The Prince Speaks: The Doorway

…

I don’t know what to say really…I’ve learnt a lot in the last few days…some of which I wish I never knew. But now I know and I suppose as Keily’s friends…I should tell you all that I have learned from Yuuko. I paid no price for the information…as Keily foresaw this and paid in advance for us…in case we ever went to find out the truth.

…

Did you know that despite looking so small on the inside…that Yuuko’s home was like a labyrinth? It seemed forever before she showed me the Treasure Room, a place where she kept all the items she received in return for her services. There had been many baubles, jewels and crowns, toys, clothing…whatever your heart could desire…there it was. There was even a very large display of what looked to be row upon row of inactive lightsabers. But the things in the Treasure Room had been mere trinkets compared to what I witnessed in a special portion of the room.

Enclosed in a large glass globe was a glorious, golden, shining ball of light so bright that I couldn’t even look directly at it. Though it was blinding, the light was warmth and vaguely familiar. I had made a comment about it and the witch smiled at me.

“I should hope so. This is Keily’s heart.”

I couldn’t believe it though. I’ve been shown photographs of what a heart should look like…literal, metaphorical or otherwise. But Keily’s heart was something else. At least twice the size of any heart the people of Organization XIII have shown me…and probably a hundred times as brilliant. I wish I could actually share the vision of this phenomena, but I can’t…And seeing it floating there, trapped behind glass, made me understand how Keily could have a Nobody of her own…while making me wonder where the darkness was lurking within this star in order to create one.

“Miss Shinra has a big heart…in more ways than one. It stretches through time and space itself…connecting to many hearts from many different worlds…” Yuuko said, approaching the heart and placing a hand upon the glass. “It’s very rare to find a heart…that could hold many universes within…keeping them together by a simple thread of fate…yet not be able to love itself as it does others. Do you understand what I am saying?”

I had to admit…I didn’t. I was never one for emotions—not until recently.

“Well, I suppose you don’t.” she said. “Let me tell you a story…one that Keily paid for me to tell you.”

“Many say that the heart begins and ends in Darkness, so, therefore, the fabled Kingdom Hearts is the Darkness itself. However, some time ago, Sora proved that it was also Light. Since that has happened, quite a few believe that Kingdom Hearts, the place where all hearts go to can alternate…or be both. Depending on who calls it forth—and so far, according to most sources…it’s been called twice. The funny thing is…in truth…it’s been closed for almost a hundred years…way before the time of Ansem the Wise—or Diz, as he calls himself now--and his assistants. And it almost destroyed everything. It is true…Kingdom Hearts has two sides…like a coin. But it does not carry Darkness or Light. Kingdom Hearts…is Creation and Oblivion.”

“But what does this have to do with your darling little Keily? Well, as it so happens…a hundred years ago, a discovery was made. A heart of special type will be born once every millennia or so…Kingdom Hearts’ sick joke. Where there is a key…there must be a lock, am I correct? Or a door to be more precise. Did you know that everyone in Organization XIII has an individual nickname? Xemnas, being the first, was called the Superior…Axel, the Flurry of Dancing Flames…Larxene, the Savage Nymph…Roxas…the Key of Destiny. Kyxiel, as some might have guessed…is Keily’s Nobody…born from the darkness that is her own, yet not her own. But that’s a story for another time. Do you know what Diz has taken to calling her?”

I shook my head, of course. How would I know how a stranger thought?

“He dubbed her, ‘the Doorway’. And do you know why? Well, it is theorized that a heart will return to Kingdom Hearts and know its way there once the heart’s owner’s life has ended. However, as I mentioned before, there is one heart born, separate from the rest…even different from the hearts of the seven princesses that can call forth the Door to Darkness. How is it different? The heart knows the way and can call forth the door at any time…Diz has been looking for such a heart for a very long time…”

She sighed.

“A hundred years ago, someone tried to open the door to Kingdom Hearts…only to bring down destruction and chaos upon the worlds—warping them into the states that they are in now. That is why we have other Worlds, though some places share the same attributes and names…Other universes were made as they were…it had been a terrible time. And then the door had been closed off in the hopes it would never open again. And it won’t…as long as the wrong people don’t get their hands on Keily when she’s a whole person.”

“That is why…I separated her heart from her body…and let her wandering soul become a Nobody. Kyxiel knows that the heart is here…waiting, but she won’t ever take it. For even if she carries Keily’s darker aspects…she won’t let the Worlds that her other self loved get destroyed. That child has the mind of a martyr, Mister Snape. Even if you had enough to pay me back for this heart, I won’t give it up so easily…It’ll be a long while before I can give it up.”

“What would I have to pay…to get her heart back?”

Yuuko thought about it for at least four seconds.

“So far, neither Palpatine nor Voldemort or any Dark Lord of note knows about Keily’s secret and I am sure that you will tell her friends as soon as you leave. Some of them will most likely be people in search of Kingdom Hearts as well…But I don’t worry too much about them. No…my worries are about the forces of Darkness suddenly converging on THIS Earth all of a sudden. Had she never met you…had her potential not been stirred…Keily’s heart wouldn’t have awakened…and remembered the way to Kingdom Hearts. The only way I could return Keily’s heart to you would be if you could rid of Voldemort and Palpatine from this world so that no agent of Darkness may know of Kingdom Hearts’ true power of Creation and Destruction…Oblivion.”

And there you have it. That’s the bloody reason why Keily’s heart was taken from her.

Why do I feel as there’s something else to all this? That there was more, but had been left unsaid? But that is alright with me. For I will get Keily back, no matter what it takes. First, I shall help Lord Vader in his time of need to help get Miss Starflight back. And then we shall move on to be rid of Voldemort…and that’ll be that…won’t it?

I just don’t know what to think right now. I know that I must do something before I rip my eyes out of my head.

But as I said…it will be alright.

Because hope visited us today when I returned from visiting Yuuko.

There was a little white dove perched on the windowsill with a piece of parchment in its mouth. It flew over to me, landing on my shoulder softly as it dropped the parchment in my hands. It cooed, I supposed, in an encouraging manner before flying away. The parchment was small and there hadn’t been that much of a message inside and it made my own heart swell, I think. It was marked for late June…probably a message she had wanted to send to me when she had gone to Mustafar to fight the Emperor and his forces…Just something odd and obscure and so vague that it could have only come from her hand…

What is being Lost, but Forgotten?
What is being Forgotten, but Lost?
I want to be with you always…hand in hand.
Lets finish this story together.