A/N: I've been a fan of the Kingdom Hearts series since the beginning, back when the very thought of Disney and the guys behind Final Fantasy teaming up boggled everyone's minds, so I thought I'd finally give a KH-themed story a shot after all this time. Zexion happens to be among my favorite Organization XIII members, which is why I've taken it upon myself to do the guy some (additional) justice and add another fic about him to this site that isn't pure shipping fodder. Not that I don't mind a good romance myself, but anyone in this fandom can tell you that the Organization is an exceedingly common target for it, sometimes to the detriment of the characters' actual personalities.
The story covers a broad range of topics, from the time when Zexion was still Ienzo all the way up to his demise at the Riku Replica's hand in (Re:)CoM. (Um... spoiler alert?) These are more or less meant to be journal entries (recorded within Zexion's lexicon, natch), so the length of each chapter will be less than what I'd usually write. There are a scant amount of elements taken from the non-canon Chain of Memories manga, not in the case of the sometimes drastically altered accounts of certain events, but in regards to some of Zexion's hobbies and lifestyle habits when not on the job.
Something to remember is that since the story is told from Zexion's POV, his logic and way of thinking can and will seem deliberately erroneous at times when compared to what we fans have learned over the course of the series (3D especially).
The first part of the story summary you see above is a Mark Twain quote. Since "illusions" (Zexion's "element" of choice) in this context refers to one's inspirations, hopes, and dreams, and the heart, emotions, memories, and dreams are closely intertwined in the KH universe, it fits the "alive, but not quite" predicament of the Nobodies to a degree. Actually, there's a number of Twain quotes that would apply to either the Nobodies as a whole or Ienzo and the rest of Ansem's apprentices, but I digress.
Without further ado, please enjoy my attempts to delve into the (former?) enigma that is No. VI of the Organization.
Disclaimer: I hold no ownership of the Kingdom Hearts series. All characters belong to Square Enix (formerly Squaresoft), Disney, and Tetsuya Nomura (the man who made all of it possible). Got it memorized?
Day 0: Theory
There is an idea that if a person is one step away from each person they know and two steps away from each person who is known by one of the people they know, then everyone is no more than six steps away from each person in the world.
It's called "Six Degrees of Separation."
In short, everyone, no matter who they are or where they may be, is connected to everyone else in the cosmos, this vast sea of stars.
I can't recall who was responsible for coming up with this, but it is of no great import. Intriguing as it is, that idea only applies to regular people.
What if the person you were looking for was out of your reach, standing there at that "seventh" step that you could never achieve? And what if, no matter how hard you tried, you would always fall short of climbing that last step? What if that person was you?
That is the dilemma we Nobodies must always deal with.
A Nobody. That is what I am.
A cursed half-existence that honestly does not even have the right to be.
The empty husk left behind as the fleeting heart moves on to be devoured by the all-consuming darkness.
The emotionless body which is willed on by the soul beyond the normalcy of death.
An incomprehensible creature that defies every law of physics, breaks all rules of nature.
A truly wretched being that longs to become complete once more because it fondly recalls the days in which it was human—a normal figure with a heart.
And so, we Nobodies thrive merely to unlock the so-called "mysteries of the heart" in a futile attempt to regain what was lost. Nonetheless, a Nobody can never hope to be somebody...
A/N: This is a short introduction, even by my standards (seriously, the Author's Notes sections are longer than the actual chapter), but it's meant to serve as an appetizer. The following chapters, which I intend to have up sooner rather than later, will be fairly longer.
Being a learned, scholarly type, Zexion will somewhat frequently refer to and quote passages from other thinkers and notable figures over the course of this story. I realize that, in canon, these people likely don't exist, similar to how Falco's remark of "Hey Einstein, I'm on your side!" in Star Fox 64 might not make sense if you start thinking about it too hard, but since the CoM manga (which I stress is not canon) has Larxene reading a book by Marquis de Sade, for the sake of convenience, the people referenced by Zexion lived in Radiant Garden in the past (sans their real life nationalities and some choice aspects of their life history).
Similarly, while the languages clearly seem to exist given the names of a few characters, weapons, and locales, Latin here is a language of antiquity used mostly by scholars, whereas others, like French, are, at best, uncommon second languages.
I can't adequately explain the surname thing, especially with Sora regarding Neku's in 3D like it's moonspeak (though he doesn't have that reaction with the likes of, say, Jack Skellington or Jack Sparrow), so maybe those were also phased out with time, barring applicable FF characters who lived in Radiant Garden (like Leon). I can only imagine what would happen if someone with a first, last, and middle name like FFIV's Rosa Joanna Farrell or FFV's Lenna Charlotte Tycoon showed up in a later game; Sora might just burst a blood vessel or two trying to make sense of it.