Prologue 1: Roxas

There was an intensely bright light, like the sun had exploded, and then suddenly I could see again. I could hear the sound of waves lapping up on a beach somewhere, and children playing in the distance.

I reached my hand up from the grass, and scratched my head.

Wait. I could feel my own body, my own hair. I could move.

For the first time in what seemed like forever, I was myself again.

My body, my voice, my thoughts... nothing was left of Sora but memories.

And not much of those remained. In the years following the death of Xemnas, I felt like I was being swallowed into Sora's being. For the first month, or maybe the first year, I was able to see and hear anything Sora did. I could hear his thoughts almost as if they were my own--but they weren't, I could tell. We were one, but I was still myself.

And then it got worse. At first, I wasn't able to "step out" of Sora and make myself seen and heard by others anymore. I could still see and hear anything that Sora did, but I wasn't able to communicate with anyone but him. He kept me company, but it was always too much like talking to yourself--especially without any memory of my own past.

There just wasn't anything else to talk about after a while.

Not long after that, my senses started to shut off. First was hearing--I could still see what was going on around me, but there was no sound. I couldn't tell what anyone was saying, and had to read Sora's thoughts just to figure out what was happening most of the time.

It got worse. Barely a week seemed to pass before I stopped being able to see anything through Sora's eyes like I could before. I could still hear his thoughts, and we could still communicate, but... that wasn't enough.

I couldn't stand being nothing but a part. If this was what being complete was, I don't know why the Organization ever wanted it.

I certainly didn't want it now.

And then, it all stopped. I couldn't hear Sora's thoughts anymore. I couldn't tell if he could hear mine or not--and if he could, he wasn't saying anything to me about it anyway.

As if he could at that point.

After that, I was doomed to float forever in an endless sea of darkness.

No, not darkness... light. Bright, blinding light, like staring into the sun.

It burned. For weeks, or maybe months, it burned.

I thought I would be destroyed. I felt that I was being destroyed.

That's when my memory of being part of Sora ends. The burning stopped, and after that there was only sleep... until now.

Something had changed.

After that one last burst of light, I had awakened.

I was no longer Sora. No longer just a part of Sora, doomed to be absorbed into his being by the burning light.

I knew I was not Sora... but now there was another problem. Who was I? I had no memory of anything, not even my own name.

I stood up, brushing the grass off of my bare legs.

Oh crap.

I was naked from head to toe. I could tell that my face was rapidly turning red, even though nobody was around to see me. It just didn't feel right to be walking around with nothing on.

There was a beach nearby, so I headed that way. I knew I didn't really want to steal someone's towel, but I didn't really have much of a choice--it was either a stolen towel or exposing myself to everyone I met, and I was sure that I was too old to get away with running around naked outside like a little kid now.

It wasn't long before I found an unattended towel. Whoever it once belonged to seemed to be gone--I didn't see anyone near it, anyway, so I grabbed it and wrapped it around my waist, making sure to tie it so it wouldn't fall down.

Suddenly I heard a voice behind me.

"Roxas? Is that you?"

I turned around. The person talking was a young man--probably about my age, I thought--wearing green camouflage swimming trunks.

What was that he called me? Roxas? It sounded oddly familiar--wasn't someone named Roxas a member of the Organization once? I thought I had remembered Sora and his friends mentioning him.

Suddenly my head ached. Bad. I fell to the ground, gripping my head in pain. I lost control of my movements, thrashing on the ground randomly, as if electricity was running through my body for a second. The other boy panicked and ran, calling for help to a group of others.

And then it stopped, as suddenly as it came.

And I remembered.

I was Roxas.