Heavy boots thumping against the tiled floor broke the eerie silence of the Proof Of Existence. The soft glow from the stones washed the white walls with blue and red. He sat perched on his own blue stone and counted them off in his head.

The Freeshooter, blue.

The Whirlwind lancer, blue.

The Chilly Academic, red.

The Silent Hero, red.

The Luna Diviner, blue.

The Flurry of Dancing Flames, blue. He sighed. 'Axel, whatever happened to you?'

The Gambler of Fate, blue.

The Graceful Assassin, red.

The Savage Nymph, red.

The Key of Destiny, blue. He sighed again, longer this time. 'Roxas, why did you have to leave us?'

He rose from his stone and approached the one he had left off the list. He felt something akin to fear whenever he looked at this stone. The Cloaked Schemer. Neither red nor blue. Instead the stone was a burnt out mix of black and purple. 'Zexion. What could have happened to him to make his stone so dark, so empty?' Yes, he knew of Zexion's fate but still it baffled him.

Demyx walked back to his own stone. "The Melodious Nocturne." He read. He laughed, if it could even be called a laugh, it was more of a small noise from his throat. "Suits me I guess."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ FLASHBACK

A soft knock could be heard from the other side of the large white doors.

"Enter."

Demyx poked his head through the small gap he had created by gently pushing one of the doors. His blond mullhawk was slightly limp, a sign that the boy was experiencing the shadow of sorrow. "You asked to see me sir?"

"Yes Number IX. You have a mission." Xemnas replied, without looking up from the notes he was scrawling.

He finished them before laying the pen down and looking up at Demyx, his amber eyes boring holes into the boy's skull.

"You are to go to Hollow Bastion and eliminate the keyblade bearer."

A flash of something akin to fear crossed Demyx's sea green eyes. He merely nodded.

Xemnas turned back to his notes. "Good, make any necessary preparations. I expect you to leave within the hour.

Demyx nodded again and left the office.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Demyx felt tears prick at his eyes as he looked at the stones again. 'So many of us have already been lost. How many more deaths will it take? How many of us will even live to get our hearts back?'

'Fear' flooded through him again. He was the first person to fight the keyblade bearer since the fiasco of Castle Oblivion. He had escaped from the Underworld but he had never been sent to kill Sora. Only to "liberate his true disposition".

He reminded himself that it was Sora's fault there were so many red stones. It was his fault the Organization was falling apart. And it was Sora's fault that his two best friends had left him alone, standing here, preparing to go to his death.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

He arrived in Hollow Bastion at the Castle Gate. The keyblade bearer and his two friends were there in front of him. He paused for a moment. 'Come on Demyx! Think of something intimidating.'

"Hey, you guys are looking lively." 'The HELL? Really intimidating Dem!'

"Scram!" 'Man that duck is annoying!'

Sora spoke up. "Didn't we catch you messing around in the Underworld?" Demyx narrowed his eyes. 'Yeah, my arm hurt for days thanks very much!'

"How'd a wimp like you get into Organization XIII?"

Demyx was taken back by the small twinge of hurt. He ignored it, instead choosing to do some strange dance. 'Great comeback Dem. That totally scared the pants off them!'

"I bet you can't even fight!" 'Ouch man! Ouch.'

"Yeah but we can!" Demyx resisted the temptation to laugh himself into fading. 'Now THAT was a good one!'

Demyx raised his finger, wagging it from side to side as if scolding a small child for misbehaving. "You shouldn't judge anyone by appearance."

Sora, Donald and Goofy summoned their weapons, arranging themselves in a battle stance.

Demyx performed his 'bring it on' dance before turning away from them. "Oooooh. I told them they were sending the wrong guy." He muttered to himself.

Sora lowered his keyblade. "Who is this kook?"

Goofy spoke for the first time. "Remember Sora the Organization's made up of nobodies."

"Right no hearts!"

Demyx whipped back around. "Oh we do too have hearts, don't be mad."

"You can't trick us!"

Demyx turned away again. 'Damn Duck! Ok FINE! If that's the way it's going to be!'

He turned back, pointing an accusatory finger. "Silence traitor!" The coldness and lack of feeling in his voice shook Sora to the core. Any desperate belief that he was whole vanished from Demyx with two small words, dripping with venom.

Water began to rise in a dome around him as he dropped his arm. Demyx glared a moment longer before raising his hand to form the water into a bubbling sphere in his upturned palm. Slowly the sphere broke into bubbles and began to form the familiar blue curves of his precious sitar. He spun it and pointed a challenging finger to Sora, a smirk of amusement decorating his features.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Demyx fell to one knee, catching himself with a hand. His sitar began to dissolve into bubbles before completely vanishing as he clambered back to his feet. He looked at his empty palm in disbelief before clutching his head and falling back to his knees in defeat. "NO WAY!" 'I..I f-failed! I failed everyone!'

Dark tendrils began winding themselves out of his coat, more and more of him fading back to the unimaginable solitude of the darkness, walking alone for eternity.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Xemnas stood alone at the Tower of Naught, staring up at his magnificent Kingdom Hearts. Inside he was plagued by thoughts of what he had done. He had sent Demyx to fight the Keyblade bearer in the hope that he would be eliminated and no longer be a nuisance. His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a portal opening behind him. He turned and his amber eyes found the golden eyes of number VII. He looked about ready to go berserk.

"What the hell have you done?" Saix never raised his voice to his Superior but he felt that sending an innocent nobody to their death was adequate enough a reason. "What were you thinking sending Demyx to fight the keyblade bearer?"

Xemnas refused to admit that he made a mistake. "Number IX simply could not continue his deluded fantasy of having a heart."

Saix's eyes widened. "You sent him to his death over that! Why the hell didn't you tell me about this? I could have stopped you from being such a fool!"

"I am the Superior Number VII! I do NOT need your advice on how to run MY organization!" Xemnas felt the familiar ghost of anger flood through him.

"You really don't see the stupidity of what you have done do you?" Saix fumed. "Demyx had a lot of friends, do you really think that the others will follow you now? After you so idiotically murdered Demyx!"

Saix kept his face turned to the left. The burning of his right cheek echoing the fury in Xemnas' strike. He turned his head slowly to look at Xemnas. the tanned man had a look of uncertainty, of 'fear' on his face.

"Your foolishness will be your downfall Xemnas." He opened a portal and stepped through, leaving Xemnas alone again. Images of Saix's face, screwed up in pain were added to the screams of a dying Demyx.