Day 28: Bus 1

[accursed-rock.livejournal.com]

Zelgadis was not happy, at all. Not that this was any change, but the events of the past few hours had given him more to angst about than usual. Nightshift had been dreadful: first he was attacked by a small green man and then covered in leeches, neither of which lead to warm fuzzy feelings.

And now this.

When the nurse had come into his room with new clothes he had a small glimmer of hope-- some thief had taken his normal Landel's wear in the night, so perhaps this was a change in luck. However, it was not the godsend he had hoped for. Minus the threat of sedation, there was nothing in the universe that could make Zelgadis wear a bright lemon-yellow shirt. There was a jacket of a slightly more tasteful variety, so Zelgadis made good us of it-- he put all his coupons in a pocket and pulled up the hood. It was almost as good as his cloak. Well, no it wasn't, but it would have to do.

With mild protesting, Zelgadis was lead to a large yellow vehicle. He climbed the stairs, took a seat towards the back, and readied himself for another frustrating day of being attacked and threatened with spoons.

Comments

[itneverwas.livejournal.com]

Xemnas took the offered seat next to the -- still nameless -- female patient.

"Perhaps they think we might burn ourselves with such hot liquids on a bus." he replied. He quickly glanced at the contents of his own bag, noticing the muffin along with the box of apple juice. This breakfast was hardly a proper one, but the nature of his meals was hardly relevant. Or at least not to someone who no longer existed.

The Superior couldn't help but think this was quite similiar to a school trip.

[transgenix.livejournal.com]

I've juggled hot liquids on a motorcycle, I think I can handle a little bus ride," Max retorted ruefully, shaking her head at the suggestion. "Maybe there'll be a cafe in town or something. I wonder what the chances are of there being a Starbucks? Probably slim, huh?"

"I'm Max, by the way," she interrupted her train of thought, turning to him and holding out her hand. "I don't think I caught your name last time we talked."

[itneverwas.livejournal.com]

"I do not believe everyone is as experienced as you are." he commented. In al honesty, Xemnas had no idea what a Starbucks was. Judging from the girl's comments, it would seem it was some kind of cafe. "Whether there is one shall remain to be seen, I suppose."

He himself wasn't interested in any cafes. He wished to find information he couldn't find within the institute, even though he wasn't certain if such a thing could be acquired so easily. Most likely not, but it was at least worth a try.

"It seems we had indeed skipped the introductions." The Nobody answered, taking her hand. "My name is Xemnas."

[transgenix.livejournal.com]

She repeated his name, trying out the strange sound of it. Her lips quirked as she shook his hand, dark gaze skimming over his face assessingly. "You're not from Kansas, are you?" she remarked in reference to his foreign name. "Last time we talked, I told you where I was from. What about you? Where do you come from?"

[itneverwas.livejournal.com]

A chuckle escaped the Nobody's lips. "As you've already guessed, I am hardly from this Kansas you're speaking of." he replied.

"I am from a world that does not exist." he continued. There was not much sense in hiding it, as there were other Nobodies who could easily tell the very same thing. "A world that no longer possesses the very essence that defines a world, as it is but a mere fragment, only a shell of what it should be."

"I am from the World That Never Was."

[transgenix.livejournal.com]

"The world that never was?" Max echoed in confusion, shooting him a skeptical look. "Where's that? What's that? I don't even think that's possible, unless you're just yanking my chain."

[itneverwas.livejournal.com]

"How remarkable that you should mention that it isn't possible." he replied calmly, an echo of a smile appearing on his lips. A being who does not exist could hardly form anything of a real smile after all. "It shouldn't be possible, yet it is." He paused, taking a small bite from a muffin, not continuing before he had swallowed it.

"As I've said, I am from a world that does not exist. A world that does not have the essence that would define it as a world - the heart. It is nothing more but a shadow - an echo of a world." he spoke. "To answer your question of what my world is, my world is essentially Nothing."

Xemnas wasn't known to hold back on the subject related to hearts Darkness, to Nothing or to his Kingdom Hearts.

[transgenix.livejournal.com]

"If your world doesn't exist, then how can you be from it?" Max countered logically. "You are definitely something, and I don't think something can exist in nothing. I think that's gotta break some of physics somewhere."

[itneverwas.livejournal.com]

Another chuckle, yet it seemed hollow. Xemnas was mildly amused, or as amused as a Nobody could be. "Such interesting logic. However, I am afraid you are wrong."

"Every single world has some sort of essence. A heart, or a core if you will. It is the core of its existence." he began, seemingly not minding to explain the nature (or in this case, non-nature) of his world. "If that very core is taken away, there would be nothing left. Nothing but a mere shell of what it once was. It would no longer exist as other worlds do."

"My world is such a shell, lacking the heart that would define its existence. Therefore, it does not exist." Another pause.

"Of course, a being who exists can hardly live in a world that doesn't." he spoke. Visit it, yes, but living in it was another matter entirely.

"I am curious, what makes you think that I am something? That I exist?" he questioned. "Is it because of what you see? Is it because I am having a conversation with you, sitting next to you? Is it simply because of this that I must exist?" Logically, yes. But logic did not apply to Nothings given flesh.

His amber eyes rested on Max, curious to see what kind of answer he would receive from her.

[transgenix.livejournal.com]

"If you didn't exist, you wouldn't be here attempting to confuse me with babble that makes no sense," Max pointed out wryly. "But I'll play along. If you being here and interacting with me and with everyone else isn't proof enough that you exist, then what is?"

"And for another matter, most people could say my world is a shell of what it formerly was, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist anymore. It very much exists. You can walk on it, through it, find other people there, live relatively safely. Even a shell is something, you know. If it were entirely nothing, there would just be this giant... void or something. Not that I'm any sort of expert on other worlds, since I didn't even know they existed before I showed up here."

[itneverwas.livejournal.com]

"Oh, but do plants still grow upon your world? Is new life still born upon its surface?" Xemnas commented. "A world might be a ruin of what it once was, but if it still possesses its essence, it still exists. That is the difference between your world and mine."

"The heart is ones proof of existence. As it is ones very essence, it makes one experience emotions - makes one feel. It is the heart that holds both light and darkness, defining ones strength." he explained, his tone still remarkably calm. "Nothing can exist without a heart." He paused, letting the information sink in.

"I no longer possess a heart. No longer am I part of light or darkness. Shunned by both, I am forced to live in the in-between." he continued, his gaze still lingering on the female patient. "Because of what I am lacking I can no longer feel. I cannot experience anger or sorrow, no matter what might befall me. I feel nothing but perhaps the longing to exist once more. To fill the emptiness left behind by losing the very thing that defines me."

"I am what is left after losing my heart to the darkness, the hollow shell living in nonexistence. I am what is called a Nobody."

[transgenix.livejournal.com]

"So you don't have a heart," Max countered dubiously, studying him with an intent and fascinated expression. "Does that mean you're not alive? A body can't function without a heart. But you're not dead. You're something else. Unless you're the most corporeal ghost in existence."

[itneverwas.livejournal.com]

"I am hardly a ghost. Ghosts no longer possess a corporeal form, while Nobodies still do." Xemnas answered, but the subject of ghosts was hardly his field of knowledge. "I have not died when I had lost my heart, I only ceased to exist." Those who no longer existed did not die, either. They left no corpse after their own demise, but faded into the everlasting void.

"Of course, without a heart I no longer have a pulse." Aware of Max' skepticism, he held out his wrist.

[transgenix.livejournal.com]

Max eyed him for a moment longer in skepticism, before reaching out and placing her fingers on the inside of his wrist. Although she searched, she couldn't find a pulse.

"That is whack, man," she informed him, looking startled. "Utterly and completely whack. So what's this non-existent world of yours like? What do you do there? Is it different than, like, my world?"

This was all a bit strange to take in, and she was fairly certain this was one tale that no one back home would ever believe.

[itneverwas.livejournal.com]

Xemnas allowed her to search, knowing fully well she wasn't going to find the pulse she was looking for. After all, one couldn't find something that wasn't there.

"As an empty shell would imply, The World That Never Was is as hollow as those who live there." He replied. "It consists mostly out of skyscrapers, though aside from Nobodies and shadowy creatures known as Heartless, my world is deserted. Its only radiance is the moon in the sky, as the rest is shrouded in darkness."

He saw no harm in telling these bits and pieces, as The World That Never Was was difficult to reach for those who could not summon the Corridors of Darkness. The Superior was fairly certain if VIII had never interfered, the Keybearer would never have been able to reach their world.

Regardless, he still made sure not to mention anything related to the Order or their headquarters.

[transgenix.livejournal.com]

"And you said you were a Nobody," Max was taking all this information in in fascination. It all sounded so strange to her, like something out of a fairy tale book or a movie. Then again, who's lives didn't seem that way around here?

"What's a Heartless?" she asked curiously.

[itneverwas.livejournal.com]

"Indeed." Xemnas said, confirming her first statement. "Heartless are the darkness within a person's heart, born when one loses his heart to the darkness. With a few rare exceptions they are non-sentient, shadowy creatures that seek to consume the hearts of others, which in turn creates another Heartless."

His own Heartless was one of these exceptions, and so was the one of the Keybearer who, against all odds, managed to return to his original form.

[transgenix.livejournal.com]

"So they're sorta like your world's version of zombies or something," Max replied wryly, shaking her head at all this information. "Wow, man. And I thought this place was messed up. Hell, I thought my world was messed up. But dealing with psychopathic snake cults and power-hungry humans seems like a walk in the part to shadow zombies and elven warfare and the Russians winning the cold war."

"No one," she said emphatically, motioning around her with her hand, "is going to believe me when I get home with stories of this place. No one. And I know a lot of gullible people who believe an awful lot of crap."

[itneverwas.livejournal.com]

"Zombies have a corporeal form. Heartless do not possess one, as they are shadows in the purest form." Xemnas corrected. "They do not smell as much, either." He had studied the Heartless for so long, he could not help but to point out the difference.

"Psychopathic snake cults?" He echoed. Humans seeking power were hardly anything new. Many sought such a thing, only to eventually fall prey to the Darkness, becoming corrupted while their hearts were consumed.

[transgenix.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, there were a whole nest of them trying to bring about the end of the world, right before I arrived here," Max replied with a casual shrug, as if such occurrences were the norm.

"They were fairly certain there was a giant comet crashing to earth and releasing a virus that would wipe out humanity and only they would survive due to centuries of specialized inbreeding. They belonged here more than I did, if you catch my meaning. Either way, the comet never crashed and humanity's still quite healthy, and they'll be rotting their asses off behind bars for a very long time."

[itneverwas.livejournal.com]

Humans bringing down destruction upon themselves, it was hardly anything new. Their hearts held such a large degree of Darkness, that it was easy for them to become corrupted. The Organization had a hand in the destruction of so many worlds, their hearts consumed while only creating more Heartless for the Keybearer to be defeated. Each destroyed Heartless was one step closer to his Kingdom Hearts.

And a cult claiming it to be the end of the world...it had been done so many times before. Such cults went far, but if done right they were easy to manipulate into corruption.

"I see. Breeders tend to do the same with animals, as it is commonly used to keep the most appropriate genes." he spoke. "Unfortunately, it would result in everyone having the same flaws in their DNA, as well." Which was precisely why incest was so frowned upon on so many worlds.

"I take it their apparent liking to snakes don't have anything to do with the inbreeding?" Xemnas asked, wanting to feed his natural curiosity. The 'snake cult' didn't quite fit within the story thus far.

[transgenix.livejournal.com]

"They also dabbled into a more "natural" version of genetics, or so they claimed," Max answered evasively. That was touching a bit too closely into how she'd been created, and the reasoning still creeped her out a bit. "Trying to make the perfect race, better empower themselves, especially since they were certain it was the key to their immunity from the virus about to be unleashed."

"They ended up with some crazy super powerful members all brainwashed into believing they'd evolved past the normal human scum of the earth, just waiting for the rest of humanity to drop dead so they could claim their new paradise. And they occasionally helped things along, along the way."