Archive of Our Own

Wakaba’s Letter (obtained from the Sphinx in Isshiki’s Pyramid)

 My dearest Futaba,

This is going to sound crazy, but—

—I have opened a door that leads to the heart of our world.

Okay, heart might be a little melodramatic—but I am certain that it is our world’s core, its life source, and what should we call that other than a heart, or maybe a soul? Either way, it’s a massive source of energy, and when I opened it the Light within was so bright that it could illuminate the whole sky. Which made me think that there may be some truth in the saying that every star in the night sky is another world—and if so, then what about the shooting stars? What about the stars that blink out?

I’m a researcher at heart, you know that. I have questions, and I need to know the answers. And after I opened the door, I found some building materials lying around that, if my calculations are correct, will let me create something that can travel from our world to the worlds beyond.

So… I’m going to go away for a little while. I’m going to travel to the worlds that I can reach, and see what I can learn about not just them, but about ours too. I won’t be gone for too long, I promise—and when I come back, and I know a little more about all of this, then you can come with me. We can travel the stars together.

But while I’m gone, take care of our world, okay? I know you’ll do a great job. You’re so smart, and brave.

I’ll see you soon.

All my love,

Mom

***

Ren lowered the letter, casting his gaze over to where Futaba sat. She’d taken over as pilot of their Gummi Ship, boasting better navigational skills than all of his gathered thieves combined, and had traded her pharaoh robes for a skintight black and green jumpsuit that Kanji had assured them would protect her from the darkness of the Lanes Between. 

She seemed a little brighter now than when they had first met, cowering in her chambers as a giant sphinx-shaped Heartless laid waste to the world outside. The machines that she and her mother had set up to protect the world’s heart had bought her and her people enough time for Ren and his team to respond to the distress signal she’d thrown out to the stars, but she was clearly still shaken up by the near loss of her world.

The Heartless circling Isshiki’s Pyramid had been the largest one Ren had ever seen. Even in the Bank of Greed and Shujin Castle the monsters hadn’t been as big or aggressive. 

The Heartless were drawn to the darkness in people’s hearts—that was a universal truth Ren had seen evidence of firsthand. That darkness took many forms, but what was always irresistible to the Heartless was strong fear, rage, and despair. 

Futaba wasn’t looking at Ren, and was instead staring out at the sea of stars beyond the cockpit. Ren wondered what she felt, looking up at the endless sea of worlds, knowing that her mother was somewhere out there. 

“And you haven’t seen your mother since?” Ren asked, even though he already knew the answer.

“Nope. Wherever she went, she didn’t come back.”

“And you think she went to the Ark of the Elite?”

“I’m sure she did,” Futaba answered. “It might not have been the first place she ended up, but if Madarame and Kaneshiro were carrying reports that she’d written… they had to get them from somewhere, and the best bet is the Ark. At least until I can decode them, and see if she said otherwise.”

“The Ark is the capital of the Consortium of Worlds,” Makoto agreed, raising a hand to her chin consideringly. “When I was at the Casino with Sis, representatives of Captain Shido were eager for her to join their group. Even if Wakaba isn’t there specifically, it would be a good place to start. Someone there will likely know where the former pharaoh of Isshiki’s Pyramid headed, at least.”

“Still can’t really believe this Consortium is a thing,” Ryuji huffed. “We spend our whole lives thinkin’ there’s just one world and nothin’ beyond it, while some guys half the sky away are all working’ together? It’s crazy.”

“It isn’t supposed to be the way of things,” Yusuke reminded him. “The worlds are supposed to be separate, the walls insurmountable, to protect the order. The fact that Wakaba Isshiki could cross the borders of her world, and that Captain Shido is trampling over centuries of tradition by making contact with others so brazenly…”

“Maybe that’s why there’s so many monsters everywhere?” Ann suggested. “Maybe the walls kept them out somehow, and now the walls are coming down, the darkness can get in?”

“The walls protect the heart of the world,” Haru stated. “And the Heartless aren’t just drawn to the hearts of people.”

“It isn’t just Heartless,” Sumire pointed out softly. “There’s other monsters, too.”

Everyone fell silent at the reminder. Futaba shifted her legs onto the chair, hugging her knees close to her chest. “I need to go to the Ark. If there’s a chance that my mom is there, I need to take it.” She looked up, finally meeting Ren’s eyes with steel that had only appeared when the sphinx had been on the verge of defeat, and her courage came back to her. “I need to know what happened to her. Why she didn’t come back.” 

“I understand,” Ren said, completely sincere. At her questioning look, he reached into the pocket of his long black coat. He tugged out a single glove, the black leather contrasting with the red of the ones on his own hands, and held it out for her to see. “I’m looking for someone, too.”

***

Ren had been fourteen when his world was destroyed. 

It had been a normal day. A nice one, in fact, with the sun high in the cloudless sky. He’d been certain that it was a sign that now was the time to put his plan into action, and find a way to travel to worlds outside of Inaba. He’d spent his childhood listening to Naoto’s theories about interworld travel, of seeing the stars shining in the sky and dreaming of reaching them. And when he had met Goro Akechi, someone who was new even though there were no ‘new’ people in Inaba, he knew that he was special. 

Goro had just appeared one night after a meteor shower, and when Ren spoke to him, he said that he wasn’t from Inaba at all. That he was from another world, and so was his mother—and one day, he’d travel the stars and find her again. 

Goro was smart, and sharp, and could flip between charming and cutting at the drop of a hat. His smile was like a knife, shining and used with deadly precision. His caramel brown hair and russet eyes were like a fire, and Ren couldn’t pull himself away from his warmth. 

Ren had been captivated by Goro. And when Goro had told him that he wanted to try to leave Inaba and find his mother again, Ren hadn’t hesitated to say he’d help. He’d wanted nothing more than to travel the stars with this boy, to see things with him that he’d never even dreamed of. 

But they never made it out of the town. Not before the darkness had smothered the sun in the sky, and monsters black as night with golden, glowing eyes had swarmed everything Ren had ever known. People vanished before his eyes, becoming monsters in turn, while Ren had ran through the streets searching for the boy he needed to protect.

He found Goro holding his own against them, even though all he had to defend himself with was a toy sword. Ren raced to his side, avoiding the claws that swiped for him, as an orb of red and purple darkness coalesced in the sky above them. He reached for his friend, his left hand holding onto Goro’s right so that they could both try their hardest to fight off the monsters, even though the weapons they used barely touched them. And as the monsters kept swarming, the orb of darkness in the sky got bigger and bigger, like it was about to consume the world itself. 

Ren felt himself being pulled toward it, his feet barely staying on the ground. He tightened his grip on Goro’s hand, because if the world itself was ending then there was no way he was going to lose the most important thing he had too. 

But as the ground beneath his feet split and the sky was smothered, there was nothing he could do. 

Goro’s hand was ripped out of his, and in his desperation to keep hold of him, Ren pulled off his black glove in the process. He was wrenched off of his feet, and pulled into the sky in the moment before everything went dark. 

He woke up in a world called Traverse Town—a brightly lit, rustic town bathed in eternal night, that was filled with refugees just like him. Some of the people there came from the same world Ren did, but countless others were people Ren had never met, dressed in colourful outfits that were like nothing he had ever seen, and many were nothing at all like the people Ren had known. There were talking animals that walked on two legs, there were humans with wings and claws, and most of them came from worlds that Ren had never even heard of. 

All of their tales ended the same way, though—their lives had been normal, until their worlds were attacked and destroyed. 

Ren learned that these world-ending creatures were called the Heartless. Beings made of the darkness in people’s hearts, drawn to that same darkness in all living things. When they found it, they would consume it—consuming the hearts and souls of whatever they ate in the process. Heartless could be temporarily defeated by conventional weapons, but they would simply reform later. The only weapon that could stop them permanently was something called a Keyblade, but the keybearers were few and far between. 

He lived in Traverse Town for a while—helping out in the shops, being a friendly face and sympathetic ear for the endless stream of refugees who ended up there when their own worlds were destroyed. Every day, he watched the doors that led out of the world’s districts and waited for the moment that Goro would step through. 

He never did. The only trace he had that his friend even existed was the glove in his pocket, and the memories that haunted his dreams.

Ren had almost resigned himself to never leaving this world, to never seeing his friend again— until one day he passed out in the middle of Third District, with a pain in his chest like his very heart was being torn in half.

He dreamed of walls of rusting metal, barred windows, and doors with keypads and chains. He dreamed of pain, and world-consuming rage at the injustice of it all. He dreamed of standing in an endless dark abyss, on what had once been a circular pillar of red and gold stained glass before half of it had been carved away without care, leaving enormous, jagged shards that looked like they could run him through. And as he stood there, trying to puzzle out the patterns in the colours beneath his feet, he saw the cracks along the shattered edge shoot toward him, and more fragments of glass crumbled away, falling into the endless abyss below. 

Although he could feel the danger, Ren stepped toward the jagged edge instead of away from it, crouching down. He pressed his fingers against the cracks threatening to split the glass further, and felt the shards bite his skin. With it came more of the fury, the despair, the fear that he’d felt when he’d seen the barred doors, but Ren didn’t shy away from it. 

“It’ll be okay,” he whispered, sweeping his hand across the faultlines like he was soothing a scared animal. “I’m here.”

It was just a dream, but he still wanted to ease the pain. He wanted to make it better, make it whole again. 

And as his fingertips gently touched the cracks, they began to glow white. The light beneath his hand began to spread, reaching to the edges of the broken glass. He felt a comforting warmth wash over him that he forced forward, into the pillar, until the light began to spread over into where the rest of the pillar should have been, completing the circle once more.

“I’m here,” he repeated, focusing on the warmth, the hope, rather than the fear and anger. “You won’t lose anything else.”

Ren didn’t know what he’d done, but somehow as the light faded it left behind patterns of red, white, and gold—completing the pillar once more, like it had never been broken in the first place. 

Thank you.

The words echoed in his head, in his heart, and when Ren opened his eyes, a week had passed. 

An old man with a long nose, surrounded by shining blue butterflies, sat at Ren’s bedside, a wide smile on his face.

“Hello,” he greeted. “My name is Igor.” He held out his hands to him, the butterflies fluttering as he did so. In his left was a blue star with a glowing green core, no bigger than his palm, and in his right was an ornate silver key the length of Ren’s forearm, as long and thick as a dagger. His beady eyes glittered with something like amusement. “Would you like emancipation?” 

***

The Ark of the Elite, despite being the equivalent of the capital of the Consortium of Worlds, was notoriously difficult to find. 

Most worlds were stationary, remaining at coordinates in the night sky that never changed, and were easily inputted into the Gummi Ship. But the Ark was a ship—a large ship, to be sure, but one that didn’t have a predefined location and couldn’t be tracked down unless you knew exactly what to look for. Neither Ren nor Makoto had had any luck in tracking it down, no matter what they tried—but Futaba’s navigation skills were on another level. She guided them seamlessly down routes too dangerous for them to traverse previously, between asteroids and hordes of Heartless, until an armoured ship appeared in the distance. It was enormous, its size rivalling that of Shujin Castle, and it cut an intimidating shape against the dark sky. 

“Shall we?” Futaba asked, offering them all a hopeful smile. At Ren’s nod of confirmation, she steered the Gummi Ship toward the world. 

She landed expertly on a quiet corner on the deck of the cruiser, partially concealed behind a large air vent, and their group piled out. The ship wasn’t what he expected of the leader of the Consortium of Worlds—an endless red sky reaching out all around them, consuming the stars, sailing through a literal sea pocked with what looked like sunken buildings. There was an oppressive atmosphere not unlike that of Shujin Castle, and in the moment before he remembered his team was at his back it was like the first time he had used Igor’s star shard to travel between worlds. Thrown into the unknown, and ending up somewhere dark. 

His team looked around themselves, drinking in the sight, and Ren was staring at the endless sea around him when a friendly voice cut through the air. 

“Ah! More refugees from the fallen worlds?”

Ren turned to see a crowd of people dressed in white and black approaching them, but it was who was leading them that made Ren freeze in his tracks, his heart swelling with something like hope. 

He was wearing a tunic of white and gold, a red cape fluttering behind him as he moved. And as Ren looked into his familiar face, the same caramel brown hair and russet eyes that had haunted his dreams ever since his world ended, he felt a part of him that had been torn apart with it be remade. He was older, but of course he was – it had been years since they had last seen each other – but the instant their eyes met it was like he’d never been gone. 

“Goro,” he breathed, hardly able to believe it, and Goro Akechi came to an abrupt stop. 

“Goro Akechi?” Makoto asked, her eyes going wide. “As in, the Prince of the Elite?”

“Is that the guy you’ve been looking for all this time?” Ann whispered to Ren, tugging at his arm with audible excitement. But even though this was all Ren had wanted since his world had fallen, he couldn’t quite bring himself to match her enthusiasm. 

Not when Goro had a small furrow between his brows, and was looking at Ren like he was a stranger. 

Goro recovered quickly, fixing Makoto with a smile that sent an uncomfortable shiver down Ren’s spine. It was soft, it was friendly, and it lacked all of the sharpness that Ren associated with his lost friend. It was like he had been completely declawed in the time they had spent apart.

“So you already know about the Consortium of Worlds?” Goro asked, seeming to ignore Ren’s comment entirely. “That will save some time. But please, call me Akechi—we are all equal on the Ark of the Elite, thanks to the benevolence of our Captain.”

“But you’re supposed to be some kinda prince?” Ryuji pressed, frowning as he took in Akechi’s white and gold tunic. The scepticism on his face was obvious, but Akechi’s gentle smile didn’t waver for a moment. 

“A kind moniker, nothing more,” he answered with a soft chuckle. “I wouldn’t presume to hold the same station as the Princesses of Heart—especially not while standing in the presence of one.” He dipped into a short bow toward Sumire, whose face began to flush red at the display. “It is an honour, Lady Kasumi.”

Sumire tensed, her eyes darting toward Ren, and he took a step forward, drawing Akechi's attention.

“Goro,” he tried again, and saw his smile grow more stiff and artificial. “Do… do you not remember me?”

He hesitated, glancing at Ren for a moment before looking away. The Goro Ren knew would have looked calculating, determined to puzzle out the answer—but this Goro only looked apologetic.

“My apologies, there– there was an incident, around a year or so ago, and unfortunately my memory from before that time is hazy. You knew me from before, I assume?”

An incident? That was painfully vague, but what kind of incident could wipe someone's memory?

Trying not to let his confusion and unease show, Ren reached into the pocket of his long coat, and Akechi's eyes followed the motion. 

“We're friends,” Ren told him. “We grew up together in Inaba, but it wasn't your homeworld. You wanted to go home one day, and see your mother again.”

“My mother…?” Akechi asked, the smile falling from his face entirely.

“We made plans to leave together, but Inaba was destroyed before we could,” Ren continued. “We were separated. The only thing I had left to remind me of you was this.”

He tugged out the black glove, and Akechi looked at it closely. Suddenly he flinched back, his face twisting in pain and letting out a sharp gasp as his hand flew up to clutch at his head. Ren’s hand instinctively reached for his shoulder, but the group of white-clad soldiers behind Akechi tensed at the motion and he froze. Akechi looked between the black glove and his own hand, clad in white, looking like he was trying to piece it all together and failing.

“That's… mine?” he guessed, but he was uncertain. 

“Yeah,” Ren answered. “You always wore them.”

He looked between it and his own hand once again, and Ren felt a pang of pity that he knew Akechi would have hated at the confusion on his face. He really didn't remember… but he wanted to. That had to mean something, didn't it?

He looked up at Ren, the pain still lingering in his face but a determination that was much more like Goro joining it.

“We should talk,” he decided. He looked past Ren to the group gathered behind him, and fixed them with that same plastic smile he’d first given. “I'm sure that you're tired from your journey—there is a restaurant on the deck below this one, please make yourselves comfortable. If you would like to stay here overnight, please let any of the staff know and they can arrange this.” He turned back to Ren. “We can talk in my cabin.”

Ren nodded without hesitation. If he remembered the glove, after a full conversation he had to remember more. He would make sure that Goro remembered him. 

“Lead the way.”

***

Akechi’s room was plain, utilitarian, with no obvious personal touches whatsoever. There was a mahogany desk with a matching chair, an armchair situated beneath the lone porthole that gave a view to the endless red sky and sea outside, a couple books piled on the arm, and a hammock hanging opposite. The books, at least, were an echo of the Goro Ren knew—but as he leaned against the desk, gesturing for Ren to sit, he couldn't help but think that this was the room of a stranger.

“I’m sorry,” Akechi said with an apologetic smile, “I just realised that while you clearly know mine, I don’t know your name.” 

“Ren Amamiya,” he answered, and there was no trace of recognition in Akechi’s eyes. 

“Nice to meet you, Amamiya-kun.”

“Call me Ren,” he said quickly. The formality made his heart ache.

“I feel I must apologise for my lacking memory,” Akechi said. “I imagine it must be difficult, having searched for me and finding someone who doesn't remember you.”

“I'm just glad you're okay,” Ren said, and Akechi’s smile looked a touch more genuine.

“You're too kind. If it's any consolation, I wish I remembered you. It can be… lonely at times, knowing so little of myself.”

“You don't remember anything at all?” Ren asked.

“I’m afraid not.” He hesitated, glancing away. “I sometimes see flashes, though. In dreams, and when something triggers them. Like that glove you showed me—there was something, but it's difficult to grasp.”

“A memory?” 

“I’m not sure. They’re so fleeting, and of such small things. Like… modest buildings lining a street, not just hidden under water. A dark sky flecked with stars, like in the fairytales—not one that’s eternally red.” He blinked. “My apologies, I’m not normally this melancholy.” The smile he offered had a wry tilt. “Or perhaps I am? I fear you may know better than me.”

“Not usually, no.” The you I know would be frustrated at not knowing, and determined to know the truth.

“Ah, that's a relief.” Akechi’s smile looked more real, but still wrong. “The group you came with… did I know them too?”

“Just me. I found them along the way.”

“Sounds like you had quite the adventure, to have so many with you.” The tinge of bitter jealousy that Ren would have expected from Goro was absent from his voice. “And such different people too. The heir of Isshiki’s Pyramid and a Princess of Heart? You certainly keep interesting company.”

“You recognise Futaba?” Ren asked, surprised.

“We received reports that her world was under attack from a large Heartless, and to expect her arrival if her world fell,” Akechi answered. “We were given a description. She's lucky that you came along before that Heartless could take her.”

No one was sent to help her, Ren realised. They heard her distress signal, and they did nothing. They just waited for her home to be destroyed.

“Futaba is looking for her mother,” Ren said, deciding that the less he said about Futaba's circumstances the better. “She was sure that this was the world the former pharaoh went to when she left the pyramid.”

“I see,” Akechi said, raising a hand to his chin. The gesture was familiar enough for Ren’s heart to ache, even though his expression was all wrong. “Do you know when she disappeared?”

“From what Futaba said, it was around two years ago,” Ren said, and Akechi frowned. 

“Before I lost my memory, then,” Akechi summarised. “I have to say I’ve not seen her around the Ark, but that may not be good news. If something happened to her in the same incident that took my memory…”

“...Do you know what happened?” Ren asked, and saw Akechi tense. 

“I only know what the Captain told me when I woke up,” he admitted. “Some monsters attacked the ship, and apparently I headed to the lower decks alone to fend them off. Eventually, I was overwhelmed. If the Captain hadn’t intervened, I would have lost my life—instead, I merely lost my memory.”

“Monsters,” Ren repeated. “The Heartless? Or those other ones?”

“The Unversed,” Akechi answered. “The ‘other ones’. I take it you don’t know much about them?”

“They’re new,” Ren said. “The Heartless have been around forever, but the Unversed only appeared around a year or so ago. They don’t seem to be drawn to hearts like the Heartless. They just attack whatever gets in their way.”

“They do,” Akechi agreed. “Their behaviour is strange, but not entirely unpredictable. I’ve seen footage of them, taken from other worlds they terrorised, and I have a theory of what they may be. Some of their movements seem very intentional, very human . Some of them cower in fear the moment anything around them moves. Some of them hug themselves like they’re desperate for comfort. Some of them lash out and then cover their faces like they’re ashamed. Every single one of them seems to show a negative emotion—so what if they are manifestations of these emotions?”

Ren blinked. He remembered the creatures – the Unversed – cowering in Shujin Castle, only attacking when people got close. He’d thought they were mimicking the ‘slaves’ Kamoshida had been abusing before Ren had sealed the darkness in his heart, not that they truly felt the emotion—or that they were a manifestation of it. 

“Interesting theory,” Ren said instead. 

“Ah, I’m sorry, this was not what we were discussing, was it? It is possible that Wakaba Isshiki was on the Ark and has subsequently left, but I’m afraid that only the Captain would have the answer. However… he’s been very busy lately.”

“Busy?”

“With all of the refugees and the monster attacks,” Akechi clarified. “We recently got a report that Okumura’s Spaceport was under attack from the Unversed, and a specific humanoid Unversed we call the Crow. As a member of the Consortium of Worlds, someone will have to be sent to deal with the threat—but after the latest incident our numbers are low…”

Okumura’s Spaceport was Haru’s homeworld. The world’s ruler was her father. If he truly was in danger, she needed to know. 

“We can help with that,” Ren said quickly. “We know the area, and we can fight. We’ll deal with the Crow on behalf of Captain Shido, and when we return, we can talk with the Captain about Wakaba Isshiki.”

“You’re certain that you can handle it?” Akechi asked, but the challenging edge that would have been in Goro’s tone was missing, leaving only concern. At Ren’s confident smile and nod, he nodded in return. “Okay, then. But please, be careful—the Phantom Thieves have been spotted around that area.”

Ren raised an eyebrow, amusement curving into a smile. “The Phantom Thieves?”

“Yes. They’re exceptionally dangerous, and you should avoid them at all costs.” Ren’s smile twitched, and Akechi’s next words made it vanish entirely. “The Captain believes that they are the source of the Unversed.”

“Why does he say that?” 

“Somehow they are removing darkness from the hearts of rulers of worlds without killing them, or turning them into Heartless. But where does all that negativity and darkness go? It has to go somewhere, so why would it not become the Unversed?”

“Can't it just be gone? Burned out, or sealed away?”

“Darkness is very resilient. It normally doesn't just disappear when it's removed—it’s just displaced, like with the Heartless.” He seized Ren’s hand, gazing up at him imploringly. “Please, don’t seek them out.”

Ren swallowed, and squeezed his hand. “I won’t,” he promised. He didn’t have to. 

Not when he was a Phantom Thief himself. 

***

Secret Wakaba Report 1 (obtained from Shujin Castle)

I’ve done it! I’ve made it to another world! 

The journey was a little bumpy, but my little ship managed to get me there in one piece - before it landed a bit too hard, that is. I haven't found all the pieces yet, so it looks like I might be staying here for a while longer.

The thing is, the world I’ve ended up in, the Ark of the Elite… it's nothing like I thought it would be. And not just because it is another world. 

They say all worlds share the same sky, but I’ve never seen a sky like this. Endless red, stretching out forever, unbroken by any other colour. It feels… wrong, somehow, but maybe it's just because I'm not used to it? I need to be more open-minded. Another world isn't going to be that familiar.

I met a local when I landed, a boy who took one look at me and my broken ship and clocked that I shouldn't be here. But he didn't rat me out to whatever passes for the authorities here. All he said was that I had bad luck ending up here of all places.

I'm so curious to find out what he means.

***

“So, how was your chat with the Prince of the Elite?” Futaba asked from her place in the pilot seat. 

“Weird,” Ren answered honestly. He could hear Ryuji cheering and Haru laughing softly as they shot Heartless out of the sky on the other side of the cockpit, almost drowning out his quiet answer. “He… he isn’t like how I remember.”

“I have to admit, I never even considered that the Goro you knew was Goro Akechi,” Makoto confessed. “The Prince I heard about sounded so different from the boy you spoke of—much more like the princesses of heart.”

“There aren’t any boys with no darkness in their heart, right?” Ann asked. “That’s why they’re all princesses?”

“There’s no real reason why they would have to be female, but there are no records of a male one,” Makoto clarified. “The princesses are few and far between though—it’s said that across all of the worlds, there are only ever seven of them at a time, and that they often transfer their power to others in exchange for normal lives once they’ve earned their happily ever afters. One could, theoretically, have passed their power to Goro Akechi…”

“Kasumi didn’t pass on her power,” Sumire said softly. She was staring out at the stars, not looking at any of the others, hugging her knees to her chest. “She still had them when she… when she died.”

Makoto and Ren shared a look. “Sumire,” he asked slowly. “I hate to ask, but… when you saw Akechi, did he feel like Kasumi did?”

She hesitated. He knew it was hard for her, remembering the girl that Dr Maruki had tried to turn her into. It had been hard for him, hearing the man’s insistence that she was a faulty replica because she found Kasumi's endless positivity stifling, that she dared experience emotions that didn't match Kasumi's but were hers nevertheless. He was glad she was safe now, but her resemblance to the lost Princess and the knowledge that Maruki would never let the truth of Kasumi's death come out meant that she wasn't yet free.

“I… I’m not sure,” she said slowly. “His light felt different. Kasumi’s always felt warm, comforting, like home. His… his felt cold. Too bright, almost unnatural, like the white lights in a lab. Kasumi brightened everything so that there was no room for darkness. He feels like he’s forcing it away. It feels almost… violent.”

“That doesn’t sound right,” Makoto mumbled, while Ren was just more confused.

“But you couldn’t sense any darkness,” he said, and Sumire nodded in agreement.

Goro was a lot of things, but he was not pure of heart. The rage and bitterness in him was something that had drawn Ren to him in the first place—his darkness had made Ren’s own feel less alien, less wrong. When Akechi had touched his hand on the Ark, he hadn't sensed any of it—and for Sumire to not feel it either just confirmed that something was very wrong. Whatever incident had taken Goro's memory had affected his heart too.

“Land ho!” Futaba called, and Ren looked up to see the metallic grey complex of Okumura’s Spaceport before them, covered in bright orange banners and what looked like a series of small fires across the surface.

There were blaring red lights of the distress call that Futaba had muted a little while ago, and as Haru and Ryuji left the guns Ren could hear her small gasp.

“Father,” she whispered.

“There will likely be combat as soon as we land,” Ren said. “Oracle, stay in the ship. Queen, Violet, cast a barrier and guard it. If it looks bad, call for backup. Be ready to receive civilians if necessary. Everyone else, we’re looking for the leader. Follow my lead.”

“Got it, Joker,” Ann said, and the thieves disembarked.

***

Secret Wakaba Report 2 (obtained from the Museum of Vanity)

Captain Shido is fascinated by the Heartless. 

In the bowels of the ship, away from the people of his world, are cages he’s manufactured himself that hold smaller Shadows that have managed to sneak onto the ship. Conventional weapons don’t work against them unless there’s a LOT of force behind it, but there’s a weapon that Shido holds that can cause damage. He says it’s been in his family for generations, passed from father to son, and can be traced all the way back to Scala ad Caelum. He also says that before he met me he didn’t know about other worlds, but ‘Ark of the Elite’ sounds a hell of a lot different to ‘Scala ad Caelum’. 

The boy who caught my grand entrance works for the Captain, trapping the Heartless underground. The Captain even lends him his weapon to do it. He calls me soft, but I don’t think Shido should be putting him so close to the creatures. One wrong move, and the kid could have his heart ripped out and become one of them himself. But whenever I tell Shido that, all he does is smile. 

He says he'll help get my ship fixed if I help him figure out how the Heartless tick. My ship still won’t fly, but it feels like it’s more than just a gummi block that I’m missing. 

***

The world was in chaos. 

As soon as they left the safety of the ship the Phantom Thieves were confronted by swarming masses of Unversed of all shapes and sizes—agile blue creatures that evaded attacks, multicoloured flying enemies that shot magic at whoever crossed their path, bulky beasts that hit slowly but hard. The frantic robotic workmen were racing around, trying in vain to fight off the monsters, and the harsh shouts of Kunikazu Okumura were blaring over loudspeakers. There was no change in the endless demands to fight and die to defend their world as Ren’s team made their way through the hordes of monsters and deeper into the Spaceport. 

The monsters were relentless, an endless stream of opponents that didn’t fall easily, but so were the thieves as they searched for the world’s heart. Ren didn’t know if the Unversed were capable of consuming worlds like the Heartless were, but it wasn’t worth risking—and if there was a leader guiding the monsters, that was a good place to start looking for them. 

But as he cut them down, heading toward where the fighting was the thickest, Ren couldn’t help but dwell on what Akechi had said about the monsters. In every motion, he could see the emotions Akechi had described—the fear as they clung to themselves, the desperation and anger in their attacks. He tried not to dwell on it as he used his blade to carve a path toward the main shipyard, and his team didn't seem particularly affected as they followed suit. 

Eventually they made it to the open area where President Okumura had been building his ships, the fleet that was the Consortium’s pride and joy lying in broken ruins as the Unversed tore them to pieces. The President was nowhere to be found – likely hiding in his office while the monsters destroyed his means of escape – but standing in the centre of the space was a dark figure.

They stood surrounded by the monsters, turned away from the audience at their back. Tattered red and black feathers formed a cape from their shoulders and their waist, attached to a skintight black bodysuit with glowing red veins climbing up their wrists and branching across their chest. Their face was obscured by a black horned helmet that had a pointed front almost like a beak, and Ren could see why they called this creature the Crow.

They turned at the sound of the Thieves’ approach, and Ren felt their unseen eyes staring straight at him. Ren brandished his blade, and purple and black energy began to swirl around the Crow.

“After so long, this is how you greet me?” a masculine voice snarled at the display. “Are you here to kill me, Ren?”

Ren was silent, trying to work out how the hell the Crow knew his name, when the dark energy began to flow behind him. Before their eyes the mass formed into an enormous suit of black and blue armour, towering over the Crow. A flicker of blue fire washed over its chest, and as it faded the spiked heart-shaped emblem that was on the body of every Unversed remained.

He's creating the Unversed, Ren realised, and as the Crow raised its left hand, a blade of red and black cogs that looked a hell of a lot like a Keyblade manifesting before him, the Unversed charged. He's controlling them too.

Ren dodged out of the way of the giant monster, feeling the edge of its gauntlet brush his coat, and heard his team spring into action. Ann began to pelt it with fire, Haru trying to keep it in place with a combination of magnet and gravity magic, as Ryuji and Yusuke swung at it with their weapons.

“Joker, look out!” Futaba called, and Ren whipped around just in time to see that dangerous blade swing towards his head. The Crow’s bared teeth were the only thing visible beneath the black helmet. He dodged, but the Crow kept swinging.

“Joker?” he repeated on a hiss. “Is that what they call you? Your little teammates? Your friends? ”

He swung again, and this time Ren wasn't quite fast enough. He brought up his own blade, catching it before it could run him through, and his arm ached with the force of the blow. The Crow kept bearing down, unnatural strength making Ren struggle to push him away. 

There was a purple and black glow around the Crow again, breaking away from him and forming blue monsters that brandished their claws threateningly. 

“Why are you attacking the worlds?” Ren demanded, and the Crow laughed. 

“Why not? Why not make that piece of shit squirm, and ruin all his precious plans?”

“Who?” Ren pressed. The Crow’s blade was getting closer to his throat. “Okumura?”

“Shido,” the Crow snarled.

Just as he was about to strike, Haru brought her axe down hard against the arm of the giant Unversed, the armour crumbling under the force of the blow. As it broke apart the Crow let out a pained sound, his grip slackening as he almost stumbled. Ren took the opening, striking quickly and trying to disarm the Crow, but he kept hold of his weapon and bared his teeth. 

Now that there was some distance between them, Ren looked between him and the monsters he had created and thought of what Akechi had said. Manifestations of negative emotions, but not from the world rulers. From this masked boy in front of him.

He saw him flinch as Ryuji destroyed one of the angry creatures. He saw one cowering out of the corner of his eye. 

“They come from you,” he said softly, realisation dawning. “They're your emotions.”

The same dark glow that preceded the appearance of more monsters surrounded the Crow, but Ren didn't move to attack.

“Are you doing it on purpose?” he asked. “You can control them, but do you control their creation?”

“What does it matter?” he seethed. Another creature burst from him, scrambling away and covering its face. “I'm the one tearing apart Shido's perfect worlds—you're here to kill me no matter what I say!”

He swung again, and Ren blocked it. 

“You know me,” Ren pressed. There was something so familiar in his anger, in the sneer on his face, but he couldn't place it. “Who are you?”

The Crow’s mouth twisted beneath his helmet before he began to let out a manic cackle.

“Of course,” he managed to get out through his laughter. More Unversed bled from him, but none of them attacked. They simply sank to the ground, the picture of despair. “Of course you don't recognise me like this.” He kicked Ren away before he lowered his weapon, straightening his spine. “Get out of here, but send a message to the Captain—soon enough he will pay for his sins, and I will be whole once more.” He looked straight at Ren. “Do not come after me again.”

“Wait,” Ren said quickly, stepping forward and dismissing his blade in a swirl of blue fire. He isn't whole. He's been broken apart, and the Unversed are slipping through the cracks. 

He took in the way the Crow stood, the emotions so strong that he couldn't keep them inside, the darkness of a broken heart, wild and dangerous but real , and he took a chance.

“Goro?”

The Crow went perfectly still, and the Unversed around him all froze in place. Ren’s Thieves stopped moving, and everything around them seemed to fade away as he stared at the boy opposite him. 

Ren took a step closer, holding out his hand, and at the motion a storm of blazing emotions burst from the Crow. Ren threw up an arm to shield his face, and felt a dozen phantom claws slice at his coat.

“Joker!” Ryuji shouted, but as Ren lowered his arm and faced the horde of Unversed bearing down on him, he couldn't tear his gaze from the boy standing behind them, arms wrapped around himself like he was desperately trying to keep the emotions contained. 

“Go!” he shrieked, but Ren simply stepped closer.

The Unversed clawed at him, trying to push him away, but he didn't draw his blade again. He eased his way through the crowd of monsters, gently guiding them out of his way, and walked closer to who he was sure was his friend. 

He had no idea what the Goro on the Ark was, but he knew in his heart that the boy opposite him was the friend he had lost when Inaba fell. He felt drawn to him in a way he hadn't been to the Prince of the Elite, and he knew that there was no way he could leave him behind. Whatever he had turned into, this was his friend—and he refused to leave him to suffer.

More monsters swarmed him the closer he got. They were silent, but as they grasped at his arms, trying to tug him back and away, he could feel their limbs shaking. He laid a gentle hand on them as he passed, and by the time he pushed his way through the crowd the Crow was still there, trembling just as much as his creations were. 

“It’s okay,” Ren said softly. He reached out a hand, as his fingertips brushed the side of his arm the boy flinched. “Whatever happened to you, I’m here now.”

He reached for the clasps of the spiked helmet, telegraphing every movement as he went. The Crow didn’t move to push him away, holding still as Ren unmasked him. 

Goro Akechi stared back at him, his eyes the same russet that he remembered, his face the exact same as the boy on the Ark of the Elite. There was still a dark aura around him but it hadn’t yet changed into a monster, and as Ren stared into his face he felt the same rush of renewed hope he had felt at the sight of the other Akechi. 

“Goro,” he repeated, and saw Goro swallow, still looking like he was expecting Ren to draw his blade. Ren didn’t hesitate—he reached down and wrapped his arms around him, pulling him to his chest in an embrace. “I missed you so much.”

Goro froze, whole body going tense, but he felt solid, real, whole in Ren’s arms. After a moment, he let out a quiet sound and hugged Ren back, holding him close. Behind them, the horde of Unversed quieted, and a soft warmth surrounded them as their existence peacefully returned to Goro.

“I… I never wanted you to see me like this,” Goro whispered. “I didn’t want you to see what he turned me into.”

“Shido?” Ren asked, remembering what he had snarled during the fight, and Goro nodded. “There… there was another you, on the Ark of the Elite, but he… he felt wrong, somehow. Fake.”

Ren felt Goro tense. “That must be what was left behind, when he… when I…”

Words failed him, when words had always been Goro’s greatest weapon, and the darkness swirled around him again at the thought of whatever happened to tear him in half. Ren squeezed his arms, and Goro met his gaze again.

“You don't have to tell me,” he said. “I can find out when I go back to the Ark.” He gave him a hopeful look. “Come with us. We can stop them–”

But Goro was already shaking his head. “If I’m seen with you, Shido's men will kill us all on sight. I refuse to give him the satisfaction.”

“Let him try.”

“He’s ruined enough. I won’t let him ruin you too.” Goro clenched his hands into fists. “I’ll make him suffer for what he did however I can, and I'll find a way to become whole again. There has to be something I can do.”

Ren paused, an idea swirling in his brain. If they were torn apart, then if they could somehow come back together… “What if I bring the other Akechi to you?” 

Goro's eyes widened, and Ren saw the achingly familiar calculating look in his face as he considered it. “It will be difficult,” he said. “But if you can… meet me on neutral ground. Niijima’s Casino should work. Shido hasn't gotten his claws into that world quite yet.” He hesitated. “I’ll… I’ll do what I can to keep my presence there quiet. But I’ll wait for you.”

Ren huffed a quiet laugh. “I’ve kept you waiting a long time, huh? I'm sorry. It's been hell not knowing if you were safe, it must have been the same for you.”

“I knew that you were safe.” 

Ren paused, and Goro waved a hand. “I know how this will sound, but… when this happened to me, and it felt like I was fading away, I heard your voice telling me that it would be okay and that I wouldn't lose anything else.” Ren’s eyes widened. “So… I knew.”

“I'm glad.” He reached up and cupped Goro's face. “We’ll fix this,” he vowed. “You won't hurt like this ever again.”

And as Goro stared back, something shifted in his gaze. A different glow began to surround him, still dark but somehow warmer, and it broke off somewhere to the left. As Ren turned toward it, he saw an Unversed that looked different to the others forming. Black and white in shape, with four limbs and a long, curving tail, the Unversed symbol small on its chest. It blinked up at Ren with bright blue eyes, and he couldn't help but think that somehow, it looked like a cat.

“What's that one?” Ren asked lightly, but as he looked back at Goro he saw him staring at the creature like he couldn't quite believe it existed, or that it came from him. He met Ren’s gaze, and voiced the emotion that he could see in his eyes.

“Hope. It… it's hope.” 

 ***

Secret Wakaba Report 3 (obtained from the Bank of Greed)

The Heartless seem to follow a hierarchy. Out of the ones locked away at the bottom of the ship, the little Shadows seem to follow the larger ones around, and almost look like they’re looking to them for orders. 

Shido has opened the Ark to refugees fleeing the fallen worlds. He’s put them in the lower decks, even though they’re worryingly close to the cages. People shouldn’t be that close to the Heartless, even if they’re contained.

Sometimes at night I can hear strange noises coming from the bottom of the ship. Some of the residents that live on the lower decks say they can hear screams. Shido says it’s the refugees, affected by what they saw when their worlds collapsed. But he’s spending so much time at the cages, and I don’t see much of the refugees once they go deeper.

I’ve asked the boy what’s going on down there, but he doesn’t answer. Just tells me to stop asking. But I can see in his eyes that something’s happening. Something bad. 

I need to see for myself.

***

Futaba landed the ship on the deck of the Ark, and Ren immediately headed towards Akechi's cabin. He left the manifestation of Goro's hope on the ship, Sumire watching over him, and trusted his team to distract the guards enough to allow him to slip undetected through the halls. 

He knocked on Akechi's door, and there was a moment of silence before it opened. Akechi stood behind it, wearing the same white uniform he had the previous day. When he recognised Ren the muted curiosity in his face gave way to a polite smile, and Ren couldn't help but think of the contrast between Akechi's controlled expressions and Goro's wild emotions, so strong that they couldn't be contained.

“Ren,” he greeted. “What a pleasant surprise. I haven't heard any reports—I trust everything went well at the Spaceport?”

“I saw the Crow,” Ren told him, and the smile dipped slightly.

“I expected as much. I trust you came out of it unscathed? He has quite the vicious reputation.”

“He looks like you.”

Akechi's face froze for an instant before he gave an airy laugh. “Is that supposed to be a joke?”

“No,” Ren answered, and at his serious tone Akechi looked a fraction more concerned. “Akechi, I think you lost more than just your memory a year ago. And I think you know it too.” He hesitated, and Ren thought he was a moment away from calling for the guards. He spoke again before he could. “I want to find out the truth of what happened to you. Don't you?”

The Goro Akechi he knew would want to know what had happened, to learn the tale his other half had been too horrified to tell. And there was enough of him left in the boy before him for Akechi’s gaze to sharpen with the challenge.

“All I know is that whatever it was, it happened on the lower decks,” Akechi said. “We’ll start there.” He paused, drawing himself up tall. “Although I should inform you, if this is some kind of ruse by the Crow to catch me off-guard, I will respond to any threat in kind.”

“Got it,” Ren said immediately. “Lead the way.”

Akechi led him away from his cabin and in the opposite direction from the living quarters, following a complicated route that somehow managed to circumvent all the guards lining the decks. A back accessway led them down into the depths, and the further down they ventured, extravagant halls giving way to darker, more simplistic designs, the thicker and more foreboding the air seemed to become. Ren had to resist the urge to draw his Keyblade, and Akechi kept one hand on his hip as though tempted to draw his own sabre. 

Ren found himself continuously glancing toward Akechi, trying to gauge his reaction the closer they got to the lowest decks, but his expression was oddly blank despite the pale pallor to his face. He couldn't read any emotion there as they continued their descent, heading deeper into the bowels of the ship, the metal walkways crunching beneath their feet and echoing all around them.

When they finally reached the lower decks, a door stood before them that was sealed shut, chains criss-crossing across the length of it. Something about it sparked a familiarity in the back of Ren’s mind, and a discomfort that had his skin crawling. Akechi paused and Ren drew his Keyblade, aiming it at the lock. A beam of pale blue light shot from the tip, and the chains fell from the door. Akechi caught them before they could hit the ground with a clatter, the sound dulled by his palms, and as he lowered them to the floor Ren pushed open the door.

It opened silently, revealing a long corridor. The light overhead was almost blinding in its intensity, and the walls were a painful white, lined with similar chained doors with small barred windows and keypads to the left. The floor beneath was dark tile, and at the far end of the hall was one lone locked door.

Ren and Akechi stood silently in the doorway, and as Ren looked over the many doors he had the sinking feeling that he had somehow seen them before. He glanced toward Akechi, wondering if he felt the same, and saw his gaze fixed solely on the door at the end of the hall. 

“This is… this is where the Captain kept the Heartless,” Akechi whispered. 

Ren thought of the Heartless he had fought, most of them only reaching his knee or at most his chest in height, and the tall chained doors that looked too big for them, but big enough for people. He thought of how the Heartless were drawn to fear. He said nothing as Akechi swallowed.

“That door…” he muttered, and winced. His hand flew to his head, but as Ren reached for him he waved him off. “It's through there,” he said through gritted teeth. “I’m certain. That's where I lost my memory.”

For the first time since they had come here Ren contemplated turning back, but Akechi walked toward it slowly but purposefully. Ren followed at his back, glancing at the closed doors as he went, but he heard no sounds from within. The silence was only broken by the sound of their footsteps as they made their way closer.

As they stood in front of the far door, Akechi placed his palm on it. It slid open.

Inside was a single large chair, almost like a throne of pitch black, its back to the doorway. It faced out onto an empty room the colour of rust, the darker tones stark against the bright white of the hall outside. As Ren stepped into the cell, stepping around the edges of the chair that seemed to be built into the floor, his skin crawled at the sight of leather straps on the armrest and the large, black stain marring the maroon floor.

He looked back to Akechi, who was still lingering in the doorway, his face ashen.

“It was here,” he breathed, stepping closer. 

Akechi laid his hand on the back of the chair, and at the motion his face contorted with pain. He fell to his knees, Ren reaching for him, but the moment his hand touched Akechi's shoulder, light exploded behind Ren’s eyes.

He was in the chair, his arms pinned in place. He was staring straight ahead, unable to look away, and in his periphery was the form of a woman with short, dark hair and a lab coat collapsed on the ground, darkness slowly consuming her limbs.

Standing directly in front of him was a tall bald man, the lights catching on his glasses and the long blade in his hands, pointed straight at his chest. He was smirking, and Ren could feel his heart pounding rabbit-fast, his entire being nothing but anger and fear. 

His laboured breathing sounded sickeningly loud, and beneath it he thought he could hear desperate voices calling for help.

“You're finally going to be of use to me,” Captain Shido said. “If I can extract the darkness from you, I’ll finally have a way to control the Heartless. And if it doesn’t work… well, your death will hardly be a great loss.” 

The rage burned brighter, almost consuming him entirely, and he jerked against the restraints as he tried to lunge at Shido. The Captain laughed, and a beam of energy shot from the blade and struck him straight in the chest. 

Ren flinched back, the same heart-rending pain that had made him collapse in Traverse Town echoing in his chest, and he came back to himself crouched on the floor of the Ark. Akechi was breathing hard, trembling where he knelt, and it took Ren a moment to realise where he was. 

“Akechi?” he asked, and Akechi looked up sharply. The look on his face took Ren aback—the anger there made him look just like Goro had in Okumura’s Spaceport, manic and ferocious. 

“That piece of shit,” he snarled, and oh. That was the Goro he remembered. “He did this to me! He did this, and he has the gall to tell me he saved me? To let me tell the worlds how good and kind he is when the whole time–” He staggered to his feet, drawing his blade, and Ren reached out to stop him.

“Wait,” Ren said quickly. He was still reeling from what he had seen, still lost and horrified, but he had made a promise to Goro that he didn't intend to break. “If you fight Shido right now, you’ll lose.”

“Will I, now?” Akechi sneered, and for a moment Ren thought that he could probably take him down through sheer rage alone. But even like this, as angry as he was, this was still only half of the rage he held. The other half was waiting at Niijima's Casino.

“You're only at half of your strength,” Ren pointed out. “The other you is waiting.”

Something like grief crossed Akechi's face, and he lowered his sword. His right hand rested against his chest, over his heart. 

“...Let's not leave him any longer,” he said gruffly, and left the room without looking back. Ren took one final look at the room, at the space on the ground where that woman had lain, and wished that he could burn away all of the evil here. He turned away, and followed Akechi away from the cells.

***

Secret Wakaba Report 4 (obtained from Okumura’s Spaceport)

It's worse than I ever could have imagined.

Shido is feeding the refugees to the Heartless in the cages. Trying to turn their fear and misery into darkness to make stronger Heartless. I don't know what Shido needs them for, but I know he's trying to control them. Turn them into his own personal army.

It’s an idea doomed to failure. The Heartless are mindless, driven only by the ingrained desire to consume hearts and create more Heartless. They may appear to bow to someone with immense darkness in their heart, but someone who has a heart will never be able to control the Heartless. 

He’s taken the boy down to the cells and I haven’t seen him since. I need to pretend I don’t know a thing, or he’ll take me there and lock me in too. 

I’m sorry, Futaba. I never should have left.

***

Goro's manifestation of hope refused to leave Akechi alone. It settled itself in his lap, its little face bright with contentment, while Akechi stared out of the cockpit at the sea of stars.

He had been strangely quiet since he had followed Ren onto their ship, making little effort to converse with any of the other Phantom Thieves. It had to be obvious to him by now that they were the group that he had been warned about, but with the revelation of Shido's deceit he seemed like he didn't care about being in their midst. 

Ren and Sumire stayed close to him while the others made themselves scarce. Sumire seemed fascinated by him, his existence so similar yet different to her own, while Ren didn't want to let his friend out of his sight. Futaba, however, had plopped herself into the pilot’s seat, and was pretending to ignore his presence. Her face had been pale since she had told Ren about the reports she had managed to decipher, and he had told her in turn about the body on the ground when Goro had his heart torn in two.

“Have all your memories come back?” Ren asked in the silence.

“No,” Akechi answered. “Only what Shido did to me, and bits and pieces of what we were doing in the cells before he decided to use me as an experiment.”

“You were helping him,” Sumire said softly, and Akechi nodded. He didn't try to make excuses for himself. 

“Wakaba Isshiki was there,” he said, and Ren cut a glance to Futaba as her hand tightened on the controls. “She didn't approve, but she was hardly in a position to stop him. She wanted a way off of the ship, and Shido controlled who came and went.”

“What happened to her?” Ren asked when Futaba stayed silent.

“I don't know if she didn't realise what he was planning, or if she just got cold feet, but she tried to stop him just before it happened. He attacked her, but I don't know whether or not she survived. I was a little preoccupied by having my heart ripped in half.”

“He completely separated your darkness from your light,” Sumire summarised. “I know there are beings of pure light and pure darkness, but for them to be the same person, split in two… I can barely believe it's possible.”

“He tried to do it to others,” Akechi said. “I was the only survivor, if you can call this half-life living.”

“At least you're alive,” Futaba muttered, and he didn't seem to have a response to that.

“We need to stop him before he can hurt anyone else,” Ren said. “If we don’t, he’ll keep destroying worlds until there’s nothing left but his Ark.”

“We should bring his whole world down,” Akechi muttered. “End the ship of death.”

Ren, Futaba and Sumire shared a look before Futaba turned her attention back to navigation, and sooner than expected the ship was approaching a large casino. 

“Sumire, go find Makoto,” Ren requested. “It’s probably better if she’s the one to ask permission to land.”

“It looks better than the Spaceport did,” Futaba noted. “No blaring alarms, no fires on the surface… looks like Crow made good on his promise not to cause problems for Sae. Might make him harder to find, though.”

“I know where he is,” Akechi said. “I can feel him. He’s definitely down there.”

“Let's go find him, then,” Ren said, and Futaba began to direct the ship to land.

***

“When my sister told me that she was here to visit with her friends, I certainly didn’t expect to see a representative from the Consortium of Worlds among your number,” Sae Niijima said, her tone ice as she regarded the unusual group that had disembarked the Gummi Ship. Her gaze remained fixed on Akechi, barely touching any of the others, and her expression was the image of contempt. 

Akechi, to his credit, did nothing but offer a bright smile back to her. “I can assure you, I am not here in any official capacity. I'm merely here out of curiosity, to see if there's any weight to the rumours that the Unversed are being controlled by the Crow. Have there been any incidents involving Unversed on your world lately?”

An amused smile crept across Sae’s face, immediately putting Ren on edge. 

“The Crow,” she repeated. “How ridiculous, that the so-called Consortium of Worlds cannot contain one monster and stop him from creating more.”

Akechi's smile didn't waver. “You sound as though you’ve seen him firsthand,” he said mildly.

“I have,” Sae replied, and Ren had to resist the urge to look to Akechi. “He’s here right now, intruding upon my world. He tried to cause chaos here, but we have little patience for it. We did what you could not, and clipped the Crow’s wings.”

Akechi's smile iced over. “Care to elaborate on that?”

Sae’s answering smile was cutting. “I’ll show you.”

Makoto cast her sister a worried glance, but didn't protest as Sae led them toward the shining gold and glass elevator in the middle of the hall, and directed it to the second floor. They emerged in the middle of the casino, surrounded by patrons drinking and exchanging their coins for meagre prizes. Sae didn't spare them a glance as she made her way to a hall to their right, the sign above announcing a Battle Arena in bold, flashing letters. Ren felt his trepidation getting stronger with every step closer, in time with the increasing volume of the audience within.

“I will say one thing about the Crow,” Sae mused. “He certainly knows how to draw a crowd.”

Akechi gasped at the sight before him, and Ren found himself freezing in place.

There were a half dozen Neoshadows in the centre of the arena, crowding a dark figure in a black and red bodysuit. He had his blade in hand and a small crowd of Unversed at his feet, lashing out whenever the Neoshadows got too close. 

“Goro!” Ren shouted. 

He thought his voice had been buried by the noise around him, but as soon as the name passed his lips the Crow's helmet darted up, meeting his gaze across the crowd. The distraction proved dangerous, however—the Neoshadows’ golden eyes flashed, and they swiped at Goro with their sharp claws. He pulled up his blade just in time to block the blow, and the crowd groaned in disappointment at the lack of bloodshed.

“Let him out,” Akechi demanded. His tone held no room for argument. “This is cruel and unusual punishment—you cannot–”

“I can do whatever I please,” Sae snapped back. “This is my world, and this is how I have decided he will pay for his crimes against the worlds. You have no jurisdiction here.”

Akechi seethed, glaring at Sae before looking back to where Goro was slashing desperately at Neoshadows. “Let me in there then,” he demanded, and Sae’s grin was sharp. 

“Akechi,” Ren said warningly, but Akechi wasn’t looking at him. Sae snapped her fingers, and the guards standing at the entrance to the arena moved to unlock it. Akechi approached them without hesitation, and Ren followed at his back. He could hear his friends’ worried voices, asking if he was sure about this, but he didn’t have the time to reassure them. 

As soon as the door to the arena clicked open Akechi strode through, his palm resting on his sabre. The Neoshadows turned at his entrance, immediately drawn towards Akechi like they needed to conquer his light. 

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Sae announced, her voice ringing out across the arena as Ren followed him inside, “allow me to introduce a new contender—Goro Akechi, the Prince of the Elite.”

The crowd seemed torn between cheering and booing him, but Akechi didn't so much as look at them.

Goro's stance grew rigid as he stared at his counterpart in red, white and gold, but he seemed only startled for a moment. In an instant he was striking down the Neoshadows that had turned their back to him, while Akechi destroyed the others staring him down in a burst of light magic. The crowd cheered at their destruction, and yelled louder as the two boys turned to face one another, weapons drawn. From his place by the entrance Ren could see the sickly purple swirl of darkness seeping from Goro's skin, the telltale sign of emotional instability that heralded the creation of an Unversed. 

But Akechi's face was expressionless as he stared at his masked other half. He stared back with an almost critical look in his eye, like he was trying to see himself in the boy opposite him. After a moment that held an eternity, he lowered his blade.

“So,” he said, barely audible over the crowd, “you're what he took from me.”

“And you're what was left behind,” Goro answered. His voice was identical, but trembled as he spoke. The exertion in his body was clear—he’d clearly been battling for a while.

“Do you remember?” Akechi asked.

“I remember everything.”

At the venom in his voice Akechi offered a smile, but there was no emotion in it. “Ever since he separated us, I’ve felt empty,” he stated. “Like there’s been a hole in my heart, not letting anything linger. Everything I feel is fleeting, slipping away from me like my memories did.” His hands curled into fists. “I am sick of existing like this. Of being the hollow puppet he made of me.”

“I’m sick of being his convenient monster,” Goro replied. “Of being turned into a beast so that he can try to seize control of the worlds.”

“He thinks he can control us,” Akechi said. He took a tentative step closer, the Unversed parting to make a path. “But once we’re whole again, we’ll be unstoppable.” 

They took a step toward one another, and in that instant both of them began to glow—the deep violet of Goro’s darkness drawn to the sharp yellow-white of Akechi’s light, each seeking the part of them they lacked. They reached out in unison, left hands raising and almost touching—

—when a blast of dark energy struck Akechi in the back. 

His steps faltered, the bright light coming from him vanishing like it had been snuffed out. Goro froze in the instant before Akechi’s knees buckled and he collapsed. Goro shot forward, catching him in his arms as he fell, sinking to his knees as he was pulled down by his weight. 

“Akechi!” Ren shouted. He tore his gaze away for only a moment, seeking the attacker in the crowd, and saw his team racing toward a retreating figure as the crowd roared. The situation in hand he turned back, stepping deeper into the arena. 

Fragments of light fractured from Akechi, floating up and away as his body began to collapse in on itself. Goro clung to his other half, his clawed hands trembling. 

“No,” he whispered. “No, not now–” He looked up, away from his other half’s face, and turned to Ren in desperation. Unversed were breaking away from him in waves, falling to the floor in despair. “Do something!” he demanded, his voice cracking. “There has to be something–!”

“There’s no point,” Akechi said quietly, and Goro’s gaze snapped down, staring back at him. Akechi’s hand settled on the back of Goro’s claws. “Let’s make a deal, okay? You won’t say no, will you?” 

“I… I won’t,” Goro told him. “I promise.”

Akechi smiled thinly, his face almost swallowed by light. “Destroy Shido in my stead. End his crimes. Avenge us, and every person he has hurt.”

“I will,” he vowed, clinging to him tighter as his body began to fade. 

Ren watched, helpless and lost, as Akechi began to disappear—until his Keyblade sprung to his hand unbidden. He looked at the weapon he had used against the corrupt world rulers, sealing the darkness in their hearts and forcing them to face the reality of their actions. The blade that unlocked doors and hearts alike, that was part of his own soul, the soul that had somehow connected to Goro when he had been torn apart… 

And he took a chance. 

Ren tried to channel that connection with all his heart, and aimed his blade at the two halves of Goro Akechi. A beam of blue light shot from his blade, and pierced Goro right in the centre of his chest. 

He twitched but otherwise didn’t seem to notice, continuing to stare into his own face as he faded into light. For a moment, the shining pink orb of Akechi’s heart floated in the air, surrounded by the light that was all that remained of his body and looked as though it was about to disappear too— 

—until it soared, light as a feather, straight into Goro’s chest. 

Goro’s hand flew over his chest, and the dark mask over his face splintered. And as it fell apart, his body began to change. The black of his bodysuit began to fade into grey, the claws of his gauntlets softening from sharp edges to rounded fingertips. The Unversed crowding around him dissipated into swirls of darkness, and as Ren watched him he could feel the overwhelming darkness that Goro exuded begin to soften, like the harshest edges of his anger were being smoothed out. 

Like the negativity that had been too much for him to hold was finally under his control.

“Goro?” Ren tried, and at the sound of his name Goro looked away from himself and turned to Ren. 

The sight of his face almost stole Ren’s breath. Even though he had seen both the Crow and the Prince, neither of them had been quite right—both of them parts of the whole boy that Ren had missed ever since their world had collapsed. Both of them were Goro, but neither of them were the true self. 

But now, Ren could see his friend in the boy’s eyes, and not just the boy he had lost. Now it felt like he wasn’t just grasping at a ghost, and the real person was before him. 

“Ren,” Goro Akechi said, lowering his hands. He pushed himself up, the movements a little jerky as he grew reaccustomed to his body, and he looked at Ren and his Keyblade for a long moment. He took a breath with lungs surrounding a new heart, and held out both hands. Energy manifested around both, and in each hand a new blade formed.

In his left, the black and red weapon made of the darkness in his heart. In his right, a glowing blue blade attached to the golden hilt of the sabre that the Prince had wielded. Each was held easily in his grasp, and Ren didn't need Futaba's uncanny ability to detect power to know that their wielder was now stronger than either half had been on their own. 

The crowd had gone eerily quiet, and in their sudden silence it was easy to think that the two of them were the only people in this world. 

“How do you feel?” Ren asked.

He expected something poetic about finally being whole again, but instead a wide, vicious grin spread across Goro Akechi's face. And when he spoke, it was with enough conviction for Ren to grin back at him just as bright.

“Ready to sink the ship.”