it draws power from Grey. So, I gave the gun and one bullet to Leon to test a theory, and I was right. You made a metal that can hurt, cripple, and as close to kill… you, as we can get. Which begs the question… why?"

Eclipsa raised a hand to maybe answer, but lowered it and kept her own thoughts about what it might be to herself. “Right now, I don’t know…”

Cript was silent for a while, then sighed and tossed the bullet to Eclipsa, landing on her lap. "I don't believe you made this to try and kill yourself. You've stood on that edge, that I know but never jump off. No, you made this for something, or, someone else… I won't pry."

“It’s for the best if you don’t.” Eclipsa sighed out. “So, how is King and the others doing in the Heroes Tomb? The four of them have been there for quite a while.”

"They fused, so it's Kico and Cerex exploring it now. Love those two." Cript said with a smile.

“Yeah, those two are nice.” Eclipsa said honestly. “But that’s weird...why would they have to fuze?”

"Not fully sure. King doesn't always tell me everything but, if I had to guess I'd say something went south."

“Something would have to go very south to get fusions involved.” She said nervously.

"I'm sure they can handle it. They're tough. In any case you should heal up. Gonna take a while still."

“Yeah…” Eclipsa muttered while touching her injury, still concerned about the Grey bullet on her lap.

It was a few days before her injury healed. Thankfully while slow healing was slow it was faster than normal biology healing. While that bullet only affected the one body of her the initial shot knocked out All her other starfish clones.

"I still can't believe that bullet fucked you up so badly." Heart said, slithering next to Eclipsa as they went along the mall. Heart had insisted they go out for a change.

“I’m surprised about that too. You’d think all my defense and other stuff would have stopped it.” Eclipsa shrugged.

"Well, in any case what ya wanna do? There is a lot around here and I used a spell to make it that while people can see us they can't recognize us as royals, so we can be normal and no one will bother us."

“I haven’t been to a mall in forever so I don’t know.” Eclipsa said honestly. “Also isn’t this the place where people thought King was promoting Vore for some inexplicable reason?”

Heart chuckled. "Yeah. Their fault for pigging out like that. Though I imagine you wanna take that crown from them? I imagine King would be happy to give it up."

“I’m sure King would enjoy getting rid of that crown.” Eclipsa said honestly.

"Well, go show the kingdom a wolf can't out eat a Naga then." Heart said with a chuckle.smile.

“Alright, so where is that restaurant that caused this?” Eclipsa wondered while looking around.

"Not sure. Place is so big, best we find a map first."

“Alright, there should be a map here somewhere.” Eclipsa said honestly.

After finding a map and directions they spotted the restaurant in question. Eclipsa and Heart took note of the newly added cartoon image of King, sexually eating a chicken leg with sauce dripping on their top cleavage. Heart laughed.

“King is going to be so pissed at seeing that.” Eclipsa chuckled.

"Not like they can actually do much about it. As royals our image is considered public domain, characters or photos are largely free use with proper approval." Heart said, wiping a tear away once there laughing calmed.

“And did King or literally anyone else give proper approval?” Eclipsa asked simply. “Cause I have a feeling King wouldn’t entirely want that plastered all over given that it actively ruins the ‘royal image’ we’ve all kind of forced on them.”

"I think either Rarity or one of them in the image department might have. Besides, they make shapeshifter porn of us and a few of those bikini shoots King has done were basically only covering the nipples and crotch area so… eh." Heart shrugged. "Not my department."

“Not entirely surprised.” Eclipsa said honestly.

Slithering up Eclipsa undid the hiding spell on herself, everyone taking notice as she smiled, happy to have immediately gained everyone attention. She was going to make this a grand display. “Alright, so you all thought King could eat, I’m going to show you how a Naga eats.” She said.

Eclipsa proceeded to order everything on the menu… ten times. Heart just smiled and ordered a steak and large soda and watched as Eclipsa took on the food challenge.

“Can’t wait to taste the food here. Hope it’s good.” Eclipsa said happily.

Eclipsa left the mall, having ate out not only the small restaurant but also the entirety of the food court. She was proud about that, and to ensure her place as a vore idol was made, she let a few egar onlookers down for a spell before taking them out to keep eating. Heart just slithered next to her, having spent time between watching Eclipsa embody gluttony and shopping. “You did get all those people out of you right?” Heart asked to make sure. There were a lot of over eager onlookers.

“I find it weird how many...volunteers there were to be honest.” She said honestly. “But yes, I made sure.”

“Everyone has their fetishes. Besides, now those people can say they were eaten by a royal. Odds are their drool covered clothing is gonna sell online for a not so small fortune in the near future.” Heart said with a shrug.

“That’s...kinda gross.” Eclipsa started, even with her more open minded nature that was still a little weird.

“At this point, I don’t worry about it. People are weird. That aside… A while ago we fixed earth. Our earth. Help from Cript and all. Heh, King and I have some fun there and a place in their old home town. So… care to do that too?”

“Really?” Eclipsa asked in surprise.

“Yeah. It was… no, it is nice. Besides, you two gave me a childhood, a real childhood. King and I have a life there, we should have one there too. Earth might not be my childhood home, I didn’t have a life there, but you did. So did King. It’s only fair you see and live there happily too.”

“Thanks Heart.” Eclipsa replied warmly. “Nothing wrong with changing things up once in a while right?”

“Not at all.”

Eclipsa sighed. Here they were, their old home, just as they left it. Pre tank fire. The psp was still on the coffee table, the ps2 was still on with Kingdom Hearts 2 on and playing. It was a wave of nostalgia and slight sadness that hit them all at once. “Woah this place is a mess.” Eclipsa turned, seeing Heart. They were human, Heart taking the female look first and Eclipsa male to best fit as if they never left. Their human form felt… alien, but it was still theirs.

“Well, I was a young man who was also pretty lazy.” Eclipsa said with a smile.

“Clearly.” Heart said, taking in the tossed dirty laundry, small sink filled with dishes, and messy bedroom. “We are cleaning this.”

“Awh… do we have to?” Heart only responded by pinching Eclipsa’s ear. “Owe owe owe okay!” They yelped in pain.

“Good boy.”

“Why is it I’ve dreamed of a girl calling me that, only for it to be because she’s making me clean my house.”

“Well after a while we can switch and I’ll be the male and you can be the hot horney gf. Now clean fast and good and I might just slip into something revealing and skimpy.”

Eclipsa started with the laundry. No other words were needed.

“God I Forgot how much my washing machine sucked.” Eclipsa said, having washed this same load of laundry twice and it still smelled off. “It’s not the detergent… Hm. Well, guess it’s time to upgrade.” Eclipsa said, taking out the still wet laundry and using code to remove the old washing machine and replace it with a brand new high end one. With a smile and nod they put the wet load in and began washing it with a bit more detergent.

Back into the living room Eclipsa took a look around. They forgot how a clean house was. It was nice. Laundry was washing, dishes almost done, and trash needed to be taken out. Thankfully they were never that bad on trash. Once that was taken out Eclipsa headed back to replace the bag… and nearly fell back in surprise. Heart was cooking a large pot of what looked like soup, wearing a very, very, very short skirt, long lace heels, and a small black and white bra. The set up was one lewd showing maid outfit. “You’ve been a good boy. You’ll get a treat.”

“Woof.” Eclipsa said, nose bleeding slightly.

“That’s king, you’re a snake/pony.”

“I can also be a wolf, dog, full equine, full naga… huh, gonna make a bunch of other race forms to try out.” They thought.

“Heh, well, finish up and you get your treats.”

“A meal and sex?”

“Meal and sex.”

“Wait… oh… OH! Won’t that be hot for you though?”

“Repeat that a bit, but no. Besides, I’m dessert, mostly~”

“Looking forward to that then… so what’s next then?”

“Rooms, garage, and yard.”

“I’ll go do those then.” Eclipsa said dumbly as they ran to their room.

Eclipsa’s room looked exactly like how they left it, a tad messy but it was their room, a PS2 and 3 just below their TV, a few anime posters here and there and other things. “Just like how I left it, damn.”

With a good place Eclipsa picked up the clothes, fixed up the bed and cleaned out any trash and the like. The bathroom was always clean, just a small bit of trash. The spare room was mostly storage, spare clothes, canned and boxed food, things along that line.

“Alright, that is that.” Eclipsa said while stretching a little at all the moving from it.

With everything picked up, straightened up and organized and fixed up they headed back down. The scent of a rich veggie and beef stew filled the kitchen and leaked into the living room.

“Smells good.” Eclipsa said warmly.

As Eclipsa entered the kitchen, seeing Heart in that skimpy maid outfit lingerie and felt their young perverted fantasies realized.

“Still wonderful to see.” Eclipsa smiled.

Heart smiled, stirring the pot and tasting the broth. "It's almost ready. Funny, with King I was basically the cheerleader GF, and when it was time to swap King went big tittie goth GF. Was fun and hot. Figured I'd be the slutty stay at home gf for you, given I was your maid for a while after the initial fusion. God that felt so long ago." Heart said with a sigh.

“A lot of things feel so long ago to be honest." Eclipsa chuckled.

"Hm." Heart hummed in rememberence. "It's almost done so just wait I guess."

"Can't wait to have your wonderful cooking." They said while moving over and groping Hearts rump playfully.

Heart smiled in response, Eclipsa just standing behind Heart, holding them in a hug and occasionally giving caring caressing touches to their breasts or hips. The moment could be best defined as wholesome, despite the nudity.

With the food done Heart served and the two ate. Eclipsa loved the hearty broth, the flavors of carrots, potatoes, celery and beef rich in it's flavor. With the meal finished the two put away the leftovers, washed dishes and finally the two left for the bedroom. It was still early, but neither needed sleep and neither was going to sleep tonight.

With practiced ease, Heart dropped their skirt, showing the already clear lack of underwear, undid the lacy high heels and unhooked the bra. They then sat onto the bed. “You ready?” Heart asked with a smile.

As Eclipsa stripped, in their human male form they were very aware of Heart’s pure female beauty. A thin yet clear hourglass figure, with hips wide and breasts large. Not oversized for their body type but more than desirable for a larger type of C cup, both were firm in form and soft to the touch. Eclipsa’s male form was well off. Their original human form was well built but not trained, just healthy. With the last of their clothes off Eclipsa crawled over Heart, who raised their arms to grip onto the bed frame. “We’ve done this a lot… I know this… so why does this feel different?”

“Cause it’s a life you left.” Heart said, giving a quick kiss to Eclipsa before continuing. “You left this life for another, and now your back, but this time it will be better. Ideal. For the both of us.”

Eclipsa responded by kissing Heart back, the two working tongues as Eclipsa’s member became erect and hard. All seven and a half inches. With a slow and careful thrust Eclipsa’s member was inside Heart, who moaned, legs spread so Eclipsa could fill them properly.

“Just as tight as I thought.” Eclipsa moaned happily.

"Heh, glad you enjoy it." Heard said, blushing red as Eclipsa began slow and patient thrusting.

“I always enjoy being with you.” Eclipsa said as he kept his slow but strong thrusts into his lover.

Morning came, the two embraced in messy bedsheets and pillows. Neither moved, neither spoke. Neither was asleep, the two just rested against one another in skin on skin embrace. "It's morning now." Heart said, eyes not opening nor were they moving, a satisfied smile on their lips.

“Who cares.” Eclipsa said while continuing to cuddle with Heart. “Stay here all day.”

"Hmm. We can. Or…" Heart started.

“Or?” He asked curiously.

"Well, don't you wanna show me off? I would love to see any friends or such of yours gawk at seeing me. Maybe shop?"

“But cuddling in bed…” Eclipsa countered, being too comfy right now.

"I know. We can do that later, so if you just wanna cuddle, sex then cuddle again for a while it's fine." Heart replied relaxedly.

“What time is it besides ‘morning o’clock’?” Eclipsa asked.

"Dunno. Sun just rose up so… five, six… seven maybe? Honestly doesn't matter." Heart said, shifting a bit to get more on top of Eclipsa. "Question, ever have another girl in this bed aside from me?"

“Nope.” He said honestly. “Only you.”

"Good boy." Heart said, giving a kiss on their cheek and moved up more still. Eclipsa knew where this was going, and moved down some and wrapped arms around Heart's torso as Heart wrapped arms around Eclipsa's head, holding it within their chest between their breasts closely and gently. "You get the good pillows then."

“These are good pillows.” Eclipsa said warmly.

“Do you ever think about what we will do after?”

“After what?” Eclipsa asked curiously.

“This war. When we’ve ruled for a while and decide to retire. What’s your ideal retirement?”

“Fuck if I know, there’s a lot of stuff we can do after all of this.” Eclipsa said simply.

“Yeah but, what’s one thing you could do for the rest of your life once you retire?”

“Be with those I love.” Eclipsa said honestly.

“Heh.” Heart said, covering the two with a blanket properly. “I’d live on a lake, or near one. Lots of plants, a boat to fish on. When it rains I’d sit on the covered porch and just watch.”

“Sounds nice.” They said warmly. “Humble and pretty.”

“Yeah.” Heart held Eclipsa’s head closer to their chest, their heartbeat was audible to Eclipsa. It wasn’t like a normal heartbeat, rather than the steady rhythmic thud thud there was almost this vibration of soundless movement. Heart of all worlds, and heart of all living things, it beats as they all do at once.

“Have you ever listened to your own heartbeat?” Eclipsa asked Heart curiously.

“Yeah. It’s a bit weird.”

“But I suppose that’s what happens when you’re heart beats with the same rhythm as everything.” He said honestly.

“Makes sense I suppose. So, should we be getting up at all?”

“Eh, might as well at this point.” He said honestly.

With a yawn and slow movements the two got out from under the sheets and into the new day. Clothes were put on, Eclipsa putting on clothes they haven’t seen or worn in a lifetime and Heart making herself needed clothes, a light blue top, pink sweatpants and white winter boots.

“Winter boots? Isn’t it just starting to be fall here?” He asked curiously.

“It’d be December fourteenth. Still winter. Right?”

“Uh...maybe?” Eclipsa said nervously.

“I know we don’t even feel it cause, well, Admins, but it’s fun to dress the part. Come on, let’s go get some food. Is there a waffle house or Denny's somewhere you know?”

“There should be one or so around here.” Eclipsa said honestly.

“Cool. Got a car?”

“Uh…” They hummed. “It’s been forever since I last saw half of the things on earth.”

“Heh, scared to drive?”

“Not that, I just don’t know if I even have a car.” He said honestly.

“Hm… Well, we can do this one of two ways then. You can spawn in a really cool car, or we can get there my way, in which case you’ll have to be the girl and I’ll be the guy.”

“Well it would only be fair if I was a girl next right? Unless you wanted to stay this way a little longer.”

“I’ll be the guy, Besides, I wanna see my girl’s hometown.” Heart said, shifting to male as Eclipsa shifted to Marcy’s form. Heart also changed outfits from the female clothes to a warm blue jacket, jeans and changed the boots color from white to green.

“Just like back when we first met.” Eclipsa chuckled.

“Heh, yeah. Alright so quick question. Speed or style?”

“I like to be taken in style.” Eclipsa said all fancily.

Heart smiled and nodded, snapping their fingers as in a flash of code a set of car keys were in their hand. Walking outside Eclipsa spotted it. A black jaguar FX. Eclipsa jumped in and the two drove off, Eclipsa remembering the area and telling where to turn and go. As they drove Eclipsa noticed Heart kept a smile on their face as they drove, and finally they arrived at an Ihop. “Here we are my princess.”

“It’s been awhile since I’ve been to an Ihop, hopefully their food is still good.” Eclipsa said while getting out of the car.

“I’m sure they will.” Walking inside the two got seated and were given menus. Eclipsa ordered the basic breakfast platter and Heart the same. “This is nice, I’ve never eaten at an Ihop before.”

“It’s good when the people who work here care, and from what I’ve experienced the people here do care.” She said honestly.

"Cool. So, how long have you lived here? Move from elsewhere or just always been here?" Heart asked.

“Mostly been here honestly.” Eclipsa said honestly. “Not much moving through my life.”

"Huh. Lucky." Heart said with a sigh as they looked at their drink. "We both grew up harshly. King too. Funny huh?"

“I honestly think King had it a bit rougher honestly. While you had to run around a lot and I had my own stuff, King had to get a rehash of his backstory like three four times.” She shrugged.

"And yours? Mine? We went from together and we’re happy to… lesser ideal events." Heart said with a sigh. "And now our past timeline selves live with us. You talk to them?"

“I do sometimes, last I heard King went to visit those three to talk about stuff.” Eclipsa said honestly.

"Mostly Zeke and I just talk about our lives. All up until Colorado are similar. He met Marcy… I didn't…"

“But then after that, you met me, and King.” Eclipsa said honestly.

"True. Actually I met you two around the same time didn't I? King and I were fighting Yellow Core then a portal later we got tossed into your reflection."

“Where the three of us got our collective asses kicked by that half Invisible guy right?” Eclipsa asked. “God, that was ages ago, our first crossover in fact.”

"Heh. Yeah. That was so long ago. Christ, odds are we still can't beat Unum."

“Doubt that to the extreme.” Eclipsa said honestly.

"Did you or did you not lose to a handgun?" Heart asked with a smirk.

“Not a handgun, hell no.” Eclipsa started. “To a completely different gun using bullets that...I somehow made to cripple Deathless.” Eclipsa said simply.

"Still shot from a hand held gun." Heart teased.

“Yeah, a ‘hand held gun’ that even Cript was like ‘yeah this gun is stupid powerful’.” Eclipsa rolled their eyes.

"Well, yeah." Heart said with a sigh. "The default version of it basically takes an atomic bomb and shoots it out of the barrel without killing the shooter. Immediately anyway. Well, not so much a nuclear bomb more Mega Spell given the world it was on. In any case I dunno what he changed about it aside from the ammo type but Drezke has seen what it's default version could do so… yeah, something that powerful in a handheld form is impressive."

“Cript said that he changed the ammo to be safer and deadlier, which is where the bullets I...somehow made, which also baffles the fuck out of Lord believe it or not.”

"Really? And you don't remember making them?"

“More like I didn’t even know they existed.” Eclipsa said. “Cript said I made them somehow...but I don’t know how or why.” They said simply, having a bad feeling they truly do know why but wanting to keep it to themselves.

"Huh. Weird. Well, add that to the list of things to figure out."

“To the ever growing list.” Eclipsa sighed out.

The two ate, enjoying the meal and continued to chat. "So, got any projects going?"

“Not at the moment.” Eclipsa said honestly. “Just going around doing my own thing cause...we have a lot to do.”

"Heh. Mostly all uninhabitable worlds we find get terraformed and used for war effort research by others. Some points of rest and such for scouts but overall not much. Nothing like when I used to run Daybreak."

“This whole war is dumb…” Eclipsa sighed out.

"Something we can both agree on. Cript especially finds that distasteful. Apparently he was in this back before all this."

“It’s mostly Vincent and Void Key’s fault, from what I heard from King, Void Mother doesn’t want this war anymore.” Eclipsa said, given that Kico shares her memories with King and Coco all the time.

"That sadly doesn't do much in terms of changing tides. Vincent still has armies, and Void Key has The Mother knows what in his back pocket."

“But that would basically give us free access to the Void, and whatever Void Mother’s soldiers could do to us if she wanted them to.” Eclipsa said honestly.

"You assume she has any. I haven't met many Deletes but none of the few I have strike me as devoted to her. You forget she isn't like the other Mothers. She's… twisted."

“Because she ripped out her heart because her Belief became Nothingness Belief.” Eclipsa said honestly.

"Just because she won't help Vincent and Void Key doesn't mean she will help us. You know how long it took for me to accept myself, be happy. I doubt having lived as she has for that long she will immediately help us without issue or at least a deal of some sort. Even with all I am okay with, there's those nagging thoughts I still have about my self hatred. She might be an Ally for now but I don't trust her."

“And that’s where King comes in with how much he’s trying to find Void Mother’s Heart and Nothingness Belief’s body. Cause with those fixed all of this is solved.” Eclipsa said honestly.

"You know just as well as I do it's never as easy as that."

“You’re right, that’s why he went to the Heroes Tomb and was planning on challenging the Mushroom 13.” Eclipsa pointed out.

"When do our plans ever survive more than a minute in action?" Heart asked, giving a small laugh. "Plus, we still have third parties to deal with."

“And King is…” Eclipsa sighed out. “Jesus, King is doing admittedly way too much here…”

"Then we conquer and survive. We have some hostile Admins, according to Cript of the living Admins there are only a few thousand of which about six to seven hundred are hostile. Spoiled and her clones, my brother who either is or isn't working with Vincent and or Void Key, Deletes who want us dead on principle, groups within our own realm who know they can't harm us directly so they harm our people, and lastly the Underground itself. Personally I'd let the underground slide if it wasn't for their illegal Freak Inc army grade weapons. And their latest additions."

“To be honest I’m surprised King hasn’t tried a massive hostile takeover using Jenny and many, many others to literally own the Underground.” Eclipsa shrugged.

"Trust me, that's not possible. Jenny knows it, I know it. The underground isn't something one person no matter how powerful can stop. All you can do is keep it in the darkness."

“I said ‘own’ the Underground, not stop it.” She brought up. “Plus he would be using Jenny and many others to run it.”

"I don't think that's a good idea." Heart said.

“Why wouldn’t it be a good idea?” Eclipsa asked curiously.

“Technically the Underworld has its own admin. While not like others, they keep certain things for under the table sales in any realm. They and Cript have an agreement. Cript lets them keep the underworld open and they don’t put Freak Inc gear on the market. Sadly, it only means they can’t put it there, that means a third party can.”

“Sneaky bastard.” Eclipsa frowned. “What do you think will happen when King learns about them?”

“Aside from getting pissed, try and screw the guy over. Sadly his deal with Cript prevents such things. However we can buy information about these unknown third parties selling well made counterfeit weapons.”

“That would be good to know.” Eclipsa nodded.

“In any case, guess we know what to do, just who is going to go and do them.”

“You know it’s going to be King.” Eclipsa said honestly. “King is way too busy for their own good sometimes…”

“Then let's take some of that weight off him. Gonna need a knife to cut all that self taped on luggage they carry.’” Heart said with a laugh. “So,what should we tackle first?”

“Where to even start with that train wreck.” Eclipsa sighed out.

“Easiest would be learning what we can about this unknwn copycat third party. It’s only a matter of time before they end up on the battlefield.”

“Yeah, so looks like we’re going to have to meet this Admin of Crime.” Eclipsa said honestly.

“Yup.”

The Underground was all around in any city and country. In the forgotten streets where various buildings stood without purpose. Legal purpose anyway. Here two naga’s slithered down the streets. Fully snake like, one with a cobra like head and the other a smaller more grass snake like head. “Huh, fully naga is kinda neat.” The grass snake naga spoke, Heart’s voice speaking from it.

“Yeah, you get to feel more of the air instead of being covered in all that floof.” Eclipsa said simply.

“Feels more normal too. As much as I enjoy having legs I’m way too used to slithering.” Heart said as the two made their way down the streets. “Let’s see, Cript said he was in building 787.” Heart said as they checked the building numbers.

“We should be close.” They said simply while looking around for the right building.

After a while they spotted it. Building 787, fair sized office building of brick and stone. Arriving at the door they knocked. The door opened a crack, a hooded figure who’s face wasn’t shown was seen, looking away from the two. “Echoes.” They said.

“Cave.” Heart said as the door closed then opened wide. Inside was a makeshift market. Various weapons, caged animals, people and shadow creatures were all around. In one corner various organs in jars were set up. “He should be in the top floor offices.”

“Alright.” Eclipsa nodded while slithering into the place, ready to speak to the head honcho themselves.

The upper floors held better items of interest. Eclipsa was surprised to even see some Ancient Dragons Eggs. The top most floor was barren, empty and only had one thing, a desk and an older looking man sitting at it. The Admin of Crime. “Eclipsa, Heart.” They said, Heart and Eclipsa shifted to their normal naga forms.

“Hi.” Eclipsa nodded simply. “You must be the Admin of Crime, seems a little barren in here don’t ya think?”

“Paperwork is just… not needed in the office.” He said simply. “I’m Gallow, Admin of Crime. My my, Zeke Ventral in the flesh. The few of your family still in the underworld are my best employees.” Gallow said.

“It’s Heart, Kingdom Hearts.” Heart corrected.

“Right, right. Never expected my little brother to go before me. Heh, oh well. So, what can this old bastard do for the two of you?”

“You know every single being that does ‘business’ in the Underground correct?” Eclipsa asked simply.

“Faces, yes, names, what they give. But I have good sources and in my realm, money is king. Greed is the fault of all, mortal or admin it matters not. Who is it you want to know about?”

“The one selling Freak Inc and replica Keyblades Kings weapons.” Heart answered.

“Ah, yes.Those sellers. First, the money. Six million rem.”

Eclipsa put down the bag filled with it. “Alright, now spill it.”

“Project Mirror. At least, that’s what the group calls themselves. They’ve been around for years but never did much until two years ago. Suddenly they started making weapons, well made copies. First with basic fire arms then some Freak Inc weapons.”

“Any specific people in the group you might know?” Eclipsa asked curiously.

“Two, Diego and Martha. Diego is a Dire Wolf, Martha is a fairy. They set up shop in a new place, one night a week every week for just a few hours before leaving.”

“Where would their place be?” She asked.

“No idea. Change shop every time, different place basically at random. No idea where their supply comes from all I sadly do know is they almost always start selling every friday or saturday after two in the morning.”

“Good to know.” Eclipsa nodded. “Thank you for the help.”

“Any time.”

“Okay, with that we have to figure out where they will be setting up shop.” Heart pondered as they and Elipsa were back as Eclipsa’s place on earth, curtains shit so the two can stay in their normal form over humans. “Ciel can set up an ambush, till then we can deal with something else.”

“What is that ‘something else’?” Eclipsa asked curiously.

“Finding Spoiled.”

“We’ve been looking for that whore for a long time now.” Eclipsa frowned.

“Yeah but Kexez thinks they know where she would be, and Core agrees.”

“Well...where would that be?” Eclipsa asked curiously.

“For that, someone else has to be here.” Heart said, placing a hand over their chest as suddenly in a flood of darkness, their form changed. Fur going pitch black, scales lines with streaks of blue and purple and hair a lighter shade of black.

“Hey.” Drezke said.

“Hello there.” Eclipsa said to Drezke.

Drezke took a deep breath. “In the realm of Darkness there is a place we call the Edge. It’s as the name says, the edge of the realm of darkness, and a one way drop right into the void. That place is… not safe. A complete deathtrap. It’s the perfect place for Spoiled to have set up shop.”

“And how the hell do we get there?” Eclipsa asked curiously.

“I can open a DTD there.” Drezke said. “Oddly, only I can open a DTD directly there. Heart can get a few… thousand miles from it and Lake can’t even use DTD’s. Guess since I’m pure darkness I can have pinpoint navigation.”

“I mean, that is true.” She said honestly. “So let’s get on with it then.”

With a nod Drezke snapped tier fingers, a DTD opening up before the two. Entering Eclipsa noticed it felt… colder, than normal. It itched at her scales while the darkness surrounded the two. Finally, when it left the two were at what looked like a snow covered valley, jagged trees and rocks decorated the snow layered landscape for all directions. “Here we are. The Edge.”

“Jeez, certainly doesn’t feel like the beach.” She said while looking around the area.

“That is where the realms of light and dark meet, this is where the realm of darkness and the void meet. The further we go the more unstable the land. Heartless here are so void tainted they don’t listen to me, and every so often some void beast shows up here. Be careful, this place… If the monsters don’t kill you, the memories will.” With that, Drezke began slithering ahead.

“Just like a walk in the park.” Eclipsa chuckled while following along.

As the two trailed along through the snow Eclipsa took notice of every pair of yellow eyes that watched the two as they went further in. None attacked but observed. Some she could see A Dark Hide, an Omega Invisible, an Alpha Neoshadow, and many others. Suddenly, the snow was gone, stopping abruptly and was replaced by an endless downpour that quickly was half way covering their tails slithering on the ground. “Mind the frogs.” Drezke said, Slithering around a swimming green and orange frog.

“Cause even in an area where it’s dark as shit, still have highly colorful, stupidly poisonous frogs.” Eclipsa shook her head while avoiding the frogs.

“Not poisonous… Parasitic.” Drezke corrected. The water was now up to their necks, the two nagas still slithering through, almost swimming as they arrived at a shore. Slithering up and out of the water they were now atop almost glass like rock that split into many floating chunks, making a makeshift path of broken floating stone.

“How close are we to Spoiled’s base?” Eclipsa asked curiously.

“Close… We have company.” Drezke said. Looking up, Eclipsa saw clones. Seven Jenny’s, nine Zeke’s, seven Riku’s and fourteen Xions, all dressed in black jumpsuits with numbers on them. “Think they can be saved?”

“Well, one way to find out.” Eclipsa said while bringing out Second Chance, Grey pulsating from the Keyblade as she swung wide towards all the Clones.

In rapid movements they all dodged, one getting nicked on the foot. They glowed for a time as if about to revert, but then imploded with enough force to push the floating boulders away from their location. “That’s a no then.” Drezke said, summoning a Keyblade Eclipsa hasn’t seen in a long time. Discord. In a flash of darkness Drezke rushed out, Dark Guardian and Dark Pulse active as they mercicusly hacked the clones into chunks of flesh and blood that then evaporated into dirt and darkness.

“Aggressive, but effective.” Eclipsa said simply.

Eclipsa took notice that the clones were all dealing damage to Drezke. Nothing lethal but the darkness of her love did not bother defending. Not even the Guardian protected them, just attacked. She knew it was meant to protect… so why wasn’t it? When the fighting was over, Drezke has a few wounds, and bathed in quickly evaporating clone blood. “Let’s go.” He said, the Dark Guardian leaving as Discord disbanded.

“So uh...why didn’t you block at all?” She asked curiously.

“Does it matter?” Drezke asked dismissively.

“A little yes, cause you did get injured.” Eclipsa said honestly.

“We heal fast. What’s the point in blocking?”

“There is a small but growing list of things we can’t heal from.” Eclipsa said honestly. “Just...be careful alright?”

They didn’t reply, just kept on going.

Once the road of floating rocks was fixed and crossed the two found themselves in an upside down world, having to use magic to float across. More clones showed up and Drezke went to the slaughter. From quick and painless neck snaps and decapitations to brutal and bloody implotions from punching and even using their jaw to tear the clones in half or more chunks. Again, not a single attempt to block.

“Seriously, what’s wrong?” Eclipsa asked worriedly.

“Nothing.” Drezke said, shaking off the excess clone blood as it evaporated. “I just prefer the Berzerker style.” He was partly lying, Eclipsa could tell that much.

“Even as pure darkness, you’re not good at lying.” Eclipsa frowned.

Again, they said nothing. Once the world was right sided again, they were before a massive field of lights. The orbs weren’t hearts, but they felt something… close to them. “Don’t let them touch you.” Drezke warned. Moving slowly through the aimless orbs of lights.

“What are these things?” Eclipsa asked while moving around the orbs carefully.

"When a heart is shattered the memories they hold don't just vanish. They end up here, roaming aimlessly and without purpose. If one touches you you'll see the person's memory. Some are a minute or two at most, others hours, some years."

“That’s...interesting.” Eclipsa said nervously.

"Yeah. It's a graveyard for those who no longer have hearts at all. Maybe as a nobody they'll get a new one, but they will never remember who they were. Some didn't even get to have a nobody, so these orbs are the only proof they even existed." Drezke said sadly.

“That’s...terrible.” Eclipsa muttered.

"Yeah. Come on, just passed here is the end of the Edge, once we’re there I'm better we'll spot Spoiled’s factory." Drezke said as the two moved through the field of memories of people who no longer exist.

As they passed, Eclipsa swore she saw Drezke stop and look at a few, if only for a second before moving on. Finally the end of the field came, a sign, new and cut deep into stone read 'Suffer for Them.'

“That’s not eerie at all.” Eclipsa rolled her eyes.

As they left the field some distance behind more clones came up, this time Eclipsa saw one of Core, only the one standing there. Their attire is much like those years so long ago.

“Jeez, that look takes me back.” Eclipsa chuckled.

Drezke rushed them, the copy Core using a replica of that Keyblade they used to use and impaled Drezke effortlessly. That didn't stop the Naga as they took hold of the copy Core, wrapping around them as the sound of bone cracking echoed about as Drezke squeezed tighter and tighter around the copy Core. Finally with a sickening pop Drezke released, the copy Core fading into dust and darkness as his replica Keyblade was still impaled inside Drezke's torso. The Naga pulled it out, and tossed the fake aside as his wound healed.

“Are you actually going to tell me what the hell is going on here?” Eclipsa frowned.

"I believe Spoiled's guards are getting killed. That wasn't obvious?"

“The complete disregard for defense, why did you look concerned at a few of the orbs, and a lot of other things?” Eclipsa asked bluntly.

"I don't recall owing you answers." Drezke replied bluntly.

“But I do recall that I’m your spouse and they would like to know what’s bugging you?” Eclipsa frowned.

At that, Drezke laughed. "No, you're Heart's spouse, I am Heart's Darkness, I owe you nothing. I promised you no vows of love and affection. You spend time with Heart! Not Me, not Lake, and you barely take notice of Kexez. To me, you are just that stubborn whore who keeps popping into reality against the wills of Nexus to piss them off, screw Heart then die and shatter them, so please, do me the favor of skipping to that part so we can get it over with."

Drezke kept on, and Eclipsa stood there, stunned and feeling like she'd been slapped in shock. As blunt as he was… there was some truth to it. Every time she and Heart met, loved… she'd die, and it broke Heart.

“And yet there you were, instead of, you know, actually trying to spend time with literally anyone, you’re just going to be some pissant who get’s all pissy at me?” Eclipsa started. “No no, I’m the one at fault here, not you who’s acting like a bitch too scared to actually say something, not Lake who hasn’t even bothered to talk to me, King, or others for some reason, and Kexez is normally busy with a lot of shit, but no, it’s my fault that I was even born, it’s my fault that you ripped King’s Darkness out of him and sent it on a killing spree.”

"I ripped Rejection out, yes! But I didn't send them off to kill, I didn't tell them to join up with Spoiled, that was HIS choice! Cause I needed to prove a point! Without light, without Lake, all us dark halves are monsters! Want proof? Walk back to the orbs! I'm why they're all there!" Drezke snapped. "I woke up, on that world, but it wasn't the first. No, Sixteen worlds I slaughtered. Of those sixteen worlds only infants and children were spared because I can't kill them, thankfully, and you know what? Those kids worship me like a god! I'm a fucking demon and all I see when I look at them is their parents and families bloody corpses as I ate their hearts!"

“Now we’re getting somewhere.” Eclipsa frowned. “But gee, isn’t it weird how you trained those kids to be good people? To help those who were losing to the darkness to make a colony of literal Sentient Heartless people? How you ‘proving a point’, not only hurt King, but killed billions of people to fuel your own hypocrisy?” Eclipsa frowned.

"I was only able to do that because of the kids' hearts. A child's heart is a pure thing, only as you age does darkness slip in. There was finally enough pure light around me to bring me out of my frenzy. I know the difference between good and bad, but without Lake… I had no anchor, no means to keep me from devolving. Lake… Lake knows this, it's why we don't reach out. Lake can live without me, can love… but I can't. If we're apart for… too long I just…" Drezke sat, coiling their own tail for a seat. "I can't be on my own, and I can't be around others. The only reason you and Wolf, Flutter and Psychoshy can is… because you're Heart's weren't balanced. They were weaker, and now they live as their own people. They have their own hearts now."

“And what’s stopping you from doing the exact same thing?” Eclipsa asked curiously.

"They aren't The Heart of all Worlds." Drezke replied simply. "I envy those two, really, but… as Kingdom Hearts, we can't. It would disrupt the entirety of how Hearts work in our realm, Keyblades included. I'd rather not tempt anything."

“Then what the fuck were the Embodiments for then?” Eclipsa frowned. “How come they all got to live, being literally Kingdom Hearts Darkness, and able to have their own life?”

"I don't know. We got a lot of the old Kingdom Hearts memories but most from back then are… messy. I honestly don't know."

“All I can say is that, you have to try before thinking it’s a lost cause.” Eclipsa said softly. “Ever since our marriage, we all became one whole person, that means we are all Kingdom Hearts, and that means Wolf and Psychoshy are out living a normal life.” Eclipsa said honestly.

"Even if I tried, why should I? The blood on my hands is countless. I can't bring them back, so I can at least pay for it."

Eclipsa put a gentle hand on Drezke’s shoulder. “That’s where you’re wrong kiddo.” Eclipsa said softly. “Rejection did the exact same thing, and King blames himself for doing it all, not his dark half, so King knows full well what it feels like...and also, you can bring them all back. How do you think Cript brought back all those dead family members like King’s parents?”

"Doesn't mean I still didn't kill them. I still have to pay for my crimes. Heart is my prison and Lake my warden. At least I can't do any harm this way."

“And we keep ragging on King for doing something stupid when he’s blaming himself.” Eclipsa chuckled at that. “Listen, this won’t get solved by you not talking about this, not going out and actually doing something to repent. If there’s one thing we’ve all learned, it's that prison time only does so much.”

"It's a start then." Drezke said with a sigh.

“And yet you’ve been stuck not doing much for a long time, it’s time to come out of your cell and be apart of our lives alright?”

"Sorry Eclipsa." Drezke said with a sigh. "But I'm one person you can't help. I don't want it." With that, Drezke uncoiled themselves. "Come on, we've gotta be close by now. Once Spoiled is captured or killed we blow her place to the void and I'll take us back. Then back into my cell."

“That’s not going to happen and you know it.” Eclipsa said honestly. “But let’s go and kick Spoiled’s ass.”

With a nod Eclipsa and Drezke headed off, finding the end of The Edge. An endless cliff side where something akin to a Castle Oblivion, but three times the size and covered in clones of all people and races.

“Damn…” Eclipsa started. “Spoiled’s certainly been...busy.”

"Yeah… something is off though." Drezke said, looking around at all the clones about.

“Yeah, they all look frantic for some reason…” Eclipsa said nervously.

"No… there's too many." Drezke said. Taking another look, she saw as many areas they were at were fortified guard areas, but yes, there were too many for the fairly small areas. Some were just walking about outside with seemingly no purpose.

“Why would there be too many of them? Did Spoiled forget to turn off her cloning machine or something?” She wondered.

"Don't know. Don't care." Drezke said, slithering back some distance.

“Yeah...something is massively wrong here.” Eclipsa muttered worriedly.

Eclipsa turned to look at Drezke, then her ears drooped. Drezke was… changing. His wolf upper half became far more feral and larger, his snake lower half grew, growing thicker layers of scales as centipede like legs sprouted out the sides. Darkness pulsated out as sprouting out their back and along their spine were bone covered tendrils that whipped about wildly. Eclipsa starred as Drezke had six eyes now along their face as they howled, a demonic howle. Feral Form of a Floof Noodle. Add Darkness.

“Uh...what the hell?” Eclipsa muttered worriedly.

"You want this place leveled to atoms, this form can do that." Drezke said, Eclipsa giving thanks that their voice was still normal.

“Uh...we might still need to find Spoiled, cause while this place is destroyed, her work won’t stop.” She brought up.

“Don’t worry, this dog knows how to fetch.” Drezke said, almost… gleeful as they were gone before a blink. Looking back at the factory, Eclipsa saw not a single clone outside was alive, and a large hole in the wall marked where Drezke charged in.

“Damn.” Eclipsa whistled while following after them quickly.

Entering, Eclipsa looked around, more dead clones. The hall flooded with the copies corpses as they evaporated and returned to dirt. Everywhere she looked she saw death. Part of her wondered if this was what Heart could do if they ever decided to go berserker. Following the carnage, she soon spotted Drezke standing, back to a normal form outside a doorway.

“Think you got em?” Eclipsa asked simply.

“Don’t think we need too.” Drezke said, stepping aside.

Eclipsa slithered inside, and there was Spoiled. Her hair was ragged and half shaved, eyes wide, pupils like pin pricks as she went over a wall with various notes, that on closer inspection seemed to be more nonsense than actual notes. Her cloak was dingy and torn along the sleeves and legs. The whole room was a mess, covered in papers and writing. She wasn't even paying the two any attention.

“Jesus, the hell happened here?” Eclipsa asked worriedly.

"She's broken." Spoke a voice. Looking up, Eclipsa saw Spoiled's Scythe, hung on a wall rack. "Her mind has snapped, crushed and shattered. A pathetic end for a Nobody."

“How did that happen?” She asked curiously.

"The nature of a Nobody is to regrow a new heart, but Core found a way to bypass it. Pure darkness forged as a false heart. It worked, but that alone wasn't enough. It takes desire, purpose, and a goal. Core's was to see Unum again, Hers was for selfish reasons. Her false heart could not resist the new heart forming, so she tried to shatter the infant heart growing inside her. The act alone nearly killed her, and her mind broke along with it."

“That’s what she fucking get’s for trying to kill an unborn child.” Eclipsa frowned. “So what about you?”

"What about me?" The scythe asked.

“Well you’ve probably just been sitting there gathering dust, watching as Spoiled goes further insane.” Eclipsa said honestly.

"So? Won't stop you two from finishing the reason you came here. So, get on with it. Kill her and shatter me."

“Well…” She started. “Heart wanted to save her still right?” She looked over to Drezke.

"..." Drezke slithered over between the wall hung Scythe and the broken Nobody of Spoiled. As darkness flowed from them Eclipsa barely got to register as in outstretched grasps if almost Darkside like hands, one crushing the mad Nobody into bloody paste on the floor, and the Scythe, smashed into shards that faded into flickers of light. "Heart isn't here." He said without emotion. "Just his monster."

“Oh…” She frowned.

Side Content: 1

Alucard sighed, looking out into the vast bloodbath before them. Monsters, humans, other races he didn’t care to remember the names of, they were all dead, dying or healing up. This was war, something he understood. Death and murder. He smiled, dressed in his red attire, pistols in hand loaded with dark monofilament bullets. Was he happy here? Yes. Did he want to be here? Also, yes. With a manic laugh Alicard walked into the endless bullet and bomb fire of the no mans land area, taking aim at his first target. A Nexus sniper, sporting a neat rifle he would be taking later. Time slowed for the vampire, taking aim and using his vampiric sight to gaze across the distance, seeing her helmets visor, seeing through it. He saw their eyes, smiled wider, and fired. The bullet was a blur as it passed across the great distance, reaching the snipers helmet, breaking the visor, and found their eye, tearing the bulb into a gore of flesh and fluid, reaching the back of their eye socket, breaking bones and sending shards of skull into their brains. It then rushed through the flimsy flesh of their brain, reached the back of their head, shot out in a blast of bone, blood and brain matter, exited the back of their helmet, and hit into a Nexus medic behind them.

“Med down!” Alucard declared with pride. “Just like TF2.”

“Show off.” Leon said from behind the cover still. He grabbed Alucard’s coat, yanking the vampire back down as a large tank shell hit where he was standing just seconds ago.

“Owe! Also, I would have survived that.” Alucard said with a huff, getting off the trench floor to his feet.

“I know, but I don’t want to find out it blasted you all the way back to Homeworld.” Leon said, looking through binoculars.

“Agh. This is stupid. I should be out there, hacking and slashing those nazi wannabes up like a kid at christmas. Why are we keeping back like this again?”

“Because even though we can push them back that far back, that pushes them into the Void, their territory, and for us that’s a disadvantage.” Leon retorted. “Last thing we need is every delete in the void entering this fight.”

“Honestly surprised those fucks aren’t already. You’d think Vincent would have nabbed every delete in the void for this war, yet here we are not seeing a single one.”

“Well we don’t have eyes in the void so not much we can really do there.”

“Agh! What about King’s nothingness?”

“Useful but not our immediate answer, besides, Void Key weapons have been used before, so we can’t rely on his nothingness for every fight in case it’s that Keys void in those swords or bullets.”

“Yeesh. I preferred it when I was the only real monster in the world. Heh, at least on my world.”

“Yeah. Never thought I’d miss the T virus so much.” Leon agreed.

“Heh. Good times. So, what’s the plan then?” Alucard asked, turning an eye over to the soldier who was also one of the twenty that made up his heart. He always found that hilarious. An insane vampire, had a heart that was worthy of such a power and role in the universe. It felt like the start of a cosmic joke, or a bad fanfic.

“Same as it’s been. Keep them pinned til the lab rats can find us a means into the void itself.”

“Yeesh. This is not gonna be a short fight then.”

“Nope.”

Alucard grinned wider. “Good.”

Peccator was in his lab. Vials, tubes, beakers and jars of various type and filled with various pulsating Nothingness. “Experiment Y799K5… Failure.” He sighed, tossing the jar with a purple looking Nothingness thorns pulsating within it. Again he opened his notes, making adjustments and comparing them to the notes of the former delete child who made an artifact that made Bravery Nothingness, not as potent as it should be but was a better use than nothing. "What's missing?" He sighed, rubbing the stump where his pinkie finger used to be. "Does it really take a body to act as fuel? Is that the only means? Burn as fuel endlessly for a flame that creates Nothingness? The artifact converts the basic Nothingness into Bravery Nothingness, but unless collected or infused it temporary, and far less potent than my first batch."

"It makes sense that a body would be the perfect fuel." Looking back, Peccator saw Core enter his lab. The only person Peccator could really work with on his projects. "Nothingness keeps the body moving, soul bound, without the heart. So, why would that be you think?"

"... The heart sparks the fire, and burns away as kindling while the body burns as the wood, the soul keeping the body alive and from degrading within the flames." Peccator sighed. "The artifact seems to convert the base code of Nothingness from Worry/Concern to Bravery. It seems to do that by having a mini sort of flame within it burning the Nothingness again and the fire is fueled by Bravery based code that converts the expelled Nothingness out. But like smoke won't last long."

"So the question is who burns for Bravery?" Core asked. "That is the question."

"A question with several answers. Ten rem says King will try and burn for it." Peccator said.

"They would but we can't have that. Someone else has too."

"A close tie to Nothingness already would be preferable, strong, and can reassure King."

"So someone who doesn't exist?" Core asked with a laugh.

"Possibly… Possibly."

Stained deep into the stone before Clementine was blood. The blood of Walkers slain as the last of them became yet another corpse upon the world. Two months. It was hard to believe that two months was all it took to save the world she was born to. Her kingdom cured the Walker plague and the walkers themselves were now gone. She moved, walking into her old childhood home. It was worse than when she left. Weeds and plants grew inside along the walls and floors. Walls decayed and showing the framework underneath.

Two things here looked almost preserved, the couch, covered in thick dust and small bits of assorted debris and the kitchen counter, equal amounts of dust and trash decorating it. It felt alien being here. She wasn’t a little girl anymore, and she wasn’t even human either. “This is where you used to live?” Aj asked, the young boy walking up next to her.

“Yeah goofball. I was about your age, maybe younger when the walkers first appeared.”

“Did you like it here?” Aj asked.

“I did. It was my home, but my parents had to work abroad a lot.”

“Abroad?” Aj asked.

“It means far away. They were gone for days or weeks at a time and I had a sitter watch over me for that time. When they were here it was always the best. We were always together, had fun and laughed.”

“Oh. Like, Louis, Violet and the others? We laugh, have fun and all that”

Clementine smiled, pulling the young child into a one armed hug. “Yeah Aj, that makes us a family.”

“So, what happens now?”

“I’m not so sure, goofball. It’s up to The Mother and all that how the world is shaped and formed now.” That was a lie. She knew, her friends knew. The world would first gain safe zones. Many large areas of land where towns, farms and safety could be had, then the walkers, shadow creatures and dungeons would appear. That was how reality was made. At least she knew the Ericson school and most of the south would be within a safe zone.

Shifting bodies

"You sure this is how I looked in that timeline?" Heart asked. Their form was that of a Pegasus, dirty blond coat, brighter but still dirty blond mane and tail, cutie mark of a heart with a cross hairs on his flank and was on all four hooves. "Also, Heart Shot? Could that be any more on the nose?"

"Seems reasonable by Pony standards of naming." Eclipsa said, still in her Naga form.

“What’s going on in here?” King asked curiously while walking up to the two. “And why is Heart a pegasus?”

"Remember the timeline you explored with Ophelia? The first one where we were all ponies like I was at first?" Eclipsa asked.

“I’ve gone through so god damn many…” King said slowly. “But kind of yeah."

"Well I realized Heart has never experienced what it's like to be full pony. Hooves and all so here we are."

"Have to admit, having wings is neat." Heart said simply, flexing his feathers just like fingers.

“And you never thought of just having wings in your normal form before?” King asked curiously.

"Wings on a body of that size are a bitch since I'd need at least three, maybe four pairs along my body." Heart replied. "Plus the span when open on all of them would be fucking massive. Want an example? Look at Eclipsa's Scootaloo."

Eclipsa gave a nod. "Yup. On my Naga Equestria the average Pegasus Naga had three pairs, but if they grow bigger than average will grow a fourth pair of wings and the smallest wingspan for them is about ten feet each wing."

“Damn.” King said honestly. “That’s really big.”

"And that's just the tails ending wings. The back and midsection wings are twenty to thirty feet… each… wing." Eclipsa said.

"Plus I did wanna see what having hooves was like." Heart said, shaking them before the two. "Feels like stubs."

“I mean, technically they are.” King said honestly. “Compared to other appendages.”

"Say King, have you ever been in a Naga form?" Eclipsa asked the wolf. "And I mean as one and really experiencing what it was like. Like I did with being a Naga and you first did Learning to be a Dire Wolf."

“Not really.” King said honestly. “I’ve been a few other races though.”

"Like?" Heart asked, testing how their wings flapped.

“Well, there’s Racoon for starters given my time as Kite.” King said simply.

"Do anthros count?" Heart asked.

"Yup." Eclipsa said.

“Would be weird if they didn’t.” King said honestly. “Besides, it felt nice to finally have knees that bend forward for a change.”

"Least you have knees." Heart said with a roll of their eyes.

"And feet." Eclipsa added, slithering her tails tip over and up between her and the wolf to shake it. "Takes all the joy out of clothes shopping cause I don't wear shoes."

“But clothes shopping, even as a woman, is still so outlandishly boring.” King whined. “Seriously, even though I’ve been like this for a long time...women make things stupid complicated for no reason.”

"Eh." Heart shrugged.

"Even as a human male I liked clothes shopping. Felt nice to come home with something new to wear and show off every so often." Eclipsa said.

“To each their own I suppose.” King shrugged.

"That aside, care to show off your pony form?" Heart asked. "I know you maxed out the Equestrian Race skill tree."

“Um...sure why not.” King shrugged. “There was this one form that I found myself in…” King muttered as they glowed gently as they shifted into their equine form, a unicorn stallion taller than Heart by a few inches, their fur a light green with their mane and tail being a more dark crimson, their cutie mark a red droplet falling down into a mass of liquid frozen mid movement. “What do you think?”

"Oof, the edge." Heart said in mock tone.

"Reminds me of Fancy Pants." Eclipsa said.

“This isn’t ‘edge’, far from it actually.” I said while looking over myself. “Pulse Blood here was just a humble unicorn stallion wanting to be a doctor, turns out you can be a really good one when your special talent is blood bending...but also gave a quick bout of running from people thinking you’re a vampire.”

"Edge Lord rising." Heart said with a laugh.

"Oh yeah? Then what was your OC and their backstory?" Eclipsa asked.

"Never had or made one." Heart said simply with a smile.

“Liar.” King said simply.

“Nope.” Heart said. “I never made an OC. Remember, back then I… wasn’t well so aside from games, tv and such I didn’t delve very far into fandoms and such so I never made an OC.”

“Even if you didn’t delve into fandoms, you would have made an original character before.” King said simply.

“Check my memories if you don’t believe me.” Heart replied simply, flying around a short bit before walking in circles on hoofs.

“Memories aren’t what this chapter is about.” King said simply. “So let’s start focusing on memories, what other forms do we want to start looking like?”

“Hmm… Keeping with the Equestrian theme, how about Griffins?” Eclipsa offered, the naga shifting into the form. Her legs and lion-like half was the basic brown, but her bird half while keeping an eagle like appearance was a lovely mix of purple and white, her wings feathers ending with lines of blue. “You like.”

“Pretty bird.” Heart said simply.

“You are indeed a pretty griffin.” King agreed.

“Alright then… my turn…” Heart said, pondering for a moment before closing their eyes. To King and Eclipsa’s surprise there was a burst of green flame. There Heart stood, as a Changeling. Their color was an eggshell white over the normal black chitten, and their eyes, belly band were the normal light glowing blue. “Hm, not bad. Woah that’s a voice.” Heart’s voice did have that sound most changelings had, like talking into a fan.

“Sounds simple enough.” King shrugged as they changed again, this time into a silver scaled dragon, two horns curling from the top of their head around their head and pointing out from their jaw like a helmet, wings folded close against their back and a strong spikey tail. “How do I look?”

“Where’s the dragonborn?” Heart asked.

“Looks like it should be a Nobody type honestly.” Eclipsa said.

“I mean, there are still a lot of Nobodies out there somewhere.” King said honestly.

“Alright then…” Eclipsa mused, pondering for a moment. “I think… Yeah, yeah that will do.” She said. There was a flash and before King the dragon and Heart the Changeling was the Kirin Eclipsa. Her colors were a dark green and purple with a crimson red horn and a blue and white striped mane and tail. “What do ya think?”

“You’re so floofy.” King chuckled.

"Impressive… hmm… ah." With a nod Heart glowed, light rather than green flames as their new form took shape. Two legged and standing tall with massive horns sticking out on each side of their head. Their short fur skin half was a light blue, and the fur along their lower half and legs was pure white. The minotaur Heart stood as a pure form of muscle. "Huh. Neat."

“Nice, now to get a little exotic.” King said as they started to transform, which to both Eclipsa and Hearts' surprise, was a manticore like creature, it had the same scorpion tail and bat wings, but instead of it being a lion it was a black panther instead. “Interestingly enough, when I was going through the sapient species on my Equestria, there was a species of Manticores that had their own villages and the like.”

"Wow. Hmm… speaking of exotic." Eclipsa gave a smile and nod, jumped and shifted. At first she looked at a griffon again, however the form was smaller, more streamlined and thin. A Hippogriff. The colors were the same as her Griffin form. "Nice."

“Oh a Hippogriff, nice.”

"Hmm… got it." Heart said. There was a quick flash. The Minotaur shifting into a pony form again. However, it wasn't. The form was Zebra. Black and white stripes with light blue eyes. They looked average, but their tail did end in the framilier blue. "Not as creative as I would like but eh, works."

“Sometimes you don’t need much.” King shrugged as he shifted into an anthro cat, a black furred manecoon specific cat to be specific wearing a neat duster coat and cowboy hat. “Would you believe me if I said that anthro cat people exist in Equestria?”

"Yeah. Eclipsa and I saw the movie."

“The movie’s fine...too bad the show only mentioned Tempest once and only added the Hippogriffs.”

"Don't you, ya know, have her in your family originally… with like a three year olds brain?" Heart asked.

"She should have gotten older by now but yes." King nodded.

Eclipsa pondered for a while. "Hmmm… got it." With a nod Eclipsa shifted again. Before King and Heart was now a massive purple ball if fluff with two horns on her head. Eclipsa the Yak. "Like?"

"Fluffy!" Heart declared, hopping onto Eclipsa's fluffy back. Once there they sunk in some way down then rested within the fluff.

King was already trying to hug the super fluffy yak. "You're so fluffy!"

"You two are so cute." Eclipsa giggled.

“And so are you.” King said happily.

"This has been fun." Heart said. "We should do more fun stuff like this."

“It is enjoyable.” King said honestly.

"Not much else we can really shift into." Eclipsa said, laying down as Heart and King cuddled up to her Yak form.

“So cuddles right now.” King said lovingly.

"For a bit… I have an idea for later~" Eclipsa the Yak said as her Zebra and Cat cuddled up with her.

"This is neat. Little different but neat." Heart said. Eclipsa planned for the. All to experience their races, first up, King would teach Eclipsa and Heart what it means to be and act like a Dire Wolf. Eclipsa's dire wolf form was colored a framilier mix of purple, white and blue while Heart was largely the basic dark blue with patches of dirty blond around their back, belly and tail.

”Alright you two, where do you want to start with learning how to be Dire Wolves?” King asked curiously.

"Dunno. You're the teacher here." Eclipsa said.

"I'm normally a Floof Noodle so, half dire wolf. I guess I at least have the general idea." Heart said. They were all Den Mother Dire Wolves, and King was quite pleased with the two's looks. "What did you first start learning when you became one?"

“Hunting in my feral form.” King answered happily. “Helps you learn the area, how to move, trusting your senses and a lot of other things. If you need another example, it worked with Jenny.”

“Hm. Maybe that then.” Eclipsa said. The trio were on the hunting worlds, King’s races world version. “So, what’s lesson one?”

"Lesson one is to just start running around and learning the lay of the land." King said while shifting into their feral form. "Exercise, get used to your new body, and you can see where things are."

Eclipsa and Heart shifted into feral forms also. King lead the trio through the Forrest. Eclipsa and Heart watched as King demonstrated how to sniff out the different prey in the area, how to hide and wait, pounce and general quick kill bite locations. Eclipsa's first kill was an elephant giraffe mix creature. Heart's was a striped Hippo beast.

The trio ran about, hunting and learning the basics of feral hunting. King felt happy to teach this. Eventually rain began and King had them all take place in a familiar cave, decorated in stories of old.

“God, I haven’t been to this cave in ages.” King said honestly while looking at the old stories painted on the cavern walls.

"Reminds me of the old caves the Ventrals made into hideouts." Heart said, looking around. "What do these stories say?"

“Well there are a lot of stories here, all of them very old.” King said while looking at all the stories. “Huh?” King started while moving over, looking at a specific story here. “I didn’t think this would be here…”

"What?" Eclipsa asked, she and Heart walking over to where King was seated. The painting showed a wolf, leaping from a world of horse looking figures, landing on a world of decay and poison, fighting sickly undead looking wolves, then howling as the decay was being replayed by green life. The two looked at King. "The hell did you do before Heart and I came around?"

“Well...I promised to save this world when Den taught me about my Dire Wolf heritage…” I said sheepishly. “You know, way back when there was Dire Wolf sized Murder Hornets that poisoned this world to hell, then I went back in time, met the greatest hunter of our race and gave him back his teeth that was my necklace before, and then we have this world now.”

"Huh…" Eclipsa and Heart said in unison.

"So, you must get all the bitches." Heart added with a laugh.

“I mean…” King looked a little sheepish and showed a list of all the new Dire Wolf spouses they got, and there was quite a bit. “I kind of do…”

That earned King a roaring laughter from Heart, and Eclipsa just gave King the smugest of smirks. "It's hard to believe you had such trouble with the ladies back on earth given how many throw themselves at you now." Eclipsa said that smugness never leaves her lips.

“Shut up.” King blushed brightly in embarrassment. “I’m sorry that, for some reason, when I got to Equestria women just flocked to me…”

"I feel your pain." Heart said, laughter dying down. "I mean, hell one Moment I arrive in a post apocalypse Equestria over run by Nobodies. One fight and a… ect later I wake up basically blanketed by women who were apparent survivors. Two of which was Celestia and Luna. Heh, after that the more I did to help the more new arrivals just… happened. I mean hell Chrysalis and I met when she tried to pull a Canterlot Wedding on me and I still married her."

“At least you started with Celestia and Chrysalis, I had to wait a full year just to hear why my Celestia only liked women, which it was mostly just her being immortal and having outlived so many of her husbands and children...so then when I stepped in with my immortality, she finally loosened up to being my wife...even though she was my wife because of some ancient laws because the actually smart version of the assassin that killed my parents knocked her, Chrysalis, and Rune up as well as herself...wow that sounds really weird.”

"Heh. At least your Celestia's talk to you often." Eclipsa said, giving a sigh. "After the Heartless attacks on my Equestria, when I was gone for all those times and such… she just quit. Tossed her crown out the window, burned her bedroom to ashes and just left. Luna didn't take over, didn't want to. So Blueblood finally grew up and cleaned up. He is doing well, and my Celestia lives in a shack In the middle of nowhere of a deep forest. She gardens, fishes but the times I've visited she's just distant and she rarely writes back letters."

“Sounds like we need to go visit her.” King said honestly.

"If Star, that's my Luna's new name, can't get through to her I kinda doubt you can."

“Weirder things have happened.” King said honestly.

"Maybe we can't… but someone might be able to nudge her." Heart offered.

The trio sat outside Celestia's shack, she was inside, talking with Eclipsa's Lyra, the therapist. They were back to their normal forms. Eclipsa had to admit, Celestia sure did a lot since last they were here. The shack was now larger, four rooms over the original one and her garden was twice the size now. "She sure kept busy." Eclipsa said, looking around.

“Gotta keep busy when you’re by yourself honestly.” King pointed out.

"My inner Minecrafter is envious." Heart pouted.

“Why do you say that?” King asked curiously.

"My houses in that game are always bland looking. Plus my gardens while they grow are just ugly."

"I typically just play creative." Eclipsa admitted.

“I don’t play Minecraft.” King said. “Terraria is better.”

That earned a look from Eclipsa and Heart. "Blasphemy." Heart said, try and Eclipsa scooting away from King a few feet.

“Really?” King frowned.

"Yup." The two said, giving a laugh.

“Whatever you two say.” King rolled their eyes.

The hours passed and Heart played their switch, Eclipsa watched YouTube and King was taking a nap. Finally the door opened and Lyra walked out. "Well, that was something."

“What’s the verdict doc?” King yawned and rubbed some sleep out of there eyes.

"In short, she ruled for a thousand years of peace, had complete and total control of her kingdom and lifetimes of experience to know how to handle problems as they come. The arrival of the Heartless, the damage they did and then the multiverse getting thrown in, she had a mental breakdown. A thousand years of peace and controle and suddenly beings and monsters from other worlds, other realities was like taking a sledge hammer to her world of wet paper."

"So… what, she is just in shock and doesn't want to admit it?" Heart asked.

"More like she can't handle the larger, grander reality she finds herself living in. In her lifetime she has learned basically everything her world has to offer and now she suddenly finds herself knowing barely a percent of a tenth of a percent of how reality actually is."

“Well...she has people here who can help her.” King said honestly.

"And therein lies the issue as well. King, Heart, you two are the pure embodiment of what Celestia can't handle. From another world and completely unknown and Alien. Eclipse here is much the same, or rather, Eclipsa. She knows them but she feels them alien now too, their name, gender, very species has changed to such a radical degree she can't process it all properly without having a panic attack. Yes she must learn to process and adapt to how reality is but it needs to be done at an extremely slow pace less she relapse and becomes worse."

"So basically we start off with the base forms she would see Eclipse, then me after a while, then Heart, and start making changes from there?"

"Pony then?" Heart asked.

"That would be best yes. She can handle familier at the moment, pony, griffon, yak, zebra and minotaur. Something she can process, something she knows. Ease into the new. If she talks, start off with things she will know for sure."

"So talk about old stories then?" Eclipsa asked.

"That would be best, yes." Lyra confirmed.

"Thanks doc." Heart said.

"So long as you pay my bill for this It's nothing." Lyra said simply, tapping her Assistant and vanished in a warp of light.

"Alrighty then. This should be simple enough." King said honestly.

"Since when is anything we do simple?" Heart asked.

“There have been a few things that have been simple.” King said. “The shopping trips for one.”

"You mean the one where you became an icon for casual vore?"

“Still don’t know how that connection was even made.” King frowned.

"You stuffed your face with enough hot and glutton to make any Naga proud of envious." Eclipsa said bluntly.

"Plus after I shifted into a Floof Noodle a lot of rumors and theories went around about you possibly having a greater liking to snakes/Nagas so… add the internet into that and there are a handful of options with the biggest being the outcome." Heart added.

King rubbed their temples. “Sometimes people are dumb…”

"Regardless." Eclipsa said, shifting back to that male pony form they once mained oh so long ago. "I'll go in first, see if she would be up for meeting you two, probably one at a time, and if need be when I say enter as a pony, be a pony, got it?"

"Crystal." Heart said.

“So we go with the pony forms we did before?” King inquired.

"That works fine." Eclipsa said, taking a deep breath before entering. Heart and King were left alone together.

"So, how goes things? I saw that… thing with Kite." Heart said.

“When I find Vincent here I’m going to make him regret ever being born.” King growled

"Doubtful." Heart sighed. "I've seen people like him… Grandpa, my brother… he was playing with you, and not even hiding it. And that's concerning."

“I was a lot weaker as Kite, but with me right now…” King started. “But he knows something about Eclipsa...and how she made that weird metal.”

"A metal that can hurt and wound but not kill a Deathless. Then that mystery badass that showed up. God I want that armor."

“I’m still going to murder Vincent.” King said. “No wait, murder is too good for him. I’m going to make him wish I was that merciful.”

"Can you?" Heart asked. They coiled themselves up in a way that let them slide into their own coiled body, stopping as their arms reached their self wrapped body and rested on themselves like a table. "Can he even die himself?"

“Death is too easy for that bastard.” King said simply.

"More like impossible." Heart sighed, pondering. "Still… who was that masked badass in the coolest armor ever…"

“Don’t suck their dick too hard there Heart.” King said honestly. “But I have no idea, all I know is that they were strong enough to fight Vincent...and the portal they opened was a combination of all the portal spells we know and...it made me feel better for some reason.”

That made Heart raise an eyebrow. "A combination?"

“It looked like it was a mixture of every DT we know.” King said honestly.

"Huh.. interesting. Maybe another Cript? We are the stupidly strong types." Heart sighed.

“I...kind of doubt it.” King said honestly.

"How so? How many beings in existence can actually fight that bastard on his level?"

“No idea, I haven’t fought him at full strength.” King said honestly.

"Hmm… did they say anything?"

“Nope, not a single thing.” King said honestly.

"Huh… then it's either someone who knows us, or someone we know."

“Most likely the former than the later.” King said simply.

"Hmm… Cript recovered that one bullet from Cane Island. The first shot that blew Vincent's arm off. The metal is… different from the one Eclipsa made. It's… stronger."

“And how that’s possible, we’ll never know.” King sighed out.

"Sadly. When Lord looked at it's coding he… either had a stroke or had an orgasm. Cript still can't tell and Lord is still twitching."

“I’m concerned.” King started nervously.

"So's Cript. In any case the baseline for how the Alk...Alik… fuck the Immortal hurting metal, it's similar in effect but more potent. He also found the bullet cases and they seem to be a 45 rifle round. The gun though, he thinks it was made from the same metal as the bullet."

“Cause that makes sense.” King sighed out. “The moment we...at least I, thought things were getting figured out, just throw a massive ass monkey wrench into it…”

"At least things are getting figured out… Peccator has an idea for making a proper, steady supply of Bravery based Nothingness."

“And how the one delete kid I saved is like ‘muh honor and pride’, as when I brought back his parents they both snapped at him saying they were all on death row now.”

"Sometimes culture and tradition are just unshakable." Heart sighed. "He wants to recreate how Belief became the fire for Nothingness. Apparently, there's the spark, the heart is kindling, and the body is the wood, the soul then keeps the body from burning away."

“So I just set myself on fire here?” King asked.

"It's not that simple, and he doesn't want you to be the new fire. He still needs to discover just how the spark, well, sparks. Besides, I don't want you too either."

“Are you sure?” King asked. “It would make me strong enough to end this all.”

"You'd also be stuck in your kilm like the current Nothingness Belief fuel and we'd have to likely find both a new king of nothingness and the new Bravery Nothingness you'd be making just so we can teach them both to explore the pits of their power to find you and Belief. I mean it's only been how long for Belief now? Few cycles? You wanna wait that long?"

“Well when you say it like that.” King said honestly.

"Whatever Peccator has planned I know I… probably won't like. You either. But if anyone can do it it's him. It's why Core is working so close with him, keep an eye on them. Out of all my parts… Peccator I don't trust. Respect, yes. Care for? Yeah… but I don't trust them."

“The only reason why I haven’t beaten the shit out of him for literally starting half of this garbage is because he’s necessary to fix all this crap.” King frowned.

"It's ironic really. So, how are your council members doing?"

“They are all doing fine.” King said honestly. “I should double check on them though...like I should have double checked on John and the Foretellers ages ago…”

"John is in the void Training. Hollow's work it seems… " Heart said.

“And the Foretellers?” King asked.

"..." Heart didn't answer.

“What’s wrong?” King asked worriedly.

"Nothing." Heart dismissed. "Not really sure what they are up to. On a secondary note, Drezke killed Spoiled."

"Aw, I wanted to do it." King frowned. "But are you sure it's nothing?"

"Yes." Heart said, sighing in annoyance. "It's just bad memories."

“Bad memories?” King asked curiously.

"Just don't." Heart said.

“Well...if you say so.” King said nervously, hoping nothing bad happened between Heart and the Foretellers.

With the trio having talked with Celestia, King and Heart in their pony forms, they left her. Thankfully she was in good spirits at the end of it. Without plans or a thought the trio went home, sitting atop the tallest towers balcony of their home. "This view is amazing." Eclipsa said, the world curving could be seen along with the entirety of their kingdom reaching that curve and beyond for quite the distance still.

“I wish it could last…” King sighed out.

"Hm?" Heart asked.

“One of the things Vincent told me when he...thoroughly kicked my ass, was that this isn’t going to last, even if he were to sit back and do nothing…” King grumbled.

"That's… odd." Heart said.

"Well, then let's make it." Eclipsa said. "Lord and Cript are looking for ways to expand the storage drive, soon, we can make it last forever."

“The only way I can see it is that promise I made to Truth a while ago...getting rid of him, and that massive machine we’re stuck in.” King sighed out. “And hell if I know how to break that...cause you can’t just get rid of something and expect everything to be fine afterwards…”

"Even if you do? What then? Can you even touch Truth let alone the Machine?" Heart asked. "And if you destroy it how do you know we all won't just die? We all kinda exist because of it."

“That’s why I’m going to try and find who made this.” King said. “Cause Truth was hooked up to this thing from what I saw...but who hooked Truth up to it, and how was it made? Was it just ‘there’ when things started or was it made?”

"If there is a builder, what are the odds they are even alive? If the admins could die out, near extinction, maybe they did too."

“Admins die out because they're also stuck here.” King started. “It’s like an internet forum, if the forum ‘dies’ the Admins would also ‘die’ since there’s nothing there to be an Admin of.”

"I feel like there is a better metaphor." Eclipsa said with a sigh. "Still, we will save this place."

“I know we will.” King said. “I promised, and I’ll be damned if I don’t make it a reality.”

"That's the goal but not a clue how to reach it. Heh, what else is new." Heart said.

“Pretty much.” King sighed out. “So I was thinking of doing another Admin Game after I’m done being Kite.” King said honestly.

"Cool. What's the world?" Eclipsa asked.

“Either of you heard of the show Chaotic?” King asked curiously.

"I remember a bit of it. Not too much really." Heart said.

"Wasn't that like… Pokemon meets Digimon?" Eclipsa asked.

“Not really.” King said. “It’s more like...if you mixed Yugioh with Digimon Part 4, where you collect cards in a different world, and then you turn into the creatures and ‘be’ them for play fights.”

"And you lost me." Heart said, stretching.

“Basically that season, besides having some pretty weird religious symbolism, is basically ‘here’s the season where the protagonists turn into the digimon’.” King said simply.

"So… us?" Heart asked with a laugh.

“Except with a digivice and no shapeshifting powers.” King said honestly.

"Have you been to those worlds by the way?" Heart asked. "Digimon I mean."

“Sadly no, I wanted to go with the Foretellers to do some crossover adventure, but things kept cropping up.” King sighed out.

"Maybe soon." Eclipsa said.

"So, what now?" Heart asked. "I mean, what should we do now? We still have a lot of free time given, well, Starfish clones and such."

“Fuck if I know…” King sighed out. “There’s a whole lot to do...but not sure what to do first.”

"Well, we are having fun aren't we?" Eclipsa asked.

"Well, yeah." Heart said.

“And that’s what matters right?” King asked.

"Actually I was going to say let's keep having fun." Eclipsa said with a smile. "Now, I don't know about you two but I'm in the mood for some closed doors type fun."

“Cause of course you would.” King chuckled.

"You gonna argue?"

“Never.” King said simply.

"Alright, well if this is gonna be a three way then how's this gonna go down?" Heart asked.

"I was thinking of starting off with hand and blowjobs, and from there I just want to look like a glazed doughnut when it's over." Eclipsa said.

"Sounds about right." Heart shrugged.

“Well...I haven’t heard it like that before.” King said honestly.

"She's been on the internet a lot." Heart said as Eclipsa, in one swift well practiced motion removed her top, soft white milk jugs bouncing in their newfound freedom.

"Pants. Off. Now." Eclipsa said.

King started to take off their pants. “Alright my horny naga.”

Since Heart didn't wear pants, being a Floof Noodle, they just brought out their member, Hearts and King's members both growing erected. Eclipsa lowered herself between the two, taking a cock in each hand. At her touch they grew larger instantly. "Daw, that's it, get nice and large for mama~" She cooed to the sex organs.

The two moaned happily as Eclipsa stroked their members to full mast. "Me first?" King asked.

Eclipsa obliged, giving gentle kisses to King's tip. The gentle kisses became sloppy, and her long tongue soon coated King's cock in saliva as she then opened wide. King felt his member vanish into Eclipsa's greedy maw, reaching the entrance to her throat and entering that too. The outside of Eclipsa's throat bulged noticeably, her moans vibrating King's member between it's tip and midsection when her lips met his base.

"Your throat is Divine Eclipsa." King said as he patted Eclipsa's head.

"Hey don't leave me out of this." Heart said. They slithered over and under Eclipsa and King. Heart thrust their own member between Eclipsa's heavenly chest mounds. Eclipsa used her hands now to squeeze them around Heart's cock. "That's better~"

"Enjoy the view down there?" King asked with a smile.

"Best view in the house." Heart said, raising a hand to grab King's rear. "I don't know what's softer, Eclipsa's breasts or your ass."

"That's a good question. Maybe we can see with a little competition one of these days?"

"I'm sure Eclipsa won't mind, right?" Heart asked the Naga, who's only response was a wet slurping as she bobbed up and down King's cock, keeping Heart's own firm between her breasts as she rubbed it with her milk makers.

“I’m sure Eclipsa wouldn’t mind.” King moaned happily. “But after I’m done with Eclipsa’s throat, I want her tits next.”

“Fine by me, I think next I’m gonna try this out.” Heart said, giving King’s rear a squeeze. “Been a while since I slithered between these mountains.”

“That was a horrible pun.” King said, trying to sound annoyed at the joke, but moaned as Heart gripped their rear. “I expect a blowjob as payment.”

“Sure, I don’t mind. Just make sure I get under this pretty tail of yours.” Heart said, trailing their finger around King’s tail base.

King almost purred at the sensation. With a thrust and a grunt they began slamming the base of their cock into Eclipsa’s lips. Wet sloppy slurps echoed about as Eclipsa worked her breasts on Heart’s member, and Heart kept King’s rear massaged and held.

The trio kept the almost Twister looking act of set up for several minutes before Heart broke away from Eclipsa’s breasts, and slithered up against and behind King, unzipping their top, taking it off and nearly ripping their bra off as they grabbed their breasts. “Care for a little… backdoor fun~” Heart whispered into King’s ear, their member’s tip pressed right under King’s tail.

“Blowjob… and anal as repayment.” King said softly.

“Naga, no ass.”

“Shift yourself one.” King said, with a yip they stiffened a bit as Heart entered under their tail, right in the backdoor. “Oooh~ Been a while since I took it up there.”

“Not your normal cup of tea?” Heart asked, biting softly on King’s ear. Slowly they pulled half way out, then slowly entered back into the base.

“Well, not often but yeah it’s fun. Wish you just used some lube first…”

“Pre cum doesn’t count?”

“Wasn’t enough…”

“Heh, give it a bit. Once a load gets blown that will be plenty lube~”

With slowly increasing vigor, Heart rammed up inside King’s rear, making their ass bounce with each impact as King kept humping down Eclipsa’s throat. Minutes piled up into an hour, that went on to several. Small loads of precum offloaded but true climax had yet to arrive. This did not bother the trio in the slightest in the extensive lovemaking.

The sun set into the night sky, the moon high above as the three lovers kept at it under the balcony’s porch light. Finally with the moon at it’s peak, King climaxed, pumping wave after wave into Eclipsa’s needy throat. As if on cue, Heart gave a final slam into King’s now stretched and lose rear, offloading a continues wave of cum inside King’s rear. The sensation made King cum harder inside Eclipsa’s throat, the naga not resisting and enjoying every drop slide down inside her.

In unison the trio slid off and out of each other, and moved into new position. Eclipsa layed on their back, King's cock slipping between her breasts now as Heart slid down and over to Eclipsa's neithers, under her erected member and to her soaked withers. Slipping their tongue out Heart began licking around the edges of Eclipsa's vaginal lips, and King began thrust between her breasts.

Eclipsa moaned blissfully as the sensations flooded her brain with pleasure. Heart began licking deeper inside Eclipsa, tracing around her inner walls and tapping the entrance of her womb.

King groped and squeezed Eclipsa's breasts, rubbing them against their cock in fast motion rubbing. King, still slightly weak from the recent climax felt the pressure building again, and Eclipsa was already hitting climax as Heart licked and drank from her withers. As King rubbed Eclipsa's breasts against their shaft, they became humping between the soft mounds pressure building to faster than before. Pre began leaking out onto Eclipsa's neck and chin, the Naga using her tongue to lick the jizz up greedily, giving the thrusting cock before her a lick as well.

The licks from Eclipsa after several more humps made King release, hot sticky jizz covering the Naga face, the thick waves soaking her coat into her mane and wide open mouth. King got up, leaving Eclipsa to her cum covered euphoria as they looked over to Heart. "Time for the Anal and Blowjob." King said, panting a bit as they cast a spell to regain their stamina.

"Still don't have an anus~" Heart said, lips soaked in Eclipsa's vaginal cum.

"And I said you can shift yourself one." King said, about to stand before Heart's tail pulled them to lay on their back.

"How's about I blow you then let you take a nap inside~"

King rolled their eyes. "Fine, but only cause it's stupid comfy in there." King said, not admitting they were getting tired. Sleep wasn't needed but it was enjoyed.

"Good, cause this will be a fun one. Oh my pet~" Heart purred, Eclipsa getting up immediately. "I'm going to be blowing King now, care to please their cooch and balls?"

"Yes master!" Eclipsa said happily, slipping under King's testicles between there legs, her expert tongue treating the dire wolf's baby batter factories while her lips please King's withers.

"Huuugh. That pet play stuff is Kinda weird to me…" King said, Enjoying Eclipsa's expert lip and tongue work.

"Maybe to you, but we have our kinks, you have yours, and every so often we try something new." Heart said, laying belly down on Eclipsa, who laid on her back to please King. Heart looked at King's wet, still hard member. They gave the tip a kiss, the middle, the base, and gave it a wet sloppy lick from base to tip. "If you ever wanna try it you can be my master~"

"... Tempting." King huffed, crotch soaked as Heart kissed and licked the rod in a pattern of three kisses then a lick. Finally though Heart planted a kiss on the rods head, keeping the kiss there as their tongue licked the tunnel where cum flowed within their mouth, and finally began sliding down on it. The head was in, followed by the midsection til finally Heart's lips reached the base of King's cock, they could taste Eclipsa's spit on it, and gave it a lick.

King moaned blissfully, grabbing their own breasts and squeezing and grouping themselves tightly. Heart's mouth and throat were not like Eclipsa's. Where Eclipsa's was wet, tight and fitting Heart's was a bit larger, stretted to wrap around the appendage like a hug and was coated well enough to slide effortlessly down the maw into the middle of Heart's throat, where a bulge now formed.

Heart kept it there for a time, letting their tongue stroke up and down King's cock down their throat. After a minute of this tongue job Heart began to bob up and down with a fair pace, tongue still working along the mid section. King moaned in pure bliss, both lovers giving hearty mouth work on the dire wolves genitals. Eclipsa greedily drinking King's fluidsfrom one and Heart fucking to receive a sticky white drink out the other appendage.

Milk began leaking from King's breasts, squirting from the ones they grabbed and squeezed. Heat from their body was overwhelming ad they felt their whole body tighten for one final climax.

With a jerk King sat up, legs crossing to lock the two in place. Both King's sex organs climaxed hard. Eclipsa's mouth was soon flooded with the vaginal liquids of King's body as she drank greedily, and with hands keeping them down to the base Heart revived waved of sticky white spooge down their throat, some falling into their maw as they licked it and King's rod within the oral walls. When it was done King fell back on the floor hard. Breath heavy as a hot blush lit their dark blue fur red. "That was… wow."

A slurp, pop and small wave of extra physical euphoria covered King as Heart popped off the new limp and spent cock. "First time orgasm out of both?" Heart asked, licking their lips.

"No, but that just felt way better." King panted.

Eclipsa sat up weakly, her face drenched in vaginal cum. A smile on her lips. "That was nice…" She purred.

"Care for your naps now?" Heart asked.

"And cuddles." King said lovingly.

Heart gave a nod, grabbing King by the arms and began swallowing, once the dire wolf was in Eclipsa went down next. The Naga and the wolf cuddling inside Heart as Heart coiled up, cuddling the lump that was the two inside them. "Time to rest up." Heart sighed happily.

King's Free Time

King could be, and is, doing many things. Paperwork, meetings, training. They were a busy wolf, they knew this as did everyone else. So they took solis in the simple tasks in their life.

The photo shoot went as many others, dress up, pose, pose, smile, smile and pose, change dress, repeat. It was such a basic simple task that when they did it they took the time to either let their thoughts wander or think important tasks over, plan and sort out.

"And done!" Photo Finish declared, starting to pack up their camera while King went back to their dressing room.

Various dresses, outfits and costumes decorated the room, all of which King has worn for Photos, and a few they kept to wear for either social reasons or personal liking. They sat on their couch and sighed.

"Going from White Knight of Equis, to a fucking beauty queen…" King groaned.

The surrealness of it all once processed. King sighed, turning their TV on and watching whatever was on. There were a lot of documentaries. They sighed as they watched the show talking about one of the Pokemon Worlds. There was a knock then Rarity entered. "Hello King love." She said. "The shoots have been going well."

“As per usual.” King said simply. “But it feels so weird...going from being a hero of many many worlds...to having been turned into a beauty queen.”

"And who says you aren't still a hero for it?" Rarity asked as she took a seat on the couch next to me.

“A hero for being a beauty queen?” King asked. “I know I’m still a hero, I’ve been doing my damndest to do stuff like that.”

"Your image alone brings hope. Your smile gives many a reason to smile as well and the clothes you wear inspire those who see you in them to better respect your image."

“While that’s true…” King sighed out. “It doesn’t entirely feel like I’m doing much besides being a pretty face.”

"A pretty face can do wonders love, I should know." Rarity said, tossing her hair in a sexy manner. "The face of our kingdom is you, me, others who take the time but it helps with relationships. The people need to know we think about them and can be there for them. The Luna's have their dream patroles, myself and my reflections have the fashion lines, Heart the Scouts, Eclipsa the education and social services regarding the kingdom's youth. We all have something that let's the people know we work for them just as much as we rule them."

“Sounds about right.” King nodded. “I suppose...it’s just catching up to me where instead of being the ‘White Knight’...I’m taking all these photos and stuff like that.”

"Days that feel so far in the past." Rarity said with nostalgia in her voice. "To be honest I never really liked that name. Never quite felt right."

“Why is that?” King asked curiously.

"Felt too obvious." She said simply. "No real thought, felt more like a blunt statement over something creative and original."

“I mean, I didn’t come up with it, it just came with me being a hero.” King said honestly.

"It's what the papers published before anyone could even ask you. In any case, how have you been doing?"

“I’m fine.” The Den Mother said honestly. “Just same ol same ol...even as I’m trying to figure out something new in this wide world to help us…”

"No luck I take it?"

“Any leads I have are either long gone, dead ends, or just dead.” King sighed out. “Cript and Lord aren’t much help since they either might want to keep things hidden from me or even they don’t know what the hell is going on…” King sighed out. “Only thing I can think of is finding Null Jenny and trying to get something from her…”

"You can go visit her bar if you want to." Rarity said casually. "Floor 886, room 7p-99." I looked at her. "What? You didn't know?"

“Cause of course I wouldn’t know…” King sighed out.

"Do you even read the family news notices?"

“When do you think I have the time?” King deadpanned.

"Can't you make a Starfish Clone to do just that like most of us do?"

“I’m not allowed to because Lyra has only laxed it to seven at the moment and all of them are busy as shit.” King frowned, not sure why his ‘therapy’ hasn’t stopped yet.

"Hm. Well, in any case I wanted to ask you something."

“What do you need?” King inquired.

Rarity seemed to flush a bit, trying to find words. "Well… I've talked with… Kico and Russia and… others…"

“Just say what you need to Rarity.” King said gently.

"I…" She started, stopping to flush a bit before speaking again. "I want to know what it's like… to be a fusion."

King chuckled warmly as they got up and gently lowered a hand to the Mare. “May I have this dance?”

"King I…" She said. "I want to… I really do but… I'm scared." She admitted, head hung low.

“Come on.” King said while gently taking her hand and pulling her into a waltz pose. “It just takes one step forward.”

"I… no!" She jumped back, making the wolf frown. "I want to… I really do but… it scares me. To become… someone else, not be me. Kico, Russia, Symbi. They all say it's like they just appeared. The people who make them up, they said it's like remembering people they knew, people they met but, they were never there and once they existed they are… who they are now, like the people who make them were just memories. It's silly but… it scares me. It sounds like dying."

“As someone who’s done it like...five plus times, it’s not like dying.” King said softly. “It’s…” King thought for a moment. “It’s like giving life to a child, one that is a wonderful combination of the two parents along with their own quirks.”

"I know that but… I'm not like you or the others King. I don't fight, I'm not brave… not like other versions of me." She said, taking a seat on the couch. "When Yellow Core, Unum, was in my house… I couldn't move. I was just… paralyzed. I swore I was going to die. I moved in with you and the others because I was scared, I felt safe near you, Twilight and Luna, people who could fight… Heart's version of me isn't a Keyblade master but knows how to swing her blade enough to take down monsters. When we left for that 'training' I was so against it I nearly ran to my parents house. Eclipsa's version of me became a surrogate mother and died in childbirth… and I… I just hide behind you all, so scared." She admitted, tears flowing free.

King picked her up again and hugged her. “It’s alright Rarity….I understand.” The dire wolf said softly.

"I hate feeling so scared all the time." Rarity said, hugging King back. "You're so brave, I just want to feel that bravery even for a little while… but can I really feel brave when it's not me?"

“Yes, yes you can.” King said gently. “All it takes is one step forward.”

"I…" Rarity said, shakily taking a single step to the side. "First step." She said.

King took a gentle step with her. "First step."

The two began an abnormal waltz of sorts, far less refined than the real thing, but it was enough. When a glow began to emerge from the two Rarity nearly broke the dance, only kept moving by following King who was the lead, and keeping constant eye contact to avoid her fears.

"Everything will be alright Rarity." King said lovingly as they leaned down and kissed the wonderful unicorn.

As Rarity kissed back, King took in her scent. Lavender soap. Rose shampoo. Obsession perfume. Passed all that was the raw scent of Rarity, unique. While others had similar scents hers was unique to her as they all had something unique to their scents. Along her scent King took whiff of a scent he knew well, they smelled of themselves all the time, in the old days and now. Fear.

The smell was like a pungent spur scent, while faint it did fowl the lovely mare. It seemed there were other problems aside from what showed itself.

I felt… interesting. Looking into the mirror, I looked as white as Rarity, wolf like King with hair that was a mix of blue and purple. Tail was the same too. Having multiple breasts was both strange and familiar to me.

My ears were pony like but body was I can easily pass as a wolf. My eyes were almost Violet purple.

“Good lord!” I gasped while looking at myself in the mirror. “That top with those pants? Whoever thought of fusion clothes needs to get their eyes checked.” I huffed, even though that to others' objective viewpoint my clothes fit rather well with my form and color scheme, but something about it just felt off to me the more I looked at it. “But it does look nice...maybe some alterations...hmm…”

There was a knock at the door. "Ten minutes til next shoot Royal King." A studio worker said.

“Oh yeah…” I muttered. “Well...I suppose this would be a good debut for me.”

Looking around I wondered what to wear… hmm oh. I have a horn. Interesting… perhaps something combat ready and stylish? As I thought about, a literal light bulb appeared above my head. “Idea~!” I sang out in perfect tune as I started to work my magic.

I must admit, Kico and I would get along swimmingly. I'll have to meet the dear later on. “So many people to meet, so little time.” I sighed out a little dramatically as I started making the stylish and combat ready. “Hmm...maybe if it could switch between the two? Ooh, that sounds amazing.”

Scissors, thread, metal, some gems and enchantments. Accessories… hmm, what to use? Should I have any?

“Hmm...would accessories clash with the outfit?” I wondered, only to snap my fingers. “I know.” I started as I brought out two wonderful and stylish bracelets that I started to enchant, one with a carving of a shield and the other with a sword. “Fashionable, and sneaky.”

After a time passes the dress/armor is done. Adorning it my outfit was a lavender colored with silver accented chinese inspired outfit not unlike the one Chun Li wears, but less fabric in the shoulders and tassels, and more so in the formal attire without restricting movement, which is accentuated by the silver and gold bracelets that were attached. As I moved over and softly brushed up against a specific accent on the left hip the entire dress shifted into a more Knight like armor inspired by one of King’s favorite Yugioh Monsters, the Black Luster Soldier.

Keeping with the theme of purple and silver, the main armored body was a array of different shades of purple that made it look like it was coming out of the darkness in a lavender grove, the armor having very intricate decor on the armor that shifted around as if alive, which does help the fact the silver adornments are Nothingness Thorns that are apart of the armor, the sword being an extremely well made Persian style Scimitar with the family’s Crest adorned in the middle of the blade, and the shield was of similar quality, as it was a Kite Shield decorated with the family sigil and much much more.

As I exited the dress room the staff all looked at me, surprised and as I reached the set Photo Finish came up to me. "You. Who are you?"

"Me? Well… I'm Kity." I'm not even a cat! "One T." Damn it!

"Kity with one T… and you are a wolf… hmm… yes, such beauty, such elegance, and those clothes. You clearly know what catches the eyes of the audience. But tell me, where is my star King?"

“They...wanted to give me a chance at the spotlight.” I said, which is technically true.

"Hm, well then, give us a moment to change the set. I have just the backdrop for this outfit."

“Alright.” I nodded while changing my armor back into the wonderful dress. “Oh this is going to be so exciting.”

After several minutes the backdrop was changed. From an Autumn Forest to a mystic Forest flowing with bright starlight and various greens. "Alright, ready when you are Miss Kity."

“As ready as I’ll ever be.” I said warmly. “Do you want me to start in the dress or the armor if I may ask?”

"Either or will be fine darling."

“Alright.” I nodded as I walked over carefully through the mystic forest, wondering what I should do to look great for the photos.

Battle pose, basic pose, elegant pose?... Yes, a mix. Something elegant and powerful. As I gently moved down into a sieza, the traditional japanese way of sitting, I took a careful breath, a light starting to shine down at just the right angle as I rose up with conviction, springing forth my armor as I raised my shield up, ready to defend the Mystic Forest and its inhabitants.

"Yes, yes! Power, elegance, poise and confidence!" Photo said, her camera flashing seemingly a million times a second. "Show me what you can do!"

I thought for a moment about how to progress, which an idea came forth as I used my magic to produce a sudden rustling in the stages bushes, only for a monster to suddenly leap out and roar it’s challenge, myself standing at the ready like a fairy tale knight ready to defend the forest from the sudden intruder.

"Yes!" Photo shouted in glee, somehow making her camera flash faster than before. Stage staff either shrugged or watched in mild interest. That annoyed me. Damn arena based combat TV shows. I'll give them a show.

As the monster took a step forward, the stage seemed to wilt where it went, the creature growling before lunging at me, only for me to block it’s claws with my shield and stood strong, pushing it back as the stage grew more life behind me. I took a step forward and raised my sword straight at the monster, daring it to charge forward again.

That gained more of an audience, Photo Finish was gonna run out of space at her current rate… maybe? The beast lunged, trying to side pounce the sword.

I sidestepped the pounce and slashed into the beast's side with grace and power. “You can’t stop me, foul beast!” I declared to the monster.

As I worked to put on a well looking show I let some code work onto the background, shifting the room itself into the Forest the background displayed. The grass, trees, wind, it all came forth as I let this fight grow bigger and larger on scale, keeping the staff at a safe distance behind a clear barrier just for safety. For effect I ran code to the beast, morphing it so the thing now glowed as it's legs and paws burned with a blue/black fire.

”I’m sure this will get everyone’s full attention.” I thought to myself happily as I swung my blade down at the beast again.

It took the hit, roaring at me as it now breathed fire. I raised my Shield in defense, the flames parting all around me. Once the flame died I thrusted my blade forwards, the beast bit the tip but I pushed further, til the hilt was at its teeth. I cut into something there. It roared again, pulling my weapon from it's maw. It now bled from the maw, looking at me with primal rage. This beast can take hits. What did I even summon?

I did a quick scan on the thing, wondering if I might have gone a tad bit overboard. ”Okay...so what the hell are you?”

Scanning. Scan complete.

Race: Akudagury Manticore
Dungeon Rank: 4
Weakness: N/A

This Evolved Manticore race once would hunt fallen angels for the armies of heaven, but we're banished to Purgatory for defying their heavenly masters. They can live up to several thousand years and are often dungeon Minibosses, typically in packs of three or five.

“That’s...good to know…” I started nervously, a tad worried that I might have overdone it.

The beast let out a other roar. Finally opening it's eagle like wings. The feathers seemed to end in thin golden outlines as it flapped, and thousands of high speed razor sharp feathers were blasted right at me.

I raised my shield and added magic to increase the shields range as I blocked the razor sharp feathers. “You...aren’t a beast…” I started gently. “Can you understand me?”

It didn't respond, looking at me for a time before roaring again. With a flap it closed the distance and I finally saw its tail. Not that of a basic Manticore, this tail ended in a quad curved bladder mace that slammed into my Shield and skidded me back ten feet or so. It was at that I felt something sturr in me… something I received from Rarity… fear.

I tried to keep my fear away, not wanting to be scared and be ready for this. “You weren’t always like this were you? I can imagine your fur was a beautiful white and gold…” I said to the ancient manticore, trying not to let fear take control of me.

It roared again, trying to claw at my Shield while spinning to tail bash it out of my grip. Think, how would Fluttershy deal with a wild beast… I can think of two, both authoritative. Her stare, which I doubt I have or can pull off, and the other… display dominance. How to do that?

As it tried to stab me with it’s stinger again, I got an idea as I dodged it and grabbed it’s tail. “No.” I started as I moved on top of it before it could react. “None of that.” I started as I grabbed the rest of its tail and broke it over my knee. “Shame on you.” I scolded.

It roared in pain, and tried to get me off itself.

I let go of it’s tail and grabbed onto it’s mane. “Alright, I’ve heard of bull riding and not manticore riding, so let’s try this out.” I started while holding onto it tightly as it thrashed about trying to knock me off.

It kicked and jumped, flew and twisted with speed and force that would toss aside the average or even exceptional person.

“You won’t knock me down!” I declared, holding on tightly and making sure I didn’t fall off. “No matter what you do, I will not be knocked down!”

It roared again, trying to breath fire over it's back at me to no avail. Finally it gave one final roar as it began flying high into the air.

“Whoa!” I yelped at how fast we started flying. “Fast aren’t ya?”

As we flew high into the sky, soon the blue and the clouds were behind us, looking back I saw that Forrest and…

Thud.

Crack.

The beast hit the limit of this mini reality I made… and began falling. Unconscious as blood leaked from it's broken nose and forehead.

“Uh oh…” I muttered worriedly. “Why did I forget wings on this thing?” I panicked, holding the beast and trying to think of something as I felt scared of the sudden fall.

I needed to think fast… think… I got it. Carefully, I placed a hand to it's cheek, and leaned into its ear, and spoke to it. “Please, you need to wake up.” I said softly as my outfit changed into its dress form. “Please, don’t fall again.”

The beast shook, seemed to stutter in its movements then opened its eyes wide as it spun around, and opened its wings to break and glide high above this mini world I made.

“I...think I might have overdid it…” I said sheepishly, looking around at the beautiful forest as I gently pet the angelic manticore.

It still seemed to growl at my touch, but stopped after a bit and just flew. After a few minutes it landed where we began fighting. "Yes!" Photo yelled, her camera was…. Was it flashing still, I can't tell it looks more like a flashlight right now. "Passion! Power, Grace and beauty tamed the beast! I want more!"

New Skill Tree Branch Acquired.

Beast Tamer.

“Hmm...that’s interesting.” She said while starting to check the skill tree and put all my points into what I need.

The rest of the day my new pet, I named them Tulip. They are… also a herm? Surprising.

When it was over I got my own room now, and met the first person aside from the photo shoot people. Heart. "So… Kity?" Heart asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes, I’m Kity…” I started. “It was a quick name decision, please don’t get on my back about it.” I said sheepishly.

"I'd like to have you on my back but I would like to get to know you before we reach that point." Heart said. "So, tell me. Who is Kity and what can you offer or show?"

“I am the fusion of King and his original Rarity.” I started. “I have all the fashion sense and grace of Rarity, with the strength and purpose of King.” I started while gently petting Tulip. “I’m also the one that introduced beast tamer into this family...somehow, you’d think King would have done it already.”

"Or Fluttershy." Heart offered. "Apparently though that skill tree is called Animal Alliance."

For some reason… looking at Heart triggered some fear… why? Why would Rarity… Heart was there, his armor… and… and a fear of snakes too, yeesh she has issues… it's bad when I can point that out about one of my halves? Actually… huh, she's never even talked to Heart. His Rarity yeah but not to Heart directly.

“So what brings you here today Heart?” I inquired.

"When you came into existence and got a room I was assigned to it. Ya know, two people per room. I actually signed up to meet all newcomers."

“That’s nice.” I nodded. “So...if you’re wondering why this is…” I sighed out. “Oh, should I?” I muttered worriedly, not sure if I should talk about this.

"Hm?" Heart asked.

“Apparently...King’s Rarity is...very scared.” I started. “Just bringing me here was already a challenge for her as is...the poor dear is so scared...even if she has such confidence and strength shes unwilling to notice…” I sighed out.

"Heh. A lot like my Rarity then." Heart said. "She was one of the ones who was killed then King and I managed to bring back. She was a wreck but her friends pulled her together. Next thing I knew she joined in the marriage. Not sure why, she never tells me."

“Probably because you’re some grounded center so she won’t fall apart.” I shrugged.

"Hell no, that was Twilight." Heart laughed. "The two were already a couple before… shit happened so since Twilight was married to me when she came back Rarity joined for Twilight. We grew to like then love one another over time. Between Twilight and I she learned how to use a Keyblade, never becoming a Master. She never cared for it. But those early days she was terrified, so were the others. For one, they were dead, and two, they'd have nightmares. Memories of being a Heartless or a Nobody. Took a lot of therapy, time. Sometimes they still remember but they don't hold it in anymore. They talk, let us know when they feel like they're slipping. That's the bravest thing when afraid, admitting it to others especially those you love."

“Which is why I’m here, cause Rarity wanted to take that first step forward with the love of her life.” I nodded.

"Awh. Sounds nice. So, what's it like being a fusion if I may ask? Russia, Kico and Cerex all make it sound both neat yet normal, which makes sense I guess."

“It’s a little hard to describe...but it’s nice.” I said honestly. “It helps break some boundaries when you are two people at once.”

"Nice. Should try that some time. I mean hell if Kexez has done it already then I should. In any case, is there anything you would like to do or try Kity?"

“There is so much I could do…” I said honestly. “What do you have in mind?”

"Well, you are a combination of King and Rarity so… how about make something. Brain and Kico often work on making armor and weapons. Maybe you can try that? Or maybe even work on designing a building or something?"

“Well…” I started. “Things do need some flair to them...and also because I’m a beast tamer…” I hummed while continuing to pet my angelic manticor without much thought.

"Hmm… how about a test?"

“What test do you have in mind?” I asked curiously.

Heart did something real fast on their assistant and on an empty wall grew a small hallway with one door to the right. They took my hand and led there, once at the door they opened it and inside was what looked like a pocket dimension. It was just a very large brick room with various tables, tools, raw ores and… a Keyblade forge? "Make a Keyblade." Heart said simply.

“Excuse me?” I asked nervously.

"You have an eye for designing, and the ability to make it beautiful and powerful. So, make a Keyblade."

“Um...alright.” I nodded, moving over and looking at all the materials. “Jeez...there is so much material here…” I muttered as I started to think of how to do this.

"Here." Heart said, handing me a sketchbook and pencil. "If it helps, think of what it should look like first and then think about what to use to make it." They said, slithering over to a corner and coiling themselves up to take a seat.

“Hmm…” I hummed while starting to sketch up something.

Taking a seat on a barrel and opening the sketchbook I began to think. Start off basic then… maybe… It needs to be beautiful, and powerful.

“Hmm…” I wondered, trying to think of some way to make it beautiful and powerful, drawing up design after design as I just kept thinking it over.

After a while I had something that looked good. With that done I began looking at the raw materials given. Good, looks like I have about everything… oh, hello… yes, yes this will do lovely.

I began taking all the ores I needed and then began working. First melt them down, mix the slag together til it's properly combined, now pour it out and hammer the general shape, head back into the forge, hammer the shape, chip and bend the metal as needed, reheat, repeat. The whole while Heart just watched, smiling and letting me work uninterrupted.

Finally once it was the proper shape I placed it into the Keyblade forge one more time, letting it not just heat up but absorb the light and darkness of the forge to fuel and power it. With a glow and a flash it was done.

I pulled it out. The grip was red, looking like thorns burning as the midsection shifting to a pale fog like color where small details of a Forest were seen til it shifted to a sky blue up the blade, and finally reaching the tip was the form of Tulip, wings outstretched in flight as the gates if heaven rested behind them.

“Perfect.” I said happily. “What do you think?”

"It's wonderful." Heart said, getting up and slithering up to me, and took the Keyblade in both hands. "It just needs a name." Heart said, leaning in as whispers to the weapon. "Glory Rising." There was a flash of blue from Heart's chest, then the Keyblade flashed blue too for a moment. They then handed it back to me.

I took it.

Glory Rising

Att: 700
Mag: 400
Def: 650

Ability: Primal Energy: Beast Based monsters take consistent critical damage.

“Such a wonderful name.” I said happily.

"It's strong, beautiful, and graceful. It's perfect for you Kity."

“Thank you.”

"I think you can really help in the public defense sector. Weapons and armor that are functional and stylish."

“As long as I can help those that need it.” I nodded. “And...step past my fear…”

"Helping Rarity along the way. You two are linked, I hope she gets better. I would like to talk to her someday."

“I’m sure she’d love to talk to you Heart.” I said warmly.

"In time. So, what next then?"

“Hmm…” I hummed while pulling out a laundry list of stuff that I could do.

"Heh. Now when did you write that?"

“When I was making my Keyblade, I used magic to write it all down.” I said honestly.

"Huh. Alrighty then, mind if we do something first beforehand?"

“What do you have in mind?” I asked curiously.

Heart held out a hand to me. "Care fora date?"

“I would love a date.” I said warmly, gently taking Hearts hand.

Heart and I sat across from one another. The table was good sized for beings of our height.

“So what is this place if I may ask?” I inquired.

"A world I made. Small, the place has just a restaurant, theater, park and a greater view of the galaxy home is at.”

“Sounds great.” I said warmly. “During my photoshoot I uh...kind of overdid it on making a mythical forest and… accidentally summoning a level four dungeon miniboss.”

"Heh. Wow, that's bad. But definitely quite the debut of your newfound existence."

“I know Photo sure enjoyed it.” I nodded.

"Hm, let's see how that magazine did." Heart said, a wave of a finger and a display from their Assistant popped in front of them. "Let's see… huh… ah, heh. Well, how about that. They made it a whole new line of Magazine. You are now the proud face of Royal Power Weekly." With a swip the display was now in front of me, my photo of myself riding Tulip above the small pond proud on display among smaller article titles.

“Oh dear, that was fast.” I said honestly.

"Sixteen point seven trillion copies sold every hour. Public loves a new royal."

“Damn.” I said in surprise. “Didn’t think it would be that many copies that fast.”

"You should never underestimate the speed of the public market." Heart said with a laugh as the screen vanished. "So, you've never eaten anything before either, so, got anything in mind. I imagine being a mix of pony and wolf makes you a proper omnivore so pure meat or pure veggie foods might taste different."

“Well, what food is available?” I asked curiously.

Looking at the menus for a time I saw there was… basically everything. I went with a fresh tuna fish salad and Heart took an Alfredo pasta. "So, taste different than normal? At least, by King's and Rarity's standards?"

“It does actually.” I said honestly.

Heart smiled. "I figured. When I shifted from human to Floof Noodle everything was… different. Meats tasted… richer, like I could suddenly know what the animal itself ate the day it was killed for food and sometimes back several days to a week before it died. It added a whole new… depth to tasting and veggies… it was like I could tell both the quality of the soil it grew in and the care it had. Even though I am only one third equine that was an interesting discovery. Food I didn't like the taste of, raw tomatoes, coconut, mackerel Pike fish all suddenly tasted better. Don't even get me started on my sense of smell or eye sight."

“Yeah, animal based beings tend to have a lot better senses than normal humans.” She said honestly.

"So true. That aside, I am Wondering, you should have a feral Form… how would that look?"

“I...have no idea.” I said nervously. “I can try to go into my feral form if you want.”

"Later. It's just a thought that popped into my head. After this should we head to the movie theater or the park?"

“Movie theater, I’d like to watch a movie after a long day.” I said simply.

"Romance, comedy, action, or do you have one in mind specifically?"

“Action would be nice.” I said simply.

"Got an action flick in mind?"

“Are there any new action movies out?” I asked curiously.

"Hmm… nothing I personally like."

“Got any favorites?” She asked curiously.

"Guardians of the Galaxy, more of a comedy but eh. Zombieland 2, also a comedy but it's good. The uh… Doom Movie."

“Guardians of the Galaxy sounds fun.” I said honestly.

"Disney did Marvel proud." Heart stated.

“And if memory serves, they fucked up Star Wars so hard they’re rebooting it.” I brought up.

"Eh, can't win them all. I mean hell their lines of Video Games have always been bad. Only reason Kingdom Hearts did well was because they lent the rights to Square for the game."

“What are you talking about?” I asked. “Disney didn’t lend any rights to the game to Square, they lent the rights to use the characters after a lot of talks.” I started, having King’s memories about random Kingdom Hearts trivia.

"Are the details that Important?"

“A bit yes.” I started.

"Eh, in any case, how are you feeling?"

“I’m feeling good.” I said warmly.

"That's good. I was kinda worried about this to be honest."

“Why would you be worried?” I asked curiously.

"Well, hmm…" Heart sighed. "Are you able to block your link to King for a bit?"

“Why is that?” I asked nervously. “Is there something wrong between you and King?”

"No, not at all it's just something I'm not ready to admit to them just yet. I know you are half them but still, you aren't."

“Well...I can try.” I said honestly. “I don’t make any promises if I can.”

"Alright." Heart said as I tried to block my link to King… who was currently panicking like mad… wow… wonder if I inherited that in my fusion? Kinda hope not….

“Well...I think I did it?” I said nervously. “King...or me, I don’t know, but either one of us is panicking a lot.”

"Heh well… it's about fusions… specifically when one like me fuses…"

“What do you mean?” I asked curiously.

"Well, you know I'm one of the C.R.I.P.T projects, right? Like Cript, just got lucky to at least have a name that isn't an acronym."

“Alright, I’m following you so far.” I started.

"Well, Cript told me something about when we fuse. The body becomes one, as expected… however… it's not the same as like you, you are your own person. For me, it's more like the body fuses but… it's a mental possession. I would be in control, and the other kind either sleeps or takes a back seat. I asked Cript if this could be avoided or undone. We'd need to remove the Override Ability I have. And to do that Is… not easy."

“Override ability?” I asked curiously.

"As the name says, any fusions or possessions I do I am in control and the host or person I fused with is out of the driver's seat, tied up, gagged, tossed into a bag in the back of the car and welded shut. Least til I leave or the fusion body is undone."

“So how do we fix it?” I asked honestly.

"And that's why I asked you to cut from King." Heart sighed. "This is my problem and I will fix it with Cript. I love King, but they don't need to involve themselves in every single problem that pops up. And you aren't King, part of them yes but not them. I can handle my own problems, and King has more than enough on their plate as is."

“You have no idea how much King has on his plate…” I sighed out.

"I do, I keep tabs on his to do list. It's why I asked you to block the link, and please block this info too, knowing that they would try and bypass the Bypass ability with sheer brute force of will, and fail, or look for some long lost Admin ability or artifact or something."

“You mean like he’s doing already?” I deadpanned. “Not for your issue, but just in general.”

"Yup." Heart said with a nod. "I love them, so much, but even with Starfish Clones you can only stretch yourself or do so much at a time."

“True.” I shrugged.

"Glad to see your Rarity evens out King's… paranoia. So, onto the desert?"

“Yes please.” I said happily. “But uh...it’s less ‘balancing out’...as more being paranoid about a lot more things that take up the immediate time.” I said sheepishly.

"Carefully, your King is showing." Heart laughed. "The only question I will ask is where to start. Baked, frosted, frozen, or fried?" Heart asked as every possible sweet in existence began floating around us.

“Yes.” I stated.

I was in heaven. Alive for a day and I experienced pure Divine bliss. "We are so lucky we don't gain weight. Unless wanted." Heart chuckled, taking a spoonful of ice cream. "Save for my Celestia, she embraced that extra weight and I'm happy to embrace that too."

“I’m pretty sure the only reason why half of us don’t gain weight is because we’re already great looking, as King said once before, we’re thicc with a capital damn.” I giggled as I ate more sweet red velvet cake.

"I thought it was Admin metabolism and Lyra's perverted touch." Heart chuckled. "I was, well, am with her in our own private room too. King ever been with her?"

“Yes, twice. Once when people told him ‘don’t do it’, and the second time was when...well remember when Lyra wasn’t around for maybe four hours after King was a little wonky?”

"Not really."

“Yeah well, King went back to Lyra after learning a bit more from Cript about Lyra and...well ‘gave it to her’ as it were.” I said while blushing brightly as the vivid memory came to me.

"Ah. Let me guess, still couldn't walk when it was done?"

“He was able to even though he couldn’t feel his legs.” I shrugged. “Maybe he’s just used to the numbness that he can move around fine.”

"Heh. She's nice, fun, keeps me trying new stuff. We're currently on bodily transformation."

“Oh my.” I blushed at the thought of it.

"Yeah whatever you are thinking, it's way, way worse." Heart laughed. "Fun though.

“Well...as long as you’re having fun I suppose.” I said honestly.

"We are. Next round?" Heart asked, the empty plates before them floating off the table and into a pile of plates reaching ten feet tall.

“Yes please.” I said happily.

Floating down in front of me was a large plate holding a cupcake the size of a small wedding cake, topped in multiple baked and caramelized fruits, whipped cream, and stuffed with a chocolate, vanilla and banana pudding as the chocolate cake from Matilda floated in front of Heart. "Kinda weird being able to eat so much and never get stuffed."

“Works for me.” I said happily.

"True, I have to admit, I've never had most to all of these treats."

“Must be wonderful to have all the time to eat these treats.” I said honestly.

"Heh, I mostly just spend my free time gaming."

“Sounds about right.” I said honestly. “King wishes he had free time…”

"They need to get a scheduler or something to remember to have free time."

“As he would put it, ‘not when I’m doing damn near everything’.” I rolled my eyes.

"Guess those sessions with Lyra are paying off."

Meanwhile, where King is now.

King sneezed into their arm out of nowhere. “Ugh...someone must be talking about me…”

They shook off the sneeze then went back to examining the festering gem before them. It was close but not quite the level of elemental gems natural to Cript's realm.

“It just needs one more push...but what is that push?” King frowned. “I know full well this works, and it should...hmm…”

As they looked the gem over, reviewed notes and analyzed data they sighed as suddenly a cold glass tapped their temple. "No luck yet partner?" One of the scientists, Blue Engineer, asked handing King a cold beer.

“Sadly.” King sighed out while taking the beer. “Thanks, but I know this should work, I didn’t just get knowledge of practically everything from Truth not to know how to do this simple thing.” King frowned.

"Maybe you just don't have the right conditions. These gems here grow everywhere from asteroids to the dirt under our boots, maybe they need the heat and pressure, like how coal turns to diamond."

“That...could work…” King started, bringing out Skysplitter and Eternal Flames. “Alright...let’s try it.” King muttered as he used their two weapons to start giving it pressure and heat.

The gem began glowing, first faint, then brighter as the gem glowed with the blue of electrinium. Soon the glow began to die down til it gave a steady glow of blue and small crackles of electricity. "We do have a machine that can do that, just for the next time." Engineer said, patting out the fires on his clothes.

“Alright...finally got one crystal down…” King muttered. ”Hey Cript, you owe me!” King called out with a smug grin.

And suddenly, King was buried in a large bag of Rem.

“Finally, I’m the one winning.” King chuckled.

Once all the money was deposited King handed the notes and such to Engineer. "I'll start up the mass production. So, what are you gonna do next boss?"

“Okay, so after I figure out how to mass produce Crystals…” King started to walk over to a door and opened it. “How do you feel about Constructs?” I said while revealing at least three different types of constructs in the middle of being made. “Cause I remembered some ideas an old friend of mine had for constructs, dozens of them...just tweaked to fit my style.”

"I've had bad Experiences with robots."

“Oh trust me, these constructs are nothing like the robots you fought back at the Gravel Pit.” King said while walking over to one of the unfinished golems, a half human half scorpion like creature as they started to fiddle with it’s parts.

"Yeah, they look worse." Engineer said, taking leave.

King rolled his eyes. “Whatever you say Engi.” King muttered as he pulled out it’s core and looking it over again, Runes he long since mastered on a ball of Nothingness Infused Dark Monofilament pulsating a soft glow of energy as he checked his Assistant on it’s power output.

More than enough to power a small planet. Now for weapons.

“Well this still isn’t enough, not by a goddamn long shot.” King grumbled. “It should give as much power as the sun in a day in a second...I know I can do that much.” King frowned while putting it back into the construct as he moved onto his weapons.
(Fun Fact:Energy of Sun/Day=8.3E41 Joules of energy)

King had to rework the core over and after some tinkering got the needed power output. The weapons systems seemed operational, and thankfully did not drain too heavily on the core's power.

“It should at least be enough to keep this thing going…” King muttered while putting on a few more pieces before attempting to turn on the Construct, hoping it will work.

The mechanical device activated, eyes glowing with a pale grey light as it began to look around.

“Hello.” King said to the hybrid construct. “What is your name?”

"Hedetet. Model number 1. OS version 0.00.1."

“Good so far…” King muttered while jotting down notes about it. “What is your primary purpose?”

"Primary Objective… Front Lines Defense."

“What is your secondary objective?” King asked

"Secondary Objective… Protect Love… Error, Love data not detected. How am I able to protect love if the target is not programmed in?"

“That’s because…” King looked at the construct in it’s glowing eyes. “Love is both simple, yet complicated...I want you to find something to Love, whether it be a planet, a pet, or a person when I fully set you free to do what you need to do.” King explained softly. “Do you understand Hedetet?”

"Processing command… processed. Activating Emotional Program subroutine. Activating Learning Subroutine. Activating Evolution subroutine. Activating Bodily organic hormonal mimicry Subroutine. All Subroutines are now active… Error, Learning Subroutine crash."

”Shit…” King sighed out while checking his Assistant to see where it crashed, ready to shut down Hedetet before it panicked.

"Primary Learning Subroutine Reinstall in process. Reinstall complete. Activating Learning Subroutine. Error, Learning Subroutine crash. Uninstalling primary Learning Subroutine, installing Secondary Learning Subroutine. Injecting."

“Excuse me what?” King frowned.

"Secondary Learning Subroutine Injected. Activating P.C. Learning Subroutine. Subroutine Active. All Subroutines now active."

“P.C? Please don’t tell me you’re learning stuff from the internet.” King frowned.

"P.C. Project Chimera Learning Subroutine. A small injection of Flux, raw chaos magic, allows for faster, more natural based learning much like organic beings."

“I don’t remember giving you that…” King frowned. “Discord, what did you do?” I called out, not knowing which Discord was involved but knowing it had to be one of them given this was raw chaos magic here.

"That was me, actually." Cript said, entering the lab.

King sighed out. “Alright, then what did you do?”

"Gave it a spark." Cript said. "When making life the hard way it takes a lot to keep the numbers in their head from believing all organics deserve to die." Cript said, patting King's machine's head. "Make the body as organic as you want, without the right spark, they'll all go down a bad road sooner or later."

“Even with the secondary objective I gave them?” King asked curiously.

"How long can they protect something when it's dead? How will they react when they find out it is dead? It's all a matter of making sure they can break that rule just as well as follow it."

King sighed out. “Alright...so given that you gave them what I can only assume is Discord’s blood at this point given what this ‘Flux’ is made out of...will they go berserk because of it?”

"No. Typically Flux creates an unknown random mutation or effect. I used code to program that chaos to make sure their mind can not just mimic how a living thing mind things, but will be a living mind. Controlled chaos."

“Alright.” King nodded. “Now...to just figure out how to mass produce this crap cause...each construct is going to save so many lives on the front line…”

"As well as have them once this is over." Cript added. "I didn't make all those AI rights laws for nothing."

“So...about the other two so far…” King said while showing the other two, one being a hybrid between a Balor and an ArchAngel, it’s core being the same Rune inscribed Dark Monofilament but instead of Nothingness infusing it it was Balance that was used for it, and lastly was a humanoid Naga with it’s Core being powered by Grey.

"Do I wanna know the drugs you took while designing that one." Cript asked, pointing at the Balor/Archangel mix.

“If you think that’s ‘taking drugs’ worthy of a mix I feel sorry for you.” King said honestly. “But you should be more focused on the cores I’ve gotten...about half way done with.”

Cript rolled their eyes. "Let me guess, unstable?"

“They are not unstable, far from it.” King said honestly. “Only problem I’m fully having is power output and maybe other things I’ll figure out along the way...cause when you literally want to have a power core that puts out more energy than the sun a day per second can be a little tricky.

"Hmm." Cript said, walking over and looking at the Balance Core. "You made a power core using Balance Energy… and didn't also put at least an artificial heart with it? Or make it Keyblade metal?"

“Now I thought that too…” King started while moving over and pulling out a metal box filled with a molten liquid. “This is Keyblade metal after I tried to do that. Yes I tried at least three times before. And the artificial heart? Well...now that you basically made these things more organic than not I might as well make one to help with that.”

Cript looked at the core over again. "Is… is that a C-Series Power regulation chip?"

“I’ve been trying to make something better, but considering how busy I am...” King sighed out, rubbing their temples as he kneeled down to open up a hidden mini fridge and pulled out a water bottle.

"I have an idea, may I?" Cript asked.

“Please…” King said as he took a swig of his water bottle.

Cript careful removed the chip, placing in on an empty table space before them and clapped their hands, starting a transmutation as the chip began changing. Design wise it was the same, but metal wise it changed from green and gold to silver and blue. When it was done Cript put the remade chip back in, the core lighting up like Christmas. "Huh, it worked."

“What did you do?” King asked curiously.

"C-Series isn't bad in it's design but metal wise it wasn't the best. I converted the circuit board into Nichofiloment, sorta Monofilaments cousin metal. Not as strong but an amazing power conductor and the main connectors and such I managed to make them out of the Mortality Metal. That's what I'm calling that Deathless hurting metal cause fuck if I can't pronounce that name right."

“Oh dear…” King muttered. “So thank you for fixing that.”

"It's experimental, so I'd like reports on how it behaves. So what's with the Naga one?"

“That’s…” King started. “Honestly, that’s just what it turned into after I started putting Grey into it. I don’t know why or how, before it was supposed to be more of a Velociraptor more than anything but then...it just started turning into that part way through adding Grey to the Core.”

"Must be reflecting Eclipsa." Cript said, looking it over. "So aside from the design changing itself, what's the issue?"

“I mean, besides the form changing…” King started nervously as he gently poked the core and a specific Rune appeared. “Know what this Rune is?” King asked Cript, the Rune being way too familiar to him.

"Hmm… it's a lot like something I saw once back in my travels." He replied.

“So the problem isn’t more so the technical side...it’s more in the energy side.” King said sheepishly. “See, when I was fiddling with Grey to try and help the Core out, two things happened, one was that it kept trying to make more and more even without being turned on...and the second…” King started as he let up the sealing rune just slightly as a strange whisper in an unknown language, even to Cript, enveloped the room. “That…” King started as he put the seal rune back on, causing the whispering to stop.

"Now that is interesting." Cript said, picking the core up instantly. "Who or what are you, I wonder?" He asked enthusiastically, worrying King some.

“I’m concerned on how enthusiastic you are about that...whatever the hell it is.” King said nervously. “It’s mostly that that’s been keeping me from turning it on...scared it might just either explode or do something worse.”

"Chicken shit." Cript said with a grin as they looked the runes and core over. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained."

The runes over the core was mostly similar to the other two cores...except for three. “Oh yeah, there’s also these three runes...I swear I did not make them but...when I was making it, they just kind of...popped into my head, and then disappeared just as quickly.”

"Influencing telepathic magic. Impressive… hmm… ooh! Yes, these runes are surpresion based. Heh, wow. These runes are strong. One of these might even lock me up for a day or so."

“Jesus damn.”

"The fading and reappearing seem to be a cycle based matrix. Each fade means it's broken and a new one immediately takes its place. Wow, a cycle based matrix with runes like this…" Cript smiled. "And how I wonder just did something as strong as you end up with this on your ass."

“No idea, all I know is that whatever I’m keeping locked up is not only stupidly ancient, but stupidly powerful as well…” King said, only for his eyes to widen. “Oh no…”

"Heh. It seems Eclipsa has some demons."

“And...wait.” King started. “Is Vincent dead? Like...actually truly dead? Cause I remember, or at least think I remember due to all the time line dreaming, that he did some timey wimey bullshit before?” King asked, thinking about his fight against him as Kite and how he just apparently had that Coffin and knew things about Eclipsa he didn’t know.

"His new life is dating your daughter, my reincarnated mom, so, I'd say so… even to me that sounded weird."

“So that doesn’t make much sense how he’s...still alive and kicking while also having that weird coffin thing…” King started, looking back at that sealing rune.

"Coffin?" Cript asked, still looking at the core.

“It was made out of that Mortality Metal...I fought him as Kite not too long ago and...he said that if a Deathless is put in there, everything about them stops and is put to sleep...and no one can sense you exist…” King explained worriedly, shuddering in fear at the memory of it.

"Well now, that doesn't sound good."

“It wasn’t a good experience that’s for sure…” King sighed out. “How the hell did you beat him?”

"Pure and simple bullfuckery." Cript said with a laugh. It left as quick as it came. In an instant King saw the the more serious Cript he rarely saw. "I was invented to be a monster, an unstoppable one man war machine of unlimited power and force. I just… showed him his own handy work was all."

"Good to know." King sighed. "I...know I was Kite so I was significantly weaker but damn…"

"Yeah. So, if this core is giving you issues you need an alternative then?"

"The actual power core works fine, I made three others and...they all did the same thing." King sighed out. "I'm mostly just scared of what I might unleash just based on that...cause of what Grey was meant to do and other things I don't know about."

"If you want to be safe you might wanna consider using an Elemental Crystal based on Grey. Eclipsa made them and they are pretty powerful. I've worked with them and they seem stable and don't fluctuate and display runes."

"It’s...worth a shot, even if I need to remake the entire core to make sure it doesn’t crack or break because of the energy output I want.”

"From the output the basic Grey Crystal… three should be more than enough." Cript thought aloud.

“For right now.” King said simply.

"Never underestimate a Crystal Generator, their output saved John's world after all."

“Of course.” King said simply. “And now that we can mass produce Crystals, it’ll be a whole lot easier.”

"So, anything else?"

“Hmm…” King thought for a moment. “Not...that I can fully think of…”

"Heh. Well if anything else is needed, ask." Cript said as the left.

King nodded as they looked back at the Grey Core, walking over and gently taking hold of it. “I hope I’m wrong…” King muttered worriedly, having a bad feeling about Grey and ‘Vincent’ here.

"You're a wolf! How am I faster than you?!" Luna asked. She and I were dressed in hot exercise attire as she and I were jogging along one of the many coastlines.

“Don’t mind me. Just keep going.” I said, keeping a steady pace and being behind Luna purposefully had its own wonderful, plump and bouncy bonus to it. “I’m keeping up, don’t worry.”

"You slowpoke." She huffed, jogging ahead. I had music playing in my left ear from a single wireless earbud as we ran along the shore. The smell of sea air brought both pleasant and painful memories, but I didn't let it haunt me as I ran along to keep my view of Luna. I watched as she stopped at a small stall, buying a drink before continuing and I figured I should get a drink too.

“One bottle of water please.” I said to the stall owner.

"Regular or sparkling?" They asked. They were fittingly enough, a jellyfish person. No real face but voice and small bulbs that act as eyes for their race.

“Regular.” I answered. “But how are you doing today?” I asked simply, nothing wrong with just asking a simple question.

"Good, and here. Fifteen rem." They said, taking out an icy cold two liters of water. I paid then ran to keep up with Luna.

As I ran, catching up to her I watched as she suddenly stopped, and looked over the rail. I ran up to her and looked too- Holy crap that's a massive ship. It was Navy, S.S. Free Water; was written on its side in massive white letters. "Look at that! All of Canterlot could have fit on it!" Luna said with an open mouth smile.

“Yeah, that’s some pretty good naval engineering for ya.” I said with a smile.

"I can't believe it's just for dealing with sea based monsters that spawn in. I forget the ocean has its own dungeons and lands to explore, above and below the water."

“To be perfectly honest, I think it would have been made even if there wasn’t any dungeons on and under the ocean...seriously, the ocean’s really freaky when you go deep enough.”

"I bet. I need to check on the ones on the moon and sun too! At night you can see some of the colonies set up on it. It makes me feel so happy seeing that!"

“I’m glad it makes you happy.” I said warmly, just glad to see my Luna so happy about life.

"I remember when I was a filly, well before I was a princess, Tia and I would take a small boat we made onto a nearby pond and just look at the stars under the calm waves. Sometimes in the day too, just to watch the clouds. One of these days I am dragging her and Chrysalis onto a boat and we are gonna sail til we find uncolonized land, just because!" She declared.

“That sounds like fun.” I said honestly. “Wish I could have fun like that...just something simple...but kind of can’t when I’m stupid busy all the time…” I sighed out.

"You will someday." Luna said, jumping off the rail and looking at me. "This war won't last forever, it might be years but we have time, and when it's over, you and I can retire to a nice cottage in the middle of nowhere."

“That would be nice.” I said honestly. “But...I have so many other family here...I can’t just pick one.”

"Starfish clones." Luna said.

“True.” I said simply. “But that’s...sadly not gonna happen for a long time.”

"All good things are worth the wait." Luna said with a kiss to my cheek.

“I would have waited when you first met, but you were practically dry humping me.” I teased about how we originally started dating.

"The first male I've seen who can actually hold their own in a fight alone? What was not to love?" Luna giggled. "Sister really let the royal guard grow soft. Suppose a thousand years of peace would do that."

“That is true.” I started. “But then...well...bad things happened to all of them, including Shining during when Drezke was out and about by himself.”

"Such horrid times, and you faced them all with valor." She said, holding my hand as we just walked together. "I still can't believe where we are now. A dream made reality."

“Yeah, it felt like yesterday when we were all traveling around the world just for royalty to basically say ‘here’s our daughter, give us grandkids while we retire from ruling cause it’s your job now’.” I chuckled. “Except for the Yaks...the Queen and Daughter were in the harem.”

"Yeah. I remember that. Yona still acts more like a child than a fellow wife, not that I mind. She's a sweetheart."

“She is adorable.” I chuckled. “But her mother on the other hand...seriously, I’d almost say her ass was bigger than yours and Celestia’s.” I blushed at the memory. “Her ass was like ‘bam’.”

"I swear it's at least half her fur coat." Luna laughed. "Course she still is a looker when soaking wet in the shower."

“Oh most certainly.” I chuckled. “And she’s the only one that can out floof me after a shower.”

"Yeah. It's nice to go out for a jog like this. We're far enough from the castle people here don't really give us a second glance."

“Yeah, and we can just talk about stuff.” I shrugged honestly.

As Luna and I kept walking along the road, moving over to the sandy Beach and walked til the sun set and the moon was at its peak in the sky. Eventually we sat on the sand and just stargazed. "There are so many more than before." Luna said, a smile on her face as she looked up.

“Thankfully...we were able to fix the damage that was done so long ago.” I said honestly. “Before...there were so few...but now, it’s back to the beautiful night sky I always loved.” I said while looking at Luna with a warm and loving smile.

"And all the new arrivals, from the other Cycles planets that joined, timelines too. Some Admins realms too. Did you know there was an Admin of the Night? I met them, they are basically me, but admirably more… creepy."

“You could never be creepy, you’re adorable.” I teased.

"Have you seen my browser history?" She asked with a laugh. "I warn you, it's Lyra approved."

“Nah, I’m good.” I said honestly. “So what’s up with your other selfs?”

"Nothing and everything really. It's so… interesting to talk to someone who is basically yourself but also not you. We share a lot of history but there are some we've met who we have no common history with whatsoever. We all mostly patroles the dream realm of the kingdom, keeping nightmares at Bay and finding those lost in the sleeping worlds so they can wake up. It's not too different from what we've always done."

“Sounds about right.” I nodded. “Glad you two are getting along.”

"Two? King I'm talking about way more than two. Remember, Lyra." Luna laughed. "But yes, we get along well, all of us." Luna then laid on her back on the sand, getting comfy in the sand. "We need to have more days like this."

“As far as I know you people always have days like this...I don’t.” I sighed out. “It’s a dime a dozen most of the time…”

"Cause you never give yourself a break. The world won't explode just because you take a day off, the paranoid voices in your head are just lying."

“There tends to be things happening that draw my attention whenever I take a break.” I said honestly.

"Excuses. Anyone ever tell you that you're a workaholic?"

“If I’m not then someone else is.” I brought up. “But it's not my fault that I have a lot of work to do.”

"And what pray tell is next on that infernal list of yours?"

“Let’s see now.” I said while bringing out the list, even though it was a single piece of paper it was completely covered in tiny writing that filled the entire page. “Hmm...well proved Cript wrong, started fixing those robots...hunting Void Key...finding John...wondering why Heart is a little upset with the Foretellers...um…” I trailed off. “Ah, here we are, finding the Void Wolves, cause even though that was one of the main reasons I went to Void to begin with I never found the bastards.”

"Cause you went to the Hero's tomb instead and now ect. Is there anything you can complete now? And why does it matter to you about Heart's issue with the Foretellers?"

“Because I’ve been meaning to meet the bastards for forever now but I either keep forgetting, or keep getting sidetracked.” I sighed out.

"And how does this relate to Heart exactly?" Luna asked. "Is Heart keeping you from speaking to or meeting them?"

“When I brought up the Foretellers they got...weirdly quiet on me.” I said honestly. “And when Heart is weirdly quiet, something must have happened.”

"But are they keeping you from speaking to them?" Luna asked again. "I'm hearing words but no answers."

“I don’t know, and I would like to find out but I need to wait for the crossover chapters ya know?”

Luna rolled her eyes. "If you say so. So, again, anything you can work on and finish now?"

“I have...way too many long term goals that need a lot of time and effort put into it…” I sighed out.

Again, she rolled her eyes. "What about short term?"

“Um…” I looked through the list. “Well uh...one of them was helping promote the widow’s and orphan foundations...even if we could just reverse death on a whim here…” I muttered.

"Okay, manageable but that falls under Eclipsa's jurisdiction. I take it, she asked you for the help then?"

“While yes but...I wanted to help of my own volition.” I said honestly. “I...just want to help.”

"Workaholic…" Luna sighed. "And in these long term projects you are working with how many people on average?"

“Depending on what I’m doing, the average would be...two or three.” I said honestly.

"... Triple it… no, wait… I have a better idea." Luna said with a grin as she opened a display screen on her assistant.

“What?” I asked curiously. “What’s with that grin?” I asked nervously.

Luna said nothing, typing something to someone, then to someone else… then one more person before the display closed. "They should be here in a bit." Luna said, still grinning.

“What did you do?” I asked nervously.

"Called the only three people in existence not only smarter than you but can get things done faster." Luna said, her grin now a genuine smile.

I suddenly felt a cold chill down my back as I heard three sets of footsteps walking up behind me in the sand.

"Why am I helping this idiot again?" Lord asked.

"You owe me and I owe Luna." Cript answered.

"My foundation third and all its faults. Long time no see." Brain said.

“So why did you call these three here?” I inquired to Luna.

"Like I said, they are smarter than you, get things done quicker and frankly can cut that list of yours in half in no time." Luna said with a nod.

Before I could speak, Lord snatched my list. "Let's see… dude I've built half this shit already. That I can upgrade easily enough, this one I can easily start and finish in a day."

Cript looked in. "I'll help with John and the Tomb. Void Wolves sounds fun too."

"I'll Assist Lord as well as recheck all of King's notes, I'm bound to find at least a few issues in their math if not the organization at least." Brain added.

“Cause that’s what I need…” I muttered. “Alright, so that takes care of at least all the construction bits and Void related things…” I muttered. “Now onto my other big things, which are three things. One, figuring out what Vincent really is because...that’s not Vincent the more I think about it, trying to figure out how to get us all out of the Matrix...and figure out who the hell made all of this to begin with.” I explained.

"Break out of the machine… dibs." Lord said.

"Dibs on Vincent." Cript added.

"Guess that leaves the mysterious inventor to me then. Joy." Brain said.

"Okay, get to it!" Luna declared as the three nodded… wow they do work fast, my working clones are already ahead. "If you won't ask for proper help, it's up to your better half to get it for you." Luna said with a smile.

“So literally any of my spouses?” I asked simply.

Luna patted my head. "Good puppy, have a treat." Luna tossed… I bit the treat immediately in the air. Tastes like bacon. "Actually… how susceptible to canine antics are you?"

“That’s none of your concern…” I said sheepishly.

She smiled, suddenly holding a tennis ball. She threw it. "Fetch!"

Curse you animal instincts! “Thish meansh nofing!” I said as I had the tennis ball in my mouth.

King's Happiness

Afterglow was a hell of a natural high, any sentient sexually representative race can tell you this. Sprawled out on sheets needing a wash was King, a little sore and sticky holding close to their chest a white Alicorn who's rump held a glorious golden image of the sun. They remembered when she used to be taller than King, and now the roles were switched, and King and Celestia enjoyed that greatly.

"Hmm, where did you learn that trick with your tail?" Celestia asked in an eyes closed murmur. Much like king, she was sore, sticky, and very very happy.

“Uh...I think Eclipsa?” King muttered. “Given she’s a naga...she would know a thing or two about tail tricks.”

"Remind me to give her a sloppy kiss for that then." Celestia cooed, enjoying being the small spoon for a change. "That was round nine… how does Luna do this again?"

“Practice, a strong libido, and having been stuck without having sex for a thousand years.” King shrugged.

"Right…" Celestia said, snuggling more into King's torso. "So, I hear you finally have free time given Luna had Cript, Lord and Brain basically take over all your projects, most of which I hear are now done." She said, opening an eye to look over at King. "How's free time feel?"

“It feels nice...but now I have less things to do…” King sighed out.

"You call nine rounds with me less to do?" Celestia asked in a mocking tone.

“I would never.” King chuckled. “It’s the inbetween when I’m spending time with my lovely wives.” King said honestly. “But I don’t think I asked you this...a long ass time ago, but how does it feel to swing both ways?” King asked, given this was their Celestia and they used to be women only because of her immortality.

"Heh, to be honest I didn't really give it that much thought…" Celestia said, turning to lay on her back, King's arm still wrapped around her lower torso. "I got into mares because after nearly losing track of my grandchildren over the generations… I was afraid. At first it was tricky. Growing up being into males was what every filly was taught, so getting into mares at first proved… challenging. Heh, till I met Dust Top. She was a new maid in the castle, and the first mare I learned I was attracted to. She had these lovely amber eyes, a dark grass green coat and this soft and long sky blue mane.

"Of course, we started off as friends, and over time I began noticing her act around me, telling me she wanted more than a friendship… and so she became my first mare love. It was never made public, but she was from that day forward my personal maid and secret lover. All the way til…" Celestia sighed. "It hurt, when she passed, but she lived a long life and she helped me learn to love, again and again till I met Chrysalis… then you." She looked over at King. "Dust Top showed me life as an immortal is destined to be misery if there is no love, and you showed me even if I have love, if I live and love by fear, I'm just as alone."

King softly nuzzled Celestia. “I’m glad you learned to love again...but it must have been weird to go from men, to women, to both huh?”

"Well, yes and no. Most equestrians are naturally bisexual. Mares especially because of herd marriages and such. It's just what to expect in a world with a 20 to 1 ratio on mares to stallions. Becoming a Herm was more of an adjustment than my sexuality."

“Even though spells like that existed way before this became a thing, and yes...I had to learn that from my Rune…” I sighed out.

"The diamond dogs do make the best adult entertainment and toys. I've purchased several before I joined you and this family."

“Sounds about right.” King nodded. “Only reason why I know more about the diamond dogs business was...because of Derpy…”

"Rune, Lura, Heart recently… have to say, it's a lot like being with you but that tongue~ just wow." Celestia said with a giggle. "So, care for a shower before we make it ten rounds?"

“That would be for the best.” King said simply.

"Good." Celestia said as we got up and headed for the shower. The fourth one today. This bathroom had mostly a giant tub made like a hot spring, and above the water fell like rain from the special shower heads.

In the water I had Celestia help me rub the soap and shampoo deeper in my fur. Downside to being so fluffy. "I find it surprising they make edible, flavored shampoo." Celestia said as she scratched the suds into my fur.

“It’s better than it either tasting like garbage if it gets in your mouth or being toxic if you accidentally ingest it.” King shrugged.

"True, but still. It's all Pinkie and Twin Pie and… most of the other Pinkies use… and they end up eating it after using it. Guess that's what to expect when they make flavors and smells like Cotton Candy, bubblegum, Peppermint and chocolate. Seriously, chocolate!"

“It’s Pinkie...even after all of this.” King chuckled.

"It does make her taste better when eating or blowing her." Celestia added, making King blush slightly. "Though her baking using them makes a less than ideal looking cake…"

“That’s why you don’t use soap for baking.” King said honestly.

"Hasn't stopped her." Celestia said, scratch/rubbing into King's neck. "Feel good?"

“Yes, yes it does.” King sighed out happily, enjoying the neck scratches.

Once every inch of Celestia and King was covered in soap they dove under the water for a moment then got out, shaking excess water and leftover soap from their coats and hair. With that done the two just enjoyed the relaxing warmth of the hotspring like a bathtub. "I heard you spoke with Eclipsa's version of me. How did that go?"

“About as well as one can expect from someone who’s...mentally unstable.” King said simply. “Not the ‘bad’ kind of unstable more...can’t handle how fast things changed kind.”

Celestia nodded. "I see. Poor thing, I hope when she gets better she considers joining the family. I know Star and Eclipsa would welcome her with open arms." Celestia smiles.before sighing. "Onto slightly less good news… Domino got suspended from school."

Domino, King and Celestia's sixth born child. Celestia's mane colors colored their coat and King's coat colors colored their mane. Their fingers ended in claws and their muzzle and teeth formed more to a wolf's features, but their body was built more towards their equine mother. Domino, was also the definition of a problem child.

“What did they do this time?” King sighed out.

"Chemistry lab explosion. Apparently Domino has an affinity for everything exploding now." Celestia sighed. "And I thought their driving weaponized cars phase was bad…"

“I’ll go talk to them…” King sighed out. “Hopefully it’s not something too bad…”

"You sure about that? Last time you tried talking to them I was picking cactus thorns out your butt for three hours." Celestia reminded. "They hate you."

“And I’m going to figure that out, cause honestly I’m not going to raise a spoiled brat who thinks they can do whatever the hell they want and also hate their family cause ‘reasons’.” King frowned.

Celestia sighed. "Out of all the kids, what went wrong with Domino? They were so shy when they were little."

“And that’s what I’m going to figure out, whether they like it or not.” King huffed.

"Good luck…"

King winced, pulling yet another bouncing bear trap off their tail. Domino had booby trapped the hall leading to their room… part of King was impressed at how many he didn't notice then Activated, the rest was annoyed Domino went to such extremes to avoid them.

“Alright Domino that’s enough!” King barked. “Quit being a piss ant for five minutes and tell me what the hell has gotten into you?”

No answer. Frustrated, King rushed to the door, traps going off harmlessly on them as they kicked it open. Inside the room was… surprisingly well kept, bed made, shelves clean, and Domino, sitting at their computer desk. Large headphones covering their ears blasting music King could only describe as heavy metal if the loudness and lack of understandable vocals was anything to go off. Huffing King walked over their sixth born with Celestia. They were like most in the family, a Herm, with a body was near mirrored Celestia's save for the extra, smaller pair of breasts under their top ones. A dire wolf trate. With the headphones taken they looked up over at King, their light blue eyes meeting King's dark blue. "Get out." They said bluntly.

“Not until you explain yourself.” I frowned. “I don’t care about the school suspension part, Celestia can get on your ass about that.” I started while looking straight into her eyes, my annoyance at all the traps shifting into a tired sadness. “Why do you hate me? What did I do, or didn’t do, that caused you to act like this?”

Domino looked at King for a time. An expression of indifference on their face as they turned to their computer screen. A few clicks and fast types and a status sheet of King long ago appeared. This was back when King first arrived on Equestria. They then split screen it with a status sheet of themselves. "Notice any differences?" Domino asked.

King looked between the two status sheets. There really weren't any differences, save for Domino has more HP than King did back then.

“You have more HP than I had when I was your age?” King asked.

"Yeah… and that's the only difference. Everything stats wise matches with yours to a T and hell I can even summon Nobodies, Nothingness, even your fucking weapons!" Domino demonstrated this by summoning Eternal Flames. Then, lazily tossed it at a nearby dart board. The weapon stuck a point into the wall just below the board and stayed there. "Everyone since my stats sheet went public has been treating me like your second coming. Everyone wants me to be just like you… so Everytime someone says just as much I prove them wrong."

“So that’s why…” King muttered. “Why didn’t you say anything sooner?” King asked bluntly. “If you wanted to be less like me, you would have asked for help.”

"Heh, how? I'm already your child so can't change that, can't change how my abilities develop. All I can do is prove to people that I'm not you. If I have to be a disappointment and a disgrace to the crown then I'm fine with that."

“Well, and hear me out, try not being an asshole for starters.” King started. “Cause even if people might think you’re my ‘Second Coming’, Jesus might be a tad pissed about that, you are you...you didn’t need to change this drastically, and believe me...you’ll never be a disappointment.”

"Try convincing the idiots of the kingdom of that tid bit." She huffed. "I've even considered joining the Sub Humans."

“Now if there’s one thing about this kingdom I can barely stand, is how quick they are to believe the wrong thing and act like it’s fact…” King sighed out. “I would love to tell people things straight up, but I’m not allowed to.”

"Sub Humans it is."

“No.” King stated bluntly. “You are not going there, I’ll figure something out…”

"You act like they're evil. Their job is bad guys, not stereotypical evil." Domino huffed. "If anything they give a lot of the hero's running about and even some of the family a challenge."

“There has to be some other way. Plus...again, why didn’t you tell me this sooner? Why didn’t you tell anyone sooner?” King asked bluntly. “You do know there are stat changes, and other things you can do to replace the weapons and not be seen as me back then.”

"How many projects were you working on all at once until recently? Stat changes are hard to come by, even for royals, and I've tried… they keep coming back."

“Shouldn’t be that difficult to find…” King muttered. “But remember, I didn’t ask for help until I had Luna literally get Lord, Cript and Brain to help me because they owed her.”

"And you didn't ask for any because?" They asked King with a raised brow, and an Expression that clearly said 'explain your lack of the simple idea' to King.

“Short answer is, I’m an idiot who thinks they need to do everything by themselves, the long answer…” King sighed out. “I’ve...always been scared that if I brought anyone else into what I was doing, that they might get hurt or worse...cause when you’ve grown up thinking you’re own actions got your parent’s killed, only for that to be proven wrong like...three times over, you get a little....distant with those that you care for…” The den mother explained. “It’s not something I’m proud of, it’s something I’m fixing, or at least trying to fix, and thankfully...I have a family that’s willing to bear with me.”

"Heh, or force the help on you." Domino laughed. "But… I still think I might join them. I'm good at pissing people off, can still visit, and hey, maybe someday I'll see you on the job and kick your tail between your legs."

“You wish Domino.” I said while gently patting her head. “But...are you sure about this?”

"Yeah. There's rules like any guild and such. Casual damage, buildings and such, keep injuries to a minimum to civilians, avoid casualties, hurt the Heroes. That's a blunt summary."

“Celestia’s gonna have a fit…” King sighed out.

"Yeah… tell mom I love her too." Domino said with a laugh.

“I’m sorry I...didn’t help you sooner Domino…” King sighed out.

"I'll forgive you… if you don't get pissed…" Now Domino looked nervous, and King had only seen them look like that when they were small.

“What did you do?” King asked simply.

"Promise." She said just as simply.

“Fine fine, I promise.” King said with a raised hand. “So...what did you do?”

"I've been dating…" King perked up a bit. "Someone from the dungeon… the Castle Dungeon…" That sent King's gut falling out their body to the floor. The castle dungeon is where they kept the prisoners of war when captured...

“Which...one…” King said slowly.

"...Tanya." Domino replied, looking ready to bolt.

King had to remember bit, but remembered Heart and their Speedster friend managed to find and capture her when dealing with his heartless doppelgangers. That was the happiest day King had had in awhile.

“Which cell are they in?” King asked simply, the fact they didn’t sound cold or angry making Domino more worried.

"You… Don't remember?" Domino asked before shaking her head. "Cell 87. Don't kill her."

“I’m just making sure.” King said. “And don’t worry, I won’t kill them, if I didn’t kill them before because of the shit they forced me through then I won’t kill them just because you want to date them.”

"Am dating… for the last seven months…" Domino added.

“You’re not making this any better for me.” King said carefully.

"This coming from the guy who married the brain damaged lady who before said damage killed both your parents?" Domino asked/stated defensively.

“That was a weird complicated mess.” King stated.

"You could have kept her prisoner, taken the kid when born then either let her blow or kept her locked up?" Domino said with a roll of her eyes. "Don't judge my love life and I won't judge yours."

“I will judge it, especially when these two things are on completely opposite ends of the spectrum...also it wouldn’t have been a ‘kid’ it would have been millions cause I was a part of the family at the time.”

"Then I'll judge you too. So, going to meet her?"

King sighed out and rubbed their temple. “I’m sorry, this is just…” King tried not to be pissed, and Domino knew it. “I’m visiting them right now. I won’t judge you, I’m just...trying not to be outlandishly pissed at you for dating that cunt. And yes, I’m allowed to call them that after they tried to literally make me kill thousands of children.” King frowned. “I don’t care if it’s been over seven months, that’s still a massive dick move.”

"Hey, pissing you and others off is my special talent… if I ever got a cutie mark it would be a pissed off image of your face." Domino said.

Tanya looked different. Older, between their first life's age and their new ones. Somewhere around Domino's age if not a year or two older. She wore a typical orange jumper, her prisoner Id sewn into the back as her hair reached her lower back. Her cell had little personal items. Nothing of much to note. She did not turn to look at King, but gave a half smile. "And what brings my warden’s boss to my cell today?" Tanya asked simply.

“So, little birdy told me you’re dating my daughter.” King started.

"Looks like I owe Domino two hundred rem then." Tanya said, calmly picking up a small nail filer off her table and worked on her nails. "I had given it til next year til you found out."

“If she were to, I don’t know, actually talk to me about things for once…” King sighed out. “Alright, so let me ask you something. Do you actually give a shit about her, or are you just using her to get to me?”

"If I told the truth, would you believe me?" Tanya asked simply, keeping her eyes on her fingernails and the filer. "In your eyes, I'm a heartless cunt. Why would I have room for love? That is your impression of me, right?"

“My daughter’s been dating you for seven months, so she must see something in you right?” King asked simply. “I can push back the parts where you’re a heartless cunt for later, right now I want to know why my daughter has been dating you for seven months.”

Tanya said nothing for a time, simply working on her fingernails. Finally though, she spoke. "Eight, if you include the month we met. My body had just been aged up to where it is now, otherwise I'd be in juvenile detention rather than here. She showed up to piss the guards off and chat with us inmates. She asked what I did to end up here, and I told her. All the gory details."

“Cause that makes sense…” King frowned. “Just be infatuated with a bastard that would sooner order and watch kids get slaughtered for the fuck of it.”

"You think so little of me." Tanya replied, not moving but her eye shifting to look at King. "At the end of the day, I'm a bureaucrat, and a Soldier. The differences I've learned are surprisingly minimal. I was just following orders on that mission, when Izuku died. The goal was simple, test you to see if you snap. You did. I might hate Divine beings, yourself included, but… since then I came to personal realization. You are no Divine being. Admin or whatever you are, you don't demand faith and worship. I realized that is what I hated so much about Being X, and with them gone at Jericho's hand I shifted the hate I still had towards a different target. An error on my part, I'll freely admit."

“I am glad that you figured out your main issue and are planning to fix that, but you and I both know…’under orders’ doesn’t fix the shit people do.” King frowned. “So let me ask, are you going to make my daughter happy, and treat her with love and respect?”

She looked back to her nails, her small smile faded into a small frown. “I am… new to relationships. Domino knows this and has been ungodly patient. I don’t know how to give my heart to her, but I can give her my loyalty and companionship until the day I can learn to give my heart.”

King nodded. “That’s good. At least you’re learning...I don’t have to tell you what I will do to you if you break my daughters heart now do I?”

“Something something wish I was dead, something something, regret being born, twice, something something, eternal pain and suffering. That about right?”

“That’s the long and short of it.” King said honestly.

Tanya’s small smile returned as she kept working on her nails. “Til next time then.”

After that King needed a drink, so they went to Jenny’s bar in the castle. The Null Jenny. The bar was… wrong. It was the embodiment of everything looking wrong in a glitchy video game. “Sup.” Null Jenny said to King as they entered.

“This place is giving me a headache from all the glitchiness…” King started. “So...what good booze do you have?”

“No idea.” Null Jenny said as she put a bottle that looked like it was meant for beer, but glowed in black and neon purple missing texture patterns. “But they’re at least still edible.”

“Well...hopefully it won’t try and kill me…” King said while taking the beer and opening it. “Jeez, where did you find this, the Source Engine?”

“Something like that.” Null Jenny said as I took a drink. It was beer, at least. Didn’t taste any different. “So, what brings you here?”

“Oh you know, having to deal with one of my daughters wanting to be a villain and dating an asshole that tried sending child soldiers after me…” King sighed out. “How have you been?”

“Pretty good all things considered.”

“All things considered?” King asked curiously.

“It’s nothing, just been with the Null’s for so long that being here again feels kinda surreal.”

“Sounds about right.” King nodded. “So quickie question...since you're technically ‘outside the system’ as it were, do you know who or what created all of this?” King asked curiously.

“Nope. Nulls didn’t start existing til after the machine was built and even then it was a while til the first Reset happened giving birth to the first Null.”

“Well...that’s not good…” King sighed out .”Is there anything that could lead me to the ‘Creators’ as it were?”

“No real idea.” She sighed. “Even so, it’s not something I’m concerning myself with. I’m more thinking about how to keep this hunk of junk we live in from rebooting again and figuring out how to deal with the Grey Energy.”

“Yeah that’s the main problem…” King sighed out. “Oh uh...question, do you know if Vincent is...well Vincent at the moment? Cause I have this feeling we’re not really dealing with that bastard anymore.”

“It’s the same asshole as far as I can tell from all the times the other Null’s and I waited in the grey while the Reset was happening.”

“But Vincent was killed before by Cript, how is he still alive?” King asked curiously.

“I survived the ending of reality and became a Null and none of the Nulls know how it happens, it just does. Frankly I’ve just accepted there are some things we don’t know still and possibly won’t ever know. Vincent is right up there with who built this hunk of junk we call home and why Cript exists, well, more of a how they exist but eh.”

“Damn…” King sighed out while taking another swing of his beer.

“Yup.” Null Jenny nodded. “Anything else you wanna ask?”

“How is it to be a Null?” King asked curiously. “Not everyday you can just ask that…”

“Well… it feels like I’ve been… misplaced. Like I both belong and don’t at the same time.”

“Sounds about right.” King nodded. “Considering you make sure the glitches don’t get out of control…”

“At the same time being one.” She agreed.

“I understand.” King sighed out. “Just...wish there was something I could do here.”

“Bored?”

“Considering I was forced to have help from a few people...a little yes.” King sighed out. “A lot of my projects are done, a lot of future stuff is being worked on...and I still don’t know what that weird whispering from that Grey Core was, not even Lord or Brain knew.”

"Add that to the mysteries we have no hints about." Null Jenny chuckled, passing King another glitch beer. "How's the timeline jumping going?"

“It’s fine so far, some of them being a tad annoying given that they were ‘what ifs’ in our time line.” King sighed out.

“Any you had to lock up for one reason or another?”

“Well...one of them was me sadly, that took a while...but I suppose that’s what happened when I stopped caring…” King sighed out. “Then a few others were just ‘people need to chill for like, five minutes’...like damn.”

“Anything that was basically the exact opposite of you? Like Evil you or Heart if they were crazy or something like that?”

“I had to lock one Zeke up cause they tried attacking me with some weird notion that I needed to ‘learn to lose’...seriously, poor guy looked like he hadn’t had proper food or sleep in weeks.” King sighed out.

“Huh, so nothing like that reset… good to know.”

“Like what Reset?” King asked curiously.

“Well, think of Resets like Cycles, different each time in some way or another and one Reset, every Cycle that happened was… Nightmarish. Statistically it was bound to happen but to see it happen… was upsetting. Let’s just say that none of the Null’s talk about it.”

“Well...sounds like a good time.” King said. “The only Reset I saw was the one you showed me a while ago.”

“And that’s all you’re gonna be seeing.” She added.

“Really?” King asked curiously. “No Cycles I shouldn’t go to or anything?”

“The Time Walkers keep and guard all the bad Timelines under lock and in terms of Cycles, no this time around they’re all about the same. Nothing too fancy or bold.”

“Sounds about right.” King nodded. “Must be a nightmare to keep those timelines contained huh?”

“Depends on who is in them. How strong they are, ect.”

“Sounds about right.’ King nodded. “Good to know there’s some places I shouldn’t go.”

When King finished up their drinks they headed off, walking around the castle and eventually to the castle gardens. They took a seat on one of the benches and enjoyed the sunlight.

“This is nice…” King said softly, just enjoying the nice sunlight and the animal noises in the garden.

The various smells and sensations calmed the wolf down as they nearly drifted off to sleep then and there. They were awoken by a kiss. Opening their eyes King found themselves looking at Zecora. It had been a while, but they were still making time for one another. “Hello there love.” The Zebra said as she sat next to King. “You have some free time I hear.”

“Yes I do my love.” King said happily. “How are you doing Zecora?”

“Grand as I can be. Learning every kind of brew has been quite the fun thing to do.” She laughed. “I’m even rhyming again.”

“That’s nice.” King said warmly as they nuzzled the Zebra affectionately.

“I have a few for you, ranging from fighting to fun times.”

“That’s cool.” King said honestly. “Hopefully there aren’t any side effects to them.”

She smiled, placing her bags down and sifting around inside before pulling out a small green vial with a leaf on it. The vial was no bigger than a tea cup. “This brew is called Natures Birth. While not to drink, it converts the deadest of areas into a lush green land ripe with plantlife.”

“That sounds great.” I said happily.

She handed King the potion then reached back into her back and took out another.

This bottle was large, about the size of a wine bottle and glowed with a white light. “This one I brew myself. Experimental and works well in small scales. I call it, Reclamation.”

“Reclamation?” King asked curiously. “What’s it do?”

"In tests, it purges void from objects, it's mostly Nothingness."

“That’s pretty cool.” King said honestly. “Must have been a pain to make that.”

"Actually no. The tricky part was getting Nothingness in liquid form." Zecora said, handing me the potion and pulling out another potion. The bottle was the size of a shot glass and glowed a neon pink. "This is based off those Conduits, Like Delson and Lovely."

“Oh yeah, I remember when Lovely kind of...accidentally drank one of these things and Joy was worried about her.” King said honestly.

"It basically does the same thing rather than a syringe injection." She handed it to King and pulled out another. This was shaped like a heart. "Need I explain?" She asked, shaking it slightly.

“Love potion?” King asked curiously.

Zecora nodded. "Based on that Keyblade you and Jericho made."

“Love Struck yeah.” King nodded. “That’s good to know.”

She grabbed another. This was a small pitch black bottle that smelled like… void? "Something for Coco. Given void is tied to her and in the realm it is hard to find. Safe as long as it is kept contained."

“That’s really cool.” King said, so glad to see all of Zecora’s hard work turning out wonderfully.

"It has been quite fun learning so many new things. But learning can wait for a while, I've been wanting to enjoy some relaxation for a long time."

King gently wrapped an arm around Zecora and pulled her close. “And I’m ready to spend time with my lovely Zebra as well.”

She smiled, giving King a kiss on the cheek as she cuddled up to them.

King had to admit, all in all the day was going on well. “Well...at least today’s going well.” King said happily.

As they walked along the halls yet again they entered one of the one on one rooms. Inside they fell to the bed next to Heart and Eclipsa, who were laid on the bed, tails wrapped tightly around one another with Eclipsa watching TV and Heart playing Skyrim on the switch.

“Hello there.” King said to Heart and Eclipsa warmly.

"Hey." Heart said.

"Hi King." Eclipsa said, giving the wolf a kiss on the nose. "How was your day?"

“I mean...besides being a tad pissed at Domino for dating Tanya as well as Domino finally, finally talking to me about her grievances...and she wanted to be different than me to begin with.”

"Oh, you finally found out she was dating her?" Heart asked.

“Cause not only did everyone else know about it besides me and my Celestia, but she didn’t even fucking bother to tell me!” King said while throwing their hands up in the air. “For someone not wanting to be like me, they certainly got my ‘don’t ask for help’ stubbornness. And now she wants to join the Sub Humans cause why not!?”

"That's ironic." Eclipsa said. "And what's wrong with the Subs?"

“Besides me barely knowing what the hell they are?” King brought up. “People forget, even though I try to know everything I don’t know everything.” King said while shoving their face in a pillow and groaning loudly.

"It's basically how video game bad guys in Wreck It Ralph work." Heart said. "it's just a job, no real malice or ill intent, just the job and after hours stuff."

“Well the only reason she wants to is because she doesn’t want to be seen as my ‘Second Coming’, and we all know I can’t say anything cause either they’ll completely ignore me or everyone will tell me ‘don’t say anything’.” King groaned.

"Eh." Heart shrugged. "Makes you miss the simple days huh?"

King lifted their head out of their pillow and gave Heart a deadpanned look. “When has shit ever been simple?”

"Well, raising Heart on Dire Equis was mostly simple." Eclipsa pointed out.

"Which reminds me, you two ever gonna try that out?" Heart asked.

“Try what out?” King asked curiously.

"Living a second childhood. Basically as you. You two did that for me, you two ever gonna try it out?"

"It would be interesting." Eclipsa pondered. "I've already lived two since I was reincarnated, but living one without the adult mind mentality will probably be more fun."

“I...don’t want to make another mistake…” King said sadly.

King flinched as a hand lightly whacked their head. "You think too much." Heart sighed. "And worry."

“I’m sorry I had to have my childhood explained to me like four different times.” King huffed.

"It might help you relax." Eclipsa said.

"Have fun memories." Heart added.

“It won’t change much.” King sighed out. “Even after so many breakthroughs in my life…”

"Don't make us baby you here and now." Eclipsa warned, though her tone and smile said she'd be more than pleased to do so.

“You wouldn’t.” King said, preparing themselves against what they might do.

"She would…" Heart looked up from their game. "And did…"

At that King made two major realizations. First, Eclipsa and Heart were much, much larger… and they could not move properly. Nor speak.

”Rude.” King thought to themselves.

Eclipsa simply scooped up the puppy, and held them comfortably between their arms. "You need to relax, and If Den has told me anything it's that this typically does it for you." Eclipsa mused, giving King's tiny head a scratch.

”Nuu~.” King whined mentally.

Eclipsa did not stop there. Soon the pup sported a small blue bow on their head attached to their right ear, a white and yellow onesie, and was sucking on a neon pink pacifier. "Cute." Heart said, giving King a little belly rub.

King’s tail betrayed him as it was wagging happily. ”Not again…” King mentally grumbled.

Eclipsa held the pup lovingly, cradling King as she rested in a way that let her rock back and forth holding the small pup. She hummed, a rythemless tune that held all the warmth and love only a mother could display. King's infant body began to betray them as they started to slip into slumber.

”Curse you infant body!” King whined as they fell to sleep.

Eclipsa smiled, giving King a kiss as she kept her mothering of the pup going. Soon King fell into a peaceful slumber.

King awoke from… a fairly normal if not weird dream. The only thing they disliked about it was that those Pirates got away with their bagel.

With a yawn the small pup awoke in a crib, covered in a blue blanket with clouds on it and surrounded by plush toys.

”Okay...where am I?” I thought to myself while looking around the room to see where I was specifically.

As far as King could tell, they were in a nursery.

”Well...I’m in the nursery at least.” King thought as they tried to escape their crib to look around, taking one of the plushies out of habit from when he was an infant before.

As King tried to climb over the crib wall they were suddenly yanked up, and held in the fluffy embrace of a Floof Noodle. "Morning sunshine." Heart said, holding the pup to eye level and giving them a smile.

”I didn’t ask for this.” King pouted.

"You never ask for what you need so we took a page out of Luna's book." Heart said, now cradling King. "So the next few Secret Reports chapters are gonna be your Rugrats tier adventures followed by childhood and so forth. Already have the mini realm set up."

”Sounds...fine enough.” King said simply.

Heart gave a nod, sliding a breast out and letting King nurse. As King did so Heart slithered out of the nursery. King took in the house. It was unique, a mix between a tree and a carved out cave where next to the stairs to the second floor were next to what looked like a slide, likely that's easier for Eclipsa and Heart to go up and down. The living room was well furnished with lovely furniture, a massive sofa, a playpen set up between the kitchen and the living room and the scent of bacon and pancakes filled the air.

”This looks nice.” King thought warmly.

Heart detached King from their nipple, burped the small pup then put them in a high chair. There King saw Eclipsa eating some pancakes and Heart soon joining. King hated not having teeth at the moment but was full from the breast milk. Instead they occupied themselves with a few toys that were at their reach. A soft plastic toy car and an airplane plushie.

”Jeez...when was the last time I actually played with any toy’s?” King thought to themselves, trying to remember when they actually did something like this.

Their childhood and Infancy as Kite could count, but that wasn't that long sadly. King mostly just moved the toy car back and forth for a time, trying to mindlessly let their mind act like an infant for the time. Soon Heart and Eclipsa finished their meal and Eclipsa picked King up. "Alright my little pup, Twilight will be here soon for a playdate with you and Monica." King remembered Monica, one of their newest children with Twilight. King was going to have a playtime with their own daughter. "And before that, you need a bath!" Eclipsa finished, giving a playful poke to the pups nose.

”I’m going to have a playdate with my own daughter...as an infant… wonders.” King thought to themselves and how weird that’ll be as they wrinkled their nose at the playful poke.

Eclipsa took King to the bathroom. The tub was gigantic. About a swimming pool size, a small one but still and it made sense. Nagas were large and full Grown King was pretty large too. However there was a smaller baby bath tub set up next to the large adult one and Eclipsa undressed King and placed them inside the tub. Eclipsa made sure the water was warm but not hot before getting the pup wet and once they began using the baby shampoo on them. "Sorry but… I can't understand what you say as an infant King." Eclipsa said as she scrubbed the suds into the pups fur. "I… kinda don't want to. I know it sounds silly or rude but I feel like understanding what your baby is saying takes a lot of the magic out of raising them."

King pouted at hearing that, but nodded in understanding.

"You and I both remember how much fun it was raising Heart. I want to share that with Heart in raising you. And next time, you two can raise me." Eclipsa said, giving a kiss to King's head, a little bit of soap forming a small bubble Stash on her upper lip. "It's a promise."

King nodded with a warm smile.

The bath lasted ten or so minutes and Eclipsa finished drying King off with a fluffy towel and a hair dryer. The heat fluffed the pup into a ball. Eclipsa gave a laugh as she brushed the hair back down and slipped King into a new onesie, this one had a pattern of Nightmare Moon on the moon on it. They also put a new bow on their head, this one a pink flower in design before taking them back to the living room and putting them in the playpen. "Heart left for work, yes they wanted to work here. And like on Equis Prime I have an alchemy lab for my job. I'll check up on you in a bit, so play with your toys for the moment. Let me know if you need anything." Eclipsa said, giving King a kiss before slithering off to a nearby room, the door staying open.

King looked around at their toys, thinking for a moment about how they would want to do things given they only had all their toys here. ”So many toys...so much possibility.”

It was an hour later that Eclipsa left her lab to check on King. What she saw made her smile. King had used the extra large Lego blocks ment for toddlers to make a makeshift race track around the pens walls. King was racing a, and by racing they crawled next to a toy car they pushed every few inches they crawled. Keeping the two 'neck in neck' in the race. The Naga quickly took a few pictures before slithering over to the pup and picking them up. "Such a cutie." She cooed, nuzzling King.

King looked up with a smile. ”This is nice.” King thought to himself warmly.

Eclipsa gave King another feeding, and when that was done burped the pup before taking a sniff at them. "Heh, looks like someone needs a change."

King blushed a bit. An infant's bladder can't hold anything, they learned this as Kite. Eclipsa gave them a fast change and carried them into her alchemy lab. Her lab was different from on Dire Equis, where the furniture and shelving was carved into the tree walls and the floor held a pit where three large black Calderon's sat boiling over open fires and liquids rich in magic brewed. "You like? Zecora is gonna come over in a few days to help out every now and then. We've been helping each other out in learning new brews."

King nodded and yipped in agreement.

"She reminds me a lot of my Zecora. Still can't believe she ended up with Thunderlane. Well, that's life." Eclipsa said with a giggle. "Oh, and Den will also be coming over with some of your siblings. Oh there is so much that will happen in this world, this safe place where we can feel and be normal. Oh I'm gonna hate it when you start preschool and Kindergarten."

”Oh no…” I thought to myself worriedly.

“At least that’s a few years away. Til then I’m gonna spoil you~” She cooed again, giving a scratch to King’s belly. “I just wish Heart didn’t talk me out of having you also be a Floof Noodle. Would have fit more and could raise you more the naga way. Sadly they figured after that whole Restaurant food contest thing that was the last thing you wanted to experience. Oh well, can make you a lot of siblings that can be naga’s for that anyway.”

”Also because I’d rather not get used to another drastic body change.” I mentally added.

As Eclipsa held King, checking various herbs and vials a knock at the door took her attention. Slithering over there and opening it was Twilight. King saw the mare standing at the doorway, wearing a sky blue sundress with small clouds in a polka dot pattern. In her arms was Monica, the small pup had a unicorn horn and pony ears, but more of a wolf's body and coat type, though they had their mothers colors. “Hey Eclipsa.” She saw King and her smile grew. “Hey King.” She said, giving the pup a pat.

As embarrassed as King was, they took a look at the outside, the first time they saw it and realized they were in a neighborhood of sorts, the houses each unique or different from the basic look of earth's houses. It looked… nice, strange yet fitting. “Glad you made it.”

“Monica is one of the youngest and about King’s current age.” Twilight replied with a smile.

The two brought the infants in and placed both in the play pen. Monica immediately began sniffing around the pen. “So, you wanted to show me those new Transmutation Circles to boost my potions?” Eclipsa asked.

“Yes, I believe carving them on or in your caldrens would improve their potency and effect time.” Twilight replied as the two entered Eclipsa’s lab.

King gently crawled over to Monica to tell her hello. “Hello.” King said to Monica in baby speak, cause back when King had to be reborn...twice, once to get his Soul back so he can have his light half, then the other when he used True Nothingness to end a Test Cript gave him, he learned baby’s can speak their own ‘language’ so to speak.

Monica didn’t reply, rather began sniffing King and circling them. Finally the horned pup spoke. “You smell like papa.” She then licked King.

“I mean...uh…” King started nervously, not entirely sure if he should just say ‘yes, but I’m now a pupper’.

King’s thoughts were halted as Monica then tackled King, trying to nip his muzzle and ears. “Gonna beat you.” She said, already pinning them down.

“Oh no you don’t.” King said while fighting back against the pin. “I’m gonna beat you.”

The two pups went at it in a playful tumbling, turning and toothless bites in the fight for victory of the playpen. Sadly, Monica had an advantage… unstable baby unicorn magic. Her horn lit up and King found himself pinned under her, his ear being gummed and soaked in saliva. Finally, Minica gave a long wet lick across King’s face. “I win.” She declared proudly, jumping off the pup.

“No fair.” King frowned. “You cheated.”

“Not my fault you don’t have a horn!” She shot back. “I can do magic. Mama says I’ll be a powerful wizard some day. Can you even do magic?”

“Yes, but not like you.” I pouted. “You have unicorn magic, I don’t, so that’s cheating.”

“What kind of magic can you do?” She asked curiously.

“Well, I can do this.” King started to howl and starting to use Dire Wolf magic.

The magic built up and the energy flowed out with the howl. It was a simple howl spell, but it was weak, still, it was strong enough to knock the pen door open. “Freedom!” Monica declared in baby, and fast waddles out of the pen.

“No, we’re not allowed to leave the pen.” King said while waddling after her.

“Imma gonna find the cookies!” She said, waddling around in the living room aimlessly. “Where’s the cookie’s high up place?”

“I think I know where the cookies are.” King said while leading his daughter to the kitchen.

Entering the kitchen King looked around, seeing the cookie jar atop the counter high above. “I see it!” Monica said. There was a flash and suddenly she was next to it, taking the lid off and taking out four chocolate chips in her mouth. Leaning over the edge Monica dropped them for King below then jumped back into the jar.

King caught all the cookies and started to nom on them happily, kind of wishing they had teeth so they could taste the wonderful chocolate chips.

With the cookies eaten Monica teleported back down to King on the floor. “That was yummy! What else do you have here?”

“A lot of things.” King said while leading them off to other neat things.

King and Monica crawled up the slide next to the stairs, it was safer than going up the stairs and once up King took her into their nursery. Inside monica began tackling the large stuffed animals, toys and such. “Yay! Toys!” King joined in happily, having fun as they two rolled around.

“How did you two…” The infant's fun was halted as Eclipsa spoke from the doorway, she and Twilight looking at them confused.

“Monica must have surged. I really need to get her a suppression bracelet for that.” Twilight sighed, her frown going to a smile. “At least they’re having fun.”

“Yeah, true.” Eclipsa said, growing her own smile. “So cute.”

“Think we can leave them alone?” Twilight asked.

“I just fed King before you arrived, what about Monica?”

“Before we left for here. She should be good for another hour or so.”

“I’m sure they can’t do too much harm here. Plenty of toys and everything is baby proofed.” Eclipsa explained. She then looked at the two. “We’ll be back for you two.” With that, Eclipsa closed the door.

“Yay! More play!” Monica beamed.

“Yay!” King cheered as well, just plain happy.

“Round two!” Monica declared, tackling King yet again. The duel of swats, gumming bites and tumbling returned. An hour of this play wrestling passed before Eclipsa and Twilight came back up to check on the two and feed them. With the feeding done the infants were changed and both put into the crib for a nap, their play and recent feeding making the two sleeping. Eclipsa and Twilight kissed them both and dimmed the lights to let the now sleepy pups rest.

King watched as Monica drifted off instantly into slumber as they were arriving there soon. They smiled as they cuddled a carrot plushie their exact size. ”I’m glad this is happening…” King thought to himself as he drifted off to sleep.

King wasn’t sure how much time had passed, only that Monica was now gone and they were not in their crib, rather in the living room, resting on Heart’s chest. Heart laid across the couch on their back, large headphones on as they listened to some music as the smell of food filled the air. The sunlight out the windows was now soft and the lights were now on to brighten up the room. King gently patted Heart’s chest to get their attention. ”Hello.’ King thought.

“Hm?” Heart said, opening an eye and seeing King awake. They smiled. “Hey there. Have fun?” Heart asked, voice low as if sleepy themselves.

King gently yipped and nuzzled into them.

Heart smiled, giving King a scratch to their back. “Heh, and you didn’t want to do this.” They chuckled. “As far as Eclipsa knows, I ate all those cookies when I got home.” They added.

”I barely get to be happy...and this is innocent and joyful.” King said mentally.

“You’re welcome.” Heart said, closing their eye again as they rested there, scratching King gently for a while. Heart then sighed, holding King as they sat up and began nursing them. Thankfully King did not need to be changed so Heart placed King on their long tail, and moving it so King felt as if they were on an endless slide. King smiled and yipped happy at this.

Eclipsa simply peeked in from the kitchen and took photos.

After Eclipsa and Heart ate, Eclipsa nursed King some more then changed and bathed the pup again King found themselves between the two nagas on the couch with them, the TV on playing Lilo and Stitch as King watched this movie with joy.

”Hooray for one of my favorite children’s films.” King thought happily.

When the movie ended Eclipsa dressed king in a clean onesie, this one matching their fur colors exactly and removed their bow before holding them as the next movie, Aladdin 2, began playing. King watched, sucking on a pacifier the whole time.

”Third Aladdin movie was better than the second.” King thought to himself as they kept watching the movie.

When the movie reached the halfway point Eclipsa pulled King’s pacifier out to let them nurse some more. King did so happily. When it was over she wrapped the pup up in a warm blanket as they kept watching the movie.

When it ended Eclipsa yawned, seeing King still quite awake for the hour. “I got them.” Heart said, taking King from Eclipsa. “You head to bed.”

“You sure?” She asked.

“Yeah, go rest up.” With a nod Eclipsa got up and slithered up the slide leaving King and Heart alone watching the next movie. Despicable Me. “Eclipsa is loving this.” Heart said.

”Yes, yes she is.” King thought to themselves.

“She has total mommy vision on you. If she wasn’t the Admin of Grey she’d be the Admin of Motherhood.” Heart said with a laugh. “She’s gonna take you along for shopping tomorrow by the way.”

”Oh goodie…” King thought. ”Shopping won’t be fun…”

“You’re a baby, you’ll be in a stroller getting pushed around the place the whole time. What’s to complain about?” Heart asked.

”Shopping is boring though.” King whined.

Heart rolled their eyes. “Little baby.” Heart said with a laugh, kissing King’s head. “Monica took a liking to you fast.”

”She cheated.” I pouted.

“She has a horn, that is an advantage. Plus she is also part wolf, so likely when she learns howl magic her horn will boost that. Oh, and just a heads up, Eclipsa and I have a date night planned for next week, so you get a babysitter.”

”Who’s the babysitter?” King asked curiously.

King saw Heart smile, and it worried King. “Domino.”

King blinked...and then howled in panic.

"Hey hey, relax. She just wants to know how you as a pup looks and frankly she thought it would be funny. Besides, Celestia will be overseeing her and making sure she does everything right."

King still didn’t look perfectly okay with this happening.

"If it helps Domino did promise that after this was over she'd go finish school before joining the Subs." Heart added.

King nodded, at least happy she’ll finish things before going off.

Heart gave King a gentle hug. "So, wanna know what job I took?"

King nodded, wanting to know what job they got.

"Police." Heart said with a Chuckle. "Always wanted to be on the other side of the law growing up."

King nodded, understand what they meant and softly nuzzling them.

Heart kissed King's head. The movie finished and Heart slithered up the slide steps and put King in the crib, surrounding them with stuffed animals cloth dolls. "Sleep well King." Heart said, dimming the lights before slithering out and leaving the door open.

King cuddled up to another stuffed plushie and yawned as they drifted off to sleep.