- others -
AkuRoku; standard 'not mine' disclaimer; these oneshots may be set during CoM or KHII (or in between the two) and may include spoilers. Reviews are love.
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- axel -
The world was endless, eternal… and gray.
He was floating; he was nothing, floating in nothing.
Except nothing could not feel or think. Nothing was not a 'he'.
So what did that make him?
He became slowly, so slowly he hardly knew what was happening. The gray deepened to black. Feeling seeped into his limbs… though when he'd gained limbs, he had no idea. The world was hard and dark… and damp. Rain made the air heavy. The smell was overpowering. Rain… and… hopelessness.
He pushed himself upright, slowly climbing to his feet, using the wall behind him for balance. Everything was dark… but the faintest glow teased at the edge of his sight. He felt stifled, enclosed; the hood. When he pulled the hood back, rain misted against his face, and the night was lit with the glare of neon light.
Where am I? The alley was empty and silent but for the distant hum of the city lights. A better question pulled at his thoughts: Who am I?
The shadows shifted subtly—he almost didn't notice, but then there were forms blooming from the ground around him. Crafted of shadow. Their movements were jerking and erratic, their eyes luminous and hungry. And they were coming toward him. Alarm rang through his chest, setting his nerves afire.
Truly afire.
He felt the heat blooming, such a stark contrast to the cold, dark world around him, to the eerie shadow creatures leering at him. Icy tendrils of foreign thought crept into his mind, whispering, but the growing heat melted them away. His body screamed for the fight.
Kill them.
He found weight in his hands, warm through his gloves. The mist of rain hissed faintly as it came into contact with the weapons, but the shadow creatures didn't falter.
They should have.
His weapons went spinning through them, the heat of the metal slicing cleanly through them and melting them away. The creatures were darkness, were ice. He was fire. "Fire!" His voice cut through the alley, harsh against the silence. His weapons, his chakrams, returned to him and flew away again, cutting through shadow after shadow, though a new one formed to take the place of each one he destroyed. The rake of the chakrams against the alley wall, the hiss of rain against his heat and fire, his breathing; these were the only sounds in the night. He was alone.
No.
The creatures finally dwindled away, and when his chakrams went silent, the clapping that echoed through the alley nearly startled him. "You're pretty good," a voice drawled. When he peered into the darkness, he could make out three figures clothed and hooded in black.
"What's your name?" a different voice asked, chilly and clear.
What is my name? Even he didn't know. With a shrug of one shoulder, he replied, "Don't have one."
One of them—the first one—laughed.
"Who are you?" he asked them.
"The names are Xigbar, Vexen, and Zexion," the first voice replied, "and we're Nobodies. Like you."
"Nobodies," he repeated. It rang true. He was… nobody. Not quite nothing, but close enough that it hardly made a difference.
The second one, with his cold, articulate voice, said, "We could use someone like you in the Organization."
The 'Organization' was a rather pretentious name. Stupid, if you asked him. But these three seemed to know more about what the hell was going on than he did. "For what?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Becoming somebodies," a third voice said simply.
He tilted his head, playing with the thought. Being somebody was definitely better than being nobody. And he didn't know what he was going to do if he didn't go along with these three. Who knew if there was anyone else in this place? Not him. He didn't know much of anything. He gave a slow nod.
"That makes you number eight," the first voice told him.
"Choose a name," the chilly second voice added.
A name. Theirs were… Xigbar, Vexen, and Zexion. He remembered them, but that wasn't surprising; there was nothing else to remember. But what to call himself? Axel. That fit well. A name.
"Axel."
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- your friendly neighborhood khergasm -
Yay. Both collections started. I hope they both don't have crappy starts. x_x; Next one-shot shall be, predictably, 'Roxas'.