Search Results

Ventus is safe enough. Aqua strives on as herself. But Terra...

This is just awesome! Love the quality and also really appreciate that you used Kingdom Key throughout. Wonderful work!
Heads up though, you should probably post a link to the page in the Cutscene Archive. Only other thing is Traverse Town Second Visit not having MP4 yet but I'm sure you'll handle that in all due time. You're the best.

What on Earth? GT made me feels? With the music, the quotes, the KH moon, the keyblade and above all the panning out to reveal the beach? Oh wow.

I find it funny that people are complaining about the keyblade model. So it's not perfect, but it was nice to have it there at all. It's not like it was unrecognisable.

On a similar note, I don't get why people are complaining about the timeline itself. It'll be interesting to see how they do. If you don't think it's necessary then don't watch it. For those who are interested, they can enjoy it.

Feel like I'm being awfully negative, but that video put me in a good mood. I'll keep my eye on this.

I saw the title and was afraid this was a list of shipping fantasies, but it warmed my heart to see descriptions of honest justified relationships shared between characters as they are shown in the series.
If you're in to that sort of thing then good for you. But I find it annoying when people think romances like SoraxRiku and AxelxRoxas are actually canon. You might find that weird, but I think it disgraces their characters.
But on the whole, good list. It rekindles my love for the characters.

Ah, sorry I'm late. Good job guys! This stuff is really something. I totally agree with all the winners, incredible entries.

Special thanks to my friend Sam for helping me proof-read this.

My story takes place between BBS and KH. It's about Isa and Lea and how they lost their hearts, told in 3rd person from Isa's perspective.

There's definitely no limit right? I got quite carried away so bear with me. Sorry!

Spoiler: Isa and Lea

Isa looked up at the castle with his undying curiosity. Ever since he was little he’d looked at the city’s beacon of hope and imagined what went on in there. It was a refuge of research and knowledge, ruled by the benevolent man known as Ansem the Wise. Isa gazed at what he dreamed of infiltrating and investigating for himself. There must be so many secrets just waiting to be discovered, and Isa didn’t like being left out. If he could, maybe he could work there when he was older. To help the great Ansem protect and serve the home he loved, while learning more about the world and if there was anything out there beyond his home. He’d never met Ansem before, but the tales alone of his deeds raised Isa to almost idolise him. He was like an enigmatic hero Isa secretly hoped to become someday.
“Hey, it’ll melt if you don’t eat it fast enough.” Isa turned to the source of the voice, who grinned at his blank stare. “Got it memorized?”
Lea was his best friend, and ever since he’d confided with him about his dream to explore the castle, the two of them had worked together in their attempts to sneak in and see it for themselves. Throughout all Isa’s attempts to invade the sanctuary, Lea stuck by his side to help him in whatever way possible. They didn’t have a lot of luck and never made it far, but Lea never lost heart even when Isa did. Isa smiled; he probably wanted to get in more than Lea did, but it was Lea who had more conviction. Isa knew he was lucky to have a friend as dedicated as Lea.
Isa returned to the ice-cream he was neglecting. “How would you know? I’ve never seen you leave one unfinished.”
Lea put on expression of mock shock. “How dare you. You can’t just not finish sea-salt ice cream. It’s the best flavour in the world!”
“Says you.” Isa muttered. They sat in silence for a moment, before Isa had a thought. “Say Lea? After this, do you wanna check out the castle?”
“Hm?” Lea turned in surprise with the ice-cream stick sticking out his mouth. “You have another hare-brained scheme up your sleeve?” he asked while his eyes lit up.
“No, I just want to scout around for a bit.”
Lea scoffed. “What’s the point in that? We’re just gonna look at it? I can see it fine from here, thank you.”
“Something weird is up. Ever since that Xehanort guy started working there the place has gotten quieter. This morning there weren’t even any guards around.”
“That is weird. I heard they were becoming more active with the other apprentices, but weren’t their experiments called off or something?”
“Yeah, why aren’t they doing their job unless they’re running experiments?”
“Maybe something changed and we just haven’t heard about it.”
“Maybe. Or maybe they’re doing them anyway. Or maybe they’re up to something new. Either way, I’m going to check it out. Are you with me or not?”
Lea grinned. “When are you going to get it memorized? I’m always with you.”


They approached the castle much later. The sun had descended and it was getting dark. The two boys approached the front door from the side. There was nobody around but Isa was certain the door would be locked. Lea ran up and tried to open it anyway, but as Isa expected, it wouldn’t budge. Lea pressed his head up against the door as though to listen out for some secret conversation. Isa didn’t know why he bothered; there was nothing but a corridor followed by another door on the other side. Isa convinced him there was nothing to see here and to try something else. Lea suggested the basement entrance.
They’d found the entrance during one of their attempted invasions. It had led to series of corridors in which they’d gotten lost and promptly caught. Since then there was usually a guard stationed there, making further attempts pointless. This time however, they were surprised to find the door not only alone but unlocked. Excited, the two boys crept into forbidden territory once again. They kept to the shadows, wary that they would be discovered. The two guards that always had to deal with them, Dilan and Aeleus, passed by down a corridor to their right having a distant conversation. The duo turned left where they found a passage leading upstairs. They continued to wander through the halls of the huge building until they found a room with a name marked on the door: “Xehanort”.
Once they were inside Isa thought it would be safe to talk. He turned to Lea. “We’ve never been this far into the castle before.” It was as he said this Isa saw his own hands trembling with nervous tension.
On the contrary, Lea looked ecstatic. “I know! Let’s check out this room and see what we can find!” Immediately he sprang forward and started rummaging around.
The room was appeared to be living quarters and a study. Isa noted a trunk in the corner, a large bookshelf, a wardrobe full of black hooded coats in various sizes and a desk with some notes still scattered across the table. It was this that Isa chose to investigate. He saw a collection of papers which contained incredibly in-depth information on the world and darkness. Isa spied the word "Heartless" scattered across several of these documents. They appeared to be strange creatures of some sort. Isa didn’t understand most of it but what he did notice was that they were each entitled “Ansem Report” followed by a number. Could this really be Ansem’s quarters? Were these really Ansem’s notes? What was Xehanort doing with them? And would Ansem really experiment with people’s hearts? Isa was growing uncomfortable and thought they’d better leave. He turned to Lea who had opened the trunk in the corner and was rummaging through it.
“Lea, we should go.” Isa said worriedly.
“Isa check this out! There’s a whole armoury in here!” Lea exclaimed, pulling out a lance.
Isa looked over and indeed there were a lot of weapons inside. He saw a scythe, an axe, a shield and even some knives. But there were also some things that seemed like junk, a pack of cards, a guitar, a book and a scrap of paper that showed only one word underlined twice: “keyblade”. Isa couldn’t understand what all this was for and was about to suggest they leave when something else caught Lea’s interest.
“Oh! Look at this, Isa! It’s just my style.” he exclaimed holding up what looked like a pair of sharp discs with handles in the middle. Isa was unsure what to think until he saw Lea put his Frisbees in the trunk.
“What are you doing!?” Isa responded angrily.
“What? It’s a fair trade.”
“That is a lethal weapon! Are you planning to kill somebody?”
Lea looked hurt. “Aw come one Isa! It’s just a souvenir. I won’t actually use it.”
Isa was about to argue back when he heard footsteps outside. It was at that point that he realised they’d left the lights on and the door ajar. Instantly both boys dashed behind the trunk closing it silently in the process. The door creaked as a man peeked his head in.
“Hmm.” A deep voice sounded. “He must have left his light on.” Whoever the man was, he didn’t enter and even had the decency to turn off the light and shut the door. Now Isa just felt bad for sneaking in like this; he felt like a criminal.
He turned to Lea and said in a hushed voice “Put it back! You’re stealing.”
“Give me a break Isa, nobody will notice. Hey look! You can even combine them!”
“Shh!” Isa hushed to him but Lea was drawn in by his new toy, linking them together so they became like two large rings crossing over each other spinning around both hands. Isa supposed it was for added power. He guessed the man was far away enough by now and thought it was high time they left. To help them slip by unnoticed, they took a couple of the nearby black cloaks for discretion. As he finished putting his one on, Isa tried to get Lea to put the discs back but he just walked out the room. Right before Isa set off to follow him he spotted a claymore inside the box. Isa was struck by what a blunt weapon it was and as he shut the box he hoped he would never have to fight someone in battle.


They knew their only realistic option for escape would be the way they came in, so heading downstairs, they retraced their steps until they found the maze of corridors. Unfortunately, they quickly got lost and found themselves in a large open space. Isa just wanted to get out, fearing something deeply wrong was afoot, but he was led by the sound of raised voices down the hall. Both he and Lea sneaked forward towards the sound of the commotion, until they were able to make out what was being said.
“Dilan! Dilan what’s wrong?” It sounded like one of the two guards. “What have you done to him?” the voice exclaimed. “Xehanort!”
Isa gasped. Xehanort. The same man who had a stash of weapons in his room. The same man who was so obsessed with darkness. Isa could tell from the tone of the other man’s voice that something was seriously wrong, but Lea was ignoring his protests and advancing further forward.
“My name is not Xehanort.” The statement was cold and blunt. There wasn’t even a hint of emotion behind it. “My name is Ansem.” Isa went numb at the sound of this. Was the kind impression of their ruler nothing but a lie?
The two boys reached a door that was half open, leading into a round, well-lit study. The room was a mess with books and pages scattered everywhere. The voices were coming from yet another dark corridor coming off the left side of the room. They were much closer now, something Isa was very uncomfortable about. Suddenly there was a twinkling sound and a slight glow was cast at the end of the passage.
“Wha-? Is this what you did to them? For the last time Xehanort, where are Even and the others?” There was no response. There was only the sound of a movement followed by a grunt from the guard. There was a beat, and then he screamed.
Both boys were immediately aware that this was far bigger than any curiosity was worth and scrambled to run away. They charged back down the hall, not caring how much noise they made, just desperate to escape whatever dark misdeeds were being carried out in the castle basement. As they rushed down a corridor they nearly bumped into a man in a white coat. Isa was a little bewildered because he was almost sure he hadn’t been standing there a moment before.
“My, my! What is the matter, boys?” He inquired curiously. He was young yet tall with long silver hair. Isa felt a certain familiarity about him, but Lea beat him to a response.
“There’s something wrong in the study back there!” He blurted out. “Some guys have gotten hurt, we think.” He glanced at Isa, who returned with a look of warning.
“In that case, we’d better go sort this out.” The man replied kindly. “Show me where this happened.” Lea was mid-turn when Isa grabbed his shoulder and looked the man in the eye.
“Actually, we need to go home. We’re not supposed to be here anyway and I’m sure you can find it. It’s a large study, you can’t miss it.
The man stared back at Isa with auburn eyes that pierced him like a blade. At once Isa felt more fear than he’d ever felt in his life and wilted beneath his gaze. “I cannot investigate attacks within these walls without company. Surely you wouldn’t leave me alone to look into this?” Isa realised there was no choice in the matter. “Come.” The man strolled forward and turned to them expectantly.
Lea looked uncertainly from Isa to the man and back again. Isa rose to meet his gaze and Lea saw the fear written on Isa’s face. He turned to the man and asked the question Isa was too afraid to ask.
“Before we follow you, what’s your name?”
The man’s expression remained neutral, and he answered almost immediately. “It’s Ansem. Unfortunately my top apprentice has been misusing my name of late. Do not be misled.”
Lea sighed with relief and gave Isa a reassuring smile. Now it all made sense. Xehanort was pretending to be Ansem, stealing his identity. But if this was the real Ansem, then everything could be sorted out. Isa felt much better, but was still uneasy. It wasn’t just how suspicious this man still seemed, or that he was much younger than Isa expected him to be. There was something else that was nagging him, something they’d missed.
Isa didn’t figure it out until they were back in the study. How did Ansem know about any attacks? They hadn’t said anybody was attacked and even he and Lea weren’t sure themselves if anyone had carried out such an act. So why did he mention “attacks”? At once Isa realised this was probably a trap, but it was already too late to turn back. He gathered himself together and looked at Lea, fully aware of the danger they could be getting into yet not wavering in the slightest. Isa always looked to Lea for courage; Isa was more level-headed but Lea had much more spirit than him. Whatever happened, the two of them looked out for each other. That’s how it always would be.
Grim-faced, Isa practically marched the last leg of the walk through the dark corridor. Ansem flipped a switch Isa couldn’t see and the room lit up. He took in his surroundings and saw they were in a large laboratory, atop a wide aqua-blue balcony. Nearby there was a big strange device and opposite it there was a computer system. There was nobody else on the platform. They were alone.
Just then Ansem pointed out over the edge. “Behold,” he spoke, “the Heartless.” Isa and Lea peered down to see small black creatures with glowing eyes pattering about the floor below them. Isa turned to see the imposter leering at him with a cruel interest. This man was the fake Ansem! This man was Xehanort! Isa felt sick as he realised that the two of them were now trapped with him, where he’d probably do to them whatever he did to the others.
“You! You’re Xehanort!” Isa exclaimed, unsure what else to say. At the very least it might benefit Lea, but Isa turned to see he was just as quick on the uptake and was looking at Xehanort with a dark stare. Wanting answers, Isa continued, “What did you do to the other guys who were here?”
“I think I know.” Lea stepped forward, his voice was dark. “You turned them into those monsters down there, didn’t you?” Isa understood. That’s why Xehanort showed them the heartless, demonstrating his latest work. “Are you planning to do that to us too?”
Xehanort chuckled softly, then turned away looking out over the laboratory as though lost in thought. After a slight pause he spoke again. “They are born of the darkness in people’s hearts, drawn from the extraction of one’s heart. Why do they seek hearts? They have none of their own. I and my companions have gained much from our experiments, but I have learned enough for now. How fragile a heart is, how useless emotions are. Surely a person is capable of surviving without one, but in a lesser form or in a stronger one? Are hearts a source of power or a hindrance? I must find out for myself, but where shall I find myself? If a complete being exists in light and a heartless exists in darkness, where does the remainder reside? There must be a realm of In-Between, but I need to verify this for myself. If they have the strength, I might just see my associates there.” Then he turned back and looked straight at Lea. “For now though, the question is: Will I see you there?”
Isa had listened in horror to the words of what could only be a crazy madman. He didn’t understand exactly what Xehanort was saying but he’d caught enough to realise that he was misusing the hearts and even the lives of others. Isa couldn’t take it much longer, Xehanort was proving with every sentence what a despicable individual he was, and clearly he and Lea were next in line to be subjected to his malicious curiosity. Lea seemed to be thinking the same thing, reaching for the stolen weapons. Isa’s anger turned to alarm. Since Xehanort was so upfront about his plans to them, he was obviously confident in his ability to stop both of them. Isa didn’t doubt it. If he was able to defeat Dilan and Aeleus simultaneously, he must be more powerful than he appeared. In that case, chances were he and Lea wouldn’t be a match for Xehanort if they fought him. But if one of them stayed behind the other could make it to safety. It was their only chance, and Isa wasn’t prepared to lose his friend.
“Run Lea!” Isa bellowed as he charged at Xehanort with everything he had.
“No! Isa, wait! We’ll take him together!” Lea shouted back, but Isa had to force him to understand. There was only one solution.
Isa leapt as high as he could at Xehanort with his arms raised to push him back. Xehanort smirked and raised a single fist that caught Isa in the abdomen. Isa gagged as all the breath was smashed out of him. He fell to the floor wheezing in pain, his senses distorted. He could hear Lea’s voice but he couldn’t make out what he was saying. All Isa could think was how could Xehanort have so much physical strength? He wasn’t even fazed by Isa’s body weight. Isa allowed himself to grin. All that ice cream for nothing.
He backed up against the wall, coughing endlessly. He looked up and saw Xehanort was glowing, except it was a paradoxical glow. It wasn’t radiating light; it seemed to be swallowing it. Isa caught on, this was the power of darkness. Xehanort held out his hand and without warning an eerie, metallic weapon burst into his hand. It came out of nowhere but suddenly Xehanort was holding it, and was pointing it at Isa.
Suddenly one of the discs appeared, flying fast and hit the weapon with perfect accuracy. Isa turned to see Lea running up to fight him now. “No Lea! Don’t! Save yourself!” Isa screamed, reaching out pleadingly for Lea to turn back. Lea wasn’t listening. He didn’t take his eyes off Xehanort as he caught the disc that had rebounded and threw them both straight at him in two different areas. Xehanort didn’t even blink as he swatted both discs away like they were no more than a nuisance. This didn’t stop Lea, and he continued to rush at Xehanort without faltering, throwing a punch right towards what appeared to be an opening. Looking bored, Xehanort sidestepped it at the last second and plunged his weapon into Lea’s chest.
Suddenly everything halted. Isa watched wide-eyed as he saw Lea collapse to the ground limply, barely moving. Isa couldn’t take his eyes off the sight as Lea moaned weakly, shifting his body with the last of his strength to look Isa in the eyes. Isa saw pain and apology as the two locked eyes, as though Lea’s last thoughts were ones of regret. Isa looked on in horror as Lea flinched before lying still, unmoving, his face eternally blank with his mouth hanging open just as a gaping fish does when its life ends. Isa viewed his body slowly fade into darkness while what must be his heart rose out of his chest. Isa stared as Lea disappeared, his eyes still looking towards Isa, who looked down to notice he’d been reaching out to Lea.
Isa could feel his heart shatter as his only friend was swallowed by darkness. He was automatically accepting that Lea was gone yet he consciously fought those thoughts back. Lea couldn’t be gone; he was Isa’s best friend, the two of them had so much still to do together. They ate ice cream together, they picked on each other, they laughed it off together and above all, they dreamed together. They shared everything with each other, but they never talked about how they felt towards each other, never spoke about how much the other meant to them. Occasionally Isa thought about it, maybe Lea did too, but it seemed weird and unnecessary. But now it was too late. Isa’s best friend was gone. He was alone.
Isa screamed. He let out everything: his rage, his sorrow, his pain, all in one long scream. He felt tormented as the loss sank in, tearing him apart. As he did so, a chill ran along his body. Isa looked at his hand to see it was surrounded by shadows. The power of darkness, he was embracing it. Isa didn’t care. He had nothing now, nothing but hatred for what was left. Darkness wouldn’t bring Lea back. Then Isa thought of something and looked up at Xehanort. Perhaps it would at least bring him revenge. Isa further opened his heart to the darkness, absorbing all the power it would offer him. It no longer mattered what consequences came of this as long as he made Xehanort pay.
The whole time Xehanort had watched on quietly without expression, but now a smile drew itself across his face. His eyes lit up when he saw the darkness spread across Isa’s being. For the first time in a while he spoke, and Isa hated his voice. “You have such potential, unlike the other boy.” If he was attempting to aggravate Isa further, he was succeeding. Isa still didn’t care. “It’s a shame you are held back by your pitiful feelings.”
“My feelings define me!!” Isa screeched back at him, not recognizing his own voice.
“And yet they cloud your thoughts. I know you. In past encounters I have seen how calm and thoughtful you truly are. You are a collected individual. However, the moment you lost your friend, you stopped thinking with your mind and started acting on your heart. You have lost all control of your own actions and become unbalanced. This is further proof that hearts only weaken our judgement and scramble our thoughts with needless compassion.”
Isa was sick of listening to him. He saw the discs Lea had taken were lying by his feet and he snatched them up. Isa combined them at once, turning them into the larger rotating cross orbiting his hand. Isa then lunged at Xehanort swiping at his unguarded side, but Xehanort brought his weapon up to block it. As they made contact, Isa felt his resistance falter slightly. So this was the power that countered Isa so easily, the same power that was actually doing harm to Xehanort. Isa pushed further but Xehanort swiped, tipping Isa off balance. He just brought himself upright in time to deflect Xehanort’s following jab, then jumped and brought the dual discs down on him, fuelled by darkness. Xehanort was faster than he looked and swung his weapon up to hold off Isa’s attack pushing vertically at the centre of Isa’s attack. For a moment the two of them were locked against each other, two sides of a scale, pushing with equal force. They looked at each other’s eyes. Isa hated those eyes.
“Not bad,” Xehanort said. “It seems hearts offer a different kind of power. Very interesting.” Isa was getting sick of this. Even as he fought with everything he had, Xehanort treated the whole ordeal like another experiment. “Unfortunately for you, you are playing with forces you do not understand. You cannot hope to win, yet you fight anyway because you are blind. You are blind because your friendship is misguided. You will only suffer by opening your heart to simple feelings. Your efforts are pointless!” Now Xehanort looked upon Isa with anger... or was it just plain annoyance? He held his weapon with both hands and pushed much harder against the struggling Isa.
Now the scales were tipped, with Xehanort pushing down on Isa who was doing all he could to hold his own. He saw the crossed discs getting closer and closer to his face. It would be wise to back off or duck but Isa refused to let go. He thought of how bravely Lea fought until it cost him his life. Just once Isa wanted to be like that, he wanted to fight without fail, he wanted to be just like Lea.
But Lea was gone.
With one last push, the spinning discs cut into Isa’s face. The large X grinded forward, further embedding itself into his head directly between his eyes. Isa screamed in pain as his vision blurred. He opened his eyes to find himself lying uselessly on the floor, his weapons smashed and scattered nearby. Isa couldn’t feel anything now. His life had collapsed in such a short time and he’d lost his best friend to an insane maniac. Isa drew strength from his hatred until it was used up. Now he just didn’t think, neither did he feel. He just stared blankly up at the ceiling, as tears rolled down his face.
Xehanort stood above him, observing what Isa had become. It occurred to Isa that he may already be fading. It didn’t matter. Xehanort didn’t say anything. He just raised his weapon, and stabbed downwards. Without feeling anything more, Isa lost consciousness.


Isa opened his eyes to darkness. He couldn’t make out where he was, only that it was dark. He looked around to see a blank, grey space. He seemed to be in some sort of void, lost in oblivion. There was nobody else around him, he was alone.
Isa reflected on his situation. Lea was gone, so was he probably. He was far from his world and his home, unable to do anything but sit in silence. Xehanort had escaped unscathed, no doubt to carry out his misdeeds and conspiracies uninhibited. Taking all this into consideration, Isa thought he should be suffering. He thought all this was reasonable cause to feel sad or angry or hurt, but all he could do was deduce this. He tried to feel with his heart but no feelings came. All he had were his cognitions and memories.
Just then a flurry of shadows appeared and swirled around in front of him. Emerging from them appeared a familiar face, in a black cloak just like Isa’s. It had to be Xehanort; it was the same eyes and build. But there was something different about him. Was it the hair? Isa looked dully at him with no response. The last time he’d laid eyes on him, he’d wanted to obliterate him. But now Isa felt nothing, he just stood there in thought at his sudden appearance. He analysed the facts: He could not defeat Xehanort. He could not feel, therefore his heart was missing. Xehanort knew what he was doing when he extracted Isa’s heart. Xehanort knew Isa would be here. He hadn’t come to fight, he would be moving on with his own mission. Isa knew the best course of action would be to listen.
“You see that without a heart, there is no fog in your mind. Without a heart, you do not make mindless actions without good cause. When you are free of emotions or friends, you are at your strongest.” He sounded different but it was definitely him. Isa was unsure how to react. He thought there was something wrong here, that he should be disagreeing like he did before. But he could see no fault in Xehanort’s reasoning. Whatever Isa had believed when he spoke back must have been wrong.
Now, Isa thought, was the time for answers. “What happened to us?” he asked.
“In my experiments, I have extracted all of our hearts.” Our. So the others were in the same state? “We are now empty shells of our former selves, unfeeling vessels of our minds; Left between light and darkness with no home to call our own. In my blind search for power and knowledge I have cast away my own heart along with yours and now neither of us is capable of emotion.”
“We can’t feel anything anymore?” Isa asked the question but his lack of an inner reaction had more or less answered it already.
“No. Our hearts have been taken by the heartless. We have no hearts. We cannot feel.” Isa thought back to his times as a person. He remembered his ability to laugh, to bicker, to moan, and to just smile. He considered his new form and assumed it was capable of these things too. But without a heart they wouldn’t be genuine. Without a heart he’d only be fooling himself by trying to recreate those feelings.
“We don’t have feelings... but we remember what it was like... back when we did have feelings.” Isa stated this while his mind put it together. He tried desperately to draw out some sort of emotion, but it was impossible. His heart just wasn’t there.
“That is correct.” Xehanort sneered, almost impressed. “You understand much so soon.”
“So what happens to us now?” Isa asked.
Xehanort looked aside for a moment before responding. “First, you will assume a new identity.” He waved his hand and Isa saw the letters of his own name suspended in front of him. He waved again and the letters started to spin rapidly around Isa. Finally Xehanort brought his hand down and a large X appeared in the centre, as the other letters rearranged themselves to spell out a new name. Saix. “We are setting out on a new path and so we shall assume new identities. Henceforth you shall be Saix and you shall refer to me as superior or Xemnas.”
Xemnas. Saix turned it in his head and realised Xehanort was still stealing his master’s identity. But Saix no longer cared. He was about to ask what had happened to Radiant Garden but decided it wasn’t important, at least not yet. Xemnas continued.
“We and the other apprentices will be forming an organization. We will need to gather more members by any means possible, seek out candidates if we have to. We will grow larger in number until we have a total of thirteen members. From then onwards, we shall be known as Organization XIII.”
Saix didn’t question the originality of the name as he might have done in the past, nor did he ask why he wanted thirteen members precisely. Instead he wondered why he was expected to join ‘Xemnas’ after his antagonistic actions of the not-so-distant past. “What’s in it for me? What is our ultimate goal?” he asked.
Xemnas turned and looked up, his eyes lighting up with his own thoughts. “Kingdom Hearts. It is an extraordinary source of power and knowledge, darkness and light, ruin and restoration, nothingness and hearts.” He looked back to Saix with expectation. Saix understood.
“We’re going to receive this power and restore ourselves.”
“Precisely. I made an error. Hearts are indeed a source of great power, even if the weakness of emotions stem from them. Now that my research is complete we shall work together for the common goal of becoming complete beings once more. Perhaps we can become even more than that...” He trailed off.
Saix had only one question left. “Did you find and recruit Lea?”
Xemnas gave him a curious look, as though he was scanning him with a mix of suspicion and amusement. “Not yet. You are rank VII, if I find him he shall become no. VIII. We are searching for him but have had no luck. Perhaps his heart was not strong enough. We may never find him.” After saying this Xemnas opened a portal, a corridor of darkness, and motioned for Saix to step through. As he did Saix realised that he still felt nothing.


Saix stood alone in the room where nothing gathers. He looked out the window overlooking their strange new home lost in thought. He heard footsteps behind him and was shortly joined by Axel who stood by him. The two of them stood in silence for some time until it was broken, as always, by Axel.
“Nice to see you too.” He grinned. Saix had grown to find his imitations of emotions pitiful.
“Why do you do it?”
“Huh?”
For the first time in a while, Saix now turned to directly face him. “Why do you act as though you feel with a heart that isn’t there?”
Axel looked hurt but Saix knew that it wasn’t real. Axel was just as cold and unfeeling as Saix was. Axel responded with a bitter voice “Why did you give up so quickly? I thought I knew you!”
Saix responded in the same emotionless tone as he always spoke in. “You did, back when I had a heart. Now we are both incapable of feeling, yet you mask it behind an empty charade of your former personality. It is pointless. We will receive our hearts from Kingdom Hearts when the time comes, until then you should not waste your time with frivolous acts.”
Saix turned away again. He knew Axel was still there, watching him. When he spoke, Axel had clearly dropped the act. “You’re right. I don’t feel. But until I get my heart back I’ll keep trying to care, to worry, and to laugh. I’ll never give up on who I was. Even if I can’t change who I am, I’ll die trying.” He started to walk away, before he turned to Saix one last time, a grin back on his face. “I never forget my friends. Got it memorized?”

I'm happy to take part, but how do I enter?

Quick question: Will you keep Sora's classic Kingdom Key for all cutscenes?