Maes listened quietly. He already had some idea of Heartless from his talk with Riku and some of the others on the SoL. It was still a little hard to believe that something like that existed, but he had been around the SoL for awhile, had seen some strange things, and was generally more accepting of the weird.

It explained a lot about her when she said she was created. How she could know so little, despite her apparent age. It made him think of the homunculi briefly, but she didn't seem the same as them and she certainly didn't have the tattoo. He was relieved at that, but decided not to bring that up right now.

"So let me guess. The Shade played with your doubts about your existence and your decision to go back to this person you're copied from, right?" Xion might not have used names, but Maes was smart enough, he had a very good feeling who this copy might be (though he couldn't prove it and if Xion had left out names, he wasn't about to ask).