Volume 2
Chapters
Story
Chapter 5: Darkness
Darksides attack the Devil's Bayou and surround Madame Medusa's boat. Rei looks up at them, horrified, as they slowly begin destroying the world around her. Maleficent's voice rings in her head, commanding her to retrieve the Devil's Eye. Rei realizes her mission to unite the worlds with Maleficent was actually a reign of terror. Medusa loads her shotgun and fires at Rei. Rei summons her blade and deflects the bullet, but her blade takes on a distorted appearance. Maleficent uses this to question Rei's loyalty and true nature. Bernard and Miss Bianca stand in front of Penny to protect her. Their glares make Rei realize that they also see her as a monster.
Rei's Wyvern suddenly wraps itself around her moments before they are both knocked aside by Cobra Bubbles. A gummi ship drifts to the edge of the dock, and Bubbles commands Bernard, Bianca, Penny, and Medusa to all board. The wyvern disappears due to its injuries, revealing a dazed and confused Rei to Bubbles. When they make eye contact, Bubbles realizes who she is, and he desperately calls out to her asking her to leave with them. However, the gummi ship is knocked away from the boat by the darksides. Miss Bianca tells Bubbles they're out of time and must make their escape. Bubbles is forced to leave. He reports Rei to Yen Sid, revealing that she may be sided with the darkness. Rei looks up as the gummi ship leaves but stays with the remains of her wyvern as the darksiders destroy the boat.
Rei is wakes up in Traverse Town and is found by Yuffie and Leon. Yuffie tries to calm Rei down, who is still in shock. They must leave her in order to attend to other refugees and heartless attacks in other districts, but they give her enough munny to rent out a room at the hotel. They reassure her that they're there to help, as well as anyone else in town. However as they are leaving, Rei hears their hatred towards Maleficent and the heartless. Though their feelings are justified, Rei realizes how much evil chaos has been caused by Maleficent's hand and how had played her part in the scheme. In the hotel room, she breaks down. The guilt of betraying all of her values and the destruction she enabled overwhelms her. She is terrified of the fact that the king knows, that everyone at the castle knows, and they will all hate her for it. She desperately calls out to Ven, asking him to save her again.
Rei finds herself in a canyon, surrounded by thorns and darksiders, even more than there were at the Bayou. Above her are large orbs of darkness being supported to the heartless. A voice calls out to her, trying to get her attention, begging her to leave. Rei is consumed with despair, blaming herself for what happened and believing that this was the fate that she deserved. The voice is revealed to be Aqua, though Rei doesn't realize it herself. Aqua pulls her into an embrace, telling her that sometimes good people make mistakes, that sometimes the darkness makes you blind. She begs her to stay strong and to believe in the light.
"At that moment, an overwhelming feeling of isolation and
loss took hold of my body, the pain gripping and tearing at
my very soul. I’m sure she could feel it too, my guilt and despair.
Every ounce of fear, anger, and loneliness multiplied, swirling
around us. I could see it: the end. The end of hope. The end of light.
The end of me. All of our suffering, it had become one.
But when I felt her arms around me, I returned that warm embrace.
I held onto her as tight as I could, because I realized how scared I was to let go.
Suddenly, All of our hurt became just a bit more bearable.
Suddenly I didn’t feel so alone."
Rei wakes up once again, but this time in her hotel room with a knife in her shaking hands.
The scene cuts to Rei leaving the hotel room, her hair freshly chopped off. She goes to a local gummi shop run by Audrey Ramirez and Gadget Hackwrench to exchange the Devil's Eye for a custom made gummi ship. She notices a missing person poster of her and attempts to hide her face as she fills out the order. She's determined to not return to Disney Castle.
Bubbles busts open the door to the hotel room, but it's empty. Aerith runs to him, letting him know that Rei had checked out of the hotel early that morning. Bubbles thanks her and her team's hard work at taking care of the refugees. Despite missing Rei, knowing that she's alive will bring comfort to the king. Bubbles decides to move on and address a more important matter to Aerith: the Keyblade.
More time has passed. At the Castle that Never Was, Xemnas greets Lius and comments on his disappearance. Lius reminds Xemnas that he was waiting for the perfect time and had to reevaluate his plans due to the failure of Vanitas. Lius inquires about the Organization's puppet program at Castle Oblivion and also requests Xemnas to help him retrieve an important ingredient. Xemnas agrees to lend him his resources so long Lius' shares the results and knowledge gained from his experiments. Saïx is shown with his clipboard listing out the responsibilities for Lius' job to an Organization member. Because of the C.O. operation, they are short on members, so they will have to go alone. The target is reported to be in Twilight Town. They must be pursued and apprehended to receive a special item: dream eater essence. The Organization's number 13, Roxas, accepts the mission.
Chapter 6: A Familiar Face
Roxas confronts the target at Twilight Town's Station Plaza, setting up a barrier so they can't escape. However, this enemy is different from anything he has fought before. Neither of them move. He's never seen a heartless that looked like a person. He begins to question if it was even a heartless. Like him, the his target assesses the situation. Roxas, shaking off his confusion, focuses on the mission at hand. He summons the keyblade and gets ready for battle. The target, recognizing the shape, begins to back off and walk away, that is until they run into the barrier.
Roxas, even more confused by their behavior, tries to call out to them realizing they aren't a heartless after all, but they ignore him. Frustrated, Roxas aims to get the mission over with and lunges after them with his keyblade. The target notices and dodges most of his attacks, but when it appears he's getting the upper hand, they block the swing, grab the keyblade, and disarm him. They tease Roxas for his predictable attacks and reckless fighting. They throw the keyblade back at him and tells him to try again as they draw their knife. A flustered Roxas takes on the challenge, and they begin fighting again. They're quick and strategic. They continue to dodge and block Roxas' attacks and use their knife to add pressure on him. Roxas manages to create some distance between them so he can catch his breath. If he doesn't change up his battle plan, he'll lose. He begins running towards his enemy, but right before they attempt to parry, Roxas preforms a reversal and swiftly moves behind them. They look behind, but are too slow to react when Roxas lands a blow to their head. They stagger. Roxas goes in for a finishing blow, but they block it with their own summoned blade and knock Roxas away from them. They regain their balance, though blood runs down their face from Roxas' attack.The target is revealed to be a short-haired Rei.
Rei, wielding her blade like Ven, charges at Roxas. She maintains the speed she had earlier. Roxas adapts to her fighting style and is able to keep up with her. He notices that what she has in speed and precision, she lacks in strength. Despite this, Rei is able to catch him off guard and gets the upper hand. She pushes him down, disarms him, and holds him to the ground. However, in the process, the barriers fade and his hood falls down. Rei freezes after recognizing his face.
Roxas, recognizing the opening, summons his keyblade to his hand and knocks Rei off of him. Rei is clearly shaken, but her confusion turns into fury.
"This...is this some kind of sick joke?! How much longer are you going to haunt me?"
Rei summons back her blade, which starts to take on a distorted shape, and charges at Roxas once again. However this time, her attacks are erratic and sloppy. Roxas is able to take advantage of this, disarms her, and grounds her just as she had done before. Rather than fight back, Rei begins crying and asks if he's really Ven. Roxas corrects her, says he doesn't know anyone named Ven, but asks Rei if she knows who he might be. Before she can answer, they begin hearing voices approach the plaza. Rei composes herself, and quickly tells Roxas to hide, and she drags him to the entrance of the Underground Concourse before he can process what's happening. As they hide, they see three people approaching the station talking about their plans for the beach this summer.
Once they're out of sight, Rei takes out her knife and begins interrogating Roxas. Roxas denies knowing anything about Rei or going to any place called Disney Castle. Rei analyzes his face, making sure he's real. She determines that he's telling the truth, apologizes to him, and lets him go. In response to Roxas telling her that he needs the dream eater essence, she tells him he should learn to talk to people before attacking them. In order to retrieve the essence, Rei takes Roxas with her to the pocket dimension in her bag. She had a wizard enchant it in order to hold unlimited things. She uses a warp gummi block to access it herself. Rei manages to find the vial, but refuses to give it to him without payment. Having only enough munny in his wallet for some ice cream, she takes him up on his offer, remembering Ven's last promise to her.
Chapter 7: Seeing the Light
Roxas invites Rei to the top of the tower, and they enjoy their ice cream by watching the sunset. Roxas fondly tells Rei about Axel and explains what he knows about Organization XIII, which isn't much. Rei nostalgically talks about her family back at Disney Castle, but expresses her hesitation to return. For the longest time she's been running away from the darkness. Roxas then inquires what it's like to have a heart. Being a nobody and having not talked to anyone but nobodies, he was naturally curious about what it felt like. Rei tells Roxas that she's not the best person to talk to. Her heart feels broken. She lost sight of what her heart was telling her, and now it aches all the time. Rei recalls that it did feel warm, back when she was with her family at Disney Castle, and now as she sits with him on the clock tower.
Roxas asks Rei if he knows who he is, addressing the fact that she called him Ven when they were fighting. Rei admits that she didn't really know him, despite her strong connection to him. She encourages Roxas to be his own person. When the time comes he'll find his way back to his old memories like the other nobodies, but that should not keep him from being himself. Before they part ways, Rei quickly asks Roxas to join her for the Festival for the Lost Princess in Corona. It happens once a year, and she had always wanted to go. They agree to meet up again after he finishes up his mission the following day.
Early the next day, Rei is quietly freaking out at the top of the clocktower. Embarrassed that she fell into her bad habit of trusting too quickly and is conflicted if she should have really invited someone that she just met let alone someone that had tried to kill her. She thinks back to Ven, remembering what she told Roxas the other day and realizing that she really didn't know him. It saddens her. Her chest tightens at the thought that she didn't turn out as the Hero she wanted to be, and what'd Ven really think of her if he found out what she did. She quickly shakes off those thoughts when Roxas arrives in a huff. He made sure to finish his mission early and was glad she was there waiting as promised. Rei smiles and brings out her gummi ship so they can travel to Corona.
The two arrive in Corona and have just enough time to indulge in the festivities around the Capital City before the night's main event. At one point though, they stop in front of the mosaic for the lost princess. Roxas asks Rei what's wrong, noticing she was sad. She tells Roxas that she was thinking about how all of these people were hoping and praying for her to come back. It made her realize how her family must feel and how much she's hurt them by leaving. Roxas asks why she doesn't just return. Rei admits that she's done a lot of things that she's not proud of and expresses her fear of facing them again. Roxas comforts her by echoing the words she had told him before, that she can choose to not let the memories of the past keep her down and choose the kind of person she wants to be in the present.
The guards call for everyone to go to the boats. Roxas and Rei venture out into the water with their lanterns and admire the night sky. A single lantern begins to float above the kingdom. From there, the kingdom begins to light up and hundreds of lanterns begin floating in the sky. Roxas and Rei then light their lanterns and let them float away. Roxas catches Rei tearing up, overwhelmed by the beauty. He asks again if she's okay, and she explains that she's really happy. Roxas begins asking about what it means to feel, and how he's never been able to understand it because the rest of the nobodies don't understand it either. Rei puts his hands up to her neck, showing him her pulse, and shows him how to feel his own heart beat.
"It’s not much...but it’s like a little reminder that you’re real and alive."
It's the end of the festival. Roxas and Rei walk across the bridge away from the kingdom and talk about their day. Roxas reluctantly says he has to return to the castle. He's been gone all day and is guaranteed to get a scolding. Rei is sad that he has to leave, but also knows it's selfish for her to try and persuade him to stay. Roxas tells her that he'll always be waiting at the clock tower with extra ice cream. He hopes that he'll be able to introduce her to Axel one day and invite him to the festival next time. She laughs and says she can't wait to meet him. She hands him a flag from the festival and thanks him. They say their good-byes, but promise to meet up again the next day.
Rei, excited to hang out with Roxas again, is at the Twilight Town Tram Commons ready to buy ice cream. However, at the corner of her eye she sees Ventus. They make eye contact, and he motions her to follow him. They go to the woods outside of town. Rei recognizes the strange aura around him and confronts him as a fake. Lius laughs to himself, surprised that she wasn't her usual gullible self, and opens a portal. He taunts her, teasing that perhaps she could figure out the whereabouts of the real Ven. With a smirk on his face, he disappears. Rei curses under her breath, apologizing to Roxas for breaking her promise, and runs through the portal.
Lius, now at Castle Oblivion, shows the dream eater essence to Vexen, revealing it to hold the remains of the original Nightmare. He commands Vexen to have a replica on standby and wait for him to retrieve the next piece of the puzzle.
Chapter 8: Unwanted Memories
Rei finds herself at the entrance of Castle Oblivion. She takes note of the familiar feeling of the Castle, identifying the feeling to the hearts of Donald, Goofy, and Mickey. She's hesitates to enter the castle, scared that she will meet them. However, she also realizes that this really could be her only lead towards Ven, so she decides to push forward and enter the castle.
Rei finds herself in a large white corridor. With a single door in front of her. She hears a voice from behind and turns to see the fake Ventus. The entrance she had walked through has disappeared. The fake Ventus welcomes her. She demands answers, asking him what his true intentions are. When he refuses to answer, she draws out her blade and charges at him. In defense, he pulls out his own sword, which Rei realizes is not a keyblade, but rather a weapon that feels a lot like hers.
Seeing no use in hiding any longer, Lius transforms into his original form as he easily parries her attacks. He compliments her footwork and mentions that her training really paid off. However, if she doesn't know how to correctly use her blade, she's worthless. He swings again, but when Rei blocks it, a strong shockwave emanates from his blade, creating an electrical shock that runs through her body. She staggers. Lius swings again, cutting right through Rei. There is no physical damage, but Rei's energy suddenly drops, and she is barely able to stand. Lius explains that the sword is a physical manifestation of the user's life force. The user can use their own energy to manipulate another person's energy. Magic can be parried by matching it's wavelength and redirecting it or deconstructed and cancelled out. Cut through things both physically and spiritually simply by focusing in on the blade. He then cuts Rei's hand, forcing her to drop the sword. The separation causes it to disappear, dissipating her energy and leaving her completely drained. Lius and walks through her, sampling her memories. When he arrives at the door at the other side of the room, he holds a card out to her. He claims that he needed her to take responsibility for her actions, that she needs to pay for what she's done. Rei claims to not know what he was talking about. He mocks her for "forgetting" and offers to jog her memory, activating the world card and forcefully throwing her through the door.
Rei begins reliving the memories from her time with Maleficent. Looking around, she recognizes her surroundings instantly. She tries to scream, she tries to move, but she has no control over her body.
A younger Rei is shown admiring the view from Hollow Bastion. Maleficent tells Rei she set it up just for them, so she feels like she has a home. Rei shows her appreciation, reminded of her life back in Disney Castle. Maleficent convinces her to not worry herself over the past, and that they would want her to experience new things. When Rei asks about visiting them, Maleficent tells her they might keep her from leaving again, so she should enjoy her newfound freedom. If they really care, they'd be able to find her. Rei agrees, and they begin to plan for all the worlds they wish to visit.
Maleficent teaches Rei how to interact with the heartless. By having a calm heart and not giving into fear, they can be controlled. This is the power of darkness. Rei uses this understanding to try and befriend the heartless, which Maleficent scolds her for. She tells her to not treat the heartless as equals, for they will consume the careless. Maleficent describes them as a lion in a cage. In order to protect the heartless, you must not show weakness. You must train and discipline them. Even though she understands what Maleficent is saying, it still makes her uncomfortable. She doesn't want to use the power of darkness to manipulate others.
Rei is slammed into the wall, overwhelmed by heartless. Maleficent is ruthlessly training her, trying to force her to use the power of darkness. Rei believes she can do fine without it, but is barely holding her ground against the heartless. Maleficent eventually calls them off, but tells Rei she's worthless if she can't protect herself. Rei begs for Maleficent's forgiveness and a second chance to prove herself. Rei requests for training from someone else in the best interest of Maleficent's time. Maleficent agrees to her terms in order to give her time to recruit others, but only gives Rei three months.
Chapter 9: Her Guilt
Rei wakes up on the floor, a familiar voice commanding her to get up. She looks up to see Helga Sinclair standing over her, irritated. Maleficent is overseeing the training session and promises Helga appropriate compensation for proper training. Maleficent berates Rei, threatening that if she fails to improve, she'll leave her. Helga respects Rei's decision to be self sufficient, and though she's strict with her, she helps her not rely on the heartless.
Rei returns from the latest expedition to Hollow Bastion exhausted and beat up. Helga hands her some water and tells her she did well. Rei disagrees, terrified that she'll never be good enough. Helga doesn't hold back pointing out Rei's flaws and where she needs to improve, but she also recognizes the thing she is doing well. She gives her advice on how to change up her fighting style to play to her strengths, and this gives Rei a bit more confidence. Rei asks Helga about what motivates her, what her resolve is. Helga admits she's in it for the money, wishing for a comfortable and rich life. For any of the expeditions Maleficent sends them on, any additional valuables she finds are hers to keep, and she doesn't have to worry about doing the dirty work with the heartless. Rei recalls everyone else's resolve, such as Hades' wish to be respected among his family, Jafar's desire to bring prosperity back to his kingdom, and Ursula's will to rise above her brother's injustice towards her. She even mentions Maleficent's longing to be included in something greater than herself and wants to support the mission best she can. Helga tells her she doesn't belong here. She tells Rei to get out.
The memories begin to fracture and blend into each other. Again, Rei hears Helga commanding leave, to survive and escape as soon as she gets the chance. Around them, others are fighting the heartless, desperately fighting for their lives. Maleficent's voice is projected throughout the room. Those who are weak will be consumed. The survivors will earn their place and their right to command the heartless. Helga had protected Rei, and as a result, her heart was taken and she fades into darkness. With Helga final words echoing in her head, Rei fights her way through the heartless until there’s no more left. Only a few people have survived. Rei, overwhelmed, looks at the new shape of her blade, which has taken a corrupted form.
Despite desperately fighting and pitting every ounce of her will against it, Rei succumbs to the darkness and becomes a heartless. The volume ends with a scene of Roxas sitting alone on the clock tower with an extra ice cream that had melted in its bag.
References
Original Characters
Rei • Lius
Kingdom Hearts Characters
Aqua • Xemnas • Saïx • Roxas • Nobody • Axel • Vexen
Final Fantasy Characters
Disney Characters
Maleficent • Madame Medusa • Miss Bianca • Bernard • Penny • Cobra Bubbles • Yen Sid • Audrey Ramirez • Gadget Hackwrench • Helga Sinclair
Locations
Devil's Bayou • Traverse Town • Realm of Darkness • Twilight Town • Corona • Castle Oblivion