~Twilight Town - 3190 AD~

Beyond the woods on the outskirts of town was an abandoned mansion. The locals believed it to be haunted, yet it is rumored that it receives many strange visitors quite often. Most recently; local junk food enthusiast, Pence claims to have seen a ghost lingering in the second floor window. A small, pale blond girl in a short white dress. But inside the mansion; all is not as it seems. Under the floor of the library is a secret entrance to a basement laboratory. In the back of this facility is a door that leads to an all white room with nothing but a huge egg-shaped machine sitting in the middle and a small console in front of it.

The ghost girl, Namine sits on this console and fiddles with the settings inside the pod as man covered in red bandages, black belts and draped in a robe approaches her. It was the only other person in this whole place. DiZ.

{DiZ} "You seem to be having trouble."

{Namine} "This project was a rushed one from the beginning. But ever since the King managed to steal the pod for us, I've had to deal with complication after complication."

{DiZ} "We were not prepared for many of the variables involved in this venture. But I take it you are at least making SOME progress?"

{Namine} "...Slow, but sure. The Organization is still searching for us, aren't they?"

{DiZ} "Pay them no mind. I'll deal with those miscreants. You focus on your work."

{Namine} "...Replacing all of his memories is harder than you think. If I leave even the smallest mistake; if even one of his original memories contradicts the implanted ones...he'll relapse. His fractured heart can't take that strain. He'll die."

{DiZ} "Then the answer is quite simple. He needs a replacement heart. A transplant."

Namine looks at him in horror.

{Namine} "But...you can't!"

{DiZ} "Sora is too powerful to leave to our enemies! But he is also too valuable an asset to simply let him fade! Do NOT question me again, Witch!"

She shrinks into her seat in silence.

{Diz} "You needn't worry. I will not steal the heart of someone in this world. There should be a few hidden samples back in my old lab on Radi- er...Hollow Bastion."

{Namine} "If you go there, the Organization will find you in no time."

{Diz} "I shall call on the favor of our friend again. Perhaps he and his lackey's would be willing to take the errand."

{Namine} "King Mickey?"

{DiZ} "It is easy for a mouse to hide in the walls."

~Hollow Bastion~

The crumbling ruins of a once great castle are littered with incomplete reconstruction machinery. Inside the labyrinth halls, Leon and a scar and Yuffie make their way towards the computer room of Ansem.

{Yuffie} "So, what are we looking for exactly?"

{Leon} "Heart capsules. Preferably an intact one. Tifa's was already here, so I called her and asked her to help us. Be thorough with your search, Yuffie."

{Yuffie} "Come on! It's ME you're talking about. When have I ever slacked-"

{Leon} "Do you want me to list them chronologically or in order of importance?"

{Yuffie} "...Jerk."

They enter Ansem's personal study to find Tifa carrying entire bookshelves over her head and tossing them around.

{Tifa} "Bout time you guys got here. I've pretty much picked this area clean."

{Yuffie} "Okay. We'll check the computer room."

Yuffie just casually walks through the mess of broken furniture that Tifa caused as Leon grips the bridge of his nose and groans.

{Leon} "You do know this was supposed to be a COVERT operation, right?"

{Tifa} "...Your point?"

{Leon} "...Nevermind. Assuming it's not broken already, try not to break the container when you find it."

{Tifa} "Roger that, Captain."

She salutes sarcastically as Leon follows Yuffie to the computer room. He goes through the walkway overlooking a huge manufactory with heart capsules lining the walls. The fact that there were so many of them, but all of them were empty was a bit discouraging. Leon left Yuffie to take the computer room itself and gave her a folded up piece of paper with Mickey Mouse symbol in it as he went to search the main floor down the elevator.

The factory floor itself was pretty plain and barren. But Leon already knew there was more here then that.

{Leon} "Yuffie! Use the King's password!"

Yuffie opened up the paper and copied down the password onto the computer. After a brief moment, the floor in front of Leon opened up and revealed a long spiral staircase leading deep underground. Leon made it to the bottom to find the only door that would open. It was a prison...a graveyard of those who had their bodies and hearts experimented on by Ansem. Leon steeled himself as to become sickened at the mere sight of this room. Whatever he found in here would be in no usable condition.

Still, better to be safe than sorry. Leon checked every cell in the compound, but when he got to the back room...it wouldn't open.

{Leon} "What the? Some kinda bio-scanner on the door. I guess only one person can enter this room. Is someone already in there?"

Leon moved on the last cell. It's door was having trouble, only opening halfway before getting stuck. Leon tried to strong arm it, but it wouldn't budge. He suddenly feels and hand on his shoulder and nearly jumps out of his skin.

{Leon} "Mother Jenova!"

{Tifa} "Need a hand, Little man?"

{Leon} "Don't do that! But yes. Please use your freakish strength here."

{Tifa} "I'm not a freak. You just gotta put some elbow grease into it."

She pulled the door off of it's hinges and out of the frame entirely; wires and all. Though she immediately dropped it as soon as she noticed the dark, glowing matter growing on it.

{Tifa} "Ew ew ew! What is that?! Did it get on me?! Am I gonna need a shot?!"

Leon ignores her panicking and peers into the cell to find the walls, floor and ceiling covered with the same Dark Matter. A black fog started to seep out of there and left a pungent smell. The room was pulsing and pumping all in an collaboration with it's centerpiece. A lone heart exposed to the elements.

{Tifa} "Is it a Heartless?"

{Leon} "I don't think so. And frankly, I don't want to know what it is. But the heart looks intact, so that should be good enough."

{Tifa} "Well, I'm not grabbing it."

{Leon} "What's wrong, Little girl? Afraid to get your shoes dirty?"

While the two of them bicker at each other, Yuffie walks right past them and enters the room. Stepping over the gooey mass as it pops and squishes beneath her feet.

{Tifa} "Oh my god, it's moist! Why is it moist?!"

Yuffie grabs the heart with her bare hands and quickly runs back out of the disgusting boil.

{Yuffie} "I got it! You owe me 100 Munny!"

She shows off the beating heart in her hands as both Tifa and Leon lean back and stare at her with their eyes wide open. Yuffie realizes what she's doing.

{Yuffie} "...Oh god, why did I do that?! Give me a container! Quick!"

{Leon} "Yuffie! Relax! You're going to drop it!"

{Tifa} "Drop it? I would've thrown it on the ground like a touchdown celebration."

{Yuffie} "Take it! Take it! Ooooh, I did not think this through!"

Yuffie feels the heart whisper to her.

{?} "You've freed me from agony. Thank you."

{Yuffie} "Huh? ...Did you guys here that?"

{Tifa} "Yes. I can hear it beating and pulsing and squishing and...ugh! It's so gross!"

Leon picks up an empty heart container and Yuffie slips the heart inside.

{Yuffie} "Weird."

{Tifa} "This whole place is weird! Let's get out of here!"

{Leon} "Agreed. We have what we came for. Let's go find the King."

~The World That Never Was~

The Twilight's View was a common place for Organization members to have unofficial meetings. This time only strengthened the tradition. Ienzo wandered up the stairs as a woman with blue eyes and long blond hair tracing down to her waist ran down the stairs in a hurry. It was Evangeline, of course. Always so serious and stressed out.

{?} "Ienzo? Ienzo!?"

{Ienzo} "Right here, Evan. What is it?"

{Evan} "Where is Lord Xemnas?!"

{Ienzo} "His usual spot."

{Evan} "The Chamber of Repose."

{Ienzo} "Yes. Go and see for yourself."

{Evan} "That isn't funny! I suppose I'll have to wait. Why is he never around when I need him? It's almost as if he KNOWS I'm looking for him."

She continues to rant while running down the stairs as she trails off. Suddenly, a sensual and dulcet voice spoke to Ienzo from rafters above the room he came from. It was another woman. One with dark purple eyes and the same colored hair styled into a drill and draped over her right shoulder with bangs covering her left eye partially. Ienzo recognized her as Lauriam.

{Lauriam} "You know. I don't like that place either. What about you, Ienzo? What do you think?"

{Ienzo} "I think eavesdropping is intrusive. Why are you even here. You and Lea were tasked with finding where DiZ is hiding. Have you forgotten or were you procrastinating?"
{Lauriam} "Not at all. We've tracked him down to Twilight Town. From there it's only a matter of time until we find him. Lea's in the process of 'smoking him out'. And since I worked so hard to make this breakthrough, I had Aeleus take my place for the day. I want to get my beauty rest for tomorrow. So, I can feel nice and refreshed for the induction of our 14th member."

{Ienzo} "Is that so? Well then, I will leave you to it. I have work to catch up on. Good day."

He tries to walk away but she swiftly rushed to his side with a flourish of rose petals.

{Lauriam} "Aw, don't be like that. Stay and talk. How's your sister these days?"

{Ienzo} "Arlene and I don't talk much anymore aside from work. She's become..."

{Lauriam} "...a bitch?"

{Ienzo} "I was going to say 'difficult', but that works too. What about you? How's your son?"

{Lauriam} "Solomon is doing much better. Isa has been helping him with his training. She's a bit harsh on him, but there's no one better to teach him how to use his weapon. Durol has been keeping to himself more than usual. You wouldn't happen to know anything about it, would you?"

{Ienzo} "...I know I would very much like to focus on my own duties. As you should with yours. We need to prepare the new facility immediately, but only Durol, Braig, and Arlene have been able to start working on it. We're going to need a few more hands on deck. So hurry up and find DiZ so we can focus on more important things."

Ienzo again tries to walk away and head up the stairs.

{Lauriam} "What new facility? Oh, you mean Castle Oblivion. What does Xemnas plan on doing with that old place anyways?"

{Ienzo} "He has already shared his intentions with us."

{Lauriam} "But did you know there was something he DIDN'T share?!"

He stops in his tracks as they both remain quiet for a while.

{Lauriam} "I've known him longer than any of you. Changed as he might be...some things never change. And I know when a man is lying. You were too young to remember that well. Back when we first became Nobodies; the first thing Xemnas did after he banished Ansem the Wise was clear out all the hearts in the Graveyard and build a room in the back. Do you know what's in that room?"

Ienzo didn't answer.

{Lauriam} "It's a room that allows him to relive ONE specific memory. His memory of before everything happened. His memory of his friends. His memory of me and...Sora."

*You may have noticed that the Organization has been altered quite a bit. For the most part, all the members don't have X in their names. Certain characters have been Gender swapped(i.e. Marluxia, Saix and Vexen) or are now related(Larxene and Zexion) or even have children. You might also be able to tell that this is going to diverge greatly from the original lore. All I can specify for now is that this series will be spread across 3 different timelines. Union X Era, Days of Nothing Era and %# !*$?^ Requiem Era. I can't go into further detail without heading into spoiler territory.*