Alex groaned as he came back to the waking world, his head throbbing. He had no idea where he was but he knew it wasn’t the convention hall. He frowned, starting to sit up, only to be stopped and gently pushed back down.
“Don’t try to get up,” a gentle voice said, male from the sounds of it.
“Where am I?” Alex asked with a moan, trying to get a good look at the speaker.
“You’re in– well... we don’t really have a name for it, we’ve always just called it Our Town. We found you passed out in the snow after we drove that liar Starlight out of town. Do you remember how you got there?”
“Snow?” Alex asked in confusion, giving his head a nice shake. There wasn’t any snow in Nevada. “Last thing I remember is... falling... Who’s Starlight?”
“Don’t worry I’m sure it’ll come to you,” the voice said with a slight chuckle, “I’m Double Diamond. It’s a pleasure to meet you. As for Starlight, she was the mare that tricked us into giving up our cutie marks for equality.”
“I’m Alex... the hell is a cutie-” Alex froze, finally able to see this ‘Double Diamond’, which appeared to be a short white horse. “And now I’m seeing horses, that’s just fucking lovely.”
“Actually, I’m a pony,” Diamond corrected, giving Alex a smile.
Alex just stared at him for a moment before bolting out of the bed, backing away from the pony. “OK, I’m either very high or something is very wrong with my head.”
“I assure you, this is all quite real.” Diamond took a few cautious steps forward, trying to be as nonthreatening as possible, so as not to make Alex freak out.
“You- you stay away from me you freaky horse!” Alex shouted, instinctively throwing a hand out. He stopped, staring at it. First of all, he was wearing black gloves and his previously green shirt had somehow become black leather. Alex looked down at himself, his eyes widening, “The hell?” he asked, seeing that he was wearing a perfect replica of the uniform worn by Organization XIII members. “Get me a mirror!”
“I uh, what?” Diamond stuttered, looking at Alex like a lost puppy.
“Mirror! Bring me one!” Alex hissed, glaring at him. The pony gulped, galloping off and coming back with a full body mirror, which he propped up against the wall.
“I’ll uh... go tell the others that you're awake,” he muttered before galloping out of the house, shutting the door behind him. Alex watched him go before taking in a breath and stepping in front of the mirror. Staring back at him was the image of a young girl, probably around fourteen, with black hair and blue eyes. “Xion?” he asked in disbelief, staring hard at his reflection. “I get turned into fucking Xion? The puppet who everyone forgot? I couldn’t get turned into Sora? Or Roxas?!” He looked at his hand, thinking. If he was Xion... He held his hand out and in a flash of light, the keyblade appeared in his hand. He held it up to his face, glaring at it, “You did this to me!” he shouted, flinging it across the room.
Alex screamed in rage as he punched the mirror, not caring if he hurt his hand. The image in the mirror wasn’t his and it infuriated him to no end. “Fuck it all!” he screamed as he summoned his keyblade back to his hand, proceeding to start wrecking the whole house, blindly swinging it around. He didn’t notice as he brought it down on a strange diamond, which he sent tumbling under the bed, letting out a cry of fury before collapsing to his knees, starting to sob heavily.
“Alex?” Double Diamond asked, peeking into the house, a worried look on his face. A moment later, the keyblade went flying, nearly smacking him in the head.
“Get out!” Alex screamed, glaring at him as hard as he could manage. Double Diamond didn’t argue, taking off as fast as he could, deciding it was probably best to let him calm down. Alex sat against the wall, hugging his knees, sobbing softly, not really paying attention to what was going on around him.
“Hey,” a soft voice spoke from behind him. “Looks like you could use a friend.” He jumped to his feet, teleporting the keyblade back into his hands, trying to see through the tears. Standing in his room was a lovely young woman. She had blonde hair that ran past her shoulders and down her back. She wore a black jacket over a white t-shirt and dark khaki pants. “Don’t be afraid,” she said, still ever so softly. “I’m not here to hurt you.”
“Who the fuck are you?” he demanded, clutching the keyblade tighter, looking like he was ready to explode again, “I don’t need this shit, lady!”
“Calm down,” she said with a bit of firmness now in her voice. “My name is Kat and I just want to help you and be your friend.”
“Don’t you fucking tell me to be calm!” Alex shouted, lunging at her, swinging the keyblade at her head.
Kat moved right inside the swing and grabbed Alex. But instead of attacking like he had expected, she simply hugged him. She said nothing, just rubbing his back as she held him close. He blinked in shock before the keyblade slipped from his fingers, clattering to the floor. He hugged her back, crying his eyes out, collapsing against her.
“Shh,” Kat cooed. “You’re alright. There’s no one here who can hurt you. You can trust me.”
“I just want to be me!” he cried, burying his face into her neck. “I don’t even know who or what I am anymore!”
“You are whoever you make yourself out to be,” she told him. “It’s up to you, no one else.”
“No!” he shouted, looking into her eyes. “Who do you see!? Sora? Roxas? Ventus? A faceless doll!? I don’t have a face!” he shouted, falling to his knees, sobbing louder than before.
Kat crouched down, putting her hands on his shoulders. "What I see is someone who is scared and in need of a good friend."
“I-I’m sorry, I just... I want to be me..” Alex looked up at her, staring into her eyes, “I just woke up here, looking like this... I’m not even a real person anymore...”
Once again, Kat pulled him into a hug. “Now now, that’s enough of that,” she said softly. “Just tell auntie everything.”
“You don’t understand... I am nothing. I’m Xion... a copy of a Nobody. It’s like dividing by zero. I don’t even really exist. All because I wanted that keyblade...” He hugged her back, closing his eyes.
Kat closed her own eyes, soothing him. “You are not nothing,” she finally said. “I can feel you here in my arms. I can see your pain through your tears in your eyes. Nothing doesn’t feel pain like that. Something that didn’t exist would not be so torn up. You do exist, right here in my arms, where someone cares about you.”
“Please... I need to know... what do you see when you look at me?” he asked, opening his eyes again, his voice pleading.
“I see...” Kat looked at the person she was holding. “I see a young girl with black hair and deep blue eyes. But I can sense that you, like some I’ve met before, were not originally a girl.”
“No I wasn’t... I was a... well it doesn’t matter now does it?” he asked with a sigh, rubbing at his eyes, ”I... I’m sorry I swung at you..”
“It’s more than alright.” She smiled. “You’re not the first to try to kill me, and you certainly won’t be the last.”
“I’m Alex,” he said, holding his gloved hand out, sniffling a little, “And you're currently in Our Town.”
“Our Town?” Kat asked, shaking his hand. “What is Our Town? I’ve never heard of it.”
“According to Double Diamond, it was a town based on some equality cult. Said something about giving up their ‘cutie marks’ and being all the same. Got a real Stepford Wives vibe from what he told me...”
“Giving up cutie marks?” Kat asked, not liking the sound of that. “There’s something very wrong about that. A cutie mark defines a pony, makes them who they are. It’s a literal interpretation of who they are. If it were to be taken away... I don’t even want to think about that.”
“Yeah apparently the leader got chased out of town, and they found me in the snow on the way back,” Alex said, looking at the door as Double Diamond peeked in again.
“Am I uh...” he paused looking at Kat, “Am I interrupting?”
“Hello,” Kat waved at the pony. “I was just visiting my new friend.”
“It’s okay Diamond, you can come in...” Alex frowned, looking around the destroyed home, “Sorry about... all the stuff...”
“It’s alright Alex,” Diamond said, walking into the home. “Nice to meet you miss, I’m Double Diamond.”
“A pleasure. My name is Kat.”
“Welcome to Our Town, Kat,” he said and for a brief moment gave a really creepy smile before he snapped out of it. “Sorry... Starlight’s creeds are still rattling around in our heads.”
“It’s alright... I suppose.”
“So, how did you get here? None of us saw you walk into town.”
“I have my ways,” she smirked.
“That didn’t didn’t answer my question...” he said, looking at her with a frown.
“Don’t look at me dude, I was too busy wrecking the place. Dear god, I’m as unstable as the actual Xion.” Alex sighed, running a hand through his hair. He turned his gaze to Kat, looking her over. “I uh, take it this isn’t new to you?”
She smiled. “You have no idea.”
“Not uh very talkative are you?” Diamond asked, sitting down on a bare patch of floor, trying not to wince at the destruction Alex had wrought on the home.
“If I start talking, I’m going to end up breaking your mind... and I don’t want to do that... again.”
“Break my mind? What makes you think that?” he asked, frowning deeper.
“You’d need to understand theories and the laws of physics... and then completely shove them aside because they’d no longer work.”
“Just tell us already will ya? Can’t mess me up anymore than I already am at this point,” Alex urged, trying to get comfortable. “I’m already a video game character in the land of ponies, do your worst.”
Kat shrugged, leaning against the far wall to see both of them. “You’re not the only one this has happened to.”
“It happened to you?”
“To me and about five hundred others so far.”
“Damn, that’s a lot,” Alex said, eyes wide in surprise. “Who’d you turn into? You look vaguely familiar.”
Kat snapped her fingers to make a vortex appear, showing her original appearance. “That was me when I was first Displaced. I was dressed as the main character from the video game Gravity Rush.”
“Oh yeah, that game. Never had a Vita, never had the money,” Alex said, nodding his head. “Is that what we are, Displaced?”
“Yep. People who were Displaced were granted the powers and abilities of the costumes or props they were wearing. You turned into this... Kingdom Hearts character, keyblade included. I turned into a gravity shifter. Others turned into all different sorts of other things.”
“Like what? Anything cool like Shao Khan? Or maybe Goku? Or even Mega Man?” Alex asked, eyes widening at the possibilities.
“...let’s not talk about Goku,” Kat said, looking away. “Anyway, all sorts of beings. There’s a time manipulator, a living symbiote, a family of warriors, the list goes on.”
“I take it you’ve met a lot of them, anyone to look out for? I don’t want to get blindsided by any jackasses who thought it would be fun to turn into a psychopath or something.”
“Stay away from the Makuta,” Kat said with a growl. “He’s the only one I can truly say you need to avoid. However, should you find yourself powerful enough, he may come looking for you. Gauge your chances carefully, as you will need to either fight or run.”
“I have no idea what that is but I already don’t like it,” Alex blinked, summoning his keyblade back to his hand. “I mean I got this thing but I’d rather not become monster Xion. OK, next question, any good people to look out for?”
“Lot’s of ‘em,” Kat nodded with a smile. “Gilgamesh, Lee, Jason, Amy, all sorts of different people. It’s all up to you who is the best choice to help you along the way.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. That still doesn’t answer the question of how you got here,” Alex pointed out, with Diamond nodding, “unless one of your super powers is to know when people are having major freak outs.”
“Actually,” Kat said, reaching out with her hand. Out from under the bed, the diamond flew into the air, landing in her hand. “You technically summoned me here.”
“The hell is that thing? Some kinda spying crystal?” Alex, asked, leaning in close to look at it.
Kat giggled. “No, silly. It’s my token. Every Displaced has a special token that allows you to contact them.” She lifted up the diamond. “This one is mine. You hit it in your freak out, activating it.”
“Seems like a hassle,” Alex said with a shrug, “What you just up and get chucked into whatever place you get called to?”
“You can be in the beginning. But as you travel and get more accustomed to being summoned, you’ll be able to reject summons and use them properly.” She walked over and put her hand on his shoulder. “When you activated my totem, I could hear you breaking apart. I came here to see if I could help.”
“Thanks...” Alex said, looking away. “I’m not normally like this. I just had to become the unstable clone didn’t I?” he asked, letting himself fall back onto the floor.
“Hey!” she said with a touch of force. “Enough of that. You’re still you, despite how you may look. Look,” Kat dropped down to look him in the eye. “Being a Displaced is hard, and it will only get harder as your journey continues. But you’re not alone. You will never be on your own during that journey. Along the way, there will be others like me who will be able to help you.” She moved a strand of hair from his face. “You just have to be the best you, you can be.”
“Heh...” he said looking away with a blush, “A hot lady basically stroking my face and I’m stuck as a fourteen year old. Where’s the love?”
Kat giggled, leaning in to whisper, “When you get back on your feet again, then we’ll talk.”
Alex just stared at her a little wide eyed, floundering in his attempts to reply.
“So, these... ‘tokens’,” Diamond interrupted, “Does Alex have one as well?”
Kat looked up. “Most of the time, it’s up to each Displaced to make their own to distribute into the Void.”
“And how the hell do I do that?” Alex asked, sitting up, brushing some debris out of his hair, “I don’t exactly have a whole lot of stuff with me at the moment.”
“Hmm...” Kat thought on it. “Well, each token should be a unique representation of the individual.”
“I dunno I got...” Alex paused, searching through his pockets, “Damn this thing has like fifteen pockets... wait... I think I got something...”
“Oh?” Kat and Diamond asked.
“Tada~!” he said pulling out a strange looking sea shell, “If I recall correctly, this is a Thalassa shell and is mostly unique to Xion.” He tossed it up in the air, catching it. “Works for me.”
“Alright, now you need to embody a message within and then send it into the Void.”
“What? Just say whatever comes to mind?” he asked, looking down at the shell. “Any suggestions here?”
“It needs to be a representation of who you are and what you do. Are you a helper or a hinderer?”
“Well... I was an EMT...” he said, rubbing the back of his head, “Can’t say I’m much of a hinderer.” He stared at the shell, trying to come up with something. After a moment he cleared his throat, “Whoever finds this shell, if you ever find yourself assaulted by the light or the dark, call upon me, the one who walks the path between, and I will show your enemies the power of nothing.” Alex went silent for a moment before the shell burst into thousands of tiny bits of light.
“Congrats,” Kat praised. “You’ve joined the ranks of the Displaced.”
“Do I get a cake or something?” Alex asked, watching as the bits of light slowly faded out of existence.
Kat snapped her fingers, a cookie appearing in his hand. “Sorry, I don’t know how to make good cakes.”
“Holy crap! You have awesome powers!” Alex said, taking a bite of the cookie, savoring the flavor.
“Miss Kat, will you be staying long? We were going to have a get together later today,” Diamond said, looking up at her, “We’d love it for you to be there.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Kat said slowly. “I usually don’t hang around longer than I’m needed. Most of the time I leave it up to my summoner when I should get going. Don’t want to overstay my welcome.”
“Look Kat, you know more about these guys than I do. They just got de-brainwashed or something, cut them some slack.” Alex reminded her, “I have no idea what the hell a cutie mark is.”
“Butt mark,” Kat points to the flowers on Diamond’s flank.
“Like I said, they had them all taken or something, Diamond can tell ya better,” Alex said, gesturing to the stallion.
“Starlight Glimmer told us all that our cutie marks were evil, that being better than somepony else at anything would just lead to conflict. She convinced us all that the only way for equality is if we were all the same...” He looked at the floor, drawing circles with his hoof.
“All creatures are equal,” Kat said. “They are equal in their rights, but that does not mean they need to be simple copies of one another. That creates sterility and eventually leads to self-destruction.”
“We didn’t question her until Princess Twilight showed us she was a hypocrite, she had taken our marks, but didn’t give up her own,” Diamond said, a bit of spite entering his voice, “We chased her out of town and found Alex in the snow on the way back.”
“Well at least he was found. One could die like that.”
“I actually don’t know if I can die from stuff like that,” Alex said with a shrug, “I mean when the original Xion died she just turned into crystal and broke apart.”
“Displaced are not unkillable, Alex,” Kat advised. “We may be ageless, but death can still find us.”
“Wait, we’re ageless?!” Alex asked with wide eyes, “I’m going to be stuck at fourteen for all eternity!?”
“Unless you can find magic to do otherwise,” Kat told him. “I used to look like a petite eighteen year old for nearly thirteen hundred years and now look at me. I’m hot~.”
“‘Cause that makes me feel better,” Alex said, rolling his eyes at her.
“Hey, when you’re Displaced, just expect the unexpected. Trust me.”
“Well this certainly is a surprise,” a new voice said from the doorway to the bedroom.
“Hmm?” Kat said, looking to the door.
Standing there was a rather tall man, garbed in the same robes as Alex. He had tan skin, sickly yellow eyes and silverish white hair.
“Oh shit!” Alex shouted, jumping to his feet and summoning up his keyblade, all the while trying his best to look intimidating.
Kat looked between them for a moment. “Alright, what’s going on?”
“Oh I just happen to be one of the villains,” the man said with a shrug, “Or at least look like one. I’m going to take a guess and say you're Kat Shifter, correct?”
“How do you know me?” Kat said, lowering her feet to the ground.
“I used to share a world with Jason,” he said simply, leaning on the door frame.
Kat relaxed slightly. “Oh? He never mentioned any... other... Displaced...” Faster than the man could blink, a sword was pointed at his throat. “Explain. Now.”
“I’m pretty sure he did. As I recall, he told me you gave Twilight a spell to track me and my brother.” He looked at her, unphased by the sword.
“Which is why this sword is pointed at you,” Kat seethed. “He told me you’re not exactly one of the good guys so get to talkin’.”
“Yes, I let what I had become consume me, but no more. I paid for my actions and came here to start fresh.” He looked to Alex. “What I wasn’t expecting was another Displaced to show up as well.”
“Don’t take offense if I don’t trust your word,” Kat told him, slowly pulling back her blade. “Now what do you want?”
“A rather broad question, don’t you think?” he asked, raising his eyebrow.
“You may be a Nobody, but trust me when I say I can find a way to destroy you,” she glared.
“I don’t doubt that, as for what I want, I simply want a fresh start.” He gestured to the village. “Who do you think helped the girls after they got brainwashed?”
“Ponies?” Kat prodded. “Unlike most of our kind, I actually have faith in pony kind in being able to take care of themselves.”
“Actually um... Mr. Xemnas was the one who freed us,” Diamond spoke up. “Starlight had broken the princess and her friends and if he hadn’t helped she’d have used them to spread her ideas across Equestria.”
“Broke them?” Kat’s attention was now on Double Diamond completely. “Are they alright?! Where are they?!”
“T-They went home!” he yelped, jumping back, his eyes wide.
“Are they better, though? Tell me!”
“Of course! They got their cutie marks back just like everypony else!”
Kat sighed. “That’s a relief... now where is this former leader of yours?” Kat’s eyes took on a colder appearance. “I’ve got some torturous plans for her.”
“We don’t know, she escaped into the mountains,” Diamond said, backing up with a gulp.
“Ohoho, when I get my hands on that salope,” she chuckled darkly, beginning to even scare Alex and Xemnas. “There will be repercussions for what she’s done.”
“Let the ponies figure it out,” Xemnas said, putting his hand on her shoulder.
“Hmmm...” Kat thought on it. “...No, I’m gonna cut a salope. But I’ll find her when I’m good and ready.”
“We have no right to play judge and jury,” he said firmly.
“Screw you with a lead pipe,” Kat told him nonchalantly.
“Drop it, Kat,” Xemnas said with a warning tone, narrowing his eyes.
She smirked. “You obviously don’t know how I work. So, what was that about a party?”
“We’re celebrating our freedom with a bonfire,” Diamond explained, hoping to calm the situation down, “We’re uh... going to burn Starlight’s house down since no one wants it.”
“...I’m in.”
“I’m... lost...” Alex said, relaxing his stance, scratching his head.
“You will be for a while,” Xemnas said with a chuckle. “You get used to it though.” He moved toward the door, looking back at them, “Well?”
“Hold up,” Kat said, ruffling through her jacket. “There it is.” She pulled out a strange looking badge and pressed it to the outer portion of her jacket. A green flash went off and in Kat’s place was a golden-furred earth pony mare. “Lezzgo!”
“Do I really want to know why you have an Omnitrix?” Xemnas asked with a ‘really’ look, “You know what, never mind.” He moved out of the house and into the town.
“It’s not an Omnitrix,” Kat said, walking behind him with Alex and Diamond in tow. “It’s just a little gift from my little brother.”
Diamond looked at Alex, giving him a confused look, “Hey don’t look at me,” Alex said with a shrug, “I’m as lost as you are pony man.” Alex stopped, looking around, seeing that all the houses were in two neat rows. “Dear lord, you weren’t kidding about the equality thing.”
“I don’t like it. I don’t like it one bit,” Kat said.
“That’s Starlight’s house there at the end,” Diamond pointed out, gesturing to the lone house standing at the end of the two rows, “We took everything worth having out of it so there’s really nothing to do besides tear it down.”
“I am very tempted to tear it down, molecule by molecule,” Kat nearly growled.
“I convinced them to just burn it,” Xemnas said, watching as various ponies moved up to the house to throw kindling into it. “Fire purges all you know.”
“But it’s not always as fun or satisfying.”
“Debatable.”
“It does depend on mood, and right now, I’m not in a very good mood.” Kat glared at the empty house. “No one messes with those six and gets away with it.”
“Wouldn’t that job be our new friend’s?” Xemnas asked, gesturing to Alex, “Seeing as how she is this world’s Displaced.”
“Something like this I wouldn’t trust to newbies.”
“I’m right here ya know!”
“Oh, I know. I’m making sure you know.” Kat looked up at Alex. “You’re still getting used to this and are mentally unstable. Why should I trust something like revenge to you?”
“Revenge is never a good idea,” Xemnas said, shaking his head. “It poisons the mind and corrupts the heart.”
“Something this simple is not true revenge. Just a bit of payback. Jeeze, you act as if I’m gonna kill her or something.”
“And I told you to let the ponies handle it,” Xemnas said, looking down at her. “I’d rather not alter events when I only got to see four episodes of season five.”
“I don’t take orders from you, Nobody. Simply because Jason let you go, doesn’t mean I will too.” Kat glared up at Xemnas. “There is nothing you can do to stop me. So, enjoy your ignorance.” She trotted on ahead of them. “You’ll be better off that way.”
“I am the very avatar of nothing,” Xemnas said, teleporting in front of her, glaring down at her.
“Good.” She just walked around him. “Then focus on nothing and leave me to my own devices.”
“I agree with, uh, Xemnas on this, you can’t just go around playing judge and jury on people,” Alex said, moving in front of Kat.
Kat teleported right past them. “Whatever you say~.”
“I think this has gone on for far too long,” Xemnas said, looking at Alex. “I think you should dismiss her.”
“What? How the hell do I do that?” Alex asked, looking at him like he was crazy, “I can’t exactly just make her leave.”
“You can, just tell her that your contract is complete,” Xemnas explained, crossing his arms. “That will send her back to wherever she was when you called her.”
“Okay...” Alex cleared his throat, looking at Kat, “Uh, Kat our contract is... complete?” he asked, not all that confident that it would work.
A portal opened in front of Kat, causing her to smirk. “Don’t fret, this probably won’t be the last time we see each other.”
“Should I uh... be afraid?” Alex asked, not liking the sound of that.
“If you don’t become evil then you shouldn’t be,” Kat smiled softly. “Don’t lose your way, Alex. It will be better off in the long run.” She walked through the portal with a “Ta ta~.”
“I’m so lost...” Alex said with a sigh, blinking as he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up, seeing Xemnas looking down at him.
“I’ll be there to guide you,” the Nobody spoke, giving a bit of a smile.
“You’re sticking around?” Alex asked, raising his eyebrow.
“Of course, we nothings have to stick together.” Xemnas turned, looking at Starlight Glimmer’s house as one of the town’s unicorns set it ablaze. “Think of this... as a new beginning, for all of us.” Neither of them spoke, just watching as the flames consumed what was and made way for what would be.
As the blustering winds and freezing snow of the mountains blew on, Starlight Glimmer continued her trek through the many winding tunnels that had been bored through them. With her recent defeat still weighing on her mind, bringing nothing but her ire, she never noticed the arrival of another behind her.
Before it was too late.
“Hello sweetie~.”
Only the wolves of the mountains ever heard her screams.