Chapter 2: SRAVV 813
I'm back! And I'm kinda tired right now.
Getting wake up calls from your brother, sister and dad is really not so much fun at all. Especially how they won't stop talking endlessly about random things. Somehow the conversation turned into a discussion about Transformers 3 and Linkin Park music.
Rambling. So contagious early in the morning. I didn't really get enough sleep last night, and it makes my brain feel fuzzy and weird.
Alright, that aside, I'm gonna skip on down to the disclaimer. I will never own Kingdom Hearts in a million years. I probably would own it if I was related to Nomura, or if I worked with Square Enix. But the last time I checked, I'm not related to Nomura in any way, and I'm just 14 years old, so I can't work over at Square Enix.
Dedicated to… Eh, everyone on Fan Fiction and everyone in my life that makes me happy.
More time had passed, and I could feel my mouth and nose slightly. I could move some of my body parts on my own, mostly just moving my arms and legs around so I could get a vague feeling of where I am. I could touch and feel the lining of my glass prison, and the strange plastic tube that connects to an air tight rubber mask on my face. The mask was done expertly to cover both my nose and mouth and to give me fresh oxygen while removing the stale air from my body.
The two people, whom I learned were called Xemnas and Galen, came by more and more frequently, praising my fast development. Xemnas always sounded pleased when he saw me, telling me promises about the world outside my glass prison. Galen almost always told him to be more patient, because I still had a few more weeks to go before I could leave. He said I had to be in control of my eyes so I could get out.
Honestly, I really couldn't wait to control them. I had wanted the darkness to go away forever, and I wanted to see those people that I had seen in the memories. The only thing I had to do was open my eyes to see the world around me
I thought it would've been exciting. With all of those fading memories that showed me many different adventures around different worlds. All of those villains and enemies that I had supposedly defeated and all of the people I had supposedly saved or met. And those people that I had called friends. I didn't know whether or not they would remember or recognize me, I really didn't care at the time. I had wanted some freedom from my glass and water prison.
"I didn't know at the time what Xemnas actually wanted from me."
"Did it feel weird to be stuck in an artificial, glass womb?"
"Not really, Ven. It's like sleeping in a water bed, except the water is around your body. It was strangely comfortable."
"Continue with the story Sravv."
"Geez, Axel, just calm down. I'm going to skip a few weeks to when I was breaking out of the tank."
"Okay then. Continue."
When the time finally dawned on the day I was supposed to open my eyes, both Xemnas and Galen came over to see me, sounding fairly excited.
"The time has finally come," Xemnas said as he entered the lab. He placed a tentative hand against the glass of my tank. "And I do hope all of that waiting will pay off."
"Don't worry, Xemnas," Galen replied. "He should open his eyes in a few minutes; his brain still needs to develop a bit more."
Xemnas walked closer to the tank and placed his other hand on it as well. "Soon, my future Apprentice, you will be free and come out of the tank to face the worlds with me. We will discover the secrets of Kingdom Hearts and the mystery of the X-blade together. All you have to do is open your eyes and look at me."
I heard Xemnas's words through the glass very clearly. I really wanted to get out, face the world and go off on adventures like how the memories showed and depicted me. But the only way I could get out is by opening my eyes and looking at Xemnas.
I tried to open my eyes, but to no prevail. They quivered and vibrated slightly, but they still wouldn't open. For some reason, I felt a small part of me remain stubborn, not wanting me to open my eyes; it felt like a warning, like it's trying to tell me that Xemnas isn't going to keep to those promises.
I ignored it, and kept trying to open my eyes. I resorted to reaching up and trying to tear out my eyes with my hands, to claw them open so I can see the world and my new master. My fingers still didn't grow any nails yet, so the soft flesh of my skin only rubbed vigorously against my eyelids. It stung slightly, but my eyes wouldn't give in.
"Why can't I open them?" I asked myself in my mind. "Is there something wrong with me?"
"Is there something wrong with him, Galen?" Xemnas exclaimed as he took his hands off of the glass.
"I don't know sir!" Galen said, fear creeping into his voice.
He ran around the lab, going into different parts of the lab and pressing things that created a slight clicking noise, like those of a keyboard of a computer. A siren sounded, so ear-splittingly loud that I covered my ears to block out the noise.
Xemnas moved away from my tank and ran around the lab with Galen. "Galen, what exactly is happening to him?" he yelled out furiously.
Rapid footsteps raced across the marble floor of the lab. More sirens went off, each of them meaning something else. Galen typed away furiously on the keyboard. Footsteps belonging to Xemnas ran someplace else, pressed something, and the calming music started to play.
The music did nothing to me as I continued on trying to claw my eyes out. The water levels of my tank started to lower in pressure, but I paid it no heed. I felt my oxygen supply start to come in less, leaving me with almost nothing to breathe, and I panicked. I knew that with no oxygen, I will die.
I couldn't think. I couldn't feel. I could only move and thrash around in desperation. I placed my feet against the glass as well as my back, and I pushed against the glass to break it. The glass wouldn't give in, and I resorted to banging my fists against it. The pain from banging against the glass screamed as it raced through my nerves like a wildfire.
Frustrated, I reached up to my face and yanked off the rubber air mask. I jerked my head upwards when I did so, and my eyes opened, letting me see. I swam to the top of my tank to find air, but I found none. Water flooded up my nose and my slightly open mouth, gagging me slightly. I knew I can't breathe underwater, so I held onto whatever air I had left in my lungs.
I pressed my hands even harder against the glass. For some strange reason, I felt them start to get warmer and warmer, up until the water around it got uncomfortably hot as it boiled. As my hands evaporated the water, it started to melt the glass very slowly, taking its time to melt through.
"What is he doing?" Xemnas exclaimed fearfully, looking around for something.
"I'm not so sure, sir!" Galen said nervously. "I've never seen him like this before!"
"Well, let's get him out now!" he said while getting something out of a box. I couldn't tell what it was, for the water became cloudy from the heat.
"No sir! Don't break the glass or else you will kill him with the broken shards!"
"He's going to drown if we don't let him out now!" Xemnas yelled as he banged a metallic object against the glass, causing it to become coated with tiny fractures like spider webs. I could barely even see him, but I knew he was there.
All of a sudden, he stopped in mid-swing, looking at me straight in my eyes and then at my hands; cherry red from the sudden heat. He stared at my hands in pure shock, dropping the metal object on the gray marble floor in surprise.
"Are you using Axel's power over fire?" Xemnas asked me. I didn't compose a reply.
"Excuse me?" Galen said.
"It's the boy. He's using Axel's power over fire to escape." He answered, voice filled with awe.
"Well, that's the first from all of the others. None of them were capable of doing so."
"Then he must be the one!"
"He might be sir, but he might kill himself if he does. Similar to all of the others!"
I couldn't hear the last bit. My brain is almost dead, and my lungs are screaming from holding in stale air. The warmth of my hands faded away as I slowly began to die.
Flashes of different memories streamed through my mind like a video. The memories mostly showed me holding a motley collection of different weapons, mostly oversized keys. They were actually called Keyblades, and I could actually name them all. Only one type of weapon was different from the others: a pair of twin silver and red chakrams with eight razor sharp spikes on each of them.
I imagined them in my hands; the spikes wickedly sharp, the whole thing overall brilliantly polished. I felt the weight of them in my hands, slowly weighing me down to the bottom of the tank. I gripped the leather wrapping as hard as I could, pulling them up closer to my body. I willed my arms to go back, and struck the glass as hard as I could.
The water levels decreased rapidly, and the force of the current was enough to shatter the glass beyond oblivion. I closed my eyes to protect them from the glass shards as my body fell out of the tank with the current, freeing me from my watery prison. I felt the cool air kiss my drenched skin, and I greedily gulped it down, coughing and sputtering out the excess water that slithered into my lungs. The sharp glass embedded itself into my skin, causing my muscles to scream in agony as a sticky fluid raced around my body, making me feel uncomfortable and filthy.
I opened my eyes again. I saw the crimson blood covering my body, dripping down on the cold, gray marble floor to mix with the water. I saw dark gold hair fringed around my eyes as bangs, slightly covering my eyebrows. I saw some bits of dark red hair plastered to my back and shoulders, blending with the brown hair. Some tips of the brown spikes were jet-black, setting it apart from the other hair colors.
I looked up to see two people, one in a black trench coat, the other in a white lab coat. The one in black had dark skin, amber eyes, and silver hair that went behind his shoulders. He looked vaguely familiar to me, but I didn't know why. The one in the white lab coat had pale skin, just a few shades lighter than mine, warm brown eyes, and short chocolate brown hair. He appeared to be a few years younger than the other, perhaps in his early twenties.
The silver haired man gave me a sly smile, making him look almost wicked and evil. Something inside me told me that he isn't nice, and that he is actually a sly, evil snake.
"Welcome to the world, SRAVV 813," he said. "I am Xemnas, Superior of Organization XIII, and this man here is Galen, the scientist who created you." He gestured slightly to Galen, who gave a slight nod of acknowledgement.
I gave a single nod in return to him, then focused my attention back to Xemnas, studying him carefully. I didn't know what to think of him or Galen, and whether or not I should trust them.
Galen walked over to a stainless steel table and fetched some soft towels. He then went over to me and draped it across my bloody back to cover my body, warming me slightly. I didn't realize I was shivering hard, and I felt freezing. Galen helped me up to my feet, guiding me over to the table and sitting me down.
I looked at each of them again. "C-can y-y-you be trus-trusted?" I stuttered, unsure about my mouth and voice.
Galen smiled warmly, very different than that of Xemnas's smile. "Yes we can be trusted, young one. Although I imagine it would take time for you to completely trust us."
I remained skeptical. "My name. What's my name?" I said, getting used to talking.
Xemnas answered this time. "Your name is SRAVV 813, young one." He said.
"S-R-A-V-V? You mean, Sravv?"
"You might say so, if you please."
"What's with the numbers eight and thirteen? Or, Axel and Roxas?"
Galen looked at me strangely, almost surprised. "So you really do have some of their memories? Well, that's going to need some work on."
I looked at him with a mask of no emotion. I looked back at the wreckage of blood, water and glass for my weapons, only to find that they disappeared out of sight. I looked back at Galen and Xemnas for an answer.
"If you are wondering," Galen said. "Your weapons have disappeared at the very moment you got out of the tank. Because of your traits to Axel, you can summon those chakrams of his at will at any given time."
"Perhaps you can summon up a Keyblade," Xemnas suggested suddenly. "That will show us how powerful you really are."
"A Keyblade?" I said, unsure about the whole idea. "Which one?"
"Any one that you chose, Sravv."
I thought about it for a second, then I held my hand out. A flash of dark, lustrous colors appeared around my outstretched hand and formed a rod of the dark light. The light died down to reveal a Keyblade that I have absolutely no knowledge of, but it seemed familiar somehow.
The Keyblade looked to be from both the realm of light and the realm of darkness. The blade was made up of two rods winding together like snakes. One was pulsing with dark, almost black colors, similar to oil in water. The other was glimmering brightly with pale, almost white and translucent colors, similar to an opal or a pearl. The teeth were made up of the two rods joined together, with a third, blood red rod joined in to make it look like fire. The two rods joined at the handle of the Keyblade with a sapphire blue evil eye with a slit as a pupil. The right side of the handle is a black bat wing that turned into a white angel wing at the end. The left side was an angel wing that ended up as a bat wing at the end, joining with the angel wing on the other side. The chain was made of black barbed wire, and the keychain was a white angel wing curved around a black bat wing, cradling a red gem, shining like an ember or a flame.
I gazed at the Keyblade in wonder. It was unlike any I've seen in the memories, and it looked darkly beautiful. None of the Keyblades in the memories had the same sense of dark beauty like this one, which made me feel unique in a way.
Xemnas eyed the Keyblade in wonder. "I believe the Keyblade chose you as its master, Sravv," he said. "None of the others were chosen by it."
I looked at him questionably. "Others? What others?"
"Never mind that," he shook his head. "I must go now. I have several duties to report to at this moment. Sravv, you are to not leave this place unless Galen or I tell you to. You must stay with Galen for now, and let him tend to those wounds of yours. I don't want you to get infected. Is that clear?"
I nodded my head.
Xemnas looked satisfied. "Good. I will see you soon." He said, disappearing into a Corridor of Darkness.
I turned towards Galen. "So. Does that mean you're gonna babysit me?" I said simply.
Galen failed to cough down a bark of laughter. "I guess so, Sravv," he said warmly. "Although I'm pretty much used to that by now. I did after all take care of you when you were stuck inside that tank."
He went towards a steel countertop filled with different medical instruments and equipment. He picked out a pair of tweezers, some gauze, a potion bottle, and a small metal tray to collect the shards. He looked around for a bit more and got some white surgical gloves to cover his hands from the blood.
I looked at the things intently, unsure of what to say. All around the room, almost everything was made of stainless steel, and if it wasn't, it usually was cloth, bandages, surgical masks, medical books, medicine, potions, water, my tank, and a tray of food sitting dangerously close to the edge of a countertop. It was all neat and organized, with all of the cabinets and drawers marked and labeled.
Galen took the blood soaked towel off of my shoulders, and placed a clean one on my lap to cover me. He took the tweezers and started to take the shards out, occasionally rubbing the holes in my back and chest with a water soaked cloth to clear the blood out.
I didn't say anything, and neither did he. It felt a little awkward with the silence hanging in the air heavily like a dead weight. If Galen felt it, he didn't show it. Instead, he just worked swiftly to remove the shards and to heal the wounds. I had no idea how he could stand it.
Unable to take it any longer, I asked him, "Why don't I have a heart?" to break the silence.
Galen stopped so suddenly, the glass shard in the tweezers fell out of its grip and cut another opening along my back. I hissed out in pain as Galen rushed to clean out the wound and healed it with a Cura.
"Sorry about that," Galen apologized as he healed the wound. "I didn't expect for you to ask that question so soon."
"Can you at least tell me why I don't have one?"
Galen took a deep breath as he thought about it for a second. "Well, I thought that you would come into this world with a heart, like all of the others. But I guess not, which is really strange. I might as well tell you why, though. But you have to promise me that you won't tell Xemnas that I told you about this, okay?"
I nodded my head. "Okay."
Galen sighed softly. "Well, you see, you are indeed a special case. Usually, when a person loses their heart, they become these creatures called Heartless. But when a person with a strong heart loses their heart, the shell of their being is left behind and develops a will of its own, making them different than the Heartless. They're called Nobodies. Some Nobodies possess intellect and look like humans, like Xemnas for example."
"Xemnas is a Nobody?"
"Yes he is in fact. A Nobody is similar to a regular human in almost every way, except Nobodies don't have hearts. But Xemnas believes that there is a way to change that: Kingdom Hearts; a place filled with hearts. The hearts can be collected from the Heartless, but only one weapon is able to do that, and that weapon is the Keyblade."
Sravv looked at his Keyblade and waved it around slightly. "A Keyblade? Like mine?"
Galen nodded his head. "Aye. You must know that you're a Nobody too. But you're a special type of Nobody. You became one even though you don't have an Other- the person that you originally were with a heart."
"Oh," I said softly. "Who's Xemnas's Other?"
Galen thought about it for a second. "I believe it was Xehanort. Usually, every member in the Organization has their original name all jumbled up with an 'x' placed in randomly to form a new name: their Nobody name."
I thought about it. "Are you a Nobody, Galen?"
Once again Galen looked up at me suddenly. Then he smiled as if I asked him an impossibly easy question. He started to laugh slightly.
"No Sravv, I'm not a Nobody," he chuckled. "I still have my heart."
"How's it like? Having a heart, I mean."
He removed the last shard out of my body, and put the tweezers away. He looked at me straight in the eyes, smiling. "Wonderful. It's nice to have a heart. But I don't think you're any different from me, despite what Xemnas says."
For the first time, I smiled at him. "I think I can fully trust you now, Galen."
Galen just snorted slightly at my remark. "Thanks, Sravv."
