Prologue
Kingdom
Hearts: Lost Treasures
A black hooded figure looked from the vacant black sandy beach out onto the placid black sea water. A cage of long jagged rocks surrounded what seemed like the entire world. The waves were starting to wash up onto the shore, but he did not move. He sat there watching as the water slowly engulfed his feet. He wasn't thinking about anything, he simply existed. No thought, no feelings. It was strange though. He felt all of this as it was happening. The feeling existed, but there was no such thing as existing for him, yet he did exist. Time was stopped here for him, but because he existed, time kept moving.
Existence…
Finally, the first real thought emerged into his head as consciousness flooded him. Life was returning to the lifelessness that was him. Time itself came back to life with him, and it was there he noticed the sound of footprints closing in on him on the beach. Another tall figure in an identical black hooded cloak was walking toward him. The figure's face was hidden, but the direction was clearly aimed at him.
"Let me tell you! You are one hard to find, lost puppy," said the arrogant voice of the figure. "I've been looking for you for ages, and here I find you. You've been sitting there for who know how long and I've been everywhere else looking for you. Man, did I almost screw this one up." Every word that came out of this man's voice was dripping with sarcasm.
"Who are you?" replied the one sitting in the sand. "Then again… who am I?" Thought didn't want to seem to take hold. The time he had spent sitting, staring, not existing, seemed to have erased his mind. It was like birth itself had been removed and he had been reborn without the process. Nothing about it seemed to be explainable.
"You still don't remember, eh? Well it does take a while sometimes. I know it did for me." The figure said scratching the outside of his hood. He held out his other hand and motioned, trying to indicate him to shake it. "Name's Xigbar, and don't worry. You'll remember yours soon enough. Becoming a Nobody isn't easy at first, but you'll get used to it."
"A… Nobody? I don't understand?" Xigbar helped him up off of the beach and let him gain his balance a little before he raised a hand in front of the unsteady mans face. Letters appeared translucently in front of his face and read LEOR backward. He still read it though and it dawned on him what it meant. "I'm Leor… I don't know why you would refer to someone you just met so harshly. Calling me a nobody isn't very kind, you just met me."
"There you go! See, now that didn't take long at all, did it? Well, I'm going to go ahead and break it to you, but Leroy, or whatever you said your name was, is now a thing of the past. That body of yours was keeled off when you lost your heart." He stopped to look down and see if the newcomer was taking in all of the information, and when it was apparent that the news was not sinking in. He sighed heavily and said with the same kind of sarcastic arrogance. "Look, it's like this. You lost your heart to what's called a heartless, and died, but! You had a strong heart in life so when all that remained was the shell of your former self it became what is now called a Nobody. There. Now that you have it explained I would like you to know that a new name is a little bit of a tradition with us here Nobodies. So watch carefully as I show you how it's done." The letter swirled violently around him mixing up, trying to find a new order. Then Xigbar held up his hand again and the letter stopped in their place and where his hand was another translucent letter was added to the others. An X now took its place at the beginning to spell his new name. The name of a Nobody, Xorel.
"My old name… I don't want that to be my old name. I'm still the same person, aren't I?" He looked down and noticed the cloak for the first time. He wasn't the same person anymore, and even it was apparent to him even in this horrible, confounded state. "I guess there's not much of a choice or anything right now is there? I don't know where I am or even how I got here." He looked up at Xigbar, "But you said you'd take me out of here so I guess…" he thought for a second. "So, I guess from now on you can call me Xorel, and you will show me what it means to be a, Nobody?"
"Yeah, sounds great kid. Can we go now, or do you have to keep asking me questions out here on the God awful beach?" Xigbar asked sounding arrogant even when being impatient. "You're not the only one I have to look for, so hurry it up all right?"
And that was how I met Xigbar and was introduced into the organization. My job from then on was to take over recruiting. I wasn't even allowed to be a "technical" member of the organization and yet here I am. One of the only ones remaining, and where are they to say otherwise?