Antebellum

You are late my apprentice." Xehanort said simply as he looked up from the book he was reading as Vanitas had entered his study.

While more accurately it was a large cavern that he had converted into a study with chairs, magical lighting, and shelves carved into the rock and lined with books, scrolls, and texts of all kinds. But it was still a study none the less.

"I was recovering from my bout with Roxas and setting up a fight with the weakling and the perfect Unversed for someone of his level." Vanitas said, causing Xehanort to sigh as he marked his page and closed the book.

"Please tell me that you made it so that young Ventus could deal with it getting himself killed." Xehanort sighed out.

He knew of Vanitas's amniousty towards his other half, while he could respect his apprentice's drive to be whole despite it being apart of his plan. But he was displeased with his willingness to kill Ventus. But it was somewhat understandable, even he didn't know what Vanitas truly was despite creating him.

"I did, it is alot weaker then the one I made to test against Roxas. Speaking of which defeated that one while being poisoned and slightly poisoned. Hell, he was even able to clean out a swarm of the more basic Unversed effortlessly." Vanitas said, causing Xehanort to raise an eyebrow in interest.

"Really now, then I take it that he passed your test then?" Xehanort inquired.

If Roxas actually did pass then he needed to know more him in order to decide where he should fit into his plans.

"He did and you want to know what the least interesting thing about him is that his combat style is one that is seeming based solely on fighting Heartless judging by how he found the weaknesses to all of the Unversed and dispatched them so easily." Vanitas said, piquing Xehanort's attention even more.

A style designed only on fighting and dispatching the Heartless effortlessly. Such a style has been lost to the ages, but it could be developed one has trained extensively against all different kinds of Heartless. Such examples include Vanitas and himself as the two of them have fought multitudes of Heartless over the years and recently the Unversed. Of course he had decades of expierence before resorting to fighting actual Heartless and had a decade and a half experience with that along with Vanitas inheriting Ventus's muscle memory, but those were only details.

So to Roxas must've been taining under similar experiences in order to have gained such a style though he did it from scratch.

His respect for the boy's former master rose a little at that.

Still if that was the least interesting thing about him, then what was it that impressed his apprentice so much.

"And pray tell what he did that interests you so much?" Xehanort asked.

"He could manipulate light about as masterfully as what you have described that Eraqus can do and us it a Limit Break." Vanitas said, shocking Xehanort. "Though he doesn't seem to a good grasp of it as using that very light exhausted him and nearly killed him. Hell it exhausted me something fierce, but I still had enough strength to kill him if he wasn't cunning enough to briefly freeze me in place for a passing Terra to ram into me at full speed with his Keyblade Glider. After crashing into quite a few trees I knew that I was in no condition to fight the two of them. So I booked it and then set up the weakling's little surprise while recovering some of my strength before coming right here. And before you ask I made sure not to let it slip about my partnership with you." The masked Keyblade wielder finished.

"Good." Was all Xehanort as he processed what his apprenrice had said.

It seemed that not only was this Xemnas was more knowledgeable then he thought as he was able to find a Limit Break that delt with light something which he could never find any texts of and seemed to have imparted some tactical knowledge onto Roxas.

Another reason to have some more respect for the man, however he gained even more once he figured something out.

This Roxas was a failed attempt at creating the X-blade through the same process that he did with Ventus 4 years ago.

Of course this Xemnas must've did the same thing 1 year ago with a Keyblade wielder he found and the result were faulty.

If his guess was correct, then Roxas was the light half of the original and the dark half of the original must've been the one Roxas thought was the accomplice he had fought.

The split must've been successful, but had left only Roxas's heart hollow or the both of them hollow, the dark half losing his ability to us the Keyblade as Roxas had only meet one other Keyblade wielder using the alias of one of the Foretellers before meeting Eraqus, and possibly all sembalande of the original Keyblade wielder lost during the split.

So all in all it was almost as worse off when he had split Ventus's heart into to.

So from that point on Xemnas must've trained each half to the best of his knowledge until the both of them where ready to refuse in order to reforge the X-blade.

However Roxas grew lose before he could finish as his inability to properly control his light was of any indication and the rest was history.

While he could respect what Xemnas had accomplished, the man had left enough openings with his plans that Roxas had found out that something was wrong and that had lead to his and the dark half's demise.

Leaving nothing behind but Roxas.

And opening the door to so many possibilities.

"Are you still alive you old coot?" Vanitas question as his patientce was starting to thin.

Xehanort could only sigh at his apprentice.

Why does his apprentice have to be so rude to him.

Oh right, he created him by riping the darkness out of a boy and somehow curse it with the ability to spawn the Unversed.

So his rudeness was understandable.

"I am still alive and I have just decided on what to do with Roxas." Xehanort said, getting Vanitas's attention.

"And that is?" He questioned eagerly.

"Roxas is to be used only if the other two do not reach their potential when the time comes. If not then he will be elimanated when the time comes along with Aqua." Xehanort said.

With his hollowed out heart and aplitude towards the light he was the perfect candidate.

"That also means that you can not kill Ventus unless I order you too." Xehanort told his apprentice.

"Very well." Vanitas groaned out. "Though can I ask you something Master?" He said, surprising Xehanort.

Vanitas hardly every called him that, so whatever he is askin must be deathly serious.

"What is it that you request?" Xehanort inquired, curious on how his apprentice would respond.

"That you please teach me a Limit Break based on darkness if you know any in order to counter Roxas." Vanitas asked.

After a few moments of thought, Xehanort walked over to one of the many shelves carved into the cavern wall and pulled out a worn out piece of paper.

"This here is all I can find about such a Limit Break. Go train with and I will be there to instruct and correct you once I'm done with my reading. I will work with you on this until the day after tomorrow. After that go back to watching over the apprentices and prepare another test for Roxas while you wait from me." Xehanort said as he handed Vanitas the paper.

"Got it, and anything else?" Vanitas asked.

"Do not use that Limit Break on anyone else except for Roxas unless you are pushed far enough, is that understood?" Xehanort asked.

"I understood you old coot." Was all Vanitas said before he vanished into a Corridor of Darkness.

Xehanort could only sigh at that while he went back to his book.

Truthfully he had knowledge about two Limit Breaks, but the other one was of the element earht and Vanitas was rather inept when it came to that element. So he did not give it to him.

Still besides that another piece has officially entered the board and that was Roxas.

He was an unknown and if Vanitas was of indication then the boy was somewhat cunning and pretty efficient when it came down to fighting. Something unlike that of Eraqus's apprentices. Combined that with his power, Roxas was a dangerous and unpredictable piece so far.

Of course Vanitas's observations should clear where he should be placed on the board. And if not then he will resort to Braig in order to keep in eye on the youngest Keyblade wielder.

Either way, everything will fit into his grand design.

Nothing will stop him from seeing what lies beyond the Keyblade War and the balance it will bring.

(Later)

"Of course it would be this worn out after all, this is the last time I ever ask the old coot for anything." Vanitas said as he put the paper away.

It was difficult to read as due to the text fading over the years. Still there was enough to get by on what to do on how to make to Limit Break. Sad news was that the ending was completley gone so the technique was rendered incomplete.

Whether or not the old coot knew about this, he didn't care.

Not that he needed to hate the old goat anymore either. He already had plenty of reasons

So he'll just use what he saw from Gula and Roxas did with their ltechnique and apply that to this Limit Brake. Create his own Limit Break.

But he could work on it later, right now he needed to work on his plans for Roxas. Now that he knew about how strong he was, there was just one thing he needed to find out.

What he was hiding.

Although faint, there was something hidden inside the Nobody that he first felt when he first crossed blades with him. Something familiar, but he couldn't put a finger on what it was.

Deciding to begin he summoned a book with the Unversed emblem on it and began to look through it. This book belonged to a particularly tricky Unverserd he created so long ago. Its powers would be perfect for what he had planned.

However they were also extreamly simplistic, it would take him days to modify it to the exact standards that wished them to be.

So it would be a long while before Roxas even faced it.

But that didn't mean that Roxas would be without a challenge.

Summoning all of his frustrations to the surface, he generated a sphere of darkness in one hand and fired it into the shadow of a rocky outcrop.

To his immediate surprise the surrounding area darkened quite a bit.

"You know I never expected the light absorbtion to kick in quite like this." Vanitas said as he faced what he could see of the Unversed. The only visible parts of it were a pair of silver blade like insectanoid legs and glowing red eyes. The Unversed could only let out a hiss in response, causing Vanitas to chuckle.

"Looks like I created quite the tempermental Unversed this time." Vanitas said as he gave the Unversed a look over. "Now then return to the horde, I will call you once I have need of you."

With a disgruntled hiss, the Unversed covered itself in darkness and abruptly vanished.

"Rude." Was all Vanitas could say as he tried to conntact the intelligent Unversed. The weakling had just defeated the Mad Treant, so he thought it was a good time to check up on it.

"Damn, I really need to come up with a name for it." Vanitas sighed out.

After a few moments of trying he finally suceed.

'What is it my king?' The Unversed asked.

'What is the status of Roxas and Terra?' Vanitas asked.

'They are looking for the weakling on the large human's Keyblide Glider. I'm curently clinging to the back of the interesting human for fear of my own existence. Although strangly I'm feeling somekind of exhileration. Do you know what this feeling is my king?' The Unverses asked, causing Vanitas to chuckle at that.

The Unversed was growing at an exceptional rate in seems.

'It may be that you are just deciding that you are enjoying what you are doing.' Vanitas said amused.

'That's probably it. I love the view from up above, the wind in my antennae, and the warmth the interesting human's back against the cold air. This is simple exhilerating my king!' The Unversed said, getting Vanitas to chuckle again, though he did blink at the one remark about Roxas.

Maybe making that Unversed sole objective to purse Roxas for his temporal energy may have been a bad idea. Then again he had no way of knowing that it way of knowing that it could become sentient. There was no way of knowing how it would affect the Unversed as it continued to develope and removing it would only kill the Unversed. So he would see how this developes for now.

"Well that is interesting, do you mind telling me if they had anything planned for later?" Vanitas inquired.

'The larger human mentioned some training for Roxas later.' The Unversed said, getting him to nod. He figured Terra would try some training, he was looking forward to it.

It would give him more of a challenge the next time they fought.

"Okay, that is enough for now. Report back to me if anything of interest happens." Vanitas said.

'Of course my king.' The Unversed said before cutting of their connection.

With that done, Vanitas dispelled the book and summoned his Keyblade.

It was time to start to work creating his Limit Break after all.

(Chapter 30 end)