Dreams of a Bygone Era

"Were am I?" Asked Roxas.

He could tell that he was asleep, but it felt like that it was awake. He was in what appeared to be a town square he had never seen before. There was a multitude of old fashion looking house surrounding it, all of them had purple painted on their roofs. In the center was a simple circle with a star-shaped pattern with in the middle of each of its sides was a small yellow circle. Within the center of the shape was a simple fountain. He noticed that there was two sets of stairs on both sides of the square, one going down and the other one leading upwards. The Nobody finally noticed something in the background.

"That is a huge castle." He said that he and Sora had been to quite a large number of worlds with large castles, it was saying something. It was probably the fourth or fifth largest one he has seen.

The castle seemed to be arched shape with nothing on the legs until the middle. The opening was like a giant clock with a large pendulum include with it. Both sides had a large amounts of towers on it. Roxas couldn't really see that much more of it, but it was quite a spectacle to behold. He had never seen a castle like that before.

But it was shattered when he saw a familiar annoyance.

"Great, Heartless." Roxas said with annoyance. He summoned his Keyblades as he saw what had become a regular pain during his time with Organization XIII.

It was a trio of small black humanoids with a round, spherical head. They didn't have any digits on their feet and each had 3 clawed fingers on their hands. On each of their head they had 2 twisted antenna and a pair of glowing yellow eyes. Each time one of them moved, they twitched all over their body.

They were Shadows, the most common species of Heartless.

With a sigh Roxas summoned Oblivion and tried to hit the nearest one. But he was surprised that it passed through it and the Shadow didn't even react to it. Roxas was surprised at that, before he realized one simple fact,

"This is just a dream. So of course they wouldn't attack." He said to no on e in particular. He was so used to always fighting them for over a year, that it became almost instinctual to him. He was prepared to leave the courtyard when he saw one of the Heartless was defeated.

"Another Keyblade wielder, this is the fourth time today!" He exclaimed. It was starting to get annoying.

The new Keyblade wielder looked to be a girl around his physical age and height with blue eyes and short lavender hair with 2 bangs that framed her face on either side. She had black boots, black capari pants with a belt, a black U-neck shirt, white gloves with red ribbons on the wrists, and to complete the look a red sleeveless jacket with a white trim. He saw her take out the second Shadow and got a better look at her Keyblade.

'Her Keyblade...it almost looks like the Kingdom Key.' The Nobody thought.

In fact it was very similar. The grip was the same as the Kingdom Key. So was the guard, except it was blue. The rainguard was gold and the shaft was light blue and ended with an orb by the teeth. The teeth were actually double edged with one end a simple spike and the other a five-point star. The keychain was similar to the Kingdom Key except that it ended with a golden star. With it the girl sliced the last one and watched as it dispelled.

"That should be the last of them." The girl said. As she unknowingly turned her back to Roxas a voice came out from behind them.

"Not quite."

Roxas turned around to see Ava, but her hood was pink and her shirt was light purple. A far cry of her faded colors that she wore in the Realm of Nothingness. He tried to get her attention, but was unable to.

With that Roxas was able to piece together what was going on.

'Okay I'm not only dreaming, but I'm also seeing something from Ava's memory.' Roxas thought.

It was the only explanation for this as he doesn't recognize his surroundings and she also looked a little younger from when he first meet her. But he had to wonder, how long ago in the past was this? She had mentioned briefly that it was a long time from were he ended up.

He could figure it out later, but for now he would watch to see what happens.

"Foreteller Ava!" The girl said, backing up in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

The Nobody made a note to ask Ava about whatever he didn't know when he next saw her.

Ava just chuckled at the girls reaction.

"I just figured that I would see the newest member of my Union. I've heard some promising things about you Hikari. From what I've seen you have lived up to them with how easily you dispatched those Shadows." Ava said smiling. The now named Hikari proceeded to relax a bit at that. She kind of looked sheepish at getting praise from Ava before her she looked confused.

"What do you mean not quite?" Hikari said. Ava's face turned serious and pointed to the right of her. On the other side of the square was a gigantic pillar of darkness slowly forming into an opening.

"You can do exceptionally well against the weaker Heartless." She said calmly. The opening grew wider and a pair of yellow eyes shone from the darkness. Hikari got into a stance, ready to face whatever came out of it.

"But what about against a giant Heartless."

A gigantic humanoid walked outside the the opening which faded after it exited. It was a threat that Roxas was very familiar with.

"A Darkside. Of course it is a Darkside." He said bitterly.

The Darkside species were a massive pain in both his and Sora's memories. Sora had faced 3 of them on his first adventure including during his final battle with Ansem. Roxas had faced with one early with his time in the Organization and a stronger variant, the Dark Follower with Xaldin. The main part of them that was dangerous was their homing attacks and massive strength. If this Hikari was a beginner, then she was in for a tough fight.

The giant Heartless lunged at her and she barley dodged the fist. She managed to get a few hits on the fist before it summoned a trio of Shadows. Hikari proceeded to deal with them in a matter of seconds. But by then the Darkside had proceeded a volley of homing projectiles from the hollow in it's chest. Hikari blocked most of them and sent the barrage back at the Heartless. However one of the projectiles headed towards Ava. She silently cast Reflect and with a simple wave of her hand sent it back at the Darkside. Hikari calmly lept back into the fray against the Heartless.

Both onlookers were impressed by her work against the Darkside. If Roxas was correct and that she was beginner then she was a damn good one. By the looks of it she was faster, stronger, and more resilient then when he and Sora first faced a Darkside. But he also noticed that she was starting to tire out and that her movements were starting to get sloppy. Evidently that while she was physically better then when he or his other when they started, but her stamina could use a lot of work.

Ava also noticed his and gathered a little magic into her hand and launched a small orb of light into the air.

"You have done well by yourself Hikari, but know that you are not alone." Ava said. After she said that seven people entered the square. Each of them wielding a different Keyblade in hand.

"I give up." Roxas said seeing all of these Keyblade wielders in one spot. Did everyone in the past wield a Keyblade?

"Know that you will always be joined by those who share the same path you chose and the same will that shines through the bleakest of darkness. To be able to connect your heart with theirs and draw out the power that each of you need to overcome any trial you face together." Ava said. After that all of the Keyblade wielders went to assist in attacking the massive Heartless.

They showed impressive coordination with each other and Hikari. She quickly matched their movements as they proceeded to gather around and overwhelmed the Darkside. It tried to overpower them, but it could not. They all were quickly whittling its stamina down to nothing. It summoned another trio of Shadows to defend itself. It only took a few seconds for the warriors to dispatch them, but the Darkside created a large orb of darkness and threw it at them. It sent a few of them flying. But three of them including Hikari stood strong. With one final charge all three of them climbed up the Heartless and delivered a final blow to its head.

The Giant Heartless slumped down and began to disperse into a giant wisp of darkness. Once the haze went away all traces to the Darkside were gone.

Ava smiled at the Keyblade wielders and proceeded to cast a silent Cure on everyone.

"Well done all of you." She said at them. All of them looked proud at themselves and were congratulating each other on a job well done. Hikari meanwhile was fidgeting as she looked like she wasn't used to a large group of people like this. But she did also join in the others after a bit.

"As you know there are a few other groups who are after the light in order to drive back the darkness, like we are." Ava said getting their attention.

"What does she mean by that?" Roxas wondered.

"However it doesn't necessarily mean they share our will. In other words they are collecting the light for their own interests instead of preserving the peace of the world. It is up to yourself to figure who is a Seeker of Darkness masquerading as a Guardian of the Light." She said. The assorted Keyblade wielders only nodded and left the square leaving only her and Hikari. While Roxas was pondering what she was saying.

"What do you mean by that Foreteller Ava?" Hikari asked. The woman in question could only sigh.

"I fear that if things don't change something terrible will befall the world. So I'm hoping that people like you will be able to discern who walks the path of darkness and hopefully prevent it from happening." Ava said the last part silently.

Before Hikari could speak a chiming breaks out from the castle in the distance.

"I'm afraid that is all for now Hikari." Ava said. She then opened a corridor of what appeared to be a corridor of made of light before stepping into it.

"Just remember that may your heart be your guiding key. It will lead you down the right path if you follow your heart and you stay true to it always."

With that Ava vanished into the corridor and the entire scenery faded to black

(???)

In an unknown location a man was writing in a book. He had never shown anyone else it's contents as it was something that wouldn't matter anytime soon.

As he was jotting down some more, he suddenly found himself forgetting what he was writing. Quickly he finished up what he had and got out a second book. It was blank. In the first he flipped back a great many pages and when he found what he was looking for placed a marker so he wouldn't lose his place. He began to write in the second book as he filled up the first few pages at a rapid pace.

"Interesting." Was all that he said as he temporarily put his quill down.

"Looks like I'm going to have company soon."

He would prepare for his guest's arrival before he got back to writing.

(Land of Departure)

Roxas woke up with a start

He had seen more Keyblade wielders in that memory then he had seen during his life. As well what he saw that long ago that like in the present he came from that Heartless were common place. Well he was interested in how concepts he had never known before fit in with what he saw including Ava herself and Hikari, one thing the past image of his friend said.

'Ava said about preserving the piece of one world single, not many worlds like Sora was back in the previous timeline.' Roxas thought. 'So either she was pertaining to one single world or...' His eyes widened at the possibility of she might've been saying.

'That she was from when all the worlds were still together as one!'

The one time he had ever heard of it was from the memory of when Kairi told Sora the story that her grandmother told her all the time before she wound up at Destiny Islands.

Back before the worlds were separated, people began to fight over the light and the darkness soon consumed the world and many people's hearts. It was only that's to the small lights inside the hearts of children was that they were able to rebuild the many scattered worlds as they were today.

This had occurred back during the Age of Fairy Tales. So that probably meant that Ava and Hikari possibly were from that era. As much as it was an impossibility for most people, it wasn't for him as he had just came back 12 or 13 years into the past.

'Note to self ask Ventus what is the date when I see him next.' The Nobody thought. Still if it meant that Ava was from that far into the past, then she might either know of the story or that she was a part of it.

'I'll ask her about it when I'm able to talk to her again. Whenever it will be.' Roxas thought. He would have to put those thoughts away for now as he heard a knock on his door.

(Chapter 9 end)