Chapter 1.

The Ailment.

The road was cold and icy from last weeks blizzard; making Kairi's daily walk to school that much more unpleasant. Her boots squished the slushy ground beneath her and her scarf was so tight around her neck Kairi thought it would choke her whenever a slight breeze picked up.

Fuck the weather… she thought to herself. I'm going to look like a freezer burned pigeon by the time I get to class. Ten paces further and she was passing Aqueous Park where a homeless man usually sat feeding the natives: pigeons.

Where do pigeons go when there's a blizzard anyways…apparently they don't freeze…there's always so damn many of them. Had she not been absent mindedly mentally rambling to herself about pigeons she might've noticed the black cloaked figure that reclined on the bench the homeless-pigeon-feeding-man usually occupied.

- - -

Soft spiky brown locks poked from the hood of a sleek, warm, black, leather jacket. Arms folded, back stiff, fist clenched, and still as stone was the unofficial member of Organization XIII. He didn't have a number, or a specific job, or a purpose. He was told he was special. And in being so special disserved special treatment. But…he kinda just figured having a 14th member of a group called Organization XIII was just a bad oxymoron.

Then again maybe there was something special about him.

There was nothing he couldn't take on. No mission too impossible. In fact, he'd defied impossible long ago…

He died once.

Sora smiled softly to himself as he reflected on his current mission. The reason he'd come to sit here in the first place.

Flashback

"Your not going to make it!" Axel shouted. "Hell yeah I am!" Sora shouted back when he caught the spiral football and made a mad dash to the goal line.

True to his word: the score was now 7 to 6, and the end of the game.

"Ha ha, nice run Sora." Roxas said while giving him a brother punch on the arm.

"Our teams still the best…right, Xalden?" Axel commented throwing Xalden a smug look over his shoulder. The returning glower was enough to answer his rhetorical question. Soft feet trudged across the field towards the boys; unnoticed.

"Sora…" A soft voice spoke.

Just like that the light air of fun rotted and fell apart. Shoulders stiffened and breathing halted for a brief unsteady moment. Sora pivoted on his heel towards the tiny voice.

"Yes…Namine?"

The small blonde girl looked fragile and powerless. Her brilliant blue eyes put the ocean to shame easily. There was nothing about herthat had the boys stiff as stone whenever she was around. It was what she represented. More specifically who she represented.

"He wants to see you…in the grand hall." Namine announced.

Not even Sora dared to make a sarcastic comeback. All one could do when they were summoned was act cool and confident. Sora blindly shoved the football in the hands of whoever was next to him and started walking forward behind Namine. Everyone knew what it meant when the boss summoned Sora.

It meant they were closer.

It meant another piece of the puzzle might be put into place to further them in their ultimate goal. Being whole.

None of them knew why Sora was the only one who could do missions relating to the door. But they all knew he was different then they were. That was undeniable. He was different from the moment he'd come to them. Diz, the boss, had told them Sora was just another nobody like themselves. They all acted like the believed him but everyone knew it was a lie. Everyone except Sora.

So every time Sora stood in front of the tall arm chair Diz looked down from him atop of, he was blissfully unaware of the vital knowledge kept away from him.

Just like now.

"Sora…my boy, how have you been? It's been quite some time since out last meeting." Diz said in a powerful, fatherly voice.

"Worse than some, better than most." Sora replied dignified.

"Better than most…" Diz repeated. "Yes you certainly are better than most."

Sora ignored his comment he believed was supposed to be praise.

"Today's a very special day for you Sora. Today you receive your final task from me." A sharp breath racked Sora's body as he went completely still. His last task…finaly. All the months of waiting…thinking…wishing…longing for-

He shook the thoughts out of his head quickly. He would not get his hopes up again.

"What do I do?" Sora asked; his voice hard.

"It's actually relatively simple Sora." Diz said in a light voice.

A black ball materialized in front of Sora; level with his eyes, and projected a holographic image of a red-haired girl wearing knee-high black boots, a blue plaid skirt, a white sweater, and a black scarf, walking down an empty street. Sora stared dumbfoundedly at the image.

"I don't get i-" he began to say before being interrupted.

"Bring that girl to me before new years eve. She's the end." Diz said strongly.

"The end…" Sora absent mindedly repeated; staring at the hologram still.

"Yes, the end Sora. If you bring her to me all your previous tasks will come together and reward you. The life you've been longing for all these years can finally be yours again."

In truth, Sora didn't even remember his "life" before he came to be with the Organization. All he had to make him believe he'd even had a life before the Organization were dreams.

Nobody's couldn't dream…but he could. In his dreams Sora saw a familiarly alien world. With a lifestyle and web of emotions he longed for more than anything. The intensity he had for the would in his dreams would have disturbed him had it not felt so right. Sora didn't know what it was about the life he saw but he knew something was there. Something he'd abandoned…something important. His dream never had people in them. He never saw faces. But he heard them. Heard them and felt them louder and clearer than anything he'd ever known.

Everyday Sora had come to be with the Organization there was a constant gnawing agony inside him.

He vowed long ago he would make the agony go away someday.

And today was going to be that day.

End flashback

His current setting in contrast to his feelings was quite ironic. The still and cold air of the tranquil park only helped to personify the clashing chaos of anticipation he felt crashing inside himself. Diz had told him the girl would be passing threw this park around this time. All he had to do was wait.

Footsteps echoed in the distance towards the parks entrance. Sora tilted his head slightly to the right in order to view who was entering the vicinity. The sound of boots on the icy road grew distinctly clearer until a figure started to make their way around the wall into the park.

That's when he saw her.

And that's when the only life he remembered was completely changed.

The moment she came into view a powerful surge rushed threw him and boomed in his chest. Literally. A beat growing faster by the moment had him gasping for breath and clutching his chest. All of his sensed flared to an unbearable amount of life. Everything his around him seemed suddenly more real…more alive than anything ever had before.

Eyes squinted and teeth clenched in pain Sora looked up again to glimpse his approaching target. She was getting closer and closer, looking around at the park like she'd never seen it before. Each breath he took was getting harder and harder. A painful wheeze escaped him and his head fell down with his chest, forcing his eyes to the now blurry ground beneath him.

---

The pigeons wont get me this time Kairi thought confidently as she turned to enter the park.

Everything was as at always was. The trees lining the narrow walking path, the swings off to the left nestled in between two willows, and the bench in front of where the mass gob of pigeons usually made their home. Only today the homeless man wasn't there…a man in a long black coat was.

And by the looks of it he was having a seizure or a heart attack.

Oh my God…Kairi thought franticly what's wrong with him?

Her footsteps grew a bit wider with each pace forward. Something strange compelled her to help the person apparently suffering before her. As she got closer she heard him take in a shard breath then collapse against the back of the bench.

"Are you oka-" Kairi started to say when she was close enough to be heard. The minute she spoke however her words abruptly failed her.

The boy looked up sharply the moment a sound passed her lips. Wild, chaotic, angry blue eyes met her apprehensive green ones. Kairi was mesmerized. He was shaking and breathing heavily…but his eyes were as clear as the sun.

"The hell…" Kairi trailed off when the ground beneath her turned a black-purplish hue. She backed up slowly and cautiously as the boy seemed to be sinking down into the ground.

Then, all too soon, the world was still again.

AN: So what do you guys think so far? . Read & review! The more reviews the faster the update.

Love, Chibikins.