Prologue: The Fateful Night
The night was peaceful, the mechanical town of Radiant Garden put under a deep slumber. Everyone except six men that walked through the shadows and lights, their white lab coats trailing in the breeze as they traveled towards a large house in the distance. They went past a gate and down a path through a garden of roses until they found a large window. Inside sleeping right next to it was a young girl with long rosy pink hair. The leader of the men, a man with long white hair and tan skin, reached up and tapped the window gingerly. The girl stirred and slowly woke up, rubbing her blue eyes. She looked out the window and gasped when she saw who it was. The girl looked around then slowly opened her window to try and make little to no sound. She smiled at her guests though her brow raised in confusion.
"Xehanort, what are you doing here so late at night?" she whispered, leaning down to be gaze into the man's amber eyes. "We wanted to show you the results of our experiment." he replied with a small smile, "Would you like to come with us?" He extended his arm and opened his hand for her to hold onto. The girl stared back. "You mean...you finished it?" she said with amazement. He nodded. Looking around much more, she reached out and took his hand. Slowly with his help she jumped out of the open window and landed next to him and the rest of the group. They started walking together now, past the house and down the streets of town, the girl holding onto Xehanort's hand as she walked alongside him. "So, does Ansem the Wise know you finished it?" she asked. Suddenly the group fell silent until an older man with salt and pepper hair spoke up.
"He worked so hard Ai, the old man fell to sleep before we finished it." he replied with a grin. This made the girl laugh which eased everyone's tension. "So, why wake me up then?" she asked with a smile. "Xehanort wanted you to be the first one to see it." said a man with long blond hair and greenish blue eyes, his tone holding a 'I despise young couples' sound. This made some of the others laugh. They reached the mansion where the lab was kept in the basement and opened the door. Xehanort led everyone inside down long steps and past cabinets and tables with vials of different liquids until they stopped inside one of the room with a cage inside. The cage contained a strange black creature with glowing yellow eyes and antennas with claws on its hands. "Behold, a creature born from the darkness of peoples hearts. We decided to name it the Heartless as despite being made from hearts, it doesn't have on of its own." explained Xehanort. Ai stared up at it in awe and slowly walked towards the cage. "How fascinating..." she said, reaching her hand up at the creature. Xehanort quickly grabbed her hand and glared at the creature who looked to be eyeing her intently.
"I wouldn't touch it, we're still unsure what they are capable of." he said. The others watched it, observing its movements and jotting down notes. Suddenly it dissolved into a puddle that looked like oil before reappearing with an exact copy of itself. The scientists and Ai gasped. One of them muttered "It's never done that before." Suddenly the hearts that were kept in containers in the room began to glow and more and more heartless appeared before they burst of the cage. They began crawling around on the floor and turned towards the humans. In a flash they leaped to attack but the six scientists quickly stepped in and fought back, pushing Ai behind them. But the numbers were growing and the apprentices found themselves covered in darkness and with a scream disappeared, their hearts floating into the sky. Ai watched in absolute fear as Xehanort stood slowly disappearing, his look mirroring hers. Containers were knocked over and unbalanced chemicals caused an explosion which knocked Ai back into a wall and knocked her unconscious.
The Heartless began to spread outside the castle and smoke formed from broken machines in the lab. In the middle of it all shadows formed figures who stepped out into the light. One knelt down and picked up the unconscious girl in his arms and took her out of the lab and out into the streets. People were running away frantically as Heartless continued to multiply, spreading darkness which overran the once beautiful town. Ai's parents came rushing out of their house only to find their missing daughter on the front steps of their porch. They picked her up and brought her to their gummi ship. Ai began to stir and looked dazed for awhile until she remembered what had happened and began to panic. "W-What's going on!? Xehanort, where's Xehanort?" she cried out as her parents took reign in the ship. "There's no time Ai, we must escape quickly!" her father shouted back as they started up the gummi ship and immediately took off. Once they were at a safe speed to stand, Ai ran to one of the windows and looked out to watch her home world slowly begin to disappear into shadow. Tears slid down her cheeks as she silently prayed for Xehanort's safety and the safety of his companions.
They weren't safe for long however as Heartless managed to reach them while they tried to travel to safety and damaged the ship so badly it crashed into a newly made world. It was one covered in rain and it was always night. The family managed to escape their busted transport only for Heartless to surround them. They took out Ai's parents first and the girl gave a scream as one pierced a claw right into her chest. She fell down on the streets, body lifeless and becoming soaked in the rain. Slowly she began to disappear...