Chapter 9

True Departure

AS XEHANORT STRODE QUICKLY THROUGH THE GREAT HALL, Eraqus called toward his back.

“Wait, Xehanort.”

He’d wondered if Xehanort would stop, but it appeared that he still considered Eraqus enough of a friend to do so. But he would never turn to face him.

So Eraqus addressed his protests to his back. “There is a reason the precepts bar us from such knowledge. Why do you seek the χ-Blade? Would you blanket all the worlds in darkness, reduce them to nothing?!” The warning rose to a shout, and Xehanort slowly looked back at him.

He spoke like a sage delivering a prophecy. “But darkness did cover the world once, in legend. We know so little about the Keyblade War—only that it was just the beginning. Amidst that crisis, a precious light was found.”

That was part of the hidden lore of the worlds, the beliefs passed down as fairy tale. Eraqus was well aware that Xehanort had been fascinated by the story for quite some time. They’d even discussed it between themselves.

That wasn’t to say Eraqus didn’t possess any interest in the χ-Blade himself.

However…

“It is a curious tale—and one worth exploring,” Xehanort continued. “They say ruin brings about creation. So what, then, would another Keyblade War bring? When the darkness falls, will we be found worthy of the precious light the legend speaks of? I must have these answers. The χ-Blade needs to be forged, and with it the door to the Keyblade War unlocked!”

“Fool! You would risk an apocalypse out of sheer curiosity? I will never allow it, Xehanort. Not while I live!” Eraqus’s voice grew harsh as he approached Xehanort.

Yes, it was a forbidden art. The χ-Blade, unique among Keyblades, was the key to the very secrets of the world, and Xehanort’s desire to know all of this was born of selfishness and nothing more.

Clouding the worlds with darkness and suffering for the sake of personal greed and curiosity was far from what was required of a Keyblade Master. Yes, seeking the truth of the world was part of a Master’s duties, but what Xehanort was saying just seemed wrong.

Despite this, Xehanort carried on. “But once again you have it wrong, Eraqus. Darkness is a beginning, you see, not an end. At birth, every one of us emerges from darkness, do we not?”

Xehanort had always contemplated the light and the dark. They had studied it together, and occasionally touched upon the questions Xehanort entertained.

Why was light held to be good, and darkness wicked?

Why had the world divided—no, disunited—from chaos into those two forces?

In Eraqus’s view, light was the home of the future. If darkness was what had given birth to light, then its shadows belonged in the past.

“Poetic excuses!” he shouted.

However, Xehanort turned away and began to pace, rejecting his dissent and Eraqus himself.

Perhaps there is no stopping you any longer, Xehanort, he thought. “If words won’t dissuade you, only one thing will.” Eraqus called forth his Keyblade.

For the sake of the world, he would strike down his friend.

As a surge of power rose in Eraqus’s body, Xehanort spun back and fired two black masses from the Keyblade in his hand.

The masses became blades that ricocheted off Eraqus’s right brow and left cheek, leaving wounds. A pitch-black miasma veiled Xehanort’s frame as he slowly drew nearer to Eraqus.

“That power…” Black smoke rose from the cut on Eraqus’s cheek when he rubbed it. “Has the darkness taken you, Xehanort?”

When had he acquired its power? When had he sold his soul?

Though they were supposedly comrades, though they should have been on the same side, Eraqus had failed to notice any of it.

When? How? Why?

Were the secrets of the world—the Keyblade War and what lay beyond it—so alluring? Was the darkness beyond the light, the darkness within the light, so much harder to resist than the calling of protecting the worlds as the owner of a Keyblade?

“Not your concern.”

With those parting words, Xehanort strode away. Eraqus slammed a fist into the floor as he watched him go.

Why did I fail to stop him?

Is it my fault?

Where did I go wrong?

Is the darkness itself what beguiled him so?

Must this plague steal my dear friend from me?

Eraqus then gradually opened his eyes. Before him stood his pupil Ventus, who had returned. The student who had been entrusted to him by Xehanort.

Ventus stood in the vestibule with his gaze lowered.

“Ventus, you’re alone? I thought Aqua would…” Eraqus went to greet him with a smile.

He had made a heartfelt decision to take in the boy when Xehanort had visited this land—had returned after he and Eraqus had parted ways—with Ventus in tow. Eraqus would under no circumstances turn him away.

He had believed the wrongs of the past, the old grudges, had become bygones as they reached their elder years, and the time had come when they had hope of rekindling their friendship, when they could perhaps speak together as fellow teachers with apprentices.

And Xehanort had told him:

“This boy is my sin. That is why I wish to leave him in the care of your light. I fear the darkness will take hold of me once more in my quest to glean the truth of the χ-Blade. I beg you, Eraqus, heed the request of an old man. This is my amends to you, to the world, and to this child. I shall live out the remainder of my days in some remote corner of the world.”

The boy’s heart—Ventus’s heart—was an empty husk. While Eraqus hadn’t known whether he would be able to restore his heart, he had sworn that he would do everything in his power to try. Eraqus had also been pleased by Xehanort’s apparent trust in him, allowing him to take charge of a boy bearing some connection to the χ-Blade itself.

It was for these very reasons he had taken such care in Ventus’s upbringing. His heart had seemed to return, and he had Terra and Aqua to thank for at least some of that. Still, the fact that Ventus had become whole again also meant his sense of self had flourished. It was only logical that Ventus had wanted to leave this place in pursuit of Terra.

Eraqus’s inability to prevent it was his own fault.

He knelt down before Ventus and took his shoulders in both hands. He then peered into the boy’s face.

“Well, what matters is that you’re home. You don’t belong outside this world yet. You need to stay here, where you can learn—”

“In your prison?” Ventus muttered.

“What?” he responded reflexively in a low voice. That was something Eraqus had never expected to hear.

“That’s your excuse…for keeping me imprisoned here, isn’t it?” he spat, raising his head. His face was hard and full of enmity.

Eraqus stood and asked, “What did you hear?”

“That I’m supposed to be some weapon…Some kind of χ-Blade!”

He hadn’t heard the loathsome word since that day—when Ventus had come to this world.

Who could Ventus have learned it from? No, Eraqus had a good idea of the culprit. Very few knew of the χ-Blade’s existence. So, the one who most likely enlightened the boy was…

“I knew it. Xehanort—he could never let it go,” Eraqus uttered as he rubbed the scar on his cheek.

All of it was part of his plan.

But—it couldn’t be. No, there was yet time to stop him.

Putting Ventus out of reach would mean Xehanort could take this no further. He must not be allowed to repeat his mistakes. “I failed. I had the chance to stop him, and I couldn’t do it. But I will not fail again.”

Eraqus summoned his Keyblade to his hand. Ventus recoiled in fear.

“Master! What are you…?”

Eraqus brought his Keyblade to bear on Ventus, then declared, “The χ-Blade has no place in this or any world. Xehanort has made his purpose clear…and I am left with no choice. Forgive me…but you must exist no more.”

Xehanort had tried to create something that must not be. If Eraqus righted this wrong by his own hand, his own mistake in dealing with Xehanort would be expunged.

Eraqus swung down his Keyblade, and countless chains shot forth from it, identical to the chains around the Land of Departure.

They were the ones that bound this world. Only the Keyblade Master who guarded this land could wield them, and they would bind Ventus to seal him away. And thus the world would be safe.

Just as the chains were about to reach Ventus, frozen in apparent fear, Eraqus closed his eyes.

Even if it was only for a moment, he didn’t want to see the fallen form of his pupil. But—

“Ven!”

If his return had been a heartbeat later, Terra wouldn’t have been able to save Ven.

Still in his armor, Terra placed himself before Ven to shield him and knocked away Master Eraqus’s attack.

“Master, have you gone mad?”

He couldn’t believe it—Master Xehanort was right!

“Terra! I command you—step aside!” Eraqus ordered.

Terra removed his armor. “No!” He could sense Ven behind him. It’s okay. I’ll protect you.

“You will not heed your Master?”

“I won’t!” Terra cried out, his Keyblade still at the ready.

He didn’t know if Ven had tried to do anything to Master Eraqus, but if the Master had turned his blade on Ven, Terra would keep his friend safe.

“Why do all my attempts to reach you fail? If you don’t have it in your heart to obey…then you will have to share Ventus’s fate.”

A tear traced down Master Eraqus’s cheek.

“Master…!”

In a flash, Master Eraqus charged toward him. Terra took the brunt of his downward strike, but held firm. It was all he could do to keep the constant blows that followed at bay.

Sparks danced before his eyes.

—If he were driven any farther back, Ven would get hurt.

Terra tried to hold his ground, but was getting pushed back bit by bit. There had to be an opening—how could he beat Master Eraqus?

“Enough, Terra! He’s right…!” Ven cried out from behind him.

“Quiet!”

What Ven was trying to tell Terra was most likely the secret concealed within himself. That didn’t matter, though. I don’t care what you are, Ven; I just want you safe.

“Terra…,” Ven said softly, and that moment, both boys were sent flying by an attack from the Master.

When Terra looked up, cradling his unconscious friend, Master Eraqus held his Keyblade aloft. An intense, radiant force was coming from his form.

If he didn’t do something now, he was a goner. Their Master would snuff out both of their lives. He had no choice but to call on all his strength. To set free all the hatred and thirst for power within him.

That it was Master Eraqus he faced was of no importance. Anyone who would harm Ven was his enemy.

Hate your Master.

An aura of tremendous darkness arose from Terra’s body. Flush with power, Terra stared at his hand gripping his Keyblade.

“I will not…let you hurt my friend!” he shouted.

Master Eraqus’s eyebrows shot up. “Has the darkness taken you, Terra?”

As his Master shouted in reproof, Terra pointed his Keyblade behind him, and an inky black hole leading to the Lanes Between opened.

Terra threw Ven inside. He couldn’t afford to look back after him.

“Wait, Terra!”

Terra heard a call from Ven—maybe the impact had awakened him—but soon he could no longer sense the Lanes Between or his friend.

All that remained were the two of them.

The air was thick with tension; a single misstep would prove fatal.

All the same, there was no way Terra could lose now.

Not now that he had the power of darkness.

Terra lunged toward Master Eraqus head-on.

“Ngh!”

Master Eraqus blocked the attack. His face was close to Terra’s, twisted with pain.

“Terra, why—?”

He didn’t answer, but instead kicked Master Eraqus in the stomach and used the newly created distance between them to immediately fire off some magic.

Master Eraqus dodged the spell with a leap backward, and as he landed in a crouch, Terra charged at him again.

However, the upswing of Master Eraqus’s Keyblade caught him straight on the chin and sent him flying back. Terra slammed to the ground and scrabbled desperately to his feet, then glared at his teacher, who had turned his Keyblade on him.

“Master…”

Terra wiped his lips. A metallic taste filled his mouth.

Why? Why did you try to harm Ven?

But if he asked the question, Terra felt it would leave him weaker. And the pain was amplifying his hatred.

Plus, Master Eraqus seemed to be having misgivings.

If he were, that would give Terra an opening. Even with the power of darkness, he would never be able to beat the Master without some sort of weakness to exploit.

Terra stood up and brought his Keyblade into position. This next attack would be his last. He wouldn’t be able to handle any more.

Terra took a deep breath. Then, he quietly let his anger grow—and his hatred. He called upon all his power.

“Yaaaaaah!” With a roar, Terra poured that power into his Keyblade and fired off an attack.

“What?!”

The amassed force took the form of a black torrent that hit Master Eraqus in the chest.

“Agh!”

The Master staggered.

At that moment, Terra felt a chill across his entire body, as if he had just woken from a nightmare.

What…did I do? Why is Master Eraqus on the ground?

Terra dismissed his Keyblade and reached toward the Master, shaking his head.

“What have I done…? Master…I just…wanted to keep Ven safe,” he implored.

Master Eraqus took a couple of weak, shaking steps, his hand pressed to his chest, and said, “No, you were right. I failed you, Terra.” He continued, his gaze directed downward. “Perhaps I’ve no one to blame but myself for the darkness inside you. And now, I’ve done worse…raised my Keyblade against you and Ventus.”

Terra extended his hand as if to place it over Master Eraqus’s.

“My own heart is darkness!”

Just then, something black struck Master Eraqus’s back. His eyes flew open as he let out a cry, his Keyblade tumbled from his hand, and he collapsed to his knees. Terra approached and tried to catch his Master, but Eraqus’s body turned to light that slipped through his arms—and he was gone.

“Master Eraqus!” Slumped over on the ground, Terra called his teacher’s name and wept.

How? Why did it come to this?

As Terra screamed over and over in his mind, a figure approached.

“What a sight. Why do you trouble yourself with remorse, Master Terra? The man was bent on doing harm to your friend, his own pupil!”

Terra lifted his head to see Master Xehanort.

“Master Xehanort! Why?”

Xehanort turned away from Terra and began to walk. “You know, at times I find your progress quite striking. But you still fall short. Let all that anger out, my boy. Give your heart over to darkness!”

“What do you mean?”

Terra stood and readied his Keyblade, and Master Xehanort unhurriedly turned back to face him.

“Still so blind…Then I will make you see. Come to the place where all Keyblade wielders leave their mark on fate—the Keyblade Graveyard!” Xehanort called forth a Keyblade shrouded in darkness and raised it upward. “There you will watch your dear Ventus and Aqua meet their ends, and the last light within you will die!”

A stygian beam lanced skyward from that Keyblade into the heavens. A giant black orb of darkness hovered overhead and began to swallow up everything in the vicinity.

In an instant, the blue sky disappeared behind a storm of grim clouds.

“You won’t need a home anymore where you’re going!”

“What?!”

Master Xehanort turned away with a chuckle, and when Terra made to go after him, the Master disappeared into a corridor of darkness that opened up ahead.

The gusting wind intensified, and the buildings linked by chains lifted upward, unable to resist the force swallowing up the world. Lightning streaked through the heavens as the Land of Departure was destroyed.

The only structures that survived, if only barely, were those with chains attached.

Terra removed the Wayfinder from his pocket and held it tight.

“Ven, Aqua…I won’t let him hurt you.”

Terra then donned his armor just he had when he first left this once-beautiful land and put his ruined home behind him.

He would use this power for the sake of his friends.

His destination was the Keyblade Graveyard—where the fate of all Keyblade wielders had been etched.

After she left the Destiny Islands, Aqua raced along on her Keyblade glider.

There, she had been able to share a brief respite with those two sweet little boys. She’d even felt Terra when she was near the one called Riku.

As Aqua scanned what lay before her to find the next world she would visit, she spied something floating up ahead. No, it was someone—with big, black ears…

“Is that…Mickey?”

Aqua accelerated toward Mickey as he drifted in space, then drew him to her. He was unconscious, and apparently injured.

“How’d this happen?” she whispered.

Mickey stirred in Aqua’s arms. “Master Yen…Sid…,” he muttered fitfully.

She had heard the name from Master Eraqus before setting out on her journey.

“Don’t worry. I’ll take you back to him.”

Still cradling Mickey, Aqua raced off on her Keyblade to find Yen Sid.

She arrived at a strange place where a small tower stood.

Aqua opened the door with Mickey still in her arms, then climbed the stairs. She passed by several rooms before she knocked at the chamber she assumed was at the top.

“Master Yen Sid, it’s a pleasure to meet you. My name is Aqua. May I enter?”

“You may,” came the low rumble.

Aqua opened the door tentatively. On the other side of a large desk sat an imposing, white-bearded man of some years.

“Ah, Mickey,” Yen Sid remarked as soon as she entered.

“So you do know each other. My teacher, Master Eraqus, has mentioned you before.”

It seemed bringing Mickey here was the correct choice.

“He is my apprentice, though I had lost track of him after he left so suddenly…”

“King Mickey!”

“King Mickey!”

Two others, Donald and Goofy, came rushing noisily up, all but drowning Yen Sid out. The duo apparently knew Mickey.

Aqua gently handed Mickey over to them, and they carried him over to one side of the chamber and laid him down gently.

“It’s okay. I don’t think he’s hurt,” she assured them.

Donald and Goofy shared a look, then peered at Mickey’s sleeping face and called out to him again.

“King Mickey!”

“King Mickey!”

A bit of the tension left her mouth in relief.

“Aqua,” said Yen Sid, “the stars bring me grave news.”

She gulped as Yen Sid continued.

“Master Eraqus’s star has blinked out. I am afraid that means he has been struck down.”

She couldn’t believe him—or didn’t want to. A web of emotions spidered across her chest all at once. As formidable as the Master was, felling him couldn’t have been an easy task. Why? What happened? And—

“Who is responsible?”

Yen Sid averted his gaze from Aqua and her rising questions and looked beyond the window. Three stars twinkled in the sky.

“Master Xehanort…and Terra.”

“No!” She approached Yen Sid and slammed her hands on his desk.

Donald and Goofy started in surprise at the loud noise, then glanced at each other.

“That’s absurd! Terra would never do that!”

That’s not possible. He couldn’t possibly do that. There’s no way…It’s not true, right? Terra?

“I hope with all my heart that you are right about your friend.” Yen Sid lowered his large eyes for a moment, then continued in a soft voice, “There are some things even the stars cannot tell me.”

“Where is he? Where can I find Terra?” Aqua pressed him further.

“Terra’s heart is leading him to the ancient Keyblade Graveyard, where wielders of those weapons once waged war.”

The Keyblade Graveyard—Aqua had heard tales of such a place.

“All right. I have to go after him…and see if it’s true.” Aqua gave a bow and turned away from Yen Sid, not wanting to waste even a second.

“Be on your guard.”

Aqua looked back slightly, then directed her gaze forward again with a nod.

It couldn’t be true.

But if it somehow was, there had to be a reason, extraordinary though it may be.

And—if someone had plotted to bring this about, Aqua would keep Terra and Ven safe from them.

We have an unbreakable connection.

Aqua closed her hand on the Wayfinder in her pocket, then left Yen Sid’s chambers.

Ven landed on white sands.

He sat up, obviously panicked, on the pristine beach of a small island. Without even taking in his surroundings, he ran up to the portal as it closed.

“Wait, Terra!”

But it vanished right before his eyes.

This is all wrong. It’s not right that Terra fought the Master. It’s because of me. This only happened because I listened to Xehanort and ran off to see the Master. It’s my fault. It’s because I’m…part of the χ-Blade.

He had to go to Terra.

Ven looked at the palm of his hand, then lifted his arm to put his armor on.

“Going somewhere?”

However, a voice stopped him. Ven spun around to see Vanitas atop the narrow wooden walkway connecting the island with a smaller one.

“I’m through with you!” Ven said vehemently, then turned and began walking away. He didn’t have time to deal with the likes of him here.

“Well, I’m just getting started with you.” Vanitas summoned his Keyblade and jabbed it out at Ven. “You’re strong enough now to fulfill your purpose. So why don’t you join with me? Right here and now. Become the χ-Blade.”

“No, I won’t do it. He told me the only way the χ-Blade can be forged is if you and me fight. Well, guess what? I’m not fighting,” Ven said, his back still turned.

Yeah. As long as I can stay out of a fight, he’ll never be able to create that χ-Blade.

“You used to be too broken to talk back,” Vanitas retorted.

A sudden pain raced through Ven’s temples. What was it?

What am I seeing in my mind—are these memories of my birth? No, Vanitas’s birth.

“Fine. Then I’ll give you a reason to fight.”

The pain subsided at last, and Ven turned to face Vanitas.

“Come and find me…at the one and only place to spawn the χ-Blade: the Keyblade Graveyard.”

Ven didn’t know that place, and he was about to say so until Vanitas continued.

“There, you’re gonna see me choke the life out of Terra and Aqua. Then we’ll see how long you play the pacifist.”

Terra and Aqua are gonna die? Not on my watch!

“Wait!”

A black mist arose from Vanitas’s body, but as Ven instinctively moved toward him, the boy vanished.

Ven was alone with the sound of waves.

If Terra and Aqua were to die, it would be Ven’s fault to an extent. He was one of the reasons they were fighting, and partially responsible for creating the turmoil through the worlds.

That was why he should be the one to put an end to it all.

Ven removed his Wayfinder from his pocket and looked at it.

It’s time to go—I have to do this.

No matter what happens, we’ll always be friends.

Ven returned the symbol of the vow between him and his two friends and donned his armor. Then he put the world of Destiny Islands—the place where it all started—behind him.

The moment he entered the darkness between, Vanitas dropped to his knees and clutched his chest.

It hurts. Ugh, I feel awful. I’m gonna throw up. Vanitas tore off his mask and cast it aside.

Beneath the mask was a raven-haired boy, his face twisted in agony as sweat beaded on his brow.

Unable to bear it any longer, Vanitas vomited on the spot and spat out a black mass. The mass twitched, and a red eye rose up on it, glinting. It was trying to become one of them. Vanitas smashed it with a fist, and the inky lump splattered and dispersed like mist.

That thing is a piece of me—of the darkness.

Vanitas flung himself down on his side.

I know.

I’ll be stronger when this is over. And so will those things born from me.

This is the ritual I have to go through to make it happen.

The more I suffer, the stronger I become.

Hate, sadness, fear, jealousy, panic, suffering, envy, anxiety, pain, despair—all of them give me power.

Xehanort had said that a fixation on strength would lead you to the power of darkness.

He didn’t get it, though.

That was nothing.

A pure power of darkness—and pure power of light.

Did the old man really believe in that? The heart was a nebulous enigma, always lurching toward one or the other. That was why a heart could be both dark and light. The fact was that pure light and pure darkness didn’t exist.

Because of that, that very uncertainty was what led people into darkness—and made them strong. A genuinely dark heart drawn from another was actually nothing more than one with a high level of purity. In the same way, the supposedly pure heart of Ventus also harbored darkness.

I can sense Ventus’s heart, too.

The more he wavers between light and darkness—and the brighter he shines for it—the stronger the darkness grows in my heart.

A lust for strength didn’t even scratch the surface of true darkness.

True darkness was right next to a brilliant source of light. The brighter the light, the deeper the darkness.

I’ve been jealous of Ventus since that day—the day I was born.

That’s what makes the power of my darkness grow.

A sharp pain shot through Vanitas’s chest. It was followed by an ongoing ache.

One of them must have destroyed another part of me somewhere.

Okay, it’s time to move. I’ll finally become myself—the χ-Blade. Let’s go to the ancient battleground. The Keyblade Graveyard.