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**Shadows of Birth

Chapter 2 - Away From Isolation**

He was gazing out of the window of his room out to the streets below. Occasionally, Consus would see Cloud or a few other humans walking around, but the streets were pretty much empty. In his hand he held the golden heart pendant his mother had given to him. He had been wondering why that memory had appeared when he first got to Traverse Town. ...I wonder where she is. Unlike Perin, I still feel that she's somewhere out there. Looking down at the object in his right hand, he then summoned his Keyblade in his left. He set the emblem on his lap and reached into his pouch and pulled out a light green chain he had been holding onto. It was the one his mother used to wear it as a necklace, but it was broken in several places. He decided to take the best links out of the chain and put seven links together at the end of Bloodlust's hilt. Seven upon awakening... I wonder how many more it could lead to in the end. After attaching the golden heart to the final link of the chain, he held up the weapon and made sure it was secure.

As he gazed at his mother's heirloom, he felt a tear roll down his cheek. He had never really known her, but all the same, she was everything to him. She was the only one besides these new strangers to actually see him for who he is. ...I should sleep. I have no idea what they're going to have me do tomorrow. Closing his window, Consus then turned to the bed that sat in the corner. Walking up to it, he thought he heard something in the hallway, but ignored it. He sat on the bed for a moment to test it, never really being able to use one of these before. It really bothered him, he hated how it bounced whenever he moved. He decided that he might as well treat this place like home anyway, since there was no world to really call 'home' now. He grabbed the covering from off the bed and lay it out on the floor neatly before slowly lying himself on top of it.

As he was about to close his eyes, he heard another thud from the hall. It was louder that time, and that peaked his interest. Standing back up, he felt as Bloodlust formed in his left hand. Looking down at the blade, he was courious on why it had appeared. It wasn't long before he had his answer, though. As he turned back to the door, he was startled by a sudden crash from his window. Looking over, Consus saw a small little black creature that had what looked like a wick at the top of its head. As the drake stared at it, he watched as the little form shrunk itself into a little ball in the wick lit itself. He looked at the top of the creature to see the number three. Oh hell no, I hate bombs! With a flick of his Keyblade on the count of Two, he flipped the black form back out the window, but high into the air. As it exploded in midair, there was an eruption of shrieks from down below.

Drawing one of Triumph's blades, He watched as several black holes began to form in his room. "I just can't get one night of rest, can I?" Before the Shadows began to form in front of him, he felt his pulse rising. He was eager to get the fight started, wanting to kill something at this point. Once the first was completely out of its portal, Consus dashed forward and slashed with both weapons directly through the foe. A black liquid saturated Bloodlust and was pouring out of the body at his feet. Watching as their ally fell, the Heartless all jumped at him at once. Wrong move. Once they were all in range, Consus jumped up and became level with his enemies. With one flick of his wrist, he spun Bloodlust around and slashed clean through each Shadow attacking. He landed on the ground, now holding his Keyblade now towards his body, and watched as the bloody mess of bodies fell on the ground after him. He stood there panting for a moment and waited to see if any more would show. Before he knew it, his door busted open and in came Leon, his gunblade resting across his right shoulder.

He looked at the mess on the ground and stared wide-eyed. "Did you do this?"

At first, Consus didn't say anything. He still had the urge to kill, but was holding it back. "...Yeah. This was me. Are there more?"

"Yeah, throughout the building. You think you're up for some extermination?"

Consus' mouth curled up, his mind filled with happiness at the news he just heard. "I just hope they don't stop. I want to see them all dead."

-

As they had run throughout the building, Leon seemed to be leading them nowhere. It was all just a bunch of turns, but every turn made only brought him more pleasure. A Heartless behind every corner, Bloodlust seemed to scream in joy in his hand.

"Cosus, over here."

Turning towards Leon, he watched as he put his hand on a glowing section of the wall and the door in front of him open up. As they went inside, the door closed instantly behind them, closing out a Shadow that was dashing its way towards them. As they walked town the dull gray hall, they entered into a round room. There were a couple couches sitting there, each space occupied by someone.

The first was a human that looked around adult hood with brown, spiky hair. He had a red shirt and big yellow shoes, which really stood out. He then looked to a human that looked a little older than the first, but had long, light blue hair. Hell, with the lighting the way it was, Consus would have even guessed it was silver. He had his arms crossed and only gazed at the drake when he entered. There were also two animal-like creatures that seemed to be arguing about something.

"I'm glad you're here, Sora." Leon started, walking up to the human with brown hair.

"We were passing by when we got your message, so decided to drop in. Seems like we attracted a whole lot of Heartless by coming here, though."

"No, it's not you. They search for a different heart."

Turning to the voice behind him, Consus saw Cloud leaning against the wall. He wasn't there a moment ago, but Consus paid no attention to that. "Searching for a heart? I thought they just took hearts at random."

Cloud opened his eyes and stared at the drake. "Then you're quite foolish, since yours is the one they're trying to get."

"Enough, Cloud." Leon said, pulling Consus closer to the groups occupying the couches. "Look, the main reason I brought you here was to show you to these guys here. This is Sora, Riku, Donald, and Goofy. They have been saving worlds with the help of a Keyblade for a long time now."

Consus looked at Leon in shock. "They have Keyblades?! Are they anything like mine?"

Sora stood up, a wide smile on his face. "I'll show you mine if you show me yours."

With a smile, Consus once again summoned Bloodlust into his left hand. He watched as Sora's eyes went wide at seeing the blade, almost letting out a laugh. He watched Sora's hand as a form appeared in it, a silver rod with a yellow hilt. "So, they don't look the same."

Sora flipped his onto his shoulder, still smiling. "Every one is different. The main thing is learning how to control the power of it. Each Keyblade has different properties than another. Mine is called the Kingdom Key. Here, let's swap blades and see how you feel with mine."

With a nod, Consus held out his left hand where Sora held out his right. At the same time, they grabbed each others weapons in the opposite hand. As soon as Bloodlust left Consus' hand, though, it disappeared out of Sora's and back into the grip of the drake's left hand. He stood there, holding both Keyblades for a moment, wondering if Sora would be upset.

"Well, that's new. There hasn't been a Keyblade yet that I couldn't wield, I wonder what makes this one so different." As Consus handed Sora his blade back, both of the weapons disappeared on queue. "What do you make of this, Riku?"

Staring intently on the guy with blue hair, Consus watched as his tall form stood up and walked up to him. "You've got Darkness in your heart... How much have you given in to it?"

Consus really didn't understand the question, but it soon became clear on what he meant. "...Back when I first got Bloodlust, I... killed seven common villagers with it."

Everyone in the room was looking at the drake now. He knew he needed to clear things up before they got off on the wrong foot, but Riku gave a nod. "I see. And how many times have you lost control?"

Thinking for a moment, he easily remembered each time he had felt the rage inside the Keyblade. "About two to three times."

Sora crossed his arms, "You think you know something? You seem to be asking a lot of him."

Riku nodded, "Yeah. I think I might be able to help. Sora, we're going to take him with us for a while."

Donald fell off the couch. "What?! We can't fit another person in our ship! It hardly has room for us!" Goofy looked like he was thinking for a moment before the duck hit him upside the head. "Don't even say it! That's open for Pluto when we finally catch him!"

Leon gave a nod. "Then it's settled. Riku, you will help Consus learn his blade. Just make sure he doesn't use it wrongly."

With a nod, Riku then stood up next to Sora before Cloud walked up into the center of the room. He turned back towards Consus and looked down at the blades at his side. "Be careful of the Darkness while you're out. When you least expect it, it can swallow you whole."

Staring at the warrior, Consus gave a nod. "Yeah... I will. I can see from your eyes that you talk from experience."

"...Yeah. I was once a servant of the Darkness, but unlike most, I had help to get out."

Riku then turned back to Leon and gave a smile. "I'm surprised you haven't gone back to Radiant Garden yet, what keeps you here?"

"We've been investigating something we found in some of the lost Ansem Reports that were found. We found a page that is in an unknown language with an odd symbol."

Sora's face grew with excitement at the talk of new information. "Can we see it?"

Reaching in his coat, Leon pulled out a small book and flipped though the pages until he was close to the very end. Once he found the page he was looking for, he turned the book around to show everyone else.

While the group stared at the text on the page, Consus' eyes went wide as one thing on the page stuck out. "That symbol... It's the same as my mother's!"

-

Pulling out Bloodlust again, Consus showed the hilt-end and showed the chain he had created just moments before the Heartless attacked. At the end lay the golden heart pendant, which sure enough was the same that was on the page. "See?"

Everyone stared in awe at the Keyblade in the drake's left hand again. Donald began to say something, but Leon cut him off. "You have a lot of explaining to do. Can you read anything on this page?"

Staring at the text, Consus knew he recognized the language, but he had never really learned how to read. He could pick out words here and there, but nothing made sense. After a moment, he shook his head. "No, I can't read it."

"Fair enough. This is defiantly important, though. Things like your symbol here just don't show up out of nowhere."

"Why is it on there, though? Where did you get that?" Consus wanted answers now. They had something that his mom could have once held.

Leon gave him an odd look, "Why are you so curious about it? I thought you couldn't read it."

Consus looked at Leon, surprised that he saw through his lie. "Well, I know very few words like 'and' or 'of', but that mark... That's something that I've lived with all my life. There's got to be something in there that I would know... Something that 'She' left me." After a moment, Leon gave a nod and carfully pulled the piece of paper from the book and held it out to Consus.

"Then it's your job to translate it. We've had this since before them damn Nobodies attacked and haven't had any luck since then. You've gotten farther than any of us with petty words like that than we have in years, kid." Turning back, Consus watched as Cid walked up from the hallway. "What? You miss me or somthin'? Quit givin' me that look."

"Just in time, Cid." Leon started.

"Oh, here we go again. What now, your highness?"

"We need you to help with upgrades on Sora's ship. They need more room for a larger crew."

"Shows them for goin' that stupid Gummy-style. A good ol' Airship is all you need!" He said with a laugh. Once he noticed Leon was glaring at him, he stopped and scratched the back of his head. "Eh, fine. I'll help. Want me to buy you lunch while I'm at it?"

Leon gave a half smile as he turned back to Consus, "Yeah, that actually sounds nice."

-

"So, how long have you guys been hunting Heartless? It sounds like you've had a rough life." Consus said, sitting on the couch. They had to wait a few hours before they could leave apparently, so Consus wanted to try and gather as much information as he could.

Sora looked up at the ceiling for a second, counting with his fingers for a moment before giving up with a sigh. "You know, I really don't know anymore." He laughed and leaned back in the soft cushion. Riku was sitting next to him, but he was just staring at Consus. Sora waved a hand in front of his face and broke his trance. "Earth to Riku, you alive in there?"

With a smile, Riku swatted Sora away and pushed him lightly against Donald, who began cursing at them for fooling around.

Consus couldn't help but smile himself. Just watching people hang out and have fun was just all too new to him. He couldn't understand why he was happy watching them, but he was.

"Huh? What's that?"

Turning to his right, Consus saw as Goofy was bending over to look at something on the ground. "Donald! It's from King Mickey!"

"What?! Let me see!" Dashing ahead, Donald scooped up the letter from Goofy's hand and opened it up. "What?! This can't be from the King! It only says two words! 'Look Left'."

Riku, Sora, and Consus all looked at each other confused. Sora shrugged and actually looked over to his left. He let out a gasp and jumped off the couch. Riku was quick to follow, and from instinct, Consus followed. Once he saw Sora's target, he wondered what exactly they were doing. As they ran down the extended hallway, they heard a bunch of yelling behind them followed by a loud slam of the doors shutting, cutting off the commotion in the back.

It was much darker in the series of halls that they were being led through, but he could see the figure well enough to know. It wore a black trenchcoat and had black gloves and boots. It had a hood covering its face, but there were two large round circles at the top of his head. Consus was about to ask what the hell they were doing when the figure came to a halt inside of another room. They entered the dimly lit room and all looked at the form ahead.

"King Mickey, what are you doing here?!" Sora asked as the mouse took off its hood. "What has been going on?! You've been missing for over a year!"

"I'm sorry for worrying you, Sora. I had to go away for a while. I've been waiting for the right time to come back, and it looks like for once my timing is perfect."

Riku gave the mouse a confused look, "What do you mean?"

Mickey then held his right arm out to the side. In his hand formed a golden Keyblade, which looked almost exactly like Sora's Kingdom Key. He lifted the blade into the air and everyone looked into their hands in shock as their own weapons appeared in their hands as well, Bloodlust being no different. "The Deathbringer has awakened and is here to kill us all."