The red-haired boy opened his eyes and found nothing but darkness. There was almost no difference between the world with his eyes opened or closed. He shakily got to his feet and wondered where he was. With that question came more… what was he doing here, how did he get here… who was he?

Axel

The name popped into his head but nothing else. A name. Okay, that's a start. He thought and examined the world more closely. Once he started looking around, the world came into focus. He blinked a couple times and when he looked again, the world was clear. He was standing in the middle of a street and it was still completely dark except for the bright lights given off by the tall buildings he was surrounded by, and the unfinished orange heart-shaped moon.

Axel turned around slowly, examining his surroundings. There were buildings and road as far as he could see, except… A castle. A giant castle so tall it loomed even over the buildings. It suddenly felt like his entire body was being pulled toward the castle with an invisible force. Axel knew that he had to get to that castle. It was more important than anything else.

Axel started sprinting toward it, and tripped over the black cloak he didn't realize he was wearing. He instinctively tucked his head to his chest and rolled, rising back up to his feet quickly. Huh… He thought, examining the cloak. That was all he had with him. No weapons, no money, just the cloak and whatever clothes he had on underneath. It was still kind of creepy that he didn't know who or where he was, or even what he was wearing.

Axel felt wetness on his head, and looked up to see that it was raining. Just my luck he thought, and when his gaze turned back toward the castle, he realized he was surrounded by these little black shadows. They started gathering closer around him, and Axel knew that they meant him harm. But… how did he get rid of them? How did he fight them?

Axel suddenly felt the cool feel of metal in his hands and he looked down in amazement. Weapons. They were intricately designed, but in the general shape of a circle, with spikes coming off of them. But how did they get there? He knew he hadn't had them a second ago. Oh well… For now he praised his luck, glad he had something to fight with.

The shadows started coming toward him, to attack, and suddenly he remembered what they were. Heartless… Like me. Axel frowned, wondering what that thought meant, but he didn't have time to pursue it further. One of the heartless jumped him, and Axel hit him with one of his weapons. The heartless disappeared, and a small purplish-pink heart floated up to the sky. Axel's gaze followed it, and he felt a great longing, like he wanted the heart more than anything else in the world. But that was silly. He had a heart already, didn't he?

No time to think The remaining heartless closed in and started attacking, and it was all he could do to continue defending himself. His hands seemed to know what to do on their own, and they used his weapons to attack the heartless with a fury he didn't know he had.

But it wasn't enough… they kept coming. As soon as he defeated one, three more appeared in its place. And as much as his instinctive fighting was protecting him so far… he was grossly outnumbered, and didn't think he was going to last much longer like this.

I will not let them defeat me! Axel thought furiously, and a deep red flame the color of his hair surrounded his body. His first thought was to panic, but the flames didn't hurt him; they weren't even hot. They started growing, expanding out from his body, until it was so bright he had to shield his eyes. When he opened them again, the heartless were gone, and a man in a black cloak identical to his own stood before him.

He clapped his hands and his hood fell back, showing his long bluish-silver hair, cross-shaped scar, and cocky smile. Axel frowned at him. What had he done that the man had found so amusing?

The man extended his hand and the arrogant look on his face showed that he expected Axel to take it. Axel didn't like his attitude and only frowned at the man. This seemed to amuse him even more, and his smile broadened.

"You do want to go to the castle, don't you Axel?" Axel froze. How did the man know his name? Did he know him?

"Then come along, now. Xehanort doesn't like to be kept waiting." A bubble of darkness appeared behind the man and he stepped into it, waiting for Axel to follow.

Axel took a look around and decided to take his chances with the strange man. Maybe he could had the answers to his past and Axel could find out who he was. It sure was better than sitting here in the rain fighting heartless. He took a deep breath and followed the man into the darkness.