Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts (c) Sq/Enix

Nox, Aura, Auras Dad, and the as-of-yet unnamed world (c) Yenattirb

Authors notes: Just a random little oneshot I wrote one day.

Enemy. Light is a heartless's enemy. The keyblade is light. Its weilder is light. But so's the sun, lamps, and many other things. Light, shiny, glowing. Fire glows. Fire is light. It provides light in darkness. But it is destructive if not tended to. If left alone, fire destroyed. If tended to, fire provided life. A strange thing, indeed. Perhaps, Heartless are the same way? No. Heartless destroy for the sake of destruction. It is in our nature. But why? Can't we be something different?

Can't we become something... Light?

I wonder this because I know that heartless are feared everywhere. Some of us return to our previous forms, and those of us that do retain the memories we gained as a heartless. I know that, because some of my close friends have returned to normal. Returned to their human forms. One of my kind, however, remains parted from darkness, yet staves himself away from the light. I fear he may be destroyed by our master, as a defect. Not once has he taken a heart, so I fear also that our master may starve him. Every day I must force-feed him the power contained inside a heart. He doesn't like it, though. He perfers to eat what humans eat, so I sometimes get 549.2-0 to raid one of the neighboring worlds. She doesn't mind, but I fear for her. She might get found out one of these days. Found out by Sora, and he would give no mercy.
Perhaps I can get 8-9 to travel to a safe world, free of both heartless and Sora alike. That way, he might find a way to regain his Human form, without risking his safety...
That's it. Tomorrow I will get him to travel to Lightdream. I am the only one who knows of it, so he will be secure. I will go with him, but keep myself at a distance. I want 8-9 to make this journey alone.

I just hope both myself and him are not found out...

- Exerpt from the Journal of Neoshadow Heartless Number 662.6-5;

0o0o0o0

The little heartless contemplated many things as he hobbled along the forest floor, watching everything around him for any signs that the keyblade master was there, for any signs that something was amiss. Thankfully, he was alone this night. Not even his brothers and sisters were there. Yes, his bretheren were on many worlds, but this world... This was a backwater world. Not very important, and easily overlooked in his masters plan. Certainly, one tiny, light-filled backwater planet wouldn't bring about his masters downfall?
He had been turned to this world when he had discovered that wherever his kind went, they were destroyed, by either the keyblader, or his master. He was but one being of darkness in a world of light. Maybe he was safe here. He could silently collect hearts, avoiding contact with anyone that had a powerful heart. It would be very simple, very easy... He could study hearts, study light in a world that one less heart didn't matter.

The little heartless continued to think, only stopping when a pair of bright, round lights shot at him from the darkness. The quick and sudden light blinded him, causing him to squeal out in pain in his tiny, high-pitched voice. He curled up in a ball on the dirt, believing it to be the keyblade master, about to destroy him with a new weapon. Perhaps if he showed terror, if he showed pain and fear, then maybe the keyblade master would accept a new fact. Maybe the boy would discover that not every heartless is pure evil. After all, hadn't it been the boy who had said 'Deep down inside theres a light that never goes out'? Simply put, This heartless had found and carefully protected his light. He remembered the dark. He was fond of the dark. But the light intrigued him. He wanted to know more. Maybe he could inspire a new era for his bretheren?

He looked up, wondering when the keyblade would impact wth him, sending blasts of light and cold throughout his body, destroying him. He soon found himself staring into two sets of eyes. One set was aquamarine, like one of the boys friends, Riku. The other set was brown. He remembered his own eyes. Small and round and yellow. No pupils. The smaller one, the one with aqua eyes, was a girl. The older was male. He looked at their chests, at their hearts. Both light. The male had touches of darkness in his heart, as did everyone when they grew older, but the girl... Her heart was pure. Pure and innocent and oblivous to the bad parts of the world. It was obvious she knew only happiness and joy. He wanted her heart. It was strong. But he knew if he was to bring a new era, he would have to restrain himself. Fight his instincts. Not easy.

"Whats that, Daddy?" The girl said. She didn't know what he was? Was he the first of his kind to ever visit this world?

"I don't know, honey... It looks harmless enough." The girl reached forward. The heartless flinched, expecting to be banished at the touch of the light-filled girl. He felt her hand on his head, that soon turning to his anntenne being rubbed. He noted that it felt nice. Now he knew why many creatures enjoyed the repetitive idea of being stroked. He looked up at her when it stopped, taking a step forward.

"Was it you that squealed, Mr. ant?" Mr ant? He was no ant. But he had squealed. He opened his mouth slightly, trying to immitate the girls words, but all that came out was a quiet, garbled gurgling noise that sounded vaguely like words. The girl giggled, kneeling down so that her eyes were level with his own.

"Come on, you can do it! Start with som'thin' small, like... Hello! Say hello!" Say Hello? Alright. For the girl. For her amusement. After all, he would no doubt be destroyed by the keyblade master whether he could speak or not.

"Kkkk..." Wrong sound. Hello. 'H' sound. Like deep breathing. "Kkkkkhkhhhh." He strugged with the sound. It was difficult for him. Heartless didn't speak, so their vocal chords were underdeveloped, their mouths almost blended with their flesh. "Hhhhh... Heeee... Llll... Lll.. looo" In his mind, he smiled broadly. First heartless to ever speak! He was proud. The girl laughed, smiling. The older man was smiling, too. They were amused. He remembered what the inside of his mouth looked like. Sharp teeth bordering a pointed tongue. Hadn't his sharp teeth scared them? He also remembered that his mouth was technically nonexistant. It was really just the darkness tearing.

He flinched as the girl picked him up. He wasn't ready for physical contact. He could feel her light rushing through her body, pushing to make sure his darkness didn't invade.

"Can we keep 'im?" He turned from where the girls heart was to the older male. He was liked? He felt something new flicker inside him. Was it his light? Was it fading?! He looked from his own chest back up at the man.

"I'm not sure. It doesn't look harmful. We'll have to get it looked at, make sure it's all healthy." He said, smiling. The girl smiled.

"Yay!" She hugged the heartless lightly, kissing him on the forehead. The male turned on a cylindrical item that shot out a beam of light, tearing the darkness. The girl began speaking, evidently to the heartless himself.

"My names Aura, whats yours?" Name? He had no name. He had a number, though. 852.8-9. But no name. He continued staring at the girl, confused. "Hmmm... You got no name? Thats sad... I'll call you... Nox! It means night! My name means glowing light. You'll like where we live. It's a big house in the corner of town!"

The heartless, or rather, Nox, looked down the road, noticing many lights of different forms, hearts jumbled in with them, glowing vibrantly in milllions of different colors. In a sense, it was beautiful. Quite brilliant. If the Keyblader could see this, he would have his breath stolen from him. Even heartless knew when something looked nice. They weren't completely devoid of emotion. They just didn't understand the bit they had.

"C'mon, Nox! This way, in here!" Nox looked away from the lights to the girl, Aura. Perhaps if he stayed with her, he would learn more about humans than he would wandering alone. And this way, he would be protected from the keyblader he knew would come.

Nox hobbled over to where Aura was motioning from. She was half-inside of something that looked like a cousin of one of the Heartless his master had created, then sent off to the world of the Light-Castles past. Well, if she was entering it, it likely wouldn't hurt him either. Aura grabbed him around his waist, placing him next to her inside the odd vehicle, then strapping him onto the seat carefully.

"Gotta wear your seatbelt, Nox. Saftey first, remember that." Nox looked at Aura. Saftey first? Okay. He would think before acting. It might help. He nodded, rubbing his hands on the seatbelt. It's fabric was intriguing. To him, anyway. Nevertheless, the ride took a very short amount of time, and Nox soon found himself being helped out of the vehicle to be greeted by a house that had two more hearts inside it. Aura's mom, and perhaps a sibling? But he was broken out of his thoughts as Aura called out to him.

"Hurry up Nox!" Nox blinked his sun-yellow eyes, hurrying towards the home that Nox supposed he would soon be able to call his own. An emotion he identified as excitement rushed up his spine. He had a friend, a home, and had seen no evidance that this world was to be taken by the dark. Perhaps this would become the world that any other free heartless would go.

Or perhaps... Perhaps he had doomed this young, pure world by simply coming here. Nox shuddered as he ran toward Aura. Had he doomed the planet?

No. He wouldn't think that way. He would only think positive thoughts, Light thoughts. After all, he was trying to encourage a new era for heartless everywhere.

And all it will take, Nox thought, is a bit of courage.

Again, just a oneshot. Don't really expect much more on this, guys. I wrote this when I was bored one day.