Author Notes: Muahaha betches, Bu's pooped out a one-shot! ...That sounded weird o.O Well, anyway, this didn't quite turn out the way I wanted it to, but it works... I hope.
Summary: Demyx was pretty sure he was going crazy. Voices in his head, calls from people he doesn't know, mysterious notes appearing everywhere... Well, just one voice, one person and one note. Zexion, Zexion, and Zexion again.
Disclaimer: -Tries to think of good disclaimer- ... -And fails- Well, people, all I can say is that mah life is pretty plain... I mean- I don't own Kingdom Hearts or anything related to it.
--IX-VI--
Notes Of A Tragedy
Braang. Braang. Braaang. Braaaaa-
"Hey, this is Demyx. 'M sorry I can't come to the phone at the moment, but please leave your name and phone number and I'll get back to you later. See ya!"
Click.
"Dem, dem, you've gotta help me. It's Zexion, please, pick up the phone! Please, help me, I'm so scared. I don't know what's going on. This... This... I can't stop it. Oh, god. It's coming. I-I I don't know what to do. Help me, help me, please- No, stop it... Stop it! Uwagh-!"
Beep. Beep. Beep.
"Zexion? Who're you...?"
--VI-IX--
"Dem, you okay, man? You look a little worn out..."
Demyx looked up, surprised. "Roxas? Yeah, I'm fine. Just all this homework the teachers've been piling up on us lately. It's been screwing me around, man. Heh, that's new. Me, swearing. Next thing you know, Axel'll be dotting his Is and crossing his Ts," he mumbled, massaging his temple.
Roxas made a face, dragging a seat from the table next to them. "I know what you mean. But don't stress it too much. If you ever need help, I'm here, okay, Dem? Don't overdo it, if you know what's good for you. Unit standards are important, but not as much as your good health is."
Mullet'd sighed, slumping down onto the table and folding his arms over his head (however the hell you manage that). He nodded in response, closing his eyes and trying to rest. His attempts were in vain, seeing as the cafeteria isn't exactly the most relaxed area in Oblivion High.
"Anyway," Roxas added, trying to lighten the atmosphere, "Axel, Riku, Sora and Hayner are a holding a Struggle tournament out in the courtyard. Wanna come and watch Axel get his ass kicked with me?"
Demyx laughed, a smile lighting his face. "Yeah, why not? It'll do Axel's ego some good to get beaten a few by a kid with an overly large stick and balance issues," he joked, jumping up out of his seat. "'Sides, me and you still need to have that rematch." Cue glare.
Blondie two chuckled nervously, edging away a little. "Okay, okay, s'long as you don't bite my head off. Surprise as it may seem, I still need it. You know, for Maths and stuff."
"Demyx, Demyx help! Help me! Please!"
Demyx gasped, doubling over and holding his head in his hands. Roxas was instantly by his side, making sure he wasn't going to fall over, or throw up, or anything. "Demyx! You alright? What happened?!"
His eyes were wide and round, seeing nothing, nothing but a maelstrom of black and white. "Did you hear him?" He whispered, his voice small and terrified. "Did you hear him scream?"
"Demyx, no one screamed," Roxas said uneasily, unsure of what to do. He'd never seen his friend act this way before. Hell, he'd never seen anyone act this way before. "Come on, let's just get you to Axel and Riku..."
He nodded and allowed himself to be led away by an unsuspicious Roxas.
"Demyx, no! Don't leave me!"
He shut his eyes tight. No one believed him. No one believed him when he said he heard screams every night in his sleep. He could trust no one. But perhaps he could try.
'Please, whoever you are, just leave me alone...'
--IX-VI--
Demyx sighed as he slumped down onto his couch, closing his eyes and letting his mind drift away. He couldn't carry on like this, carrying this burden everywhere he went. It was enough to drive anyone crazy, even more than enough to get the job done, in fact. Maybe he needed to go see a therapist.
He laughed at that. What good would that do? It's not like they'd be able to understand what was going on. Heck, even he didn't understand! Not that it said much. There wasn't much Demyx understood anyway.
Right now, what he needed was a good sleep. So he curled up on the couch, starting to drift of when-
Briiiing!
He jumped, the phone shaking him out of the sleepy stupor that had covered the house. He blinked, staring at the phone in a distant sort of way, as if he expected it to jump up and dance the can-can. Then an odd sort of fear jolted through him as he remembered last night's dream, and the phone... Now he wished he had taken the time to get caller ID.
Briiiing!
Shaking a little, he reached over and grabbed the phone off the charger. It clicked. "H-Hello?"
"Dem, do you- Hey, you don't sound too good. You okay?"
Instantly, relief flooded through him. It was just Axel. It wasn't... He shook his head. No, don't think of it. Don't think of it, and it'll go away, he said to himself. Psht. As if it were as easy as that.
"Hey Axel, I'm fine, probably just the phone distorting me or something."
"Probably. Hey listen, do you still have that book of mine that you borrowed last year? I kind of need it for that English essay that's due in two weeks."
"Um..." Demyx thought about it. "I think so... It's probably up in the attic, in the boxes from Mom's house that I haven't unpacked yet. I'll look through 'em for you and bring it to school tomorrow if I find it. That ok?"
"That'd be great! Oh, Demyx, you are officially my saviour, thank you so much!"
"Yeah, you're welcome Axel. 'Sides, what are friends for?" He paused. "Well, I'd better go looking for that book. Could take a little while to sort through all the things Mom forced me to bring," Demyx laughed lightly.
"Yeah, alright, Dem. Hey, call me if you can't find it, OK? Well, better go now. See you tomorrow!"
"See ya, Ax."
Click.
Demyx grumbled, rolling off the couch and landing on the floor in a heap. He'd better get up to that attic before he forgot, which there was a high chance of happening. He managed to forget a lot of things imperative to the survival of the human race. Not that the human race cared much.
Scratching the back of his head, Demyx trudged up the stairs that led to his attic, ducking underneath the low doorframe as he walked in. And he sneezed. There was dust everywhere. And, oh great, he was allergic to dust.
Sighing, he made his way over to where the boxes of unpacked stuff lay in a heap, collecting dust. Kneeling down, he shifted them so that the five boxes he had were lined in a row and opened the first box.
There wasn't much in it, save a few pieces of china that he'd been too polite to refuse, along with a plastic-bag-ful of thread and needles and stuff. Moving onto the next box, he found a pile of clothes that he'd grown out of, but had chucked in for the memories. Nothing can beat being a tween, after all. Well, not true. He could think of lots of other things, but that's beside the point.
He struck gold in the third box, figuratively speaking. Opening the box, he found a stack of books between more clothes and old clear files of sheet music. Grunting slightly, he heaved the pile out of the box, squeaking as he dropped them and they scattered over the floorboards.
Demyx grumbled, collecting them up and putting them back into a tidy pile, all the while looking for Axel's book. He saw one out of the corner of his eyes, over by the back of the room. Now how'd it get there? Demyx wondered, sliding over to grab it.
"Dem, help me, please! Please, you're my last hope...!"
He whimpered, holding his head. "Damnit, whoever you are, I. Do. Not. Know. You. Just leave me alone. I have enough problems in my life without you butting in," he moaned, picking the book up and chucking it over to the pile. Something fell out of it. A note, maybe? Curious, he picked it up.
Halp me, pleaze! I can't- I can't...
The handwriting was messy, the spelling horrible, but it made Demyx's blood freeze colder than it would have if he'd just been shot. The words were basically what his voice had been screaming at him at regular intervals, trying to get him to hear. But Demyx didn't want to hear. He just wanted to forget and get on with it.
Demyx didn't want to stay up there any longer, but he didn't want to go downstairs, either. At least up in the attic, he already knew everything was hunky-dory. As for downstairs, well... That was still a mystery, wasn't it? And right now, he didn't want to take any chances. 'Sides, he still had to find that book of Axel's.
Going through the pile of books, he found a few that looked like they could be it. One was called 'History Of Our Time' by someone called Mathilda Martin, one was 'The Basic Structure Of The English Language' by Tom Higgleton and the last was a plain black notebook that had no title.
It was this one he picked up first, trying to discover what it was.
"It's coming..."
Demyx shivered, trying to ignore the voice in his head. Instead, he opened the book and flicked through it, trying to find something that would tell him exactly what the book was about.
6th of June, 1988
Something's after me, I know it. I can feel it. And, quite frankly, it's scaring the shit out of me. I mean, I've never been one to swear, but I think this situation calls for it.
No one believes me when I try to talk to them about it. All they do is laugh at me. Stupid, ignorant bastards. Haven't they been paying any attention to the headlines lately? 'Missing Boy Found Dead' ring a bell?
Maybe I'm next. Oh god, I'm so terrified. And that's new. I can't remember being properly scared about anything in my entire life. Even the first day of school couldn't beat this.
Anyway, some good news. I met a boy today. Well, 'met' may be a little ambiguous. He rammed into me in the corridors and all his books fell on me. But he said sorry and picked them up and started talking to me. His name's Demyx Intre-
It was here that Demyx stopped reading. He felt sick. Something was wrong here, very, very wrong. Unless there was someone else by the name of Demyx Intre that lived in the year 1988, that is. After all, he couldn't possibly be 16 years old in 1988 and still be 16 when 2008 rolled around, right?
No, the Demyx Intre that Zexion crashed into had to have been a different one. But- Wait. How did he know it was Zexion that wrote this? After all, it could've been someone else that was being haunted by something imaginary...
Dizzy and sick of thinking, Demyx stood up and took the books back downstairs, not bothering to tidy the boxes up. He'd get them later, when things weren't quite so hectic anymore. Like, in two years from now.
As he came down, Demyx's phone beeped at him, telling him he had a message. Huh? Probably didn't hear it ringing from upstairs, Demyx thought. Probably just Axel telling me to ring him... He pushed the button.
"Hey Demyx, this is Zexion. Have you heard from Axel lately? He has my book and I need it for my English essay. Anyway, call me back when you can, okay? It's been a while since we had a proper conversation. Oh, and I'm sorry for dropping my books on you. Anyway, talk to you later, 'kay?"
Click.
The blond boy started shaking, afraid of Zexion's last message. He was afraid of everything in general at the moment. Just then, all the lights went out and he fell to the floor in shock.
Demyx moaned, curling up into a ball. He felt like never getting up again. But he couldn't do that, because bills needed to be paid and people needed seeing and books needed giving... And just... giving up seemed... weak. Demyx would not give up! He was stronger than that!
"Hey Demyx, Mom said- Ohmigod Demyx, what happened?!"
Suddenly, all Demyx could see was Axel's face, about twenty centimeters away from his own. "Axel," he breathed a sigh of relief. Only Axel. Axel could keep him safe for now. Axel would keep him safe, because Axel was his friend and Axel cared for him. Axel know nothing about Zexion and Demyx was determined to keep it that way.
"Demyx, what happened?" Axel asked, his voice in the gap between calm and absolutely furious. "Demyx, tell me, or so help me, I will go and find the little bugger that put you this way and make sure that he or she will not be able to have any babies for a very, very long time," Axel threatened, looking all the more dangerous as seconds passed.
Demyx moaned, holding his head as he stood up. "I'm fine, Axel, I just tripped over something and hit my head on the floor. In fact, I'd better go and get you that book before I forget. 'Sides, what're you doing here, Ax?"
The red-head watched him as he moved, unsure of whether or not to leave him to his own means. "Electricity's gone down at our house and Mom sent me over to check if everything was hunky-dory over here. Looks like there's no power here either," he commented as he flicked at the light switch. "'Sides, can't a buddy come and visit his... buddy... when he wants to?" Axel said, following Demyx around his lounge.
The blond smiled, looking for that book he had found for Axel. After looking for a while, he finally admitted that he couldn't find it. He turned to Axel and said, "I'm sorry, Axel, I think I lost it again."
Axel laughed. "Well, that's a bit of a bugger, then. Where'd you leave it?" He asked. "Maybe you left it up in the attic, or summat. I've done that before. Left things where I'd found them and then forgetting where I'd put it. Did you know, just last week, I-"
"Yeah, that's great, Axel. I think I'll just go up and check if I left that book up in the attic now," Demyx mumbled, brushing past him and heading towards the stairs that led to the attic.
Jumping slightly, Axel got up after him, trailing after the blond. "I'll come, too, Demyx!"
"Don't go up there, Demyx."
He froze, suddenly feeling like someone had dumped a bucket of ice-cold water all over him. A metaphorical bucket of ice-cold water, mind you.
Axel bumped into him, crushing his nose against Demyx's back with an 'oomph'. "You okay, Dem?"
It was then that Demyx remembered to keep moving, make it look like everything was hunky-dory when really, it wasn't. "Yeah, Ax, I'm fine. Just thought something was on the floor, so I stopped to look at it. It's gone now, anyway," he said and started off again.
"Demyx, I'm telling you, don't go up there."
Demyx pursed his lips and kept going, if only to vex the voice in his head. He knew only he could hear it because of the fact that Axel wasn't acting like the world was crashing down on him, or talking back or anything. But then, maybe the two of them were in this together and were plotting against him! Maybe-
Musn't think like that! Demyx reminded himself. The whole world does not revolve around moi, no matter what anyone else says. Besides, Axel would never do something like that... right?
He reached the stairs and started up them, just daring The Voice to yell at him, to try and stop him from getting there. Goddamnit, he was getting that book and that was that.
"Please, Demyx, don't go up there!"
"Oh, so now you're asking me nicely, are you? Well, you know what, Zexion? Screw you! You can just take your non-existant ass and go climb in a hole somewhere and die a slow, painful death! I've had it with this shit! Go haunt someone else's ass!" Demyx practically screamed, storming up the stairs angrily.
Surprised and maybe just a little scared, Axel started after him, grabbing hold of his shoulder. "Dem, are you oka-"
Demyx roared, spinning around and shoving Axel backwards, making him trip and fall down the stairs. "You and that bastard, Zexion, you're planning something, aren't you?! I know you are! Leave me the hell alone!"
Axel hurt all over, but he simply jumped up again. He was worried for his friend. Demyx'd never acted like that before, never shunned him before. "Demyx, what are you talking about? Who's Zexion? I'd never do anything to hurt you, you know it!"
"Demyx, what're you-"
"FUCK OFF!" Demyx howled, running up the last few steps. In his blind frustration, he forgot about the low doorframe and smashed his head against it. Dazed and disorientated, he staggered and fell backwards down the stairs.
Axel met him half-way down, stopping him in his desperate flight down the stairs. Concerned and worried, he dropped to his knees next to him. "Demyx? Demyx?!"
Not a sound nor a peep or a movement came from the body next to him. So Axel did what seemed most appropriate at the time. He picked him up and took him to the hospital.
--VI-IX--
"Are you quite sure, Mr. Cair? We don't want to make any mistakes."
"Yes, miss. I am."
"Well then, we may as well move him now."
"N-Now? But so soon! Are you sure?"
"Yes, Mr. Cair. I am quite sure. We have found it easier in general to move the patient as soon as possible."
"O-Oh. Alright then..."
Demyx groaned, feeling like the whole world had turned upside and dumped him in a bucket of ice-cold water. Not that there is an upside-down of Earth, technically speaking. "A-Axel? 'S that you?"
As soon as he said it, a hand rested itself on his shoulder. "I'm right here, Demyx. Everything's going to be alright."
"What happened...?"
"You hit your head on the attic door and fell down the stairs. I brought you to the hospital."
"I meant, what happened to Zexion?"
There was a pause. "Demyx, Zexion doesn't exist. He never has. And, I-I'm sorry, Dem, but I admitted you into a psychiatric hospital. I thought you would be better off there."
If it weren't for the fact that they felt like they'd been glued shut, Demyx's eyes would've fluttered open at that. "The loony bin? You stuck me in the loony bin?!"
Axel flinched, his hand leaving Demyx's shoulder. "I-I'm sorry, Dem. Things've been crazy with you lately; I didn't know what to do. You were scaring me and Roxy... I'm sorry."
"Mr. Cair, me and my colleague here will move Mr. Intre here now."
Axel was silent. Demyx did nothing as he felt a needle prick into his arm.
"Demyx, help me, please!"
"Don't worry, Dem. I'll come and visit you sometime."
And all was back to normal. Well, as normal as his life could get, anyway.
--IX-VI--
It had been two weeks since Demyx had been admitted to the 'Psychiatric Hospital', as they called it. A horrible, lonely, pathetic two weeks. Axel hadn't come to visit like he'd promised. Roxas hadn't called. Riku hadn't brought any of his stuff over. It was as if they didn't care about him anymore. Which could well be the case.
In all honesty, though, it wasn't quite as bad as he had imagined it to be. He had slowly made some friends; a boy named Saïx and a girl named Larxene. Well, maybe not quite friends. Just people he saw a lot and got along with.
"Come along now, Mr. Intre."
He would have glared at the man, if it weren't for the fact that if he did, he'd probably be diagnosed with some other obscure mental illness and be kept here even longer. All he wanted was out. He wasn't crazy, damnit!
Nevertheless, he stood up and followed the man as he led him through the stark-white hallways. Why did everything have to be so... white? It blinded his eyes and made it look like everything was glowing at night.
He saw his chance to get away when his 'escort' stopped to talk to one of his buddies. So, keeping as quiet as he possibly could, Demyx stole off down another hallway. He was halfway across the facility by the time his 'escort' noticed he was gone.
Demyx shot into a room and shut the door behind him, breathing a sigh of relief as he leaned against the wall, sliding down him. He shut his eyes, resting momentarily, and let himself sprawl out. His hand hit something papery. Curious, he grabbed it and dragged it over.
It was a newspaper of some kind. A really old newspaper. The heading said "Twilight Town Standard" and the date read 6th of September 1988. So it was from... twenty years ago? That sounded about right. Heh, twenty years ago was quite a time...
Wondering what the news was like then, he shook it open and skimmed through it briefly. He came to the headline story and got about two lines down before his heart froze and his mind cracked and he shut his eyes and lay down and put his hands on his head and screamed.
The doctors found him two hours later. Tables were toppled and glass from broken windows littered the floor and posters had been ripped from the walls and the ceiling light was smashed and Demyx was huddled up in the corner in his own personal clean space. And he was still screaming.
"Demyx, SAVE ME!"
--VI-IX--
TEENAGE BOY DECLARED MISSING
At 6:09 am this morning, 16-year-old boy Zexion Kael was officially declared missing. Police and officials are trying their hardest to find him, but Mother Katie Kael has admitted that she has little hope that he will be found.
Demyx Intre was the last person to be seen with Mr. Kael, but unfortunately, Mr. Intre cannot be found and questioned at this point in time.
For more on this story, see page 5!
--IX-VI--
End Notes: And there we have it. The end of 'Notes Of A Tragedy'. The idea for this had been floating around my head for yonks, and so, here it is. I don't really think it had any of the impact I wanted it to, but it worked... I hope o.O
And, of course, I leave you with a message:
Please review!