Chapter Text
Raging flames were clouding the sky with smoke one night. The Heartless were everywhere. Aqua and Terra were getting out any and all survivors while Sora, Riku, and Ventus tried to keep the Heartless at bay. Just when they were about to leave, a single sound made Aqua stop in her tracks to look at the horde heading toward them.
“Aqua, we gotta go!” Ventus called to her.
“I’ll be right back!” Aqua told him before breaking into a sprint toward the sea of Heartless.
She smashed open the door of a burning building where the sound was coming from. The man and woman inside the house had been crushed under burning debris. In a cradle was the source of the sound, a baby boy with white hair. Aqua quickly scooped the child up and fled the building. The Heartless were right on her heels swinging and swiping. Their claws were nicking and scraping her back as she shielded the bawling infant. Her legs began to wobble as her energy started running out. In a desperate attempt to save the baby she cast Firagun at her heels sending her and the baby flying through the air into the portal closing it behind them.
Aqua’s hearing was clouded by ringing as her vision blurred. She could hardly make out her friends making sure that she was alright. Even after losing consciousness, Aqua still held the infant cradled in her arms. From there she continued to fade in and out of consciousness...
“Curaga got the vast majority of her injuries. With plenty of bedrest and a healthy diet she’ll make a full recovery.”
“What about the baby she rescued? No one has come forward to take him in.”
“We will care for him in the castle for now. Perhaps Master Aqua will give her insight when she recovers.”
“You’re sure, Master Ansem?”
“It would be irresponsible to abandon him after she went to the trouble of rescuing him.”
When Aqua recovered enough strength to stay awake she wasted no time calling Ansem the Wise to come see her. The man wore a smile of relief as he entered the medical bay.
“I’m relieved to see you awake, Master Aqua.” Ansem told her.
“How is the baby?” Aqua asked him.
“Sleeping. No one has come forth to accept guardianship of him as of yet, but we are not giving up hope.” he replied.
“I’ll do it.” Aqua told him bringing a look of surprise to his face.
“You are certain? Raising a child is not an easy task.” Ansem asked her.
“Master Eraqus took Terra and me in when we had nowhere to go. He treated us like his own children. I want to follow through with my actions and ensure that he has a bright future.” Aqua nodded in response.
“Admirable motives aside, if you sign that dotted line you will not be allowed to change your mind later. I want you to be absolutely sure. When it comes to children there is no room for doubt.” Ansem told her.
“I’m sure. I have everyone here to lend a hand if things get too crazy for me to handle alone.” Aqua smiled reassuringly.
“You speak the truth. Oh yes, and you may want to come up with a name for him before the others decide on one. He did not come with a name tag of any sort.” Ansem chuckled before taking his leave.
After Aqua handled the necessary checkups for discharge she went to Ansem’s office for the official adoption documents. Sleeping in a crib inside his office was the baby with a blue blanket with dinosaurs on it wrapped around him. When it came to giving him a name Aqua went with the name “Sanctus”. She then signed the dotted line making everything official.
Carefully Aqua lifted her child and carried him and the crib to her room. Sanctus slumbered peacefully the entire time. Just when she lay him down in the crib’s new locale a presence entered the room.
“Aqua, you’re awake!” Ven’s voice cried, and with that cry Sanctus woke up as a cranky baby.
“Ven, you woke him up.” Aqua scolded him while trying to soothe Sanctus.
“Sorry…” he groaned as Terra entered the room.
“I tried to stop him…” Terra sighed shaking his head.
“Both of you, I’ve adopted the baby. His name is Sanctus.” Aqua told them as she managed to calm him down.
“You adopted him?” Ven spoke in disbelief.
“I think it’s a strong fit. Aqua is responsible and careful.” Terra smiled.
“I’ll be counting on you two to lend me a hand, okay?” Aqua giggled.
“You can count on me. Uncle Ven is here to help.” Ven beamed at her.
With that, Radiant Garden’s castle had a new resident in Aqua’s son. Aqua did everything she could to show her love for him while providing a thorough education. With the help of the apprentices she was able to start his vocabulary early. By two years old he could speak in full sentences, despite having broken pronunciation for longer words. Even Ansem was astounded by his seemingly high intellect.
Sanctus grew up spending most of his time in the castle. The other kids seemed to be afraid of his white hair and dark grey eyes. In his loneliness he occupied his time with novels. Even when keyblade apprentices came to the castle he didn’t get much interaction. By age eight he only seemed to recluse further with his inability to make friends. Sanctus then got a thought…
“Maybe if I could use the Keyblade I’d be able to make friends…” he wondered as he stared at the night sky outside of his window.
So the next day while Aqua washed their breakfast dishes he decided to ask. He almost never asked Aqua for anything.
“Mom… could I learn to use the Keyblade?” Sanctus asked her.
“Why do you want to use it, sweetie?” Aqua replied as she dried her hands.
“Well… everyone else seems happy to be using it. They have lots of friends too. So… maybe if I can use it too I’ll make friends?” Sanctus answered her nervously.
“Honey, wanting to have friends is all well and good... but the Keyblade won’t guarantee friends, least of all friends who really care about you. The Keyblade also carries a big responsibility. It isn’t a toy.” Aqua told him with a motherly smile as she tidied his hair a bit.
That day seemed all the more stifling to Sanctus. Everywhere he went there were kids who fled at the mere sight of him. So as usual he went to the lower gardens. With a heavy sigh be began to flower gaze.
“Now there’s something that just isn’t right if you ask me.” a voice spoke alerting Sanctus to someone’s presence behind him.
When he turned around who should be there but Hades, the God of the Underworld. He seemed to be friendly enough, at least in Sanctus’s eyes.
“What do you mean?” Sanctus asked him.
“A kid all by his lonesome looking ready to cry? C’mon, childhood should be spent with friends, right? Right. So why don’t you run along and find them, kid? I got important work to do.” Hades lectured.
“I don’t have any friends…” Sanctus told him looking very glum.
“No friends? What, afraid of social interaction?” Hades questioned him.
“No one wants to be my friend… they just run away from me. They said my eyes are creepy.” Sanctus explained to him.
“Oh. Well, a kid’s gotta have a friend or two… tell you what kid. Name’s Hades, Lord of the Dead. I’ve got a nice little present for ya…” Hades spoke conjuring something with black smoke behind his back.
“What is it?” Sanctus asked curiously when Hades pulled whatever he was making in front of him.
The black cloud sculpture looked like a Bouncywild heartless. Hades then made a small ball of darkness appear on the palm of his hand.
“A little darkness and…” Hades chuckled before pushing the ball into the cloud.
The cloud then dispersed as a Bouncywild bearing black and red fur fell from Hades hand. On its back was the Heartless Emblem, but it lacked the X in the middle. In its left hand was a wooden cane twice its size and slung around its body with a black strap was a tome bearing the same marking on its cover. With a single bounce it got to its feet.
“Presto! One completely loyal friend. Her name is Magewild. Take good care of her and she’ll take good care of you.” Hades chuckled looking proud of his work.
“Wow! Thanks Hades! This means a lot to me!” Sanctum beamed making Hades turn away to hide his bashfulness.
“Yeah, well, I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night knowing there’s a kid without any friends out there. Now, go on, scram-I mean… go play with your new friend.” Hades told him.
“Let’s go, Mage.” Sanctus beamed and ran off with the Magewild following suit with a very bouncy jog.
“Hooboy, the light in that kid is sickening. I couldn’t just leave him be though.” Hades huffed.
“Taking pity on a mere boy? Perhaps there is some light within you after all.” Maleficent’s voice spoke as the Mistress of All Evil herself appeared.
“What? You saying I should have made him even more miserable? I like seeing someone suffer more than the next guy, but the kid was already suffering when I got here. I mean, c’mon, nothing is more miserable than a broken heart. Now why call me all the way out here?” Hades scoffed.
“A rather peculiar individual approached me recently. He said something about destroying all worlds to reform the original.” Maleficent told him.
“What? You couldn’t have come to the Underworld to tell me this? Why come all the way out here?” Hades asked her.
“He claimed that a compatriot of his would perform a crucial step here today, and that if we wanted to see some spectacular fireworks we’d make a distraction.” Maleficent replied while tapping her staff summoning a large group of Heartless.
“That so? Well I do love a good fireworks show.” Hades snickered summoning a group of his own at a snap of his fingers.
Sanctus was laughing happily as he played tag with his new friend. All of the games he’d never gotten to play seemed like a distant dream before today. The sudden appearance of a thin woman with long red hair dressed in a red bodysuit with black shoulder pauldrons making an X across her chest and back, black gloves, and black boots bearing gold engraving on the heels made him skid to a stop with Magewild bumping into him shortly after. She looked at him with dark purple eyes and black sclera making a grin come to her lips bearing crimson lipstick.
“Well look who I found.” she snickered while flicking her wrist summoning the One Winged Angel Keyblade.
“The Keyblade…?” Sanctus spoke nervously.
“You know what this is, huh? So that means you know what this’ll do if I use it on your heart, right?” she giggled raising it making Sanctus back up a bit falling over as the Magewild ran away.
Sanctus closed his eyes when she swung, but the loud sound of metal on metal prevented what he feared. He opened them and Aqua had stopped her in the nick of time. She had summoned her armor too, a very rare occurrence. Aqua looked to be struggling to hold her ground though.
“Aw, how adorable, mommy dearest to the rescue… but oh wait… you aren’t really his mother are you?” the woman giggled with a sadistic grin.
“Blood doesn't define who your family is.” Aqua growled managing to knock her back from the struggle.
Sanctus couldn’t move as Aqua and the mysterious woman fought fiercely. He’d only seen his Uncle Terra and Uncle Ven be able to fight on par with her before. The fighting only escalated until Aqua finally disarmed the woman pinning her down with a foot on her chest. Sanctus found the strength to stand as it seemed to be over seeing the woman seemingly reaching for her Keyblade...
“Who sent you?!” Aqua demanded.
“Should you be asking that…? Or protecting your little boy?” she smirked making Aqua look away for a second realizing where her hand was actually aimed.
“Mega Flare.” the woman sneered launching the initial fireball at him.
Aqua teleported in front of Sanctus at the last second and shielded him from the explosion using herself. When the smoke cleared Aqua’s armor was in pieces with horrendous injuries all over her body.
“M-Mom…?” Sanctus choked out.
“Are you hurt…?” Aqua asked weakly.
“Mom, what about you…?” Sanctus asked on the verge of tears.
“If you aren’t hurt… then that’s enough… run, Sanctus… far away from here…” she smiled before losing consciousness.
“Oops, did I kill mommy?” the woman laughed maniacally as she retrieved her Keyblade.
Familiar feelings welled up in Sanctus’s chest until he felt ready to burst… anger, frustration, sorrow, and misery. Aqua’s Keyblade lay by them and he grabbed it getting to his feet, an aura of darkness flaring up around him. His eyes turned purple as he snarled at the woman.
“Oh-hoh, did I make the baby angry? Does he need a nap?” the woman giggled.
“I’ll kill you!” Sanctus roared recalling the Magewild to his side looking ready for battle.
“That’s the spirit!” she laughed.
Sanctus charged covered by fire spells from the Magewild fighting the woman, though she was obviously playing with him half-heartedly blocking his attacks without countering. With his size he managed to slip under her guard and slammed the Keyblade into her jaw making her do a flip landing flawlessly on her feet.
“Ooh, I actually felt that connect. If you live you can take away the fact that you hit harder than your mommy.” the woman goaded him.
“Shut up!” Sanctus roared charging her again.
While Sanctus fought with the woman a man in a brown burlap robe hiding all features knelt by Aqua. With a holy light emanating from his hand into her body he got by her ear.
“You can’t die yet, Aqua. He needs you, now more than ever. Get up before the darkness swallows him whole.” the man whispered.
Aqua opened her eyes and the man was gone, leaving only Sanctus’s furious battle for her to spy. The woman knocked Sanctus sliding back almost making him fall over as the Magewild cast Cure on him looking to be panting from the sheer amount of spellcasting it’s been doing. She had flashbacks to Terra and hugged Sanctus from behind taking her Keyblade back.
“Sanctus, get ahold of yourself!” Aqua called loudly in his ear seeming to snap him out of it making the aura fade away, though purple his eyes remained.
“What? How are you still breathing after a direct hit?” the woman gasped taking a step back.
“I heard Sanctus’s heart reach out to mine… and followed it home. He needs me, so here I am.” Aqua replied charging into the fray with the enemy now thrown off by her miraculous recovery.
“She can’t win by herself.”
“Did you say that?” Sanctus asked the Magewild, who was now by his side.
“Who else could have said it? We’re going to help right?”
“I don’t have a weapon of my own.” Sanctus told her.
“Sanctus, you have the most powerful weapon of all. The one that dwells in everyone: the heart. Call to it and it will fight for you.”
“My heart…?” Sanctus spoke to himself touching his chest, and in his right hand a burst of darkness and light spooked him.
It took the shape of a Keyblade with long reach surprising him further. The handle had black gripping tape around it, the guard was shaped to be angel wings, the shaft was a pitch black katana blade, and the teeth was a red heart with angel wings and a black crack down the middle that also functioned as the tip. The token at the end of the chain was golden heart bearing a black crown on top. This Keyblade’s name echoed in the back of Sanctus’s mind… “Broken Innocence”.
“We’ll help.” Sanctus nodded to the Magewild before rushing in.
While the woman was locked up with Aqua again Sanctus hit her from behind knocking her to the side. The Magewild then hit her with Fire sending the woman rolling hitting the wall of a building harshly.
“Give up?!” Sanctus huffed while stretching his dominant arm.
“Sanctus, you’re using the Keyblade on your own…?” Aqua gasped.
“That hurt … you actually managed to hurt me…? That’s it… no more miss nice girl…” the woman snarled getting to her feet as an aura of darkness rose from her.
“ Minerva, you accomplished what you went there to do. Come back. ” a man’s voice spoke as if he were all around them.
“Oh-ho no… I’m going to teach this brat a lesson …” she growled beginning to charge up a sphere of darkness in the palm of her free hand.
“ Do I need to remind you who is in charge? ” the voice reprimanded her.
“Aqua!” Ventus’s voice called.
“They said she went this way!” Terra’s voice came after.
“ Even you would not be able to leave unscathed when those reinforcements arrive. ” the voice warned her.
“Fine…” she scowled before using a Door to Darkness to escape into the wall mere moments before Terra and Ventus rounded the corner.
“You two okay?” Terra asked them.
“We’ll be fine.” Aqua nodded.
“One left.” Ven spoke spotting the Magewild causing it to flinch.
“Wait, she’s my friend.” Sanctus told him as the Magewild fled through dark warp. “Good going…”
“Aqua. Let’s have Even look at him back at the castle.” Terra suggested.
Later at the castle’s medical bay Even and Ienzo ran many tests on Sanctus, as requested. From what they could tell he was healthy as a horse, maybe even healthier.
“Well, he’s the picture of health. Absolutely nothing is wrong with him.” Even told the trio.
“He used the power of darkness earlier. There aren’t any side effects from that?” Aqua asked with a very concerned look on her face.
“About that. It seems that his eye color has become a dark shade of purple. Other than that there are no new developments other than natural growth. That being said, if there are any complications that arise do not hesitate to have us examine him again.” Ienzo replied.
In an unknown place several people hidden by shadows with Heartless all around them were gathered. Minerva then approached them with Wyverns circling her.
“Well, well, look who’s back. A little bird told me that you were cocky and actually got hurt.” one of the other women giggled.
“Shut up!” she roared making the Wyverns take aim at the other woman who snapped her fingers summoning Wizards to her side.
“Take it outside if you’re going to fight. The master comes.” one of the men spoke up.
The woman who entered the room wore a black fox mask and a red set of robes. In one hand was a very worn out tome and in the other was a black and red version of the Ultima Keyblade bearing a dark purple eye in the guard.
“Omega has spoken to me. The plan goes forward as planned.” she told them.
“Master. I’ve been meaning to ask this for a while, but who is Omega?” one of the other men asked her.
“I’m glad you asked. You all will need to know what it is going forward.” she replied holding up her Keyblade. “This is the Omega Keyblade, a living weapon born by allowing one’s Keyblade to absorb the hearts of other Keyblade Masters. Their light… their darkness… both compose this mighty weapon told of in our mistress’s book. We will progress history as dictated.”
“The mistress forbid us from creating that weapon! What do you mean by progress history as intended?!” one of the men demanded standing up from his spot.
“Did you think the war of Keyblade Wielders was the only prophecy within this book? It predicted that I would make Omega at some point and would clash with a young man who has mastered the power of darkness over the light. I have my role to play in this story, as do all of us.” she told him.
“You want us to just blindly obey it?!” he roared while summoning the Metal Chocobo Keyblade to his hands.
“Fool. It has predicted everything that will happen. It may not be a 100% accurate, but the prophecy will bring the return of our mistress.” she smiled.
“You said there was another way when you gathered us all back!” he roared charging to let a powerful swing loose, but his Keyblade stopped dead on Omega’s shaft despite the wind making her hood flap a bit. “W-What…? That was full power…”
“You are but a single man. Omega is a legion of hearts all working together for one goal. You shall join their harmony…” she smirked before effortlessly knocking him back without even using her other hand.
“M-Master, please, forgive him!” one of the younger girls cried while trying to avoid angering her.
“Do not mourn for him, young one. This, too, was predicted… the Heart of Awareness that will make the Omega gain self-awareness greater than that of a mere Keyblade. He will ascend to a greater purpose, and therefore should be celebrated.” their master smiled comfortingly before moving like a flash of light running the man’s chest through with Omega’s tip making light and darkness begin flowing out of him.
“Mistress… is this… truly what you want…?” the man spoke with his last breath before vanishing into light particles leaving behind his heart on Omega’s tip, which was absorbed into the weapon moments later.
“Everyone. Remember the name Krause, because he has now played his role. Rejoice in the fact he has played a part in Lady Ava’s return. I shall tell each of you the role you are meant to play in private, but you must not speak of them to anyone else.” their master smiled warmly.