The Girl That Never Was

by Onomonopia


Second Chance

"Ugh, never thought I would be so happy to see the sun," Xion sighed with relief as beams of light shone through the tunnel that she climbed out of, walking out from a hole in a rock face into a sunny field where a large number of flowers bloomed. A smile crossed her face and Xion stretched her arms as the sun warmed her aching body, sighing as she lowered her hood.

'Still see a doll by the way,' Sombra interjected, ruining Xion's enjoyment of the sunny weather. 'Or a faceless mannequin. Is that why you call yourself a Nobody? Because you don't have a face?'

"I do have a face, you just can't see it," Xion grumbled as she looked around, finding that the rock she had walked out of was far away from the crystal city that she could see off in the distance. "Wow, I didn't think we walked that far but we're miles away from the city!"

'Of course. All of my escape routes out of the city emerge at different locations that make me hard to track,' Sombra bragged with pride in his voice that got a frown out of Xion.

"Okay, since I made it through your death trap are you going to honor your promise and tell me just who are you and why you bothered to save someone like me?" Xion asked the voice of Sombra, who went silent for a minute before sighing with acceptance.

'The reason I saved you back in that marketplace was because I had no other option but to get you out of there, since you were my only chance to escape,' Sombra explained, confusing Xion clearly enough for Sombra to tell. 'Ugh, just reach into your pocket.' Xion did so and grabbed hold of the horn, drawing it out while remembering that she never gave it back to the vendor.

"Wait a moment. This is you?" Xion asked with confusion.

'In the flesh. See, that fool at the stall didn't know that the horn that he passed off as a cheap imitation was actually the real deal,' Sombra explained with a chuckle. 'Now there was no way that I could convince that idiot to work for me as all of those crystal ponies panic at the first sign of darkness, much like they did you. But when you grabbed hold of me, I felt a connection to you. To your darkness. Your a creature of the dark, like me.'

"That's...not entirely true," Xion muttered while turning her gaze from the horn, yet only gaining Sombra's interest further.

'Hmm, I sense that there is a great deal of emotional baggage behind this tale. Well sit down and tell all your woes to Doctor Sombra, PhD not withstanding.'

"I'm not telling you anything," Xion growled as she spotted a small pond, causing her to grip the horn tighter. "In fact, I'm considering chucking you into that pond and taking off."

'Whoa, before you do anything both of us will regret...ugh, how can I earn your trust?' Sombra said with distaste at his words. Xion walked over to the pond and sat down in front of it, staring at her own reflection as she thought.

"How about you tell me how your still alive and trapped inside of a horn?" she asked, getting a groan from the dark voice.

'Very well, that is...fair. It starts like this. Two ponies who didn't like how I ran things as a king decided that they wanted me gone, so they trapped me in ice for a thousand years,' Sombra began, getting a frown out of Xion as he clearly skipped over important details. 'And once I manage to thaw myself out, what happens? The student of one of the ponies who trapped me in the ice has the nerve to steal my crystal heart and blow me up. My horn was the only bit of me to survive and thus I trapped most of my being and my charming personality within. And then that greedy dealer found me and has been trying to pawn me off ever since. The end.'

"I haven't heard a story so devoid of details since I read one of Demyx's reports," Xion grumbled, not happy with Sombra's "explanation".

'Well doll, how about you? What's the tragic tale of this human Nobody?' Xion sighed with hesitation, knowing that she shouldn't trust Sombra. But she still had no idea where she was, if she was even alive or if her being resurrected had effected Sora. She needed an ally, at least for a while.

"I'm a replica. A...doll that was created to mimic the abilities of another," Xion began, ignoring Sombra's smug chuckle at her calling herself a doll. "The Nobodies that created me wanted me to mirror the power of another, so that they could use that power to further their plans while keeping him trapped. For a while I had no idea of this and just blissfully went along with it while having fun with my friends."

'And then it all went wrong, didn't it?'

"The only way for the boy to wake up was if both me and another Nobody were returned to him, made a part of him," Xion continued, getting a "huh?" from Sombra. "And the stronger I got, the weaker my friend got. Eventually, it came down to a battle to the death. If I won, I would absorb him and then become apart of the boy. But when he won...I was destroyed and nobody even remembered that I existed. I was supposed to just fade away...until this strange being calling himself the Maestro somehow returned my existence."

'Wow. That has to be the most convoluted and confusing story that I have ever heard. Congratulations,' Sombra said with applause, making Xion wonder how he was clapping without hands. 'So after your boyfriend killed you, this Maestro guy brought you back to life and shipped you off here. And you're...upset by being brought back to life? Wow, you must be impossible to please.'

"It's not that simple!" Xion yelled at him before feeling hints of sorrow creeping in, causing her to pull her legs up and wrap her arms around her knees. "My whole purpose, the only reason I existed, was to trap the memories of another and become a weapon. I chose not to be a weapon, I chose to return to the person I stole the powers from...but now I'm alive again...and I have no idea why."

'Stop lying to me,' Sombra growled, snapping Xion's head up as she looked at the horn in her hand. 'I'm a master of lying and I know when somepony is lying to me. The Maestro wouldn't have brought you back for fun. He wanted something, something that only you could achieve for him, didn't he?'

"Yeah...he wanted me to unlock the secrets of these ponies hearts...and to discover why the darkness doesn't take hold in this land," Xion muttered with confusion, still not understanding what he meant. "But he just wants to use me as a personal weapon or toy. And I'm done with all of that. All I want is to fade away once again, return to the nothing I emerged from."

'This Maestro, did he tell you the ponies names?' Sombra asked after a minute of pondering.

"Yeah...Twilight, Apple something and a bunch of others," Xion recalled with some difficulty, not catching onto the fact that Sombra went very quiet at her words.

'Well, from the way I see it you can look at this whole second life thing two ways,' Sombra began suddenly with enthusiasm and interest. 'You can do the whole woe is me, I'm just a puppet on strings song and dance and feel terrible about yourself. Or, like me, you can embrace that fact that even though you had a tragic and painful death, you managed to score enough brownie points with the afterlife, or in your case some kind of deity, and get a second chance at life.'

"What are you trying to say?" the girl asked the voice with some hesitation.

'I'm saying live your new life up! Do what you were unable to with your old one! Travel the world, meet some ponies and have a grand old time!' Sombra laughed with excitement as his horn began to bounce around. 'You're in Equestria baby, the land of magic, enchantment and danger around every door. And with a weapon like your keyblade, none of those locked doors can get in your way! Whaddya say?'

"But..." Xion began as she looked back down in the water and saw the her black hair gently blowing in the breeze. "I'm not even supposed to exist. What is the purpose for a purposeless being like me?" Sombra let out a wail of frustration as his horn stopped moving and seemed to fume with a dark color.

'Alright, clearly you have some self esteem issues. I can help,' Sombra began with a laugh. 'First things first, it's clear that you have a strange appearance. I see you as a faceless puppet, yet other ponies saw you as a being of darkness with red eyes. So what's the story behind that?'

"Depending on how a heart is connected to me, or rather to the memories of the boy, depends on what others see," Xion explained while confusing the heck out of Sombra at the same time. "Most just see me as a hooded being consumed with darkness. One or two saw me as nothing more than a puppet, much like you did. And only my closest friends...saw the real me."

'Okay, I don't really see how hearts...being connected to another causes you to change appearance, but I've worked with weirder,' Sombra quickly said with a hidden smirk. 'But if memories are the key to unlocking your true form, then I've got an idea. I want you to look at yourself in the water while thinking of what you really look like. Go on, try it out.'

Xion wasn't sure what Sombra was planning, but with a sigh she looked down at the water and into her own blue eyes while picturing herself in her mind the best she could. A moment later her eyes began to fog over and she felt lightheaded as darkness swirled before her eyes. She shook her head and the darkness cleared, yet she still felt slightly cold.

'Interesting,' Sombra's voice said a moment later as Xion held a hand to her head. 'You're true form is that you have black hair, blue eyes and look somewhat like a younger human female. All in all not much like what I was expecting, but it fits you none the less.'

"Wait...how can you suddenly see me?" Xion asked confused.

'Because my dear doll, I entered into your mind a moment ago,' Sombra explained lightheartedly, but the thought terrified Xion more than Sombra could realize. 'And while I was in there I saw your reflection through your eyes and saw how you envisioned yourself. And let me just say that your thoughts do not give you justice.'

"You...have some strange powers," Xion muttered as she slowly stood up, brushing the grass off the back of her cloak as she began to look around.

'So. What now?'

"What do you mean?"

'I mean what are you going to do now, puppet without a puppeteer?' Sombra asked with a chuckle as Xion's face turned a crimson red with anger. 'Here you are in a strange land with a stranger voice in your head and everypony in the place you come from doesn't even remember you exist. Sounds like the start of a brand new adventure to me.'

"I...don't know. The only time I ever thought of not being apart of the Organization was when my friend considered running away," Xion muttered as she scratched her head. "But...I guess that I always did want to go to the beach? I mean, to relax and have fun."

'Alrighty then, if it's the beach you want it's the beach you'll get,' Sombra agreed with a laugh that put Xion on guard. 'I'll lead you to it myself. All that I ask though is that we go to a couple of places that I need to stop at first. The deity that restored you was nice enough to repair your body, but as you can see mine gave me the short end of the stick.'

"You know how to fix a body that's been blown up?" Xion asked with surprise and hints of respect.

'I know a lot of things. Now how about it partner? Care to help me out?' Xion pondered her answer for a long time, not sure of her decision. She had a sneaking suspicion that Sombra was trouble, that much was obvious to her. But on the other hand, she was at her wits end of what to do. Sombra was right in saying that she was in a strange world with no idea how she got there and even less idea of how she was alive. She needed all the help she could get and at the moment Sombra was the only being she had met that hadn't screamed at the sight of her.

"Fine, but I'm in charge," Xion demanded as part of the bargain. "You might seem innocent enough right now, but I have a sneaking suspicion that there's more to you than you're letting on. So no making decisions for me, got it?"

'Of course puppet, you're in charge. Now start to head east, there should be a small town with a train that can help get us to our next destination.' Xion was nearly certain that Sombra was mocking her with that last bit of dialogue, but with a sigh she let it go as she held out her hand. Birds chirped, the wind blew across the grass and Xion stood there wondering why the heck nothing was happening. 'Alright miss in charge, what in the blazing inferno are you trying to do?'

"I'm...trying to summon...the Corridor of Darkness to get us out of here!" Xion grunted as she continued to stick out her hand and only stopped when she heard Sombra laughing at her from her pocket. "Care to tell me what's so funny, Sombra?"

'Trying to summon darkness? Here? It's like I told you puppet, you're in Equestria now. A land of friendship, harmony and so much light that if you stare at it for too long you'll barf rainbows. True story. Any beings like us that have connections to the darkness are at our worst here,' Sombra explained to the girl with a sigh. 'I can barely turn into my dark cloud, much less unleash my full power. Same for you doll. You got any attacks or abilities that work with darkness you might as well just leave them at the door, because they no good here.'

"Okay, but then how am I supposed to get to the town?" Xion asked and for a moment she was certain that Sombra was smiling from within the darkness.

'The old fashioned way puppet. You gotta walk.'

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XIV
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"No...no," an old and powerful voice grumbled from the center of his star struck darkness as he watched the events unfold from within a small cosmos in his hand, frustrated at how the puppet refused to dance to it's strings. "I give her. It. Xion one simple task, a task that a brainless toy should be able to follow and instead she gets herself placed under the influence of a selfish being that only seeks power and darkness."

"And if this Sombra is anything like the other ones then he'll keep the misguided fool away from those with the pure hearts as long as possible," Maestro muttered as he swung open his other hand and created hundreds of bubbles showing all the different versions of Sombra, with nearly all of them having a vendetta against the ponies Xion needed to meet. "No, he'll slow down any progress that she'll make and try to prevent the puppet from meeting the hearts. I need a way to motivate her to move faster, to act...faster..."

Maestro spun around and threw a bubble into the darkness, creating a large hole of darkness that spread into the blackness. He then thrust his right hand into the darkness and willed the beings within into his grasp. When he wrenched his right arm free, the faintest memory of delight crossed his mind when he found that he was holding the catalyst.

"Yes, you and your comrades with do nicely," Maestro muttered as he gazed down at the slight humanoid creature with a large, bulbous head that housed two yellow eyes. the creature swung at him with it's three fingered claws, but the weapons never even scratched the Maestro as he snapped his fingers with his other hand and created another bubble to Equestria. "Now go. Force Xion to seek out those pure hearts," the Maestro said as he chucked the being into the portal to Equestria.

"And where one Heartless goes, the rest are sure to follow. Guard yourself well Xion, because you will attain what I seek."