Work Text:
He lay there, naked in the cold rain, wondering where he was, who he was, and why he was wherever he was.
"You are a strong one," a voice said above the sound of the rain. "You have potential."
He tried to crawl backwards, away from the voice, but it hurt too much to move. He had...? Had he escaped the Heartless?
"H... heart..." he stuttered, trying so hard to just lift his head to look at the owner of the voice.
"The Heartless have destroyed your world," the voice said. "You were strong enough to survive the taking."
"Wha... what?" he asked, finally looking up to see a man with silver hair, dressed in a black coat, looking down at him.
"Your heart has been taken, yet you remain."
"My... heart?" he gasped, hand reaching for his chest. He felt nothing different there, other than a dull pain that he attributed to his injuries from the attack on his world.
"Yes," the man replied, smirking. "You are Nobody now."
"No," he whispered, small flames dancing gracefully about his fingertips. "You lie! I *am* somebody. My name is Axel. Got it memorized?"
"Ah, my little firestarter," the man chuckled darkly as he watched Axel glare at him with bright green eyes. "Is that your true name?"
Just as quickly as they had appeared, the flames that flowed over Axel's hands disappeared as the naked boy stood up to look the man in the face. "I..." Suddenly, he realized that 'Axel' was not the name he went by on his home world. And although the memories of those last days battling the Heartless were traumatic, Axel found that he couldn't feel any sorrow for the loss of so many people. People he had cared about. People he should feel sorrow for. The finality of his situation should have made him feel something, anything.
"I... can't feel anything," Axel muttered.
"The heart is where all feelings reside," the man said, eyes wandering the naked boy's body. "Your heart is gone; therefore you only have memories of feelings."
"Memories? You mean I'm not whole?"
"No, and until you find your heart again, you never will be."
"Find my heart?" Axel was confused.
"Yes," the man took a step towards Axel, placing a gloved hand on the boy's chin. "I believe you wish to be whole again, don't you? That's what all Nobodies want..."
Axel frowned, then nodded.
"Excellent," the man said, summoning odd white beings that surrounded the two of them. For some reason, Axel wasn't afraid of them. Must have been his lack of heart. "Come with me... Axel, was it?"
Axel nodded, a look of determination on his face.
"You may call me Xemnas, the Superior," Xemnas purred, his lips a breath away from the redhead's. "Welcome to the Organization."