Chap II

...In that world, that world that was never meant to be, darkness held it captive in its shadowed grasp. All those that walked that world's ground fell prisoner to the darkness' cruel power. Heartless...darkness...what differs between them? What makes the two unique in their own ways? This world...this prison cell...is there any sign of light for the living and those without a beating heart? Organization XIII...these members...how is it they are what they are? How is it they are able to hold darkness in the palms of their hands and face it directly? It must be all they know...darkness. There...in their bodies lies the nothing that every being searches for.

Roxas' body suddenly felt free. The feeling of the flames cold embrace quickly began to disperse and for once, he felt secure and confident of where he was although he had not opened his eyes. He turned his left wrist and no longer felt Axel's hold on him. He waited for a second or two and cracked both of his eyes open halfway. The ground his eyes met with was no longer the wet asphalt from before but instead was ghost white. He opened his eyes fully and assumed he would become blinded by the strange light that seemed to be emanating from the room's surfaces.

"What is this place?" He asked, half to himself and half to Axel who had begun to pull his dark hood over his head. He glanced upward at the ceiling while vacantly pacing in circles.

"A room," Axel laughed when Roxas stared awkwardly at him. "You're too much, kid," he joked and tightened the silver chains around his neck to tie off his hood. His face was now hidden from Roxas. Roxas almost began to rethink following Axel in the first place. Was he really trustworthy?

"I already told you, my name isn't kid," Roxas muttered angrily, turning to further examine the room.

"I never really liked this room...or any other room like it for that matter," Axel stated casually, beginning to walk in the direction opposite of where Roxas was standing.

At the sound of Axel's footsteps, Roxas turned and already assumed he would collide with a wall. It was like being stuck in a blank sheet of paper with nothing to say, and nothing to think. Although many thoughts flew through his mind, he couldn't find a way to let it all out in words. He groaned solemnly and raked a gloved hand through his spiked blonde hair.

"Quit stalling! You're slower than Demyx in battle." Axel called over his shoulder, signaling for Roxas to follow by raising his hand.

Roxas shook his head and straightened himself again. "Dem-yx?" He repeated slowly.

"You'll meet him later too," Axel's cool voice fell to a lower tone so suddenly that Roxas would have assumed he was replaced with someone else. "Walk ahead of me, it's the way Xemnas would want it," He continued and stepped to the side to make way.

Roxas' eyes moved to the nothingness of white that Axel had been walking toward and searched its surface for anything relating to a door. Either he was blind, Axel could see things better than he could, or Axel was just plain crazy. Regardless, beyond where they were standing, he would find answers for all his questions. Xemnas...that name...that person was the key for his unlocked questions.

"Xemnas." He repeated in his head as he began to walk forward, the chains around his black cloak rattling lightly as he made a step. He could sense that those teal eyes behind Axel's hood were following him and it nearly made him twitch. In a way, Axel was like a friend already but somehow he was like the darkness beckoning for him. Which one; he did not know. Roxas kept his sapphire eyes on the endless light before him and tried to ignore his guide for the moment. There was a blend of emotions rushing through his body at the time that it made him feel nauseated. He knew it, any minute now he would fall to the lighted floor. Any time now he would lose control over himself and would run...run to where he had last seen those dark shadows. It made no sense why he wanted to be out in those dark streets than in the light room. The light...it didn't register to him...something about it didn't feel right. He swerved, he caught his balance, he swerved again, he was loosing it...

"So—" He hissed through his teeth before being forced quiet like he had before. Shaking his head, he stared at where he was standing. At both sides of his head were two hands pressed against the white wall he must have been forced against. It wasn't until now that he noticed that the back of his head was throbbing. He attempted to feel for a bump behind him but was stopped by a sudden bang beside his ear. "Huh!" He shuddered slightly and turned forward to fall upon two aquamarine pupils staring into his deep blue ones.

Axel laughed lightly and slowly leaned forward until he was close enough for their mouths to touch. "You ok?" He asked lightheartedly.

"O-Ok?" Roxas' voice cracked when he opened his mouth to speak. Those feelings, what were they?

"You were acting really weird just a second ago," The red head said, keeping his voice down to a low key.

"Uh...I...no I mean...it's..." Roxas' sentence was cut off by a slender finger being placed gently over his thin lips. He tried not to shudder...he couldn't be afraid again, not now...not ever again.

"Hah, you're just being a liar." Axel scoffed, finally pushing off of the wall, freeing Roxas from his mesmerizing stare. "You should learn to keep your head on straight." He placed his hand atop Roxas' head and ruffled the blonde's hair roughly before pushing at a piece of wall at Roxas' right.

Roxas' throat felt dry while another part of him felt...he didn't even want to go there. He rubbed the back of his head and as he expected, he felt a small bump from his impact with the wall. His lips trembled when he attempted to speak so he remained silent. He had nearly forgotten why he was in this white space anyway. Just so Axel could do those things to him? As he turned to follow Axel into the next illuminated area, he glanced over his shoulder at the nothing they had been in. He wanted to be there...forget the darkness...he threw that all the side. What had caused him to change his mind?

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"So who's that you've got with you, Axel?" A cheery voice came at Roxas' left the second they both set foot in the room.

Roxas looked up to search for the owner of the voice only to be confused even more by a number of people that were seated above his head. Eleven, he counted, were clothed in the same black cloak that he and Axel were dressed in and were sitting un-moving in their own personal place. A few of them wore their hoods down while a majority of them kept them tied over their heads, keeping their faces indistinct. He squinted, trying to catch the bits of detail in their faces but gave up once he felt the dizziness returning again.

"That was Demyx. Just in case ya didn't know." Axel stated, staring up at the ceiling himself at the eleven people above.

"Well, is that the new member or what?" The voice came again. This time, Roxas was able to identify the owner of the voice when they leaned forward in their seat, resting their hands upon their separated knees.

"Depends!" Axel called back. "Not my job to decide that!"

Demyx, Roxas assumed, slouched back into his white seat and sighed heavily. "Number thirteen, huh? If he does get accepted he'll be the youngest in the Order, right?"

"What's he...?" Roxas began, turning toward Axel for the answer.

Axel shook his head and folded his arms behind his head. "Not my job to explain all of that to you. Got it memorized?" He asked, turning toward Roxas for assurance.

Roxas nodded, unsure, and suddenly felt uncomfortable at the people above glaring down at him from above. He felt like an ant being closed into a corner only he knew no one in the room would have found it interesting to eat him. He could hear an exchanging of conversations resonating from the high walls. It was him they were gossiping about. He wasn't that surprising; was he?

"Roxas"

Soon, the light whispers died down to absolute silence. Roxas turned to the low, powerful voice at his left and came in contact with a being dressed the same as all the others and himself. He turned to Axel who had straightened and refrained from speaking, something that seemed a bit awkward for him to do. The person stood frozen still while only it's head surveyed the room. It's body was well built from what Roxas could tell and by the hushed, obedient expressions of everyone in the room, he knew that this was Xemnas.

Xemnas' head finally stopped when he came upon Roxas hidden partially behind Axel's body. As if by command, Axel stepped backward to reveal the young teen under the radiance of the light, his formal uniform strikingly noticeable against the pale white.

"State his name," Xemnas asked, turning his head toward Axel.

"He told me it's Roxas," Axel replied obediently.

"Does he know of his real name?"

"No."

"What of his power?"

"I haven't gotten a chance to see what he can do. He hasn't attempted transporting by himself yet."

"You brought him here then?"

"Yes."

There was a short pause in the room until Xemnas started up again.

"Axel," Xemnas said in a monotonous voice; he wasn't moving.

Axel turned his head toward the man and waited.

"Stay seated until I return with Roxas." Without another word, Xemnas turned, his shadowy cloak gently following his movement, and beckoned for Roxas to follow with a simple glance over the shoulder.

Axel was engulfed in black flames the second Xemnas ordered him and disappeared and reappeared in an un-occupied seat with the other eleven above. He ruffled his fiery hair and leaned forward to view the boy from below. "Roxas..." He thought through his head when the blonde disappeared into a separate room with Xemnas striding up front.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Another bright room was Roxas' environment now. He could feel the walls nearly closing in on him; he had never felt so small. The room was empty except for him and Xemnas who had his face hidden at the time. Xemnas' back was turned from Roxas which made Roxas think that he was dormant. He was so still that if he was standing in the dark, Roxas knew he would have been connected with the darkness. He even wondered if Xemnas was even breathing. He stared gloomily at the blank floor with his hands beginning to tighten into fists. What should he say? What was there to say? He had those questions before. What to start with? When he couldn't keep it contained any longer, Roxas took a single step forward and glared directly at the man before him.

"Xemnas," he began, "I know you know why I was brought here. I tried asking Axel where we were but he told me it wasn't his job. If it isn't his, then it's yours. Where am I? Who're all those people outside with the black cloaks? Why am I like them? I'm not even sure if I really am like them. But, from the looks of it, I'm supposed to be the new 'member' to this so called Organization. I don't even know who I am! I don't know how I got here or...or how it is I know your name!" He immediately shut his mouth after the last outburst and searched for more to say to cover him up. "No...no, that's not what I..."

"Are you sure those are not just questions you yourself can answer?" Xemnas interrupted, still unmoving.

"I...me?" Roxas asked, staring questionably at Xemnas' backside.

"You don't know...of course, it is impossible for a new nobody to know the answers to the world's simplest questions."

"N-nobody...?" He repeated to himself in a whisper.

"It is what you are, Roxas."

Roxas paused and began slowly, "You were the one that told me my name, weren't you?" He slowly was coming to realize that he knew the man's voice.

Xemnas became quiet again. Roxas wished he wouldn't for it made him uncomfortable being around someone that acted like a specter. "Nobodies...they, Roxas, are a certain type of being in the universe that, shall we say, were never meant to exist."

"I..."

"Yes. You, just like Axel and all the others are nothing but half of something that used to be."

"Something that used to be..." Things just became stranger and stranger as time progressed.

"Nobodies are originally created for every Heartless created. Heartless are created from human beings that die and that are reborn into a body without a beating heart. Heartless hunger for darkness in people's hearts which makes their jobs easy considering that darkness will forever reside in hearts. The life of a Heartless is to collect hearts from unsuspecting beings with hearts."

"But, we aren't Heartless." Roxas added, suddenly becoming interested in the topic.

"No, we are not. However...you will notice, if you search, you have no heart. The only difference between the Heartless and us is that Heartless are irrational shadows while we are together as one whole. Our minds are completely fixated on hearts...something we share with the Heartless. Roxas, tell me what it was like for you..."

"What do you mean?" He asked in a somewhat gloomy matter.

"Try to interpret it and explain to me what it was like." Xemnas, for once, moved his hooded head and glanced over his shoulder at the boy.

He paused, his hands still clenched into fists, and pondered the thought. "How...how did it feel...? How did...wait...something like, a light warmth."

"Hmm." Xemnas said to himself, nodding his head once.

"It was...something to look forward to everyday. 'What's in store for you tomorrow?' was the sort of question to be asked. But...there was also...also...sting."

"Sting..." Xemnas muttered to himself.

"Sting...like a feeling of burning. There was that time when...I couldn't take it anymore and didn't want to undergo that much pain..."

"Explain to me that pain. How did it come to be?"

"It was...it..." Roxas' voice trailed off and his eyes drifted upon the floor again. Pain...there were so many different ways he could have explained the feeling. It was just something that grew from within him and revealed itself by attacking others. But why did he know? He could barely even remember his name. He could barely even walk straight or stand straight for that matter. All he could do was find help in other people...or nobodies. Nobodies...he was a nobody. Not meant to exist...no heart? He as simply half of someone that was real. He was struck silent as thoughts raced through his head. He feared being no one. It pained him to be nobody.

Xemnas stared forward again when Roxas refused to say anymore and merely nodded his head gloomily. "I see." With a raised hand, he signaled for Roxas that they were finished.

Roxas' blank eyes drifted to Xemnas where they remained for sometime before he knew there was nothing more he could say. He suddenly felt the strain of the bright light against his eyes; almost like sharp pins being stabbed into them. With his eyes half closed, he turned gracefully toward the white door. Xemnas had faded no sooner than when Roxas stepped out to start his beginning...his beginning journey as nobody.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The feel of the first gathering room felt lighter than it had earlier to Roxas. The gentle scuffing of his boots against the marble flooring echoed lightly when he stepped forward into the center of the round space. He knew the eyes were watching him now; just as curious as he about whom he really was. His eyes traced the outline of a large, grey shaded symbol that appeared to cover the entire floor. He hadn't seen it before and took at least some interest in its somewhat complex design. After what seemed like forever, Roxas froze in the dead center of the room, in the dead center of the strange symbol, and effortlessly stared up at the group of black cloaked people above. He recognized Demyx who was still sitting as he was when he last saw him except this time his face was straight when he stared down at Roxas' body. Twelve, now including Axel...no, thirteen, now including himself.

"Number 13, Roxas."

Roxas recognized the voice as Xemnas' as it resounded in the silence. The moment the voice spoke Roxas' name, Roxas' eyes fell upon an un-occupied seat above his head among the others. The two beside him were hooded so he wasn't able to view the faces hidden in their darkness. "Roxas..." He whispered drearily. He became wrapped in darkness when he thought of his name. The black flames were already beginning to surround his body just as it had before when he was with Axel. Only this time, he faced the darkness and abandoned searching for the light. All he could remember was being placed amongst nobodies like himself. This was who he was and this was where he belonged. All Axel could do was smirk approvingly...number eight, number thirteen.

Chap III