I soon found myself looking into a large, swirling, black abyss. Both mine and Becky's faces were illuminated by a slight glow that the dark thing emitted.

"Well," The man said, "are you going in?"

"What is it?"

"You'll see."

This man was starting to get on my nerves. He was so vague all the time! I shrugged it off, looking to Becky again for reassurance. She nodded, motioning for me to go ahead. I summoned up my courage and stuck my foot into the blackness. I didn't feel anything bad…

I stepped all the way through, holding my breath as I was enveloped by the swirling oval shaped shadow.

I instantly had to cover my eyes with my hand. There had been a sudden change in the lighting; temporarily blinding me. After a moment of recuperation, I opened my eyes and saw Becky step through the darkness.

"AAH!" She cried. "THE LIGHT! IT BURNS!"

I couldn't help but snicker, despite the fact that I had nearly done the same thing moments before.

For a second, I thought that all we had done was reappear in the same spot: the ground around us was pure white with glistening stars lighting up the sky. I quickly realized, however, that the ground I was standing on was hard and made with some kind of glossy stone: probably marble.

Becky sniveled somewhere next to me. I grinned as I watched her rubbing her eyes. When she finally opened them, however, her face lit up with a mixture of excitement and confusion.

"Whoa…" She muttered. "It's, like, all shiny and stuff!"

As we examined our surroundings, the man emerged from the portal. He proudly walked between Becky and I and cleared his throat.

"I believe I got you two out of there just in time. Your world is sure to have vanished already."

I looked down at my feet, realizing what must have happened. I thought back to the star I had seen the night before. Had that happened to Earth, too?

Becky squealed in excitement. "Did our world really disappear? That's so freakin cool, man!"

Yeah," I said halfheartedly. The realization of what had just happened hit me like a freight train. I had just left everything behind. My whole life was about to change drastically; and the only thing I had managed to save was Becky and myself.

I could only hope that this didn't turn into a major guilt trip.

"So," I said, returning my attention to the man, "what now?"

The man laughed slightly as he turned back to us. "I suppose I should tell you who I am; we could start with that."

I stared in-avertedly at the man, pondering only for a moment what he meant.

"Oh!" I exclaimed. "That's right!" Grinning sheepishly, I gave the man a slight poke. "So, who the hell are you anyways?"

The man sighed, sounding slightly annoyed at my comment. He reached up, gripping the hood of his cloak tightly.

Suddenly, I realized something. The man had a face! I mean, he actually looked like something! In the few brief seconds that it took for him to remove his hood, I tried to picture what he looked like. Was he balding prematurely? Was he cute? Did he have an oversized nose like my eighth grade history teacher? Was he even a man? He had never really told me his gender. I had just assumed, but I could be wrong…

Alas: he was a male.

The first thing I noticed about him was the color of his hair. It was silvery-white, and appeared to be short and spiky at some parts while reaching past his shoulders at others.

I fixated my gaze on his face. He had piercing yellow eyes, along with an expression of pure determination mixed with a chilling calm.

"My name is Xemnas." He said with a slight grin. "I am the superior of Organization XIII; and this," he gestured toward the building. "Is the Castle that Never Was."

"Organization wha-?" Becky chirped.

Xemnas chuckled. "I figured you would ask that. Now, where to start?"

Xemnas deadpanned, his expression finally fitting his serious posture.

"The Organization was formed on the basis of recreating Kingdom Hearts."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Do you know what that is?"

"Uh…"

Xemnas huffed. "Okay, I'll explain this to you as simply as I can. I and the rest of the Organization are nobodies."

"Oh, Xemnas! No you aren't!" Becky cooed.

"Excuse me?"

"Look, I'm sure there are people who will appreciate you for who you are."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Well, what are you talking about?"

"I'm a nobody, understand?"

"Oh, come on Xemnas! Don't have such low self esteem!"

"What? I'm a nobody! How many times do I have to repeat myself to you two?"

"Aww, I'll be your friend!" Becky walked up to Xemnas and gave him a hug. He glared at her and pried her off briskly.

"Um," I piped in, "I think we're missing something here."

"Yes," Said Xemnas angrily. "I believe you are."

Becky slipped back to my side. "I was only trying to be nice…" She whispered.

"As I was saying," he continued, "a nobody is a being who has had their heart stolen by the heartless. We nobodies are only the shell that is left behind, and only by building Kingdom Hearts can we be whole once again."

"Ooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhh," I said ponderingly. "so basically you're just striving for an existence?"

"Yes. Our hearts lie somewhere within the realm of darkness. We need the door to the realm before we can retrieve them."

"Ha-ha! Well, that's easy enough! Well, to understand, I mean."

Xemnas pointed to the sliver of the moon, barely visible among the stars. "Once the moon is full, we will be able to reclaim what is ours."

At that moment, another dark, oval portal appeared behind us. A man stepped out from the shadowy orb, dressed in the same black cloak as Xemnas.

Another Organization member, perhaps?

The man was much paler than Xemnas, and was easily distinguishable by a large scar in the shape of an 'x' that crossed between his eyes. He had long, bluish hair along with a pair of amber colored eyes that lit up ferociously in the moonlight.

"Xemnas," he called, "was the mission a success?"

"Oh, Saix, you're here. Good." He turned away from us and acknowledged the man accordingly. "Take these two and introduce them to the others."

"Two, sir?" Saix glanced at us; a somewhat confused look on his face. "But-"

"There was a slight change of plans, nothing dire. Just get the job done."

"R-right, sir. Of course."

Xemnas quickly turned to us. "Sorry for the quick departure, but I have business to attend to." He summoned another portal and vanished, leaving me, Becky, and Saix behind.

Saix walked over to us and knelt down, examining both of our faces closely. "So, which of you is the one The Superior was talking about?"

"The Superior?"

"Yes, Xemnas: The Superior."

"Well, me, I guess." I raised a hand slightly.

"Who is the other one?" He glanced at Becky.

"She's my friend."

"Friend?"

"Yeah! She came with me."

"Oh." Saix straightened and held out a hand, which we both shook. "I'm Saix. Apparently I'm your guide today."

I began to dance around happily on my feet, something I always did when I was excited. "I'm Maddie! Nice to meet you!"

"Hello." Becky said shortly.

Saix stared at her for a moment, waiting for her to give a name, but she only blinked and stared back. He coughed.

"Ahem, well then, uh… Shall we go?"

"Right, yeah." I grabbed Becky's arm and turned to follow Saix through the newly opened portal.

We stepped through, emerging in a white room occupied only by a white table and several people. Did everyone here wear black cloaks? It's like the Grim Reaper Association.

The people in the room were very, colorful, I guess. Just about everyone there had hair that was a different color, and some of it just wasn't natural. Most of the people in the room had blonde hair, but those who didn't embodied a living rainbow. Aside from Saix's aqua-blue hair, there were people with bright red, silvery-purple, orange, and even pink hair! Wow; I felt like I was at a cosplay.

The Organization members were immersed in a game of cards. What was that they were playing? Poker, maybe? Most of them looked bored out of their minds. One of them, a tall, skinny red-head, yawned lazily; only to be slapped in the face by a very angry blonde man with a goatee.

"Oi, Axel!" The blonde man said in a fantastic British accent. "Pull yourself together, man! Get focused on the game, or you're bound to lose this match if you keep dozing off!"

"But Luxord," Axel said warily, "you forced us to play with you! This is our third game. I'm starting to get bored…"

"YOU WILL PLAY YOU LANGUID, IMPERCEPTIVE, AQUISITIVE, SACRELEGIOUS SATIRIST!"

Axel winced in fear as the Brit chewed him out for his comment. The only girl in the room (besides us) let out a malicious chuckle.

Luxord turned on the girl. "Larxene! You shouldn't be laughing. Remember who's losing the bloody game!"

Larxene's face took on a bemused and offended expression.

Saix shook his head and addressed us thoughtfully. "Sorry about this; I believe we just interrupted another one of Luxord's 'tirades'." He cleared his throat loudly, and everyone went silent: focusing all their attention on the newcomers.

To be honest, I began to get somewhat self-conscious. I'd never enjoyed being in the spotlight; especially when it was people I didn't know. Scrambling through my thoughts, I tried to come up with some kind of introduction, but fortunately Saix had it covered.

"Alright, I know you've all been expecting this, so don't act so surprised!"

"You never said it was going to be a girl!" Larxene cried.

"Whatsa matter, Larxene? You jealous?" a blonde, spiky haired boy with a mullet replied sarcastically.

"Shut up, Demyx…" Larxene growled.

There were several snickers from around the room, but they were quickly stifled by a murderous glare from Saix.

"So," he continued, "now that we're finished messing around, let's get down to business; shall we? I would like to introduce to you the two newest members of our Organization."

Whoa, wait; did he just say 'the two newest members'? I did not agree to this…

"Two?" one of them shouted. "There was only s'posed to be one!"

"Yes, yes, I know." Saix grumbled. "There was a slight change in plans."

"Which one's which, then?"

"What're we supposed to do with the other one?"

"Why weren't we notified earlier?"

I shot a worried glance at Becky, but was relieved to see her smiling. She's probably enjoying this… Oh well. That's Becky for you. Why she took pleasure in stuff like this, I'll never know.

"Goodness, people! I don't know; ask The Superior! I've only just now received notice of this!" Saix fumed.

A young, silver haired boy stood up and snickered mischievously. "Saix, why don't you just tell us who they are? They look kind of, confused."

Saix glanced at me, and I could only imagine the expression embedded on my face.

"Kuso…" I muttered under my breath. I was probably making a great first impression: paranoid expression and all.

"Right." Saix said, motioning for the boy to sit down. He grabbed my arm and pulled my in front of him. "This is Maddie. She is the girl The Superior spoke of before."

I was greeted by several melancholy acknowledgements. Wow, some of the people here are so stilted.

I stepped aside, allowing Saix to pull Becky up in front. "This here is… um…" He paused and looked pleadingly at me.

Oh yeah. Becky never told him her name…

"Her name's Rebecca…" I whispered to him. He gave me a grateful nod and quickly resumed his speech.

"This is Rebecca. She's Maddie's 'friend,' so I guess she tagged along."

Axel smiled. "Ah well, double the fun!"

Okay, so maybe not everyone was stuck up…

Saix turned back toward the Organization. "Alright, your turn."

They all looked around with blank expressions on their faces. Finally, one of the older looking members stood and cleared his throat.

"Erhem," he straightened and thrust out his chest. "Number II, Xigbar, at your service!" He saluted. I had to admit, the guy was kind of scary looking. I wondered what he had done to get the scar on his face; and how he lost his eye. At least, I think he lost his eye. He could just be the kind of person who wears eye patches for fun…

One by one the Organization members stood and introduced themselves.

"Number III, Xaldin."

Damn, that guy looked like a Gorilla.

"I'm Vexen, number IV."

Scary eyes…

"My name is Lexaeus, but you can call me number V."

His hair looks like cheese.

"The name's Zexion, number VI!"

"I'm Axel: that's A-X-E-L, got it memorized?"

I'll probably forget.

"Hi I'm Demyx and Axel SUCKS."

Axel glared at Demyx before tackling him to the ground where several wimpy exclamations could be heard.

"I'm Luxord," The British guy said while rolling his eyes. "Number X. Pleasure to meet you."

The pink haired dude spoke without looking at either of us. "Marluxia, number XI."

"I'm Larxene, number XII. Don't screw that up, got it kid?"

Bitch…

"I'm Roxas! Number XIII. What's up?"

"Oh my God!" I cried. "I just realized something!"

"What?" Saix asked.

"There are EXACTLY thirteen of you!"

They looked at me skeptically. "Um, Maddie?" Becky raised an eyebrow. "There's a reason they're called 'Organization XIII'."

"I swear I did not know that."

Becky hid her face in her hands and groaned. "Wow, Maddie."

Someone in the room snickered. I just shrugged and looked at Saix. "So, now what?" I asked nonchalantly.

Saix appeared to remember something. "Oh: right, you two, time to figure out where you'll be staying." He grabbed us both by the shoulder and walked us into another portal.

"Okay, two things." I stated as soon as we emerged. "One: how come we got absolutely no time to get to know those people?"

Saix sighed. "You'll have plenty of time to do that later. I'm on Xemnas's orders right now."

"Alright then. Okay, second question: do you people walk anywhere?"

He smiled at this and shook his head in reply. "Not usually. It's a lot easier just to teleport everywhere"

"Why can't we do that?" Becky complained.

"Um, I'll get that figured out soon. You may end up needing to use that."

"Sweetness."

We returned our attention to finding rooms to stay in. Becky and I both wanted a room next to each other, so Saix had to spend a while searching for vacant, neighboring rooms. Once we found them, however, we were allowed to enter and have a look around.

"Alright," Saix said, pointing to both of the doors. "Who's going to take what room?"

Becky and I looked at each other and shrugged.

"I'll take the one on the left," Becky said.

"Sure, whatever."

"But I wanna see your room first. Just in case I change my mind; okay?"

"Yeah, I don't care"

Saix intercepted us before we could go in the door. "One more thing before I leave. You two shouldn't go wandering off. If you do, please try to stay within the general vicinity of these rooms! Try to save the exploring for when you can use the portals; you could get lost."

"Yeah, sure…" I replied, not really having paid any attention at all. Saix nodded and let us through.

I opened the door to the room and saw to my disdain that the entire room was pure white. There wasn't a splash of color to be seen: just like the rest of the castle. "Aw, man!" I groaned. "I need to fix this or I'm gonna suffer from color withdrawal."

Becky nodded in agreement, and then dragged my over to her room. This time, Becky was the one who let out a mournful sigh. "No color in here, either."

Suddenly, I had an epiphany. "We should search the castle for color!"

"Great idea! That was brilliant; why didn't I think of that?"

"Because I'm a genius." Taking no heed in Saix's suggestion that we remain by the room, we dashed off down the hall to begin our quest for color.

After about half an hour of reckless exploration; we started to get irritated.

"Damn," Becky fumed. "This place has less joie de vivre than a blank sheet of sketch paper."

"Seriously. This would be so much easier if we could cover more ground." We glanced at each other.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Yeah. Let's split up! We might actually find something."

"Okay; I'll go left and you go right."

"Right."

"No, you go left!"

"No, no! I meant 'right,' like, 'okay, I actually know what I'm doing' kind of right."

"Oh."

"Hey Becky,"

"Huh?"

"Are we taking this too seriously?"

We looked at each other. "Naw…" We said simultaneously.

After setting a time and place to meet, we split up: Becky going down the right hallway and me going down the left. I spent a while meandering through the corridors; spacing out but still keeping enough sense to remember my goal. Finally, after wandering around for a bit, I stumbled upon a rather peculiar room.

Hey, this room's got some color. I thought to myself, examining my surroundings with actual interest. The room wasn't that big, but appeared to be separated by levels of some sort. Lining the separate levels of the room were twelve, tombstone shaped structures that emitted a bluish glow. Inscribed on each of them was a different weapon along with random words that seemed to form a name.

The Cloaked Schemer…

The Graceful Assassin…

The Luna Diviner…

What were these for?

My best guess was that these were various members of the organization.

I had just knelt down and begun to examine another one of the tombstones when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I jumped back, startled by the sudden intrusion, and saw that it was the pink-haired man.

"What do you think you're doing down here, young lady?" He asked in a menacing tone.

Man, I hadn't even heard him coming.

"Uh, I was, well…"

"You really should be back in your room, you know." He leaned over so that his face was level with mine. "Do you need me to show you where to go? You look a bit lost."

"No, no. I'll be fine; I was just looking." I stepped around him and headed for the door I came in through. Marluxia didn't say a word as he watched me leave, and I was relieved when I shut the door behind me. Now all I had to do was find my way back to the room…

I sullenly tried to retrace my steps, but my effort was wasted.

Damn it! Everything in this place looks the same!

While I searched, I began to space out once again. With everything that had just happened, it was hard to focus on the task at hand. Back when we were with the rest of the Org, Saix had said that we were the two newest members. Was that really true? I hadn't even done anything special yet; and were they sure they even had the right person? I couldn't even wrap my head around the fact that my home world was gone, let alone believe that I had any sort of special ability. I mean; yeah, I had always wanted something like this to happen; but hadn't everyone? But I guess since Becky's wish had come true, (She had always wanted her family to disappear) how far fetched could Xemnas's wacko idea that I was any bit special be?

"Ouch!" I cried. As I was absorbed in my thoughts, I had failed to notice the wall that was right in front of me; and consequentially walked straight into it.

I heard someone laughing behind me. "Are you sure you aren't lost? Even the tiniest bit?"

"Wha-? How long have you been following me?" I asked Marluxia suspiciously.

"Long enough." He walked over to me and helped me up off the floor.

"Thanks, but I have to admit, that's really creepy."

He laughed again. "I'm just keeping an eye on you. You look like the kind that gets themselves into trouble all the time."

"Gee, I'm flattered."

"You know, you really shouldn't be wandering around down here." He deadpanned. "The Superior would be furious if we lost you."

"Well," I mused, "I would go back if I knew where the hell 'back' was. That; and I need to find Becky."

"Your friend's out here too?" he asked, somewhat annoyed. I nodded, and a small grimace appeared on his face. "Looks like neither of you have much common sense."

"Actually, that's just me. She's got plenty; she just never uses it."

"Ah. Pardon my mistake."

"Naw, that's okay. It is really hard to tell the difference, so I can't blame you."

Marluxia smiled and rolled his eyes. "Do me a favor and stay here while I go get your friend, will you?"

"Can I move to the other side of the hall? It looks a bit more fun over there."

"Why?"

"I really don't know; Just a sudden urge."

His face became devoid of any expression besides skepticism. "It really doesn't matter what side of the room you're on. Just stay here so I can find you later, okay?"

I nodded and sat down, trying to get comfortable. Knowing Becky, this could take a while. Marluxia disappeared, and I was left alone.

It had only been about five minutes before I was too bored to stand. I had already wasted time trying to catch dust particles, and now untying and retying my shoes was starting to lose its former excitement. I figured that the easiest thing to do was take a nap; so I curled up on the floor and attempted to get some rest. (I sleep in weird places, people. For example, under my piano, on tables, on the stairs, etc…)

I soon dozed off; still aware of what was going on around me, but technically still asleep. I barely noticed when footsteps sounded loudly from down the hall. The sound stopped for a moment, then sped up. "What the Hell?" I heard someone mutter to themselves. "Hey kid! What're you doing here?"

I yelped when someone roughly lifted my up off the floor. I hadn't been expecting that… Standing over me was the tall, skinny figure of… what was his name? Axel, right?

"Now why would someone like you spend their time sleeping on the floor when they've been provided with perfectly adequate housing?" He smiled warmly at me.

"I'm waiting for Marluxia." I replied groggily.

"Trust me Maddie; that guy isn't worth waiting for. He lures women in with his manly charms and good looks; then leaves them for the next broken hearted disaster that looks like they could use a lift. Then he leaves them! He's a man-whore, seriously." Axel looked about ready to jump into lecture mode. I could almost imagine him putting on dorky Harry Potter glasses, a lab coat, and pulling out the blackboard that had been scribbled on with white chalk. Let me enlighten you on the subject matter of Marluxia's devilish infatuations with beautiful women who encompass emotional issues…

"No; not like that!" I grumbled.

"Really? Why else would you be waiting for him?"

"He left to go find Rebecca."

Axel's eyes widened. "Marley's doing you a favor? Goodness, that's a first!" He grinned for a moment; but the grin quickly turned to a look of uncertainty. "He didn't ask you…" He trailed off for a moment, and then shook his head. "Never mind; that's totally irrelevant right now. He's not that low, is he?"

I arched my eyebrow. "Huh?"

"Never mind, never mind!" Axel backed up somewhat defensively. I decided it would be better just to drop the subject.

"So…" There was a long silence after that; neither one of us wanting to be the one to break it. Awkward turtle…

I shifted uncomfortably. He's staring at me; that's a bit unnerving.

When I looked up at him, Axel seemed to be looking at something behind me. He gave a nervous smile and waved. I turned around and let out a little high pitched scream when I saw Marluxia standing less than two inches away from me. Becky was standing next to him, looking rather dejected.

"You girls are nothing but trouble."