I awoke the next morning to a loud and obnoxious banging on my door. "Ayame!! You'll be late for your first day!" I heard Rhys yell through the door. I groaned before hearing another door creak open and an irritated voice coming from across the hall.
"Oh my god! If you don't stop knocking I will personally disconnect your head from your neck, by forcing Lady Luck through and up your spine!" The voice growled. So that must be Rix...
"Oh whatever Rix, just try me!" Rhys said as she walked away when I opened my door. When I looked across the hall at Rix she had her keyblade ready to strike if Rhys said one more word. She then looked over at me, observing me. She had on a red bow tied into her long blonde hair, which stood out against her deep purple eyes. Her red, black and white dress seemed to be quite unique in a way, the corset around her waist was tight around her chest area, her lower skirt had red hearts with two white bones crossing over each other and came half way down her upper thighs. Her arms, from fingers to her biceps, she wore white gloves and small ankle boots which she wore inside fishnet tights. Her Keyblade..... Lady Luck? She seemed to call it, had a pink blade, on the lower end of the keyblade, it had a pink horseshoe-like structure as the hilt, and at the top end has a yellow and orange heart.
"I'm Rixile Love, but i have everyone call me Rix, it fits. Who are you?" she asked as she looked me over again.
"Ayame, nice to meet you.." I said flatly.
"I suppose... Who do you wield?" I love how everyone referred to Keyblades like they were people, as if they had a heart and soul of their own....and the longer I wielded Two Across, the more I believed it.
"I'll show you..." I summoned Two Across and held it out horizontally for her to see.
A smile crept at the corner of her mouth, "Two Across?....nice...but also interesting...and yet confusing."
"I see that expression a lot around here."
She nodded. "Well I have to go, see you around." Then Rix closed her door.
"Ayame," I looked over to see Saix walking towards me and stopped in front of me. "Come now, it's your first day, we don't want you late, everyone is already in the grand hall." I followed him down the hall when he started to walk. When we reached the grand hall there were many other people in the black cloaks standing in a line. All men, except for one girl.
"Ayame, this is Organization XIII, even though there are fourteen members," Saix said as he walked to the beginning of the line to begin an introduction.
"Where are the other two members?" I asked.
"They are of no value for this....exchange... I suppose it can be called." I nodded.
He was next to the first man, who had somewhat spiked silver hair, dark skin, and orange like eyes. "This is Xemnas, our leader number I. We give him nothing but respect and show discipline." then he went to the next man who had striped gray and black hair pulled back to an odd pony tail, gold eyes, a deep gash like scar on his left cheek, and an eye patch on his right eye. "This is Xigbar, number II." Then he went to the next man. This man looked a lot like the last one in a way, except he had what looked like thick strands of hair, or thick braids pulled into a high ponytail while a couple strands hung in front of his face. He also had thick side burns, and dark blue eyes. "Xaldin, number III."
The next man was different, he had long blonde hair going a little past his shoulders, a long thin face, and green eyes. "This is Vexen, number IV, he's the scientist of the organization....or so he thinks."
Vexen scoffed, "I am, all of you are simply blind, my experiments will do wonders." he rolled his eyes.
Saix ignored him and continued on to the next man who was tall and huge with a lot of muscle, you could tell through his cloak. He had short brown spiky hair, and blue eyes. "This is Lexaeus, number V."
"Hmph...don't even know why I'm here," Lexaeus spoke.
"You know why, so there is no need to question it," Xemnas said to him.
When silence filled the room again that's when Saix continued to the next person. This man was absorbed in a thick black book. He had light blue hair, that was longer in the front than the back, with a thick long, bang covering one of his blue eyes. "This is Zexion number VI, he's a bit of a book worm as you see."
"Knowledge is power," Zexion spoke in an even toned voice.
Saix shook his head, "I am number VII,"
Then Axel spoke when Saix reached him, "And there's no way you can forget me baby, right?" he smiled and winked.
"Of course not," I smiled
"That's right! The power of fire!"
Saix shook his head, "Axel. Number VIII." The next person in line was Demyx. "You of course met Demyx earlier-"
Then Demyx quickly cut in, "I know I can't be forgotten," he then strummed his sitar. "Nice right?" he winked. "I bet you have good taste in music, don't you?"
A small smile spread across my face, "Yes I do, so I'll plug my ears when you play, so my good taste won't get corrupted," I said flatly.
Everyone laughed as Demyx's face saddened and frowned then went to a scowl. "No one knows good music anymore," he said as he shook his head.
"Number IX, don't take him seriously," Saix said as he rubbed Demyx's head.
"Heyyy."
The next man had short blonde hair, that was sort of close cut to his head, a thin connecting beard and mustache, blue eyes, and two small hoop earrings at the top of his ear in each one and a dangling earring in one of his ears. "This is Luxord, number X, he likes playing games with a form of chance."
Then Luxord moved his hand and three giant cards appeared in front of me, "Choose wisely, the result alters with each." one card was a heart, the other a keyblade and the other a heartless.
I crossed my arms and shook my head , I summoned Two Across and swung one stroke, making all the cards vanish. "I choose neither, because all the cards have the same result or answer....in their own way....they all have, or lead to light or darkness."
Luxord smiled as Saix did behind him, "Well played."
Then Saix moved to the next man who had pink hair that stopped somewhat above his shoulders, and blue eyes. "This is number XI, Marluxia...he's a bit of a gardener...he plays with flowers."
Marluxia's eyes widened in defense, I could tell he was insulted, but the his face went to a plain expression. "A rose may be beautiful, but it's deceitful by being deadly with it's thorns, you shouldn't believe what you see right away."
Then Saix reached the only girl in the room, she had short blonde hair that stopped at the base of her neck, two strands that freely popped out the top sides of her head, and blue eyes. Before Saix spoke the girl held up her hand to stop him. "I can introduce myself, thank you." she cleared her throat. "I am Larxene, number XII, you cracked one on Demyx and outwitted Luxord, I think we'll get along great," she spoke in a sadistic tone and smiled.
Saix smiled slightly and walked back by my side, "Now you have met organization XIII, you will most likely meet number XIII and XIV on your own time, now-"
But I quickly held out my hand to stop him, "I want to know why I'm here.."
Then Xemnas approached me. "You are here as a collector, to fight heartless and collect hearts and return here to put them towards kingdom hearts."
"For what? Why for you?"
"So us Nobodies can become real..have a since of feeling..,give us hearts."
"I see.."
"And you wielders are the only ones who hold the abilities to destroy the heartless but also collect and capture the hearts that release from them, something we can't do."
"Now," Saix interrupted. "It is time for you to absorb new found powers Ayame, that the darkness has to give."
"power? The darkness? Did everyone else go through this too?"
"No, just you...you are special Ayame." then one by one each organization member one through twelve came and placed their hand on me and copied their powers into me having me absorbed them, and combining with my own abilities. The powers were not only absorbing in my clothes, but also in me, in my heart...The members that had elemental powers such as wind, water, fire, ice, and lightning...i could feel the elements flowing through me and my Keyblade. I could feel darkness surrounding my heart...I felt a new essence of power...one that was unknown to any....I felt as if nothing or no one could stand in my path...just like Saix told me.
I smiled at my feeling of invincibility, I felt an urge to fight.....and to consume....I wanted to explore my new abilities to see what they could do, and to discover what I was capable of.
Saix smiled, " Now you have seen a heartless," then Saix made something odd appear out of thin air. It was gray, with a lean a and then snake like body with snake like movements. "This is a lesser and and most common form of a Nobody, the dusk." It really did look like nothing but the empty shell of a person. "But don't be fooled, Nobodies come in many forms, just as heartless do."
Then Saix made a few more Nobodies and Hearltess appear and instructed me to fight them. He made more appear and had me practice my new found magic on them...fire, ice, lightning, water, wind..anything along those lines. He had me practice all thses things, including combo moves, and all sorts of techniques while the rest of the organization watched and observed intently.
After over three hours of the course, Saix escorted me back to the room. "Good work today Ayame."
"Thank you."
"You didn't even break a sweat," Axel said when he walked up behind Saix. "Nice job, let's make sure we fight along side each other alright?"
"That'd be great." then Axel turned and left.
"Now," Saix continued. "Remember the next three days you will be doing these courses for about the same amount of time, doing different things. We want you to not only discover your power, but also be able to control them properly."
"I understand."
Saix then placed his hand under my chin, and held it there for a moment "Sleep well, Ayame." I was somewhat stunned and then nodded to him before he left, and then I went into my room to rest up and mentally prepare for the next day.