A/N: Yep, another of my random ideas put down in words. This story takes place at an unspecified point in 'The Dark' series (Master of, Source of and Collective In), but you don't need to have read any of them for this. It's pretty much a stand-alone story really, but it needed a reason to happen, so I gave it one.
The time elapsed (Don't worry, it becomes clear as you read) isn't likely to be too accurate, but it doesn't really need to be.
Anyway. Enough from me. As usual, I don't own Kingdom Hearts, or any of the worlds and characters at all. And with that, I'm going to shut up and let you read.
It was all quiet in Danny's café, which was often it's normal state of existance. The regular patrons were all either in their discussions, reading something or in the case of one table playing poker. Those who weren't regulars knew better than to get too loud in here, and so despite the normal hubbub that was going on, there was little to suggest this was anything other than a normal day here.
However, sat at one corner table were two regulars who were silent, one of whom looked decidedly bored. They were Sora and Roxas, meeting up here as they so often did when times were quiet enough to allow them to get away from things.
Roxas was quiet by choice, watching the poker game nearby with amusement. He'd never played the game himself, though Luxord had once tried to get him involved. He knew how it was played though, and that gave him everything he needed to understand the game.
One player examined his cards, then confidently said, "See your 100, and raise..." he counted out several chips, throwing them on the pile. "200 more."
"Too rich for my blood," one of the others shook his head, folding. Out of the six of them, that left only three left in this round.
The next player pursed his lips for a moment, considering his next move then wordlessly added his own, meeting the 200.
"He's bluffing," Roxas murmured to Sora, keeping his voice down so the players wouldn't hear him.
"Which one?" Sora asked, only vaguely interested.
"The one who raised."
"How can you tell?"
"He doesn't raise by large amounts unless he's bluffing, or he's absolutely certain, and he doesn't get certain until it's only him and one other."
"Why don't you join in if you know so much about their playing style?"
"Oh, no, not me my friend," Roxas chuckled. "I've got better things to do with my savings than gamble."
"Your 200," the remaining player told the others, adding yet more chips. "And 400 more."
"Confident, aren't we?" the first smiled.
"Getting cold feet?" the third asked archly.
"Not on your life," he replied, adding yet another 200 to the count.
The second folded, "I think I'll sit out and see which of you gets the pot."
"I call," the third smirked, showing his hand. Roxas saw two queens. With the five cards fully visible on the table, the highest he could make was a full house, queens over eights.
"Why thank you so very much," the first grinned, flipping his cards over. Two eights, matched with the two already down, giving him four of a kind.
"Ouch," one other players winced. "That's gotta hurt."
"And you said he was bluffing," Sora accused Roxas.
"Hey, no one's perfect. There's a lot of guesswork in the game too." He glanced over at Sora, who still seemed bored. "I could teach you how to play."
"I thought you had better things to do with your savings?"
"I do, but there's such a thing as a friendly game. They're playing for real, in a friendly one you don't."
Sora considered it, then shook his head. "Nah. I don't really get that much spare time. I can think of better things to do with it."
"Like what?" Roxas asked with a sly grin. "Sit there drinking coffee because there's nothing to do?"
"I'm sure I could think of some better things if there were any," Sora retorted. "Besides," he added. "Danny's good for getting gossip on what's going on."
"I knew there was a good reason," Roxas murmured, returning to watch the next hand being played out.
"Roxas," Sora asked suddenly, half way through the hand after. "What was it like?"
"What was what like?"
"Being a Nobody. Like, before you rejoined me."
"You know what happened, you read about it yourself."
"Yeah, but that's just what happened, it doesn't tell me what it was like. What you felt... well, thought you felt, anyway."
Roxas continued to watch the game for a time before he finally answered, "Troubled. I had a lot of questions, and never seemed to get any answers. Right near the beginning, I didn't really understand what was wanted of me, or anything really. I was kinda like a zombie for the first couple weeks. Why do you ask?"
"I dunno. I was curious guess."
Roxas had an idea inspired by a side project he'd been working on for some time.
"If I had a Nobody myself... what do you think they'd be like?"
"Maybe... kinda like me, but without a Heart, feelings and stuff like that?"
"I can't really see you being a Nobody, Sora. You sort of count on your Heart a lot."
"I reckon if I were a Nobody, I'd find a way to get along fine without a Heart."
"If you remembered. I didn't have any memories when I was created remember."
"I know. I had them all. I'm still pretty sure I'd have found a way, even without memories."
"I reckon I know a way for you to find out, and deal with some of this spare time you've got lying around."
"How's that?"
"Little thing I've been working on. Did you read about the Holo-missions I could take from time to time while I was with the Organization?"
"Sure. They were just simulations of the real thing."
"It's something like that, but a little more advanced. It borrows the Arcology's power to actually influence what the person running the simulation thinks and feels and stuff. I could set it so that anyone who went in there would appear to have no Heart or feelings from it, and not remember anything outside the simulation."
"So... like you could send someone in, and have them live a life there that's not theirs, make them even think they're a Nobody and act the part almost perfectly?"
"That's the idea. I've done some testing, it's perfectly safe. I was thinking, I could create a simulation for it to mimic my life from being created right through working with the Organization, then letting you loose on it."
"Wouldn't I just think I was you?"
"Only if you want me to. All I was going to do was put you in the same situation I had, no name, no memories, no Heart or feelings, then have Xemnas stop by and give you a name when you join. I think I can even make it so he'll name you Sora, if that makes you more comfortable."
"I'd still really have my Heart, right?"
"Naturally. It's just the pretence of not having one. I might have to alter a few things to make them work, but I'm fairly sure I can handle it. So what do you say, Sora?" he smirked. "Think you can fill the shoes of your own Nobody?"
"Maybe better than even you did," Sora grinned back. "I'll make a better you than you did!"
"We'll see about that," Roxas laughed. "When can you get around to being created?"
"Whenever it's ready?"
"Well, the first couple weeks of my life are ready to go whenever you are. I haven't finished the rest yet."
"You better hurry up and release that Heart of yours then," Sora replied.
"What for?"
"So you create me, of course. I've got an entire two weeks of life waiting for me, remember?"
The simulator turned out to be nothing more than an egg-shaped pod with various cables connecting it to a nearby computer, power source and more.
"You don't actually experience the events," Roxas explained. "The system just supplies the sensory data directly to you, so you think you are. Even if you get hurt in there, it won't carry over to the real thing because it never really happened."
"So how do I take a break from it, if I'm not gonna remember anything?"
"Whenever you sleep inside the simulation, you'll have a moment where you will remember again, and you'll get the option to come out of it, or wake up and continue on."
"Well... that kinda means I've gotta set aside a whole day for each day I want to experience, right?"
"Think again," Roxas told him. "It'll seem to happen to you at normal speed, but the simulation actually runs as quick as your mind can handle it. Some of the volunteers who helped me test it thought they'd been in there for months in some cases, but out here it had been only a few hours."
"Pretty neat. How do I tell how long I've been in for?"
"It tells you when you're given the option to come out. I can also leave you messages that you'll get in those moments too, in case something comes up. I can only break you out of it if something goes wrong see, otherwise it's entirely up to you."
"And you'll be able to monitor what I'm doing?"
"Sort of. If I actually watched, it'd slow the simulated speed down to match real time. The way it's set up means that when you reach certain points in the program loaded, it'll tell me. Any other questions?"
Sora thought for a few minutes, then answered, "Nope! I'm ready to be created now."
"Then step inside the pod and I'll see to just that. I'd say have fun," he added. "But you'll be a Nobody."
"Oh, get on with it, Roxas."
Day I
Twilight Town
Outside time elapsed: 00:00
He stumbled from nothingness into existance, looking around and the newly formed place he'd arrived at.
Where am I?
Who am I?
There were buildings around. People. Some looked at him curiously, most paid him little attention.
He looked to himself, as if it would give him some clue to the answers he sought.
He was wearing a black sleeveless jacket, with a white sleeved one over the top, lined red but unlike the black one, left unzipped. Grey pants, changing colour part way down, and similarly coloured shoes, strapped red. There was a chequered band on his left wrist, black and white, along with two smaller bands on his first and second fingers, also black and white respectively.
This gave him no answers at all, and in fact left him with more questions.
Why do I look like this?
Why... why am I here?
He started to wander the streets, taking everything in. Everything seemed new to him, yet some things he could identify without knowing how he knew.
A town of perpetual sunset, or twilight – Twilight Town.
The people here laughed, played, talked with each other. Why did they do it? He couldn't understand it. Some said things that sounded hurtful to others, and some shrugged it off, but others said similar things back. What was the difference?
These questions took a back seat as a new sensation gripped him. There was a wall with a triangle hole in it, the rough sides looking as if a piece of the wall had been roughly cracked out of it by some immense force.
Curiosity. He was curious. What was on the other side? Where did it leave, and why had no one patched it up?
Faintly, he hoped that maybe he'd find the answers as well, but the curiosity was a stronger... feeling? Whatever it was, it led him onwards, through the cracked wall and into a forested area, seeing trees and plants for the first time.
He followed this curiosity further, finding the gated walls in front of a garden, leading in turn to a mansion.
A voice made him turn away from his examination of the mansion.
"You see answers," it told him. "I can give you purpose."
The speaker was in a long black coat, the hood pulled up. It covered his head, but his face was just visible within it. Except the eyes, yellow-orange eyes that were clearly visible.
He didn't answer this stranger. He didn't know what to say. Instead, he looked toward the ground, trying to think of what he should do.
The stranger reached out one hand toward him. He stepped back slightly, thinking the stranger was reaching for him, but stopped when he realised it had stopped not far away. The hand was waved through the air, creating shimmering letters in the air facing the stranger. He thought for a moment, turning the letters around, realising they read 'Roxas'.
With a second wave of the hand, the letters spun around him several times, then settled in front again, this time missing the 'x' and in a different order, but still facing the stranger. He turned the letters around again, then without thinking read out, "Sora."
"That is right," the stranger replied. "The new you. If you want the answers you look for, come with me." The letters faded, and the hand was extended to him.
Sora hesitated at first, then slowly reached his own hand out, pausing warily part way as if ready to jerk it back again, but then with a final nod, he took the proffered hand.