(This is my first time uploading something on fan fiction, so forgive me if I make a mistake) Just a little something that I wrote for writing class. My teacher and a few of my friends enjoyed it, so I decided to post it here. Hope you like it!

(Disclaimer: I do not own the characters included in this fiction. Kingdom Hearts belongs to Square Enix.)

The Midnight Mystery

It was a stormy night in the World That Never Was; thunder boomed, lightning struck, and the rain pounded down on the castle. It wasn't often that a storm like this came around, but the thirteen inhabitants of the almost deserted realm didn't see any real reason to worry. Besides, they were all too tired from doing things around the castle or going on missions by order of their superior, Xemnas. Because of this, they were all sleeping peacefully, finally receiving some well-deserved rest… That is, all except for one.

Demyx trembled in his bed, pulling his blanket over his head. He hated thunderstorms. He was fine with the rain—he did control water, after all—but thunder and lightning scared him to death. Maybe it was the noise, but he just couldn't stand—

BOOM!

He jumped and gave a small yelp after it thundered yet again, curling into a ball and using his blanket to make himself into a human cocoon. He gave a groan, frustrated with both the storm and himself. Why did the storm have to come around now?

Demyx was never good at being brave. He was probably the kindest and most optimistic member, but there were a good number of things that he was terrified of. As the second youngest member of the Organization (he was a year or so older than Roxas, who was fifteen), Demyx hadn't been expected to be too brave when he first joined the Organization; but the other members had soon discovered that Demyx was quite a coward, especially in missions. If he could avoid a fight, he always would. It wasn't as if he couldn't fight; he just didn't like to. Demyx just wasn't a fighter, a fact that some members often made fun of him for.

As the thunderstorm continued, he tried to convince himself that he shouldn't be afraid. He was a member of Organization XIII, one of the most feared groups around. He couldn't let a mere thunderstorm scare him.

'Yeah, that's right! I'm no coward! I'm Demyx, the Melodious Nocturne, the ninth member of Organization XIII, the MASTER of water—'

BOOM!

He yelped yet again, his thoughts of encouragement shattering to pieces. Well, so much for that idea. He would just have to stay like this all night—

Suddenly he froze, hearing a noise from under his bed. It was an odd noise; it didn't sound too much like an animal (or a monster, to Demyx's relief), but it was definitely something. After hesitantly taking the blanket off his head, he mustered enough courage to look under his bed.

He grinned at what his eyes were greeted by. "Spooky! What're you doing under my bed?"

Spooky was a Heartless, a small, black creature about 2 feet in height with antennae and bright yellow eyes. Heartless, along with Dusks, were creatures that lived in the World That Never Was. The Organization's goal was to collect hearts (more so the spiritual kind rather than the physical) so that they could be whole once again, and the Heartless helped with this deed by hunting down people with strong hearts and bringing them into darkness before claiming these hearts. But the Organization had no reason to worry that these creatures would attack them; they had no hearts, so the Heartless had no reason to touch them.

Spooky was barely different from his fellow Heartless, but there was one difference: he was a pet. During his first week in the Organization, Demyx had found Spooky and made him his pet. Demyx had no one else to call a friend at the time, so he grew very fond of the little Heartless. Even though the others made fun of him for making a Heartless his pet (and for naming said Heartless "Spooky"), Demyx paid them no heed; in his eyes, Spooky was just as good of a pet as a dog or cat was.

"Silly… You had me scared for a minute there," said Demyx, picking up the Heartless and putting him in his lap. "That's a big storm out there, huh? Were you scared too?" Spooky blinked and cocked his head to the side. "Well, we can keep each other company. I think the storm is starting to calm down anyway—"

Demyx was interrupted by a low groan outside his room. This was enough to result in his green eyes getting considerably wide and his face turning pale, putting him back into "terrified mode". Spooky seemed affected as well; he climbed behind Demyx and onto his back before peeking over his shoulder.

"D-Did you hear that?" Demyx stuttered, the familiar feeling of fear taking over him once again. Another low groan could be heard again, though this time it was a little louder. 'That sounds just like the monster in that movie I watched earlier tonight! The movie that Xigbar said I shouldn't watch because he said it would scare me—…Oh, I guess I should have listened…' Demyx thought, scolding himself inwardly for ignoring Xigbar's warnings for the hundredth time.

He heard the groan again. Pulling up his blanket until it was nearly over his eyes, he finally spoke up, though it came out as a squeak. "W-Who's there?" He heard footsteps, making him even more terrified. "X-Xigbar? You better not be trying to scare me again…!" Demyx gulped. 'Because it's working…'

Whoever it was either didn't listen or didn't hear him, because the footsteps didn't stop and another groan could be heard. At this point, Demyx knew it wasn't Xigbar; Xigbar's footsteps weren't as heavy, nor was his voice that deep. Finally it sounded as though the "monster" was right outside Demyx's room. Demyx, terrified enough to wet his pants at this point, had finally had enough. If that monster was coming in, he was going out.

He jumped out of his bed with Spooky clinging to his shoulder (being as terrified as Demyx was, he sure didn't want to get left behind) before dashing towards the door. He turned the knob and shoved the door open, his fear causing him to be oblivious of the bang of impact that could be heard. He immediately started sprinting down the hallway in the direction of a certain one-eyed man's room.

"Xigbaaaar!" Even those downstairs could hear his shriek. Once he reached Xigbar's room, he jerked the door open and ran inside before lunging onto Xigbar's bed, Spooky nearly falling off of him in the process. A loud grunt could be heard (evidently Demyx landed right on him), but Demyx had already started shaking Xigbar frantically. "Xigbar! Xigbar, wake up!"

"I'm already awake thanks to you!" he said, pushing Demyx off of him. "What is it?!" he asked, annoyed at being awakened at such a late hour.

His answer was an explosion of words that were stuttered so quickly that the only things he could catch were "monster" and "tried to eat me". As if his tired mind wasn't already trying hard enough to listen to Demyx; he was having an even harder time understanding Demyx's frantic attempt to tell him what happened.

"—and so I ran out of my room! I think he's still out there, Xig!" Demyx finished. Honestly, Xigbar wondered how the blonde musician hadn't fainted from lack of oxygen.

"…Demyx, I have no idea what you just tried to tell me, but I'm guessing you thought you heard a monster."

"I did!"

"Well, did you see it?"

Demyx looked down. "Well…No. But—"

"You watched that movie, didn't you?" Xigbar asked, his gold eye piercing right into Demyx's.

Demyx hated when he did that. If Xigbar gave someone "the look", that person would have no chance of successfully telling a lie. "No…?"

Xigbar, like many times before, saw right through Demyx's pitiful attempt to lie. "Demyx, what did I tell you about watching those movies with Axel? Some people get scared easier than others, and as much as you try to prove otherwise, YOU are one of those people."

Demyx sighed. "Yeah I know, but— wait, you didn't let me finish! There could be a monster coming here right now!"

Xigbar sighed. "Demyx, unless you can prove me wrong, I don't think—" Suddenly Xigbar was interrupted by the same groaning Demyx had heard, except this time it sounded as though the individual was in pain. But this made no difference to Demyx and Spooky, who were both hiding behind Xigbar at this point.

"Do you believe me now…?" Demyx asked fearfully.

Xigbar gave no reply, his single eye concentrating on the door for a moment as if contemplating whether to go check who— or what—was out there. Making up his mind, he got up and headed for the door.

"No, don't…!" Demyx pleaded, worried for his friend.

Xigbar, as he often did, ignored him, opening the door. To both of their surprise, there wasn't anyone there. Just to make sure, Xigbar looked both ways to see whether the coast was clear. After doing so, he turned around and smirked at Demyx, gesturing him to come over.

"There's no one there?" Demyx asked, getting up and walking over to him before looking outside.

"Nope. I told you that it was just your imagination, little dude. It's probably just Lexaeus again. He pigged out at dinner, so he might have a stomach ache." said Xigbar.

Demyx laughed a little and nodded, feeling silly that he had thought he had heard a monster. "Yeah, you're right! It's probably just Lexaeus. Sorry for waking you up, Xig."

Before Xigbar could reply, a loud bang sounded from downstairs. They knew at once that it had come from Vexen's laboratory, which was located downstairs across Xigbar's room. Both of them seemed to hold their breath as the door opened across the hall, releasing smoke in such a way that the doorway was no longer visible. But they soon noticed a figure coming out amidst the smoke, coughing loudly and casting an eerie, ghostly appearance that struck fear upon Xigbar and Demyx (Spooky was no longer with Demyx, but in Xigbar's room, hiding under the blanket).

Xigbar and Demyx, apparently frozen where they stood, watched gapingly as the figure became more visible. He was tall, had pitch-black goggles covering his eyes, and wore a bloodstained lab coat to complete the appearance of a mad scientist. It was as though they were in a horror movie; except the loud, creepy music wasn't playing.

"W-what is that?" Demyx stuttered.

Xigbar remained silent, staring as the mysterious man revealed a knife. "Uh…" The man, still shrouded in the mist of smoke, started stumbling towards them, and just as he did, lightning struck from outside, giving them a clear view of the knife he was holding. Just after this happened, both Xigbar and Demyx shouted in alarm before running full-speed down the hallway, leaving the man in the dust (or in this case, smoke). It had only taken a few seconds before they were completely out of sight.

After a while, Xigbar and Demyx finally came to a halt in the hallway near the kitchen. They had been running for a good five minutes and had stopped by suggestion of Xigbar, who thought that running down two floors of the castle was far enough. After catching their breath for a moment, Demyx finally spoke up.

"Something crazy is going on here…"

"Yeah, I think you're right," said Xigbar. "Do you think that was Vexen?"

Demyx shook his head. "No way! That guy was way too creepy to be Vexen!"

'And that's saying something.' Xigbar thought. "Yeah, you got a point there."

"What should we do? Do you think he got Vexen?"

"I don't know… But I think we should tell the others. Now that I think about it, you and I should have taken that guy down ourselves." Xigbar noticed Demyx's expression turn to one of embarrassment and couldn't help but feel embarrassed himself. He was second in command and he had run right along with Demyx. "Well…Let's just say that there were 20 of them and that we had to retreat."

Demyx sighed in relief, happy that he wouldn't get laughed at again. "Deal."

Xigbar nodded and started walking, Demyx following him. But they had barely walked 5 feet when suddenly they heard footsteps from the kitchen, causing both of them to stop. Demyx was about to run, but Xigbar stopped him and motioned for him to be quiet. Summoning his guns, Xigbar waited for the intruder to reveal himself.

Though none of the lights were on in the hallway or kitchen, they could still see a figure exit the kitchen. He appeared to be sneaking, but that attempt proved to be a waste when Xigbar turned on the light, catching the intruder red-handed.

"N-no! Don't shoot! I'll never sneak in the kitchen again, I swear!" cried the intruder in a British accent, dropping the bag of chips that was in his hands.

Once again, their fear had caused them to misjudge. It was only Luxord, their time controlling, gambling-obsessed friend. The blonde man seemed scared to death; but then again, who wouldn't be scared if someone snuck up on you and pointed highly lethal guns at your head?

Xigbar sighed in relief, lowering his guns and letting them disappear. "Sorry, Luxord. We thought you were…uh…"

"We thought you were one of the killers!" Demyx interrupted.

Picking up the bag of chips, Luxord said, "You two blokes nearly scared me to death…Wait, what did you think I was?"

"Lux, there's crazy stuff happening in the castle! I heard a monster, and then Xig and I saw this crazy guy holding a knife! We think he killed Vexen!" Demyx cried.

Number X looked shocked. "You can't be serious--" The gambler was interrupted by a high-pitched scream of fury that sent chills down their spines. The lights went out seconds after, leaving them in darkness. The three of them stood there for a moment, their eyes wide and bodies frozen to where they stood as each wondered where the horrible sound had come from. They remained this way for a moment before Luxord spoke up again. "…Okay, I believe you now."

Xigbar nodded. "Yeah. As crazy as it sounds, we think there's someone hunting all of us down."

"Blimey… What are we going to do? Tell the Superior?" Luxord asked.

"I don't think we should tell ol' Xemnas. He probably won't believe us." Xigbar replied.

"Should we have a look for ourselves, then?"

The Freeshooter nodded. "Yeah. He must have been tough to take Vexen down, but he can't get all three of us, right?"

"Right."

"Maybe…"

"Lighten up, Dem. He's just trying to scare us, that's all," said Xigbar to the worried teenager. "But we won't let that happen. Come on, I'm sure he's around here somewhere."

With Xigbar leading the way, the trio proceeded down the hallway. As they continued to walk, Luxord began eating some chips from the bag he was still carrying with him. For the first few minutes, Xigbar had ignored the annoying crunching noises that were made every time Luxord popped another chip in his mouth, but after a while it got to the point when he could stand it no longer. He snatched the bag out of Luxord's hands, much to the British man's devastation.

"…If you wanted some, all you had to do was ask, you know."

"Do you have to pig out on chips while we're searching for a murderer?" Xigbar asked, clearly annoyed.

"I didn't think it mattered! The more noise, the easier it'll be to lure the killer to us!"

As Xigbar and Luxord continued to argue, Demyx started to feel as though he was being watched. Turning around, his eyes searched the dark hallway and listened for footsteps. But this was increasingly difficult with Xigbar and Luxord still arguing.

"--not my problem that you get hungry at midnight!"

"It's not my fault--"

"Guys, be quiet for a minute," said Demyx. The two men obeyed, though not without giving each other one last glare. "I think someone's following us."

Together they waited for some sign of movement in the shadows. For the next few moments, it seemed as though there was no one there after all, but suddenly an angry voice shouted, "LUXORD!"

The sound of the furious voice seemed to scare all of them, but Luxord, by far, was the most terrified. His eyes were wide and his face was pale; not to mention that his legs failed to move when he wanted to run so badly. Luxord knew at once what was happening. The killer had chosen his next target. He was next.

"Uh… You can have your chips!" said Xigbar, shoving the bag of chips back to Luxord, who was still frozen. This time they had more time to think of their escape, so instead of running, Xigbar opened a portal and quickly entered it, closely followed by Demyx.

They exited the portal in the living room. Xigbar left the portal open for a moment to see whether Luxord would follow, but he quickly closed it when he heard Luxord's horrified scream, knowing that the poor man was a goner by then. Xigbar and Demyx looked at each other, both realizing the same thing. The killer had claimed yet another victim.

"He…He got Luxord…!" said Demyx with a horrified expression.

"This can't be happening…" Xigbar sat down on the couch, unable to believe that he had just lost his friend. "Man…"

Demyx sat down next to him, equally grieved. "We shouldn't have left him like that…We could have dragged him in with us…"

"I thought he was going to follow us. I didn't think--" Xigbar stopped, sighing. "It doesn't matter. He's gone now, and there's nothing we can do to bring him back. But one thing we can do is finish this blood-thirsty killer once and for all." He stood up, summoning his guns.

Demyx looked up and, courage regained, stood up as well, summoning his sitar. "Yeah! For Vexen and Luxord!"

Xigbar nodded, but just as he was about to say where they should go next, the door was kicked open, revealing a figure in the darkness. They could only make out a few details of the mysterious man; he was somewhat tall and had an air of intimidation about him. But appearance made no difference to Xigbar, who aimed his guns at the man.

"Now, Demyx!" Xigbar yelled as he teleported near the man, his power over gravity allowing him to hang upside down and get a good shot at his target. He fired his guns, purple diamond-shaped bullets flooding down at his target. The killer managed to dodge them by jumping a few feet away, but he was soon forced to resume running as Xigbar continued to send his magic bullets at him.

While Xigbar had him distracted, Demyx took his chance. His fingers moved at an alarming speed as he played his blue sitar, performing a complex tune. "Dance, water, dance!" he yelled, water swirling around him before gushing at the intruder, who was currently very preoccupied with Xigbar. The intruder, looking at the last second, was unable to dodge massive amount of water as it hit him directly on the chest, sending him into the wall.

"Nice one, Demyx!" said Xigbar with a grin, giving him a thumbs up. "We got him!"

Demyx scratched behind his head, grinning sheepishly. "Aw, it was nothing--"

Demyx's sentence was cut short when the lights flickered back on. Xigbar and Demyx, eager to finally see the identity of the killer that had caused so much trouble in one night, quickly looked over to see who the man was. However, they soon wished they hadn't.

"Saix…?" the duo said in unison, equally surprised and confused.

Yes, it was Saix. Despite the heavy blow he had received, the man with the X-shaped scar between his eyes stood up as if he had only tripped, his yellow eyes narrowing angrily at both of them. There was a reason why no one messed with Saix. While he was usually calm and quite emotionless, he had a deadly temper-- especially when a full moon was out. While others controlled elements such as fire or water, Saix was able to use the moon to his advantage. The moonlight gave him incredible power that was only increased when he was angry. This would cause him to go into a berserk state, and once he was berserk, there was no stopping him. It was for this reason that Xigbar and Demyx felt a little regret for drenching him with water.

"The Superior wants to see both of you." said Saix, who had managed to keep his voice at its usual calm yet intimidating tone.

"You're the killer?" Demyx asked.

"I do not know of which you speak, Number IX, and I do not wish to. I highly suggest you and Number II come with me to the Superior's office now before I must take forceful measures to ensure that you are brought to him, conscious or not."

Despite Saix being Number VII, it was common knowledge that he, not Xigbar, was Xemnas' second-in-command. This made it even more unwise to disobey him. "Um… Sure, let's go, Demyx…" said Xigbar uncertainly, following the blue-haired man into a portal. Demyx hesitantly followed, hoping that Saix wouldn't change his mind and go berserk.

Just as Saix had told them, they arrived in Xemnas' office. Sitting at the desk was Xemnas, who looked tired and showed as much happiness as a drenched cat. In front of him, Marluxia, Larxene, Vexen, and Luxord all sat next to each other in chairs. Marluxia looked much like Xemnas: tired and very annoyed. He was currently picking pieces of potato chips out of his brownish pink hair while Luxord watched with a sheepish expression (evidently he was feeling quite foolish about something). Larxene was sitting next to him with her arms crossed, looking angrier than the others. Sparks flickered from her fingertips, hinting that she was not in a good mood at all. Next to her was Vexen, who seemed the most peculiar of all. While he, like Marluxia and Xemnas, looked weary and displeased to say the least, his face was blackened with soot from what seemed to have been an explosion. There were only two clean spots on his face, which were the circles around each of his eyes (evidently he had been wearing goggles).

"Luxord! Vexen! You're alive!" Demyx said happily.

"Yes, yes, save the tears of joy for later. Now, will one of you please tell me what's going on--" Xemnas stopped, noticing how Saix was drenched. "Number VII…What happened to you?"

Saix scowled. "Evidently…" he said, narrowing his eyes slightly at Xigbar and Demyx, who winced. "They were under the impression that I was a 'killer'."

Xemnas sighed. "I see…Is that what this is all about?"

"You don't get it! We've been seeing creepy stuff all night! There was this guy coming out of Vexen's lab! He had a knife and--"

"That was me, you idiots!" Vexen said angrily.

"But--!"

Demyx was interrupted yet again, but this time it was Xemnas who did so. "Did it ever occur to you that this man could have been Vexen?" Demyx and Xigbar seemed hesitant to answer. "Vexen, please explain."

"I had been dissecting down in my laboratory, but I knocked over some chemicals by accident, causing a mild explosion. I came up to get away from the smoke, but those two saw me and ran off screaming." Vexen said, rolling his eyes.

"Oh…Well, now that you mention it, that does make a lot of sense. Sorry about that, Vexen." said Xigbar.

"But what about the scream and the lights going out?" Demyx asked.

"That was Larxene," replied Xemnas. "It seems as though you woke her up earlier, and in her anger she accidentally caused a power outage because of her electricity getting out of control."

Larxene glared at them, giving them confirmation that this information was correct. Xigbar, being the braver of the two, decided to speak up. "Well, that makes sense too. But what happened to you, Luxord? We thought you were dead."

Luxord's face turned red with embarrassment. "Er…well…" He seemed to be trying to find a way to explain without humiliating himself. "Marluxia sort of…um…"

Marluxia gave an aggravated sigh. "If he won't explain, I will. I got mad at him for dropping chips on the floor after I had spent hours cleaning it. When I caught him, he screamed bloody murder and threw a bag of potato chips at me. I didn't even touch him." Luxord groaned and put the hood of his coat on his head, trying to hide the fact that he was horribly humiliated.

"There you have it. Does that explain all of your fears?" Xemnas asked, wanting nothing more at the moment than to go back to bed.

"Yeah. Sorry about that," said Xigbar before muttering to Demyx, "That's the last time I ever listen to your stories, Demyx."

"B-but that's not all of it! What about the groaning? I heard someone groaning outside my room!" Demyx exclaimed, looking at Xemnas. Could he have an answer to this one?

Before Xemnas could answer, a groan was heard outside his office. Everyone looked at the door, surprised that Demyx had actually been telling the truth. "Saix," said Xemnas. "Open the door and see who it is."

Saix obeyed, walking over to the door and opening it. The others watched as he stood there for a moment, staring at something that they couldn't see. After a moment, Demyx couldn't take it anymore and said, "Who is it?"

Saix moved aside, allowing them to see the odd sight. In the hallway, Xaldin (a big, muscular man that was known for his odd sideburns and dreadlocks) was walking around with his eyes either barely open or closed, occasionally bumping into the wall. He would groan every few seconds as if having a bad dream, and every time he did, it would echo the halls. There also seemed to be a bruise on his face from being hit by something (such as Demyx's door).

"Xaldin?" said Demyx incredulously. "It was him? I didn't know that he sleepwalks!"

"Neither did I." added Xigbar.

Xemnas sighed for what seemed to be the hundredth time that night. "Saix, if you would kindly wake up Number III and tell him to return to his room, I would appreciate it," Saix nodded and started to exit the room. "And please lock his door so that this doesn't happen twice in one night."

"I shall." Saix replied as he closed the door.

After he was gone, Xigbar turned to Demyx. "So, any other things that you'd like to bring up, Demyx?" he asked, feeling as annoyed as the others that all of that fear had been over nothing.

Demyx shook his head. "No…I think I've had enough of this midnight mystery."

The End