Chapter 1: A New Name

Xemnas found the girl purely by accident. He was returning to the Castle that Never Was via a Corridor of Darkness when he felt a surprisingly strong, insistent tug towards a different world. He obeyed the pull and allowed the Corridor to take him where it would, popping into existence in a world trapped in limbo.

He saw a girl in the endless stretch of blackness, withdrawn and alone. A smirk curled his lips when he realized what a prize he'd found.

"Is somebody there?" The girl's voice penetrated the silence and darkness like an arrow. She was frightened, that much was easy to tell, furious, and slightly hopeful. Her narrow, pale face crawled with the shadows that clung to her slight frame. Her flimsy white dress seemed to drink in the darkness.

The cloaked figure drifted closer until he stood an arm's length away. He was barely distinguishable against the blackness. "No, nobody." His voice was low-pitched, slightly amused under its monotone.

The dark-haired girl didn't move, didn't flinch, just stared up with her ink-black eyes.

"What is your name?"

Her breath caught. Fear held her as surely as the shadows. Her name bubbled up before she could stop it. "Ciel."

Light flashed, blinding the girl, and when she could see again, the letters of her name were floating in the air. An X dropped down and, slowly, they rearranged themselves into a new name.

"You are Lexci."

Ciel lifted her chin, her long hair falling away from her face, a hint of her old stubbornness emerging. "No, I'm not."

There was a deep sigh. "Come with me, Lexci."

"Why should I?" Her voice was breathless with fear, but she managed to sound both confident and scathing. "The scenery here is lovely."

Another sigh. Of all the Nobodies in the worlds, he had to have found another one with a smart mouth. "Come." He lifted his black-gloved hand and, watching the girl's fear grow, beckoned.

"No."

But the matter wasn't up for discussion. With another twitch of his fingers, a portal opened under her legs. Ciel had time for one good yelp of surprise before the darkness sucked her in.

Less than a second later, before Ciel even understood what had happened, she was kneeling in the middle of a blindingly white room. Her eyes, accustomed to darkness after who-knew-how-long in that strange place, burned from their brief encounter with light, and she closed them tightly.

She heard rustling in the room, loud footfalls, and confused voices.

A heavy hand fell on her shoulder. Ciel knew without looking that it was the strange man from before and stiffened.

"This is Lexci." That was all he said. This is Lexci. And then he left.

A simple statement. Also a false one.

After what seemed an eternity of listening to whispers and loud breathing, Ciel opened her eyes experimentally.

There were two figures, both wearing hooded black coats that extended to their ankles, black gloves, and black boots. They towered over her. She was kneeling, after all, but both would have been taller even if she were standing. Ciel thought they looked male, but it was hard to tell.

"My name," she said firmly, "is Ciel."

"That's nice," the taller of the two said in a raspy drawl. "I'm Axel. This is Roxas."

Roxas nodded at his name, suspicion plain in his stance.

"Welcome to the Castle That Never Was. It's our headquarters."

"'Our'?" she repeated questioningly.

"Organization XIII."

"'Organization'...?"

Axel sighed. "Why do they always make me look after the newbies, huh?" he complained to no one in particular. "Organization XIII is—surprise—an organization of thirteen—"

"Fourteen," his companion corrected. His bright blue eyes pierced her from under his hood with such intensity that Ciel shrank back. "Fourteen, now."

"Yeah." Axel continued, "Fourteen Nobodies."

She looked at them blankly. "What are Nobodies?"

Axel laughed, but there was no trace of amusement in the sound. "Nothing. Nobodies are nothing—we don't exist."

Ciel looked from one Nobody to the other, wishing she could see their faces. The hoods shouldn't have provided so much coverage, but they did. She could barely make out the shorter one's eyes, which were an eerily luminescent blue. She shook her head to show she didn't understand. "I exist."

"Denial," Axel told Roxas when the latter angled his head toward the former. "It's pretty common."

Roxas said, ignoring Ciel, "I'm going. Rematch tomorrow."

"Sure thing. I'll whoop your ass then."

When Roxas' footsteps had faded, Ciel commented, "He doesn't like me much."

Axel shook his head, evidently amused. "He can't dislike you anymore than he can like you—Nobodies can't feel. Nobodies have no emotions and Nobodies have no existence. We don't have a heart—heartless. Oh, but we aren't Heartless." Seeing her increasingly confused expression, he dropped his poor attempt at an explanation and said, "C'mon. I guess I have to show you the ropes."

I exist, Ciel thought with conviction, but she didn't say it out loud this time. I feel and I exist.

"—just right now... Are you listening? Hey, pay attention!"

Ciel tore her gaze away from the chevron-patterned floor. She smiled at the Nobody. "I wasn't listening."

"No, I couldn't tell." Axel's voice dripped sarcasm. "Anyways, put this on." He held out a black cloak like his own.

Ciel took it. When'd he get this? And from where? She didn't ask and slid the garment on. Oddly enough, when she zipped it up the plain coat, her bare feet were booted, gloves appeared on her small hands, and loose pants covered her legs. She didn't ask about that either. "What about the hood?"

"What about the hood?"

"Do I have to wear it? I'll get hat hair." She shook out her sheet of blue-black hair, which fell to her mid-back and shone like glossy raven feathers.

"No, you don't have to," he said, and she could almost hear him roll his eyes.

"Can you take yours off then?"

This seemed to take him by surprise. Or, if he indeed felt no emotions as he'd claimed, he feigned this as well as he feigned amusement. "Why?"

Ciel fidgeted and tried to peer up under the hood. "I don't like the... the..."—she gestured vaguely—"the air of secrecy. It's like you have something to hide."

"Maybe I do." He sounded amused again. "But if it bothers you..." Axel raised his hands and gripped the edge of his hood but didn't lower it. "Then I think I'll just keep my hood up."

Ciel frowned. "Are you sure you're a Nobody? You act a lot like"—she paused and cocked her head—"the people I used to know."

"Well, it's not like we've completely forgotten what it was like. We still have memories—'cept Roxas, he's special—of when we were alive. You're still confusing remembering for actually feeling, if you get my meaning. It'll fade," he assured her, as though he thought she wanted them to. "But we are Nobodies: no heart, no emotions. Got it memorized?"

She didn't like talking about that and changed the subject. "Why am I here, Axel?"

Axel snorted. "Subtle topic shift... We're all here for the same reasons." He gave a small shrug. "Actually, there're lots of different reasons. Essentially though, we're just a bunch of Nobodies trying to become Somebodies. If you're here, it's 'cause you'll help us reach that goal... to obtain Kingdom Hearts."

A shiver of barely discernable emotions ran through Ciel. It was like longing, sorrow, fear, and awe all rolled into one. "Kingdom Hearts..." she echoed slowly, tasting the name on her tongue and shuddering again. It made her heart ache with a pain she couldn't put into words. She licked her lips, which had gone suddenly numb. "Somebodies?"

"Whole," Axel elaborated obligingly, "real, human."

Ciel swallowed. "What if I'm fine the way I am?"

He considered that one. "Are you?"

"No. I'm not."

Axel spread his arms wide. "Then you'll fit right in with the rest of us."

Author's Notes :D

I love Kingdom Hearts. It's probably the first video game I got really into, besides for Final Fantasy and Zelda. I heart all three. Square Enix has a habit of making really hot and smexy imaginary characters. This can't be good for our health. It's a conspiracy, I tell you...! Jk -_-; SE, please continue to dazzle my eyes with hot, smexy Riku/Roxas/countless others -drool-
AHEM...! Anyways XD First chapters are always great fun. And hopefully good. Is it... passable?
Feedback would be greatly appreciated. Especially about Axel. He's a hard character. Seriously, he must have multiple personality disorder or something XD;

Thanks for reading! Kudos :)