Heh, I couldn't help it! -pushes up nerd glasses-
Copyrights: All characters, settings, weaponry, and magic in this story belong to Square-Enix.
Stained Glass
Amy Nazarewich
Chapter 1: A Most Unnatural Birth
I awoke in the dark, gasping for breath. A cold sweat dripped off every inch of my naked body. I was gasping for my breath. The place where I was in –I think it was a room of some sort- was an endless abyss of darkness, but I could feel the cold floor below me. Where was I? How did I get here? These and an assortment of a million others questions raced through my foggy mind as I strained to remember anything that might come to mind before I opened my eyes to the darkness.
There was nothing.
I gasped for breath.
Swallowing hard, I picked myself up, now kneeling upon the cold, hard ground that was below me. My straining eyes sought for any light in the pitch-dark room. There wasn’t any. A cold shudder of dread ran through me. Was I… dead? No. No, I couldn’t be! I was alive, I was… Empty. Yes. Empty. Though I strongly believed that I was not deceased –to the point of near hysterics- I could not ignore that empty feeling inside of me. What was it? What was I missing? Oh! The questions hurt my head, and he curled back towards the ground, feeling the slow pull of insanity begin to grip me.
But just as the grip of madness began to start its work on me a door opened from the overwhelming darkness and light spilled into the room, chasing away all the shadows and all the dread; all the insanity that threatened to fill my very being. As the door opened fully into the room I blinked in the light of the outside. It was so bright –so powerful- that it was hard to keep focus. And then I realized, as the light filled the once dark room, that I was naked and I became ashamed. Desperately, I tried to hide my indecent presence from whoever it was that opened the door. Then suddenly I felt what could be guessed as robes, or a heavy blanket, draped around my shoulders and drawn down to cover me.
“Do not be afraid,” came a deep, commanding voice as two pairs of unknown hands helped me to my feet. “You are amongst kin.”
Blinking past the brightness, my eyes now slowly adjusting to the light, I was now able to make out a dark, hooded figure silhouetted against the light. I could see nothing, save for a smile-less mouth below his hood. Though his deep voice had held kindness, I knew there was no love within it. If that wasn’t enough to dampen my already low spirits, his use of the word ‘kin’ brought me slightly lower. It gave the impression that I was simply a person like himself, and whoever else dwelt within these walls; there was no platonic love in this structure.
“Please!” I gasped, as the pair of unknown hands led me towards the door and passed the enigma who stood aside from it, allowing us to pass. “Where am I? Why am I here?”
“All in good time, Roxas,” the man said. Roxas. Somehow, though I hadn’t heard of it before, I recognized the name to be my own. Silenced, I stared dumbly up at the man who called me name. “Right now you require rest. Birth is a stressful, overwhelming event. Especially a birth as significant as yours.”
“I don’t under- “
“All in good time. All I good time…”
The remnants of the enigma’s dream-like voice echoed within my head even after he disappeared silently from sight. I had started forward after this, but then the sensation of falling overwhelmed me and I could feel myself sliding forward. If it were not for the hands that held on to me so steadily, I would have fallen on my face. I wanted to thank them, but my vision clouded and my mind became as black as that room.
†††
I awoke again, this time in a white room. My eyes stung when they opened, overwhelmed by the brightness that spilled into them. With a jolt, I sat up straight and gasped for my breath. Trying to steady my breathing, I gazed about the angelic room. Every inch of it was white, from the marbled floors, to the ceramic walls and glass pillars. A glass table on the opposite side of the room, decorated with a vase of white-roses was colourless as well. Even the bed I noted, looking down to see what I lay upon, was completely white. Where was I moved to now, and for how much longer would I be alone with only my thoughts to drive me back to the brink of insanity?
And that’s when I noticed the only thing that was out of place in this room was me. Having to make a double take I gazed at my body, which was no loner naked but decked out in completely black attire. It must have been when I was asleep, but I was now wearing a long, heavy leather trench coat that must have been cut to just above my ankles. It was warm and fitting, but not too terribly tight. Underneath this I was wearing a pear of dark, loose-fitting pants, which were, covered to just above my knee by a pair of thick, strong boots. Marveling at my outfit, it looked like I was part of some type of organization.
“Do you like them?” came a smooth voice from the corner. Twisting my head around to look at who was there, I gazed at the corner of the room to my left and saw a man standing there, with his arms folded across his chest as he lay nonchalantly against the ceramic wall. By the looks of him, I guessed his age to be about in his early twenties. A wild, mane of red-hair jutted out from his head, which made him look like a lion. His eyes, so keen and focused with two triangular tattoos below them, looked even more like the features of a feline. As I surveyed this man from head to toe I realized he was dressed in the same garb I was, which lead me to believe that perhaps I really was part of some organization.
When I didn’t answer, the red-haired man pushed himself off from the wall and sauntered towards me. “No ‘thank you’? Isn’t it better than what you had before?” Here, I could feel the temperature rise in my face, and I knew I had been blushing with furious embarrassment, for the cat-like man smiled at this jeer. To my surprise, however, he waved it off. “Don’t sweat it, kid. You weren’t the only one in that position, if memory does serve me right.
“My name is Axel.”
“Umm… hi,” I said uncertainly, finding my voice. I knew it was rude, but I couldn’t help but gawk at this man who stood before me, staring at me with his hypnotic aquamarine eyes. “I-I’m Roxas,” I was finally able to stammer.
“Ah, yes. ‘The Discovered Key’.”
Now I was confused.
“Excuse me?”
“That’s who you are. Roxas: The Discovered Key.” It sounded so simple.
My mind shut down right then. I didn’t even know how to respond to this. It made no sense, no matter how I tried to work it out. I just couldn’t find any logical explanation as to what it meant, or how they knew my name, or how I even got here in the first place!
“I’m sorry,” I said uncertainly, rising from the bed, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t even know where I am or why I’m here…” I bit my lip, feeling defeated. “What is going on?”
“Those are all very good questions! And, seeing as no one has even bothered to check up on the newest addition to our ‘Happy Family of Nobodies’ I guess it’s my job to tell you.”
Nobodies? What the hell was that supposed to mean? However, I stopped myself from asking Axel the meaning of that word, guessing he would hopefully tell me during his explanation of my being here. I sat back down upon the bed. He crossed the centre of the room, stopping just in front of the bed not even looking at me. As patiently as I could, I waited for him to begin.
“You’re here, simply because you’re one of us: a Nobody.”
I waited for him to continue. He turned around to face me, a strange smile on his face. Nothing. Was that it!?
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” I demanded, rolling my hands into tight, angry fists on the bed. “What do you mean I’m a Nobody?”
“Ha ha, easy there, killer,” the fiery-haired man waved his hands at me. I could tell he was really enjoying this. “You know, you really need to lighten up, neh?
“What I mean is that you are non-existent; you aren’t supposed to exist,” this he offered as a simple explanation. I only stared at him blankly. “You don’t have a Heart.”
“What?”
He was becoming a little frustrated with my lack of comprehension. Sighing forcefully, he’d grabbed the side of his head, pulling at his mane-like hair. So what? I woke up in this strange place, with no memory where the hell I was before all of this. I deserved to milk all the knowledge I could from this bozo.
“Okay! Look; you don’t have Heart. There is nothing beating inside your chest. You. Are. Empty!” he said each word loudly and clearly. “Thus the term Nobody. You are not supposed to exist because you are a mere shell of the person you once were. Non-Existent.”
“That’s not true!” I growled at him, jumping off the bed in anger. My body shook and I clenched my fists even tighter. It couldn’t be true! How was it possible? What the enigma had just said made absolutely no sense. But still there was that nagging voice in my head suggesting that what he said could very well be true.
“I hate the be the bearer of bad news, kid,” he laughed, looking at me in mild amusement, “but the fact is you are a Nobody, just like us.”
Like us?
“You still don’t believe me, do you? You knew from the moment you awoke that something was different about you. You felt empty inside. Isn’t that proof enough that you have no Heart?”
Angrily, I averted my eyes from the fiery-haired man. I didn’t want to believe him. However, I could not fight the painful truth of what he’d just said. When I had awoken I had felt that something was amiss, and though I could place it then I could definitely tell what that missing feeling was: I had no Heart beating inside my chest.
“How?” I asked defeated, looking back up to Axel helplessly. “How did this happen?”
“That,” he said knowingly, crossing towards the door, “is something that you will have to find out on your own.” He stopped just before the white door, opening it and standing aside. “Come on. They’re dying to meet you.”
Copyrights: All characters, settings, weaponry, and magic in this story belong to Square-Enix.
Stained Glass
Amy Nazarewich
Chapter 1: A Most Unnatural Birth
I awoke in the dark, gasping for breath. A cold sweat dripped off every inch of my naked body. I was gasping for my breath. The place where I was in –I think it was a room of some sort- was an endless abyss of darkness, but I could feel the cold floor below me. Where was I? How did I get here? These and an assortment of a million others questions raced through my foggy mind as I strained to remember anything that might come to mind before I opened my eyes to the darkness.
There was nothing.
I gasped for breath.
Swallowing hard, I picked myself up, now kneeling upon the cold, hard ground that was below me. My straining eyes sought for any light in the pitch-dark room. There wasn’t any. A cold shudder of dread ran through me. Was I… dead? No. No, I couldn’t be! I was alive, I was… Empty. Yes. Empty. Though I strongly believed that I was not deceased –to the point of near hysterics- I could not ignore that empty feeling inside of me. What was it? What was I missing? Oh! The questions hurt my head, and he curled back towards the ground, feeling the slow pull of insanity begin to grip me.
But just as the grip of madness began to start its work on me a door opened from the overwhelming darkness and light spilled into the room, chasing away all the shadows and all the dread; all the insanity that threatened to fill my very being. As the door opened fully into the room I blinked in the light of the outside. It was so bright –so powerful- that it was hard to keep focus. And then I realized, as the light filled the once dark room, that I was naked and I became ashamed. Desperately, I tried to hide my indecent presence from whoever it was that opened the door. Then suddenly I felt what could be guessed as robes, or a heavy blanket, draped around my shoulders and drawn down to cover me.
“Do not be afraid,” came a deep, commanding voice as two pairs of unknown hands helped me to my feet. “You are amongst kin.”
Blinking past the brightness, my eyes now slowly adjusting to the light, I was now able to make out a dark, hooded figure silhouetted against the light. I could see nothing, save for a smile-less mouth below his hood. Though his deep voice had held kindness, I knew there was no love within it. If that wasn’t enough to dampen my already low spirits, his use of the word ‘kin’ brought me slightly lower. It gave the impression that I was simply a person like himself, and whoever else dwelt within these walls; there was no platonic love in this structure.
“Please!” I gasped, as the pair of unknown hands led me towards the door and passed the enigma who stood aside from it, allowing us to pass. “Where am I? Why am I here?”
“All in good time, Roxas,” the man said. Roxas. Somehow, though I hadn’t heard of it before, I recognized the name to be my own. Silenced, I stared dumbly up at the man who called me name. “Right now you require rest. Birth is a stressful, overwhelming event. Especially a birth as significant as yours.”
“I don’t under- “
“All in good time. All I good time…”
The remnants of the enigma’s dream-like voice echoed within my head even after he disappeared silently from sight. I had started forward after this, but then the sensation of falling overwhelmed me and I could feel myself sliding forward. If it were not for the hands that held on to me so steadily, I would have fallen on my face. I wanted to thank them, but my vision clouded and my mind became as black as that room.
†††
I awoke again, this time in a white room. My eyes stung when they opened, overwhelmed by the brightness that spilled into them. With a jolt, I sat up straight and gasped for my breath. Trying to steady my breathing, I gazed about the angelic room. Every inch of it was white, from the marbled floors, to the ceramic walls and glass pillars. A glass table on the opposite side of the room, decorated with a vase of white-roses was colourless as well. Even the bed I noted, looking down to see what I lay upon, was completely white. Where was I moved to now, and for how much longer would I be alone with only my thoughts to drive me back to the brink of insanity?
And that’s when I noticed the only thing that was out of place in this room was me. Having to make a double take I gazed at my body, which was no loner naked but decked out in completely black attire. It must have been when I was asleep, but I was now wearing a long, heavy leather trench coat that must have been cut to just above my ankles. It was warm and fitting, but not too terribly tight. Underneath this I was wearing a pear of dark, loose-fitting pants, which were, covered to just above my knee by a pair of thick, strong boots. Marveling at my outfit, it looked like I was part of some type of organization.
“Do you like them?” came a smooth voice from the corner. Twisting my head around to look at who was there, I gazed at the corner of the room to my left and saw a man standing there, with his arms folded across his chest as he lay nonchalantly against the ceramic wall. By the looks of him, I guessed his age to be about in his early twenties. A wild, mane of red-hair jutted out from his head, which made him look like a lion. His eyes, so keen and focused with two triangular tattoos below them, looked even more like the features of a feline. As I surveyed this man from head to toe I realized he was dressed in the same garb I was, which lead me to believe that perhaps I really was part of some organization.
When I didn’t answer, the red-haired man pushed himself off from the wall and sauntered towards me. “No ‘thank you’? Isn’t it better than what you had before?” Here, I could feel the temperature rise in my face, and I knew I had been blushing with furious embarrassment, for the cat-like man smiled at this jeer. To my surprise, however, he waved it off. “Don’t sweat it, kid. You weren’t the only one in that position, if memory does serve me right.
“My name is Axel.”
“Umm… hi,” I said uncertainly, finding my voice. I knew it was rude, but I couldn’t help but gawk at this man who stood before me, staring at me with his hypnotic aquamarine eyes. “I-I’m Roxas,” I was finally able to stammer.
“Ah, yes. ‘The Discovered Key’.”
Now I was confused.
“Excuse me?”
“That’s who you are. Roxas: The Discovered Key.” It sounded so simple.
My mind shut down right then. I didn’t even know how to respond to this. It made no sense, no matter how I tried to work it out. I just couldn’t find any logical explanation as to what it meant, or how they knew my name, or how I even got here in the first place!
“I’m sorry,” I said uncertainly, rising from the bed, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t even know where I am or why I’m here…” I bit my lip, feeling defeated. “What is going on?”
“Those are all very good questions! And, seeing as no one has even bothered to check up on the newest addition to our ‘Happy Family of Nobodies’ I guess it’s my job to tell you.”
Nobodies? What the hell was that supposed to mean? However, I stopped myself from asking Axel the meaning of that word, guessing he would hopefully tell me during his explanation of my being here. I sat back down upon the bed. He crossed the centre of the room, stopping just in front of the bed not even looking at me. As patiently as I could, I waited for him to begin.
“You’re here, simply because you’re one of us: a Nobody.”
I waited for him to continue. He turned around to face me, a strange smile on his face. Nothing. Was that it!?
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” I demanded, rolling my hands into tight, angry fists on the bed. “What do you mean I’m a Nobody?”
“Ha ha, easy there, killer,” the fiery-haired man waved his hands at me. I could tell he was really enjoying this. “You know, you really need to lighten up, neh?
“What I mean is that you are non-existent; you aren’t supposed to exist,” this he offered as a simple explanation. I only stared at him blankly. “You don’t have a Heart.”
“What?”
He was becoming a little frustrated with my lack of comprehension. Sighing forcefully, he’d grabbed the side of his head, pulling at his mane-like hair. So what? I woke up in this strange place, with no memory where the hell I was before all of this. I deserved to milk all the knowledge I could from this bozo.
“Okay! Look; you don’t have Heart. There is nothing beating inside your chest. You. Are. Empty!” he said each word loudly and clearly. “Thus the term Nobody. You are not supposed to exist because you are a mere shell of the person you once were. Non-Existent.”
“That’s not true!” I growled at him, jumping off the bed in anger. My body shook and I clenched my fists even tighter. It couldn’t be true! How was it possible? What the enigma had just said made absolutely no sense. But still there was that nagging voice in my head suggesting that what he said could very well be true.
“I hate the be the bearer of bad news, kid,” he laughed, looking at me in mild amusement, “but the fact is you are a Nobody, just like us.”
Like us?
“You still don’t believe me, do you? You knew from the moment you awoke that something was different about you. You felt empty inside. Isn’t that proof enough that you have no Heart?”
Angrily, I averted my eyes from the fiery-haired man. I didn’t want to believe him. However, I could not fight the painful truth of what he’d just said. When I had awoken I had felt that something was amiss, and though I could place it then I could definitely tell what that missing feeling was: I had no Heart beating inside my chest.
“How?” I asked defeated, looking back up to Axel helplessly. “How did this happen?”
“That,” he said knowingly, crossing towards the door, “is something that you will have to find out on your own.” He stopped just before the white door, opening it and standing aside. “Come on. They’re dying to meet you.”