A/N - Fair Maiden with another one of my Kingdom Hearts oneshots. Demyx has always been one of my favorite characters - he's a very complex person with many layers, and there is more to him than meets the eye. Those minstrels, you know. Never can tell what they're up to.

Disclaimer - I can't believe they're making me admit I don't own Demyx. Hard-hearted cruelty…

Sanity

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We're fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance.

- Japanese Proverb

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IX, the new member which Xigbar had just brought in, was, quite clearly, insane. The rest of the painfully new Organization came to this conclusion, when on entering Xemnas' presence, a few obedient, lolloping Dusks trotting at his heels like eager dogs, the young man took one look at the Superior, whispered 'Is that him?' to Xigbar, and upon receiving an affirmative, rushed across the little open space separating them and flung his arms around the dark-skinned man with a sobbing rush of words which sounded very much like 'You're the most wonderful person in the whole wide world you really are thank you!'

Xemnas, to his credit, took the entire thing very much in stride and after detaching the pale-brown-haired young man from his person - a feat which was made a good deal more difficult by the impression which the new member seemed to possess, namely that the best way of showing his gratitude was by clinging to the Superior's garments with both hands and attempting to kiss them - and asked him firmly but quietly what he was thanking him for.

The young man opened his blue eyes very wide. "Why, for letting me stay, of course! I bumped into a few other people before, and they were all very unpleasant. They got angry because I'm not -" he waved a hand vaguely around in the air, " - really there all the way anymore. They said that I didn't exist, and then they threw things at me, and I told them that was a contradiction, so they threw more things and I ran away and then I met Xigbar. He said that I didn't have to not belong anywhere, and that if I went with him I could meet some people who wouldn't hate me because I'm a Nobody. So I did. And now I've met you!" he concluded, beaming around at the other members, most of whom were staring at him in attitudes of frozen disbelief - Vexen was practically twitching with the desire to examine him - and ignoring the fact that none of them had been introduced yet, "and you're all great, and it's all because of you," to the Superior, "and you're just wonderful. I'm going to write a song for you."

There was a distinct snapping sound as Axel closed his mouth.

"Do you have a name?" Xemnas inquired steadily. A lesser man might have taken a step back at the way the young man beamed at him.

"My name," he declared, "is Demyx, and I'm an idiot, and I have a sitar! Would you like to hear me play?"

There was a choking sound as Xaldin lost a furious battle he had been fighting with himself and collapsed onto the ground in quiet hysterics. Xigbar patted him on the back, although he wasn't much better. Zexion's mouth twitched, and Lexaeus gave a short guffaw of laughter. Axel had his face buried in one hand, but his shoulders were shaking. Only Vexen and Saix managed to keep straight faces.

"Perhaps later," Xemnas said. "Now, Xigbar, if you would please -"

"All right!" Demyx said brightly. "You can listen when I play the new song I'm going to write for you! I'll go start on it right now! And then I can tune my -"

"Xigbar, if you would kindly show IX to his room…" Xemnas said loudly, cutting across Demyx's babble. "And give him a talk about what behavior is appropriate and what is not -"

"Well, Superior, with all due respect, I'll see what I can do," Xigbar said distractedly, grabbing Demyx by the back of his collar and dragging him away in the direction of the section of the castle which had been claimed for 'bedrooms', "but have you ever tried telling the ocean to stop being wet? It doesn't work, and it just makes you feel stupid after a while."

"The ocean! Hey, did you know I can make water do cool things?" Demyx panted as he tried to resist Xigbar's determined tugs. "I'll show you later!" he called back as he was pulled out of sight. The Dusks lollopped after, cheerfully buzzing something about Demyx-sama and water dance dance to each other.

There was a short silence in the room where the others were still gathered, broken only by muffled, helpless giggles as Xaldin pounded his fists on the floor. "Superior, are you quite sure that he is suited -" Vexen began.

"Let him stay!" Xaldin gasped in between chuckles. "Place would be dull without him! Don't send him away, Xemnas, it would be sheer cruelty. Kid would be dead in a week."

In the end the question was moot, since there were few enough survivors that they needed every one they could get, but Demyx managed to change their initial opinion of him as 'how the hell did that idiot ever survive the Darkness' that night when, excitedly announcing that the new song was ready, he summoned his sitar in a flashy display of lights and settled down to play a beautiful, haunting tune, powerful and delicate, which had the empty place in every member's chest aching fiercely by the time the last slow notes died away; his Dancers spinning and flopping their way around the room in a solemn kind of minuet. Instead of just being 'Demyx, that idiot,' he became 'Demyx, that idiot who can yank your guts out with a song if he wants to even though we're not supposed to be able to feel emotions'. Not to mention, 'Demyx, that idiot who somehow manages to survive accidentally stepping on Marluxia's garden, sitting in Xemnas' chair and falling asleep, calling Saix 'cute' to his face, and losing one of Xaldin's lances all without suffering severe injury or death, because nobody can stand those big eyes and please-I-didn't-mean-to-I'll-never-do-it-again air of his'. Not to mention 'Demyx, that idiot who can every once in a while casually come out with philosophical comments which drive Vexen to the point of wildly theorizing split-personality Nobodies'.

All of them were, at times, mildly surprised that they had survived getting to know him.

As a note, my personal headcanon is that all of the Organization except Larxene and Luxord came from Radiant Gardens, and that even those two were there when they became Nobodies. Of course, I'm probably ignoring all kinds of later reveals with that same headcanon - but I am unrepentant. What is fanfiction for, anyway?