Disclaimer: this one doesn't own kingdom hearts or any of its lovely bishies.

those are the property of squeenix and Nomura-san (whom i worship probably a bit more than is healthy. xD)

anyway, read and enjoy.

oh, and review if it doth tickle your fancy.

Kingdom chronicles: (Memories of a Nobody)

-Prologue

"Where am I?"

The slender female fluttered her eyelashes, feeling water gently lapping at her body.

"W-Water…"

She had no clue what the word meant, yet she knew it had something to do with that funny stuff, seemingly covering her legs and then melting away.

"But how do I know what it is…?"

She stood awkwardly, seemingly never before needing to have gotten to her feet, almost as if she had been birthed into existence in that place, sprawled on the floor for all eternity. Waves crashed on the dark surface, licking at her heels as she wandered along the beach's shallows aimlessly, wondering how she had gotten there.

"What is this place?"

Stumbling slightly on "new" legs, she made her way to dry land, plopping down on the dark earth. She looked around, and since no one was there, she pulled up her knees to her chin, staring out at the bleak waters.

"Why am I here?"

Soft steps made her look up, noticing a tall cloaked figure, -rather graceful despite the great black coat that not only wrapped his shapely form, but concealed his face with a black shroud- that made her way towards where she sat. She scrambled away from him, still on "new" legs, tripping slightly over her own feet as she made the effort to move.

"Why am I running?"

The figure stepped closer, removing his hood to reveal an "x" scarred face with golden eyes, framed by long, light blue hair.

"Do you fear the darkness?" the man said, his voice slightly monotonic.

"It is not hurting me, so no." she answered, surprised that she knew how to form words.

"Brave answer" he said, chuckling. He stepped towards her again, pulling out a second coat, which was identical in almost every way, from an inside pocket and offering it to her. "If you do not fear it, then why not use it to your advantage?"

She looked down at herself for the first time and noticed she was not wearing anything, compared to the black cloaked being. She snatched the coat from him, throwing it over her tanned shoulders, though how they could tan in a sunless place like this, she would never know. "How do you use something intangible to your advantage?" she asked her curiosity at her ability to speak gone now that she could communicate with another being, replaced with a slight wonder as to the depth of her words. The man let out a cruel laugh that felt as if it were merely a noise, with no feeling behind it, preparing to answer.

"Nobodies have special ways of harnessing the power of the darkness. But… there are exceptions… if your somebody had a special weapon... most likely that the Nobody would too." He said, more to himself than to her.

"Nobodies…?"

The way he said it made it sound like a kind.. A people.. Or… a creature.

"It is what you, and I, are. Nobodies. Those without hearts…"

"I don't have a heart?" She looked down at her chest, placing her delicate hand upon it. No heart? Then that meant no function. But how did she know this?

"no. you have the biological components of a heart, but you don't have a feeling heart. The emotional organ" it seemed he smirked, delighting in, or at least seeming to delight in, telling her the answers.

"So I do not feel…" The man nodded in assent, looking out into the dark waters of the mass before them both.

"Do you remember your name? A name is necessary for taking on the dark, before you learn to wield it." he asked, looking almost bored, the crescent moon giving them a wan light from the otherwise blank sky.

"My…. Name?" she repeated, looking at him curiously. "I… I don't remember…."

He let out another cold laugh holding his hand out to her. "Then come. The Superior is sure to have a new name for you." As she took his hand, he stretched out the other in the opposite direction, tendrils of wispy black smoke seeming to emanate from the outstretched limb, forming a dark sphere of black and deeper black. He led her into the cloud and the beach disappeared from her view as the darkness engulfed them both.