The Last Encore

By Psycho Colette

"No…" moaned the dirty-blonde, falling to his knees.

His body—though shielded partially by the thick, black leather cloak—was beaten and bruised, causing the Nobody to tremble in pain. The young Keyblade Master had defeated him yet again, but this was the last time; there would be no third chance. Demyx's eyes swam with tears stemming from the memory of sadness as he tried to come to terms with what was happening: he was dying. Memories he long believed forgotten flared up hazily in his mind and he could feel himself beginning to fade into Oblivion.

A sudden, strong hand gripped his shoulder and tore the ninth Organization member out of the darkness that had been pressing in on his vision. Startled, Demyx turned his head slowly, tears running down his cheeks. His bright blue eyes lit up with surprised hope when they fell upon the owner of the hand: Luxord. The Gambler smiled, almost sadly—if the emotion had been there—and gave Demyx a reassuring nod.

"L-Luxord?" the Nocturne managed to stutter. "What are you doing here?"

Luxord bent down and laced his right arm under Demyx's, lifting him to his feet with some difficulty on his part.

"Obviously helping you," he replied with a serious expression, pulling a small grey pendant out from within his cloak. "Besides, what kind of 'partner' would I be if I didn't have your back?"

Demyx laughed a little and wiped the thin stream of blood from his mouth before fishing out his own blue pendant. The two artifacts sparked in the setting sun, swimming with their own blue-grey light. Luxord placed his next to Demyx's and the two Nobodies were engulfed in golden flames. Sora, who had been taken aback by the Gambler's sudden arrival, was further astounded by this occurrence.

"That's a new one!" he exclaimed, drawing out his Keyblade once more.

The flames crackled menacingly and writhed as if they had a life of their own. Faintly, within the flames themselves, the Roman numerals 'IX' and 'X" appeared on their own and then merged, changing into the Nobody's symbol. Sora watched, transfixed, as the flames parted, revealing a sole figure standing within. As the last golden tendrils faded away, the Keyblade Master gaped—his jaw dropped and his Keyblade was held uselessly at his side.

The man was neither Demyx nor Luxord, but a combination of the two. He had Demyx's fashionable mullet, but it was a lighter blonde; Luxord's earrings and goatee were there as well. ((Psycho Colette takes a moment to observe that her creation looks ironically a lot like James Hetfield of Metallica.)) The man's arms were crossed over his chest and a black electric guitar hung proudly from his shoulder. It had neon blue waves painted on it and a pair of clear blue dice hung from silver chains from its head. After regaining his composure, Sora swung his Keyblade up in an offensive manner, pointing it at the smirking stranger.

"Who are you?" was his demand, which was echoed by both Donald and Goofy.

"You can call me, Lumyx," said the black cloaked blonde, now holding his guitar as if to play it. "And it's time for the encore!"

"Encore?" Sora repeated, lowering his defense briefly. "What do you-?"

It was all Lumyx needed. Without missing a beat, he drew a grey guitar pick out of midair and struck it across the strings of his guitar. The electric note tore across the battlefield, amplified by the rock walls, and a column of water shot up from under Sora's feet, throwing him high into the air. A few strums later and Donald and Goofy joined their friend on their own water geysers.

"Pwn'd!" laughed Lumyx deviously as he tore into another riff. "Come on, guys! Feel the music!"

The geysers crashed together, throwing the three heroes slamming into one another, still in the air. But the collision broke the spell and the water ceased, dropping the trio to the ground suddenly. Lumyx was sent into another peel of laughter as they tried to recover from the fall.

"Alright, now you're gonna get it!" Sora yelled indignantly, trying to find his footing on the wet stone ground. "Thungdaga!"

The fused Nobody's reaction time wasn't fast enough and the bolt of electricity struck down, sending him sliding back a few feet. Growling, he charged forward, brandishing the guitar like a sword. Sora raised his Keyblade to block and waited for the impact with his eyes closed expectantly. But when no strike came, he lowered the blade and opened his eyes.

"Huh?" he murmured, scanning all around him. "Where did he-?"

"Sora!" Donald exclaimed, pointing upward. "Above you!"

But it was Sora's turn for a slow reaction: just as he looked up, Lumyx—who had leaped high into the air—brought the guitar down heavily on the brunet boy's head. Sora clutched the sides of his forehead and staggered backward, stars dancing before his eyes. Donald shouted something angrily at Lumyx and cast Curaga quickly.

"Now that's what I call a real 'Show Stopper'," chuckled Lumyx, strumming on his guitar in an amused manner.

Thoroughly angry now, Sora's hands tightened around the handle of the Keyblade as he threw himself at Lumyx. Predicting this, Lumyx quickly raised a wall of water before him to block Sora's attack. But with a defiant swing, he was able to break through the wall and the Keyblade struck the surprised Lumyx across his unprotected chest. This blow sent him reeling back, clutching his right hand over the fresh wound. With a sharp hiss, he pulled the hand away enough to note the damage: blood was beginning to pool around the gash and ran down his cloak in small, crimson streams.

With his right hand holding as much blood back as was possible, Lumyx raised his left and summoned numerous giant playing cards. They slid across the field quickly, creating a solid wall between the heroes and the injured Nobody. Those cards not used in the wall proceeded to dive and slice around Sora and his companions, distracting them for the time being.

Head hung in defeat, Lumyx pulled the two pendants out from his cloak and separated them. Golden light poured from his body and he was soon engulfed by the flames once more. But when they receded, the pair of Nobodies were returned to normal, each now baring a gaping chest wound. This, added to his previous injuries, caused Demyx let out a cry of pain and he fell to his knees before collapsing to the ground completely. Luxord, who had faired better than his companion, dropped to one and panted, out of breath. Teeth gritted against the web of searing pain spreading across his body, the Gambler turned to look at Demyx. The Nocturne, who was struggling to lift himself up, winced, gave a violent shudder, and collapsed again with a whine of defeat.

"I…I'm through," came his raspy voice, the effort of speech causing him to cough.

"Yeah," Luxord concurred, a smile softening his expression. "I don't think I have much more in me, either. Time to fold and end the game, I suppose. It was a good try, wasn't it, kid?"

"Y-yeah," sighed Demyx from the ground, his body beginning to fade. "Thank you for…helping me, Luxord."

"Ah, now who said I was done yet?" chuckled the Gambler, grunting with the effort of standing again. "The brat and his friends may have won, but I won't give them the pleasure of it being an easy victory."

The Nocturne's eyes widened in protest and he tried to urge Luxord against his course of action, but the Gambler had already waved his arm to part the wall of cards and his words seized in his throat. He could feel tears pouring from his eyes as the tenth Organization member turned to him a final time and gave him the same sad smile as before.

"Every encore merely postpones the inevitable end, Demyx. Let me give you a quiet ending, if you don't mind me taking the more dramatic passing for myself. Farewell," Luxord said, giving him a gentleman's bow before the cards closed the gap once more.

"Back for more?" Sora bantered cheerfully, pointing the Keyblade at Luxord.

"I do believe it's time to end this," growled Luxord with a snap of his fingers.

The wall of cards heaved forward like a tsunami; the wave overshadowed the battlefield, blocking out the fading light from the setting sun. Sora, Donald, and Goofy all braced for the impact while Luxord looked on, a sense of closure removing him from the present. With a resounding crash of cards on rock and weapon alike, the tsunami slammed into the trio of heroes, hurling them to the ground.

"And thus is my finale," sighed the Gambler, who dropped to one kneed once more and hung his head.

Luxord could feel his body disintegrating and knew that Oblivion was fast approaching. Regrets raised themselves in his mind, but he pushed them aside and turned to look behind him. Demyx lay sprawled out on the cold stone in a small pool of his own blood. His battered body was nearly faded away, but the Gambler could still see his face. He was smiling, eyes closed, with a sense of contentment that could only come with death. Reassured that the Nocturne was at peace, Luxord let himself fall sideways onto the ground with a dull thud. In his last moments, just before the darkness claimed his vision, Luxord watched the sun drop beneath the horizon and thought to himself:

'What a befitting end to things.'