The clock beside her ticked and tocked as Xana gazed outside. She thought to herself, then switched her gaze to her notebook, filled with her notes of spells she had previously studied. However, those notes were unattended to; her mind was on something else.
She heard the door open, but paid no mind to it. "What is it?" she asked.
"Is that all you can say after so long?" she heard a familiar voice ask.
Almost knocking the desk over she stood and turned, but everything was suddenly dark and cold.
"What...Zexion..." she mumbled, and waited. Xana knew he'd just show some illusion trying to confuse her, but she was prepared.
At least, that's what she thought.
The darkness then lifted itself, revealing the landscape. She was alone on a beach, where the water was black and the skies were gray. At first she had thought it was a black-and-white movie—but it was only clouds that loomed over head. The waves crashed gently, reaching for higher ground. Staying in one place would be of no use; she started wandering towards the land ahead.
Everything was in ruins—the roads, the buildings, the dying plants...
'Where am I?' she asked herself, racking her brain for an answer.
"You don't recognize your own home?" Zexion's voice asked from ahead, but when she looked around, no one was there.
Home? This was nothing like the castle. Peering through the darkness, she gasped and took a step backwards. "Gardenia?"
"Good job. Look, you're not alone anymore."
Xana turned around to see Jynx standing a few feet away, his back turned to her. She ran up to him when he spoke, "So...this is where you're from..."
"Jynx?" she asked. "What're you doing here?"
"What are you doing back here?" he asked back. "I thought you promised someone you wouldn't return."
How did he know about that? She thought to herself. "Wait, how do you—"
Without warning Jynx attacked, sending her flying towards the beach once again. She landed with a thud, slightly skidding across the sand but getting to her feet. He charged, and she quickly put up a Protect spell to block his attack.
"Dispel!" she chanted, and he shattered before her eyes.
The sound of a slow clap was heard, and Zexion himself appeared clapping. "Well done." He spoke.
"Zexion?" she asked, blinking. "What...What are you doing here?"
"That shouldn't be your concern right now." He said as a million pages flew from nowhere and assembled themselves into a book in his hand. "Let's take a stroll down memory lane, shall we?"
Before she could reply, they were swept into another place, and Xana was left standing alone.
"Where—" she started to ask, but once her eyes settled onto the farthest wall, she knew.
Xana let out a horrified scream, backing away until she hit the wall behind her. The cave was filled with torn machinery, and on the farthest wall was a beast stuck on the wall impaled with a pole, a corpse unmoved under it. The glassy violet eyes could still be seen, the red hair scattered all over the head and body, the stomach opened up with blood steadily trickling onto the floor.
"Amy." Zexion's voice echoed throughout the cave. "A pity she died this way...what's this? Are you afraid, little girl?" he asked as she slid onto the floor, covering her face with her hands.
'It's just an illusion...It's just an illusion!' She screamed in her own head, yet her whole body was shaking with fear.
"Look one more time." He prompted her. "Or are you too taken in by fear?"
Forcing herself to lift her head, the landscape had changed again, this time to a dark, foggy graveyard. Her back was now to a tombstone, and she got up slowly, looking around.
"What is this?" she asked, walking cautiously. "I've never been to a graveyard, Zexion!"
"Who said this was the past?" he asked quietly.
The girl stopped as she saw two figures in the far distance, the sound of fighting nearby. Getting a little closer, she saw Jynx fighting with a hooded figure—but he was losing badly.
"Jynx!" she called as the figure struck him. He let out a scream of pain and fell to the ground.
"You...who are you?!" he managed to speak.
The figure let out a laugh, and pulled down their hood, looking at Xana.
It was her.
"NO!" she screamed as the clone laughed, kicking Jynx.
"What?" the other asked, walking towards her. "You can't believe that you were the one who killed him, not Xemnas?"
"It's not true!" she cried, backing away. "I didn't! I couldn’t have!"
The other Xana raised her blade. "You're so weak; I'm ashamed to even look like you." She hissed, and struck Xana(the real one), knocking her to a wall in reality. The place had been dispelled, and Zexion stood in front of her. The back of her head had been hit hard, and she felt her consciousness slip away as Zexion neared her.
"Good night." Was the last thing she heard.