Ryan woke with a start. He quickly sat up.
"Whoa," Ryan gasped as he looked at his surroundings.
Everything was a soft gray and seemed to never end. Ryan wasn't sure if he was floating or on a solid surface.
Ryan slowly stood up to test it out. Something glittered and fell with a soft tinkle, like someone clinked together expensive champagne glasses.
Ryan bent down and looked at it. It was a crystal heart. Its facets glowed with a rainbow of colors. Ryan bent down to retrieve it.
"What?" Ryan said as he held the delicate crystal in his hands. He could feel it pulse, sending tremors up his arm.
It was so fragile, but Ryan felt the power that lay deep within. Ryan held it between his thumb and forefinger. He looked deeply into the crystal heart, blurry shapes appeared. Ryan tried to squint at the shapes, but they faded back into the facets.
Ryan sighed. He closed his eyes and took a couple of deep breaths. He felt a little strange, like he forgot something important.
Ryan started to walk. He didn't know where he was going or why, but it felt better than standing around waiting for something that would never come.
Ryan walked; he walked and walked for what seemed like eternity. Then, a black figure rose from the gray.
Ryan thought he felt the heart racing shock of finding another person in this endless gray, but it was like his heart and mind didn't register the emotion.
Ryan walked slowly up to the man dressed in a black robe; his hood covered his face.
"Um…excuse me…" Ryan asked. Did I feel nervous, Ryan asked himself.
The black, hooded figure turned abruptly, sending a small current of air swirling about Ryan. The man must have worn a chain for when he turned Ryan heard the faintest tinkle of metal.
The black, hooded man loomed over him. He was waiting for Ryan to do something.
Ryan wanted fear, but he couldn't feel it. He couldn't feel anything. He felt like a computer with the wrong data typed in, and the screen flashed error! Error!
"I…um…ah," Ryan stuttered. This man gave the impression that he was superior to everyone else.
"A new nobody…" the hooded man said in a deep menacing voice. "What a pleasant surprise…"
The hooded man leaned over to inspect Ryan. He mumbled a few things that Ryan couldn't understand.
"What is your name?" he said, not taking his hooded face from Ryan.
"What is yours?" Ryan asked taking a step back. He had recovered from the running he did in the forest and was ready to run if a threat arises.
The black, hooded man laughed, but the laugh was hollow; there was no emotion in it. "I am Xemnas, leader of the Organization 13. And you are?"
"I'm…" Ryan considered his options: he could not tell this guy and leave but walk this waste land for ever or he could go with this guy and take his chances. "I'm Ryan."
"Ryan, eh?" Xemnas said with another hollow laugh. "Still have the name of your full self."
Ryan backed away. "What are you talking about? I am who I am!"
Xemnas shook his head with a little chuckle. "No Ryan, you are only half of who you were."
Ryan stopped. He looked at Xemnas. "What do you mean?"
"You must have been attacked by the heartless," Xemnas said, he sighed when Ryan looked confused. "They are a type of being that steals hearts. They are created from the darkness of hearts. They destroy worlds and plunge them into darkness."
"Those must have been the things that attacked us," Ryan said sadly.
"Us?"
"My friend Katie protected me from the heartless."
"She is probably a heartless or a nobody," Xemnas said causally like this happened frequently.
"What!" Ryan said angrily. "How could you say that about her?"
"Ha, do you really feel that way?"
Ryan stopped. No, he didn't feel anything.
"Me and you," Xemnas said. "We are nobodies. We are leftovers from the heartless, the body and soul of our former selves. We are nothing. We were born here," he said moving his arm around in an arch to show Ryan the place they were standing.
"This is the in-between world," Xemnas said. "All nobodies are 'born' here. We have no hearts so we cannot feel, nor can we truly see the light or the darkness. You must have had a strong heart to remain in a human guise."
Ryan looked down at himself. He did feel a little taller. Then, his hair fell over his eyes.
What, Ryan thought as he examined his hair. It was deep crimson with orange streaks. "What happened to my hair!"
"Looks like you couldn't hold on to all of your former guise," Xemnas said with a snort.
Ryan sighed as pulled his hair behind him.
"Now, sense you're a nobody now, you need a new name," Xemnas said and started to think.
"Why do I need a new name?"
"You are only a shadow of yourself, made of nothing, born of nothing and will die as nothing. You were reborn and there for a new name will be given to you."
Ryan looked down doubtful, of course he didn't feel it, it just felt like the right facial expression.
"Your new name will be Xrnay," Xemnas said with a nod.
Ryan sighed sadly. He didn't have anywhere else to go and he knew he couldn't go back.
"Come Xrnay," Xemnas said. Darkness rippled around him and seemed to create a doorway.
"Yes," Xrnay said following Xemnas into the darkness