I don't remember much from my past. All I remember is my parents leaving me. So I had to fend for myself. It wasn't that hard. All I had to do was concentrate and they would run away screaming. I could get the food easily. All I needed was a blanket and I could stand sleeping in the snow. Not bad for an eight year old. But for some reason, the people wouldn't run away anymore. They would now fight back. I didn't know what to do anymore. I was cold & hungry, and it was already winter.

But then a man came to town while I was running from someone for stealing some food. I ran past the man and turned the corner. I started to cry.

"It is all right." A voice said. "You can come out now."

I cautiously peered from the corner. The shopkeeper was gone, and the man looked closely at me.

"You have something very special inside you." He said "And I will help it grow to its full potential." He held out his hand. I looked up at him. He was a bald old man with a beard and yellow eyes. He didn't look scary, so I went with him. He summoned a portal and we were off. When we got there, I saw green grass and a stone trail leading up to a black and white castle.

"Where are my manners?" The man said suddenly. "My name is Master Xehanort, and I will be training you. What is your name child?"

"I don't have a name." I replied. "I was never given one."

The man took out a weapon. "This is your Keyblade." The guard was a half black half white hexagon. The handle shot out horizontally and vertically, making it look easy to spin. It had a long blade and the teeth had a triangle shape at both ends. There was a keychain with a black jewel at the end.

"Its name is Darkness' Bond." The master said. "And you shall be called Yami from this point forward."

We started training at once. I had gotten better with the Keyblade over the years. At age ten, I learned magic. I had trouble using fire spells, but I excelled at blizzard. I learned the blizzaga and curaga in at an alarming rate, according to Master Xehanort. It turns out that my power was something called the darkness, which I controlled pretty quickly. I was age twelve to be exact.

I noticed that there was a room next to mine that wasn't the Master's. I stared at it for a while. Was there going to be a new apprentice? I thought. Maybe I was overreacting. The next day, I knew I wasn't.

When I was training, Master Xehanort walked down. He was with a boy wearing black and red. He had a mask on so I couldn't see his face.

"We have a new apprentice." The Master said. "His name is Vanitas and he will be training with you from now on."

I bowed in respect to the Master. If Mask Boy thought I was bowing to him, he's got another thing coming. "Yes Master Xehanort." As soon as he left I trained again. Yes, I trained by myself. I also did what I always do when I'm lonely; I made a copy of myself out of darkness. I hear a whistle. I turned to see the Vanitas nodding his head in approval. I raised an eyebrow. What's with this guy? I thought. I continued to fight my other while Mr. 'I think I look cool just because my hands are folded and I'm leaning.' Just stood there and, well, leaned on a tree. Our moves were exactly the same until the other called a blizzard. Wow, I sure do leave myself open. I thought as I struck her in the stomach, causing her to disappear. I sat down; legs crossed, and I started to twirl my Keyblade, thinking of what to do next.

"Trying to impress me I see." I turned to see Mr. Mask walking over to me.

Standing up, I kept my rage in check. "Impress you? What a joke." I said bitterly. I sat back down and started thinking again. Something struck the ground beside me and made me jump. It was a Keyblade. I knew that under that mask the creep was smiling to himself.

"Well if you're done glaring," Creepo the Masked Clown said. "I would like to test your skills."

I twirled my Keyblade; I always do that when I think. "Fine, Mask Boy."

"Care to make a wager on that?"

"Wager?" I asked, honestly confused. I didn't know what some words meant because I was never taught them. I always picked them up from villagers and the books in the library.

"A bet." He said bluntly. "When I win, you have to answer all of my questions. Is it a deal?"

My eyebrow twitched. When you win!? "Fine, but when I win, you have to take off your mask."

"It's a deal." He said simply. Then he double checked me. The nerve! I looked at what I was wearing. I had on a white shirt with a big red cross on it and red lines going down the shoulders. It kind of made my semi dark skin stand out. Maybe because of the tan I got here made me darker than I originally was. I had black capri pants with many pockets and a draw string at the cuffs with black flats. I wrapped my hair in a hair ponytail so it would reach my upper thigh and not slightly above my knees. Nothing wrong with what I was wearing.

It was a standoff for a moment. Both of us trying to see what the other would do. We both charged. He threw a fireball at me and I extinguished it with blizzard. Then he teleported.

"You can teleport!?" I yelped. I could just tell he sneered. Don't ask me how; I just know he did. I used a thundaga. Not my best move. He had teleported right under me and froze my feet so I couldn't dodge it.

"Damnit." I said simply as I was electrocuted. I fell to the ground. "30 lousy seconds…." I said, tears threatening to leave my eyes where they belonged.

"A minute and thirty." Vanitas said as he unfroze my feet.

"You dumb jerk. If this is how you cheer people up, you're failing miserably."

"Heh heh." He sniggered. I didn't need to take this. For the rest of the day I ignored Mask like there was no tomorrow. He must've been a smart boy because he didn't attempt to talk to me either. At night when everyone was asleep, my eyes shot open. Then they drooped. Why does this thing have to be so early? I thought. I sat up from my bed, stretched and looked at the clock. It was 4:30 A.M. Ah, the perfect time. I hopped from bed and brushed off my pajamas. I had on a plaid collared shirt and drawstring pants. My hair was in two pig-tail buns.

I tiptoed past Vanitas' room and out the door to my secret spot. I looked up to the sky; but there was nothing there. 5:00 A.M! It was at 5:00 A.M.

"Crap." I groaned. What will I do with another 25 minutes? I started to twirl my Keyblade. I could work on fire spells, I thought. I have been lacking on them. I called a flicker of fire to my hands. So far so good. But then the light started to die. So not good. But then these words came to my head.

"Light." I murmured, and the fire was on full blast. It glowed in my hands, all brilliant and beautiful.

"Wow." I whispered, just now hearing the grassy footsteps toward me.

"What do you want?" I said bluntly as I reluctantly extinguished the fire. I stood up. No way was I going to let him ruin a tradition for me.

"Don't I still have questions to ask you?" He asked, obviously amused. I stopped cold. The bet we made. I sat back down.

"What's your name?"

"It's Yami." I said quietly.

"Ok then Yams."

"Yami you idiot!" I'm really getting tired of him and his jokes.

"Why don't you smile?"

"Smile? Well….uh…." Smile? Is this guy making up words now?

"You don't know what it means do you?" My silence was more than an answer. For the next five minutes he tried (and failed) to tell me what a smile was.

I was going to tell him that it was too dark to see anything, but a glimmer of light in the sky attracted my attention. I look up to see that it had started. My meteor shower watching tradition lives on. I looked at them with awe.

"They're so beautiful." I said.

"See? You're smiling." So that's smiling?

"I guess always smiled when I saw the meteors. I just didn't know what it was called." Maybe he wasn't a bad guy after all.

The meteor shower stopped. It must have been about six or something because the sun started to rise. I yawned and stood up.

"We'd better get going." I said and turned to Vanitas. I blinked twice.

"Y-your mask!" I managed to sputter. His mask was off. His mask was DETACHED FROM HIS FACE. He had black spiky hair and yellow eyes. He actually looked kind of….well….cute.

He stood and we walked back to the castle. I had gotten used to him for the most part. Every year we would watch the meteor shower. He didn't put his mask on anymore. We became really good friends. Some could say the best of friends. We both trained together, making me better. I have to admit, the dude was strong. But I could easily fend for myself now. Nothing could ruin this. Well, that was what I thought until Vanitas found me in the library.

"I'm going where!?" I yelled, shocked.

"Master Xehanort said you're going to train with Master Eraqus. I won't be there." Vanitas said.

"This is officially ruined."

"Listen." He said. "I'll be there from time to time. But you and the Master have to be there for the Mark of Mastery exam."

"Why not you?"

"I have…. a mission to take care of."

I banged my head on the book I was reading, and stayed like that for a few moments. I finally said, "How long do I have to be there?"

"One month." You have got to be kidding me.

"And you can't use your darkness or talk about it while you're there."

It just gets better and better doesn't it? I thought. Then I registered what he had just said. "Why not!?"

"They're really big on using light so they think using darkness is evil." I looked at him like he was an idiot.

"Darkness is evil. Oh yea! They're totally not paranoid about this." I said. "How long do I have till I go there?"

"What day is today?"

"Thursd-."

"Now." Before I could object, he handed me a black and white robotic arm thing. He pointed to a button. "You press this to activate the armor that comes with this. Then throw your Keyblade into the air so it can carry you to new worlds. You can activate a portal using your Keyblade."

And before I knew it, I was on my way via portal to the Land of Departure.