Part 1 of 3
A/N: I had this story out before, but it was utter crap. Literally my worst effort. So I'm re-submitting it with more detail, more content, and more…well, let's just say, the fangirls will like it. Rated 'M' for yaoi in later chapters. (No flaming! If you don't like it, don't read it.)
Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts is not mine, but the stuff I added that doesn't belong is.
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Footsteps broke the silence in the deep of the castle, steady footsteps wandering down the deserted hall. The hem of his red coat shifted around his ankles, the hood drawn up over his face, obscuring it in darkness. The quiet was eerie. Even though there were so few of them, there was usually at least SOME sign of life. Number II was usually the cause of the mayhem.
The small, lithe figure turned a corner, and stopped dead in his tracks, the papers held in a gloved hand nearly slipping from his grip. Not ten feet away stood a tall, broad-shouldered figure shrouded in a black coat, the hood drawn up as well. But the red-coated figure had no trouble telling who this was. The enveloping aura of power around the one in the black coat sent a shiver up his spine. Number I of Organization XIII…The Superior.
"Uh…." It came in a gasp; all that the smaller of the two could manage to get out. The taller figure inclined his head slightly, a deep voice issuing from out of his hood. "Number XIV, it's time." The smaller one in the red coat, this Number XIV, took a small step back, shaking his head. "No, please…I-I'm not ready." The taller figure stepped forward with a short, cold laugh, raising a black-gloved hand. "Ready or not, you will do the task given to you."
As the smaller of the two turned to run, the taller male took a sudden lunge forward, appearing in a fraction of a second right behind the smaller, and delivered a swift blow to the back of his neck. The smaller male gave a small gasp of pain, and everything went black as his limp body hit the floor with a soft 'thud'….
"Hey. Are you OK?" With a groan, he opened his eyes. A blurred world full of painful light made him shield his eyes, as his other hand was grabbed, with two more under his arms as he was gently lifted to his feet. "Are you?" He heard the voice again, young, perhaps mid-teens, and rubbed his eyes to clear his vision. But it stayed resolutely blurred. He felt a tapping at his hand, and a pair of glasses was pressed to his palm. He wore glasses? Unfolding them, he slid the glasses on, and everything came into focus. The first thing he saw was the face of a young male with blue eyes and wild brown hair looking him in the face.
He took a small step back in alarm, as two more figures joined the boy. One was a small white duck, with blue magician-like clothes, a scepter with a book on the top, and a ticked-off expression. The other was a large, goofy-looking black dog in knight's clothing, holding a silver shield with three dark blue circles on the front. Looking down at his own body, he could see he was wearing an ankle-length dark red trench coat, with light blue strings for the hood, and dark red gloves and boots. His body was slim, almost hour-glass, and from what he could tell of measuring people with buildings, he realized that he was very short, about half-a-head shorter than the wild-haired boy.
The smiling teenager wore a purple sleeveless under a black hoodie that stopped below his ribcage, with a zipper and short sleeves, along with black shorts with yellow straps holding a red pouch on each leg, and large silver and yellow boots. Around his neck was a thick chain holding a symbol of a crown. He took a step forward, pointing first to himself, then the dog, and then to the duck. "I'm Sora. This is Goofy, and Donald." The dog gave a wave, and the duck merely blinked at him. "What's your name?"
"I'm, um…!" That's strange…I can't seem to remember my name. Who am I? He scratched his head a bit, while the boy looked at him with a slightly puzzled expression. "It's strange…I can't remember, heh heh." The boy, Sora, rubbed his chin. "Hmm…maybe you have amnesia?" ! That must be it! I have amnesia! Which would explain why I can't remember how I got here, or who I am. "I think your right," said the red-coated boy. Suddenly he felt a small pressure in his head that faded almost instantly. "For some reason, though, I want to say 'Kane'." The name had just popped into his head. "Kane, huh," replied Sora, "Well, OK Kane, it's nice to meet you. Where are you from?" Kane shrugged. "Er…I can't remember that either, heh. Sorry."
"Aww, don't apologize. So, do you live in Twilight Town," asked Sora. "Twilight Town?" The small boy, Kane, took his attention from the others for a second to look at his surroundings. He was in a town, as he gathered from the name, but there weren't many people around. There was a train or something running on tracks, but the only others around were Sora, Donald, and Goofy. He turned back to the other three, and shrugged. "I don't know. I can't remember anything." Sora crossed his arms over his chest. "Hmm…" The boy, Sora, turned to his friends.
"What do you guys think?"
"I say we leave him and continue chasing the Organization," said Donald. "Well, I think we should help him out," replied Goofy. Then the two got into an argument.
"Leave him!"
"Help him!"
"Leave him!
"Help him!"
"Hold on!"
Sora put himself between the fighting friends, looking at each one. "It's too dangerous for him here. Nobodies or Heartless could pop up any time!" Nobodies? Heartless? What is he talking about? And what 'Organization'? Sora turned to Kane, as the other two decided to drop the argument. "Do you want to come with us for awhile, until you get your memory back?" With a nod, Kane said, "Sure, but what are you guys up to?"
"Well, it's kind of a long story, but I can try to shorten it. There is a group of people called Organization Thirteen, extremely powerful Nobodies-"
"But what are Nobodies," interrupted Kane.
"Nobodies are the husks of people left behind when darkness enters their heart and turns them into a Heartless. Nobodies can't feel, but they pretend to," Goofy answered.
"OK, but what's a Heartless?" Donald stepped forward.
"A Heartless is what a person becomes when they let darkness enter their heart. Most become shadow creatures, mindless with only one thought: to steal as many hearts as they can. But people with a strong heart keep their bodies, but lose their hearts. They have the same goal, but they can think and plan for themselves. A strong Heartless can control the weaker ones."
"And when a person becomes a Heartless, they leave behind a Nobody as well?"
"Right," said Sora, "But the Nobodies look slightly different than their original selves. There are also weird Nobodies that don't have human shapes." "Like the Heartless," guessed Kane. Sora gave a nod.
"But what does the Organization want?"
"Well," said Goofy, "The Nobodies of the Organization have a leader, and they serve him, we think. He wants us to destroy as many Heartless as it takes to create this strong power called Kingdom Hearts. Anybody who controls it can control all the worlds. But they think they can use it to regain human hearts and become whole."
"They're wrong," said Sora, "Once their hearts are gone, that's it. Kingdom Hearts can't help them, but we have to stop them."
Organization 13 is a group of powerful beings called Nobodies that want to regain human hearts. They have no emotions, but they pretend that they do. Sounds bad, but I've never heard of them, as far as I know.. "So, you three are chasing the Organization," asked Kane. "Right," Sora answered, "We're looking for one in particular. His name is Axel. He says he hates schemers, but he seems to do a bit of scheming himself. He kidnapped our friend, and keeps leaving weird hints and clues for us. He has a black coat, kind of like the one you're wearing, and wild, spiky red hair. He has two round, flaming weapons, and kind of looks like a girl."
"Sorry, haven't seen him."
His name is Axel, and he's a girly Nobody. Hmm? What's this? Kane felt a small protrusion in his pocket, and took out a small book.
"What's that," asked Sora.
"I think it's a journal." Kane opened it, but noticed that several pages in the front were ripped out. He frowned, and noticed a pen in the spiraled metal holding the pages together.
"Someone's ripped the pages out."
"Hey," said Sora, "There's something on the front." Kane shut the journal and checked the cover. "It says, 'Xaken's Journal'."
"Xaken? Weird name." The dog nudged Sora, and whispered into his ear, but Sora shook his head. "I don't think so." He turned to Kane. "How do you think you got it?" Kane slid the pen from the spiraled metal, and opened the journal. "I'm not sure. It doesn't seem familiar. But maybe I could borrow it for now." He started to write everything he'd learned to far, and realized that he could write fast, and his spelling was really good. Sora gave a shrug. "I don't see why not. So, do you want to come with us?" Kane gave a nod, and slid the journal back in his pocket.
"Yeah. Where are we going?" Donald gave a snort. "We're going to take the Gummi Ship to Halloweentown." Kane scratched his head. "Halloweentown? Strange na-" With a sudden rumble, Kane noticed that, where there was previously nobody around, they were suddenly surrounded by strange, stretchy gray creature with mouths lined with zippers, and no eyes or fingers. The other three surrounded Kane, Goofy and Donald's weapons readied. But Sora's weapon surprised him the most. With a flash of light, he was suddenly holding a gold-handed, silver metal weapon shaped like a key. "Dusks! Stay back, we'll handle this."
As the fight started, Kane could already tell, without knowing quite how, that even though the three were very good, there were just too many of the gray creatures, which he took to be the Nobodies. Two of the Dusks moved in front of Sora, with wild, confusing attacks that they pulled off by stretching their bodies. Sora parried a kick to the left of his stomach by chopping down with the blunt part of his Keyblade and knocking the foot to the floor, then blocked an elbow to the face by hauling his arm back and stopping the attack with his own elbow. He foiled another attack by the first Dusk by locking it's oncoming arm to his own, putting himself back on his heels, and spinning, using his weight to pull the first Dusk into the path of the second, who promptly and accidentally put it's foot through the first one's stomach. Sora raised his Keyblade and chopped down into the second Dusks' head, then threw the one he held to the floor and repeated the move with both arms.
Donald and Goofy were staying in close proximity to each other to form a double-team attack strategy. The edge of Goofy's shield was razor-sharp, so he used it to slice open any Dusks that got close enough. If they were too close, like the unfortunate one next to him, he would shield-smash the thing. He raised his fist and bashed the Dusk in the face, hooked his leg around the Dusk's, shoulder-rammed it to the ground, and hopped into the air, sitting in the groove of his shield and crushing the Dusk. Any time a Dusk got near Donald when he was preoccupied, he would simply hurl his shield, which spun towards its intended target, slashing deep wounds or cutting the Nobody in half, and returning to his waiting hand.
Donald was waving his scepter almost non-stop, reciting any spell that he could think of at the moment. From the tip of his scepter or the air around him, blasts of fire, jets of icy wind and bolts of lightning struck down the Nobodies around him. He waved his wand and tossed one into the air, and see Goofy's shield come whizzing in with deadly intent. Or increase the field of gravity around one Dusk and crush it to death. When a Dusk came too close to Goofy, ready to get him in the back, Donald shot a beam of pure energy from his scepter and fried it where it stood.
Sora swung, lunged, parried, countered, and slashed his Keyblade at every Dusk he could see. Wounds were gashed into a body, or bruises quickly formed over a repeatedly pummeled spot. He even kicked one of them. But no matter how many they killed, more and more seemed to join the fight, eager to throw themselves at the three fighters. They could not figure out where they were all coming from. Soon, Sora found himself defending against a host of Nobodies, and one of them slipped around his guard, aiming right for Kane, standing unharmed in the middle of the fight.
The Nobody stopped directly in front of Kane, the zipper over it's wide mouth moving by itself. When it reached the end, the mouth opened wide in a high-pitched shriek. Kane covered his ears against the noise, Sora, Donald and Goofy looked around, and every Dusk stopped in mid-battle. They stood, swaying, watching Kane. Sora, Donald and Goofy seemed to be frozen; they weren't moving. The Nobody who shrieked looked right at Kane, and though it's mouth didn't move, it spoke. It was more in Kane's head than audible. A strange un-voice that was there but not, tangible but brittle, echoed through his mind. "Lord Xaken, the critical point is now. There might be no other chances. Regain your memory." Kane took a step back, looking around. "Lord who? I…I don't know what you're talking about." The Dusks suddenly twitched, as if agitated. The un-voice sounded again. "That…is unfortunate. Kill our Brother! Kill him!"
Time swung back into full flow as the Nobodies took their attention from the three fighters, and focused solely on Kane. Our Brother? What did it mean by that? Ducking to avoid a sweeping hand, he straightened up, but then spun to the left as a Dusk rushed at him from the right. He knew that he was in danger now, as Sora, Donald and Goofy were trying and failing to get to him through the thick crowd of Nobodies. He felt a strange warmth in his hands, and looked down to find a pair of black weapons, shaped like thick daggers, with square hand guards. He wasn't sure how they got there, but when a Dusk appeared in front of him, ready to strike, he lashed out with his weapons, slashing it in the chest. The Dusk disappeared into the darkness. The others stopped, swaying where they stood. "He has his Hidden Blades. But the Superior took his memory away. How does he fight?" Kane could hear the strange un-voices echoing through his head, while Sora stared at him. "How did you do that? You didn't touch him," he said. I didn't? But my weapons went right through it. What is he talking about? The creatures slowly crept forward. "Luck, perhaps? He might not have regained his full memory. Kill him!" The Dusks moved forward again, and Kane held his daggers up, prepared. But now a new voice filled his head, barely more than a whisper. "Think 'axe'."
No sooner did the thought fill his mind, than his weapons changed form. The handguards sprouted long spikes, while the blades thinned and became cylinder-like, extending out four feet. At the tips of the newly formed shafts, wicked blades grew from the metal and curved back, the other side of the shafts sprouting two more spikes, shorter than those on the handguards. The Dusks stopped again, but it was Kane who came forward this time. He took a run and, on instinct, leapt up and, to his surprise, right over the Dusks, dropping into their midst. No time for surprise, he brought his axes to his chest, then swung in wide arcs out to his sides, slashing into the Nobodies nearest. He brought his left axe up and chopped straight down in front, splitting a Dusk's head, while repeating the sweeping motion again with his right axe, this time embedding the spike into the chest of the surprised Dusk. With the few Nobodies left, he raised both axes high above his head, an inch apart, and swung them both down, chopping into the ground. As he did, spikes of darkness rose up from the ground, impaling the rest of the Dusks through the chests, stomachs, or heads. The cluster of defeated Nobodies disappeared in flashes of bright light, and the weapons in Kane's hands faded away to nothing.
Sora's key-like weapon disappeared in a flash of light, like the Nobodies, and he turned to Kane with his hands on his hips. "OK, how did you do that? This time, you didn't even get near them!" Kane scratched his head in confusion.
"What do you mean? Didn't you see my weapons?"
"What weapons?"
Hmm? He couldn't see them? But the Nobodies could…or could they? Maybe they're something only I can see? They called them my 'Hidden Blades'. Does 'hidden' mean they are invisible? Pulling Xaken's Journal from his pocket, Kane wrote down what had just happened, the conversation, and his thoughts on what happened. Strangely, it seemed familiar. It made him think of the word 'Reports'. He slid it back in his coat, and found Sora still staring at him. "Um….I'm not sure how I did it, actually," he lied, "It just kind of did."
He could tell they didn't fully believe him, but decided to drop the matter. "Well, it's over, and we want to check up on some friends of ours. Follow us," said Sora. Walking with his new friend, soon Kane saw what Donald had meant when he said 'Gummi Ship'. It was a strange craft that looked like it was made from square, cylinder-like, and round pieces of the stuff gummi bears were made of. Boarding the strange craft, which was completely solid on the inside, it lifted into the air, engineered, apparently, by a pair of talking chipmunks. Such a strange world this is. Zooming away from Twilight Town, they were soon in a strange, airless black sky full of dark colors, zooming through some kind of path. At the end, he could see a dark sphere with strange-looking buildings and a humongous pumpkin. As they came nearer and nearer to the place, Kane looked out the side window, and jerked slightly. He was staring at his reflection for the first time. He was young-looking, perhaps near the same age as Sora, but smaller and slimmer, with pale, almost pure white skin. His hair was in the middle of short to medium length and bushy, falling around his cheeks and small bangs over his forehead, black with spiky red tips. His eyes were large and gray, he wore a pair of silver-framed glasses, and both ears were pierced with small silver balls, with a small silver hoop through his lower lip on the right side of his mouth. Looking forward, he saw a gateway of bright light shaped like a keyhole, and then the light was filling the inside of the ship, blinding him…
When he came to, he was lying facedown on a cracked street. He pushed himself to his feet and tried to blink the glare left from the light from his eyes. As his vision began to clear, he saw the silhouettes of three people. "Sora? Donald, Goofy, is that you," he asked. "Yeah," said Sora. The last bits of the glare left his vision, and he focused on Sora, Donald, and Goofy…and leapt back with a yell of fright.
Sora's clothes had changed. They were black and gray, there was a small pumpkin mask on his head, and his skin had paled and taken on a gray hue. Most disturbing were the small fangs protruding from his upper lip. Donald was covered in dirty bandages, and Goofy looked liked a weird Frankenstein-dog-thing. At his yell, the three began to laugh, and Kane planted his hands on his hips, glaring at them. And what's so funny," he asked. His hand covering his mouth, Sora's reply was broken with fits of giggling as he pointed with his other hand to a fountain that Kane just now noticed, made of stone with a some kind of monster spitting out the green liquid. "Look…look at your…ref-reflection…hee hee." Frowning, Kane walked over to the fountain and bent over to look at his surprisingly clear reflection, and let out another yell.
His appearance changed like the others. His hair was silver with black tips, his eyes had turned bloodred, and his canines had elongated into small fangs, thinner than Sora's, sticking out from his upper lip. The hood of his coat disappeared, replaced by a ragged, high collar, with jagged black stripes starting from the middle of the back of his coat and curving around to his waist, accentuating his hourglass figure. From the waist down, his coat flared out behind him, the hem torn and ripped, small black claws had ripped through the fingers of his gloves, and the pants he wore became much tighter. He turned back to the others, but before he could speak, he was distracted by a loud, friendly voice behind him that said, "Welcome!" He turned around…
And he came face-to-face with a seven foot tall skeleton, wearing a black suit with a flared, ragged collar, with burning red eyes, bony fingers stretching out his mouth, which was lined with sharp teeth. He let out a high-pitched, beast-like scream right in Kane's face, and again Kane fainted. When he awoke, he was surrounded by his friends, the skeleton, whose eyes were no longer burning and the sharp teeth in his mouth were gone, and a woman with red hair who looked as if she was sewn together, like a rag doll. He gave a small whimper of fright. "Heh, sorry," said Sora, "I forgot to warn you. Halloweentown is full of monsters, but most of them are friendly. That was Jack's way of welcoming you. This is Jack Skellington, and this is Sally. Jack, Sally, this is our new friend, Kane." Jack Skellington offered a hand to Kane, who grabbed it and was pulled to his feet. "Welcome to Halloweentown," said Sally. "Thanks," replied Kane.
Now that he got a proper look, Halloweentown was a rather scary place. The buildings were dark, with high towers in the distance, spiky spires reaching high into the night sky, with a humongous, full moon casting its bright light on the world below. There was a tall, tower-like house, several feet from a gray building with a black gate, and something like an apartment complex. The street was full of creatures. There was a werewolf in a plaid shirt, five vampires, an eyeball with bat wings and spider legs, and a skinny old man and a large, fat woman in a sewn-up dress, with a little bald fat kid wearing a striped shirt and shorts, on a leash. The tall skeleton, Jack, turned to Sora, Donald, and Goofy, with Sally standing beside him.
"What are you three doing back so soon? Not more Heartless?"
Sora shook his head. "No, we just stopped by to make sure everything has been fine since we left."
The woman gave him a nod. "No Heartless have shown up since then."
"What about men in black coats," asked Goofy.
Jack shook his head. "None of them, either. But you could go and ask Sandy Claws if he's seen anything."
"Jack, we've told you before, it's 'Santa Claus'."
But Jack wasn't listening, engaged now in conversation with the werewolf. Sora shook his head, then motioned for the others to follow him as they left the town, heading down a path that led to a graveyard with tall tombstones. "What a strange world," Kane commented him. Sora looked back with a smirk, and said, "If you think this is strange, wait until later." Kane took the journal belonging to this 'Xaken' from his pocket again, slid the pen from the metal bindings, and began to write. As he did, he couldn't help but notice Sora's eyes lingered on him for a few seconds, then turned back forward. Kane could feel his cheeks reddening.
Soon, they had come to a dark forest, and, in front of them, a tree with a door, which was shaped like a decorated Christmas Tree. "What's this," asked Kane. They didn't answer him, however, and when Sora pulled the door open, Goofy snuck behind Kane and pushed him through the door. He fell through a long tunnel of swirling colors, and when he awoke, he was lying face down on something white, wet-ish, and cold. Shivering, he pushed himself into a sitting position, noticing the others were already to their feet after following behind him. "Where are we?" He picked up a handful of the white stuff. "And what is this?" Donald laughed, and kicked a bit of it his way.
"We're in Christmastown, and this is 'snow'."
"Snow?"
"Yes," said Goofy, "It's frozen water that falls from the sky, like rain. It's fun to play with."
They helped Kane back up to his feet, and he dropped the handful of snow, walking with them. "I don't think my small frame is suited to the cold."
The others just snickered as they led him to a small town full of bright lights and weird, little people running around. Kane's eyes went wide as he took it all in, and they led him up to a small house and knocked on the door. It flew open, and a fat old man with a long beard and red clothes stood in the doorway. "Well, hello Sora, Donald, and Goofy! It's good to see you again! And who is this you've brought with you?" Kane stepped forward, giving the man a small wave. "Kane, sir."
"Kane, this is Santa Claus," said Sora.
"Jack isn't up to his usual trouble, is he," asked the fat man.
Sora shook his head, and Kane hung back, examining a large machine that wasn't moving, but looked as if it spun around. Soon the fat man closed the door, and Sora turned to Kane. "Santa hasn't seen any Heartless or Nobodies either. We've checked every world except for Radiant Garden."
"Which is?"
"A town that used to be called Hollow Bastion."
"What a horrible name," said Kane.
"It was. That's where we should go next. Come on."
"But Sora," said Goofy, "You've forgotten about Olympus!"
"That's right," Sora replied, "I did! I suppose we should check there first. Follow us, Kane."
As they all walked back to the tree with the pumpkin sign on it, Kane took the small journal from his pocket and put in everything he had heard.
Every "world", whatever that means, has been checked except for "Radiant Garden" and "Olympus". Funny, but the name "Hollow Bastion" sounds familiar. Why? Distantly, mired in his thoughts, Kane heard Goofy mention a place that sounded like "The World That Never Was", and Sora only said "The Gummi Ship can't take us there yet". The World That Never Was? Why is that so familiar?
"Ugh!"
"Kane, are you OK?"
Sora rushed forward to help Kane to his feet, as he had fallen to his knees with a sudden memory that played through his mind like a movie….
Kane saw a room of white and silver, with an impossibly high ceiling. In the room were fourteen chairs, the lowest one at least a hundred feet from the floor. They were more like thrones, and each one had a number under the seat, displayed as a Roman numeral. On the tallest chair, marked with a I, sat a lean man with his arms folded across his chest and the hood of his black coat up, obscuring his face. There were a few others doing the same, like a heavily-muscled man on the chair marked III, and a young boy on a chair marked XIII. Some had their hoods down, like a man with long blue hair and an X scar on his face, and another, girl-figured man with long, spiky red hair. On the lowest chair, marked XIV, was Kane! He knew it was him, because of his slight figure and red coat. But something felt off. If this was his memory, why was he staring at himself on the chair, instead of looking up at the others through his chair. And why was he at a position higher than the XIV chair?
The man in the tallest chair shifted in his seat a bit, to look down upon the boy in the XIII chair. "Roxas, go now." The boy he spoke to gave a scoff, and slid from his seat, enveloped in darkness which faded with him. The red-haired man looked worried, then slid from his seat too, disappearing in the same way.
The one in the highest chair looked down at the one in the red coat. "I expect him to fail. You know what you have to do?" He nodded, and the one in the Number I chair sat back against it. "Then go, little spy." As the figure in the red coat slid from his chair, he said, "Yes, Superior," and disappeared as the other two had.
When the strange memory faded, Kane found himself supported by Sora, Donald and Goofy, who were staring at him. "Are you alright," asked Goofy. Kane nodded, and straightened up. "I'm…fine," he lied.
"You fall down a lot," Sora was saying. Kane nodded, and opened the door back to Halloweentown, going in first. Soon, they were back on the Gummi Ship, and Goofy was starting up the engine. Stranger and stranger. I feel as if that was my memory. That red coat was identical to mine, but why was I seeing it as if I were a stranger. And the red-haired one…I think that was Axel. For some reason, they were shooting at things attacking them in the space between worlds.
I almost feel as if I remember the name of that one, the one called "Superior". Xem-something. Xem…Xemnas? Should I tell the others? No, they'll only be suspicious of me. I'd better keep my mouth shut. That looked like Organization XIII. But why were there fourteen? That's one extra. And he called me it…me…'spy'. Why?
Unconsciously, Kane was writing his thoughts down in the Journal. He had also written 'Xemnas Reports' at the top.
Soon they found a clear stretch of space. Sora was saying something about Goofy taking over, and was walking to the back of the ship, to where Kane was sitting. He looked away, and noticed in his reflection that he was back to normal. "Hey," Sora said, sitting next to Kane. "Hi." He slid the Journal back into his pocket, turning to face Sora.
"Donald and Goofy…they've been asking questions. How much do you remember?"
"Not much", Kane admitted, which was true; that memory was just a small bit of what he probably really knew.
"Goofy thinks he made a connection."
"Such as?"
"Well," said Sora, "You've told us your name is 'Kane'. And that book says 'Xaken's Journal'."
Kane nodded. "What about it?"
"Since we've been fighting the Organization, we've learned strange habits about them. One is that each Nobody in the Organization shows his loyalty by adding an 'x' to whatever his or her original name was. Their leader's name is Xemnas." Seems I was right. "His Heartless was an evil man named Ansem, who stole that name from his teacher. His true name was Xehanort. But Xemnas kept the name and added an 'x' to it, do you see?" Kane nodded. Sora seemed to hesitate, then said, "I had a Nobody too. His name was Roxas." Roxas…the small one, with the attitude. "You say you've lost your memory. We think you could be a Nobody in disguise." Kane couldn't help but notice that Donald and Goofy had abandoned their stations and had their weapons out, and Sora looked ready for a fight. "'Xaken' is 'Kane' with an 'x' added. And you're wearing an Organization coat, although yours is red. We aren't stupid."
"I…I've been wondering about that myself. But I honestly can't remember who I am."
"You still say you have amnesia?" Kane nodded. Sora didn't seem to fully believe him.
"I can't tell if I'm a Nobody. But when I met you three, the name 'Kane' just came out of nowhere. Sora gave a nod but didn't say anything, which Kane took to mean, 'Go on.' "But I can't be a Nobody. I mean, I feel too."
"But some Nobodies think they have emotions," Donald put in, "How do we know you really have a heart?" Good question. How do I know, too?
"Listen, back in Christmastown, I had a…a memory."
"What kind?"
"It went like this," he began, "I saw a room of white, with a lot of tall, throne-like chairs. And sitting on them were figures in black coats. One was Xemnas. The other was Roxas."
"Were there thirteen people there?" Goofy asked.
Kane shook his head. "Fourteen chairs, some were empty." The others seemed shocked.
"But there are only thirteen members of the Organization," said Sora.
"No, there were fourteen. On the last chair, was a red-coated figure. Xemnas called him 'Number XIV'."
"But you have a red coat."
"It's weird. I have this memory, but I wasn't the one on the chair. I was watching the others, apart from the one in the red coat, but they didn't so much as look at me. Xemnas said 'Go now' to Roxas, then told me he expected Roxas to fail and to do what I knew to do." Kane was quick to omit the 'spy' part.
"You think you weren't the one on the chair?"
"I know."
Donald walked over to them. "I still think he's a Nobody!"
Sora turned to Kane. "You can't remember anything?" Kane shook his head. "Maybe you are a Nobody. How do you feel about the Organization?"
"They sound like bad news, but if I am a member, I don't want to be." Donald scoffed, but went back to driving the Gummi Ship.
"I don't know if it's a good idea to keep you around," said Sora, although the curious look on his face was at odds with that statement. "I don't either, I'm a bit worried. I think, perhaps I am a Nobody. But I want to help you three. Maybe, if I regain my memory, I'll have changed."
"I doubt it, but we can wait and see, I suppose. About when we were fighting those Dusks," Sora began, but Kane cut him off.
"It was weird. These black daggers appeared in my hands, and told me to think 'axe'. They turned into axes. You couldn't see them, could you?" Sora shook his head. "I thought not. I heard those Nobody Dusks talking to me. They called me 'My Lord' and 'Brother', and said the daggers were my 'Hidden Blades'."
Sora rubbed the back of his head, and sighed. "That's proof enough for me. We can safely, or maybe, not-so-safely say that you are a Nobody, if you can hear other Nobodies talking to you. But as you said, maybe you've changed. We'll have to wait and see."
As the Gummi Ship sped forward, both teens became lost in thought. And Kane, or Xaken, as he now thought of himself, thought he could sense, but not sure, a strange, growing new…or perhaps, old, sense of self coming to him. And it's cunning, it's confidence, it's seductive sense of right and power frightened him. His eyelids dropped just slightly, and a small, wicked smirk grew on his face as he reached out to touch Sora's hand, who didn't pull away, but instead turned his hand so their palms met and laced his fingers between Xaken's.
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Author's note: This is the part where yaoi haters wanna stop reading. For people who like yaoi, you'll really like Chapter 2, but I'm not gonna say when it is, heh heh.