A ray fires.
"Take that, ghost!" shouts an angry wife.
"Man, that's hot!" a husband marvels as he blasts away a swarm of dark unknowns lunging for him.
"Mom... dad...," mutters a lone, forgotten ghost in a small voice. He is lying on asphalt surrounded by black creatures, glowing, bright yellow eyes staring, bodies tensing, preparing to attack, claws reaching for his chest. He feels himself falling, his mind submerging in murky unconsciousness.
He fades slowly, everything changing colors, swirling around and finally turning into darkness, black and cold and numb. His body begins to separate from himself; it becomes something else entirely as he's taken deeper into the dark – a pitch black where not even nocturnal creatures would dare venture. He's losing himself, his memories are being taken with his body, and he, his heart forsaken, is left to make something of himself. He has no thoughts. No thoughts, no dreams, no memories. He now feeds off of hearts. He is heartless.
But what of his body?
Dannyx...
"GYAH!"
A boy stumbled up from a bed in a room he didn't recognize from a dream he didn't remember. The room was dimly lit and decorated plainly: paneled walls, wooden tables, satin drapes and comforter. The boy looked down at his own dimly glowing figure, a mask of confusion on his face. His silky white hair fell over his bright, unnaturally emerald-colored eyes. He brushed his hand through the thick locks, sighing and ending the gesture with his hand resting on the back of his head.
"Where the hell am I?" he wondered aloud. He was wearing a thigh-length, well-fitting black coat, silver chains hanging from the hood, and his hands were covered in some strange material taking the form of silver gloves and also, he noticed as he was looking over himself, silver boots. He could feel the same material covering the rest of his body underneath the black coat.
"So, you're awake!" said a cheerful sounding girl behind him. He jumped, hitting his head on a bar of the canopy overhanging the bed.
"Wha-?!" He cut off an exclamation, rubbing his head. "Who are you? Where am I?"
"My name is Sam. What's yours, Crabby?"
"I am not."
"Snapper?"
"What?"
"Or maybe Dopey?"
"What?" he asked, exasperated by the energetic girl.
"Nothing. What's with the get-up?" She pointed to his clothes, pummeling him with questions. "Don't you wanna wear something more comfortable? And where were you even going, a comic convention?"
"No," he said with an irritated tone.
"That's too bad. You're so boring."
"Shut up, Goth."
"And rude!"
"Why am I here?" he asked the girl.
"I found you in an alleyway. It was really cold and you were unconscious and I didn't wanna leave you there and you were so cute—"
"What?" he looked at her, one eyebrow raised.
"I said you are cute," Sam repeated, confidently emphasizing the words.
"What am I, a dog?" he grumbled uncomfortably and then asked again, "Where am I?"
"You're in Darnsville," she replied.
"D-Da-Darnsville?" he stumbled over the name, feeling as though he should want to laugh. When he tried, instead he felt a pain in his stomach as if he'd had the wind knocked out of him.
"Ha, ha. Yeah, I don't know who named this town."
"What state are we in?"
"Jesus, you don't know what state we're in? Do you even know what country we live in?"
"The United... States?" he said wearily.
"What the heck is that?" she replied, giving him an odd look. He looked almost shocked at her reaction, reaching a hand to his head as though he must have caught a fever and begun hallucinating.
"Kidding," she responded, seeing his distress. He scowled.
"Anyways, you kind of woke up at the wrong time. It's around 12 at night, and I'm going to bed, unless you need something. We can talk tomorrow. So, good night," she paused, "um, I never did get your name."
"My name?" He looked thoughtful for a moment before continuing, "It's Dannyx," he remembered.
"Uh, okay, 'Dannyx.' Good night." She laughed and strode out of the room.
She reminds me of somebody, somehow... Dannyx thought. After he had retrieved his name from his memory, he also recollected the fact he had been on a mission the last time he'd been awake. He remembered leaving the castle on an errand for the Organization, but after that was nothing. He fell asleep on the bed while trying to retrieve his memories of however long he'd been out.
Two tall, dark figures stand surrounding a boy in a black and silver jumpsuit, his chest adorned with a strange, white letter D. He lay in darkness, the only light in the room coming from his body, the dull glow consistently emitting from his pores.
"What is he?" asks a man, his face invisible under the darkness of his hood, "Is he… a ghost?"
"No. But he is neither human."
"What is he?" the man repeats.
"He is nothing; a Nobody. He is unique, though— his body is that of a hybrid species: half ghost, and half human. But now he is stuck in a struggle between the two species, his body unable to decide what it truly is."
The boy is struggling in the swirling darkness, tossing and turning and drowning as it attempts to cover his body. The taller man stares at the boy a moment, deep in thought, before he pulls him up out of the darkness and places him over his shoulder.
"You're taking him in?" the man beside him asks wearily.
"Yes. When he wakes up, we will test him."
Author's note: Chapters 1-4 were written in 2007 and edited to be decent in 2013.