"Your new pupil wouldn't know how Nobodies are born, or even that sapient ones exist; you might need to clarify that," Mr. Sardis would note. Tocsax would nod, then continue:

"First up, the Heartless, despite their name, are actually disembodied Hearts, consumed by Darkness and transformed into the terror we know today. Nobodies are the remnants of the original person or people whose heart was consumed, the mind, body, and soul. Basically, the leavings of the Heartless, which then come to life. Some of them are feral, unintelligent creatures no better than the Heartless. Others, made from strong-willed people, are indistinguishable from humans, except that they start out as lacking Hearts. They are born emotionless, but can, in time, regrow a replacement Heart as they grow older."

"That's what eventually happened with me," spoke Tocsax. "Either way, what I'm getting at...is that there is a way to restore Ascot. Two ways, in fact. One is to kill his Heartless, then me, restoring the Original Person. The other is to use a sufficiently strong source of Light to restore Ascot's Heartless back into a human. Fredrick's original Homeworld has one of those 'sufficiently strong sources of Light'. Mai, meanwhile...has developed a Unique Keyblade* from her Heart, the Seeker Keyblade, which, for some mysterious reason, is [i]attuned to Ascot's Heartless[/i], and can find the place where he is at."

"Ah," spoke Sardis, "So that's how her importance goes beyond her ability to fight."

"As for Seth," Tocsax said, "he's there because Mai needs a bodyguard, one who can do things even I cannot."

((*Sorry for not asking your permission, [@SMS]!))

[@Double] [@Nightknight]