Chapter 1

I guess I didn't know what to expect when it came to the organization. Wearing the robe felt like a uniform rather than a cool outfit to wear. The silver zipper, the chains, the hood, it all felt so… strange in a way. But I guess I didn't have to worry about how I dressed.

However, I noticed that each robe was different depending on the person. Some had tight sleeves, some had small hoods, some had the bottom of the robe drag across the floor, and there were even some robes that looked like a full sleeved dress instead of a normal black robe. Mine for instance had long open sleeves and flared near the bottom. I kind of had the feeling I was wearing a kimono or a yukata with it on, without the obi, the tight neckline and the sandals. Imagine that… a Kimono with a long silver zipper and chains around the neckline and a hood. Pretty trippy.

I just hoped that no one would find me weird. I mean, I did have bright red hair and pale, grey eyes. My skin is a golden olive colour, and I tend to be a little shy. I just wanted to stay away from some people for a bit until I got used to the feel of this place. All that went out the window when he came to me while I was standing at the clock tower.

"Hi! I'm Roxas." I seen a black glove come to me from the right side of me. I gasped, startled and looked over right away. There I had seen a blonde, spiky-haired boy with the most bluest eyes I'd ever seen. Maybe even the first. I decided to shake his hand. It'd be rude to leave him hangin'.

"Hi. I'm… Vixral." I introduced.

"So you're the new apprentice, huh?" he proclaimed. I nodded.

"You're… Number XIII, right?" I asked.

"Yep."

"Oh…" I replied and looked down on the town and at my feet. "So… How did… you feel when you joined? The first time, really…?" Roxas looked at me with concern. He turned and stared at the horizon. I looked at him and then looked where his eyes were focused.

"First times are always tough. But that doesn't mean you give up…" he trailed and stared down. "Have you ever… felt anything… like… feelings?" he asked. I softly gasped underneath my breath and looked at him strangely.

"XIII… Nobodies don't have feelings…" I replied honestly. Roxas looked disappointed, as if he wanted to know very badly. "But… Maybe we do have feelings. We just… don't know about them just yet. Or…" I paused as he looked at me again for another answer. "Maybe we're lost souls… and are trying to find a way out. But… it's not like Nobodies HAVE souls, right?"

Roxas turned at the horizon again. "I guess." he chuckled. He handed me a blue, popsicle-looking treat as he pulled one out for himself. "Thanks." I smiled. He bit into his and I took a small nibble and licked it. "It's… salty."

"That's sea salt ice cream for you." Roxas replied, sarcastically.

"…But… it's good at the same time." I state as I take another bite.

"Yeah. Strange how that works." Roxas and I stood there for a while just eating the ice cream and staring off into the pale, warm coloured mountains. It felt nice to just sit there and hang out It was nice and breezy out, so that was good. He then stood up and licked his lips from the salt.

"Training's gonna begin soon. You should come along." he offers.

"Oh! Uh, right!" I decide to follow, finishing up my last bit of the ice cream, and tossing the stick down below into nothingness.

"OK! I'm you're instructor, Number IX! But you all can call me Demyx… or Sir. Maybe even Sir Demyx. Preferribly Sir Demyx! But anyway that's not the point!" the other apprentices laughed along with me. He seemed so nice. He even had a mullet, therefore, he MUST be cool. "Training begins today. Now I'm not the greatest fighter in the world but I can teach your basic tactics and stuff. Just ask the other instructors, they'd agree with me and say I'm a chicken." he stated again. Not many people laughed but I kinda giggled to myself. He did seem like a person who'd be just a little cowardly for his own good.

"Now, you're all assigned a weapon. That weapon you must use and guard with YOUR LIFE! I'm serious." he pointed at all of us, swaying his left arm from right to left. "I'm not the one who chose these. These are chosen by the master himself, so if you have a complaint - Which I kinda doubt you won't 'cause they're some pretty sweet lookin' - go see him not me!" he pulled down a curtain full of weapons. Each one had a number on them in roman numerals. Demyx-sensei… no, Myx. Yeah let's go with that. Myx pulled out a list and a clipboard. A small blue pen appeared in the form of bubbles and Myx-sensei looked ready to make sure each one was signed out.

"I'll number each one of you and you remember that number and get your weapon. That's your weapon forever as long as you're here. You might be trained for other or multiple weapons but that's not under my control. That's under Axel." Whoever that was I thought. Cool name though. "He will teach you a little bit of variations and how to control your main weapon."

I raised my hand up, feeling awkward. Demyx looked up and noticed me.

"Yes?"

"Um… You're our main instructor right? How come you're not going to fight us head on?" I ask in curiosity.

"That… is classified. OK!" he started numbering us all off. I just laughed and rolled my eyes. I can just tell he was going to be fun to tick off.

Not looking for trouble or anything but hey, it's fun messing with people. Heheh. I think I'm gonna like it here with Myx-sensei.

Myx also said that the numbers ranged from I to VIII. I just happened to get lucky number VII. Personally, I like my weapon. It's a strange dagger thing on a chain. I think it was called… um… a Kusuragama I think. It's rusty with faded green paint but whatever. It still seemed to work… or so I thought.

Myx told me that when Axel said I was good enough to control one, he'd hand me another one. I was left handed, so I guess that would make sense. Guess I'll have to start training myself to be ambidextrous, if not then later.

While that was over, a tall man with long bluish hair walked in. His ears were pointy and he had a 'x' shaped scar on his face.

"Hey, we're ready. Are you finished?" he asked.

"Oh yeah. Ok, let's go!" he motioned us to head forward.

All seven including me headed to a large round room. Once we walked in, a small glint of light appeared around the ring, shifted upwards as glitter formed and disappeared quickly. It was an invisible shield.

There were other apprentices too. There were ones of this pink haired man, a blonde girl, a strange scientist-looking man, a couple tall guys with long dark hair and scars (one had an eye patch), another man with spiky red hair, a blue-haired guy with a book, another tall guy with light brown hair, a blonde and tanned guy and… is that…? No way. Roxas? He's an instructor? He looks so young!

I smiled and waved at him. He seemed to notice and kinda shrugged it off. It somewhat hurt that he ignored me, but whatever. Boys are like that I guess.

The redheaded man stepped forward.

"Alright! This is the training ring. The name's Axel." he introduced. So THAT was Axel! Wow. He's kinda cute, in more strange melancholic ways than one. "Got it memorized?" he asked everyone as he brought his right index finger to his head like a finger gun. Everyone nodded, including me.

"Good! You aced the first test already." he chuckled and I giggled softly. "Now in training, we train you're physical and mental limits and also increase them by 45%. Or try to at least." He paused and stretched. "Ahh…" then he continued.

"First of all, we need to go over a few basics. First being summoning your weapon, then getting to know your weapon. How it works, how it affects you, your opponent and more importantly, your abilities." I stood and listened intently. "Now! All of your instructors should've given you your weapons, if not then I think I might be the only one." More laughs filled the room. "Haha! Alright! There's a certain position you have to stand in to summon a weapon. It may take a while but once you got it, just practice and you got it mastered. That's the easy part. I'll demonstrate." Axel-sama stood back and held his arms with his elbows bent back. At that instant a pair of round instruments surrounded with fire appeared before him. He then stretched is arms out across with these… rounded, spiky, fiery things.

"See, these discs here are my weapons. They're called chakrams. They allow me to control and manipulate large amounts of fire, if it wasn't obvious." he explained. He was SO COOL! Screw Myx-sensei, Axel-sama looked AMAZING! His instructors are so lucky! (But mind you Myx-sensei is cool too.)

"But I kinda make it look all fancy and all that so I'm going to have the rest summon their weapons too."

The blonde girl, Myx-sensei and the others came forward. It went in order of the number, so the two black haired guys went first. Wow they looked cool. The next was 'scientist-guy' and he summoned a large but strangely cool looking shield. Number V summoned a HUGE FREAKING HAMMER SWORD! Note to self: Don't get that guy pissed off. Next was a guy who looked kinda more like a teenager than anything else with his blue hair sweeping in front of his face. It shone a silver color in the light. His weapon was a book… I'm not kidding. It was a freaking book. Yeah… straaange…

That same blue-haired guy who came to alert Myx-sensei to come to the dome was next. The weapon he had was enormous! I was kinda wondering how the heck he could even carry a claymore that size with one hand let alone stand up straight with it. I was beginning to wonder if I underestimated the Numbers of the organization. They all made it look so easy, too. Now it was Myx-sensei's turn.

"Stand back. I don't want it hitting you by accident." he warned. I stepped back after noticing I was the only one that stood closest to Myx-sensei. Embarrassing, isn't it? Anyway, when he summoned his weapon, I stood there in awe. There was a transparent dome that formed around him and in his hand splashed water and formed into his awesome weapon. It wasn't just any weapon… it was a guitar. I'm not kidding. It was a freaking guitar. A guitar was his weapon. That is just badass. Excuse my French but it was just so awesome to me that I couldn't even believe it. Not only was it blue and yellow, but the fact that he had a musical instrument and a mullet just came together perfectly.

Up next was Number X, who had cards as a weapon. Nice. Personally I thought it was clever. Who knows? Maybe he turn those cards into like a sheild or many even bombs or something.

Then it was the pink-haired guy's turn. Despite having a girlish hair colour, his weapon was pretty sweet. Having a scythe must be awesome. It'd be even more cooler without the rose petals. It looked pretty but I kinda expected something more… manly maybe? No? (Another note to self: Don't get the girly-man pissed off. He just might give me poison ivy and THEN kill me with that scythe of his.)

The blonde girl was my least favorite. Like, knives? Really? I mean not to be rude but the summoning looked just as boring as the weapon. I know it wasn't supposed to be a fancy flashy contest but still. Knives? I was kinda expecting something else… But something else told me to stay away from her. She didn't seem like the "friendly-type"

Now it was Roxas' turn. Talk about having the most original weapon ever (besides Axel-sama and Myx-sensei). A key. But not just any key: The key blade. The wielder of the key blade is standing in front of me, with the legendary key blade- the strongest weapon among the rest. How awesome is that?

"Sweet. Now that we have an idea, spread across the ring and try it yourself. Shouldn't be that hard, but it's not as easy as it looks. Go!" he announced and walked away. Aww! I wanted to talk with him.

Oh well. I have to focus on my first assignment.

A few moments pass and so far, nothing. This was actually a bit harder than I thought. Not only do you have to have a certain "relationship" with your weapon, but you have to concentrate on the image, and also the power you believe to have within it. And how do you expect me to do this when I just got it? Who knows. I honestly don't think I can, but I can't just give up now (as if I have a choice, really).

I tried to concentrate on my weapon's image, but nothing was happening. I tried concentrating on my power (that I don't even know if I have) and even tested my confidence. Nothing. I looked if anyone else was getting it and it seemed about 2 out of 5 of each group had it successfully done, statistically speaking of course and not literal. I looked at Number XIV's group, and the instructor caught my eye. Didn't know why I didn't notice her there before.

She had short straight black hair, and wore square, thin sunglasses. I think she was helping some of her apprentices, and showed an example. She closed her eyes and within seconds she summoned her weapon. What the coolest thing about her was that she had chakrams, exactly like Axel-sama! Except hers were silver and had a beautiful shade of a metallic black. Kinda Onyx almost! It shone in a gold colour when it was in the light directly.

So cool. Wish I got chakrams.

Then again my weapon was cool too… if I can get the darn thing to come here into my hands in a successful summoning.

Which reminds me… I didn't even see XIV summon her weapon. Did she ask to back out or what? What was it? A fluke maybe? Oh whatever… Maybe I'll find out later. Right now I need to focus.

There were so many things I tried and I've done whatever I didn't try and still no luck. What a drag. This was ticking me off. So much I kicked a small pebble into the sky. I sat in a crisscross position and thought about what I could be doing wrong. The only thing that came to my mind was over thinking everything. Then again, what the heck could I be over thinking besides the concentrating?

Well I guess I pretty much answered my own question there, but still…

I stood up and tried again for about ten minutes with no cigar of the summoning. I couldn't believe my crappy luck! Almost everyone got the hang of it except me!

I felt like crying in frustration and giving up, but I couldn't let this get to me this much… or at least try (and it was pretty dang hard to, but somehow I still managed).

Finally, I just took in a deep breath and stood like how Axel-sama did when he summoned his chakrams. Hey, if it worked for him, why not?

I thrust my arms forward so that they were in front of me then crossed one hand to the opposite side. There was a gripped feeling and clutch in my hand. Could it-? No… Could it?

I looked and there it was. My kusuragama was there in my hand, blade, chain and all. I summoned it! I finally summoned it! YES!

"YAHOOOO!" I shouted with glee. Everyone kinda stared at me for a moment. A burning flush of blood burst all over my face, becoming a beaming bright red. Maybe I'll keep my outbursts to myself from now on.

Later on, Axel-sama seen that pretty everyone got it and went on to a new topic. Knowing the weapon, and I couldn't wait for what he had in store!

For the bladed weapons, we had four tall wooden dowels standing upright. Each one of us had to cut each one in half. Here's the tricky part: we had to get all four of them down in one shot. If we only got one, two or even three, we had to start all over.

Only a few were able to actually get their weapon to cooperate, but now it was my turn. I HAD to get this right if I wanted to impress the other Numbers. I wanted to be the best I could possibly be. So I couldn't screw this up!

I focused closely at the dowels. Each one was a certain distance from each other, all four almost like in a zigzag pattern. Axel-sama said that since my weapon has a chain, it's retractable, so then it could go off the rebound and ricochet off the pillars. This meant that my chances of hitting them were high, which was good. But it also meant I had a higher chance of hurting myself and possibly not even cutting two rather all four in half. At the rate I was at, I wasn't too sure if I was going to make it. But I had to try.

With my pride down the drain, saliva sliding down my throat and my heart beating like a hammer, I tossed the blade and sharply grabbed the chain and pulled to retract it back towards me. The flying blade came straight at me and there was no way to stop it. I sharply threw my hand in front of me. Shing! The blade of the kurusagama swung downwards and dangled there while I was still holding the chain.

I looked…

I only sliced two dowels in half. Dang…

A sudden twisting pain came upon my right hand. It soon become a burning pain as the fabric of the glove on my hand split into a soaked line. There I seen nothing but red. I peeked underneath my glove to reveal a dripping cut: A big one too. I tried to put pressure on it, but the fabric rubbing against the cut made it hurt worse.

"Ouch!" I moaned.

"Something the matter?" asked a deep, mysterious voice. I turned and looked as I suddenly felt my heart sink to my stomach. A chill went up my spine. It was the pink-haired man: Number XI.