//------------------------------//
// Chapter 8: The Darkness Awakens 
// Story: Kingdom Hearts: Heart of the Twilight 
// by Sora Sentry 
//------------------------------//

In a park in the middle of the night, with the moon shining in the sky, there were 3 girls on a bench near a fountain, those 3 girls were known by the names Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze and Sonata Dusk, The Dazzlings, they were wearing their sweaters with hoods, they were in the same park where the finale of the Battle of Bands was that happened not to much ago, they were just thinking on what to do now, since they’re powerless without their necklaces 

“UGH! This is so annoying! I hate being powerless!” Aria said extremely furious.

“Me too” Sonata said with a sad face.

“I agree with you girls, if it wasn’t for Sunset Shimmer this world would be ours, we were so close and she just came in and ruined it!” Adagio said angered remembering what happened at the finale of the Battle of Bands.

“But, can we just forget it and move on?” Sonata asked them “It was like, a few months ago, and being here it’s not so bad as it seems”

“Agh. I hate to admit it but for once, you’re right Sonata, we lost and we can’t do anything about, I guess it’s time to move on, and it’s not so bad being here anyway” Aria said to her as her expression softened.

“Yeah, c’mon girls, let’s go for some tacos and forget about all of this” Sonata said as she stood up trying to cheer them up, then Adagio sighed in defeat.

“Yes, it’s time to move on, maybe just being normal girls is not so bad as it seems and it’s not like the chance of revenge will just come out of nowhere” Adagio said as she shrugged with a give up expression.

“Did someone here said a ‘chance’?” An unknown voice said and that made the Dazzlings shocked and this made Aria and Adagio stand up, and the 3 girls looked to the surroundings looking for who spoke, Sonata seemed scared by this. Then in front of them a dark portal appeared in front of them surprising them and from it emerged a person in a black coat and the portal disappeared behind him.

“W-who are you?” Adagio demanded to know.

“Heh, calm down girls, i’m a friend” He said with a dark smile on his face, then with his hands he removed the hood on his head, revealing that he’s a boy with black spiky hair and yellow eyes “The name’s Vanitas, you can call me Van” Vanitas introduced himself to the Dazzlings.

“Well, you don’t look too bad at all” Adagio said to him with a coy smile.

“Neither do you Adagio” Vanitas said to her keeping his smile and this surprised the 3 Dazzlings “Yes, I do know who you 3 are, I know you came from Equestria and I know that you used to be sirens with the power of negativity and I know what happened to the 3 of you at the Battle of the Bands a few months ago, all because of Sunset Shimmer”

“Who told you about that? And where the heck did you gain that dark magic?” Aria asked to him demanding to know.

“Geez, don’t be so rude Aria, first my master told me about you and he wanted me to talk to you, so with pleasure I came all the way here, to the same place where you lost your powers” Vanitas answered her.

“And what about that dark magic of yours?” Adagio asked him.

“Well you see beauty, there’s a lot you need to know, what you know, it’s nothing compared with what’s outside of this world” Vanitas said to them and this shocked them.

“You are an alien?!” Sonata asked him.

“No Sonata” He said to her with an annoyed face “You’re as dumb as they told me”

“You’ll get use to it” Aria said to him as she crossed her arms.

“In any case, I came from another world and I work with an Organization known as Organization XIII, our goal here is the same as your old goal here was, rule this world” Vanitas explained.

“And can you please explain it better?” Adagio asked him with a smile on her face.

“Of course my lady” He answered her with a dark smile “The story is a bit too long, but i’ll reduce it the best I can” Then he explained about the worlds of the universe, the Heartless, Nobodies and the goal of Organization XIII, rule the universe “...And we’re here not just to rule this world, we’re here to get rid of the Rainbooms, they can interfere with our plan, my Master’s been watching this world long enough to know that we must get rid of them”

“I can’t believe that there was even more out there than here” Adagio said to Vanitas.

“I know that it’s hard to take it in Adagy, but it’s the truth” Vanitas said to her with a smile as he rubbed her cheek with his hand.

“But how do we know you’re not lying?” Sonata asked him not trusting his story.

“Ay Sonata, cute, but silly. I just came out from a corridor of darkness, that must be enough proof that i’m not lying” Vanitas said to her as he crossed his arms.

“Oh right” She said ashamed.

“So your Organization wants to take the Rainbooms out of the picture?” Aria asked with a smile on her face expecting a yes.

“Yup, I didn’t care them until my Master told me about you 3, I felt so bad after hearing what they’ve done to you, that i’ve decided to come here with the rest of the other 6 members that are here and make them pay for that, they can’t get out of this one” He said with a serious tone.

“Aw, that’s so sweet from you” Adagio said to him with a evil smile on her face.

“But why do you want to do that?” Aria asked him.

“Simple, i’m just like you” Vanitas answered her as he crossed his arms, this confused the Dazzlings “Confused? I’ll explain to you. I was made with nothing but pure darkness by my master long ago, my heart has no light, I was made to be the perfect apprentice for my master, to help him achieve his goal” He began his explanation.

“So, you’re some sort of artificial human? made of pure darkness?” Adagio asked him.

“That’s right, like you I have the power of negativity under my control” He said with a dark smile. 

“Now that you mentioned, I can feel a great negativity that comes from you” Adagio said to him noticing his negativity.

“However I don’t need the necklaces you used and I can’t just feed on the negativity to be stronger, also I can use it to give the fledgling emotions physical form, to create monsters” Then he extended his left hand and from it emerged a dark aura that turned into a small monster with blue skin, a Flood Unversed “Behold girls, an Unversed, the Unversed are the manifestation of negativity itself, I can create an infinite number of them, they are what I feel, a unlimited horde of fledgling emotions under my control, and even better, no matter how many times one destroys them, the negativity flows right back into me, the only way that someone can destroy them for good, is if someone destroys me, but of course that would never happen” Vanitas explained.

“My my, with these monsters you can easily take over a world” Adagio said as she and the other two Dazzlings took a good look at the Flood in Vanitas’ hand.

“That’s right pretty girl, however I don’t have that sophisticated power of enchanting people through their negative feelings” Vanitas said to her as he made the Unversed on his hand disappear and the negativity released flowed back into his body “Oh, I almost forgot” He said to the Dazzlings as he extended his right arm toward them and he then summoned his Keyblade, the Void Gear, this surprised the 3 girls “Behold, one of the mightiest weapons in the hold universe, the Keyblade, a sword in the shape of a key, it has the power to take over several worlds or save them, it all depends on its wielder, to have one of these one must have a strong heart, it doesn’t matter if the wielder is from the light or darkness, however my master looks for something the strongest weapon of them all, the legendary and ancient X-Blade, the first keyblade in existence, with it, my master could have the power of rule the entire universe, to gain the X-Blade, he must gather 13 pieces of pure darkness, i’m one of those pieces, as well as the rest of the Organization, also he needs 7 pieces of pure light” He explained to the Dazzlings and they were interested in his explanation.

“So, you have everything planned, don’t you?” Aria said to him.

“Yes, however there are those who defy my master, the 7 Guardians of Light, the ones who defended the 7 pure lights, also 2 of them are here to defend the Rainbooms, we can’t take them out yet, they’re suppose to clash against us in the final battle” Vanitas explained “There’s much more that you need to know, but that would be for later, I’ll get to the point of all this, my superior in charge sent me here to ask you to cooperate with us on our mission here”

“How? We lost our powers” Adagio said to him.

“Don’t worry sweetie, I can restore your powers, and even better I can give you the power to create the Unversed by just absorbing the negativity of the people” He said to her with a dark smile and this surprised them and they eyes got widened “The only thing I ask you in return is that you follow my orders or the orders of my superior in charge, but you don’t want to talk him, he can be very scary, not for me of course, it’s more convenient for you that you receive orders from me” Vanitas explained to them.

“You really can do that?” Adagio asked him.

“Yep Adagio, I can, my powers are compatible with yours so I can pass you my negativity to you, thinking of it this way, i’m offering you a chance of revenge on the Rainbooms and you can have your beautiful singing back, it was terrible that you lost it, and once we’re finished with our business here you can rule, still we would still have use for you for our plan” Vanitas explained to the Dazzlings with a dark smile. They were interested on his proposition, and they were thinking, but Sonata was doubting this “Whaddaya say? We have a deal?” He asked keeping his smile as he let his keyblade disappear and extended his right hand toward them.

“Wait girls, are you sure we should accept this?” Sonata asked them.

“Don’t worry, nothing will happen to you as long you follow my orders you’ll be safe, you’ll have a place in the new order of the universe, I guarantee that” Vanitas assured them keeping his smile.

“Okay Van, we accept” Adagio accepted his offer with a smile and Aria smiled at this, but Sonata was still unsure about this.

“Hehe excellent answer sweetheart, you won’t regret this” He said happy of their answer, then he created 3 orbs of darkness on his left hand and then with his right hand he put pressure on them turning the orbs into a bright red color, then he joined his 2 palms and when he lifted them there were 3 red crystals with different shapes, one with a gem with a musical note, another with a star and the last one with a heart with a musical note. The Dazzlings were impressed by this, Vanitas recreated their necklaces “Done, 3 magical necklaces” He declared with a dark smile, then he gave the one with a star and the one with the heart to Aria and Sonata respectively and they put them on their necks “If you let me say it, these new necklaces look better than the ones you had before” He said as he put the one with a gem on Adagio’s neck “What do you think?”

“We love them, thank you very much for this Van” Adagio thanked him with a dark smile.

“You now have your old powers back and since I created them you can use the Unversed, but don’t do it now untill I tell you, got it?” He said to them.

“We get the hint” Aria said to him.

“And remember, you have to follow my orders or else my master will make me take your necklaces, and I can’t defy my master, he created me after all, so don’t make me do it, it will hurt me more than you” Vanitas explained.

“Don’t worry Van, we’ll follow your orders” Adagio said to him with a dark smile.

“Good, here’s your first order you have to be near Canterlot High and watch everything, don’t go in yet, also if you saw a guy that looks like me, don’t touch him” He said to them.

“You have a twin brother?” Sonata asked.

“Not exactly, i’m more like his dark doppelganger, it’s too complicated to explain, but you don’t need to know that, but as I said you can’t touch him, i’ll take him on myself, I can’t kill him, but I can beat him and i’ve been wanting that for a long time” He said to them with an evil smile.

“Okay, we understand” Adagio said to him.

“Also if you saw a tall guy with silver hair, don’t touch him either, my ‘best friend’ has a score to settle with him and he also wants to take out Sunset Shimmer, so you can’t take her out, I don’t want problems with him” Vanitas explained and Adagio sighed a bit annoyed.

“Fine” Adagio said to him a bit annoyed.

“Don’t worry i’ll give you permission to take out the rest of the Rainbooms when the right time comes” Vanitas said to them with a smile.

“Well, that’s better” Aria said to him.

“Well I have to go now, I have to check in with my superior, i’ll be back in a jiffy honey” He said to Adagio as he gave her a kiss on her cheek “See ya later” He said as he turned around and a corridor of darkness appeared in front of him and he left through it.

“Well girls, looks like we’re back on track” Adagio declared to the other 2 Dazzlings with an evil smile.

“Yeah, i’ve missed these powers and now we have the Unversed on our side” Aria said with an evil smile as well.

“But remember girls, we have to follow his orders if we want to rule this world” Adagio reminded them as she crossed her arms.

“Okay okay, I get that already, I like that guy a bit, but he scares me a bit and I don’t want to see his boss if he’s even creepier than Van” Sonata said to her.

“Me neither, but having Van as our ‘friend’ was the best thing that could happen to us, if you mess this up, you’ll regret this for your whole life!” Aria said with an angry face to Sonata.

“Okay okay okay! I won’t mess this up I promise!” She said to her scared.

“In any case girls, we can now take revenge on the Rainbooms and we can make even more than we could ever make before, and we have the chance to rule this world, this is our lucky day” Adagio said with an evil smile.

“More for you, you have a new boyfriend” Sonata said to her.

“Of course, Van is the only one who understands me and he knows how to treat me like the lady I am” Adagio said with a dark smile on her face.

“Just don’t propose” Aria said to her a bit annoyed.

“Hmph, you’re just jealous” Adagio said a bit annoyed as well

“So can we go for Tacos to celebrate this?” Sonata asked and Aria and Adagio sighed.

“Fine, we’ll go for some tacos to celebrate this” Adagio said with an annoyed face.

Then the Dazzlings left the park, happy of this unexpected and yet fortunate event, more for Adagio that she now has Vanitas as a boyfriend, but Sonata is the least happy of the 3 of them, she’s a bit scared about what Vanitas explained.(Music Stops)


***  


Principal Cinch was in her office still angry of what happened 2 weeks ago, most of the 6 girls that convinced Twilight Sparkle, her ‘student star’ to transfer, she was in her office looking at the trophies not caring how Crystal Prep Academy won them.

“I still cannot believe that my student star betrayed me, if it were not for those insolent girls she would still be under my control” The principal said still angry at the events of the last friendship games.

“You cannot control what is beyond your reach…” An unknown voice said and this shocked her.

“Who goes there?!” She demanded looking around her office trying to look for who said that. Then a dark portal appeared near her desk and from it emerged a man in a black coat, then the man sat down in Cinch’s seat “And just who are you?!” She demanded to know.

“You should be more careful when you talk to a superior” The man said to her “Especially to the Superior of the in-between”

“I will ask you once again, who are you?” Cinch asked the unknown man, then he removed the hood on his head revealing his face, he has orange-amber eyes with long grey hair with dark skin. Cinch saw that this man has an imposing appearance, he could easily intimidate someone.

“I am Xemnas, I came here to talk about a certain matter with you Cinch” Xemnas said to her and this surprised her.

“How do you know about me?” She asked him.

“Not just who you are, but I also know of the unfortunate events at the Friendship games not too long ago” Xemnas explained to her.

“And what is this matter that you want to talk about?” Cinch asked him.

“I come from an organization know as Organization XIII, the way we reach our goals is just the same as the way you won your trophies, doing what’s necessary to that end, in the end it does not matter how you reach that end, the end justifies the mediums” Xemnas said to her.

“Finally someone who understands that” Cinch said to him.

“Indeed, in any case the reason for my visit tonight is about Twilight Sparkle, your star student, I know about her and what happened to her, it was unfortunate that she went out of your control and ended up leaving your school” Xemnas said to her “However I came here to offer you the opportunity to have control over her once again”

“Is your offer real?” Cinch asked him interested in his offer.

“Why of course, we have something in common Cinch apart from seeing how to reach a objective the same, I use to have a subordinate in our Organization, he was just like Twilight, It is why I have decided to give you a offer to help you to have her back” Xemnas said to her.

“And what is your proposition Xemnas?” Cinch asked him.

“I can help you bring back your student star and I know clearly that you want revenge on the 6 girls that convinced her to go to Canterlot High in first place, as well you want to do something about Celestia, Luna and Cadence, as well you want to have a total control over your students that don’t respect you any more” Xemnas said to her “I can help you make your ambitions become a reality” 

“And how are you going to do that?” Cinch asked him.

“I have resources under my disposition that I can use to do anything I want, with pleasure I will help you, but you have to do something in return” Xemnas said to her.

“And what would it be?” She asked, Then Xemnas took out from his coat a picture and he put it on Cinch’s desk and slid it toward her, and she took it and saw an image of Sora “Who is this boy?”

“He is Sora, he was my star subordinate, he was the most affecting member of the organization, but he defected and now we are looking for him to bring him back, we found him, but he is constantly resisting any attempt to take him back rather by free will or by force, this will be the deal, you will bring me back my subordinate and in return I will bring you back your student, a fair deal I should say” Xemnas offered her.

“Alright then, I accept your offer Xemnas” Cinch accepted as she extended her hand toward him.

“Hehe, I was doubtless that we’ll come to an agreement” He said to her with a dark smile as he did the same and shook their hands “However I will warn you that Sora already knows who you are and he already hates you, he hates people like you and me, as well that he and Twilight engaged a strong friendship”

“A friendship? Impossible, Twilight is an anti-social misfit, she was like that here and I know it won’t be any different in Canterlot High” Cinch said not believing the last part that Xemnas said as she crossed her arms “The only friends she would have as of now will be only those 6 girls”

“Indeed, however Sora has a special bond with people, let us say that he is like the exact opposite of Twilight, Sora is always making friends, no matter who it is, Sora kept instigating friendship with Twilight until he succeeds with that, and they have a strong friendship by now, he hates you because of what you’ve done to her, you have to be careful, he won’t cooperate with you” Xemnas explained to her.

“Sounds like he has a strong sense of moral” She said and Xemnas nodded in confirmation “I suppose I will have to deal with this in another way” 

“Yes, but that would be hard, for you see, the magic that Twilight stole back then isn’t the only one in existence, Sora also has a special kind of magic and as you saw me and mine organization have dark magic in our disposition, not to also mention that there is another young man that could interfere, a youth that goes by the name of Riku, he was one of the reasons that Sora left the organization, Riku took him away and told him the truth, the other that was there was a traitor among us, a man named Lea, he convinced Sora to leave, of course he dealt with him and we thought that Sora wouldn’t go far on his own, so Riku took him away, as of now, the two are best friends and they are against us and our plan” Xemnas half told about what happened not too long ago.

“And what is the plan of this Organization XIII?” She asked.

“You do not have to worry about that now, the answers will come with time, to bring Sora back to us I hope you have a plan to do that” Xemnas said to her.

“He is just a boy, it would not be too much trouble, even if he has magic and backup” Cinch said to him.

“Better do not underestimate Sora and Riku, but apart from a plan you would also need the right resources to do that, I can give you what you need, but only when the time is right” Xemnas said to her.

“Fine, however, why do you not go look for him yourself?” She asked him.

“We have a more important matter to attend to, but my master wants to bring Sora back to the organization, and I thought you could help us with that, there are specific reasons for that, but those reasons are not important” Xemnas explained half lying.

“Alright, and you will keep your part of the deal if I keep my part, right?” Cinch said to him.

“Of course, and maybe we could go do more after the deal ends” Xemnas said thinking that she could still be useful after she brings Sora to the organization, then Xemnas stood up “It is my time to go, it was a pleasure talking with you” He said with a dark smile.

“It was a pleasure for me too” She said with a dark smile as well.

“Wait until the friendship games, then it would be the right time to act and i’ll give you what you need to bring Sora back, as for me and my organization need to take care of our matters” Xemnas explained.

“Very well then” She said to him.

“I am glad that you cooperate with us” Xemnas said to her with a dark smile.

“So do I” Cinch said to him.

“Until we meet again…” He said as he turned around and a corridor of darkness appeared in front of him and he left thought it.

“Twilight was right, there was much more outside that the eyes can see” Cinch said remembering what Twilight said to her not too long ago, then she left her office.


***


Flash Sentry was sleeping in his room at his home, the night was calm with almost no sounds from outside, Flash was In a deep sleep, however, it doesn't seem to be a good dream…

“Don’t trust him…”

“She will never love you…”

“He is just in your way…”

“Taking what was suppose to be yours…”

“Let your jealousy grow…”

“Feed them…”

“Let them take hold…”

“Use your pain and sadness and turn them into rage, hatred and power…”

“Savor that despair and hurt…”

“Let them empower you…”

“Use that power to take back what was yours…”

“And destroy who took her away from you…”

“You must destroy Sora…” The mysterious voice just kept talking as flashbacks of his moments with Twilight and the moments that he saw Twilight and Sora together ran in his head over and over again, the nightmare was so intense, the voice was terrifying, it made him move in his head from one side to another as he was sweating and then he woke up extremely scared as he panted.

“Huff...Huff...It was just a dream...Sora’s my friend, he would never betray me...I would never do something to hurt him…” Flash said between the pants still terrified as he looked to his right hand and he took it to his forehead “It was..just a nightmare...it wasn’t real…” Then he leaned back on his bed and let sleep take over him again, but then...a man in a black coat that was hiding in the shadows walked near him in silence.

“He’s not your friend, he’s your enemy...Sora took away the most important person to you...You must destroy him...Let your jealousy take hold...Feed them...Let them empower you...Use that power to take back your beloved Twilight Sparkle…And destroy Sora” The man in black coat said to him as he was asleep to influence him subconsciously, then he left in silence through a corridor of darkness knowing that he said enough to him with an evil smile knowing that he planted his seed of doubt that eventually will make him be in the Organization’s claws…


***


Back at the gathering place there were the rest of the members of the organization waiting for their comrades, Young Xehanort was waiting for them with his arms crossed and with his eyes closed as for the rest of the members they were just standing there waiting for them as for the tall boy he was against a wall with his arms crossed, then a corridor of darkness appeared and Vanitas came out of it.

“Hey there Van, judging by your smile I can say that it went well” The tall boy said to him.

“Heh, that’s right clone” He said with a cocky smile on his face and then he walked toward Young Xehanort. Then another corridor of darkness appeared and Xemnas came out of it.

“Well well, it’s Lord Xemnas, tell me, did your meeting with Principal Cinch go well?” A man in a black coat asked him with a cocky smile.

“Indeed” He answered him, then he walked toward Young Xehanort.

“Xemnas, Vanitas. How’d it go?” Young Xehanort asked them about their respective meetings as he turned around to see them.

“I have the touch with the girls, they’ll do what i’ll say, mission accomplished” Vanitas said to him with a dark smile.

“Good work Vanitas, you earned free time with them” Young Xehanort said to him.

“Heh, thanks for that young master, i’ll see them tomorrow, i’ll go rest now” He said as he left with a cocky smile on his face.

“The teenagers of today can be like that, and take in account that he is from 11 years ago” Xemnas said to Young Xehanort.

“They can be like that sometimes, in any case what about you? How’d it go with Cinch?” The time traveler asked him.

“I’ve managed to convince her to cooperate with us, it wasn’t hard to do it” Xemnas said to him with a dark smile.

“Heh. Good” He said with a dark smile as well, then another corridor of darkness appeared and a 3rd man in a black coat came out of it.

“You’re the last one who arrived” Xemnas said to him.

“How’d it go?” Young Xehanort asked him.

“I just simply did what I do best, plant my seed of doubt in him during his slumber” He answered with a dark smile.

“Heh, just like you did with Sora not too long ago” Xemnas said remembering Sora’s second journey with a dark smile.

“Yes, at this rate he will keep doubting Sora and that will bring him closer to becoming our perfect puppet” He said to Young Xehanort keeping his smile “Good, and this time we’ll make sure we don’t lose this new puppet” Young Xehanort said and Xemnas and the 3rd man nodded in agreement then the rest of the members excluding Vanitas and the tall boy gathered “Things have begun to move, the game is about to begin, no matter how strong the bonds of Sora and Riku with those girls are we’ll cut them and we’ll fulfill our goal, bringing us closer to achieve our master’s goal, in the end our darkness will prevail over their light on this occasion” He declared and the rest of the members nodded in agreement, as they got ready to act when the time is right…(Music Stops)


To Be Continued…