'Dare I believe it? It is happening, there and now! My own apprentice: wielder of the X-Blade!' Master Xehanort couldn't help but rejoice aloud, "Yes, Ventus! Yes! Now unlock Kingdom Hearts' great doors! For your master, and for all worlds!"

A terrible spiraling wind tore up a layer of rocks and dust around Ventus on the plains below. The boy flashed back and forth between pure white and deepest black, and as he lifted the long yellow blade above his head, it took control of his gravity and lifted him effortlessly from the ground.

Twenty people encircled around the boy, protecting their eyes from the dust storm, stubbornly holding their ground with their own keyblades gripped tightly in the hands.

Xehanort winced in anticipation. The twenty keyblade wielders would soon be at the end of their respective roles in this reenactment of the Keyblade War, and Xehanort felt vaguely sorry for them. Although their relentless hatred for each other seemed to come so naturally to them, Xehanort regretted the fact that they wouldn't have fought if he hadn't orchestrated this get-together, and the fact that they were individually capable of so much good. "Oh well," Xehanort thought to himself. 'Such is the way of all worlds. Lesser goods must be sacrificed if greater goods are to be reached.' So he waited uneasily for his apprentice to wipe them from the face of the earth.

Suddenly all, including Xehanort, felt a gravitational pull towards the X-Blade. Xehanort drew his own keyblade and anchored it into the ground, keeping him from getting sucked towards his apprentice down below. The other wielders tried similar modes of grounding themselves, but the ground eroded from beneath them, and some of their keyblades were cracked as beams of light shot out from the great blade. Another huge pulling reached across the plains, and a black fog accompanied the bright beams of light as the whole area was caught up in the display.

In a terrifying turn of events, each of the wielders' keyblades broke into two. One part of each keyblade was absorbed into the X-Blade. The other part was destroyed by it. Then one by one, the twenty keyblade wielders on the open plain fell to their knees before the authority of the X-Blade. Once they did so, beams of light and darkness emitted from their hearts and fed the X-Blade even more power. Once all of them were kneeling, the boy himself fell to his knees and beheld the blade in his hands, still pointing it towards the dark clouded sky. It swirled with energy of all colors. Xehanort allowed a pleasant smile to manifest. 'So the other wielders didn't have to die after all. Is Fate kinder than I supposed?'

The ritual continued. Assured of his victory over the other worlds, Ventus embraced the X-Blade as an entity apart and lifted it in triumph. A white and black laser shot forth from its end, parting the clouds up above. A bright blue light suddenly poured upon the darkened world, leaving every single person there gasping at the majesty unveiled.

Above them all, very distant yet very real, was Kingdom Hearts.

As the black and white laser continued to pulse, the Great Moon grew closer and closer to them.

But then the Moon stopped. The laser flickered with uncertainty. Clouds began to obscure that glorious blue light.

Xehanort looked down at Ventus, alarm and fear and rage igniting in his brain. 'DON'T FALTER NOW!' he screamed to his apprentice mentally. As though his thoughts were transmitted, Ventus suddenly looked his way. The boy's eyes were glowing with the same black and white, and Xehanort felt those sharp pupils piercing into his soul, even at this distance. There was a sensation of the apprentice turned god probing into his thoughts, so Xehanort quickly backed away from the ledge, out of that boy's sight.

A sudden force pulled the old master back towards his apprentice. Like a giant invisible hand, it took Xehanort across the distance and placed him directly before the X-Blade's host.

Ventus spoke. "Why do you resist? You know the philosophy as well as I, yet you withhold your favor. Do you know something that I do not?"

"No, of course not!" Xehanort tried to assure him. "I simply express my thoughts differently!"

Those piercing eyes saw straight through him.

"Liar."

Xehanort hissed at the immense pressure he was under. 'Why didn't those worthless texts say anything about the Wielder's enhanced discernment?! Curse those fools!'

"Silence!" the boy commanded. "Why do you resist?!" Tears began streaming from Ventus' eyes as the light faded from them, returning them to their usual green. "Why don't you believe?! Have you been deceiving me all this time?! Master!?"

Xehanort choked on his words as he was released safely to the ground. The sky was dark as Kingdom Hearts was already sealed and out of sight once more. The X-Blade faded in and out of existence.

Xehanort acted quickly. "No, no, no! That's not true at all!"

Ventus seethed, "It is true. I could hear it."

"... Yes, it is true," Xehanort admitted. "But that's because I'm old! I'm set in my ways! You must ignore me!"

Ventus' face was red with tears. "No…"

"Listen to your master," Xehanort continued. "There will always be those too stubborn to believe in better ways, and your old master is one of them."

The boy frowned viciously. "Stop lying! I know you're not weak!"

Xehanort scowled, "Ventus! Forget about me! You must! For yourself, and for all worlds! If you know it to be true, you don't need anyone else to believe with you!"

"But, Master!"

"Don't betray the X-Blade!"

Ventus froze. He slowly looked down at the X-Blade in his grip. It was cold and heavy, yet it still glowed with a dim yellow light. Ventus inhaled, held the air, then released.

Making final eye contact with Xehanort, Ventus told him, "The X-Blade will not tolerate one who refuses to submit. If you cannot change, leave now. You will not be able to enter Kingdom Hearts, but you will survive. ... You shall always be remembered as my honored master." Ventus bowed.

Xehanort bowed in return. "Farewell, my magnificent apprentice."

Xehanort quickly summoned a large dark keyblade glider, reminiscent of a long thick motorcycle, and flew away into the distance on it.

A little after the old man was gone from sight, Ventus gripped the X-Blade with both hands. The other keyblade wielders had run away, but now that the X-Blade was firmly established, he didn't need them anymore. He didn't need anyone anymore.

Allowing the tears to run down his face, Ventus pointed the X-Blade towards the sky once more.

Xehanort glanced over his shoulder as he flew. A black and white laser once again split the horizon. He sighed heavily. 'How long have I dreamt of seeing the other side of Kingdom Hearts? Oh well. At least I'll still be around to be of some use somehow.'

A sonic boom suddenly pounded Xehanort's ear drums, and a powerful shockwave of sickly cold energy roared past, sending Xehanort's glider plowing into the dirt. Xehanort quickly regained control and faced the energy's source.

He couldn't muster a single word. He merely stared at the massive grey tornado rising all the way to the clouds. It pulsated with pale green energy, and multicolored lightning crashed all around it.

'That's... not right.'

Xehanort zoomed towards the vortex, fully aware of how reckless he was being. The keyblade master leaped off his vehicle and dove headfirst into the wall of cloud. The vehicle transformed back into a keyblade and followed swiftly after its wielder.

The cloud wall was thin, and Xehanort use a protect spell to ensure he would make it all the way down to ground unharmed. He landed behind his apprentice. The boy was clutching the X-Blade tightly, but it had grown unnaturally heavy, pinning his legs to the dry rumbling earth. Ventus was leaning over the weapon protectively, as though the terrible forces in the tornado would snatch it away from him.

"VENTUS!" Xehanort yelled above the din.

Ventus' head lifted up suddenly. The wind and lightning continued, but without sound. The air was without sensation.

Ventus stood. He started to turn, stopped, started to turn the other way, stopped, then started to turn the other way, and stopped. He began to twitch.

Xehanort stood still, watching the back of the boy's head for twenty long seconds, then with hesitation tried, "Ventus-"

The boy suddenly turned. He was holding the X-Blade with both hands, and with a sudden jerk of his muscles, the blade snapped along its length into a sword of darkness and a sword of light. One of Ventus' eyes was pure white now. The other was entirely black. With the white sword, he lashed out at his master. With the black sword, he blocked his own attack. Each arm attacked the other, and before Xehanort could stop him, Ventus had impaled his own heart with both the keyblades. His eyes flushed a deep grey, and he groaned and fell on his face, lodging the swords in up to their hilts. The tornado disappeared, leaving the desert world dark and still once more.

"Ventus!" Xehanort yelled as he dropped to his knees, rolled the boy over, and tried to remove the swords. "Ventus! What are you doing?! How could you do this to yourself?! What do you have to say for yourself?!"

Ventus stared coldly at the empty sky with a thin cynical grin. The grin was stifled, and his eyes changed from red to blue. His expression became troubled, changing the blue to green. Then the grin returned, and his eyes became red once more. Then with a single gasp, the life left his eyes altogether, leaving them a dull green.

Xehanort spat, "If that's the way it's going to be, then you leave me no choice! Ventus, you have failed! Join me now in the exile of darkness everlasting!"

Xehanort stood up, raised his keyblade, and stabbed it into the already twice-impaled chest.

Ventus shook, convulsed, and… cackled. Loudly. It was such a sound as would make anyone recoil. Xehanort was no exception. The boy grabbed Xehanort's keyblade, pulled it out of his chest, yanked it from the old master's hands and tossed it to the side. Pulling the blade of darkness out too, Ventus gripped it firmly, changing it into a full-fledged keyblade. The boy lifted unnaturally up to a standing position and, grinning broadly, stumbled forward as his master continued to step back.

Ventus reared back with the dark keyblade, froze, and scowled at his free hand as it drew the other sword out of his chest and turned it into a keyblade.

Both keyblades pulsed in and out of existence. Ventus trembled and began to scream. The keyblades vanished as he held his head in utter anguish. He fell to the ground and rolled around, screeching, "Fools! Idiots! You're wrong! You're all wrong! There is nothing! Nothing at all! Nothing, nothing, nothing, noth-"

Xehanort cast a sleep spell on the child.

Summoning his keyblade glider once more, Xehanort secured his broken apprentice to the back seat, climbed into the driver's seat, and swore to himself, "I will never try to summon Kingdom Hearts again!"