Chapter I: Stranger by the Water

The moon shone wan on the black water, turning it into quicksilver in the single reflection while the rest was an ebony tar pit. The ebb and flow of the sea lapped up on the gritty sand, turning the dark grey a damp black along the shore. The formations of rock extended from the mainland out into the ocean, branching out like groping fingers blindly searching for a way out.

It was the same with everyone who entered the Dark Meridian.

So many entered and so many passed through. But even more faded. They would appear and wander aimlessly, searching for a purpose until they no longer left their footprints in the ashen sand. They passed on, simply dissipating into the air as if they had never even entered the in-between plane, and there was nothing left to indicate that they had ever existed. There had been so many, so many that had come and gone, so many that had appeared and faded, so many that no one would ever be able to know the exact number.

She walked along the shore, just out of range of the Stygian surf. She had never entered the water for fear of what may happen: it was the liquid that gave life, but it was also the liquid that took it away. And nothing could ever be judged by earthly rules in the Dark Meridian. She slowly climbed over a large black rock, its sharp edges leaving no wounds in her feet; her body had faded enough for solid objects to sink into her slightly. She had been real once, a real person with a real body, heart, and soul. But that time had passed.

She slid off of the rock and landed lightly on the sand, her feet barely making a depression at her lack of weight and she continued on. She kept her eyes down on her bare feet, every now and then kicking a stray stone or clump of sand that stood in her path. She clambered or stepped over the occasional rock formation, simply walking along with a blank mind. There was nothing else for her to do. It was the only thing that gave her purpose, the sand between her toes the only thing that reminded her that she was actually there.

She paused and looked up, taking a moment to view the silver moon and dark sky, the inky waves reaching just before her toes. She felt empty as was usual, but her body felt lighter and lighter every day as she continued to fade. It was unlike the others who had come, those who had dissipated with haste and faded within a few days time. But she could never be sure how long it had taken them to vanish: it was always moonrise in the Dark Meridian and day was the same as night and minute was barely distinguishable from decade.

The only thing that she was certain of was that she had lasted much longer than some, so long that it had become tedious. All she wanted to do was finally fade and move on to whatever plane she would venture to next, but her spirit was persistent and refused to release its last anchor on her body. But it would all soon be for naught. And she knew it. And she impatiently waited for that moment when she would be released from the prison of a silver moon, a sable surf, an ashen coast, and a fading flesh.

She removed her absent gaze from the horizon and was about to continue her perpetual walk when she spotted another figure a short distance away. It was another girl, a girl that she had seen a few times prior, but they had never spoken or gotten close enough to one another to even exchange a glance. She was standing just before the waves and staring off into the ocean, the gentle breeze blowing her clothing out around her. She turned and locked the absent stare of the walker and began to approach. And the walker simply blinked and watched her near.

They stood adjacent to one another and took in the other's appearance.

One was a stately girl with eyes and hair of a matching cerulean with a short haircut. She wore a dark navy blue halter-top with two pink belts over her chest intersecting at a silver badge shaped somewhat like a heart. She wore white bell-sleeves starting at the middle of her upper arm secured by a piece of segmented armor and wore tan, fingerless gloves. She wore black shorts and black stockings that came to her mid thigh and left a section of her upper thigh bare. She wore two pieces of blue cloth that fell on either of her hips and trailed to her mid-calf along with a white cloth of the same length that hung behind her and was tied at her waist. Her shoes were armor-like, pointed, sliver, and bore a wicked scythe-shaped hook on the outside of each ankle. She was beautiful, her body strong and well shaped. And she carried herself with honor, an honor that must have come from her purposeful life before this eternal moonrise.

The walker was far from a pretty warrior.

Her eyes were black, as was her shaggy mop of hair, and she seemed transparent. She was not nearly as lavishly clothed or prideful in aura. She had death-white skin that contrasted sharply with her hair and eyes, her face gaunt and dark circles ringing her heavily lidded eyes. She was incredibly thin, her clavicles, cheekbones, knees, and elbows protruding harshly from her skin. She wore something akin to an oversized lab coat, but it was grey as opposed to the customary white, and the sleeves and bottom were torn and threadbare. It was open to the middle of her chest, exposing a black v-neck shirt that too was frayed and showed her sternum through her skin. She wore black shorts that had once been pants but were now loose, ripped, and torn like the rest of her attire. Her feet were bare and covered in dry sand grains from her constant walking. And there was a stubby pencil behind her right ear.

"Hello," the blue-haired girl said. Her voice was light and musical, a tone so alien in the in-between realm that it seemed impossible that she could ever have been thrown into such a plane.

"Hello," the black-haired girl said. Her voice was dry and rasped like autumn leaves, matching her disheveled appearance.

They stood facing each other in silence, the wind tugging gently at their hair and clothes as if hoping to draw them into the mainland and beyond the mountains that surrounded the coast.

"I've seen you before, haven't I?" the blue haired girl murmured quietly to herself. She lowered to the ground and sat cross-legged, turning her gaze to the murky waters. "My name is Aqua. What's yours?"

"I… I don't think that… I remember…" The walker looked out to the ocean as well as if searching for the answer.

"Oh… Well, lots of memories fade here." Aqua looked back to the walker and patted the sand next to her. "Come and sit. You look tired."

"Yeah…" The walker landed lightly in the sand due to her lack of substantiality. She gave a great sigh and her shoulders sagged heavily. She pulled her knobby knees up to her chest and wrapped her bony arms around them as if trying to keep her dissipating entity together.

"Do you always walk around like that? You've been here for less time than me, but I've never seen you stop."

"I walk to remind myself that I'm here. If not… I don't know. I've been here a long time, so… I guess I want to fade away, but… I don't like the unknown. I never have." She lowered her head to her knees and sighed heavily again, her body visibly flickering with the force of her released breath.

"Do you remember anything about your life in the Realm of Light?"

The walker looked up from her knees to Aqua, black eyes locking her with a blank stare. "No… Wait… Maybe… I don't know." She looked back to the surf. "I did something bad… I think I know that much." She lowered one of her hands to the sand and began to draw a shape. "The Realm of Light…" she mused to herself. "Why does that seem familiar? Why do I feel like that's important?" She looked down at the shape she had drawn: a heart with three points at the end and two lines crossing through the middle. "Heartless…" She mumbled, furrowing her brow. "Do you remember anything about your past?"

Aqua was silent until she realized that the walker had ceased mumbling to herself and was now addressing the other. "Yeah. I remember everything."

"Lucky… What was your life like?"

"I was a keyblade master." Aqua began to draw her own symbol in the sand. "I fought along side my friends Ventus and Terra. But both of them… they struggled with darkness. I lost both of them in the end… and I did everything I could to save them, but I gave up myself to save Terra. That's how I ended up here. I'm still waiting for the day when I will be saved. And I know one day that someone will set me and the others free."

"You really believe that? You think that you can get out of here?" The walker's eyes were wide, pits of the void ready to swallow any hope that may be offered.

"Definitely. My friends and I will be saved… Some day…" She looked down at the symbol beside her, a five-pointed star-like shape with the same heart-like badge on her chest in the middle: a good-luck charm made out of seashells.

The walker rested her chin of her sharp knees. "It would be great to get out of here… But I don't think that I'll last long enough for salvation." She lifted one of her hands, holding it up towards the moon and easily seeing the silver orb through her flesh. "That name… Terra… Why is that familiar…? And the keyblade… They remind me of something I can't remember…" She lowered her hand and looked back to Aqua. "How is it that you remember? And why aren't you fading?"

Aqua slipped a stray strand of her sapphire hair behind her ear. "I don't know. Maybe it's because I have hope. Maybe it's because I have a strong heart. Maybe it's because someone will save me one day. Or maybe I have someone protecting me from losing myself."

"Lucky…" the walker murmured again. "I think I tried to save someone once… or several people. I think that's how I ended up here… I think."

"Are you remembering?"

"Yeah. A little. It's as if just being beside you has unlocked a door to my mind that I thought had disappeared, and it's slowly being opened and everything is coming back to me… I think."

Aqua smiled gently. "Opened a door? I think I find that rational." Aqua rested her hand gently on the walker's back, careful not to be too harsh on her frail body. "What do you remember?"

"Names… but not my own… I never went by my real name. I always used a nickname for some reason. I don't know why."

"What names do you remember?"

The walker's body shuddered and she winced, and Aqua was abruptly able to see a hazy image of the rock formations at their side. "It's hurts to remember. But I do. They were called… Dilan… Aeleus… Even… Braig… Ienzo… and… Xehanort…"

Aqua jumped back suddenly, eyes wide and shimmering in the moonlight. "Xehanort?! You knew Master Xehanort?!"

The walker looked at her blankly. "Master? No, no one called him master. Not behind his back, at least… And there was another name… It was… Ansem…"

"Who are you?" Aqua had lost the concerned note in her voice and was glaring accusingly at the walker. "Just who are you?"

"You mean who was I, right?" Aqua was not amused by the correction. "It's hard to remember, but… Ansem had… apprentices. I think that… I was one of them. The seventh… one that was barely recognized, but I did too much wrong for any pride to come from the title. We were… monsters… That's all that can be said."

"You were one of Ansem's apprentices?" Aqua was now staring in wonder.

"Yeah… but no one knew of me… Yeah, that's right. I remember it now." The walker looked down at her hands and tugged at the lab coat. "I think I get it now." She looked shocked, as if learning something about her life that she had never known about, as if a nasty secret had just been spilled. "Xenon."

"What?"

"My name… that's what they would call me. Xenon. Like the element." She clasped her hands onto the sides of her head, tangling her fingers into her hair and burying her face into her knees. "I remember them now… I remember everything!" Her gaze flashed up, her black eyes flaring with a hidden light that shown like the bloodlust of a dangerous animal. "What have you done?!"

Aqua rose to her feet and backed away. But the other girl slumped to the ground flat on her back, staring up at the starry sky. She began blinking rapidly and Aqua noticed that tears were starting to slide down the sides of her face until they were lost in her hair. Her black eyes reflected the sky immaculately, as if the ebony orbs had transformed into little mirrors or vacuums ready to drain away and take anything they saw.

"Xenon? Are you okay?" Aqua murmured softly, kneeling at the girl's side.

"No," she whispered. "I should have saved them… I could have stopped them… I could have protected them where Ansem couldn't… But I didn't… and now… they've faded."

"Tell me what happened, Xenon. Before you fade, put your mind to rest."

"Yeah… I guess that's the only thing that I can do… I mean, times isn't really on my side is it?"

Xenon closed her eyes from the stars and inhaled deeply, but the tangy scent of salty air and warm wind was absent on the beach. Only sorrow and forlornness saturated the air. "They were the only friends I had… yet they were my worst enemies… We were all against each other; we were all fighting for approval. And we all wanted to be noticed. And I was one of them. I was the seventh apprentice. I was the one that was mocked and ridiculed… I was the one that tamed the darkness yet held a deathly fear of it as things began to fall to pieces… But I continued because they were the only people that I could hold on to. I was the one that was left behind."

Author Note: Hi everyone. So here's a new story that I thought up a while ago and just decided to write up. So, yeah. This chapt is kind of like a prologue. I'll get around to posting that "actual" start of the story soon. But I already have writers block '-_- This story is going to take place during KH Birth By Sleep, so if anyone has questions, PM me or review with a question and I will answer the best I can. And I'm going to do my best to keep it parallel to the timeline of the story. And review, please! I like reviews ;) tell me how I did 'cause I want to know. I think all writers do. I own nothing except Xenon, my new OC. So i hope to post a new chapter soon. The story may start slow, but it will get better so please bare with me. Peace out.

-cagedbird361