Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. It belongs to its rightful owners.

CHAPTER ZERO: PROLOGUE

HIXARI

"Courage doesn't happen when you have all the answers. It happens when you are ready to face the questions you have been avoiding your whole life."
- Shannon L. Alder

"THE LONG ROAD ahead lies something unique. However, in order to claim it, you must lose something that is dear to you . . ."

I was never one to brag. I hated it, in fact. It was a sign of being self-centered. Though, just this once, I wanted to brag. I knew it.

It was pretty obvious. There was something different about the boy. He had approached the castle in high hopes and spirits, something that rarely happened around these parts. He had stood in front of the doors with his two friends on either side of him. His blue eyes had scanned the bronze and dark green exterior with confusion. It was then when I knew that the Organization was going to try to tear him apart bit by bit. Genuine people didn't survive in places like this; he was doomed from the beginning.

This place wasn't supposed to exist. It inhabited things that even we did not know about, nor had any business knowing. They thought they had this place figured out. The white walls, the white rooms, it all meant nothing to them. I knew that it meant something despite what they thought. It meant endless oblivion. This castle was nothing more than a curse to everyone who ventured inside. But, they didn't care.

They were plotting something . . . something that they shouldn't have. They wanted the Keyblade Bearer to lose his memories within himself. I didn't ask why. I stayed exactly where I was, just like the redhead had told me to, and avoided getting too involved in the whole situation. Neither of us should have been here. I shouldn't have brought her here. I should have left her where she was so that she could have been rescued. But, she had been rescued too many times. It was time for her to gather herself.

We watched through hidden halls as the boy and his comrades went through the trials. His memory was deteriorating. He was losing sight of his friends. He had also finished off so many of our numbers during his journey throughout the castle. Larxene, Marluxia, they were all gone. Even Vexon and Zexion were gone . . . thought it hadn't been by the hands of the Keyblade Bearer.

It was the redhead who had committed the acts. He was trying to keep everyone from opening their big mouths, and to keep the drama at bay. He didn't care about anyone else one bit. He set them ablaze with a snap of his fingers, watching them combust. I didn't argue when he told me that his business was done here . . . that it was time for us to leave.

That was the last I had seen any of them. Last I heard, she was going to replace that boy's memories. That was nice. It must feel great to get everything that you lost back. I wish I had the pleasure of doing the same.

So, that was a brief recap of everything that happened in Chain Of Memories since that whole storyline was really uneventful. Hopefully, this should explain a bit of it, but not too much. I tried to be as vague as possible, even though it really annoyed me. The rest of it will be told later.

But anyways . . . Yay, Kingdom Hearts 2 is here! I'm very excited! I'd also like to say that you need to be sure that you have read the first book or this one is going to make no sense at all to you. But, anyways, I'm ready to get started with this one. I love hearing all of you guy's theories about what you think is happening. Tell me what you think!

~ Insane