Buh?

[book-of-dawn.livejournal.com]

Wha... huh?

I go poking around in Space Paranoids (and must wonder why, exactly, Ansem named it -that-), and find...

What exactly IS this?

Ah Light, Leon will probably blame ME for this... whatever it is... and try to have me arrested. Again. Ugh. I don't need this...


[OOC: Ienzo, post KHII, having regained his heart and returned to Radiant Garden in an effort to redeem himself, after Many Weird Adventures. Thus, rather... different than the Ienzo you're used to.]

Comments

[book-of-dawn.livejournal.com]

Simulation of quantum entanglement, not the real thing.

Hm. Well.

I was an idealistic young man, a student of psychology, neurobiology, and computer science, and one of the youngest persons to ever be admitted to my school, the Radiant Institute of Technology. The OTHER youngest student was the Prince, Xehanort, who became my best friend.

Now, my best friend had a problem: he was missing a large number of his memories. I assumed they were repressed, but nothing I could do would restore them. Thus his father had an interesting idea concerning the nature of Darkness itself - that the darkness in people's hearts was not metaphorical as the Path of Iryen said, but physical and real, and could be removed.

Our goal was to find a way to destroy evil itself.

We started by studying the darkness in Xehanort, since that seemed to be part of the reason his memories were missing. He... changed, then.

The more we studied, the more we searched, the more we had to know. It wasn't just research anymore, it was knowing for the sake of knowing. We began to think that Dark was more powerful than Light, to think so many things...

Ansem tried to back out, but I convinced him to stay, to even build a larger lab. But then he finally found the secret evils we'd committed - experimenting on human subjects, making creatures which were physical darkness, darkness incarnate.

Rather than explaining, than realizing our mistake, we threw him to that self-same darkness.

And then... then... Xehanort... changed. He... he... began calling HIMSELF Ansem, declared himself the new ruler of Radiant Garden and the "Seeker of Darkness". He threw off his physical body and became... ugh.

He ripped my friend Eleaus' heart from his chest while I watched. And then he came for me...

... I... don't want to talk about it further.

The point is that we didn't think we were going to do any wrong. Indeed, we began with the very best of intentions. It's just... the road to the Realm of Darkness is paved with good intentions.

[pursuitof-truth.livejournal.com]

........

*he turns away, but the shock and fear on his face is very evident, then quietly*

Your story is familiar.

[book-of-dawn.livejournal.com]

I...
...
hoom.
Look, just... I...

[pursuitof-truth.livejournal.com]

I am positive that I am no illusion or program, but...

I myself am enrolled at a prestigious university, studying psychology and the English language, as it were. Xehanort, Eleaus, Ansem... your story, save for details of location and cultural circumstances, is disturbingly similar to my own.

*a nervous laugh* But worlds are different, aren't they? I still have time to prevent such events...

[book-of-dawn.livejournal.com]

For the love of Light, please try. Please Just... don't go studying Darkness or any similar thing if they ask you too. Let Xehanort remain ignorant, painful as that sounds. He'll... in the long run, he'll be happier that way dear light anything is better than what he became. For Eleaus' sake, don't.

[pursuitof-truth.livejournal.com]

I... yes. Understood. I'm sure I can convince Master Ansem that darkness in the heart is not as important as, say, just understanding why it's there.

What about other friends - Braig, Myde, Li, hell, even Ale? What is their fate?

[book-of-dawn.livejournal.com]

Who the hell is Li?

Braig also loses his heart, not to mention his eye. He had the misfortune of being the first, actually... we found his body just as it was turning to black ash and smoke, a gaping hole in his ch...

...
Ugh. sorry. this is still difficult to speak of.

I hadn't met Myde (and wasn't his truename Edym..?) when I was in Radiant Garden. He... heh. He was from another world from me, and also lost his heart, joining our ranks after... well. Regardless. Demyx and I had a curious relationship. I saw things in him no one else did; the others called him coward, I called him wise. So different, yet so similar...

I miss him, I think.

... Axel. You mean Axel.

He killed me. He killed me after I lost my heart and with no provocation I trusted him and I don't care if I deserved it, he sent that idiot replicant to suck out my soul and it hurt and part of me hopes he that it hurt him to sacrifice himself like the idiot he always was I trusted him! I trusted him and he...
... sorry.

[pursuitof-truth.livejournal.com]

*holds up a hand* No matter, I always had little love for Ale... or Axel, seeing as the other iterations prefer to stick an x into there (ironic how he refuses to be called Alex and yet that x still manifests in his name), so I would not put something so underhanded past him.

Li is... his full name is Liu Ma Li - he pronounces the first part of his name strangely, as if the L were an R, but who am I to judge based on linguistic differences...

Myde is my roommate, and has been for several years... *nod* It would seem that these various incarnations of the world reflect certain truths of personality.

[book-of-dawn.livejournal.com]

Liu Ma Li? Lumaria? Lumaria Bellefleur? Marluxia?

Hah. He was the third-to-last member. Again, I did not know him when he was whole. All I know of him is that he was a traitor, a fool, and a backstabber. Don't trust him, or his girlfriend; they are a scheming lot to rival us.

The X signifies the loss of our hearts, that we are an unknown factor, a remainder in an equation... ah. Pardon me. that Nobodies are.

[pursuitof-truth.livejournal.com]

He is, and I imagine that this will not surprise you, Ael's roommate, though it would seem the two have a... tense relationship. And... Arlene. Yes. She's rather unsavory.

Now, I have heard mention of nobodies, but I'm not quite sure what exactly it entails.

[book-of-dawn.livejournal.com]

Remember how I mentioned that we all had our hearts rather gruesomely ripped out?

Thing is, when the Dark takes your heart like that, and you've got a particularly strong will to live, you don't die. Your body and soul stay attached together. Granted, said body and soul get ripped through the realms of Darkness and twisted into something inhuman. If you're strong enough your outer shape remains human, but internally you're anything but.

That is a Nobody - the empty husk left over when the essence of your being has been removed. You don't age, you gain incredible power over Dark and Light (being of neither), you become bound to an element (Axel, for instance, gained power over Fire; I gained power over Illusion) and have a soulbonded weapon (Myde's was a sitar; mine a large book called the Lexicon), and are highly resistant to damage. You also have no heart, are almost emotionless unless you pretend in a vain effort to keep your humanity, are at risk of dying if you lose the will to live, and the universe itself tries to destroy you becuase you're not supposed to exist at all, you're a remainder in an equation.

Did I mention that you become horribly amoral and inhuman? Well, there. I did.

[pursuitof-truth.livejournal.com]

*takes this all in and processes it*

Lexicon... so that's what the other Zexion was referring to last night.

I shall proceed with caution, then.

[book-of-dawn.livejournal.com]

... I have to admit. I miss the Lexicon, and the Gift (that is, my power over Illusion.) I can still smell people's auras, and with the return of my heart I can... feel their emotions, a little. But...

The price was not worth it. Still, I am tempted and that frightens me. I wonder if I tried to call on those weapons now if I would fall again to darkness. to temptation.