A/N: Hello there! This is one of my first Kingdom Hearts one-shots, detailing the creation of a Nobody (or how I see it). I've not actually played the games, but have friends who speak incessantly about them, and this is where I get most of my knowledge. Reviews with tips/hints/info about the games are encouraged.
Disclaimer: I hold no rights to Marluxia, nor the tiny mentions of the other members. All characters that are recognizable belong to Square Enix and Disney. I DO, however, own Selixoe.
New Creation
It was raining. Had it always been raining? The grey shivering figure huddled in the corner of the dim dripping world didn't know. She didn't know anything, truthfully. Didn't know how she arrived here, couldn't remember where she'd come from. Nothing.
There was a horrible emptiness settling slowly into her chest cavity, an acute hollowness that gnawed at her heart.
Or rather, at the place where her heart had once been.
When she had first come into consciousness on the cold, wet, grey ground in this place, she'd realized with an anguished cry that she could not feel the blood coursing through her veins. Could not feel the steady thump-thump of her heart beating in her chest.
That was the one thing she did remember. That something was supposed to be there.
However, she did feel the numbness seeping into her fingers and toes, both sets of digits being bare and exposed to the freezing rain.
She'd immediately laced on the black leather boots that lay beside her, but it had taken more than a while to find the black leather gloves. By that time, her fingers were stiff with cold. The gloves were in the pocket—at least, some intuition told her this was a pocket, because she didn't really know—of the black leather coat she had woken up in.
It seemed that everything in this lonely world was either black leather or grey stone, both of which were soaked in grey rain.
She soon discovered the concept of thought, or thinking to oneself. This she could do easily, and could think about anything even though she lacked interesting things to think about.
And by anything, she thought blandly to herself, I mean me, the stone thing I'm sitting on, and the water droplets falling from way up there.
Later, someone told her that the stone thing was called a pavement, and the water droplets and 'way up there' were rain and sky.
After a while, she became…unsatisfied (she deemed this the correct word) with simply sitting on the ground, huddled against the cold.
So she rose and began to walk. As she walked, there came a swishing noise from behind her that did not match the swishing of her coat.
She stopped and spun around quickly. Suddenly, her cheek began to slightly sting. She reached up with a gloved hand and felt something quite stringy fall away and into her hand. Giving a sharp tug to find the rest of this anomaly, she gave a high-pitched yelp as her scalp burned with pain.
Looking at the villainous clump more closely, something flashed into her mind that this was hair, and that this vibrant, cool, and wild colour was called green. She liked it very, very much.
A tickling sensation arrived at her forehead as she sat down, and further careful inspiration led her to believe that this was also green-hair.
After a few spaces of doing nothing (called a moment), the air in front of her rippled and tore, opening and rounding out to form a sort of doorway.
The girl watched passively as a figure dressed in a black leather coat just like hers stepped out of the darkness and onto the bleak grey ground.
The figure removed the hood shadowing their face to reveal hair that was not green. Their eyes gazed solemnly at her, but these were not green either. This colour seemed close to green, but also close to grey. She knew a lot about grey.
It is a lovely colour, this not-green-almost-grey, she thought.
"My name is Marluxia." This person said. The voice was deep and these were the first words to fall on the girl's ears. She knew that she herself was a woman, and had reason to think that her voice was not that deep, so she figured that this person with the long, not-green-hair must be a man.
Opening her mouth, she spoke her first words. "What is my name?" It had occurred to her that she did not call herself Marluxia, and did not wish to, so someone must give her a name too.
The lack of inflection in her voice did not seem to faze Marluxia. His lips parted and moved away from his teeth in what she later learned was a smile.
"We shall see," He answered, a light, airy tone floating along his voice.
She did not move, only registering his comment with a slow blink.
He took in her appearance; saw that she had donned the boots and gloves; saw that her pine-and-grass hair was plastered to her pale forehead with water; saw the hollow chlorophyll green eyes.
Yes, Xemnas had done well with this one…and, it would be good to feel whole again. The Organization was not itself with only twelve inhabitants. Most of the members had been more melancholy that ever since Roxas'…departure. And he could only wonder how Axel was faring; Number Eight was Thirteen's most favoured companion. The Flurry did always have a better grasp than any of them on how to feel sadness, or happiness, or any emotion, really. So, for all his pompous bravado, the man must be dying inside.
Again.
Reaching out to the girl on the ground with a slight shake of his head, Marluxia took her by the hand and led her through the waiting portal.
XXXXXX
Plink.
Plink.
Plink.
This was the only sound that could be heard in the cathedral-esque hall.
The constant dripping of rain water on the marble floor was beginning to unnerve some of the black-robed beings in the staggered thrones around the room, but none of them dared break the silence unless Superior saw fit to do so.
So the rain-soaked Nobody in the center of the room continued to placidly stand there, waiting. Her new non-existence prohibited her from doing anything else actually, for she had no experience.
The mohawked male in the ninth throne was just starting to fidget restlessly in his chair as the male in the first and highest throne cleared his throat.
The drenched Nobody did not stir.
The silver-haired man cleared his throat once more and said, "We are the Organization XIII. As the newest recruit, you will join us as the Thirtee—"
"No!"
The girl neutrally swiveled to her right, gazing blankly at the male with the fiery mane residing in the eighth chair.
6 non-existent seconds before, he had been lounging languidly on his throne. At the sliver locked male's statement, however, he had sprung upright and shouted this negative response across the empty space.
"No. she can't be the Thirteenth. Make her Fourteen or for Hearts' sake, give her MY rank! But not Thirteen."
His face was strangely contorted and his breathing was laboured. The lines of hair above his eyes (eyebrows, as known to the living) crinkled up and his mouth shut very tightly, the jaw set and square. The Nobody in the center of the hall thought he looked quite ridiculous upon observation.
The First Member's eyes became steel-like as he looked down on the Eighth man. "Axel. It is not your place to decide—"
I wonder if that one will be able to finish his sentences, the dripping girl thought as the fidgety Ninth began to talk over him.
"Axel is right, Superior. You can't give her Roxas' number. That'd be soooo meeeean!"
The last two words came out long and high-pitched and irritated the girl's ears very much.
Another member, directly on the right of the squeaky Ninth and the second throne on the right of the indignant red-head spoke up next.
"Superior, you may as well listen to 'em. They won't shut up about it if you don't." This male had strange yellowy-white hair, which, upon being asked at a later point, he said was called blonde. He also had many bits of metal all shot through his ears. The new addition did not understand these, but they (and their wearer) pleased her.
The next man to speak was Marluxia. The girl felt a bit prideful that she knew his name.
"It would be slightly disrespectful to Roxas' memory to give away his number, Xemnas sir."
Apparently, Xemnas is what the first member was called. This name hurt the girl's head to think about.
Xemnas sighed and shared a glance with a male donning shocking blue hair and a big 'X' over his face.
"Very well then," he said when he had received an affirmative nod from the blue man. "You will join us as the…Nineteenth member."
She blinked in reply.
They began to speak in whispers about this Nineteen number, which was odd to them, apparently. A short man with greyish hair muttered that this new number did not fit with the system.
Suddenly, there was a popping and a fizzing noise and translucent bronze letters arranged themselves over her head. As she looked up at them, she heard the Ninth man say in a lighter, high-pitched tone, "Ooh! I love this part!"
The First, Second, and Seventh members nodded.
In a loud and large voice, Xemnas said regally, "You are the Nineteenth Member of Organization XIII: Selixoe."
The dripping Nobody woman blinked again in response and mimicked the action she had seen Marluxia and the unnamed Ninth perform. This would not be the last time she did this. No, her future companions, especially the blonde with the metal, would give her great cause to do this often.
Selixoe smiled.