"You seek answers."

The cloaked figure waved his hands above the newly born Nobody. The crystalline letters appeared in front of him, spelling the name of his other self he did not know existed, Sora.

"I can give you purpose."

Xemnas waved his hand again and the letters spun around the Nobody, creating a circle of light around him. He finally stopped the letters, putting his hand in the middle and making a giant "X" appear in the middle.

"Roxas…" said the Nobody slowly, reading the newly created word.

"That is right—the new you," said Xemnas smiling.

Saïx staggered towards the window. "Kingdom Hearts…" He gazed forlornly at the heart-shaped moon at the sky, holding his hand out and reaching for what would never be his. It was the only time Sora had seen him express any semblance of emotion.

"Where is my heart?" he gasped out sadly as he faded away.

"Nobodies like us don't exist, yet we still are. Now you can be nothing instead of nobody." Axel gave an evil grin. "You're off the hook."

Vexen backed away. "No, wait—

"Goodbye," cut Axel over Vexen's plea, snapping his fingers and incinerating the chilly academic.

"No! I refuse to lose…to such a bunch of losers…What?" said Larxene, realizing what was happening to her. "I'm…fading?" she said in disbelief, her voice full of sadness. "No, this isn't the way I…I won't allow…" she whispered out, and then she was no more.

Demyx groaned, and then looked down as his sitar disappeared.

"Huh? No way!" He grabbed his head as he faded into the darkness.

"Hey, Roxas. You know why the sun sets red? Light is made up of different colors. And out of all those colors, red reaches the farthest."

"Like I asked! Know it all!" said Roxas, pretending to hit Axel, both of them laughing.

"I wanted to see Roxas again. He always made me feel like I had a heart." Axel strained to turn towards Sora as he faded away. "It's funny…you make me feel…the same way."

There was someone else too…another organization member. Was it a girl? She was out of focus, and appeared only for a split second before fading back into the hidden memories...

Sora sprang up from his bed, shirtless and drenched in sweat.* He looked around him, and then sighed. He surveyed his messy room as he considered the dreams he just had—no, not dreams, memories. Memories of Roxas and his days in the Organization. Those memories always carried a heavy sorrow with them. Roxas, who had never really known who he was or why he had the keyblade that was so valuable to the Organization.

Roxasisme, thought Sora to himself. Roxas was his nobody; technically, they were his days in Organization XIII, though he hated to admit it. Was that why he felt a little guilty about killing some of their members?

No—that wasn't it. Roxas had hated the Organization itself, especially Saïx and Larxene (who didn't?), and was indifferent towards the rest except for Axel—and maybe Demyx. But there was never the feeling of camaraderie between him and the other members. The feelings of guilt belonged to Sora alone.

Sora laid back down and thought about them. Organization XIII was a bad group—even Roxas, without a heart to call his own, had seen that. They were spreading heartless across the worlds and capturing the hearts of the victims. They had needed to be stopped. And yet…he couldn't help but feel a little sorry for them. He had put on a brave face during the fight with Xemnas, but in truth he almost wished he could help them. After all, they simply wanted their hearts back—at least, most of them did. They may not have had feelings, but that desire was the closest thing they had. He considered the ones specifically from his dream:

He knew he shouldn't feel anything for Larxene—she was the cruelest and most evil of them all—yet she had seemed so sad and helpless as she faded away. Who knew what she was really like back when she had a heart?

Demyx…Demyx was…well, Demyx. He was lazy and scared of fighting—Sora had several of Roxas' memories of him to back that up. What Demyx was even doing with the Organization was a mystery. But he had been there, and he had gotten in the way of Sora saving his friends—there was no way to avoid killing him.

As for Saïx, well, Roxas plain hated him. Sora hated him as well for blackmailing him with Kairi. But he was the saddest of them all before he died, reaching out for his heart…Sora realized that the reason he'd been so cold was because he didn't have a heart, and desperately wanted it back. It was hard not to feel at least a little sorry for him, seeing him like that.

Vexen…he hadn't even killed Vexen; that had been Axel's doing. Vexen was also just as cruel as Larxene from the way he manipulated the Riku Replica. But there was also something pitiable about the way he died, and about the way Axel described the nobodies.

Speaking of Axel…his feelings were mixed about him. Well, Roxas' feelings were. He'd had a bit of a falling out with Axel because he had kept the truth of his identity from him, but Axel was still his best friend. And in the end, Axel had betrayed the Organization to help Roxas and Sora.

A tear sprang up in Sora's eye as he thought about Axel's death. He hoped he'd find peace the way Roxas did.

And…wasn't there someone else? He couldn't quite remember. As he strained his thoughts, a knocking came at his window. He smiled as he recognized Kairi's voice calling to him quietly, and he wondered what she wanted this late at night. He got up, got dressed, and headed out quietly to not disturb his parents.**

"Come on! There's something I have to show you!" said Kairi excitedly, pulling Sora along.

"Couldn't this have waited until morning? I need my beauty sleep," joked Sora. "Where are we going anyway?"

"The secret place," said Kairi, still dragging him.

"Are we going to the secret place? What's in there that's so special?" asked Sora drowsily, still rubbing his eyes. Suddenly he thought of what was there and began pulling back. "Uh, maybe we shouldn't go in there…"

"Nonsense!" said Kairi, giggling at Sora's embarrassment. She ducked and pulled him through that hole by the waterfall.

"Kairi, really—

"I've already seen it Sora," said Kairi. She pulled him through the cave over to the drawings on the wall they had made of each other when they were little kids. Sora blushed when he saw the addition he had made a little before his first journey—him holding out a star shaped fruit to Kairi. Then he gasped when he saw that Kairi had done the same thing for him!

"Kairi…"

"When I came home. After we left each other when the islands came back, I came here, thinking of you. And then I found this picture…" she smiled, touching it. "Sora…is this really how you feel?"

"I…uh…yeah," said Sora, resigning. He turned to face her, bright red. "Kairi, I've always cared about you. You've always been the person most special to me."

"Sora…" Kairi smiled. "I'm glad…you feel that way too."

"Too?" started Sora, but before he could say anything else her lips were on his. He was surprised, but started kissing back. When they stopped, they hugged each other and just stood there.

"I love you, Kairi," said Sora. He laughed. "I can't believe I'm finally saying it!"

"Oh really? How long have you had a crush on me?"

"Oh, well, you know…a while."

"So, you travel across different worlds fighting heartless and nobodies that are trying to destroy the world, yet you can't tell a girl you love her?"

"Compared to that, facing Xemnas was easy!" They both laughed and started walking out.

Kairi…

Kairi snapped her head around. "Did you hear that Sora?" She turned back towards him, but he was gone. She looked around and realized that she was no longer at the secret place, but at a station of awakening.

"This is…" she began backing up towards the edge of the platform. The station depicted a blue-haired woman laying on the edge of it. The woman seemed vaguely familiar, and Kairi touched her necklace instinctively. Had she met her before?

Power sleeps within you…

Kairi wobbled as three pedestals sprang from the ground.

If you give it form, it will give you strength.

Kairi looked around at the pedestals. A wand, a shield, and a sword had appeared over the pedestals. Was she supposed to choose one? She walked over to the wand and picked it up.

The power of the mystic. Is this the form you choose?

Kairi looked back at the sword and shield, and then confidently grabbed the wand. She turned around and saw Sora grabbing the shield and Riku grabbing the sword.

"Huh?"

The image of her two friends faded away. The staff in her hand disappeared in a twinkle of light.

Your path is set.

The pedestals sunk into the ground, surrounded by darkness. The darkness spread out, engulfing Kairi. She struggled against the darkness But was sunk in. She kept struggling and realized that she was on another station. She looked around and saw that this one had an image of herself in a beautiful pink gown. In circles around her head, Sora and Riku smiled up at her. There was another image showing Naminé as well.

"What does this mean?"

Princess of the Light…it is your destiny to fight against the darkness.

Kairi looked around. Where was that voice coming from? It seemed to echo everywhere, yet at the same time be nowhere but her own head.

Will you conquer the darkness…or will you let the light go out?

Kairi turned and was back on the beach of Destiny Islands. Naminé was in the water, her back turned to Kairi.

"Naminé!" said Kairi in surprise. Her nobody counterpart turned around upon her name and outstretched her hand. The water pulled back away from her and started to form a wave. Kairi ran towards Naminé and took a hold of her hand just as the wave crashed down on them. Naminé just smiled as the stood underwater, hands held tight. Kairi tried to pull her towards the shore to no avail. Naminé nodded at her and said, "It's time for you to awaken the power that sleeps in your heart…the keyblade…"

Naminé disappeared into a flash of light. The light surrounded Kairi's hand, and the water disappeared; she was back at the station of awakening, with…

"A keyblade?" questioned Kairi in awe. She raised the Destiny's Embrace keyblade and swung it down. "It's mine for good now," she thought out loud.

"Kairi!"

Kairi turned excitedly towards Sora's voice. Sora was standing at the other side of the station. "Sora!" Kairi ran towards him then stopped short. It wasn't really Sora, but a shadow version of him. Kairi backed up as the shadow Sora grew larger and larger into a full-sized Darkside heartless. Kairi continued backing up until she got to the edge of the platform. She looked into the heartless' eyes and realized she had only one choice. She gripped her keyblade and ran at the giant heartless.

The Darkside roared and brought its fist down. Kairi jumped out the way and struck at its hand with her keyblade. The Heartless reared up and began to turn into black smoke. The darkness surrounded Kairi, and she held her hands up, choking on the darkness…

"Kairi?"

Kairi looked around her. She was back in the secret place with Sora. She turned towards the door that led to the heart of the world, gazing at the large keyhole.

"Are you okay?" said Sora again. Kairi turned back and smiled. "I'm great."

"Dive into the heart, huh?" said Sora with a grin, recognizing the dazed look on her face. Kairi nodded. "What did you pick?"

"The staff. I bet you picked the sword, right?"

"No," said Sora, surprising her, "I picked the shield. So I could always protect the people I care about." He looked into Kairi's eyes and their lips touched together again.

EEW! EEW EEW EEW! AHH AHH AHH THEY'RE SO CUTE BUT EEW JUST DIE!

Okay, there is the first chapter. I promise they new couple will not be all lovey-dovey for too long—knowing them, something will split them up yet again. I also wanted to open with Sora already experiencing Roxas's memories, as this will be one of the key points of this story. I also wanted Sora to feel a little guilty and sad about the organization members, making more the true hero and not the douche he was in KH2—I mean seriously, he was a lot more likable in the first game. This is also to introduce a theme of doubt, which will not really be too heavy as far as Sora is concerned, but hey. And of course, there's this whole question of Kairi's keyblade and "is it really hers" stuff. Well, it officially is her keyblade. So ha. She had a dive into the heart because of her proximity to the heart of the world and most likely because a crisis is coming, in case you were wondering that. Comments, tips, hate, predictions, and requests are all welcome. And to end on a random question:

Do you think it's weird that on Pokémon I name them after Organization members? I mean, they're elemental so it's so convenient…