MIssing Scenes #8

[eiahmon]

Title: Heart to Heart: Returning Home
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Ha! I wish!
A/N: In Heart to Heart, Xehanort was originally supposed to be already living on The Land of Departure with Master Limahl and Eraqus when the spell pulled him forward, but them I realized that I needed the whole "not having a keyblade yet" to serve as a plot point and changed it to him being taken from the Destiny Islands. Here is the original returning home scene, as it was before the change.

#8
Returning Home

After taking a second to securely nestle Xehanort in his arms, Xavier walked over to the circle and stepped into the center, careful not to disturb the chalk. He didn't want to think of the consequences if one line was out of place. He sat down and cradled Xehanort on his lap and waited. The two wizards came to stand on either side of him, and after a second they began to chant in some language that he had never heard before. He closed his eyes as the words ran together and seemed to echo off the walls and ceiling of the study, and then he felt something pulling on Xehanort, as though it was trying to yank the boy out of his arms. He held on tighter and felt himself being pulled backwards as Yen Sid's and Merlin's voices began to fade, like they were moving away. The floor seems to vanish from underneath him, and a loud roaring filled his ears. He then felt himself falling, falling, falling...

… only to stop abruptly when he landed on something soft, accompanied by the sound of wood stressed to near breaking.

He opened his eyes, and his gaze fell upon heavy wooden beams that supported the ceiling above him. He sat up, with Xehanort still sleeping in his arms, and he immediately recognized his old room in the castle on The Land of Departure. There was a desk to the right of the door, a large bookshelf filled the right wall, a dresser sat against the left wall, and the bed on which he sat was opposite the door, under the window. The room was dark, lit only by faint moonlight coming through the window behind him.

A faint tug against his body reminded him that he didn't have much time, so he hastily stood up from the bed and carefully laid Xehanort down. He then took a few steps over to the dresser and pulled out a set of the flannel pajamas that he had preferred to sleep in in the cooler climate of the mountainous world. The sleep spell kept Xehanort under as he was dressed and then tucked under the multitude of blankets that he used to keep him warm during the cold nights. It would be a few more years until he became used to the climate and quit using so many.

With the child safely in bed, Xavier stepped back and sighed. It was done, now he just needed to wait until the spell pushed him forward back to his own era. Hopefully, it wouldn't take long. He moved over to the desk, pulled out the chair, and sat down to wait.

He'd just barely sat down though when his ears detected a faint sound in the otherwise silent castle. He cocked his head and listened as the sound grew slowly louder, and then he realized what it was.

Footsteps.

A steady stride, moving at a brisk pace but not running, with the steps clear yet soft. The walk of a trained warrior that moved with a cat like grace that Xehanort had envied as a boy.

Master Limahl.

Xavier frantically looked around the room; the man must have sensed the disturbance caused by the spell, and so he need to hide, fast. But there was nowhere to go: the Keyblade Master would sense him easily, no matter where he went, especially with all the darkness in his heart. He could portal out, but again, Master Limahl would sense it and use it to track him no matter where he went. There was also the thought that the spell may not be able to pull him back if he was in the wrong position. He didn't know if that was the case, but he was reluctant to take a chance with it.

He sat frozen in the chair as that stride approached the bedroom door, and there was a soft knock followed by the knob turning. A second later the latch clicked open, and the door opened slowly on silent hinges. Xavier swallowed and took a deep breath.

A familiar figure, tall, lean, and wiry, with long, gray streaked red hair, appeared in the open doorway. "Xehanort? Are you all right?"

Xavier shivered at the sound of the man's voice; he hadn't heard it in 34 years. When he'd last seen Master Limahl, the man had been on his death bed, withered with age, clinging to Xehanort and Eraqus' hands as he breathed his last. Seeing him in the darkened room, strong and healthy, was quite a shock.

Xehanort, still deeply under the sleep spell, didn't respond to the question, and Master Limahl stepped completely into the room to take a closer look at his apprentice. Xavier wasn't sure if the man was so focused on Xehanort that he simply hadn't noticed his presence or if he had and was ignoring it. He leaned over Xehanort's slumbering form and looked him over for a second before he tucked the blankets around the boy's shoulder's and stood up.

Xavier held is breath as his old master turned sharply on his heel and looked at him intently.

"Come with me, Xehanort." he said in a tone that brooked no argument. "You have much explaining to do."

Xavier gulped, stood up from the chair, and followed the man from the room. They walked silently through the darkened castle, and Xavier felt his heart wrench when they passed Eraqus' room. He slowed his pace, but -

"Xehanort!'

- a sharp word from Master Limahl made him hurry to catch up.

They walked up the stairs to the uppermost room in the main tower, where Master's Limahl's study was located. In time, it would belong to Eraqus, and then Aqua, but for now, it was as he remembered it from before. The high ceilinged, wood paneled room was filled with bookshelves that contained information on all the known worlds, (Xehanort had – would eventually – write a few of those books about worlds he had discovered.), Heartless, the ancient Keyblade War, and many other subjects. Candelabras hung from the walls, and a large chandelier hung from the ceiling above the massive wooden desk, that was positioned in front of the windows in the middle of the room. During the day, even during the dim winter months, the room was filled with light, making it a favored place to work and study.

Xavier expected to be led over to the desk, where he and Eraqus were often made to stand while Master Limahl lectured them for whatever screw up they had committed, but instead he was led over to a pair of reading chairs in one corner of the room. Xavier sat without being told, and he waited silently for Master Limahl, whom he just now noticed was dressed in his pajamas, a robe, and slippers, to sit in the chair opposite him. Finally, the man gave him another look that demanded obedience.

"Explain."

Xavier flinched and looked away. Where to start?

It was as if Master Limahl had read his thoughts. "You can start by telling me why my apprentice has so much Darkness in his heart, where before there was very little."

Xavier didn't look up. "There was a spell cast." he said quietly. "It was intended to summon me to Radiant Garden, where it had been cast, but it failed in that. Instead it summoned a different version of me somehow, pulling him forward through time." He paused; how to explain the next part?

"And?" Master Limahl prompted.

"Instead of sending him home, the people that had requested the casting of the spell... They locked him up and allowed others to abuse him. It went on for a little over a month before I was made aware of it and rescued him. That is where the Darkness is his heart came from."

"Why would anyone try to summon you?" Xavier flinched again and didn't answer. "Answer the question, Xehanort. Why would they try and summon you, and why would they torment a child in such a way?"

"I... I..." Xavier looked down at the floor. "I can't answer that."

"You can, and you will. Now tell me why."

"Please, Master..."

"Xehanort..." The warning in the man's tone was clear, and he had never been able to resist that tone.

Xavier raised his head. "It's going to consume him." he whispered. "It will destroy him, and in turn, he will try to destroy everything around him."

Master Limahl looked at him intently. "Xehanort, what have you done?" he asked quietly.

Xavier closed his eyes and lowered his head. "I can't say."

"What are you hiding, Xehanort? You will tell me."

"I don't want you to hate him." It was a lie of course; as far as he knew, Master Limahl had never shown anything resembling hatred towards his younger self, but...

I don't want you to hate me.

"That boy lying asleep in his bed is innocent of whatever you have done, Xehanort, now you tell me, what have you done?"

Though he couldn't see Master Limahl, Xavier could feel the man's blue eyed gaze boring into him; he had never been able to lie to that gaze. "I thought I could control it, Master Limahl. I thought I could master the Darkness."

"But it mastered you instead." Limahl stated calmly, and the sting of disapproval in his voice made Xavier flinch a third time, and he nodded silently. "What happened?"

"I tried to destroy everything." he said as a few tears leaked out of his closed eyes and dripped onto the wooden floor.

"Tell me everything."

So Xavier did, despite the tugs against his body. He told Master Limahl about being becoming a Seeker after passing the Mark of Mastery, about losing control of the Darkness in his heart, about Ventus and what he had done to the child, killing Eraqus, destroying the Land of Departure, possessing Terra, sealing away his own heart and waking with no memory save for his name in Radiant Garden. He told of his adoption by Ansem, of his dark self regaining control and destroying the only home and family he could remember, the forming of Organization XIII and its purpose, the destruction of his Heartless and Nobody, of falling ill and his waking in Haven's Bridge, again with no memory.

He paused then, his throat dry and sore from talking, and Master Limahl wordlessly handed him an empty glass. "I assume you can still conjure water."

Xavier nodded with a faint smile and filled the glass up before drinking it down. He then set the glass aside.

"Finish it, Xehanort. You woke up in that world; what happened after that?"

Xavier told him as the tugs against his body became stronger and more insistent, and when the whole sorry tale was finished, Master Limahl said nothing for a moment. Xavier kept his eyes on the floor, but he could still feel the man's gaze on him; it was a feeling that he had never liked, and he had to stop himself from squirming like he had just been caught nosing around in the forbidden section of the library.

"Please don't hate me." he whispered.

"There is still a great deal of Darkness in your heart." Master Limahl commented, to which Xavier nodded. At this point, getting rid of it would be impossible. "Do you still use it?"

"When the need arises."

"That's very irresponsible of you, Xehanort."

"It's the safest way for me to move around. Too many know of me and what I've done to use the Lanes Between."

"You hide from the consequences then?"

"I do." The tugs became harder and more insistent. "I must leave soon." He raised his head and looked at Master Limahl. "Please don't hate me, Master."

"I don't hate you, Xehanort." Limahl said in a quiet voice. "I hate what you have done; I hate the monster that you became, but I do not hate you." He leaned forward, and Xavier lowered his gaze back down to the floor as one of the man's hands came down on his shoulder. "I'm proud of you, Xehanort." Xavier raised his head up and stared at his old master in shock. Master Limahl simply smiled. "It's unheard of for someone to come back to themselves after being lost to the darkness, yet you have managed it twice. It's a testament to how strong your heart is and why I chose you as an apprentice in the first place."

Xavier smiled as Limahl's words made his heart glow with warmth, but the man's next words snuffed it out. "That said though, Xehanort, you are still responsible for much destruction and many deaths. You cannot hide from that forever."

"What must I do?"

"You must stop hiding and face the consequences."

"I don't want to die, Master Limahl."

"No one does, Xehanort. Is that fear not the reason you stole another's body to being with?"

"I gave it back to him." Xavier protested in a meek tone.

"That does not mitigate the fact that you took something precious that did not belong to you." The hand on his shoulder squeezed lightly and then let go. "You need to face up to what you have done, Xehanort. I taught you better than that."

The tugs became an insistent pull. "I have to leave." Xavier whispered. "Master Yen Sid's spell is calling me back."

Master Limahl stood up, and he pulled Xavier to his feet with him. "I love you, Xehanort. Perhaps I never told you that enough, but you must face the consequences of you actions. You cannot hide from this. The people that you hurt deserve better." He held out his arms then, and Xavier hesitated for a moment before he stepped into the offered embrace. Master Limahl's strong arms closed around him, and Xavier closed his eyes and laid his head down on the man's shoulder.

"Even if it means my life?" he whispered.

"That is not for you to decide, is it?"

The pull became stronger, and Master Limahl let go of him and stepped back. "I taught you to always do the right thing, Xehanort. Don't fail me now."

Xavier made note of the glint of moisture in his old master's eyes as he wiped a few tears from his own. "I won't. I swear."

"Then this is goodbye."

Xavier nodded as the room began to fade. "Goodbye, Master Limahl." he said as the study vanished as he felt himself falling upward away from it. He felt himself rising, like he was coming up through deep water.

He then seemed to fall upward to land hard on the floor of Master Yen Sid's study. He knew he should get to his feet because an attack could be waiting, but he just couldn't at first. Something was slipping away from him, and though he tried to grab a hold of it and keep it close, it slipped out of his grasp and vanished.

Why was he crying? He wiped the tears from his face and looked at his wet fingertips in confusion. What had happened? Why was he upset? Why was his heart aching so?

"Master Xehanort?" came Master Yen Sid's voice from his right. "I see that you succeeded."

He got to his feet and looked at the elderly keyblade master, who in truth, was only a few years older than himself. "So it would seem. I cannot remember what happened in the past, but since I remember living with Master Limahl and Eraqus until I completed my Mark of Master, then I assume everything went fine."

"Then there is only one other matter to deal with."

"Yes," Xavier said in agreement as he heaved a heavy sigh. "There is." Something was compelling him, something was telling him that this had to be done. "I will go speak to Master Ansem, and then, everything will be settled."

He opened a portal and stepped back into it. "One way or another, this is going to end, tonight."