Marluxia was far beyond tired. Earlier in the morning, his deep slumber had been interrupted with a sudden urgent phone call from Axel at Headquarters, frantically saying that there had been an emergency. His stomach had churned by then—his mind was literally littered with hazy visions of any of the Organization XIII members being dismembered with bloody bits of them scattered across the white marble floor. As he quickly dressed up and sped out of the door, he noticed that his socks were terribly mismatched—one was vivid pink while the other was black with white polka dots—and that his blue towel was still visible underneath the see-through black cloak he was sporting on. On his way to the Headquarters, many eyes were glued onto him, and he thought he could hear a few people sniggering. Given any other day, he would have dealt with those ignorants and teach them not to misbehave in his presence…but he had more pressing issues at hand.
As soon as he reached Headquarters, he was ambushed by his own guards at the entrance hall; the Netherceptors, Zexion's latest creation of the Nobodies. They were incredibly massive-bodied in large contrast to their teeny boulder-like heads, but the impact of their fists were not to be challenged. Marluxia had to spend most of his time plotting his safe-gateway route to the top of the Headquarters' Naught Ascension Tower, the place where all members would gather—the Netherceptors were unnaturally capable of appearing in front of him from where he had just left them in a blink of an eye, which he felt sure was Zexion's doing.
As soon as he had escaped them, he discovered that the elevator was out of service, a major problem as it leads straight to the Tower. With no other choice, Marluxia took the stairs, which, by the time he reached the fourteenth floor, seemed unnumerable to his cloudy view as he panted and leant heavily by the stairs.
He soon reached the door to the Tower, but to his dismay, it was tightly shut from the inside. "Axel!" he shouted. "Open the door!"
"He's not in here!" came the voice within, a male's which Marluxia quickly registered as Demyx's.
"Where is he then?" Marluxia demanded.
"At the bottom of the stairs with Larxene!" Demyx shouted back. "She got tipsy on wine last night, and now she's having this terrible hangover, and was threatening to bring down this whole place unless somebody give her a cure!"
"By gad…" Marluxia said falteringly as he smacked his forehead, not believing what he had just heard. That was it? But then Marluxia remembered how quick and agile Larxene was during their battles—in normal mode. What would happen if she were to let loose when drunk? He froze at the thought and said loudly, "Demyx, I had just come from downstairs, but I see not of her. Where do you think she might have gone to?"
"She's not down there?" Demyx asked oddly. "But then, where could she—OH NO!"
"What?" Marluxia asked panickly.
"She might be at the laboratory!" Demyx shrilled. "Argh! I thought Axel said that he's gonna handle her!"
The lab? Marluxia began to perspire. That explained the Netherceptors' behavior. Marluxia quickly summoned the black vortex and entered it, then reappeared at the inside of the lab. His jaw dropped as he watched the messed-up state of almost everything inside it—tables were turned, unfinished experiments were laid scattered all over the stained red carpet (there were dark spots now), glass containers were broken and in shards, and goodness-knows-what-else.
Marluxia tiptoed in the lab room when he heard deafening noises from the outside of the lab. The double-doors stood ajar, and he caught sight of three of the Organization members who had rose to the call of Axel beside him; Lexeaus, Luxord and Saix. Two people were having a shouting match, hidden by one of the doors, and Marluxia stood still to hear them.
"A CURE! A CURE! WHERE'S MY—HIC—A CURE?!" SLASH!!!
"I told you a gazillion times already—I DON'T HAVE ONE!!" CLING!!!!
"THEN I HIT YOU AGAIN AND AGAIN!" A series of swelled noise, cursing and unclear ranting was heard next. Without hesitation, Marluxia quickly ran out of the lab and faced the remaining two: a scruffy-haired Larxene and an angry-yet-devastated Axel.
"Ah, perfect timing! WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU?!" Axel screamed as he saw Marluxia over the smaller girl's shoulder, ducking from her furious string of attacks with her scythe.
"I WAS HERE ALL ALONG, MUG-HEAD!" Larxene spewed as she launched another successive attack on the red-head.
Marluxia's heart had threatened to come out of his chest as it had many times before—the way it had always been ever since his heart had gotten to know Larxene. She was incredibly small for her age, and if they were to stand side-by-side, she could only reach as far as his shoulders, but Marluxia was attracted to her petite figure. That, and the way she could make him almost topple over whenever her eyes locked straight onto his. At times where he hover between the plains of consciousness and slumberland, Larxene would crop up in his mind in devious ways which made him feel eternally grateful that neither anybody in the Organization could read people's minds, let alone his. He often longed to be alone with her somewhere—beside than doing missions of gathering hearts and conquering worlds together—and explain to her how much he wanted to hold her…
"MARX! NEED SOME HELP HERE!!!" Axel screamed as he hid himself under a chair from a chain of fiery blaze which Larxene had unleashed. She was hovering in mid-air, and the attack, which Marluxia had recognized all too often, had burnt away the black cloak she had on, revealing the glistening skin underneath. Marluxia's heart stopped beating altogether.
"NOW HANDLE THIS!!" Larxene shouted as she raised her hands and was about to set out another fiery explosion. A glorious idea suddenly stroked Marluxia's mind, an idea which was very much to his liking…
He quickly transported himself from the floor he stood to a place which was directly behind her. Immediately, he hugged her from behind and locked her tight in his arms. He rested his chin on her flaxen hair and closed his eyes as he felt her warmth…his heart was purring…
To his amazement, Larxene went limp in his arms, then snored gently. He looked at her from sideways, and saw that she had remarkably fallen asleep. Axel slowly got out from his hiding, and looked at the two hovering figures warily.
"She's out already?" Axel said. Marluxia nodded at him. "Cool—how'd you do that?"
"I…don't know," Marluxia murmured. He remembered that he was at Headquarters, and that being seen hugging a fellow member was so not a good idea, and yet this was what he wanted, to be with her. Once again, his mind had brilliantly came up with another plan.
"Axel, I will see to it that Larxene reaches home and stays in for today," Marluxia said in what he hoped was in his usual steely tone. "And I will talk to her about this…quietly and in private. Also, I want not any interruptions until my next say-so. Is that clear?"
"Yes," Axel replied as he bowed. "I'll tell the other guys that."
"Good," Marluxia said in a low tone, trying hard to keep out the excitement from his voice. "I will send her back, then." With that, he clicked his fingers and summoned once more the black vortex, which, he smilingly knew, would lead straight on to the privacy of Larxene's place…on the safe refuge of her bed…
The next day, Larxene, the other members of Organization noticed, was smiling and in such a good mood that she, for the first time in any of their living memories, apologized to them for the fiasco the day before. She often smirked and licked her lips, and whenever Marluxia was close by, she would catch his eye, and together, they smiled with pink spots appearing on their cheeks. Also, Demyx naughtily remarked to the others when both of them were out of earshot, he saw red bite marks on Larxene's neck.
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
The first time I did a fic with a bit of fluff in it. LOL. Sorry if it sucks or did not meet your expectations.
