The world had fallen into darkness. It was one of the few things she was sure of as she sat on the dark cliffside, watching the lightning strike around her. She wasn't quite sure how she'd arrived in Enchanted Dominion, but it had been her home for quite a while.
That felt right, though in truth, she scarcely knew enough about herself to recognize more about it.
For whatever reason, her lack of memories didn't bother her. The knowledge that she had no idea who she was just brought about a cold feeling of nothing, as though she literally couldn't remember how to react, process, or understand. That should have bothered her too, and yet she felt nothing over that realization either.
The only thing she cared about was the fact that she wouldn't know who she was or why she was here if she stayed on the cliffside. She stood up and turned around, resolved to find an answer. To her surprise, a cloaked man was behind her, holding a pink scythe.
"Who are you?" she asked. Her voice sounded flat, even to her own ears. She expected the man to be surprised, but the moment he heard her speak, he sent away the scythe. "Well? I'm waiting."
"Tell me, do you remember anything?" He ignored her question, choosing to answer instead with one of his own.
She shook her head, even her name wasn't something she had the ability to grasp. "Am I supposed to?"
"I'd be surprised if you did, normally it takes a few days for the memories to return." The man remained contemplative for a moment.
"You sound as though you know what happened." There was a slight bite to her voice, and that surprised her, but despite that she still hardly felt anything more than a mild annoyance at how the man wasn't helpful at all.
"I do, because it's the same thing that happened to me." He extended a hand. "Come with me, I'll take you to the Superior."
"The Superior?"
The man nodded. "The one who runs the Organization. He'll give you your new name, just as he gave one to all of us."
She didn't want a new name. She just wanted to know who she was. "Why do I need a new name?"
"Because you've lost your heart," he answered. "The person you once were no longer exists. With their death, it is time for you to become somebody new."
The man's explanation didn't make sense, but neither did anything else that was happening to her, and he seemed to know more than most. Sticking with him until she could get a better grasp of what was happening was the best idea. She grabbed his hand. "I'll come with you."
"Good." He raised his hand, creating a shadowy portal in front of them, and she stepped inside with him. Neither of them said much. He didn't seem to have anything to say, and with barely any knowledge of who she was, it wasn't like she had much more she could add in either.
The trip was short, and the dark shadows gave way to a room of blinding white. The room was empty, aside from a man in a black cloak like the one her ‘friend' was wearing on top of one of its thirteen thrones. She stood in the center, looking up at him as the new man spoke. "Marluxia, I see you found another."
The first man, Marluxia, nodded. "I did, yes. She was found in the remnants of Enchanted Dominion. Which brings our number up to twelve."
"Indeed." He looked down on her, and not wanting him to think she was afraid, she made sure to meet his gaze. "You seek answers." It wasn't a question. "I can help you find them."
"E L R E N A" The letters floated around her in a glowing blue before they picked up speed, spinning rapidly until it stopped, a golden X appearing in between them before they formed a new word: "Larxene."
"Is that all? What does that even mean?" As far as she knew, it wasn't even a word.
"It is your new name," the man answered. Her new name, Larxene. She nodded, allowing him to continue. "As he is the one who found you, Marluxia will be the one assigned to your training."
"Of course." Marluxia nodded. The other man vanished, allowing Marluxia to turn to her. "Well, Larxene. Welcome to the Organization."
"If you're ready, I believe it's time we start your first mission." Marluxia stood above her, and Larxene looked up from the book she had been reading in the Grey Area to face Marluxia. It had been a week since she'd first been brought in, and she'd yet to leave the castle since. It shouldn't have been too much of a surprise that eventually she would be asked to go.
"You sure, I was hoping to finish my chapter first." Larxene smiled, hoping the display of kindness would get her more time in the Grey Area before she'd have to leave.
Marluxia didn't seem to have the heart or energy to care, but he was also impatient by her stalling. "Now, Larxene. You need to learn how the Organization works if you're going to stay. The punishment for failing to complete missions is far worse than you'd expect." It was interesting to see the emotionless man display some form of feeling. A challenge, perhaps, to get him to display more despite the fact that Nobodies could not feel.
Larxene sighed, and slammed the book shut. "Fine. Let's just go already." She watched as Marluxia raised his hand, summoning a dark corridor in front of them. He gestured to it, indicating for Larxene to enter. She walked in, and he followed shortly behind, leading her to an unfamiliar town, stuck in an eternal twilight.
"So, why are we here anyways?" She knew. She remembered the quick briefing from when she'd first been discovered. They were hunting for Heartless to claim their hearts, but asked anyways.
"We're here to hunt Heartless. A vast majority of our missions will be learning how to fight them until a Keybearer is discovered."
From what little Larxene knew, she knew that the Heartless were on every world they could travel to; the corridors of darkness that allowed the Organization members to travel between each world allowed the Heartless to travel between them as well. Still, she got the feeling that playing dumb would irritate him more than not. "On this peaceful world? You can't honestly believe that Heartless would come here."
"If we can come to a world, so too can they." Marluxia's eye twitched in annoyance ever so slightly, and Larxene smirked, happy that she'd managed to get a small reaction. "I assumed this had been explained to you by one of the other members."
"Why would I pay attention to what they say when I can continue to ask you?" Larxene leaned back against the wall, making it clear she had no intention to begin the mission quite yet. "You were the one assigned to be my mentor after all. Asking one of the other members so you can just pawn it off on them just doesn't seem fair."
"I'm not looking to shirk my responsibilities. I simply assumed you would care more about getting your heart back, rather than making a nuisance of yourself. Most of the other members did." Marluxia frowned. Perhaps it was just because she didn't have a lot of memories of her time before she had been a Nobody, but the lack of emotions didn't bother her. It was just a fact. "If you don't, then I suppose there's no reason for your presence in the Organization either."
Larxene shook her head. "Don't be stupid. From what I can tell, Nobodies like us-" She indicated herself and Marluxia. "-are rare. The Organization couldn't spare one of us just because I don't care one way or the other about having my heart. I'll play whatever role I need to, don't worry your little head about it. You'll get your heart back, and so will the others."
She expected that to be the end of the conversation, but it seemed she had finally caught Marluxia's attention. "You don't want your heart back?"
"I don't really remember what it was like to have one. Why would I care?" Larxene shrugged. "I mean sure, I remember feelings enough to pretend I have them, but it doesn't mean I care to feel them again."
"Interesting." Marluxia put his hand on his chin, looking at Larxene in a new light. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised I'm the only one with limited memories, yet most of the others I've talked to seem to have reclaimed theirs."
A similarity between the two of them surprised Larxene, and she looked at him just as curiously as he did her. "So I guess I'm not that special after all."
"Having one other person with few memories is still a rare occurrence," Marluxia smiled, one she might have thought genuine had Nobodies been able to feel. "Perhaps, even after you've finished training, we'll find ourselves working together again in the future."
At the idea of working together with Maraluxia, there was a feeling of nostalgia. As though there was another that she had worked closely with side by side. As a Somebody, there had been a boy, a boy that she remembered little about, that she had considered a close friend. Perhaps, in a way, he reminded her of that boy. "Sounds like something I might be open to."
The rest of Larxene's training passed without incident, and it wasn't long before she found herself going on missions like most Organization members, taking down the Heartless with the knives she'd learned how to summon after that first day. While most of her missions lately had been solo, today's had found herself fighting alongside Marluxia within a world that felt more like it would give her a headache with how every entry in the strange forest had her turned around.
In fact, the only real plus she had was that her partner was Marluxia. Of the eleven other members of the Organization, he may have been the only one she found remotely tolerable. She felt him settle in behind her back, his scythe bared as the multiple varieties of small elemental Heartless surrounded them. "Think you can take this many?"
"I've been at this longer than you. I'm more concerned for you and your safety." Unlike normal, there was a slight inflection to his words, as though he was almost enjoying himself. "You are the newbie after all."
"I can't wait to see your excuse when I take down more than you." And with that they separated, Marluxia taking out each Heartless with a clean stroke while she tore through them with her knives, each small strike weakening them more and more until finally, they were all but eliminated. She watched as the final one fell, the small pink crystalline heart escaping from it and back into the Realm of Darkness, where they would spawn once more in a new form.
"Not bad." Marluxia nodded to her, impressed. "I see you've grown since our first mission together."
"Not hard, I had to get some experience from all that training." Larxene smirked. "Of course, that doesn't make any of this any better."
"You have complaints?"
Larxene gave a conceited laugh at Marluxia's question. "Of course I do. I've only been here a few weeks and already I can see the flaws in Xemnas's plan."
"Do tell." For a moment, Larxene thought that he was mocking her, but she quickly dismissed it. There was an air of anticipation surrounding him, as though he was actually interested in her answers about her problems with the Organization.
Deciding this wasn't a mocking question, and it was unlikely she'd get in trouble for voicing her opinion, she was honest. "These missions feel pointless. We can't collect the hearts for Kingdom Hearts without a Keyblade, and unless you're hiding something I don't know about, neither of us have a Keyblade." When Marluxia didn't challenge her on that, she continued. "So why are we going out on missions to destroy the Heartless when we can't do anything with them? It's a waste of time when we can let the Heartless destroy more worlds until we find a Nobody like us that can actually use one."
"I'm sure the Superior has his reasons," Marluxia said. She expected that to be the end of the conversation, but instead he continued. "What bothers me is how he always chooses to keep these reasons so secret."
That caught her attention. "So you're unsure of the purpose behind our missions too?"
Marluxia nodded. "I'm sure that he's hiding something about what's really going on, although about what his true goal is, I'm less certain."
"Hmph, if that's the case then why has nobody done anything to get him to tell us something?" she asked. Marluxia didn't answer the question, and she got the feeling that the threats for going against Xemnas weren't something that she wanted to chance. She was about to dismiss her own comment, to tell Marluxia to forget about it, when he spoke up.
"Perhaps they are biding their time for the right moment, when they're sure that they'd have more of the Organization on their side."
Larxene caught on instantly. Taking on eleven other members alone was foolish, but Marluxia was no longer alone in his quest. "Perhaps that person looking into it might have found himself an ally in finding out what Xemnas really wants. If, of course, I happen to be talking to him."
Marluxia smiled. It was cold and calculating, more of a smirk than a smile if she was honest, but a smile nonetheless. "I believe you are."
She nodded. "I'd like to offer myself to be your partner in finding out the truth. If you think you won't stop my own quest."
"Don't worry, I'm sure I'll manage to keep up. The two of us will work together just fine." And just like before, on their first mission, she felt that spark of familiarity, the echo of a time that once was.
If she was working with Marluxia, then perhaps this impossible mission of seeking out their true purpose wouldn't be so hard after all.