//------------------------------// // Chapter XIX: Seeker #2 // Story: KINGDOM HEARTS: Dark Order // by OliverSparkle //------------------------------// In another white room of the strange castle within the dark room underneath the Crystal Empire, the three heroes were still walking along until they stopped near a white door on top of some mini stairs. They stared at the door as Sunset then asked, “Do you think this is it? Is this what Xehanort on about when he gave us the card?” Terra pulled the card from his pocket and looked at it before answering, “Only one way to find out.” He looked at the door again, “There is no turning back now. Whatever’s going on and whatever Xehanort wants with us, we must destroy him and defeat the darkness that’s trying to pull us back.” “Right,” replied the two ponies in unison while giving him a nod. Terra placed the card forward towards the door and a bright light appeared around it as it magically opened the door with another bright light appearing. This time it was a huge bright light, and it shone so bright that it covered the entire room along with Terra, Sunset and Starlight. Terra, Sunlight and Starlight were now walking on a long rocky path with no ground underneath the path, there were pointy stick looking rocks on each side of the path and everything around them was dark. They were in, the Realm of Darkness! Sunset and Starlight were looking around this mysterious place while walking behind Terra. “What is this place?” Starlight asked, “I’ve never seen a place like this before.” “It’s the realm of darkness,” answered Terra, “It’s where the most horrible darkness is kept and can drag you into most powerful lies that you turn into either a Seeker or a pawn of the darkness. It what also keeps you trap in here if you ever fell into darkness.” This grew a shock look on Sunset and Starlight. They’ve remembered Young Xehanort sending Oliver to the realm of darkness after he scarified himself to save Celestia. Maybe this is one of the parts Xehanort meant after he gave them the card. “Do you think this is one the pasts Xehanort meant?” Asked Starlight curiously, “Are we in the past where Oliver was sent to the realm of darkness?” They stopped walking as Terra turned round to look at the girls before asking, “Oliver, got sent to the realm of darkness? When did that happen?” “Not on purpose,” answered Starlight, “Xehanort, or rather, Young Xehanort was planning on sending Celestia to the realm of darkness, but Oliver sacrificed himself to stop him from sending her. Not sure if Discord planned this or not.” Terra was confuse by this. “Discord? What does he have to do with Oliver being sent here?” “It’s a long story,” replied Sunset, “Discord formed three most dangerous threats of Equestria, along with Cold Wind and Young Xehanort, while pretending to be Grogar so he can help Twilight and Oliver see that they are worthy to become the new rulers of Equestria by having the villains attack us so they can defeat them like we always do.” “He even got Star Swirl to unleash Sombra for the first exam, as he puts it,” added Starlight. Terra was not amused about this and he crossed his arms. “Without even bothering to think of any other better ideas to help them see they are worthy.” “He also wanted to be on the list of those that can be the next ruler if Oliver and Twilight didn’t want the thrones,” said Starlight, “What a foolish thought indeed.” “I agree,” said Sunset, “Discord wouldn’t make a very good ruler of Equestria. And, of course, his dumb actions, it proves he isn’t worthy to be a good ruler.” “I just hope he got punish for his actions,” Terra hoped. “He did,” replied Sunset while nodding her head, “Celestia told him to leave Equestria and to never return unless she said so.” “What about the villains he grouped?” He asked curiously, “The ones from Equestria.” “Well, aside from Cozy Glow now, Tirek and Chrysalis were sent to another world where they can’t even escape,” answered Starlight, “And Cold Wind is now back in prison where he belongs after abusing poor Lightning Twister.” “Well, serves them right after abusing the kid,” said Terra, “No child should ever get blamed for something that wasn’t their own fault.” “I agree,” replied Starlight happily. Starlight suddenly saw something far away from them. It looked to be three light balls with darkness flying around them. “Hey, I see something up ahead!” Sunset and Terra turned forward and saw that Starlight was right about seeing something up ahead. “What are they?” Sunset asked curiously. “I don’t know,” replied Terra, “But let’s go find out. It could be the key to helping us find the darkness inside of us along with Xehanort.” The two nodded in agreement as they started to run up towards the three balls to see if it was the key to helping them. When they reached the three light balls, they stopped near them and saw what was inside the balls. In each ball with darkness flying around them was Bright Mac, Pear Butter and Oliver with their eyes closed and floating inside the balls. “Is that... Oliver!” Starlight said in shock. Sunset gasped in shock before saying, “And Applejack’s parents!” The three reached towards the balls and looked at them. “What’s happening to them?!” Asked Starlight in shock and worried. “They’re trapped in the deepest sleep of darkness,” answered Terra, “It seems the realm was prepared and trapped them in these balls of evil light in case they escape like I did when Xehanort had control of my body still.” “No. No no no no! This is bad! This is so not good!” Exclaimed Starlight before grabbing Oliver’s hoof and tried to pull out of the ball and wake him up. But it was no good. The sleep and darkness were way too strong for her to even free him. “Oliver! Oliver! Wake up! You have to wake up! Come on, wake up! Please wake up!” After one more pull on the hoof, another voice was heard from the distance. “He won’t wake. None of them will. They’re still alive, but won’t be for any longer.” Starlight let go of Oliver’s hoof and the three looked around to find where that voice came from. “Who’s there? Show yourself now!” Terra ordered. After a few seconds of waiting, a dark corridor appeared near them and disappeared to reveal another man. He shares Terra-Xehanort's long white hair, as well as the three spikes on the top and sides of his head, but he lacks Terra-Xehanort's bangs. He wears silver-white gloves on his hands, each with a grey band on the wrist, while the rest of the glove, which has three black buttons lining one side, bells outwards. There is a black pauldron on both of his shoulders, each attached to his coat by two straps. He also wears black pants and black, silver-lined, knee-high boots identical to the ones worn by the Organization XIII members. His black leather coat is red on the inside and lined with yellow, and also has a large grey section that covers the lower half and shoulders of the coat. Upon closer inspection, this grey section seems to be attached by several small pins or buttons around the hip and neck sections of the coat, as well as by a belt that wraps around the Heartless's back and attaches to the rim of the coat. This coat is high-collared and completely unzipped, showing the second, shorter jacket the Heartless wears underneath. His second jacket is white and high-collared much like the outer coat. It is mostly unbuttoned and exposes his chest before being closed up by three buttons and two belts near the Heartless's waist, only to flare outward again, leaving three buttons undone. On the Heartless's chest is the Heartless emblem, but it seems to be just decoration as it appears attached to the long coat. It was Xehanort’s Heartless: Ansem, Seeker of Darkness. The three stood in battle mode before Sunset asked while glaring, “Who are you?!” “I am Ansem, Seeker of Darkness,” answered Ansem, “The Heartless of Xehanort.” “Heartless?” Terra asked in shock, “That’s what I become after my heart gets lost and Xehanort had complete control of my body?” “Not quite,” he replied, “I was inside a robe of no actual body after giving my past self some intrusions about traveling through time and what he needed to do when Xehanort separated his heart from his body in the present day. But, the body I have now does come from a young boy that you may remember.” Ansem pointed a finger at Terra, “The boy that you chose to past the Keyblade onto.” Terra was now figuring out who he was on about, until he let out a small gasp of shock as he now knows who he was on about. He was on about Riku. He looked at Ansem and said, “You don’t mean...” “That’s correct.” Xehanort’s Heartless grinned at Terra, “I was the one who made Riku a part of the darkness. Or perhaps, it is YOU who made him a part of the darkness since I also came from your body after Xehanort possessed it.” “But, that would mean...” Terra started to glare at Ansem, “You were trying to make him become who I was! How could you or I do such a thing?!” Ansem continued to grin at Terra. “I have my own ways. But thanks to that meddlesome King, he was able to make the darkness his own and conquer his fear of me. Which is why I was able to reach back to him after he defeated me.” Terra smirked at him before saying, “At least he was strong enough to keep his promise for me.” “But what about you? Do you feel okay after trying to make Riku exactly like you when Xehanort made your heart fill up with anger and darkness?” “What do you mean?” “You became Xehanort, and allowed him to take control of your body. Which makes me your Heartless, and responsible for making Riku a pawn of the darkness. You should feel guilty for your actions.” Terra didn’t know what to say. Ansem was right. After Xehanort took over his body and separated his heart from his body making half of his heart travel into the past and took control over Riku. But he knows if he keeps feeling guilty, then he would never forgive himself for his actions. He glared at Ansem before summoning his Keyblade and stood in battle mode while saying, “That doesn’t matter to me! I may have made Riku a pawn of the darkness as you, but he proved he was stronger and fixed his mistakes! I’m even still proud of him after seeing he has now become a Keyblade Master without any of my teaching!” Ansem started to glare at Terra. “Very well. In that case...” Ansem leaned down and angrily shook, “You shall face the real POWER OF THE DARKNESS!!!!” Ansem leaned back while reaching his hands out as a dark circle appeared underneath him. Darkness began to float around the two making the balls and the two ponies disappear without a trace. “Terra!” Sunset and Starlight shouted worriedly. Terra looked back worriedly before turning back to Ansem and stood in battle mode while glaring at him. Ansem started to float in mid air and crossed his arms while grinning evilly at Terra. Terra charged towards Ansem as he summoned eight dark orangey bar lights flying around him. “Surrender to it!” Ansem magically pushed the bars towards Terra and two of them manage to hit him but the others he manage to dodge while jumping towards Xehanort’s Heartless. Terra smacked Ansem with his Keyblade five times. “You want some!” Terra made a huge big smack on Ansem sending him flying back a bit. Ansem summoned eight dark orangey balls as they bounced in mid air around Ansem. The balls then had dark purple lasers coming out of them and shot towards Terra, but he managed to block them with his Keyblade. Terra quickly charged towards Ansem and slashed him with his Keyblade. He stood a few miles behind Ansem. Ansem screamed in pain before landing on his feet and slowly fell to his knees. Terra stood back onto his feet and looked at Ansem before saying, “It’s all over, Ansem.” Darkness smoke began to rose on Xehanort’s Heartless, but he slowly got back onto his feet, glared at Terra and tried to reach out to him. But the darkness smoke made him faded away before he could grab Terra while he stared at the spot Ansem once stood. Back at the area Sunset and Starlight were still at, the three balls began to crack very slowly. The two ponies looked back and saw what was going on. “Hey, what’s going on here? What’s happening to him?!” Starlight asked worriedly. “I don’t know!” Replied Sunset worriedly. Suddenly, just as the ball, Oliver’s in, was about to finally break, Oliver began to quietly and slowly said, “Gone, Gone, the form, of pony. Arise, the, demon, Ink Bendy!” The balk suddenly broke, while also breaking the other two, as three beams of light rose up into the darkness sky carrying the parents and Ink Bendy in them. “So that’s how he also got out,” said Sunset and Starlight in unison happily. Just then, a light corridor appeared behind them. The two ponies looked behind them and saw the corridor disappeared to reveal no one other than Terra with a smile on his face. “Terra! You’re okay!” Starlight said happily. “But where’s Ansem?” “He’s gone,” Terra answered politely before walking towards them, “For good this time I believe. What happened to the three ponies in the balls?” “Back to surface I believe,” answered Sunset politely, “Our guess is that not only friendship in his heart helped his way out, but we also helped him return back to surface along with Applejack’s parents. It must have been Ansem who was keeping them at bay so they wouldn’t escape like you did.” “Could be,” said Terra. Just then, out of nowhere, a white door, similar to the from strange rooms, magically appeared behind the ponies. The three looked round and saw the door magically open by itself. “Guess we’ve got our return ticket back to the strange room sooner than excepted,” said Starlight. “And in good timing too,” added Sunset. The three started to make their way towards the door and went through it as the door closed behind them by itself and magically disappear without a trace.