Chapter 1: The World That Never Was
I found myself in a large room, surrounded by darkness. Under me, a stain glass portrait of a man looking similar to myself sat. The man was made to look as if he was leaning against the outer edges of the circular platform I was standing on, a few extra characters and thorny, stem like designs around the unused space of the stain glass.
As I looked around the empty space, I noticed an object floating above me, staring down at me. I squinted my eyes, staring closer at the object resembling a skull. As I stood there, staring at it, a cloud of black smokes formed behind and around it, filling the air and eventually forming in a coherent, mass.
The object lowered down to the stain glass, staring me directly in the eyes. It was a skull. Cracks covered the front of it, especially near the nose and edges of the jaw. The thing inched closer to me, staring at me and making a noise similar to heavy breathing.
A light filled the area, and in the scene in front of me changed. Three object sat on pedestals: a sword, shield, and a wand. Text burned into the ground in front of me. "Pick one to be your strength."
I slowly and shakily stepped forward, reaching out toward the sword, and wrapped my hand around the cold, metal hilt. Another light illuminated the area, and I was returned to the same area as before. New words were seared into the ground: "Pick one to be your weakness."
I once again stepped forward, and this time, grabbing the wand. Another light flashed, and everything faded to black.
I blinked a couple of times.
Where was I? The last thing I remember was being in that room. I lay there, waiting for my vision to come to me as thoughts ran through my head. Blurry lights appeared and a minute later, cleared up.
I stared at a dark blue, purple, and white sky, making it night time. I moved my eyes around, concentrating on one object in the sky: a giant, floating heart. I slowly stood up, feeling every part of my body ache, and looked around. I was on a wide bridge leading to a large castle of some sort. The castle and bridge were pure white, with panels of glass installed on the floor, the glass illuminating an aqua light. Black markings were carved symmetrically into the walls and floors of the castle.
Below the bridge sat a dark town, a few lights on. Close to where I stood was a large building with a glowing billboard on the front of it.
As I slowly, and painfully, stood up, a voice shouted at me.
"Hey, who are you?!"
I turned to see a tall man, at most a head and half taller than me, standing at the other end of the bridge. His red hair was styled back into spikes, and upside down triangle markings sat right under his eyes.
"Huh?"
"Who are you? What's your name?!" he shouted.
I stood there, trying to remember my name, and just stared at him. I shrugged. "I can't remember."
He laughed sarcastically. "You can't remember your own name. Well, then, what's that in your hand?!" He pointed at my left hand.
In it sat a red sword of some kind, bright blue lines of light flowing through it. Near the hilt was a circular opening in the sword, layers of glass panels sitting in it. The blade of the sword, or what I assumed was the blade, was shaped like a key, two ridges pointing down. I held it up, looking at it from all angles.
"Hmm, interesting," I said to myself.
"Why do you have a Keyblade?!" he shouted.
"Keyblade?"
"Yeah, that thing you're holding! Why do you have it?!"
"Listen, man," I stared, but he interrupted me.
"Axel," he said, pointing at me. "Got it memorized?"
"Listen, Axel, I just woke up here. I don't know what happened to me, or where I'm at. I don't even know who I am," I told him, walking closer. "I don't know what a 'keyblade' is." I slowly inched closer to him, my hands outstretched in surrender.
Axel just stood there, glaring at me. I stopped, just about four feet in front of him, and extended my hand, smiling. A minute passed, and he stepped back a little bit.
The next thing I knew, his foot slammed into the side of my face, and I was sent flying across the bridge.
I woke up staring at a white ceiling. To my left was a set of windows looking out into the blue, purple, and white sky. I was lying on a bed in a rather small room, a large cabinet in one corner, and a closet on a wall.
I slowly sat up and slid off the bed, walking out of the room. I slowly made my way down a long hallway and into a room where there was loud chatter going on. I peeked in, seeing a group of people huddled around a couch to the left of the room. On the other side, two people stood, one with their hood covering their eyes. In front of the center window panel, stood a man. He was taller than the rest, with long, spikey blue hair. In his reflection, I saw the 'X' shaped scar in the center of his face, covering the bridge of his nose. He slowly turned around, looking at me.
The room went silent, and everyone stared at me.
"Uhh, hey?" I said, awkwardly, walking into the room.
"So you're the new recruit, huh?" the man in front of the windows said, crossing his arms.
Axel sat on the couch, a girl with two strands of hair sticking out from the rest of her blonde locks behind him. She had her arms wrapped around her neck, her head next to hers. Next to Axel, a blond haired man sat, strumming on a wooden guitar. On the other side of Axel, sat a man with an eye patch sat, staring at me.
A blond, spikey haired boy, about the same age as me, stood, his hands in his pockets. The hooded figure didn't pay any attention.
"What's your name?" the blue-haired man asked.
"Name? Well, I don't know," I told him, chuckling.
"We can worry about that later. Right now, you'll be assigned to a mission. You need to learn how everything around here works. Xion, get over here," he said, nodding to the hooded figure.
The person walked over, and raised their hand, opening a portal. They motioned for me to follow, and I nodded.
"Good luck," the blue haired man growled.
The hooded figure and I emerged from the portal in a large city. We stood at the top of some stairs, a small passage leading further into the upper part of the city. The hooded figure immediately stepped down the stairs, and I quickly followed.
"So, who was that guy?" I asked. No answer. "You know, that blue haired guy bossing everyone around?" They still didn't answer. "Not much of a talker, huh?"
We walked in silence into a large lot of land, probably used for some sort of sport. Three people stood, staring at a board with letters posted all over it. As the hooded figure and I slowly walked past them, there was a small noise. I glanced over my shoulder, seeing a purple and black cloud form, and a bell shaped figure emerge from it. The cloud disappeared, leaving the object. Near the two yellow eyes stared at the group of three people. A large, red and black heart shaped design was on its center.
As it moved toward the people, more appeared.
I saw the hooded figure, jump over me, one of those Keyblades forming in their hand. They cut down one of the bell shaped figures and jumped toward the next one.
I looked down at me hand, and felt a surge of energy go through my spine. My vision suddenly faded, but quickly reappeared. The blade from before sat in my palm, and I nodded. I jumped toward one behind the hooded figure, and cut it down, seeing a small, pink heart float into the sky and disappear. I quickly jumped toward the one next to it, and did the same.
The hooded figure and I jumped toward the last one at the same time, our blades colliding with its body at the same time.
The figure disappeared as we landed, and I looked over at them. They nodded, and started off toward where we arrived at. As they stepped forward, a large, black and purple puddle formed, and the ground began to shake.
A large hand appeared from the ground, and crushed the stones beneath it. Another hand appeared, followed by a rather small head. The thing pulled the rest of its body out of the puddle, standing at least 10 feet above us, its arms crossed.
The monster raised an arm, beginning to bring it down toward the hooded figure. Not having enough time to react, the hooded figure raised their arms in defense. The arm neared closer, and I quickly acted.
I jumped toward the hooded figure, sliding to a stop in front of them, and raising my Keyblade. The arm collided with the blade, a loud ringing filling the air, and wind rushing past me. I pushed the hand back, and bought the Keyblade up to its chest. As I pointed it at the center of the large monster, another tingling sensation went through my spine. My body felt as if I was standing in a fire. I felt like my skin was falling off that instant.
I shouted, feeling the pain increase, and saw the blade of my weapon grow blue, and shoot out large. I pulled up on the hilt of the Keyblade, pulling the now extremely large blade through the monster's chest and head. The giant creature began to bubble and fade, a crystal heart floating into the sky.
I turned around, feeling my Keyblade disappeared, and stared at the hooded figure. Their hood had fallen off their head, revealing a feminine, extremely cute face. I felt myself blush, and held out my hand. She took it, and I pulled her up.
"T-thanks," she whispered. "I didn't introduce myself earlier, so sorry about that. My name is Xion. I'm the fourteenth member of Organization XIII, and one of the now three Keyblade wielders. Nice to meet you."
"Well, I don't really know my name, so just call me XV for the moment. I guess this means I'm the fifteenth member of this Organization XIII. Nice to meet you."
She stood there, staring at me for a few seconds. She suddenly snapped her fingers and giggled.
"How 'bout I call you 'Tizenot'?" she asked.
I stood there, repeating the name. "It sounds nice. I like it. Thanks, Xion."
She blushed and nodded. "No problem. Can't go running around without a name, can you?"
"I guess not," I chuckled. "Well, what do you say we head back?" She nodded and we headed back toward where we arrived.
The two of us emerged from the portal in the room where we left, everyone still in their same seats.
"Xion, you actually showed your face to the new guy?" the guy with the eye patch said, chuckling. Xion pulled her hood over her face and walked out of the room. I followed her, coming to a stop behind her right outside the door.
"What was that about?" I asked her.
"I'm not much of a social person. I do things people ask of me and don't ask questions. I'm extremely loyal, and the others don't even think that I can make my own choices," she said, not looking at me.
I placed a hand on her shoulder. "You can," I told her. "You did today. You talked to me, a new kid. That's enough to show me that you have the ability to make your own choices."
She looked up at me, and I smiled, nodding. She smiled too and held out her hand.
"Thanks," she said. I took her hand and shook it.