Conceived In Darkness

Kingdom Hearts Conceived In Darkness by Vash/RikuDawntreader/PrettySephy Disclaimer: I own no one from the Kingdom Hearts series. --------------------------------------------------------- -Chapter 10 "A Nobody with a heart," Aerith sighed, once King Mickey and Sora had explained the situation to the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee. "How sweet. It's sad how so many of them never found one." "So, whose Nobody is he?" Leon wanted to know. "Beats me," Sora shrugged from his spot by Donald and Goofy, who had joined them at the Gummi port. "You don't happen to have a photo of him, do you?" Yuffie asked, accepting the one he handed to her a moment later. Her eyes widened and she handed the photo to Aerith. "Oh my," Aerith remarked. Cloud walked over to them and took the photo. His eyes narrowed. "Are you sure he can be trusted?" "What's that supposed to mean?" Sora demanded. "Of course he can be trusted! This is Riku! Even if he is a Nobody! And you know what, it doesn't matter whose he is." Cloud tossed back two photos. "Really?" he asked. "Well then, you'll enjoy looking at these." Goofy picked them up and examined them. "Gawrsh, Donald. The folks in these photos look like they could be brothers." Donald looked at the photos his friend was holding. "Ya see?" Goofy asked. "Riku," Donald said looking at the first photo. "And this is a picture of Tifa, someone else, and...SEPHIROTH?!" Sora started. "HUH?! No way! It can't be!" He grabbed the photo, further ruffling Donald's feathers. "Riku..." he groaned, sinking to the floor, unable to deny what his eyes were telling him. "Riku is Sephiroth's Nobody." "But he's way younger than Sephiroth," Yuffie pointed out. "Riku's appearance shows the age Sephiroth was when he set aside his heart." Aerith explained. "It was a heart so loving and so strong, that the Planet held onto it, hoping that he would one day heal his mind and reclaim it. But that day never came." "So when did Sephiroth discard his heart?" Cloud looked up. "On the day Professor Gast was killed." He explained to them. "He was the only person at Shinra who ever truly cared for Sephiroth. He was also Aerith's father." "If Hojo hadn't murdered him," Aerith added, "then Sephiroth and I might have grown up as brother and sister. "I'm glad that at least his Nobody was able to have a good life." "Aren't we forgetting something?" Everyone turned to the doorway. A man with ebony hair and ocean blue eyes stood there. How long he'd been there was anyone's guess. Leon's eyes nearly popped out of his skull. "If Riku is Sephiroth's Nobody," the man suggested, "then who is his Heartless?" Leon's jaw hit the floor. "Kadaj," Cloud replied."He passed through this way not long ago. We fought and he told me who he was." "So how come you didn't speak up sooner?" Sora asked as Leon suddenly raced across the room and hugged the man in the doorway in a most un-Leon-like manner. Everyone boggled at Leon. "Laguna! Where in hell have you been?" Leon demanded, now that he'd recovered a bit. "I went home," Laguna explained. "How? Our world is gone!" "I meant to the castle." "Ultimecia's castle was also..." "Not hers," Laguna cut him off. "My mother's. Though you wouldn't guess she was old enough since she still looks as young as the day she and my father were wed. That's what comes of having a good heart, I guess." "You're Snow White's son," Goofy realized. Everyone stared at Laguna. He did look a lot like the raven-haired princess, they had to admit.