Names and Numbers
Chapter 1: XIII and VIII
"Darkness is what the world started as, Light came only after." said a deep voice.
"Darkness? Light? Who are you? What are you talking about?" said another.
"You will learn in due time, but first, you must awaken." said the first voice.
The boy slowly opened his eyes to find a black sky, cracked streets, and a single skyscraper with flickering screens. He blinked to make sure he wasn't seeing things as he got up from the ground.
"Where am I?" he whispered to himself as he dusted off his jeans.
The boy then turned to find a single star-shaped pendant on a chain.
"Huh? What is this?" he asked.
He picked up the pendant to find a single sentence on it: THIS CHARM IS PROPERTY OF KHALIL.
"Khalil? Who-" he started.
But as soon as he started to say "Who is that?", he clutched his head as an image of boy about the same height as him flashed before his eyes. Although the other boy's short hair and eyes were black, his hair was long and slightly grey and he had eyes to match. Suddenly as soon as the image went away, the pendant began to glow and grow hot in his hand. He let it go, only to see it float in front of him and put six translucent letters in the air that spelt the word KHALIL. The letters then proceeded to spin in a circle around his head until a single "X" appeared in the middle of a new word: KLIXHAL.
"Klixhal…" he whispered.
The letters then disappeared into the pendant and it fell to the ground. He picked it up just before he spoke again.
"Klixhal…"he said louder.
Suddenly, an orb of darkness grew out of the ground behind Klixhal and two hooded figures walked out, one shorter than the other. They pulled down their hoods to reveal a 15 year old boy with spiky blonde hair and striking blue eyes, and a tall man with spiky red hair and striking green eyes.
"Hello Klixhal. My name is Roxas, Number XIII of the Organization." said the blonde one, pointing to himself.
"The man beside me is my partner Axel, Number VIII." he said, this time pointing to the tall one.
"Organization?" asked Klixhal.
"Yes, organization. We are here to recruit you." said Axel.
"Me? Recruit?" asked Klixhal.
"Yes, recruit! Geez, he's acting just like you did when you first joined, Roxas!" exclaimed Axel.
"Shut the hell up, Axel." muttered Roxas, who was looking at the ground.
Roxas then looked up at Klixhal to find him staring at the ground as well.
"So Klixhal, what do you say?" asked Axel.
"I guess so, I have no idea where I am, so my best option is to go with you two." replied Klixhal.
"Good! This kid is smart after all!" said Axel.
"Shut up, Axel." said Klixhal with a grin.
Axel blinked at the retort and shook his head, not believing what he just heard.
"Come with us Klixhal, we have some very important people to show you." said Roxas, who was grinning as well.
Roxas held out his hand, and another orb of darkness appeared out of the ground, and Klixhal, Roxas, and Axel all walked inside. But just as soon as Klixhal walked inside and heard Axel say: "Did he just make a comeback?", Klixhal's pendant fell out of his hand an onto the ground outside the orb.
"No, wait!" yelled Klixhal.
But it was too late, the orb sunk into the ground, and Klixhal was sucked into suffocating darkness, his mind on his lost pendant.
After what felt like hours, Klixhal suddenly felt ground under his feet. He looked up to find to find a humongous, white castle with multiple towers sticking out of it, and at the base were grey creatures with points for hands and feet, and zippers for mouths.
"What are those?" asked Klixhal.
"Nobodies, Dusks to be exact." replied Axel.
"What's a Nobody?" asked Klixhal.
"Well, if you want the detailed explanation, you need to ask Vexen, he's the brainiac, but the basic gist of it is that if someone's heart is strong enough, they can create a bi-product of Light and Darkness, i.e.: a Nobody. Got it memorized?" said Axel.
"I-I don't understand…" said Klixhal.
"You will sooner or later. Anyway Klixhal, you are a Nobody. But the difference between you and the Dusks is that you can retain your past memories as a Somebody… Or so I'm told." said Axel, looking at Roxas.
"But, I don't remember a thing." mumbled Klixhal.
"You don't?" exclaimed Roxas and Axel in unison.
"Well, not really. It comes back to me in bits and pieces…" said Klixhal.
"Weird, so did my memories…" whispered Roxas.
Quick to change the subject, Axel looks toward the castle and began walking to the entrance.
"Anyway, let's get inside the castle. We have a lot of explaining to do, and I don't wanna get on Saïx's bad side again. " said Axel.
"Oh yeah, speaking of which, where are we?" asked Klixhal.
"This, my friend, is The Castle That Never Was." said Roxas.
"The Castle That… Never Was?" asked Klixhal.
"Yeah, it's a long story. But if we get inside, we could explain it all to you, so let's get inside!" said Axel.
"Okay, okay." said Roxas.
As Axel and Roxas walked towards the Castle, Klixhal slowed down as he clutched his chest.
"What's this emptiness I feel?" he asked himself.
"YO! KLIXHAL!" yelled Axel.
"Huh?" asked Klixhal.
"You comin' or what?" said Axel.
"Oh, yeah!" yelled Klixhal.
And with that, Klixhal ran after Roxas and Axel into the Castle, glad he could talk to someone…
To be continued…
Authors Note: So guys, did you like it? I hope you did! Don't be afraid to press the review button! I welcome all criticisms and comments. Tell me if you want more. (If you don't, I'll make more anyway.)-Ventus Furor