Xero

[Chapter one - Pilot]

My first story on this account, oh wow, and a Kingdom Hearts one at that. I honestly have had this idea for a long time but since I hadn't played KH in ages I never got around to it. I still need to replay it all at some stage.

Anyway, yes this is an OC story, so if you are not a fan of them don't force yourself to stay. But if you are willing, do give this a chance. It is a 'pilot' chapter so I may always come back to edit it, especially since it's late at night here and I have to write this all on wordpad.

I do not want to make her too 'OP' as you call it, but I still want Reo to have her own story in this fanfic and something that she too has to overcome. So new things will be added, nothing too drastic, but regarding 'Xero' there will be some added history.


I...have been in that weird state between dreaming and waking, where dreams could be memories and the real word could be a dream ~ Jocelyn Davies

Such a thing, however, is impossible to comprehend while sleeping, and forgotten whilst awake. Sometimes, I accept such an outcome, no matter how terrible and haunting it could be - recent nights where nightmares would take hold and no matter how irrational they could be, I would believe it to be the reality I didn't want to face. Nights like these, where my whole world would crumble around me, my body unable to react and sometimes with unseen blood on my hands. Watching everything turn to black - being engulfed by the darkness - until suddenly I myself was lost to it

On rare occasions I could remember details of these dreams, but evidently it was always the same - the world collapsing. When I looked carefully I could make out yellow glowing dots in the dark. The light should have been a relief, but instead it only enhanced the gripping fear.

With a shaky sigh Reo opened her eyes, beginning to awaken fully now that she had pulled herself out of the nightmare. Once again, it was only a fuzzy recallance - but she had gotten the gist of it. It would be strange if she didn't after having the same dreams over and over again. Could it mean something? Didn't it have something to do with current worries and fears...maybe..no, they couldn't be hers - despite not being too comfortable in the dark, it wasn't a huge worry of hers. With a quick glance to her bedside table, which she could only trace the outline off in the dark room, Reo reached out in search for her phone. 4am the screen read. It wouldn't be too long until the sun rose now so trying to get back to sleep would be unnecessary - but with these current dreams, she wasn't in much rush to dive back into them.


"Up so early again?"

Reo sipped on the coffee she'd just finished making before turning to her mother and flashing a nervous smile. The older woman yawned as she made her way over to the kitchen, still dressed in her nightgown as she'd only just woken up and heard all the noise from downstairs. Oops, Reo thought to herself, now I'm in for an earful. "Yeah, I just - couldn't sleep too well."

Her mother hummed to herself but the obvious suspicion was there. Reo just kept drinking her drink, eyeing her mother from the corner of her eye and hoping she didn't press further. Not that she would unless Reo came to her directly with the problem.

"You weren't staying up all night on that computer were you?" Reo rolled her eyes at the accusation - she wasn't that bad. Okay, maybe it was a usual thing for her to stay up late on either her game consoles or laptop, but she'd been good these past few months!

"I'm personally offended by that statement," The response earn a small chuckle from the woman and Reo couldn't help but laugh quietly herself. Still even with such a warm feeling the events from the past few nights were getting to her - it wasn't good for her health and it had been taking it's tole lately. Reo didn't even want to look in the mirror, her skin was probably paler than usually - not to mention the bags under her eyes. Not a pretty combination.

After a few seconds of just staring down at her coffee, Reo finally decided to confront her mother on the matter. "Actually mum, can I .. -have you ever had a dream, no, multiple dreams, of the same thing - but it's not good, it's like a constant nightmare, but it's not really that scary because you don't remember most of it when you wake up...but it still gets to you, almost like ...I don't know, subconsciously?" Reo's face twisted as she spoke. Yeah, she'd never been the best at explaining such things - but it really was an indescribable situation. "...Did that make sense?"

"Not one bit," Her mother took a seat on one of the stools, giving her a small smile in response. As Reo's face fell another laugh was heard from the woman, "But, I think I understand what you were trying to get at. Reoccurring nightmares that you can't remember but still leave an impression of fear?"

"Okay show off," Reo pouted playfully, thankful that she had her mother around to help lighten up the situation. Well, she definitely didn't get her literate abilities from her mothers side, that was for sure. Once again though the dreams took over her brightened mood and she frowned. "Sort off...but it's really strange..."

"We still don't fully understand dreams, Reo, I don't doubt that it can be quite strange sometimes." With that the woman stood up and headed towards the counter to make her own caffeine beverage. But Reo hadn't moved nor faced her direction, because her mind was too busy trying to grasp onto something - something she had remembered feeling when she woke up each time.

"No that's not it. It didn't feel like it was my fears."


"Not your fears? That doesn't make any sense, of course it was your fears, who else could it have been? ...Don't be going all psychotic on me." Reo huffed and readjusted the straps on the bag she was carrying. Honestly, she wondered why she bothered confining in her 'friends'. But she supposed it was better to get different outlooks on it - plus, it killed time on there walk home from school.

"I'm not going psychotic, Larah. It's just really difficult for me to explain, that's all - urgh I don't know!" Reo was becoming frustrated with herself at this point. Someone else's fears? Honestly - maybe she was becoming psychotic.

"You really haven't gotten much sleep, have you?" Larah mused with a cocky smile causing Reo to roll her eyes for what seemed like the millionth time today. So even Larah had begin to notice - although she supposed she'd never been this snappy before. "Maybe you've just been playing too many vids' or something? You said something about 'darkness' and 'yellow eyes' right?"

"Yeah...so what?" Reo watched her cautiously. She really wasn't in the mood to deal with any more smart ass comments about the matter, but being mates with Larah, well, you couldn't really get passed it.

"Didn't you used to play that weird Disney kind of game - with those 'Heartfull' creatures that were little bundles of darkness with yellow glowly eyes." As she explained Larah made sure to use more hand action for the 'glowing eyes' and lazily gestured to her own form at the 'bundles of darkness'. "What was it, come on, you'd know this better then I would - something hearts, castle hearts or whatever."

"Okay wow, first off, it's called Kingdom Hearts, second, heartfull? It's heartless, why would villians be called heartfull, that's just over generous for them. And finally, I haven't played that game in years." Surprisingly, or what is, it was Larah's turn to roll her eyes at Reo's defense for her old favorite game. But still...maybe it would explain the yellow eyes and everything. "Oh my f- I am not accepting I have just been dreaming about that old game the whole time, no way."

Larah began to laugh at her embarrassed expression, giving a not so harmless shove and strutting on forward, leaving Reo to trail behind in her pit of despair. "Can't be all bad sweetheart - 'least it's just fictional stuff. I'd be worried if it wasn't."

"...I'm flattered." Was Reo's muffled retort, her thoughts taking hold once again. Had it really just been dreams about Kingdom hearts? But why so many ... here she thought that maybe it had all meant something. But no, it was probably just about the game - what a strange time to be having dreams about that though. With a shake of the head Reo managed to smile again. Despite being disappointed the girl was also glad that it hadn't been anything serious and hopefully she'd be able to sleep better.

"Hey Larah would you wait -" When Reo looked back up at her fleeting friend she suddenly froze in a mixture of panic and shock. There it was again - the darkness creeping up from the shadows, slowly making their way towards the unsuspected victim. "L-..." She felt like she couldn't utter a single word, like her whole body had suddenly forgot how to function. This wasn't - this only happened in her dreams! What was happening? This couldn't be real - was she dreaming? Where was the line between both -

"Huh?" Larah turned around with a confused expression directed at Reo, "What's up with you, honestly?" Other than the slight annoyance in her tone, nothing seemed out of the ordinary to the girl. But why? Why couldn't she see -!

It had vanished in a blink of the eye, all of it, like it hadn't ever been there. Reo reached up slowly and pressed her hand against her face - what was going on? ...maybe she really was losing it.

"Hey?" Reo's eyes widened in shock as the other girl was by her side in an instant. Was - Was her grasp on time screwy? No, must just be the shock. Reo's heart was still beating irregular fast and she took a few breaths to try and calm herself down. "Reo, are you feeling okay? You've gone pale, like, really pale? Are you getting sick again?"

Reo weakly shook her head and gently pushed her friend to the side, turning away from Larah and heading in the direction of home. "I'm fine, I just - I need to go." Was her final responce, not bothering to give a proper farewell - no, she needed to get home and sleep, otherwise she feared things would get worse.


It didn't take too long for her to get home, nor did she have any difficulty making her way up to her room without being spotted by any worried family members since no one was home at this time. Reo hadn't noticed how much her head had begun to hurt on her journey home, only now having it kick in to it's full extent.

She'd had many headaches before when she was younger, most of those times she'd been extremely ill, but nothing could compare with the pain she was beginning to experience now. Reo fell onto her bed, teeth grinding in some form of relief to the head pains. Was she that over tired?

"Sleep it off, Reo." With a few deep breaths to control the sudden pain, Reo re positioned herself on the bed so that her head rested on the pillow. She had to sleep no matter what - after what happened back with Larah especially. She didn't want to believe she was starting to lose sanity...sleep had to help her, it was the only thing she could do.


The word is filled with dark and light

Reo's eyes snapped open. At first nothing but darkness surrounded her and for a moment she dreaded it was the same dream repeating. But, despite not always remembering the details of those dreams, she knew that this was not how they started. No, the voice was a new touch. The world is full of darkness? "Well, so is this room." Reo let out an annoyed sigh. If she really was 'losing the plot' then she had nothing much else to lose, did she? Might as well play along.

As if on queue to her words, light began to shine from the ground, one section at a time before it outlined what Reo could make out as a circular platform. The middle had yet to be lit but Reo was too awed to care. "Well okay, you got me there - sort of. Where ...is this place?"

But that does not mean you have to be afraid

Reo wasn't anxious like she'd been in her other dreams. This was a much more pleasant turn and perhaps finally she was sleeping normally again. She was admiring the platform below her - it really was pretty and distracted her from the darkness all around her.

Wait, isn't that what the voice was saying. Now Reo's attention was back to the situation at hand. "I'm not - well, not really," Why was she even trying to argue with it? It was just a dream. It didn't need to know if she was or not.

fear of darkness becomes blinding

Suddenly the rest of the platform lit up and Reo was able to make out the pattern. But as she stepped back to take it in, it wasn't just a pattern she saw. Instead, it was the outline of a person she'd never seen before. That middle of the outline was not lit up, but the colors were still dimly shown. As well of that, the outline was only one the left side leaving the rest of the platform - "Empty?" No, the more Reo looked the more it began to look - "Shadows...why are there shadows covering it."

But you must break those chains

The voice kept speaking but Reo's eyes were fixated on the person. Dark brown hair, Green eyes - Was that, her? No, it was hard to tell - it could also be a boy? Reo's eyes trailed to the outlines arm which was reaching out into the darkness and noticed the chains wrapped around their hand.

Accept the darkness

"Why chains?" An uneasy feeling overcame Reo, "I don't like this anymore...time to wake up." Something was very wrong here and she felt like she was endanger, dream or not, she wouldn't stick around. So she squeezed her eyes shut, "Wake up, wake up, please, come on." For once her pleas seem to be working and she felt herself being dragged from her dream state.

'..e...o..'

It was a voice she heard as the world around her began to disappear - not the same voice she'd been hearing, something sinister and dark, leaving shivers down her spine.

'Xe..r..'

And may it lead you to light

'Xer..o'


Phew okay, first chapter is always the hardest, but it's finished ~ I do apologise for grammer at this point, just because I am sleepy. Again, this is just a 'pilot' but I want to work on this in my free time. So with that being said, farewell~