Kindred Hearts

A fanfic by Copper Thrice

The Nobodies

A lone, black-cloaked figure watched as the three runaway humans were led out of the Heartless drop-ship.

Behind the figure rose a black portal and out of it came the mildly agitated Narax.

"So, Leader," Narax said sarcastically, "What are we gonna do with the humans?"

The figure stood in thought for a moment, then turned to Narax.

Maria, Scott, and Cathy were led by two, silent, grey guards to a holding cell in the bowels of the ship.

They were led down a dark corridor to an uninventive, barred jail-cell that was half-shrouded in darkness.

One Nobody guard slid his gloved hand over the cell's lock and the door opened.

Suddenly, a dark portal appeared and the boy, Narax, walked out of it.

"Hold on, guys," he said to the guards, "The Leader wants to talk with that one." Narax pointed to Maria. The guards obediently released her.

Narax stood to the side of the portal and motioned for Maria to enter it. Maria turned towards her two friends and gave them a worried look.

"C'mon, girl, we don't have all day!" said Narax impatiently. Maria swallowed and took a step into the portal. Narax followed her and the portal disappeared.

The guards wasted no time and forced Scott and Cathy into the jail-cell. After that they locked the cell and walked into the corridor, fading into darkness.

Scott sat down and Cathy began to pace around

"So," said a voice from the dark portion of the cell. Cathy and Scott turned to see a young man walking out from the dark half of the cell.

He was tall with short, blonde hair and he wore a denim vest with a white shirt and blue jeans. However, most notable was that he had a tail. It was as blonde as his hair ad it moved lazily behind him. On his face was a very smug look.

"So," the man continued, "What'cha in for?" Scott and Cathy shot each other a look.

Maria found herself walking down a dark corridor. It was cold and she couldn't see the walls. All she could hear was Narax's and her own footsteps. At the end of a corridor was a light and Maria felt like she was being drawn towards it.

Eventually, she and Narax stepped out of the portal into a large, white room with a large table and many chairs surrounding it.

Narax looked around and huffed. "Figures, the guy tells me to bring you here and he doesn't even show." Narax crossed his arms impatiently.

Then a new portal appeared and out of it came a slender, black-cloaked figure. His hood was drawn over his face.

The figure motioned for Narax to leave. Narax looked at Maria, then at the figure, then he turned to his portal and disappeared along with it.

"Well," the figure said in a voice that sounded very familiar to Maria. "We meet again. Or is this the first time we've met?" The figure laughed. "Sorry, that sounded so much better when I practiced it."

The figure took a step towards Maria. "Allow me to introduce myself." He pulled back his hood and Maria's eyes widened in confusion.

"My name is Viddax," he said.

He looked just like David, only with silver eyes.

"What's going on?" Maria thought.

"Hello?" asked the tailed man, "Are you gonna answer my question?"

"Uhm, I'm Cathy and this is Scott," said Cathy shakily. Scott was still surprised by the man's appearance. "We don't really know why we're here. These Heartless things attacked our home town and…" Cathy just let her words fall, letting how it sounded sink into her. It was the truth, but she didn't like it. She made it sound so trivial.

"Ahhhh…" said the man crossing his arms and nodding, "You're in the same boat as us."

"Us?" asked Scott.

"Yeah, me and… Hang on a sec." The man walked into the dark corner and brought out a girl about his age. She was wearing a tattered white cloak with red trim. She had long, black hair and she probably looked very pretty, but sadness seemed to radiate from her.

The man set her down on a wall in the light where she just curled up. The man sighed looking at her worriedly.

"My name is Zidane and this…" he said motioning to the girl, "Is Garnet. Our planet was hit by Heartless too."

"Oh," said Scott.

"Anywho," said Zidane walking over to Garnet and sitting down next to her, "what's your story?"

Cathy turned to Scott, "You tell it. I don't want to." She then sat down near the bars.

Scott sighed, "Alright. It began just yesterday. You see I had a friend named David who…" And Scott began to tell their story.

David piloted the remains of the Heartless drop-ship through space. He checked the diagnostics on his pilot's console. It was then that he saw the charm that the girl had given him.

David picked it up in his gauntleted hand, moving his fingers over the red stone in the center.

"What was her name?" he thought. He had heard the other female say some name or did the girl mention it?

"Maria," he said thoughtfully as he held up the charm.

Then he shook his head, he should stick to his orders.

Get back to Grand Kelm and report to the leader of his Heartless breed.

He set down the charm and set back to his journey into space.

Maria took a step back from the David look-a-like.

"How…" she thought aloud.

Viddax chuckled, "I get it. According to Narax's 'colorful' report of what occurred yesterday. You've met with the Heartless who looks like me. Well, if you think that either of us is the real David, you're half right."

Viddax took a step towards Maria, who backed into a chair and sat down.

Viddax sat down in a chair near her. "I'll answer your questions later, but now onto business. You were led here because you might have had information about the Signet."

"The Signet was a charm that was given to you by David some time ago, Maria. It is what the Organizations are after."

"How did you know my name?" Maria asked.

Viddax gave her an incredulous, but cold look. "Don't you know anything about Nobodies, yeesh."

"Man," thought Maria, "This guy may look like David, but he's kind of a jerk."

"You see… Nobodies are the remnants of people who have been turned into Heartless. We are the incarnation of strong wills and memories left behind. Now, can I continue?"

Maria nodded.

"Now I already know that you lost the charm that David gave you a long while back. Man," Viddax chuckled, "He was so heartbroken when you finally told him. He found it in Zonax's journal and gave it to you."

Maria blinked. It was true that she lost the charm but she had found it two days ago and she was… Maria almost gasped. She was going to give it back to David at the park. That's why she called him, but... Then the Heartless hit…

"Wait…" Maria said quietly. Viddax silenced and looked at her with his silver eyes. "If you know that I don't have the… Signet. Then why did you call me here?"

Viddax grinned, "I have a different use for you."

Maria began to feel very, very uncomfortable.

"Wow," said Zidane as Scott finished telling his view on what happened over the course of a few days. It all seemed do unreal to Scott, but Zidane took it in without interruption. "Your story is pretty similar to the attack on our Home-world. The Heartless just swooped in and… bam, yur world's gone." Zidane slapped his knee.

"Now I don't know about you, but I was a good fighter back on my world. I was a member of a… troupe that… did…" Zidane paused for a few moments.

"Illegal stuff," Scott filled in.

Zidane nodded his head back and forth, "Sometimes, sometimes not. Anyway, we got an assignment, from a king mind you, to, uh, retrieve someone from another person and, or people usually in a fashion against their will."

"You had to kidnap someone?" Cathy asked.

"Well it sounds bad if you put it that way," Zidane said, "But yeah, pretty much. In fact, that mission, is how I met Garnet." Zidane shot a grin at Garnet who let the ghost of a smile pass her face.

"You mean, you met her on the mission?" asked Cathy.

"Actually…" said Zidane, "She was our mission."

"Huh," said both Scott and Cathy.

"Ya see… I was sent to kidnap Garnet here and ship her to a king of a nearby kingdom. I just didn't expect to her to be so… willing. I told her that I was there to kidnap her and she just came along." Zidane chuckled. "She was a lot more lively back then, though. Man, we had to get through some tough times to get her to the destination and we met the weirdest people." Zidane paused to allow all the memories to flood back into him.

"In the end though," he said sadly, looking at Garnet, "Losing your entire world… does stuff to people. Especially if you don't know what was going on and not knowing why."

Scott and Cathy glanced at each other.

"I could get us outta here pretty easily. My weapon was forged with stuff that allows it to actually hurt these Nobody and Heartless things. Problem is…" Zidane looked out of the cell and at a hatch on the opposite wall. "My weapon is in that hatch there and I can't get to it…" Zidane sighed.

"So," said Scott leaning forward. "What do we do?"

Zidane thought for a moment. "Well, we could wait for a miracle."

"Great…" said Scott sarcastically.

"Let me fill you in on Nobodies," Viddax said. "You see. There are thirteen Organizations and then there's mine, Organization Zero. The Organizations are groups of humanoid Nobodies that work together to achieve their goals."

"Organizations One through Eleven are after the Signet. They believe that by using it they can restore their emotions, because you see… Nobodies have no real emotions. We copy our emotions from the ones we 'remember' from our past lives. So, Nobodies naturally try to seek a way to 'feel' again."

"Organizations Twelve and Thirteen are researching the Kingdom Hearts and also they want to find a way to find a way to feel in the process."

"When a Nobody is born…" Viddax said, "It has only two questions running through its mind. The first is 'How do I survive?' A Nobody asks this because if we… die I guess is the right word, die, then we return to the nothingness from which we were born. We simply cease to exist." Viddax looked off to the side in thought.

"Woah," thought Maria. She almost felt sorry for him, but then again… If Nobodies can't have emotions then this is just a trick to toy with her. Still… There was something behind Viddax's speech that got to her. She listened as he continued.

"The next question is 'How can I feel again?' Nobodies WANT to feel again, because they remember the times they actually COULD feel." Viddax sighed.

"Wait," Maria said interrupting again, "You said that you were from Organization Zero… You didn't mention what your goal was."

Viddax's eyes became dodgy all of a sudden. "You see…" He said choosing his words. My Organization does the dirty work for the other Thirteen. We maneuver Traveler Heartless fleets to sentient-inhabited worlds where we let them raid and we pick up any Nobodies that are—"

Maria stood up, anger in her eyes. "You! Your group sent those Heartless to my Home-town. You set them on my friends and family!?"

"Well, I wasn't leader around the time that—" But his excuse was too late, because Maria pulled back a fist and punched Viddax in the face.

She pulled back her hand, surprised. Viddax's head turned, but mostly out of reflex. It was her hand that came out hurting. She took a step back as Viddax stood up and felt his cheek.

He looked down at Maria who now realized just how strong this guy really was. She felt powerless, like he emanated some kind of aura of power around himself. She let a tear fall from her eye. She was powerless here. She felt a deep fear in the pit of her stomach.

Viddax stepped closer and used his hand to brush the tear from her cheek. Maria flinched back. Viddax then examined it and then brushed it off on his cloak.

"It's interesting…" he said getting closer to her, "The memories that David had of you are so… full of emotion. Just by looking over them and being near you I… can almost…" Viddax got even closer to Maria, who was as stiff as a board.

Maria could feel his cloak and the faint aura he gave off come closer, closer…

Then an explosion rocked the ship. Viddax stepped a few paces backwards and looked around.

"What happened?" he thought aloud. "What hit us?"

Suddenly there was more rocking and the door to the Meeting hall burst open.

Amid the smoke came out a Nobody guard.

"You there!" Yelled Viddax at the guard, "What's going—" Viddax didn't finish his question because the Nobody quickly disintegrated into nothingness.

In the midst of the smoke came out a familiar figure to Maria.

"Get away from him, Maria!" yelled the Heartless David. He then held out his hand and his Keyblade blinked into existence.

End of Part 4