Where are we, anyway?

[halfdarkened]

Something hit me. Sure, we're in Castle Oblivion. But what floor? The basement floors can look the same as the ones upstairs.

Are we heading to the exit or to someone who's waiting for us?

Comments

[voice]

[halfdarkened.livejournal.com]

Sort of. I get the how more than the why. The how is magic, but that's all I really got.

[Have a pause.] The Organization is made up of people with no hearts who are trying to get them back to gain power. They're also studying hearts as a result.

[voice]

[madsciencemaou.livejournal.com]

So they really have no hearts? Is this in the physical sense as well as the other kind?

...Those Heartless things. They have something to do with this don't they? How does it work?

[voice]

[halfdarkened.livejournal.com]

...I think it's the other kind. But really, they aren't human anymore so who knows. They're beings called Nobodies. Most don't look human, but these guys do.

They do. When somebody loses their heart, darkness usually takes the heart over. And that's what a Heartless is. Darkness or darkness taking its own heart captive. Heartless taking other hearts ensures the same thing happens again and again. But when a Heartless forms, the body and soul have to go somewhere, right? And that's a Nobody.

[voice]

[madsciencemaou.livejournal.com]

I figured they wouldn't have the kind with memories and emotions and that kind of thing.

Darkness taking its own heart captive... How does that happen? Is it a planned takeover or what? Does the darkness have its own mind?

Hmm... If Nobodies are capable of having a human shape, what about Heartless? And how can you tell them from a regular human?

[voice]

[halfdarkened.livejournal.com]

Most Nobodies have their memories, still. There are some exceptions, though.

I... Not sure, really. There are a lot of mysteries, still. And I never so much studied hearts as had to learn as I went. Darkness is a force that can incarnate itself as beings. ...I guess we're beings of light.

I only know about one Heartless... No, there were two... I don't get the other one, but one of the two that retained their normal shape went by the stolen name "Ansem." He had a strong heart and he gave it up of his own will. ...Which seems to do something to their Heartless and Nobodies.

As far as telling the difference. With "Ansem" it was his obsession with darkness, with Xemnas it was his obsession with hearts. Neither of them ever shut up. But otherwise? You can't. Namine is an unusual Nobody, but far as me and Sora knew, she was just a girl with special powers.

[voice]

[madsciencemaou.livejournal.com]

Beings of light, huh? Are you really sure about that? What's the difference? Or are you just going off of humans?

I never knew humans were capable of doing that kind of thing.

[voice]

[halfdarkened.livejournal.com]

No. You're not obsessive compulsive over darkness and you can talk. That rules out you being a Heartless. More than just Humans can be turned into those things.

What kind of thing? Having special powers or turning into a Heartless and Nobody?

[voice]

[madsciencemaou.livejournal.com]

Heh... Maybe not, but I'm not one of those goody-goody angels, either.

Messing with their hearts. Although I don't think I've ever seen a demon completely take theirs out before.

[voice]

[halfdarkened.livejournal.com]

...Whatever. I'm guessing you have dark powers. You don't have to be a Heartless to use darkness.

It usually takes a special tool to do it. If I tried to take my heart out with my bare hands I'd kill myself. Sora... He had a strange Keyblade that'd been made... And who knows what Xehanort's Heartl-- Well, "Ansem," had. Probably some machine.

[voice]

[madsciencemaou.livejournal.com]

Of course I do. What kind of demon doesn't? We're practically born with it.

Hmmm.. A magical tool or a machine... Sounds possible. I never did ask what the attendant at the Heart Bank used.

[voice]

[halfdarkened.livejournal.com]

Guess demon hearts are strong enough to keep their hearts from getting too eroded.

[Loooong pause and then a reply of disbelief.] Heart bank?

[voice]

[madsciencemaou.livejournal.com]

"Eroded?"

Heart Bank. A place where memories and secrets are stored. It also allows us to go within our hearts and take care of things as we please.

[voice]

[halfdarkened.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Darkness erodes the heart if you're not careful, until you become a Heartless.

...You can store memories outside your heart?! And... You can go into your own heart?

[voice; private - very hard]

[madsciencemaou.livejournal.com]

Erodes the... There's a way to stop it, right? A way to reverse it? How does it happen? How do you know it's happening? What kind of side effects are there? How long does it take?!

Yes, yes, it's just basic stuff and I'll answer that later, just answer the questions above!

I thought it just be locked away... I could... Those things!

[voice; private as a courtesy- very hard]

[halfdarkened.livejournal.com]

[There's a pause. After a moment comes a thoughtful reply.]

...The stopping is easy. Just don't use darkness. The reversing... I don't know. I... I don't know any of that. [His attempts to hide his concern are weak.] There's still a lot about hearts we don't know.

I... I still use darkness, even almost becoming a Heartless. Just not the same way. So the heart has to be healing...

[voice; private as a courtesy- very hard]

[madsciencemaou.livejournal.com]

Tch, that's easy for you to say. Maybe... Maybe... How can you tell what kind of darkness is taking over? Is it the kind used in magic or... Or some other kind? Some kind of... other power.

[voice; private- very hard]

[halfdarkened.livejournal.com]

Kind of darkness? ...Where I'm from, all darkness you use comes from your heart. Same goes for light. So if you use dark magic, you'd be using your heart's darkness, probably. It's how it goes where I'm from.

But where I'm from, you can't store memories outside your heart. If all my memories were taken out, my heart would collapse. And I'd be a Heartless just from that.

Maybe it's different for you.

[voice; private- very hard]

[madsciencemaou.livejournal.com]

...Probably.

There's different magic. It's more complicated than just that. ...Maybe we're talking about different types. [there are a lot of maybes there and how much of this is him trying to make himself feel better, he doesn't know. Seriously. He probably doesn't even recognize the latter reason]

You don't take out all of your memories. Why the hell would you do that? You'd just end up useless. It's just the kind that people can take advantage of.

[voice; private- very hard]

[halfdarkened.livejournal.com]

There's different magics for us, too.

How do you do that? [Voice grows a little more serious.] Who else can undo the links of someone's memory?

[voice; private- very hard]

[madsciencemaou.livejournal.com]

I don't know exactly how it works. I'll have to ask the attendant a few questions when I get back. What do you mean by "links."

[voice; private- very hard]

[halfdarkened.livejournal.com]

Memories are formed in chains. You remember one thing, which leads to another and another. Ever almost forgot someone's name? But remembered the first letter? And then you finally figured out what the name was? That name was a link in your chain of memories that was falling into the darkness of your heart, which means you can't remember it. Sometimes links get tangled, or, sometimes they might come apart. Links don't come undone too often by themselves, but they'll just dip into darkness.

But I knew someone who could undo those links and rearrange memories.

[voice; private- very hard]

[madsciencemaou.livejournal.com]

Mm. I think I know what you're talking about. So forgetting is linked to darkness, too.

How?

[voice; private- very hard]

[halfdarkened.livejournal.com]

Yeah. You forget things, but never really lose your memories. That's why things are familiar sometimes when you can't remember them.

Couldn't tell you. She could only do it to people Sora was connected to. Me included.

[voice; private- very hard]

[madsciencemaou.livejournal.com]

...Oh.

Seems like a pretty useless power to me, if it only works on a handful of people like that.

[voice; private- very hard]

[halfdarkened.livejournal.com]

Useless? That ended up being used against us at one point. But she also could have used it to lock up A-- ...To lock up the darkness in my heart, too. I never was one to take the easy way out, though.