* = Author's Note – please see bottom of chapter for explanation.

=13=

* Audience, has the thought ever crossed your mind of what being emotionless would feel like? Contrary to popular belief, there is hardly anyone on the planet that is emotionless- that is, unable to feel happiness, sadness, or even anger. Many-a-person claim that they are without emotion, simply because they feel nothing but sadness, depression, or grief. How, then, can they rightly claim to be without feeling?

You see, when a person is truly without emotion, they feel devoid of everything known to the scientific world. Think of it as though they walk in a constant state of limbo- they cannot find it within themselves to cry any longer, or become irritated or agitated. They cannot feel anything other than physical pain at this point, and even then, it's a guess as to whether or not they feel that form of pain, too. There are many reasons that one can enter this never-ending limbo, but again, becoming truly emotionless is something that is extremely rare, but is something that you wouldn't wish upon your worst enemy.

You cannot laugh from joy, and you cannot cry from sadness. You cannot shout in anger, and you cannot cower in fear. Disgust, anxiety, depression, surprise, anticipation, trust- these are all things that have been ripped from their very beings and tossed aside like nothing more than mere garbage. You sit each and every day with nothing more than the thoughts in your mind, and the noisy world around you… each begging that something be done about this hellish limbo you've entered. You become nothing more than a husk of a being, a mere shell of what used to be- in other terms, you become a zombie.

Some might be wondering why this person doesn't just end it all, especially if they're devoid of all emotions and living day to day like some form of mindless robot. Well, my dear audience, there is yet another hellish curse that comes with this state of limbo, and that is the force that rids your body and soul of all motivation. You wish to sit and do nothing about anything, because how could anything change even if something was done about it?

That was a bit of a confusing sentence, wasn't it?

It was intended to be.

This pit of darkness is, without any form of sarcasm, worse than the seventh level of hell. You cannot reach out to anyone about it, because they believe you to be doing nothing more than seeking attention. They believe you to be annoying, or that you are overthinking things.

"It will get better."

Years upon years in an emotionless limbo will get better, is that right? This process is irreversible. And, if a human is ever to fall this far down into hell, there is no climbing back out for them. What motivation do they have to do so- what emotion drives them to change if they have no emotion to lean on?

This fate is a fate worse than death, because death is too good for those who walk this void of a world.

=13=

"Will she ever awaken?"

"Of that, I am uncertain. After all, she's been here for quite some time now. However, it took us a while to awaken, as well.

"We all awoke at nearly the same time, Vexen. Lord Xemnas, of course, awoke first. However, we are in dire need of new members. If she can fight, and maintain herself, then I'm sure Xemnas will approve."

"I'm certain he will. I've been monitoring her status ever since Lord Xemnas brought her back here, and she seems perfectly capable of anything we might ask of her in the future."

The sound of rustling brought both men out of their conversation, the blonde scientist's eyebrow cocking slightly as he glanced over his shoulder at the woman upon the examination bed. His emerald eyes looked her over before he fixed his lab coat, and then made his way over beside the bed. Zexion, the man he had been speaking to before the woman caught their attention, followed closely behind- he was intrigued by this woman, and the process by which she was awakening.

"Ah, yes."

Vexen looked up at a large computer monitor which was covered in different diagrams, ever-changing calculations, and several vital numbers that were steadily rising from what they had been.

"She seems to be awake now."

He brought his hand beside her right ear, snapping a few times in order to get an auditory response. To his expectation, the woman shifted slightly away from the noise, and did the same whenever he tested her left ear as well.

"Good. At least she's not deaf."

Vexen grabbed a small light from the desk behind him, pushing the button in to turn it on. He used his thumb to lift the woman's right eyelid, watching as her pupil constricted in reaction to the light, and then examined her left, obtaining the same reaction.

"She's not blind, either."

"You don't know that, Vexen. Her pupillary response might be normal even though she cannot see. Remember that it depends on the origin of blindness-"

"Quiet, Zexion. We'll simply have to see for ourselves whether or not she's visually impaired once she's fully awake."

Both men watched as the being on the table shifted again, this time turning entirely onto her side upon the table. Vexen hummed softly as he watched her, then turned and typed some things down upon the computer behind him.

"It seems as though the awakening process varies for each Nobody. I cannot say for sure how long it took the six of us to awaken, so I unfortunately have no data to base this hypothesis on, but I'm quite certain that-"

He stopped as he felt a gloved hand come to rest upon his shoulder, and turned his head to watch as Zexion walked past him.

"Come, Vexen. We have other things to be doing rather than watching this Nobody awaken. After all, Xemnas still wishes for us to try and locate other Nobodies for our ranks."

"A-ah, yes. I nearly forgot about that. You simply know how much these things intrigue me, Zexion."

The blonde hastily followed after his partner, taking off his examination gloves and tossing them into a small waste bin that rested beside the entrance to the laboratory. As he exited the door into the room, he flicked off a small switch, allowing the room to become engulfed in darkness once again.

=13=

That darkness is exactly what you awoke to. It wasn't complete darkness, thankfully, due to Vexen leaving his computer monitor on for constant monitoring, but it was still rather hard to see. You brought yourself up slowly, your (color) eyes looking carefully around the very dim room in an effort to see where you were. What good would that have done you- you had no idea what the world was like. No memories to reflect on to compare what you were currently seeing with anything else. You carefully made your way off the table, your bare feet coming in contact with the icy, smooth flooring below. This caused a shiver to run along your body, but you didn't mind it as you attempted to figure out what you could about this place.

You could see the information on the monitor was something about "vitals" of a Nobody- what was a Nobody? What were vitals for that matter? You were rather clueless as to what all these things meant, but you knew, somewhere inside you, that you needed to figure out exactly where you were and what was going on. You shuffled your way around in the darkness, attempting to find a way out of this room, and you eventually came upon the exit door. It took a moment, but you grasped the knob within your hand and turned it, slowly pushing open the door. You were greeted by a bright light- something that you had to shield your eyes from in order to keep moving. It took several minutes, but your eyes eventually grew accustomed to how bright it was in this new area of… wherever you were.

You brought yourself to the end of the hallway, and heard several voices coming from somewhere down on the end of the adjoining hallway. You turned your head, seeing there was a large, open area at the end of said hall- perhaps there was something or someone there who could help figure out where you were. You managed to walk down the hallway, the voices growing closer as you drew nearer and nearer to the room- eventually, you could make out what someone was saying.

"Yes, Lord Xemnas… she is nearly awake. Zexion and I have been up all evening monitoring her vitals and making sure that she is in proper condition."

"Good. She will make a fine specimen for our seventh member, I have no doubt about that. One cannot help but wonder, however, how long she will last."

The deep, solemn voice was something that you would never forget- and the words he spoke must have been about you. You were, as far as you knew, the only one who had been asleep in this place. But, what did this man mean by 'how long she would last?'

You brought yourself to a halt at the entrance to the large room, taking note of several sofas and chairs that were placed around the room. It seemed to be a place where people gathered to talk, and that was further proved by the six men standing in the front of the room. You were unable to see all of them, since most of their backs were turned, but you could make out the colors of their hair, at least. One of them, a man who possessed bluish-grey hair, seemed to finally notice you out of the corner of his eye. He hastily tapped the blonde on the shoulder, forcefully bringing him out of his current conversation and turning him to face your direction. Naturally, this brought the others to look your way as well, and you quickly glanced back and forth between all of them.

"I digress… it seems she has awoken now, Lord Xemnas."

You watched as a tall, silver-haired man dressed in a black cloak made his way towards you, and then stopped right in front of you. You tilted your head back a bit in order to look up at him, and he seemed pleased with this response.

"You have finally awoken, friend. This is a momentous occasion indeed. You are lost, but worry not, for we shall teach you everything you must know. This place, The World that Never Was, shall be your new home, and we-"

The man stopped, raising his arm in a gesture towards the other five men within the room.

"-we shall be your family. You will work for us, and together, we shall achieve the goal that we have been striving for. Now, I shall bestow upon you your new name."

The man waved his hand in front of you, and several letters appeared within the air. You knew not how he did this, nor what these letters were, but it was rather interesting to see. They moved around a bit, and as they did this, you noticed the other men within the room had come closer to see whatever the outcome was to what this silver-haired man was doing. Finally, the letters stopped, a large X being placed within the now messed up letters. *

"This is your name, friend. Welcome to our ranks. Zexion-"

The man turned, and you watched as the letters faded away from in front of you. Those letters were your name?

"-see that our newest member is well-rested and tended to. You are in charge of her from here, and I expect you to teach her all that she must know."

With that, the silver-haired man walked off down the hallway, finally vanishing from your sight around the corner. You turned your attention back to the man who were still crowded around you, and saw each of them stared at you in what looked like curiosity.

"(Name), huh? Well then, welcome to the gang, kiddo."

A taller man with a large, jagged scar going across his left eye and an eyepatch covering his right eye pressed his hand upon your head a few times, then wandered back over to one of the sofas and plopped down upon it, seemingly without a care in the world.

A broad-shouldered man, one with violet eyes and bushy sideburns, huffed before rolling his eyes and making his way over to the large window that overlooked the city below. A stern-faced man, one that held ginger-colored hair atop his head, turned his attention to the man who had been left in charge of you, gave a slight nod of his head, and then made his way across the room to take a seat on the sofa across from the man with the eyepatch.

The final man, one with long, blonde hair and emerald green eyes, looked over you several times before giving a gruff grunt and putting his hand upon his hip.

"I don't know why Lord Xemnas left you in charge of her. After all, I was the one who looked after her all this time."

"You act as if I know the answer behind our master's choice, Vexen. I assure you, I do not. However, I will follow his orders and become (Name)'s mentor. Besides… I looked after her just as much as you did. You would do well to remember that."

You felt a hand be placed upon your shoulder, and you were nudged forward gently as the man began to walk down the hallway. You followed him, leaving the other four men behind in the room. Once you were a bit further down the hall, the man beside you spoke.

"My name is Zexion, (Name). I know that you are most likely lost on what all is going on, but rest assured I shall teach you all that you need to know. For now, I will take you to your room and you will rest, understand?"

He looked down at you, and you gave a slow nod of your head to show that you understood.

"I don't expect you to say much yet, but if you can muster up the will to speak, it would do you good in the end. Should you require any assistance at all, do not hesitate to let me know."

You saw him stop, and he pushed open a door that was to his right to reveal a small room with a bed inside. There wasn't much else inside- not even a window to look out of, but it wasn't like you cared about any of that. You walked inside and over to the bed, slowly sitting down upon it. This seemed to please Zexion, and he gave you a slight nod of approval.

"Good. Now, rest. Tomorrow, you and I have quite a bit of work to do."

=13=

Author's Note (1): The beginning of this chapter is meant to signify the relation of depression/emotionless-ness in the real world to the emotionless behavior and what the Nobodies in Kingdom Hearts experience. It was written 'out of character' for a reason, and it will remain that way. So, please do not get up in arms about how it is written, because I already know about it, and it will not be changing.

Author's Note (2): I am leaving your Organization name up to you. Remember that it is your jumbled-up name with an X somewhere within it. It might be hard to make one if you possess a unique name, but I'm certain you can do it.