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I gasped as I exited the dark place. That was the only appropriate name I could think of for it. But now..... This place I was in was made of the whitest marble. It was so white, one could probably call it blue. So white, it almost blinded me. I walked forward, exploring this place a bit more.

There was a sun pattern on the floor, which was slightly yellower in color than the white marble. There were two pedestals on either side of a stairway that lead up to a door. On each pedestal there was a white vase, with - you guessed it - white flowers. I walked up the stairs and stood in front of the door. It was glowing slightly, almost seeming to call one to it. I pulled on the handles; nothing happened.

"What's with this stupid door?"

The soft sound of a vacuum opening - not the one someone cleans floors with, but the place where there's no air - made me turn around, taking my attention away from the mysterious door. A black coated person walked out. Just like Xemnas when I first met him, this person had a hood covering their face.

"You must be the new one the Superior was talking about."

"Who are you?" I asked the weird, coated person.

"Hmph. You'll find out in due time." He looked around, and then looked back at me. "Xemnas won't be here for a while. How about.... you test out this." As he passed by me, he gave me a card. And then he walked straight through the door.

As soon as he was gone, the card started glowing, just as the door did. Both of the glows increased in brightness, to the point of where I had to cover my eyes in fear of blindness. When I opened them, I was in a grassy park, and a dog ran past me. Who followed this dog was someone who was all to familiar to me.

"Asly?" I asked the girl, who was part of the group I was apart of. She paid no attention to me, as did all the girl in the group, so I paid it no heed. I was half-way relieved to find my hometown safe and sound, even after the Heartless attacks. It was strange, though. I would think an invasion of that magnitude would have people shivering in their homes, and that it would be the main talk of the town.

But it didn't even register a blip on their radar when I asked them about the Heartless. They didn't even look at me. This was relatively strange. I decided to run home, and see if the twins were there. If they were, I was going to be seriously freaked out. If not.... I don't know. It was only a block or so to get to my house. As I reached for the doorknob to let myself in, the door just... well, kinda fizzled, like in sci-fi movies with holograms, when one slides their hand through. That's what happened to the doorknob. This was starting to freak me out now.

Even though my sensible side was urgently telling me to run back and try to find that man in the black coat, I walked through the door like it was no big deal. My little brother and sister were there, just sitting on the couch watching television like normal. But.... somehow it seemed somewhat familiar. I ran back outside, panting for breath. This was more than I could take. "What's with this place!" I yelled to the sky.

That show that had been on... it was the same one that had been on the day of the Heartless attack. It had only been last night, but now it felt like an eternity away. Just like that night, the Shadows rose out of the ground. How could I be surprised? This was just like my memories, just... kinda sped up. I had saw Asly in the dog park a week before the attack, and this was just like my last night there.

Since the rest of my memories hadn't been able to physically manifest itself to my touch, I wasn't too worried about the Shadows' presence. But when one scratched me, I jumped up. They were starting to gather around me. The Shadows started to attempt to attack me in various claw scratches, kicks, and flying up in the air and coming down claw-first. I dodged some of these attacks, but some of them connected and drew blood.

I couldn't help but wince at these cuts. They were more like paper-cuts than actual wounds, but they stung the same. I tried to push them away, but my hands when right though them, and I felt extreme cold on my hand until I removed it. This was hopeless! I couldn't attack them. The only thing left to me was to run away. So I did. I ran down the street to a church.

I remembered from a history textbook - from the few times I had actually read it - that people used to use churches as a sanctuary from... something. I couldn't remember. But maybe the Heartless couldn't come in here. I was so busy running and looking behind me that I didn't notice when a door appeared. I ran right into it.

"Ow....." I moaned. "I'm sure there wasn't a door...." I stepped back and looked behind it. "...in the middle of the aisle..." It glowed slightly, just as the door in the beginning. "Maybe...." I said to myself. "Just maybe... this is the way out?" I placed my hand on the handle of the door. I didn't even need to pull. Light surrounded me, and when it subsided, I was in a hallway almost identical to the one before, with all the white marble.

"It took you long enough," said the man in the black coat.

"What was that?" I asked him, even though I would prefer answers from somebody else.

"Your memories," he said simply, as if it was common.

"What?" I asked, confused. "How could those be my memories?"

"Simple. But why should I...." I was starting to lose my tempter. I walked over to the guy and poked him in the chest.

"Okay. I am fed up with this!" I yelled at him. "That Xemnas guy took me here, saying that he would explain everything to me, and he isn't here! So I'm expecting that you, who looks almost exactly like him, will explain it." I turned around and walked a few steps away. I was acting like if this guy was my mother and she was keeping a secret from me.. "But no. You have to keep this whole thing a secret, while I'm subject to your little tricks!" I turned around at stared at him. "So? Will you tell me or not?"

The black-coated guy turned around and created another large bubble-doorway of darkness. "I'm not here to take care of some teenage girl," he said, and walked into the bubble. It closed almost immediately. I sat down on the floor.

"I'm back where I started...."

I heard another bubble open behind me.

"Back for more?" I asked the man that I assumed had come through.

"What do you mean, 'back for more?' I've never even seen you before." This voice was different from before. He sounded a bit younger than the other. I stood up and turned around. He wore a black coat like the other one I had met, but the things that struck me most was his crimson hair and really bright green eyes. Just like when I had first met Xemnas, I stared at him, dumbfounded at these strange people.

The people at our town were normal looking people, not like the semi-young man of Xemnas with silver hair or this newcomer with fire-red hair. We all had brown, blonde, or black hair. In some cases we had strange eye colors, like mine, which were a deep purple. But mostly they were brown and blue. No wonder I was so shocked whenever I saw one of these guys.

Quickly, though, I regained my composure. "Who are you?" I asked the newcomer. I really didn't expect an answer, but he did.

"The name's Axel. Got it memorized?"