"This is bad. Really, really bad." The Master said as he was writing down Roxas's conversation with Aqua.

After a quite dinner and snapping out of his funk, he proceeded to start back up on recording the new timeline when he felt a familiar feeling.

There was an alteration in the timeline, and a major one at that. One that had was happening right near Roxas.

Worse off it felt dark and it had already settled into the timeline.

Meaning that the only way for it to be destroyed is for it to be physically eradicated now, because any event to alternate the timeline from here would never truly remove it.

It would probably only make it worst.

So now it he can only hope that Roxas notices it and get rid of it immediately.

If this alteration was dealt with immediately then it will lead to nothing but disaster in the future.

'Finally there he is.' Roxas thought as he noticed Terra after finding the entrance.

He was also wondering why this castle had so many hallways. Maybe it also had to do with something with the history of Keyblade wielders and when they were all over the place. Maybe back during the Age of Fairy Tales.

But those kind of questions could wait, he needed to talk with Terra.

When he got to the entrance he found Terra in the middle of the courtyard and Xehanort walking away.

This did not bode well if he talked to Terra.

The elderly Keyblade Master could've said anything to him and Roxas wasn't sure if it was true or not. He couldn't get a read out on that old man and it honestly worried him to no end.

However the matter Xehanort can wait a bit. What really matters right now is Terra.

As he began to walk down stairs, Terra noticed him.

"Roxas, what are you doing here?" He questioned.

"I came to check up on you, you looked awfully distraught when you walked out." The Nobody answered simply, getting the older Keyblade wielder to nod.

"I was though I'm little better now." Terra said before facing Roxas. "Though I have been wondering about something."

"And that is?" Roxas asked.

"That how is it that I'm the only one here with darkness in their heart? At least that is what I can sense at least. I'll admit that I'm not the best at sensor and that Ven is worst off then me anyway. But I know enough just to tell what to look for and everybody but you doesn't have any darkness in their hearts. Your heart is like a void and Master Xehanort's heart held not only a great deal of darkness, but also a great deal of light." Terra sighed out. "Look I know it sounds like a bit much, but I could use an opinion from someone else. Someone who hasn't been with us for years."

"It's alright. You just want a fresh perspective on the matter." Roxas said, understanding why Terra would ask something like that.

That one flicker of darkness had just cost him his dream and shaken his very beliefs to his core.

Not unlike how he found out about what Ansem did to him inside that accursed virtual prison.

So it would be a good idea to help his new friend as best he could, while hoping that Xehanort hadn't done anything to him.

"That's right." Terra said with a nod.

"Well contrary to what you think, both Eraqus and Aqua have do have darkness in your hearts. But it is hidden by their light with Eraqus's light being the greatest. So much in fact that I can barely even sense the darkness within him. Plus even if he does dissuade from the darkness, he has acknowledged to me that it is best not to temper with the balance within ones heart." Roxas said truthfully, surprising Terra a little.

"Wait so you talked with Master about this?" Terra inquired.

"Unintentionally, I was helping Aqua to cheer up after you and Ven walked out on her after the ceremony. Which I can understand with the both of you, but you might need to apologize to her. You were kind of rude for leaving the way you did, once again understandable but it did bring back some bad memories for her." The Nobody said, causing Terra to wince.

"I suppose I do owe an apology to Aqua for walking out like that." Terra admitted a little sheepishly. "And judging from your story that she told you about when Ven arrived."

"Correct." Roxas answered.

"You were bound to know sooner or later anyway, I just wish it wasn't at a time like this." The eldest apprentice sighed out. "But I feel like we are starting to get off track a little."

"You're probably right Terra." Roxas said with a shrug." Anyway after that and managing to convince her out of trying something that could have had serious consequences just to help you."

"That sounds like her." Terra interjected while sighing out.

"Eraqus made his presence know after that and agreed that removing one's darkness can have serious repercussions with tampering with someone's heart. Although apparently he knows at least how to suppress someone's darkness a bit." Roxas said, before taking a step back as darkness started to roll off of Terra.

It was a small amount, but incredibly potent. A testament to how strong Terra's heart was.

It was one of the strongest hearts he has ever sensed and it seemed to have only grown stronger by the day. The only hearts that he have sensed that are stronger are Eraqus's, Xehanort's, Ava's, and the Master's. Of course he had only sensed a bunch of hearts before and of the Foretellers only Ava, so he didn't have much to go on. But considering the range it was still impressive.

"If he knew about it then why didn't he use it during the exam! It could have saved me a lot of grief if he had just used it in the first place!" Terra said, clearly angered by what Roxas said as the darkness started to grow a little more.

'Anymore of this and I'll have Eraqus on top of us.' Roxas thought while letting out a long sigh.

If Terra continued to let his darkness to continued out he would draw Eraqus out and the Nobody was not keen on going through whatever punishment had caused Aqua to shiver like that.

He already had enough tough training with the Organization and Xemnas, Xaldin, Lexaeus and Saïx were all slavedrivers.

So he copied Lexaeus and smacked Terra as hard as he could in the gut.

He wasn't tall enough to hit him in the face after all.

Terra blanched as he doubled over and the darkness dissipated.

"Sorry about that Terra, but it was the only way that I knew of too snap you out of your anger and talking you down would have probably given Eraqus enough time to sense us and administer punishment." Roxas admitted while rubbing his hand.

One of the few perks of being a Nobody was that pain was automatically numbed to a certain extent. Still hitting Terra was comparable to punching a rock wall, so it was perfectly reasonable for his hand to be a little sore after all.

"We'll warn me next time." Terra wheezed while shuttering at the mention of Eraqus's punishment methods.

"Fair enough, but Terra he admitted that in your case that your heart was in an minor imbalance and that spell would have probably damaged your heart in that state. He even admitted that just a little training would help you keep it check." Roxas said truthfully.

"So he is willing to keep it in check, but not to channel it then." Tera stated a little dryly, catching Roxas off guard a little.

'I guess that he was more shaken up then I thought or it had something do with Xehanort. From little I've seen Eraqus and Aqua favor the light and if Terra is the same way this shift to darkness so suddenly can't be good.' The Nobody thought.

Probing Terra for answers at this point would only do more damage and may case him to lose control of his darkness again.

So the best and true answer would be to help him out as best he could.

"Terra I wouldn't suggest channeling the darkness just yet, at this point it will only consume you if you allow it to continue to let it go unchecked." Roxas said, surprising Terra. "So for now try to work on keeping it in check and learning how to control it first then channeling it."

After a few moments of silence, Terra just sighed and Roxas felt the darkness inside his heart subside quit a bit.

His heart had become balanced, at least for now.

"I guess you're right Roxas, but how do you know so much about the darkness?" He inquired.

"My master did liked to ramble on about the heart and the elements composing it. It also helps due to living on a world in between light and darkness. Though my Master never taught me how to manipulate the darkness, I left before he even could." Roxas said, while being mostly truthful.

While he knew at least on how to create a Corridor of Darkness, but that came with the territory of being a Nobody. It was possible for him to learn to control the darkness, but as he was Sora's Nobody his efficiency was towards the light. So it was difficult to even call forth even a speck of darkness at all.

But it might be a good idea to start to practice to get the hang of it. For he may need to if his suspicions of Xehanort was correct, he may need it.

He was soon broken from his musings when he was once again put into gripping hug by Terra.

'What is it with Keyblade wielders and death grips, at least Terra isn't breaking anything.' Roxas thought with a wince.

"Thank you Roxas, you don't even know how badly I needed someone to say that." Terra said, his voice starting to crack a bit.

After another moment of silence, Roxas returned the hug.

"Anything for a friend." He said honestly as the two Keyblade wielders broke their hug.

"While don't expect this friend to go easy on you during training." Terra said with smirk.

"Wouldn't have it any other way, after all it'll be practice for when we have our Mark of Mastery next year." The Nobody said with a smirk of his own.

Their joyous mood was soon shattered with the sounds of bells tolling from up in the castle.

"Roxas we need to get to the throne room right now." Terra said seriously as he ran into the castle, with Roxas soon catching up behind him.

"Terra do you know what's going on?" He asked, worried about what was happening.

From the way the way he was acting, this could only mean trouble.

"From day one Master had taught us about the bells and that there are certain mechanisms that he can control from the throne room. This one going currently playing is one that he prayed we never had to hear again after we memorized it. It means that multiple worlds have begun to descend into chaos." Terra said grimly.

'Okay this is much worse then I thought.' Roxas thought with a frown.

As far as he knew, the Heartless would emerge to swarm the worlds in about a year from now.

So if the Heartless hadn't appeared yet, then what was attacking the worlds?

It certainly wasn't the Nobodies, they were few in numbers before the Heartless outbreak.

What ever it was there was one he was certain of.

That in someway, shape, or form, Xehanort was probably connected to it.

'So the king has finally allowed released the horde.' The creature thought as it sunk into the ground, trying to catch up to Roxas.

Maybe it should as it's king to give it longer legs. It would be much easier to keep up with it's target after all.

Anyway this was the day the horde was waiting for.

To be able to spread and explore multiple worlds, free to sow discord among them and make the inhabitants to suffer like their king at the hands of that bald creep.

Although he was fine with the training, the horde was not as tolerant. They felt everything that he had collectively. So with every cut, scrap, and bruise that their king felt they all felt it themselves. So while they were not allowed to take their wrath against the creepy bald man, so for four long years they waited for a chance to unleash their combined wrath against the worlds.

After four years of letting it build up, they were free to take their frustrations out against the worlds.

Well within the bonds that their king sent up.

They could never disobey the king after all. He created the horde and as long as he existed so would they. So they were nothing but loyal to him and would be willing to do anything he asked.

No matter the task or the risks to themselves.

'Is Roxas heading towards the throne room right now?' The King asked.

The creature pondered for a minute on how to brief it's king on the issue of newfound sentience.

After a moment of thinking, it decided the blunt way was better.

'He currently is heading to the throne room my king.' The creature communed to him, before being startled at the sound of something crashing on the other end of the line. 'My king?'

'I'm alright. I was surprised by the clarity from your line, but now I'm hearing it a second time I suppose I truly wasn't hear things. So do you mind telling me how the hell did you achieve true sentience!' The king demanded.

'So it really wasn't you then.' The creature stated, feeling the confusion from the other end of the line.

After a few moments of silence, a sigh escaped the king.

'It wasn't from me. I just tried to give a few regular Floods the level of sentience you have and they all promptly exploded. If it wasn't something that I was used to all the time then it would've hurt like hell. So it wasn't from me otherwise you would've been dead right now. But that does raise another possibility.' The king said, getting the creature to nod.

'That this was inadvertently caused by the ambient time magic that I began to siphon off of the interesting human.' The creature said.

'I can already see that you are already putting that newfound sentience to good use. Well that is probably the only possibility we have right now. But we can get back to this in a minute. Have you lost track of Roxas?' The king asked.

'Yes I have and I have unfortunately failed my task my king.' The creature said solemnly, feeling ashamed to have failed it's kings task and it's eyes taking a downcast shape.

'You have not failed your task, I've known that this would inevitably happen. So your next task is the regroup at my location and figure out a few things with your sentience. We have some time to kill before the real fun starts.' The king said as the creature felt the information was loaded up into it's mind.

'Yes my king.' The creature said as it cut the connection and disappeared into a puff of darkness, leaving the hallway empty once again.

(Chapter 23 end)