[center][b]3:  Histories Bound in Darkness[/b][/center]

They had been walking for some time, the Remnant and Lidia.  At certain points, she needed to rest, but he insisted rather firmly that she should continue on.  He didn't want to waste any excess time.  She complained about the winds and the dust, that she was getting really tired and that she needed something to drink.  The only time that they stopped was when she passed out, during which the Remnant waited, trained and watched.  And when she awoke, she did so refreshed, thanks in part to the sacrifice of a Shadow.  In time, hours became days... and the seventh day finally arrived.

"There it is."  Lidia points off in the distance, the pod that contained her form in the distance, the sand and winds sticking against the still-damp outside of it.

The Remnant nods and moves ahead of Lidia.  He takes a look at it.  Advanced work... but that wasn't unexpected.  Then he looks within the pod itself.  Inside are two objects.  One, a small black diamond; the other, a large black staff.  He palms the diamond and hides it beneath the tattered pieces of cloth on his torso, and carries the stick.  "This was what was inside of it."  He tosses the staff at her.

Lidia fumbles a little bit before holding onto it tightly.  "Yeah, that's right.  This is my Black Wand."  A smile crosses her features, thought it lay obscured beneath her veil.  "My father had a friend make it for me."  Once again, the feeling of meloncholy.  She missed her father greatly.  She sniffles a bit, trying not to cry.

"Oh, grow up."  The Remnant gazes at her.  "You're going to have to learn that he won't be there for you every day of your life."  He turns around, his back towards Lidia.  "Who knows?  Maybe he set this up."

"No... No!  He wouldn't do that without saying something!"  Lidia yells at him, but immediately bites her thumbnail.  What if she ticked off this guy?  What if he wouldn't want to help her after she acted mean like that?  "I'm sorry!"

"Don't be."  The Remnant turns back towards Lidia.  "When you're faced with something that could be nasty and true, you'd try to reject it.  Certainly expected..."  He takes a few step, walking around her.  "Tell me, what was your world like?"

"My world?"  Lidia pauses and sits down on the earth beneath.  "Well, I really don't know.  All I knew of my world was home.  But my father mentioned... well, he mentioned something about people with strange weapons."

"...what kind of weapons?"  Vanitas was curious at this.

"They held swords... but they looked like keys."  Lidia shudders a bit, remembering seeing the tip of one at an earlier time.  "But he said that they were knights... soldiers, Masters, something... and that they wanted to ruin the world by stopping progress."

This certainly was an interesting twist.  "Those weapons..."  The Remnant looks out towards the direction of the Badlands.  "They're known as Keyblades.  Special weapons that can break any lock, open any door.  And they were given to a chosen few."

"Key...blade?"  Lidia allows herself to speak it out.  True, it flowed of the tongue well, but it left her with a bitter taste, so to speak.  It made her feel uneasy... almost dirty.

"That's right.  And those who did wield them started as warriors for the Light."  The Remnant looks back at Lidia.  That wasn't the truth, but he needed to nudge her, in just the right way.

"So... are you saying that Light is bad?"  Lidia looks at him, her head cocked to one side.

"Light's a problem.  See, they thought that Light was the only way, the right way."  The Remnant kneels down.  "And in order to ensure that the light won, they sought out the ultimate Keyblade.  However, this introduced darkness into their hearts.  They fought against one another, in order to obtain this weapon.  However, their conflicts, their battles, destroyed everything."  He knew enough to add in the part about Keybladers going dark.  While it was questionable if that was the truth or not, it would certainly give him creedence if and when he would reveal Void Gear.

"But if that happened, how..."

"Kingdom Hearts, the heart of all worlds.  It remade everything."

Lidia sits in awe of this.  To hear of something so powerful...

"But even though everything was re-made, there were still certain Keyblade wielders, those who believed that light was the only good and true path."  The Remnant stands up once again.  "My master sought to learn from the mistakes of the past, myself alongside him.  However, the few Keyblade wielders that still remained, they sought to stop us.  They thought of us as heretics, bringers of chaos."  He turns away from her once again.  "All we wanted was the truth.  And in the end, everyone suffered because they did not want the truth to be revealed.  My master was lost.  The Keyblade wielders fell... and I barely survived."

"Oh my goodness..."  Lidia holds a hand over her mouth.  "How could they do such things if Light is supposed to be good?"

"Because they were afraid of change..."  The Remnant once more turns towards her.  "But now, there are more Keyblade wielders out there, and they want to stifle growth.  They want their 'Light' to to overpower everything else, including the truth."  He once more kneels in front of her, looking directly into her veil-covered face.  "Now I ask you: What could you do to stop them?"

"Me!?"   Lidia scrambles backwards.  "I can't do anything!  I'm just one person!"

"You're more than that."  The Remnant smirks beneath his mask.  "You just don't know it yet.  I can help you realize what lay dormant within you."  Standing back up, he holds his hand out to her.  "Do you trust me?"

"..."  Lidia reaches out towards his hand, but hesitates.  Did she really trust him?  Was he just going to use her as a weapon?  She grabs a hold of his outstretched hand.  She did trust him.

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