Burning Heart Chapter 5

[eiahmon]

Title: Burning Heart
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer:Disney and Square owns it all; I only wish I did. Why in the hell cant I come up with these wickedly cool characters and twisted plots? Why?
Summary: Nomura has stated that now that his Heartless and Nobody have been destroyed, Master Xehanort will be reborn. What if he is reborn, but not in the way everyone thinks?

5.

“Bet you can't catch me!” he taunted as the wind whipped his hair around his face, and his opponent, a younger boy with black hair and brown eyes, cried out indignantly:

“Quit cheating, Xehanort!”

“It's not cheating when my keyblade glider is faster than yours!”

“Xehanort! Eraqus!” The voice of their master, sharp with disapproval, fell upon their ears, bringing their impromptu race to a screeching halt. “Land, now!” The pair obeyed their master's command, dismissing their keyblade gilders and coming to stand at attention in front of the man that had taken them in and agreed to train them. They both knew they were in trouble, and Eraqus looked as though he was about to cry at the thought of the punishment to come. Xehanort reached out and affectionately ruffled his adopted little brother's long hair....

Xavier opened his eyes and saw the ceiling of his room at the inn above him. He sat up in bed and raked his hair back from his face. What the hell had that been? A random dream, brought on by exhaustion? A memory? Nothing at all?

But one of the boys had said “keyblade”, which meant they had a weapon like he had, though he had no idea what a “keyblade glider” was. Anyway, it would be something to ask those that Hayner, Pence, and Olette had told him about once he found them.

Shaking his head, Xavier hauled himself out of the comfortable bed and began to get ready for the day. Or the perpetual evening, he thought as he looked out the window at the sunset, which hadn't budged the entire time he'd been in town. He stumbled into the bathroom to take care of a few things, glad that the innkeeper provided complimentary razors and combs, so he was able to take care of that at least.

As he went through the morning routine, taking a small amount of comfort at it, he thought about how exactly he was going to search for his family. What little he had seen of Twilight Town the previous day told him that the world appeared to be fairly small, and if living in a small world for two years had taught him anything, it was that news traveled fast in them. So if his family was on this world, he likely would have already known about it, seeing it would have been quick work for the locals to comment on the other strange person that had arrived. No, they weren't here, which meant he was going to have to go offworld to find them. And he didn't have the slightest clue on how he was going to do that. Hell, why was he so certain he could travel to get them? He hadn't even known that there were other worlds before yesterday – the day before yester – damn it. He raked his hands through his hair again; things were just so confusing.

Most people, upon being thrown into another world, would be upset and confused, especially if they had had no previous idea that there were other worlds, yet he was strangely calm about it. If was if... he had already known. Xavier looked at himself in the bathroom mirror, at his tanned skin, brown eyes, and white hair with its three weird spikes that refused to lie down no matter what he did. Who was he exactly? What kind of person had he been? He had wielded that keyblade earlier like he had trained his entire life for it, which mean that likely he had been taught to do so by someone.

Back when he had awakened from his fever induced coma and Jascha and Elissa had taken him in, he'd often wondered how he had ended up in Haven's Bridge. Had he been abandoned, cast out, kidnapped and then dumped? There had been no of knowing, and though he had quit actively trying to learn the answers to his questions, he had always nursed the secret hope in his heart that he would one day learn who he had once been. And now, staring at his reflection in the mirror, he knew with a certainty, that while he was on the path to finding those answers, he probably wasn't going to like them.

“Well,” he said to his reflection “it's too late to turn back now.”

With that, he calmly dressed himself, throwing his rumpled lab coat over the clothes that he had bought the previous day, and went down to the inn's dining room to see about breakfast.

After he had eaten and thanked the innkeeper for his hospitality, he wandered back into town and tried to figure out how to get offworld. He ignored the locals as he wandered around, deep in thought, and without any input from him, his feet carried him to the clock tower. He climbed up the winding steps and then up a narrow ladder which led out onto the ledge winding around all four sides of the structure just under the clock face. The area afforded him a perfect view of the eternal sunset, and he allowed himself a brief moment of rest and sat down on the edge. Now what was he going to do?

He closed his eyes for a brief moment, and when he opened them again, he caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of his right eye. He reached out to pick it up and looked at it closely, and he knew immediately what it was.

It was an ice cream stick, a winning one too. The word “Winner!” along with the stylized crown stamped into the wood were faded and barely legible, but he knew that he had seen these before. He'd had ice cream before, but it was the home made stuff that Elissa made in the wooden bucket with the crank handle, using ingredients from the farm and orchard. As far as he knew he'd never had ice cream on a stick before, but hadn't he know someone that liked such ice cream? He shook his head as a feeling of vertigo struck him suddenly -

“Eraqus, wanna go to Twilight town and get some ice cream?”

“Master'll be mad if we go offworld without permission, Xehanort.”

“Relax, if he catches us, I'll say I dragged you along and that you didn't want to go.”

“Al – alright, if you're sure.”

- and when it passed he got to his feet and stuffed the stick in one of the pockets of his lab coat. He then summoned his keyblade and pointed it at the wall of the clock tower. Tiny lines of light flowed and gathered around the end, and a narrow beam of purple light shot from it and impacted the wall. There was a flare of light, a crackling sound, and then a large black and purple portal opened up. Smiling in satisfaction, he tossed the keyblade in the air, and when it returned to him, it was no longer a keyblade. Instead it was a strange vehicle of some sort, made of a frame of the same kind of metal as the keyblade, with a seat, footrests, handlebars, and three narrow jets of dark light that seemed to be some kind of propulsion system. It hovered in front of him, waiting for him to mount, and after a moment's hesitation, he did so, noting that again it felt comfortable and familiar. Without batting an eye, he flew straight towards the portal in front of him, and passed through it without a backward glance.

What was on the other side startled him so badly he nearly fell off the glider. He looked around him, his jaw hanging open in shock and awe. Was this outer space? How could he be traveling through it? It was simply unbelievable. He brought the glider to a halt and looked around, noting the sparkling lights around him and the larger brightly lit globes that he assumed were worlds. Where to go? Where to go?

Whichever was closest, he decided, not wishing to spend too much time out there until he knew for sure that it was safe to do so. Not too far away was a world sparkling with light and color, and he flew towards it, trying not to look at the expanse of empty space that was all around him. He really didn't want to contemplate the consequences of falling off the glider out here.

As he neared it, another portal appeared in front of him, and when he exited it, he was flying over a lush field of wildflowers They flowers were in full bloom, and their sweet scent filled the air around him. He touched down, dismissed the glider, and looked around at his surroundings, and spotted what appeared to be a manor house off in the distance Figuring that it was as good as place to start as any, he began to walk towards it.

He had barely taken a step when his plans were interrupted. Small black portals, similar to the ones that he had used earlier, and more of those small black shadows appeared. Those were easily destroyed, and their place was taken by floating black balls with blue streaks and three tentacle like appendages. Resorting to the same tactic he had used in Twilight Town, he cast Zero Gravity (He somehow knew that was the spell's name.) which gathered them all up into a tightly packed group that he was able to destroy easily. No sooner had he done that then more of them appeared, which included two of those huge ball things that had given him such hell in Twilight Town. He jumped back and pointed the keyblade at them: “Freeze!” and was rewarded with the knowledge that magic could penetrate their shields. They third wave was destroyed easily, and was then followed by a fourth wave, which solely consisted of more shadows, only they were taller, stronger, and more human appearing than the previous ones.

To his annoyance and frustration, they quickly showed that they were not as stupid or as easy to defeat as the regular shadows. They kept their distance initially, and Xavier swore that they seemed to planning a strategy, but then they too charged him. Their strategy seemed to consist of surrounding him and using their superior numbers to maul him, and he found he couldn't stand still for a second, or they would rake him with their claws. It was the biggest challenge he'd faced so far, and though he had the skills, his body wasn't used to such prolonged, fast paced, physical activity, but still, after several minutes, the last of them vanished into a cloud of black dust, and no more appeared to take their place.

Exhausted, Xavier flopped down in the tall flowers, still clutching his keyblade tightly in one hand, and tried to catch his breath. He had already encountered the Heartless three times, and he already hated them with a passion. What exactly were they, and why did they keep appearing?

A flare of light from his keyblade distracted him from his thoughts, and he quickly got to his feet, looking around for any more Heartless, but there were none. He looked down at the keyblade as it began to vibrate in his hand, and with a will of its own, it swung downward until it was pointing at the ground in front of him. The flowers in front of him parted, and a small black hole in the shape of a keyhole was revealed. Before he could even begin to ponder what that meant, light gathered at the end of the keyblade like it had in Twilight Town. The light was white instead of purple, and a strong wind kicked up out of nowhere, seemingly coming from the ground on which he stood, ruffling his clothing and hair. A thin beam of white light then shot from the end of the keyblade and struck the hole in the ground. There was the sound of a large lock clicking closed, and then the keyhole faded away, leaving him standing in the field, completely confused. What the -

He heard the whistling swish of air moving behind him just in time, and he ducked and rolled and brought up his weapon to defend himself as he came to stand on his knees not far from where the keyhole had been. There was a loud clang! And he looked past his weapon to see the large pink blade of a scythe trying to break through his block. The pink blade was connected to a curved green handle, and gripping the handle tight and staring at him with an intense hatred was a tall man with pink hair and blue eyes.

“Xemnas!” the man snarled, and he used his weapon to shove Xavier back, breaking his block and knocking him backwards. Xavier rolled with the shove and was able to quickly regain his feet and skip a few steps further back, as the tip of the scythe embedded itself into the ground where he had been standing just a second before.

What did he just call me? Who is Xemnas?

“Who are you?” he asked as he skipped back several steps to avoid a wide swing that would have taken his head off had it connected. The question seemed to only infuriate the man further, and his eyes were sparking with rage as he swung again.

“As if you don't know!” he spat “The memory excuse may have worked the last time, Xemnas, but it won't work this time!” He then lifted the scythe over his shoulder and swung in quickly in a downward arc. A blast of red light erupted from the blade and streaked towards him, and Xavier had just enough time to notice the cherry blossom petals that fluttered all around the man and his weapon before it slammed into him. It was like slamming into a brick wall at a full run, and Xavier was flung backwards off his feet. His keyblade was knocked out of his hand, and he landed hard face down on the dirt, where he remained for a moment, dazed, with the wind knocked out of him. He dimly heard booted footsteps walking through the flowers towards him.

“I've been wanting to do this for a long time.” he heard the man say, and he could clearly picture the scythe being raised up, preparing to cleave his head off his neck. Xavier closed his eyes and braced for death when they were interrupted.

“Master Raliaum! Master Raliaum!” a woman's voice, shouting in its urgency, fell upon his ears, and the man hissed in anger.

“What is it?” he snapped “How dare you interrupt me?”

“It is your wife, Master Raliaum!” The woman sounded winded, as if she had been running for a long distance.

“Linia?” The pink haired man's entire demeanor changed, from one of rage and hostility to concern and love. “Is something wrong with her!”

“The cord!” The woman huffed for breath. “The cord has prolapsed, my lord. The midwife fears the babe may not live.”

Prolapsed cord. Xavier thought vaguely When the umbilical cord is delivered before the baby. Fatal for the child if it is not delivered quickly.

The man – Raliaum – began to walk away, the scythe vanishing from his hand in another flurry of cherry petals, and Xavier managed to get to his feet.

“Wait,” he called after him “I can help.”

Raliaum spun around with a snarl, and Xavier just barely dodged a second blast of red light, which cleaved a sizable gouge in the ground behind him. “I don't want you anywhere near my wife, Xemnas.”

“And your child will die then.” Xavier snapped, suddenly angry “No midwife will be able to deliver that baby in time, and you know it! You need a doctor if you want to have any chance of your child living.”

“Am I to assume that you are a doctor?” Raliaum growled impatiently.

“I am -” He left out the fact that he was still an apprentice: no need to bring that up. “- and unless there is another, I am your only chance for saving your son or daughter.”

Raliaum snarled again and seemed to be wrestling with indecision. “Fine,” he said after a moment “but if anything happens to my wife or child..” The threat was left unsaid; it was crystal clear without being voiced.

“I need to get there quickly.” Xavier chose to ignore the threat; he had something far more important on his mind. Raliaum nodded curtly and turned his back, and a portal, a much larger version of the ones that the Heartless used, appeared in front of him. Xavier noted that it was a dark version of the one he had created with the keyblade in Twilight Town earlier.

“Follow me.” he said, and he simply walked into it. Xavier didn't like the look of the thing one bit, but he had said he would help, so he took a deep breath and walked into the swirling darkness after the pink haired lord. They appeared in a hallway just outside a ornately made wood paneled door, and Xavier could plainly hear a woman's distressed cries from the other side. Without stopping to think, he pushed the door open and walked inside to see a full term pregnant woman lying on a bed, a worried midwife with her. He could tell immediately from the length of umbilical cord that had been delivered that there was no chance of birthing the baby the normal way and it surviving.

“Do you have anything to put her to sleep?” he asked the midwife, who only shook her head fearfully. He turned to look at Raliaum, who was standing behind me, scythe at the ready in case he tried anything. “Raliaum?”

“Why?” the man asked suspiciously.

“I have to do a caesarian, and I don't think you want her awake for that?” After a second, Raliaum shook his head and approached his terrified wife. He laid his hand gently on her forehead and whispered “Sleep.”, and her eyes sank shut.

“Do what you need to do.” he said quietly, and then he stepped back, but he did not put his scythe away. The midwife handed Xavier a knife, and he was pleased to see that its blade was sharpened to a fine edge. It wasn't a scalpel, but it would do. He swished it around in a pot of boiling water that was sitting nearby and cut.

It was only his second caesarian, and the first he had attempted alone, but his hands moved with practiced ease, and soon he was lifting a healthy baby boy from his mother's womb. He quickly cleared the nose and mouth, drained the fluid from his lungs, and tickled his feet. A second or so later, the child started to bawl, and Xavier passed him off to the midwife to care for while he took care of the mother. He removed the cord and the placenta and realized that he had nothing to stitch her up with, so, without thinking about it, he simply held his hands just above her.

“Heal,” he said softly, and he was rewarded by a green glow, and the incisions closed up on their own. He checked her pulse and breathing and saw that everything was normal, so he smiled in satisfaction and turned around to see Raliaum cradling his baby son tenderly.

“Will she be alright?” Raliaum asked quietly as he looked up, and Xavier nodded and smiled.

“She will be fine. She must rest for a few days, but that is all.”

“I still do not trust you, Xemnas.”

“My name is Xavier.”

“I don't care what your name is. Now get out of this room; I need to see to my wife.”

Startled, and more than a little irritated at the man's abrupt rudeness, Xavier nevertheless did as he asked and stepped out of the room, where a servant was waiting to take him to a room where he could clean up. He was shown to a bedroom, which had a private bath, and once he stepped through the door, it was closed and locked behind him. Deciding to ignore that for the moment, he washed the blood of his hands, surprised that none had gotten on the white sleeves of his lab coat, and sat down in a chair by a window to relax for a bit.

He knew somehow that his keyblade could open the locked door, but he decided not to push Raliaum's distrust of him. He didn't understand why the man was so hostile, and he certainly didn't know who this “Xemnas” was. Had that been his name before he lost his memory, and if it was, what kind of person had he been to provoke such a reaction? He supposed he could ask Raliaum, but the man didn't seem to believe that he had lost his memory. Hell, he had even implied that he had lost his memory once before.

The sound of the lock clicking interrupted his thoughts, and he stood up from his chair as the door opened and Raliaum stepped in, scythe in hand.

“I want you to leave.” he stated firmly, and Xavier frowned.

“I saved your son's life, and this is how you thank me.”

“I haven't killed you.”

“Why do you hate me so much? And who is Xemnas?”

“Do you honestly expect me to believe that you've lost your memory again?” Raliaum snorted in derision. 'Spare me the theatrics and get out.”

Looking at the angry man on the other side of the room, vertigo struck him again, and Xavier sunk back into the chair behind him as the room tilted and rocked. He looked up at Raliaum, standing by the door with his scythe over his shoulder, and for a moment, he saw him standing in a white hallway with gray accents, wearing a long black leather coat, black books, black pants, and black gloves. Then the room swam back into focus around him, and he hid his face in his hands. What the hell had that been about?

“Superior, what is to be done with those that would rebel against you?

“Send them to Castle Oblivion, Saix. We will give Marluxia just enough rope to hang himself.”

Xavier groaned, and he heard Raliaum or Marluxia or whatever his name was shifting, and a second later rich laughter, mocking, derisive, filled the room.

'You really cannot remember!” Raliaum laughed “You have no idea who I am, who YOU are!” Footsteps echoed across the rug dotted floor, and then hands grabbed him by the lapels of his coat, yanked him out of his chair, and flung him into another portal. He flew through it and landed on his back on wet pavement. He sat up, barely noticing that it was pouring down rain around him, and saw Raliaum, still laughing, on the other side of the portal as it closed and vanished.

Xavier stared at where the portal had been for a long moment, confused at what Raliaum had said, before he dragged himself to his feet. The cold, heavy rain had already soaked through his clothing, and he shivered as he looked around for a place to take shelter until the rain stopped.

He was in a large city, and it was dark out. No sun, no stars, just endless buildings, some with garish neon lights on their fronts, and empty streets. Looking down the deserted street, he saw a large castle floating in the air a ways away. He knew that one of the nearby buildings would suffice for a shelter, but he found himself walking towards the castle anyway; something was pulling him there. He tried to make himself stop and get out of the street, get out of the rain, but his feet would not obey him, so step by step, he walked through the pouring rain down the street, not knowing what awaited him.

Chapter 4 – Chapter 6
Back to the Archive