Okay, this is a little bit different for me. I'm working on a series of connected one-shots. They portray events in the life of my character, OC, after she loses her heart. This first scene takes place near the end of KH 1, right after Sora and crew reach Hollow Bastion, just to let you all know what happens to turn Mirage into a Nobody.
I don't know how often I'll update this, but I do have a few chapters in the works , and a warning; this story may be a bit dark at times, and will probably contain spoilers for all KH games except possibly BBS. I haven't played that one yet.
Now, on with the story!
Moving through the halls of Hollow Bastion, Mirage was trying to decide what to do when she suddenly saw a Heartless.
It ran around a corner and as she followed it, she entered a room full of them.
They saw her at the same time, and charged at her.
"Why is it never easy?" She mumbled, drawing her swords.
Running back down the hall she had come through, she tried to find a more open place to fight. She knew she wouldn't be able to fight effectively in a small, cramped space like the one she found them in. She didn't want the Sora and the others to get hurt in the fight, so she tried to lure the Heartless away from the main hall.
Deciding that it would be best to lure them away from the castle altogether, Mirage headed for the main gate.
Once she neared the Great Falls, she prepared to fight. She sliced her way through a large number of them, but more kept coming.
"How many of you are there?" She cried.
She knew that fighting at the falls was not a good idea, but also knew that there was an acceptable fighting arena under the falls.
All it required was a long jump to the bottom. There was a wide-open space after the jump, and Mirage grinned.
"Okay, now we're on my playing field."
As two Heartless jumped forward to attack her, Mirage rolled to the side to avoid them, then got to her feet again, and leapt into the crowd. She swung her swords in a low but wide circle, taking out several enemies, then jumped and planted her right foot on the ledge of the nearest rock wall.
Then she pushed off the wall and into a back flip, taking out a Neo-Shadow before falling to the ground below. She landed on her feet, crouched in a defensive stance, ready to strike as the swarm followed her without hesitation.
The ensuing battle was interrupted, however, as a gunshot rang out, and the resulting blast took out a line of Heartless. Apparently, someone had been near the falls, and saw Mirage fall, and followed her. As Mirage glanced over at the new arrival, she gasped.
"Leon? Everyone! What are you doing here?"
Coming to her aid were Leon, Aerith, and Yuffie.
As Leon approached he fired his gun again, taking out another line of Heartless. Then he swung his sword at one that had decided he was a better target than Mirage, who was busily slashing at two Neo-Shadows.
Yuffie charged right into the fray, slashing and zipping around like a true ninja.
Aerith stayed behind the others, healing when necessary and occasionally taking out a Heartless when it came too close.
Suddenly, Mirage cried out, causing Leon to look up in concern. What he saw startled him; one of the Neo-Shadows had its arm embedded in Mirage's chest, right over her heart.
"Mirage!"
It twisted its arm violently, causing Mirage to cry out again, and then pushed her to the ground.
The Neo-Shadow seemed to be searching for something, and there was a definite look of determination etched on its face. She tried to bring her sword up into the Neo-Shadow's chest, but failed. After a moment it seemed to find what it was looking for, and wrenched its arm out of her body, which then started to slowly fade.
"Mirage! No!" Leon shouted, running to her side.
Yuffie and Aerith followed, each screaming Mirage's name. They didn't make it in time, however, and she faded in a strange mix of shadows and light.
0~0~0~0~0~0
"Is someone out there? Hello? I need help…" A young woman cried, but her voice was drowned out by the rain pouring down.
She was in a forest, but didn't know how she got there, and couldn't remember anything about what she was doing before she found herself in the rain in the middle of the night.
She slowly started walking, hoping against hope that someone would be out at that late hour.
When she reached the end of the forest she found that a town lay beyond it, and quickly began to look around, searching for any signs of life. After a few minutes, she found someone; a tall figure with pink hair, wearing a black cloak and carrying a large scythe.
"Excuse me, can you help me? I'm lost. I don't know where I am, and I have no idea how to get home. Please, can you help me?" She called out, and the figure turned.
Seeing the form from behind, the she had expected it to be a woman, with the pink hair. But as she saw its face she realized that it was a man, a man with soft, almost elegant features. When he saw her he smiled gently, and after a moment he spoke.
"You say you are lost? What is your name?" He asked, his voice as soft and elegant as his face.
"My name…? I-it's Mirage."
"Mirage… a lovely name for such a delicate flower. I am Marluxia. Now, if you will come with me, I will show you to your new home." He said, and turned to lead her away.
"New home? I don't want a new home, I want my old one." Mirage protested, taking a step back.
"My young flower, I am afraid that your home is no more."
"What? What do you mean?"
"Do you know what the Heartless are?" Marluxia asked, and Mirage paused to think.
"Heartless… they attacked me. In Hollow Bastion… I tried to fight them off, but there were too many, and one of them…! Wait! That one… what did it do to me…?" She trailed off, hardly remembering Marluxia's presence.
"It stole your heart." Marluxia answered, and Mirage looked up sharply.
"What are you talking about? If it took my heart I wouldn't be alive. No human can exist without their heart."
"Perhaps not, but you are no longer human. You are a Nobody, just like me."
"Just like you…? What's a Nobody?"
"A Nobody is a shell that is left behind after a human with a strong heart loses that heart. We are only half a person, never truly being whole without the heart from our Somebody."
"Half a person? That is a little hard for me to believe." Mirage scoffed, and Marluxia smiled again, and reached out his hand to take hers.
"Tell me then… what do you feel here?" He asked, placing her hand over her chest, where her heart should be.
"There's… nothing. No heartbeat. But how is that possible?"
Then he took her hand and placed it on his own chest, allowing her to feel his lack of a heartbeat as well.
"No heartbeat." She concluded, leaving her hand on his chest even after he released her.
After a moment she realized what she was doing and pulled away, thankful that the dark night would hide her blush.
"You believe me now?" Marluxia asked, and Mirage looked up.
"It's a lot for me to take in. I don't fully understand it all, but yes, I believe you are telling me the truth. There seems to be no other explanation for everything that's happened. But what do I do now? If I have no home to return to, where do I go?"
"You could come with me. You can aid me in my quest to get my heart back, and in so doing get yours back as well."
"You can get your heart back? How?"
"Come with me, and I will show you."
Then he lifted his hand, and a dark vortex opened. Darkness swirled around in it, wrapping around his arm.
"You can do that too?" Mirage asked, her eyes wide.
"Too? You can summon a corridor?"
"Yeah, since I was a kid."
"Interesting." Marluxia said, studying Mirage for a long moment before leading her into the corridor.
0~0~0~0~0~0
Journal Entry; Day One
When we left the darkness we were in a huge building, which Marluxia called "The Castle That Never Was". I found the name odd. If it 'never was', then how was it now? Anyway, he then took me to see someone named Xemnas, who told me the same thing about regaining hearts that Marluxia had.
Then he told me that I was no longer the twenty-three year old Mirage I remembered being, but rather I was now two week old Xirmage. Apparently I had somehow spent two weeks in darkness after losing my heart, before arriving in that town and being found by Marluxia.
I still had all the memories of being Mirage though, and he said that most of the Nobody's did retain their memories. I asked how many people there were in this place, this castle, and I was told that I was the fifteenth to join their organization.
They call themselves Organization XIII, though they only started with six people. The last two, a boy and girl named Roxas and Xion, joined in the two weeks before I did, each a week apart.
Each member of Org. XIII has control over an element. Marluxia's is plants, while others are things like water or fire, lightning, illusions or light. Apparently they only gained their abilities after becoming a Nobody, so they were very interested to learn that my Somebody, Mirage, could control darkness.
The fact that she could meant that I could as well of course, which made my training considerably easier. I didn't have to be taught how to summon a corridor or fight with my shadows—I already knew how.
These people seem very interested in my development, especially Xemnas and Marluxia. I don't know why, but I feel like I should be careful. Who knows what the future holds?
0~0~0~0~0~0
"Alright, Number Fifteen, tell me what you see." Vexen said to Xirmage.
She wore a long black cloak, like him, but she kept her hood up.
"Are you paying attention? Answer me!" His cold, angry voice seemed to echo inside her head. And he seemed to be shrieking, which made it worse.
"Well, it's a pretty big town, and this seems to be the center of it."
"Is that all? What else?" Vexen said, obviously annoyed.
"This area is paved differently. Like, it could be a road or something." The young woman said next, looking at a brick-paved area.
"Could be? Are you asking me or telling me? Distressing. Very distressing. Your mind just wasn't made for this, was it?" Vexen sighed, studying the cloaked form before him. After a moment he spoke again.
"Well, you're not off the hook yet, girl. If I let you quit with these results, I'll be the laughingstock of the castle. Keep looking."
So the girl moved on.
"The town was built into a mountain. That's why the road slopes."
"Yes. Finally, a glimmer of insight! Go on."
"At the top of the town is the train station. The closed-off underpasses we've seen must be connected to it. There's also a tram system that runs through the plaza." The girl continued, speaking as though automated.
"Good, you're starting to get the hang of it. Follow this path and keep looking."
So they continued on, and passed a dark hole in the Tram Common wall that was blocked off. This caught the girl's attention.
"What's back there? It looks like woods. And there's something behind it." Xirmage said, peering into the darkness.
"We're not investigating that now! Focus on the town." Vexen snapped.
"What's the harm in asking about the woods? It shows that she's aware of her surroundings, more than you gave her credit for." A new voice spoke up as a dark corridor appeared and a man with flaming red hair stepped out.
"What do you want, Number Eight?" Vexen growled.
"Go buy yourself an ice cream or get back to those experiments of yours. I'm taking over the new kid's recon mission today." The newcomer said.
"Oh, really? Did you clear this with Superior?"
"Of course. His answer was, and I quote, 'Hmm... Fine. Go, if that's what suits you.' So here I am." The man replied with a smirk.
With another growl, Vexen turned and opened a dark corridor.
"Very well. I leave you to your puppet." Then he was gone.
"Puppet? What does that mean?" The girl, Xirmage wondered.
"Ah, I wouldn't worry about that." The man casually replied, then looked the girl over.
"Now, I don't believe we've been properly introduced. Name's Axel. And you are...?"
Then the girl pulled the hood of her cloak away from her face, revealing aqua colored hair and large violet eyes.
"Xira."
Axel smirked at the obvious change of the girl's name, but said nothing of it.
"Well, Xira, let's get back to work. You asked about the woods, and what lies beyond them, yeah? You want to go find out?"
"We...we can do that? It's really okay?"
"Well, it wasn't part of our regularly scheduled programming, but sure. Just this once can't hurt, right? It'll broaden your knowledge of this place. Or something like that." Axel shrugged.
Then he opened a dark corridor.
"So, let's go."
But Xirmage, or Xira, hesitated.
"You won't get in trouble, right?"
"With the boss man? How's he gonna find out? I sure ain't telling him. Are you gonna tell him?"
But Xira shook her head emphatically.
"I won't tell."
"Alright then. Besides, it's called being flexible. Got it memorized?"
Then he led her into the corridor. A moment later, the two stepped out in front of a fenced-off mansion.
"Wow..." Xira breathed, taking everything in.
"Yeah, quite a sight, huh? Now, what can you tell me about this place?" Axel said, reminding Xira that they were still on a mission.
"Whoever lived here had a lot of money." She began, reaching out to wrap her fingers around the cold metal bars of the fence.
"'Lived'? As in, used to? How do you know it's empty?"
"Well it's getting late, and dark. If someone did live there, wouldn't there be lights on?"
"What if nobody's home?"
"There has to be someone. Even if only a servant. And in a house that big, there's bound to be servants." Xira stated as though it were obvious.
And Axel laughed.
"Well done. You're really starting to get the hang of this stuff. Good thing I came along, or you'd still be stuck with Vexen and we'd never have learned about your great recon skills. Now come on, let's get back to the rest of our work so we can call it a night."
"Right. Hey, Axel?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks."